VAN BUREN: Inside the Cancelled Fallout 3
Before Bethesda, Fallout 3 was a game being developed by Black Isle studios, an internal developer at Interplay created by the Fallout 1 team led by Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. Over the next 2 years, Fallout Van Buren would be developed by Chris Avellone, Josh Sawyer and Feargus Urquhart until their departure from Black Isle Studios and the closure of Interplay. This documentary catalogs Van Buren's development, legacy, and the fan projects dedicated to recreating it
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SOURCES:
For a complete list of sources, documents, and extras visit:
luckstat.com
Tech Demo:
www.nma-fallout.com/resources...
The Last Days of Black Isle Studios
www.usgamer.net/articles/the-...
That Time Someone Else Was Making Fallout 3
kotaku.com/that-time-someone-...
Chris Avellone Practice 2015
• PRACTICE 2015: Chris A...
Avellone Tweets on Fallout Bible
twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/sta...
Interplay Losses and Fargo Departure
web.archive.org/web/201107241...
Brian Fargo Still Owns the trademark for InXile:
www.eurogamer.net/inxile-fall...
Bethesda Softworks to Develop Fallout 3
web.archive.org/web/2004071310...
Obsidian Retrospective
kotaku.com/the-knights-of-new...
“We Never Bid on Fallout” Leonard Boyarsky
web.archive.org/web/201505072...
FOBOS 2: Vagrant Lands and other Canceled Fallout Games
web.archive.org/web/201506260...
The Rise and Fall of Troika
www.escapistmagazine.com/the-...
Fallout Yesterday Patreon
/ posts
Beyond Boulder Dome:
www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mo...
Project Van Buren
projectvanburen.com/
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:06 Interplay Software
3:19 Enter Chris Avellone
5:54 Beginning Production
8:09 The Story and Gameplay
13:21 Black Isle Crumbles
16:26 The Fallout Schism
18:20 Fallout 3 and Obsidian
20:11 Fallout New Vegas
22:35 Van Vegas
25:34 Van Buren's Legacy
26:56 Fan Projects
29:43 Outro
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Get in touch here:
luckstat.com/
/ luckstatevan
/ luckstatevan
Hey, thanks so much for watching! I have a lot of big projects lined up for 2024 including Baldur's Gate 3: The Black Hound so you're going to want to subscribe! In the meantime, check out this video about Rainbow Six Patriots: kzhead.info/sun/hsZpd8aBeYapmqc/bejne.htmlsi=NafpnhaG3u0o5sV_ Get in touch here: linktr.ee/luckstat
Sounds great, looking forward. Thanks for your hard work!
I get obsessed with Rainbow Six Patriots every so often so I'm definitely looking forward to that!
Im interested!
@@SeedSnatcher It's out now! kzhead.info/sun/hsZpd8aBeYapmqc/bejne.htmlsi=NafpnhaG3u0o5sV_
Hi there. I'm Briosafreak, the guy that organized the Van Buren Leaks, the release of concept art, screenshots and the Alpha Demo for the game. Just wanted to say that this video is quite impressive, didn't saw any of the usual misconceptions or errors that sometimes show up here and there. I still have the original code, art and chat logs from those days, and I really don't have anything to add, so congrats, good work.
Hi! Thank you so much for the kind words! I recognize your screen name from the hours of diving through forums, and I can't thank you enough for the work you've done. Being able to actually play the game turned this project into something truly special
Pls make a mod from it, like fallout new mexico. The Van Buren story sounds awesome.
Did you work at interplay or just know someone there?
@@plaidchuck we knew lots of people there
Sorry if this is a dumb question but where can I see this complication?
Me listening to the plot of van buren: "Holy shit, these guys should play that new vegas game"
New Vegas is kind of a sequel to van buren
@XxSTACKxX It could be considered a proto-New Vegas. The raw ideas that began and were held close until they could be used again.
