I hear a lot about Fallout 2 lulzy humor...

[Joghurt]

but what about Fallout 1 humor. I think we all agree that Fallout 2 had too much things put in it just for the lulz. What about Fallout 1 humor? Was it perfectly fit every time? What does RPGNosex think about this issue? What are your favorite lulzy moments from Fallout 1 (or Fallout 2)?

 

[RK47]

New Reno had a lot of funny moments. Also combat narrations on groin criticals.

Fallout 1? I cannot recall anything except bloody mess and the pip-boy mascot.

 

[Forest Dweller]

I remember one of the first dialogue options that made me laugh. After you agree to help take down Gizmo, and you get him to tell you to kill Killian, you can say, "You mind saying that again, this time into my coat pocket?"

 

[visions]

I remember that there was plenty of humour in Fallout, even before I had played Fallout 2, I thought of Fallout as an occasionally quite humorous game. I fondly remember replying to Gizmo who told me to "sit my butt down" with something along the lines of "looks like there's enough butt down there already", which angered him so that I had to kill him, failing Killian's quest.

Others I can immediately recall off the top of my head...

Iguana Bob and his supplier (think human meat).

Random encounters like the crashed UFO and the huge dinosaur footprint.

The Elvis picture you can find.

I think there were plenty of others, but I can't recall them at the moment, since the last time I played Fallout was about 5 years ago. (Yes I know, I must remedy that in the nearest possible future).

EDIT: Nuka-Cola. Also the bottle-caps as currency was quite clever in my opinion. On the one hand it made sense that they would be used as currency in such a scenario, but on the other hand I think it was also a commentary on the fact that currency can be completely worthless without the symbolic value we attach to it, and that something that we regard as completely worthless may just as well be regarded as valid currency in suitable circumstances.

 

[TsongaKralj]

Well there was a SouthPark reference when you shoot deputy Kenny in the Hub,heh.

 

[Malakal]

I found FO1 to be almost as funny as FO2, cant really agree with sentiment present here that FO is super serious while FO2 is lulzy. Nope, both those games are quite random, FO2 is simply bigger.

Starting from weapons and enemies, through items and NPCs and random encounters both games have their fair share of humor. In dialogues too.

 

[markec]

Playing a retard is a pure win in Fallout 1.

 

[Erzherzog]

Fallout 1 can be funny. It may not have so many outright gags but it has some subtle things that certain people would find amusing but it's certainly not for everyone.

But then there are things like asking the ghoul in the Hub if he ever saw his friend again...right after he says he never saw his friend again. That's just outright hilarious.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I found FO1 to be almost as funny as FO2, cant really agree with sentiment present here that FO is super serious while FO2 is lulzy. Nope, both those games are quite random, FO2 is simply bigger.

Starting from weapons and enemies, through items and NPCs and random encounters both games have their fair share of humor. In dialogues too.

I wouldn't say it's even a contest. Fallout 1 had a great tongue-in-cheek vibe all through it, but it was usually pretty low-key and rarely if ever there just for the sake of being funny. Fallout 2 had giant scorpions that wore glasses and played chess because they'd eaten too many smart pills and that's what smart people do.

 

[ZbojLamignat]

Fallout has a fair share of lulz in the dialogues. What do you want? A donut. Or asking Seth to fall on his knees or make you a sandwich. People typically criticize F2 for too much lulz when it fact it doesn't really have that much more of them when you take proportions into consideration (i. e. F2 being much bigger).

 

[Lumpy]

EDIT: Nuka-Cola. Also the bottle-caps as currency was quite clever in my opinion. On the one hand it made sense that they would be used as currency in such a scenario

No. Bottle caps were fucking stupid all along. In such a scenario, pre-war money might serve as a currency due to inertia, but the main form of commerce would likely be barter. And at no fucking point would even one person decide to give a valuable item in exchange for bottle caps, much less the whole disjointed post-apocalyptic world.

 

[ZbojLamignat]

Fallout has a fair share of lulz in the dialogues. What do you want? A donut. Or asking Seth to fall on his knees or make you a sandwich. People typically criticize F2 for too much lulz when it fact it doesn't really have that much more of them when you take proportions into consideration (i. e. F2 being much bigger).

