Fallout 1 starts in a vault.

Fallout 2 had a breath of fresh air in that it DIDN'T start in a vault. I fealt as though they were expanding the world more by getting out of the vault and focusing on other things and NOT trying to strum the same note over and over again.

Fallout Tactics started in the BoS.

Fallout BoS started in the wastes.

Fallout 3 now starts in yet ANOTHER vault. Why go back?

The TRILLOGY ITSELF focuses either on VAULTS or those that have a harritage from a vault. Why? Fallout is a big world. I don't think there's really any ultimate point or purpose. Why not start Fallout 4 or 5 inside the Enclave? Why not start out as a character inside a large caravan or a group of Raiders... or a farming community with nothing to do with a vault? Why not have a game where your character is an assassin or a BoS-Outcast?

I really don't see the story mounting up to anything BIG, on regards to plot, by having everything revolve around the Vaults.

So far the only alternative made avaliable is starting a game (outside of the official trillogy) inside the BoS...

What are your thoughts?

Would you be open to anything different/new? If so where you think a good Fallout game should start?

How would you like to see the Fallout world move forward?

One advantage I can see to starting in a Vault is that it allows you to enter a new world that you haven't explored yet in order to allow you to have a fresh start, since growing up in a vault, you would not have been exposed to the wasteland. If you started off as a member of the Enclave or Brotherhood of Steel, you could expect to already have some knowledge of the wastes, and in either faction, you would also probably start out with better equipment than a 1omm pistol and your vault suit, that was fine for a tactical game like Brotherhood of Steel, but with the main series being RPGs, which by nature put a lot of focus on development of the player character, and which usually involve someone with little experience or whose skills have suffered from plot devices such as memory loss becoming, over time, an experienced character who accomplishes great things, that might be why the first game started in a vault, and why Bethesda chose to do the same with Fallout 3, it's also possible that the game starts in a vault because vaults are one of the few places where prewar civilization is well preserved, not to mention they offer the residents safety and protection from the outside world, even isolation, when someone goes from the safe and civilized vaults to the desolation and danger of the wasteland, the impact would be much greater.

Still, that doesn't mean that any future Fallout games Bethesda might make also have to start in vaults, there are certainly other options that could work too.

I think the majority of people who bought Fallout 3 have never played or even heard of the previous Fallouts. And I think that is exactly what Bethesda was hoping for.

if you want to provide an immersive experience that gives a "Wow, this is the world huh?" factor, a vault is a perfect choice. I think going back to the vault for FO3 was appropriate, kinda like how the first Modern Doctor meeting the Nestine Conciousness in his first episode was appropriate (Because it was the biggest change to the Doctor since colour).

You say going back to the vault as if it regresses the story... It doesnt. Everyone's gotta start somewhere.

This. Also, due to the time lapse since the last Fallout game came out, they obviously decided everyone needed a refresher in what the whole Vault situation was like.

Starting in a Vault was the perfect choice to make in Fallout 3, as otheres have already posted. Because of that, then Bethesda can create a Fallout 4 when the players starts in the wasteland. Why? Because then all the new Fallout fans will have an better understanding of the Fallout universe and can easy blend in and accept the post-nuclear world.

Because it is the part of the world the series focyses on thats why.

Starting in a Vault means that the players character is as unfamiliar with the wasteland as the player is, and it provides an awesome contrast between the clean, pristine and safe environment of the Vault with the deadly world outside. Stepping into a Vault is like going back in time to the world before the war.

ah man they succeded didint even give fallout a first glance but when fallout 3 came out whoo man a wekk of waiting thats alot



and why would be starting in a vault pointless think about it


GUY:you father left the town
YOU: well ok hes probably getting stuff
GUY: oh well i guess your right
10 years later
GUY:looks like you father didnt go out to get stuff
YOU:guess you right to late now aw well
all this = FAIL

i've only played fallout 1 and fallout 3 and i loved both of em.
its part of the story and [censored]. anyway, what an awesome game haha

Well, the Vault is a good excuse for you to dont know absolutly NOTHING about the wastes, and dont know ANYONE either. You must understand that in FO1 you started in a Vault and god trow out of it withou understand nothing about the world, this is a nice reason for wy you have so low skills and no one knows you.