@@imotekh6110 not really. Main plot and most of locations are nothing alike. Even same ideas like Hoover dam, caesar's legion e.t.c are quite different.
@@pantonearqm2791 that's why he said prototype, a vision of what COULD be
@@rhodiumvaledict3313 most of the stuff from VB wasn't reused in Vegas tho. Also there is big difference in been a prototype of something and just having a same name (Like Hoover dam).
"It would be the last fallout game for nearly 5 years" I love how that sounds like a long time, yet we havent had a regular mainline game since 2015
With that rate we would be 2 years away from fo6, but instead we're like 8 years away from fo5 (unless Bethesda outsources it to a more competent developer 🫣🫣)
@@johngardner3758 me when I'm retarded
@@The_Cloud_District11 But doesn't hold a damn candle to an Obsidian Fallout game. Cope harder and choke more on it.
Well it's funny because Bethesda will focusing their work on elder VI and it estimated to be out on 2026. That mean we wouldn't get a true fallout game like fo3/fnv for a long long time, or perhaps it dies with the greed from fo76. In the meantime we can still enjoy beautiful mod community providing us with tons of gameplay
@@The_Cloud_District11 local man gives worst take, asked to leave community
The thing about New vegas, not only is not Van Buren, but its more of a sequel, asuming some events of Van Buren as past events.
Yeah, this is what I was thinking as well. It's weird to have a game that wasn't made be *almost* canon.
@LuckStat First off, sorry for the thread necromancy but wouldn't that be sort of Deuterocanonical? Like, not part of the primary, yet not spin-off. Stuff that is still valid and official happening within the canonical setting but not directly impacting the primary storyline?
It's great that so much of Van Buren was recycled to make Fallout New Vegas. Either by being translated into the game or by serving as periphery world-building.
I like how, unlike Lonesome Road, the missiles cannot be stopped. There's an inevitability that destruction will happen. But you still have a choice about where that will happen and more importantly whrre it WON'T happen, and deciding such based on whatever you think is best for mankind. Kinda puts you in the same shoes as Mr House in a way.
I haven't played Lonesome Road in a while but I remember being able to stop the nukes. I think that you had to sacrifice your Eddie in order to do so.
pretty sure you can, you get bos fame for it as well as fame with the followers
@@vall182They said UNLIKE Lonesome Road. Theyre talking about the ending of Van Buren.
@@StokelingThey said UNLIKE Lonesome Road. Theyre talking about the ending of Van Buren.
@@vall182that’s not what they’re saying.
I wonder if Chris Avellone tracks the progress of any of these fan recreations? It must be weird to know there are people activly trying to finish a project you stopped working on years ago.
He does follow a couple of the creators on Twitter, so more than likely he's at least seen Project Van Buren
Well fans completed Kotor 2 where he was the main writer
They can't finish his project though, theyre all starting their own forks
I believe so
@@varvarvarvarvarvarmaybe they should start there own spoons than.
“Behind whatever Elder Scrolls game you played first.” It hurts because it’s true.
Man, being able to spin the camera around in a traditional CRPG Fallout game would've been so cool! Imagine the unique gameplay and level design opportunities that one change alone could've introduced into the game. 🙁
OSRS is a good example.
It's a pain in the ass.
@@nifftbatuff676 yeah thank god they didnt make FO3 and onwards as isometric view titles, thatswhy i avoid FO1&2, the pixel clicking and round based combat just doesn't fit, it is sooo much better as an fps with VATS, fits so much better including the immersion.
Would've saved me all that time I spent hugging the southern wall of buildings to make sure the wall isn't obscuring any objects
Lil takodachi
So that's where Arcade from Fallout NV had his roots since Obsidian is comprised of former Black Isle employees
He was directly Josh Sawyers creation.
@@brysonkuervers2570 tbh arcade looks like a blonde josh sawyer
Hi im JoacoN, one of the devs from Revelation Blues, great to see a shotout for the mod from you! It helps a lot to get the mod into peoples mind and create more public interest in it. Work has been very good so far, I joined February 2022, and we are working a lot into a special gift for the communitty
That's great to hear, JoacoN! I'm really looking forward to what you all cook up!
