Like I would imagine nukes raining down on NCR and Legion territory would cause quite a stir....

I suspect that the 'nuke no one' ending of it will be made canon.

Okay thats what I thought too.

I'd rather no nuking happens. Nuking is counter-productive of 'War never changes'

That and The Courier has done enough damage in The Divide. Having the nukes go too would be a bit much.

I thought it would be expected of "War never changes".

I actually have a different view on this.

Perhaps both nukes were launched, nuking everything that's been built in the west since the Great War.
Why?
This is Obsidian's way of passing the torch to Bethesda. Clear out their stuff so Bethesda's free to create what they like, with Vegas being the only remaining trace of the original Fallouts.

Hell, even ED-E can be interpreted as symbolic. Doubt any of this truly holds meaning (it's very out there), but I still think it's a fun little theory that sort of makes sense:
What is ED-E? The only reference to Bethesda's Fallout 3; eyebots are a Bethesda creation. The Courier? He's Obsidian. He's Interplay that made the mistake of letting things slide. ED-E destroyed the Divide because he was a detonator, and he was allowed to do so due to the Courier's neglect, much like Interplay made mistakes, lost everything and then Bethesda took over, starting something new. Now? Now the Courier walks the road, seeing the consequences of his actions, and as Ulysses says "looks like you can't get rid of your shadow," as ED-E follows him the whole way whether he wants to or not, because Fallout now belongs to Bethesda. And at the end? At the end, perhaps it's time to let go. Don't kill of ED-E, he's got a story of his own to complete, much like Bethesda has lots of plans for Fallout. Nuke the world, give it a chance to start something new, then walk off into the sunset.


We'll see though. They obviously have to pick one, and nuking none or nuking both seems most likely.

It sounds plausible. But I'll cry if this is the case.

either the nuke all or nuke neither. Nuking all cleans the slate, nuking neither lets the factions be used in future titles

That is very well thought out and incredibly deep.

At walk off into the sunset I imagined that clip of the vault dweller walking away to the tune of "Maybe" from the original Fallout

Couldn't have said it better myself. Although I kind of hope they keep Sawyer and his team. His ideas shaped what we know as being Fallout's style. Without his input, I think the franchise would be drastically different.

Wait a minute. Aren't there 2 nukes? As in, only 2? One that's sent somewhere between Barstow and the Mojave Outpost on the 15, and one sent to Dry Wells, Ulysses' former home, a Legion settlement? Nothing about this indicates to me that choosing to nuke either ends in the entire West and the Legion being eradicated. Especially because the war at the Dam still happens. Right? I've never nuked either, so I couldn't say for sure, but yeah. Pretty sure the NCR and Legion are mostly intact after the nukes drop.

yeah but nuking legion deals a major blow to their military. or somthing like that. nuking NCR cuts their supply line from the west to vegas off completely. soooo it doesnt destroy them, just diminishes their chance of continuing to fight eachother for Vegas.

Precisely, but the OP is saying nukes are "raining down", which to me implies more than 2, and Longknife straight up said everything in the West is nuked. NCR and the Legion still very much exist, but their reach into the Mojave is effectively crippled. The slate isn't clean for Bethesda at all.

yeah i know, i was pointing out that you were right... your welcome brahhh

If you choose to nuke both, the ending makes it sound like there's more than two. This is only in the case that you nuke both, but it heavily implies you bombed the crap out of the world.

Huh. Just watched that ending on youtube. But . . . how the hell does that work when playing in the Mojave? It's a cool option, but I just feel like being able to actually play after doing that is silly. Can't you still do quests, DLCs, and nobody says anything like "holy [censored] there were 2 nuclear blasts just now" and every single NCR and Legion NPC isn't freaking the [censored] out? Plus, I just watched a video with Ulysses' reaction about nuking them, but the dialogue specifically refers to Dry Wells and the Long 15 being nuked, not anywhere else, and it seems the effects as Ulysses describes them are just minor destruction and more cut supply lines. Not consistent with the Nuclear hellfire on both factions previously described. This particular option just seems so poorly done to me.

I do realize that Chris Avellone wanted more nukes to drop to make the wasteland a wasteland again, but I feel like if he was really dead set on this option, he should have made it a "side with the bad guy" ending, like FO1 and Dead Money. Making the West a super wasteland makes it so the game content afterward makes no sense, which is why I seriously doubt that choice would ever be made canon.

Yeah the ending implies that you've essentially killed both factions. Honestly though I wouldn't be surprised if both NCR and Legion were nuked.

Oh man, why does this have to make sense?



I'm going to miss you good west-coast Fallouts!

Well we've really opened a box of grenades here havent we.

You said it. I think Longknife may have killed the series. It wasn't intentional. But he may have planted the seeds.

But if the west coast fallout had to be killed, then I would want it in the way LK said it.

That was very deep and I enjoyed reading that theory very much, Longknife. If any option were to be made canon then I'd highly hope that neither faction would be nuked.

Man, you really got me thinking now