Was it (or the ghost in the Den for example) for the lulz though? For me it's just a bethesdian moment - putting some silly and disjointed shit just because you somehow believe it's cool and/or amusing. Things for the lulz would be stuff like the Gecko reactor conversation with the Enclave officer.

 

[visions]

EDIT: Nuka-Cola. Also the bottle-caps as currency was quite clever in my opinion. On the one hand it made sense that they would be used as currency in such a scenario

No. Bottle caps were fucking stupid all along. In such a scenario, pre-war money might serve as a currency due to inertia, but the main form of commerce would likely be barter. And at no fucking point would even one person decide to give a valuable item in exchange for bottle caps, much less the whole disjointed post-apocalyptic world.

Why? If stuff like seashells have functioned as currency in primitive real world societies, why not bottlecaps in a post-apocalyptic one ?

What's the big difference between giving a valuable item for a bottlecap/seashell/coin/piece of paper? They're all practically worthless things to which a value has been attached, based on their relative scarcity.
As long as the value will be recognized and enforced, they're not worthless.

Regarding barter?

Contrary to popular conception, there is no evidence of a society or economy that relied primarily on barter

The notion of societies primarily relying on barter seems to belong to the same territory as the notion of matriarchal societies. Popular misconception, with no real world evidence. Societies that didn't use any currency, relied on gift economy:

Contrary to popular conception, there is no evidence of a society or economy that relied primarily on barter.[2] Instead, non-monetary societies operated largely along the principles of gift economics. When barter did in fact occur, it was usually between either complete strangers or would-be enemies.

Gift economy is something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy

In before lolololo wiki. I've studied this shit and I'm using wiki articles for backing up my claims, since it is convenient. They have the relevant references.

Regarding pre-war money? Pre-war coins would maybe make more sense than bottlecaps, yes. Can't be arsed to give this problem any serious thought at the moment (the possible scarcity and availability of pre-war coins vs pre-war bottlecaps), since I have stuff to do, but this seems reasonable enough.

Pre-war paper money? Paper's not the most durable material, so probably no.

EDIT: If we would venture into nomaskian territories of lololol accepted academic positions are wrong because I say so, then yes my claims are probably worthless, since this is what they are based on. I hope we're not going to venture there though.

 

[Forest Dweller]

EDIT: Nuka-Cola. Also the bottle-caps as currency was quite clever in my opinion. On the one hand it made sense that they would be used as currency in such a scenario

No. Bottle caps were fucking stupid all along. In such a scenario, pre-war money might serve as a currency due to inertia, but the main form of commerce would likely be barter. And at no fucking point would even one person decide to give a valuable item in exchange for bottle caps, much less the whole disjointed post-apocalyptic world.

Add to that the question of whether or not there would even BE that many bottle caps just lying around.

 

[DraQ]

There is a new Andhaira growing on 'Dex.

 

[visions]

EDIT: Nuka-Cola. Also the bottle-caps as currency was quite clever in my opinion. On the one hand it made sense that they would be used as currency in such a scenario

No. Bottle caps were fucking stupid all along. In such a scenario, pre-war money might serve as a currency due to inertia, but the main form of commerce would likely be barter. And at no fucking point would even one person decide to give a valuable item in exchange for bottle caps, much less the whole disjointed post-apocalyptic world.

Add to that the question of whether or not there would even BE that many bottle caps just lying around.

Or that many coins. In any case, some kind of a commonly accepted currency would probably have to be used.

 

[Lumpy]

Why? If stuff like seashells have functioned as currency in primitive real world societies, why not bottlecaps in a post-apocalyptic one ?

What's the big difference between giving a valuable item for a bottlecap/seashell/coin/piece of paper? They're all practically worthless things to which a value has been attached, based on their relative scarcity.
As long as the value will be recognized and enforced, they're not worthless.

Enforced being the keyword here. Money without intrinsic value works because at least one group of people decides, or is forced, to use it as currency. That money becomes valuable due to that fact.
It would be nice if you provided some source on seashells being used. Presumably, their value was based on desirability (you can make jewelry!), common agreement, and method of obtaining. A village near a beach certainly isn't going to use seashells for currency. Getting new seashells should be hard, just like gold, so as to justify their value.
Problem with bottle caps is that yes, they are scarce. But there is no pattern to their scarcity. It isn't going to be the travelling merchant or the village boss that has a lot of bottle caps - it's going to be whichever fuckoff stumbled onto some garbage bags full of that stuff. He's only going to be laughed at when he comes back to the village to offer those bottle caps in exchange for guns and ammo.