I really wish we could get a full HD remake of Fallout 1, 2 and Van Buren. Not 3D games but their original isometric CRPG playstyles and all. Just with updated modernized graphics, bug free and performance fixes.
Its pretty crazy seeing how much if this was evolved and revamped into New Vegas. Additionally how much of the main story inspired the recent tv show to the point the villain are the same in some aspects.
I side with thé thé enclave you do you bro
Yeah this is what I was thinking too, I imagine that vault tec is basically going to take the role of the boulder dome scientists, and there was no one to stop their nukes that fell on shady sands
Also, Fallout New Mexico, a mod being developed for FNV, has elements from the original Van Buren docs, like their own version of the Tibbet's prison
The biggest issue with this project seeing the light of day has been that over the years they messed with different engines, and new projects always ended up starting mostly from scratch again. I really hope PVB sees the light of day.
A lot of these projects never finish
@@XxSTACKxXafaik NONE of them have so far
16:23. "And the last Fallout for nearly 5 years" We really have come full circle haven't we?
Oof, I can't believe it's been that long since 76
@@LuckStat you should do a video about the retcons and changes in fallout 76 like how mutants exist far sooner than they should due to them being sterile, having been created by the master in southern california in the 2250's i think. yet somehow 25 years after the bombs dropped they are in west virginia
@@LuckStat 76 was so awful
@@specificorb3 in 76 the super mutants aren't created by the master. They're created by some corporation I forget that was doing genetic testing. You can see flesh super mutants in pods and everything. Never played fallout 2 so don't know much about the master.
@@specificorb3I'm not sure that's a retcon when it's already implied in fallout 4 that super mutants and the FEV that cause them were already being worked on before the war.
Nice B-Rolls! Usually people just put generic royalty free stock clips but I like that you actually put in effort to fit the fallout setting
i agree i want to know what these films are now
compassionate but still realistic. it's easy to romanticize or idealize something that never actually happen - you don't have to deal with a buggy launch ruining expectations like Cyberpunk 2077, you don't have to deal with an underwhelming realization of an amazing idea like the OG Fable. That we got A Fallout 3 at all, let alone New Vegas, is more than enough for me personally.
Playing as a super mutant would be so cool.
This really hammers home the fact that Interplay committed grand larceny on every crpg fan in the early 2000s through hubris and mismanagement. Does anyone remember any other title that Interplay was responsible for other than Fallout, Descent and the infinity engine games?
Interplay had the Star Trek license in the 90s. Made some great games. Most of them are on Steam or GOG.
I always chuckle when people who are way too reactionary cry non stop about Bethesda. Don't get me wrong, 4 is one of the most lackluster games ever and 76 is a bad case of "what did you think was going to happen?" (though I must admit, I can actually enjoy 76 unlike 4). But they never signed off on Fallout: BoS, never thought "Fallout: Extreame" sounded like a great idea, nor actually paid people to pen a terrible script for what was definately going to be a terrible movie. I remeber a time when I was pretty sure Fallout as a whole was completely dead, and all that was left aside from 1, 2, Tactics, and the regrettable BoS were a bunch of stupid ideas for stupid canceled games. Games like Fallout: Extreame, and a BoS direction that made Bethesda's story choices look restrained. Then 3 drops, then we get New Vegas. Hopefully the next game can recapture some of that magic. Untill then I recomend Wastelands 2, Wastelands 3 (imagine Tactics with an actual dialog tree and better story), and Underrail (imagine Metro by way of Fallout 1 but with Psychic Powers!)
I remember them working on some titles with Blizzard, in the early 90's when Blizzard was still à small studio.
