Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
More rambling Fallout 4 thoughts nobody asked for: On the positive side, the most intriguing thing to me about the trailer was that noirish, Vegas-like setting they showed, which really brought to mind New Reno from Fallout 2. Despite it's name and best efforts, aside from the opening that atmosphere was severely lacking in New Vegas. And the concludes all the nice things I have to say. =)
So, it's weird that there's basically two overlapping ideas of Fallout that are actually quite different and sometimes hard to distinguish. There's the original Black Isle/Obsidian version and the Bethesda version, even separated by West and East coast, and the latter of which resembling what the former started as, in fact attempting to recreate it, but from which the former has evolved to become almost the antithesis to (everybody got that? =). To put it another way, the difference between what Fallout was and the idea of that and what it is now, and the false equivalency between them.
For example, by Fallout 2, the Brotherhood of Steel had all but disappeared, and continued as a marginal faction in the West in New Vegas. But in every other Fallout game made by other developers, including Bethesda, the Brotherhood of Steel are made the stars. There's two games named after the Brotherhood of Steel, a third was in development, and Fallout 3 might as well be from its advertising to its emphasis on the Brotherhood versus the Enclave (and, of course, "Broken Steel" in fact is). Obsidian's New Vegas, on the other hand, is openly contemptuous of this aggrandizement and exploitation in its marginalization of the BoS and Enclave (another reason it's such an amazingly unlikely game =). Here's what New Vegas' Mr. House had to say about the holy Brotherhood in a bit of throwaway dialogue that's nonetheless more interesting than most any speech in Fallout 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87US9AXNMME Just one character's opinion!
I think you can also see this separation between Fallout and the popular idea of Fallout in what Walter pointed to as Kotaku talking down to it's audience, "See this 'PLEASE STAND BY' sign? That's from Fallout. The game your dad and older brother keep telling you about and why you should be excited for Fallout 4." Here's more examples from an article analyzing the trailer and purportedly giving a Fallout history lesson:
Well, just about everything in Bethesda's Fallout is a throwback to Fallout 1, including The Ink Spots (a Fallout veteran would also know them from their song 'Maybe,' from the first game's intro).
Well, again, Fallout 2 used Louis Armstrong's 'A Kiss to Build a Dream On,' and New Vegas Frank Sinatra's 'Blue Moon' to similar effect, but the sequels developed by the original team chose a different artist each time. This is where things get interesting (you must think so if you're still reading this crap =), because it was Bethesda that brought back the The Ink Spots with 'I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,' which was allegedly the song Fallout 1 was intended to open with but they couldn't acquire for whatever reason. Of course, Bethesda could, and what better way to show off their Fallout bonafides than to open their interpretation of it the way it was always intended. Like a lot of things about Fallout 3, that was a nice touch and tribute to the original, but it's also emblematic of the limitations of Bethesda's creativity with the property and the tropes it perpetuates; because, here we go again, another game, another Ink Spots tune, and now that's forever "Fallout's thing" (I'd prefer they bring back original series composer Mark Morgan). Not that I'm really complaining about that, but like I said they could try doing something more interesting, (I hope they take Obsidian's cue in more than just the overworld), because so far their contributions might best be described as a pastiche "in the style" of Fallout (the weird VR stuff, Mothership Zeta, etc). It's also bemusing to see the version of Fallout literally made to be sold on a lunch box actually become what Fallout is defined as, especially after New Vegas seemingly provided a viable compromise or alternative. Oh well, it makes sense to emphasize those iconic things in a trailer anyway; vault suits, power armor, etc.
So, it's weird that there's basically two overlapping ideas of Fallout that are actually quite different and sometimes hard to distinguish. There's the original Black Isle/Obsidian version and the Bethesda version, even separated by West and East coast, and the latter of which resembling what the former started as, in fact attempting to recreate it, but from which the former has evolved to become almost the antithesis to (everybody got that? =). To put it another way, the difference between what Fallout was and the idea of that and what it is now, and the false equivalency between them.
For example, by Fallout 2, the Brotherhood of Steel had all but disappeared, and continued as a marginal faction in the West in New Vegas. But in every other Fallout game made by other developers, including Bethesda, the Brotherhood of Steel are made the stars. There's two games named after the Brotherhood of Steel, a third was in development, and Fallout 3 might as well be from its advertising to its emphasis on the Brotherhood versus the Enclave (and, of course, "Broken Steel" in fact is). Obsidian's New Vegas, on the other hand, is openly contemptuous of this aggrandizement and exploitation in its marginalization of the BoS and Enclave (another reason it's such an amazingly unlikely game =). Here's what New Vegas' Mr. House had to say about the holy Brotherhood in a bit of throwaway dialogue that's nonetheless more interesting than most any speech in Fallout 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87US9AXNMME Just one character's opinion!
I think you can also see this separation between Fallout and the popular idea of Fallout in what Walter pointed to as Kotaku talking down to it's audience, "See this 'PLEASE STAND BY' sign? That's from Fallout. The game your dad and older brother keep telling you about and why you should be excited for Fallout 4." Here's more examples from an article analyzing the trailer and purportedly giving a Fallout history lesson:
http://kotaku.com/all-the-juicy-details-hidden-in-the-fallout-4-trailer-1708720494 said:The first thing we see in the trailer is a throwback—it starts out on close-up to a TV screen, which displays an Indian test head pattern much like the one we saw in the countdown earlier this week. But then the camera pulls out, revealing that the TV is actually in a pretty beat-up room:
As Fallout veterans know, Fallout 1’s intro cinematic had a similar shot
Well, just about everything in Bethesda's Fallout is a throwback to Fallout 1, including The Ink Spots (a Fallout veteran would also know them from their song 'Maybe,' from the first game's intro).
http://kotaku.com/all-the-juicy-details-hidden-in-the-fallout-4-trailer-1708720494 said:And like previous Fallout games, the Fallout 4 trailer’s music is provided by The Ink Spots:
You might know them as the folks who sing ‘I don’t want to set the world on fire~’
Well, again, Fallout 2 used Louis Armstrong's 'A Kiss to Build a Dream On,' and New Vegas Frank Sinatra's 'Blue Moon' to similar effect, but the sequels developed by the original team chose a different artist each time. This is where things get interesting (you must think so if you're still reading this crap =), because it was Bethesda that brought back the The Ink Spots with 'I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,' which was allegedly the song Fallout 1 was intended to open with but they couldn't acquire for whatever reason. Of course, Bethesda could, and what better way to show off their Fallout bonafides than to open their interpretation of it the way it was always intended. Like a lot of things about Fallout 3, that was a nice touch and tribute to the original, but it's also emblematic of the limitations of Bethesda's creativity with the property and the tropes it perpetuates; because, here we go again, another game, another Ink Spots tune, and now that's forever "Fallout's thing" (I'd prefer they bring back original series composer Mark Morgan). Not that I'm really complaining about that, but like I said they could try doing something more interesting, (I hope they take Obsidian's cue in more than just the overworld), because so far their contributions might best be described as a pastiche "in the style" of Fallout (the weird VR stuff, Mothership Zeta, etc). It's also bemusing to see the version of Fallout literally made to be sold on a lunch box actually become what Fallout is defined as, especially after New Vegas seemingly provided a viable compromise or alternative. Oh well, it makes sense to emphasize those iconic things in a trailer anyway; vault suits, power armor, etc.