In FO2 you were the decendent of the Vault Dweller just so you could use its Pip-boy 2000, but you actualy lived in a comunit that were completely tribal, and that was living in ALMOST completly isolation from the rest of the world, so you could say that you actualy DONT KNOW how to live in the wastes OUTSIDE your village, neither you are known by anyone in the world. In a "limited" map has the one of FO3 the best option is ACTUALY the VAULT, no reason wy in cant be. Besides has many ppl had poited here this is the first time someone play a FO game, so they NEEDED to know WHAT is the Vault.

I think that most of those are terrible ideas. This is a role-playing game. Starting out in the wasteland as an assassin, BoS Outcast, Raider, etc gives your character a pre-defined history, which is something that I think should be avoiding in a game like this. Even in Oblivion, you start off in a prison. This leaves it up to the player to decide how your character got in prison in the first place. Was it a false accusation, murder, or was it an honorable crime? You decide. I think that Bethesda did a brilliant job in setting up the game. You start off as a child and once you grow up, you leave the vault. During this time, you can shape your character into whoever you want them to be. You don't have this preconceived notion of who your character is supposed to be.

Also, leaving the vault gives you a sharp contrast between the order of the vault and the disorder of the wasteland. The only idea that I like from that list is starting off inside the Enclave, as a prisoner or something, because it really doesn't tack on some artificial history to your character.

Nice to see another Doctor Who fan here.

As far as the topic goes, I think starting in a vault was an apt choice for Fallout 3.

well we have only started in a vault once before so i don't see how this can get "old" i think starting out of a vault would be old they've done it like 5 times. And the vault is really cool so get over your self

They sort of explained everything and resolved everything about the vaults in fallout 2.

I actually disliked the fact that FO2 started the player as a tribal in a village. First off, I hate the whole idea of ignorant tribals in Fallout's universe. Nomads or people that live off the land or in tents, live a simple existence? Fine. But a complete throwback to ignorant and superstitious people who just go savage for some reason and adopt belief systems that had disappeared hundreds of years before? Nonsense.

Don't get me started on the massive ornamental stone temple they apparently built or 'found' in California. The elder was supposed to be the first Vault Dweller's daughter, right? How come she was so ignorant and superstitious?

A contrast is necessary to highten the impact of any situation, especially a post-apocalytpic world. Why care that everything is destroyed if you don't know what it was like before? Also, how else are you going to explain your 10 INT character being ignorant of pretty much everything you encounter?

The Vaults and Vault-Tec are iconic to the Fallout series. They are one of the things that make the setting unique and distinct from all other post-apocalyptic settings with the exception of the retro-futurist stylings. Really, the only way to show a player a working Vault is to have them start in one. Otherwise, the very fact that the player has entered a Vault means the Vault isn't running normally or at all.

I think making the Vaults an 'experiment' was one of the biggest mistakes of Fallout 2. It just seems utterly ridiculous and moronic. The Vaults each cost billions apiece, right? Then why would any company or government spend billions and billions of dollars to see whether or not Mormons freak-out if forced to be naked? Seems like that could be accomplished on a considerably smaller budget, doesn't it? Without risking losing your entire population to nuclear war? Anyway, it's done and it's canon now, so I'll get used to it. They actually handled it fairly well in FO3 I thought.

I'll finish by saying one thing. Notice that even though more than 90% of the Vaults are supposed to have been experiments, every game and developer that has done so has started the player off in some sort of 'control' Vault, that is essentially normal and serving the intended purpose of survival like in FO1? You know what would take guts or prove the entire thing stupid? Starting a player off in a Vault that is an experiment.

THIS POST HAS SPOILERS. IF YOUR DON'T WANT THE PLOT KILLED FOR YOU, STOP READING THE FORUMS IN GENERAL



I agree. I don't much like the fact that you're related to the Vault Dweller and you're now the so-called "Chosen-One". I also didn't like how you have power armor at the end of FO1 but the vault 13 rags were more important to pass on to future generations than something that would actually help those in his tribe. There's quite a bit that needs explaining -- otherwise it just seems silly.

What I DID like is the fact that it starter OUTSIDE of the Vaults.

People keep saying that it allows the player to discover the world for the first time. Okay, fair enough. Everyone is now very much aware of Fallout. In Fallout 4 I'm hoping that they don't start the Character out in an innocent state. And hopefully it ties the plots of FO 1-3 together... In Final Fantasy 7 your character has a history of being in an ellite fighting force, yet the game starts you out at level 2... I think. I don't see why you'd have to be at level 15 or something in order to establish that your character is already an assassin or something in the main quest.