Ya, Arcanum, steam works of magic and obscura... But nobody else seems to remember it. 😂
@@alnu8355what the fuck does the original comment have to do with Bethesda
It's insane how creative Fallout is.
the games 50’s mad max premise at its core was very inspired but that’s only multiplied by all the unique weapons, mechanics npcs, enemies and antagonists
Here's a cool connection: John Gonzalez was the lead creative designer for New Vegas, and the narrative director for Horizon Zero Dawn. Now consider the parallels between the Nora of HZD and the Twin Mothers in Van Buren. Could it be that some of HZD's story is continuing Van Buren's legacy?
Oooh that’s pretty cool
Damn so New Vegas seems like a revived Van Buren but things are different
More refined versions of the ideas in Van Buren. It's very cool.
Fantastic video, dude. Loved the black and white PD footage to tell the story, and the TV clips too. The B-roll is great too. So much effort here. Absolutely love it.
Oh and that "whatever Elder Scrolls you game played first" is bang on ☺️
Does anyone know what movie(s) he used clips from at 8:09 is called?
@@VintageSeanTV I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this, this is Desert Empire Part 1 a documentary on the state of Utah from 1948 archive.org/details/DesertEm1948
In light of the fallout series and all of the interplay based lore they chose to go with im really hoping for this era of fallout to make a comeback soon. Im not an avid hate of bethesda era like most people since it was my introduction, but i cant help but love and even long for the concepts of all of these original games. I really appreciate how much versatility all of this real life history brought to the fallout experience, i really hope it starts branching out and we maybe even see a day where Bethesda starts giving a space to the old creators again and work together to create a much needed love child. Both have had such fun and creative qualities, i could only imagine the kind of game we'd get if they came together properly.
I WISHHH you could choose to be a super mutant, human, or ghoul in modern fallout games......
For all the weird stuff 76 has done, I’m really surprised they haven’t at least tried this
My favorite New Vegas mod is Ghoulified for this very reason
Can we all just agree that it basically evolved into Fallout: New Vegas? Like at this point, lets just start calling it New Vegas lite.
Believe it or not, the crew originally wanted to do something else on the East coast but Bethesda said they didn't want Obsidian to do that because they wanted to do something there. So their plan B was to break out the Van Buren script and use that for their new game. End Result? Bethesda is jealous that Obsidian did a better Fallout game then they ever could.
@@googleisevil8958 I don't know about that. Aside from the rpg elements and story, fallout new vegas is a pretty shitty game gameplay wise.
@@captainszasz5836Ummm..... it's called an "RPG game" and it's kund of hard to role play in a game with a bad story......soooo.....😅😅👀
It's amazing how much of New Vegas was inspired by Van Buren. Its so fantastic and so interesting to see all the different elements in it.
Outstanding stuff man. Gotta love fandom and how hard they work to preserve creators original vision.
This is such a good deep dive! I love the level of detail and research and the last detail about the story being about people in this, at times, chaotic hobby we've grown to love. The algorithm has blessed me!
Great vid man, love the choices for b-roll and cinematography!
always love to see stuff that sheds light on things like this where the average fan wouldnt think to research so deeply or havent heard about it at all also love that much of the game design was driven by a TTRPG campaign though im sure it was very common for CRPGs since they were obviously based on them
I will always remember playing Fallout and Baldur's Gate in early 2000s. Then both their sequels. I love these games. Nostalgia evokes powerful feelings, thank you very much for this video. Subscribed and waiting for The Black Hound video.
Very nice video production, making me feel like I need to put in more effort now! Appreciate the Project Van Buren mention aswell! Don't think Adam has left a comment here but he's the one that brought this up, so safe to say he enjoyed it too. Keep it up!
He posted it over on twitter, I saw! Thank you!
@@LuckStat ah I missed that, he sent it in the Van Buren research discord
This is such an interesting video. Awesome job man!! I appreciate the Revelation Blues mention!
Anything we can do to get eyes on your hard work!
I don't know why but when I hear the Outer Worls soundtrack I get Fallout New Vegas nostalgia.