Which brings us to ammo. That would've made sense as a currency. It's bound to be reasonably available, considering how much the population was reduced, and very, very highly desirable. At no point would anyone give up ammo in exchange for bottlecaps.

 

[Malakal]

Gold? Whats wrong with gold? Its shiny and doesnt corrode. Caps and prewar money all make little sense, it would either be gold or perhaps some light and movable equipment like drugs or electronic parts (chips?).

 

[Lumpy]

Or that many coins. In any case, some kind of a commonly accepted currency would probably have to be used.

Commonly accepted? Throughout all the isolationist, spread out settlements in the wasteland? I think not.

 

[visions]

Or that many coins. In any case, some kind of a commonly accepted currency would probably have to be used.

Commonly accepted? Throughout all the isolationist, spread out settlements in the wasteland? I think not.

Meant commonly accepted in the context of the area Fallout takes place in, not in the context of the whole post-apo US. The communities do trade (caravans) with each other, so that there probably is a need for a more universal currency recognized by several settlements.

EDIT: Will try to find examples of seashells used as currency later, kind of busy at the moment.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Which brings us to ammo. That would've made sense as a currency. It's bound to be reasonably available, considering how much the population was reduced, and very, very highly desirable. At no point would anyone give up ammo in exchange for bottlecaps.

I thought there was no "real" currency, and the bottlecaps were only there to fill the smaller gaps that result from a barter-centric system.

Like, you're expected to offer useful things, and so the guy will accept your pistol + 50 caps in exchange for his rifle, but he wouldn't simply accept 300 caps for his rifle (not so in gameplay terms, but that's how I see it since rarely I would offer only caps for something).

 

[Jim Cojones]

Why? If stuff like seashells have functioned as currency in primitive real world societies, why not bottlecaps in a post-apocalyptic one ?

What's the big difference between giving a valuable item for a bottlecap/seashell/coin/piece of paper? They're all practically worthless things to which a value has been attached, based on their relative scarcity.
As long as the value will be recognized and enforced, they're not worthless.

Enforced being the keyword here. Money without intrinsic value works because at least one group of people decides, or is forced, to use it as currency. That money becomes valuable due to that fact.

The caps were enforced by Hub merchants who controlled most of the trade in the area and one of the few sources of clean water.

 

[Sceptic]

I wouldn't say it's even a contest. Fallout 1 had a great tongue-in-cheek vibe all through it, but it was usually pretty low-key and rarely if ever there just for the sake of being funny. Fallout 2 had giant scorpions that wore glasses and played chess because they'd eaten too many smart pills and that's what smart people do.

This is pretty much it. The only lulzy humor in FO1 was in the special encounters. FO1 is not a serious and humorless game, its humor just meshes better with the more serious atmosphere.

 

[DraQ]

I wouldn't say it's even a contest. Fallout 1 had a great tongue-in-cheek vibe all through it, but it was usually pretty low-key and rarely if ever there just for the sake of being funny. Fallout 2 had giant scorpions that wore glasses and played chess because they'd eaten too many smart pills and that's what smart people do.

This is pretty much it. The only lulzy humor in FO1 was in the special encounters. FO1 is not a serious and humorless game, its humor just meshes better with the more serious atmosphere.

In before MDK vs MDK2.

Also, in before Anachronox.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

One "problem" with the humour in Fallout 2 compared to the prequel was its consistency.

Look at the special encounters in Fallout 1. The youngest source among them was the Tardis from Dr.Who, which began airing in 1963. All the others were based on sources that were known in the 1950's. With the exception of the South Park reference when killing Deputy Kenny (which was brand new when Fallout 1 was released) I'm having a hard time thinking of any joke and/or pop culture reference in Fallout 1 that's younger than the early 60's. This fits perfectly with the notion that the Fallout universe is based on 1950's society and Science! instead of science.

Fallout 2 did not bother trying to be this consistent. It ripped off/spoofed/paid homage/referenced whatever the developers could think of. Am I mistaken in claiming that no other game has more pop culture references in it than Fallout 2? I'm not sure even Duke Nukem 3D or Blood can top it... combined.