ACME was iconic in Loony Toons. So called ACME products popped up all over the place. But Loony Toons would never take you to ACME headquarters unless there was a reason -- even if it was just for funny reasons.

I just think that if they're going to make it iconic, they need to do something with it. Tigh the story in to a bigger picture. Give a reason why it's playing a major roll in the games.

If it's not a major roll, then I suppose they can continually display them in the game, BUT not as a key figure in the plot. They seem like ancient ruins that grave robbers tend to look in and that scientists and historians would love to go into but are too dangerous to investigate. And even if the story didn't revolve around Vaults, just that alone has some interest to it.



Vault City was functional -- just open. (Of course, it got too big to support itself eventually).

Even Amata in FO3 opens the vault doors to the public.

I can think of no end of ways to show the player a working vault.

Vaults seem like they're a powerhouse of presearved advanced technology. It seems to me IF good people were to encounter a vault and the occupants, then the vault would do no less than prosper. Especially if the BoS were to assist.

Maybe your character hears about a Raider attack that's going to take place in a remote area. When your character investigates the attack, he sees that the raiders have blown their way into a well functioning vault and you have the choice to defent the occupants of that vault.

The possabilities are endless.

Think of how those from outside of the vault would look at the vault dwellers. The wasteland is harsh. I think some would look that the Vault Dwellers and think that they're in a state of edden. An innocents that must be presearved, while others would think of the behavior as childish, nieve, and stupid. There's just so much to work with.

But playing the same card over and over again: "You were born in the vault. Something happens, you leave the vault," gets stupid.



Well, sinse they describe it as an experiment in FO2, it doesn't necessarily mean that's the only thing that was going on with them. Those questions you're asking are what I would think are plot holes. Holes that can be filled in to add interest rather than detract.

But as is, it seems like Fallout has established it's an experiment, done nothing else with it, and kept the whole Vault story line completely stagnant. It's losing meaning and purpose. It it doesn't searve a purpose in the plot, do something new with it.

How did FO3 deal with it in your oppinion?

I'm interested in your thoughts.

I have a question for you.

What did you think of Vault 101. To me... it seemed like everyone, their dog, and their flee infested flee seemed to know where Vault 101 was. I think that if I were to leave a vault full of people that I grew up with that are largely defenseless and know nothing about the outside world, then I would keep its location on the down low, and I sure wouldn't be telling people that I'm from a vault. I think I'd sooner say I'm from a native tribe or something.

But ThreeDog just keeps publicizing Vault 101. It's amazing the Enclave didn't just plast through the doors right after you helped threedog... in fact, your Character's father seems to be puting caution to the wind by proclaiming that he's from Vault 101 too. This seems REALLY stupid to me.

Well, if you take in account that a day the Vault Dweller just disapeared, he probably WOULD take the PA with him since it would be much more usefull thatn an old PIPBoy suit.


Actualy Vaults ARE powerhouses of presarved advanced tech, just read about Vault 15 and how Raiders, BoS, Scavangers and NCR(who "legaly" owns the vault) had a lot of conflicts just to see who would gather all that tech. O and BoS wouldn't help people that way, they arent this stupid BoS of FO3, just grab the TRUE concept of them playing the older games, or check the Outcast sicne they DO LOOK a lot more like the true BoS.


Actualy the experiments, in the end ARE ALL that is going on the Vaults, what i didn't agree in FO3 is that most Vaults seems to have had major failures in theyr projects, wile in the previos games most of them were actualy "prosperous" in many ways and were just somehow limited to theyr original experiments, or those same experiments had created a diferent vision of the world for theyr inhabitants. In FO3 it seams like wen Vault-Tech decided to turn the vaults into social experiments they just builded the DC vautls in a way that ALL of the experiments would FAIL. The experiments were actualy there to see how the average american would deal with the x ou y situation and if they could survive it, preaty uch the oposite of the experiments showed up at this new FO.

it might start like daggerfall.some thing like it.while going to home you car sink (santrap may be ) and you fin yourself in a cave

i agree, this is the first time i played fallout (xbox360). you do bring up good points though. lets hope they do a good job on fallout4. loved the game. (except for the level cap, that svcked)

Pinky and the brain takes you to Acme Labs.