Really solid video, I hadn't ever heard very much about Van Buren, so I learned alot! And your b-roll is seamless, I liked how you got the star trek footage in there; it flows really well!
i like the sweetness of the bittersweet end to the Van Buren saga you found, much like the intended original ending for Van Buren itself! i'm so happy Fallout is where it is though and am thrilled to get to play New Vegas over and over again forever
Bitter part: Had Van Buren was finished, it could've been a successful game that let developers keep their creation under their control and not let Bethesda ruin it. Sweet part: We got New Vegas from all this mess.
@@danielsurvivor1372 Bethesda didn't ruin it but ok
@@superdrinkingpepsi They recently did ruin the Franchise with F76, and they fucked up the story with F4
@@superdrinkingpepsi They 100% did. You have no idea what you're saying.
@@damsen978 Yes I do
Honestly van buren is so interesting even though it was never finished its also fascinating seeing all the concepts that were reused for later games and how alot of its lore got canonised with new vegas.
Your channel is so criminally underrated, your content quality is great, especially for a channel with 4k subs, keep up the great work, I'm sure that the recognition that you deserve is definitely already on the horizon, you just got yourself a new subscriber
I have got to say that this video was a beautiful nod to fallout in every context. I haven’t enjoyed a video like this in a longtime. Really well thought out and made. Makes me want to play fallout from start to finish.
Really appreciate the kind words, Peter!
A great look into this production. Thank you
Great video production work, excited to see more stories!
Thank you! More stories coming soon!
Nice video! Even though Fallout 1&2 were formative games for me, I didn't follow the history of the company's struggles and projects after that very closely, so it's good to catch up. I do remember seeing the Fallout 3 news articles in the gaming magazine I used to buy, including that recurring screenshot of the menu screen.
This was probably the most amazing way to see these cancel games shown right thank you for this vid as long time interplay gamer this made me happy while also very sad
Wow, that was quite the ride mate. as you know im not the biggest fallout fan but this video makes me want to check them out!
This vid is gold. Incredible piece of work.
Awesome video, getting a deep dive on the plot of Van Buren made me realize what Chris meant on twitter when he said he felt his soul die seeing the ending to the fallout show. What the show does to Vault Tec is almost identical to the plot of the main villains of Van Buren, so it must have devastated Chris to see a different team essentially take credit for an idea he already had and had the intention to actually make over 20 years ago.
I’ve lost count of how many times I watched this. This is a great video on Van Buren. Just to let you know, the luckstat site for this episode, keeps taking me to the assassins’s creed one. Stellar work!!
Appreciate that! Should be fixed now
Your work is severely underrated friend. I’ll be here to support all future videos ✌🏻
Welcome aboard. Appreciate the kind words 🙏
Thank you for the subtitles
Thank you so much for watching! If you like what you saw please consider subscribing and telling a friend! CORRECTION: At 15:09 this isn't a photo of Chris Jones, co-founder of Obsidian, it's of another Chris Jones who worked as an artist on Fallout 2 Special Shoutout to Uninteresting Films and Eleven 17 Studios for lending their voice, check them out here www.youtube.com/@Eleven17Studios www.youtube.com/@JordansFilms1 Here are some special links: linktr.ee/luckstat
This video was amazing bro, I confused how you don't have 1mil subs yet.
Armin Van Buren was a good DJ. Thank you that didnt forget it
Shout-out to Atomic Postman's Van Buren 170 pages pdf fleshing out the original idea and making it fit with current Fallout New Vegas Lore, available in NoMutantsallowed. may he rest in peace
A well done Van Buren video. Got yourself a sub.
Despite what a lot of Fallout friends say, I found your essay unique. There are a lot of retirees complaining about BGS, but if they hadn't purchased the rights and updated the gameplay, Fallout would simply not exist today.
Are there people saying my video isn’t unique? Do you all have a group chat I’m not in?
Kidding aside, I think you’re right. Without Black Isle, Interplay’s plans for the franchise weren’t more games like Fallout 1 and 2, it was more Brotherhood of Steel. Say what you will about the Fallout 3 we got but at bare minimum it was better than BOS
@LuckStat I rarely make any comments on videos, but I've been playing Fallout since 97ish. I have enjoyed all the main Fallout games since then. The fill in titles are mostly garbage. None of those were made by BGS. BGS deserves much credit for keeping the game alive. Even with Todd Howard at the helm, the games are still great.
Oh my god, I just realized this is where the Old World Blue HOI4 mod got most of their factions
it’s based off Fallout New Vegas primarily which also repurposed and reworked many ideas they had for Van Buren into Fallout 3 based Gamebryo
Hi, PJ Hexer here, project lead of Van Buren in Fallout 2 engine called Fallout Yesterday. Thank you so much for featuring the project and kind words! ☢️ Also, I want to shed some light on Brian Fargo’s copyright of Van Buren name. What happened in 2014, when we were still using the Fonline engine, someone from RPGCodex showed him our demo and that’s when he copyrighted the name. He never reached out to us so we don’t really know why he did it. But back then, the team thought he wanted to make sure we don’t do anything on “his turf” without his involvement. Perhaps because we used Fonline engine, he assumed we were planning on selling it or something? Who knows? Anyways, it will remain a mystery until he addresses it.
Thanks for stopping by PJ! I'm very excited to see what you cook up, it seems like a really cool project. Also appreciate the added context around the Van Buren copyright. That would definitely explain why he didn't actually do anything with it despite developing games that could've easily been his own "Van Buren." I'll add it to the far too long list of questions I would ask him if I ever run into him!
@@LuckStat That would be great! Also worth investigating further are some uncanny similarities between Van Buren and Horizon Zero Dawn. Interestingly, John Gonzalez, the lead HZD writer, worked on FNV as lead creative designer prior to that which means he had to read Van Buren design documents. Definitively ask him about that if you get a chance, some of us would be curious to hear what he has to say.
Amazing video, just earned a new subscriber
Very informative , thx man!
it’s so unfortunate that outerworlds was so bad, really hope we get a real comeback from these devs
that view counter must be off! great video!
insanely good video, thank you
I kinda wish we got this fallout 3 instead of the one we got, it may not have been as popular but it seems like it would be really fun
No
@@ni9274 yes
@@zerpblerd5966Parrot a few more buzzwords.
I just happen to watch the third video in a row. They are so good. :D subbed
Welcome aboard!
Holy fuck is your name actually goated. Like actually. Brilliant KZhead name man. I haven’t even gotten two minutes in and I’m impressed af. The editing is so fucking good. The VO sounds great! Keep up the KZhead grind! You got this one in the bag
Gonna frame this comment and hang it in my studio for when I'm feeling burnt out. Really appreciate the kind words
Van Buren was actually my first Fallout. I wanted to play Fallout 3 but my pc couldnt run it, so I was looking around and somehow found the van buren prototype so that's what I played lol
If we ever get another Spinoff by Black-isle I want it to be called Van Buren
Great video, really underrated
When you said Baldur's Gate III's Jefferson Engine, I realized interplay worked on a canned BG3. If anyone here has seen Larian Studio's new attempt at Baldur's Gate, I'm sure they'll agree with me that Larian needs to be given an Old School Fallout a shot. Larian is literally the single best company in the industry as far as turn-based CRPG's go these days. They'd fuckin kill it.
Good god no I want larian to stay far away from any beloved game series after whatever travesty they turned BG into
@@cal5365 what the fuck. You did see the trash the original BG3 was gonna be, right? That was gonna be based on 3e DnD. BG3 by Larian uses 5e DnD rules, which are muuuuuch better. Sure I agree that BG 1 was better (im a huge fan of the ADnD 2e ruleset myself), but Larian's BG3 knocks the original one out of the water
@@paulstein8854 I dont mind the ruleset and mechanics, its more the entire awful game they built around it. It looks awaful, the companions and characters are awful etc. Far prefer something like Owlcat did with Pathfinder
@@paulstein8854 Larian do not trust their own abilities and only want to milk the name Baldurs Gate. And D&D 4+ sucks.
What a fantastic video! Well done. I did want to mention one point though. Devs sticking together actually seems to be the rule not the exception. That has been my experience in my 18 years or so in the industry. And that is a great thing. Every time a company explodes because of waste,fraud,abuse, incompetence or chasing the capitalist pipe dream of ever increasing profits, we often see little nuclei of creativity pop up and lo and behold they turn out to be coworkers many times. When you love working with people you want to stay together.
That's really good to hear, actually. The only other high profile example I could think of that's lasted as long was Rare with Playtonic/Free Radical
28:12 Fallout Online Engine isn't made by Interplay, but by Anton Cvetinsky (cvet), a Russian programmer who developed the engine and put Fallout graphics on top on it. He started the FOnline community that still lasts, even though the two original servers TLA and FOnline 2238 are long gone. He later released a SDK as Open Source, that the Fallout Yesterday is based on.
Thank you for this info and correction! I had it confused with the V13 MMO stuff that Interplay was working on
Despite it ultimately being a failure to release; Van Buren is FAR more of a positive impact on the Franchise than let's say, Duke Nukem Forever...
Great analysis thank you very much
This is the first video I've seen by you, I immediately loved it (thank you for citing sources btw!), and I appreciate such an in depth look at the game and the situation around it, before, and after. That's not what I expected, in a good way. I need to rant for a moment though: 19:01 "removing features such as... choices with long-lasting consequences." That's simply untrue, especially compared to the classic Fallouts. People really like misconstruing how much choice and roleplay there is in both Fallout 3 and Fallout 1, in opposite directions. I say this having recently replayed Fallout 1. If you blow up Megaton, it's gone for good. If you let the ghouls into Tenpenny Tower, they kill the residents. If those aren't consequences, then neither is choosing whether and how to rescue Tandi from the Khans, or how you help the Necropolis ghouls. Frankly, there aren't a _whole lot_ of choices in Fallout 1 outside the "do you perform the objective? And how do you go about it?" types, and what there is don't tend to have consequences outside the ending slides. It's so annoying how Fallout 3 haters misconstrue the game, and how people who enjoy the game repeat what they say, either because they've been gaslighted into believing it or so they're not ostracized from the community (yes, I'm exaggerating). I see this sort of thing in so many communities I partake in, and it gets tiring and sad. Back to the good stuff. I learned more new info about Van Buren than I thought I would, and while I don't necessarily love everything about it, it could've been such a cool, interesting game. Too bad Interplay never treated the series well.
Just want to say thanks for the kind words first and foremost. I’ll largely agree with you. Admittedly I get a bit of complaints from both sides on Fallout 3. Some feel I’m being too nice and others feel I’m not giving it enough credit. It’s one of my favorites, and I think it’s treated too poorly these days (motivated by Bethesda v. Interplay tribalism that’s always felt a little silly to me). I do think my words were motivated (at minimum) to appease people who have watched Hbomberguys video about it too many times, and nowadays I try to be more honest about my own opinion on a game instead. On choices, I think “long lasting” is a bit in bad faith, more so that I’ve found its bottlenecking in choices with its main quest frustrating with the Enclave being a more absurdly evil choice, and it feeling largely linear. Fallout 4, whose quests do have a bit of a long lasting problem, manages to at least make its final choices feel like an actual choice. Again, not super fair alongside Fallout 1, which for sure has its openness overstated.
we never got Van Buren but we New Vegas and Wasteland 2-3
Love to see another Wasteland lover! I always recommend it to people since it's a spiritual successor to the OG fallouts.
Imo classic fallout has the best endings i love the ending for 1 i enjoy having a depressing ending over a happy one it just works for fallout very well
Thank you for telling this story.
Nice also happy new year!
this video is going to blow up. nice job man. i wish you great success for this video and your channel
It blows my mind that I've played and loved games from all these companies. Played games from all these people, who all were at Interplay. It almost brings a tear to my eye
It's so strange to see that Eagle @9:30 with so little around it... There are just skyscrapers now all around it. I wonder what Salt Lake would have looked like after the bombs dropped. I've always wondered if we'll get to see it someday in the games.
(18:50) This is my Fallout! Was fresh off the press, first FPS RPG open world (pc). This is the game that broke me! Still my all time favourite!!!
I see a lot of inspiration from this game being used in later entries. For starters, Presper's faction is a mix between the institute and the think tank
Good spot on The Institute, I didn't think about that connection!
@@LuckStat it really looks like if the institute and the think tank had a child
Awesome stuff! Now where are your millions of subscribers hiding? Anyway, you found one right here.
Sawyer REALLY likes going back and forth on this mindset of what happened with NV. For awhile after it released, he tried to crucify Bethesda saying they weren't given enough time, a statement he would basically handwave away in future interviews. Which is true, they had an engine, assets and somewhat established lore hand deliveried to them to build the game with. Hell even recently Sawyer seems to be very positives towards Bethesda, possibly hinting that he might want something to do with an anticipated new game
I've seen tons of fanmade mods for lots of games, including (Fallout 1 & 2), it is weird there is not a fallout Van Buren "full game-size" mod out there when there are tons of info about it.
Great video!
I am certainly going to play Van Buren if and when it is released. I didn't even know about it.
Stupid question, honestly, but does anyone know the name of the font used in that map in the intro as 00:11, for the text "COLORADO SPRINGS PIKES PEAK REGION"? It's really common in American documents, especially military ones, and I have no idea what it is (but it's beautiful). It has the perfectly round 'O' like Futura, but I'm not sure that's what it is.
Glad to see another font geek in the wild What The Font didn’t provide me with much luck, but if I find that map in a few weeks I’ll get a cleaner grab and try again. To me it looks like a bold helvetica or even Boston heavy (which has always reminded me of a softer edged Futura and I believe is the font I used in the fake Van Buren logo iirc). The G without the base throws me off, though I’m not sure if you’ve encountered this video before but Phil Edwards covered the NASA Graphics Standards Press Kit and some of the Post Office stuff from the 70s which may provide a starting point: kzhead.info/sun/e6WEo9Ohf4RufY0/bejne.htmlsi=qQ6XmOqYq-ABdDYu
@@LuckStat Dude, that link is right up my street! Something about the font used in that map really grabs me. I know they used Futura way back, even during WW2, and Helvetica is definitively post-war. Boston Heavy does have the beautiful, circular letter O, I wasn't familiar with the font but I love it. I'm not American, grew up in a different graphic design culture; I find American graphic design, especially WW2 onwards, very interesting and different. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a font nerd, but I'm fascinated by things like signs, information plaques and warning graphics, uniforms, the way stuff is presented to the public in general. It's not the most glamorous thing in the world, but does require human effort that often goes completely unnoticed. When it's done right, it really grabs you, and when it's done wrong, it really hurts to look at.
Nice video enjoyed it
I have yet to watch but the subject is classic material.
God why do video essays about cancelled video games always make sad
Sometimes I find videos that I save for later and I’m just like “welp… found my video I’ll watch during my lunch break”
Being from Utah, I still hold on to hope I’d get to visit Vault 70, new caneon, the Ogden union train station and the ruins of SLC
the history of Fallout is so interesting it's hard to imagine what would've happened if it was any other franchise other than Fallout
I never knew! This is wicked! 🤘🏼
WHAT SONG IS PLAYING DURING THE BEGINNING OF THE FAN Projects chapter????? I just stumbled on this channel and now i can't get enough, expertly done
Thank you! It's Wind Riders by Asher Fulero
@@LuckStat thank you!