This is basically just a fanboy post about the presence of Fallout in my life over the past 10 years. There are spoilers for the games throughout.

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My best friend got Fallout 3 for PS4 when were in junior high, and when I was born in Vault 101 while playing at his house, I got hooked. We had been playing Oblivion for a while before then, and our other friend had introduced us to Morrowind as well. There was some kind of problem with it in the early days which caused it to crash all the time, and he had eventually had to factory reset his PS3 or something like that which last all his save data. It left him understandably frustrated and he basically never played it again.

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The way I really got to play FO3 was renting it from Blockbuster (I think), and playing it at my older brother's house when I was house-sitting one weekend. I'm pretty sure Friday night through Saturday I played something like 16 hours straight. I ended up beating the game sooner than normal because while I was randomly exploring when found the gas station that concealed Vault 112, so I skipped everything before that. I loved it so much, but I ended up screwing myself over because I saved at the last section of the Jefferson Memorial without knowing my character was locked in the room permanently. I had so many places left to explore, but that would have to be put on hold for a long time.

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A few years later I ended up living with my brother and he let me keep his PS3 in my room. I got New Vegas when it was released and loved it even more. At the time I never really appreciated the Western setting, but I liked all the interaction with the factions. I of course sided with the NCR because I figured they were the "good" guys. Mostly though, my play throughs of FO3 and NV were fairly light.

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It wasn't until after I was an adult and had my own apartment that I really fell in love with Fallout. I finally had a laptop, and one of my friends gave a flash drive that had NV with all the DLC as well as some mods like AWOP and other things that added more companions, weapons, and music. I did a pretty standard play through, but I appreciated it so much more as an adult. I could really appreciate the writing more, and I always wondered about the past events that were referenced, like the Master having and army and the oil rig being destroyed. I played the DLC starting with Honest Hearts, on to Dead Money, Old World Blues, and ending with Lonesome Road. When I finally defeated Ulysses, I had that feeling that comes along when you finally finish a series and no longer know how to proceed with your life.

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Fast forward a few more years to the summer of 2015 when Fallout 4 was announced. I was ready to lose my mind! To prepare myself I bought all the Fallout games on steam to play through them in preparation for 11/10/15. This time I gave the Capital Wasteland a thorough scouring. I had the DLC as well which I really liked. I regretted doing it after the main quest because I really enjoyed using the samurai sword while wearing Ashur's armor.

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After Fallout 3, I decided to dive in to Fallout 1. I knew it was going to be a very different experience, but I had no idea how intimidated I was going to be by it. I remember getting destroyed by the first enemies upon leaving the vault, I can't remember if they were roaches or rats. I loved the element of time being against me. I loved how you didn't know where dialog options would take you, or if they were even checks for attributes or skills. I didn't have any real knowledge to fall back on or anyone to ask for advice. I loved finding all the things that were referenced to in FO3 and NV. Finding Roger Maxson's diary entries in the Mariposa Military Base really took it to the next level for me because they were still fresh in my mind from the Citadel terminals. I was honestly shocked when the Necropolis was overrun by super mutants as a consequence of my actions. I was horrified while unravelling the Master''s plan, so it was all the more satisfying when I didn't have to use violence to make him end it all.

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FO2 is a little bit more of a blur because where I lived at the time there was a typhoon and I was stuck in doors for a few days. I beat it during that time span but I was pretty much burning myself out. I almost thought I was setting up myself for disappointment when I found that car that needed to be repaired and then you could use it. Surely that was too good to be true, but it wasn't! I used to have a bunch of screenshots of all the goofy things the callers yelled in the streets of New Vegas. I was pretty full of myself for sleeping with that mobsters wife to figure out how to get into the safe. Seeing the nascent NCR was cool because I didn't know they existed before New Vegas. And of course, finally getting to the Enclave's oil rig and blowing it up closed the gap with the references I first heard in NV. Also I can't remember any in great detail but the random encounters were great and scary at times.

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When FO4 came out, I got new laptop so I could run it. 6 out of the 8 people in my department at work, including the manager and my supervisor, got the game at the same time. It was such a joy each day to come in and talk about new things we discovered while also not trying to give anything away. I really loved exploring the Commonwealth! I didn't feel terribly limited by the flaws of the game at the time. Family to me is very important, so when I saw my wife get merc'd and my baby taken I instantly pissed. Seeing my son in a containment cell only to find out my real son was an old man had me like whhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattt. I've always enjoyed finding the different companions and discovering their backstories. It was the first Fallout game that I got when it was released and I actually had DLC to look forward to being released. I loved the idea of the settlement system, and getting to add a Raider element to it with Nukaworld added something I had always longed for. I sided with the Brotherhood for my first play-through. Maxson seemed like too much of a zealot and bringing back Liberty Prime seemed kind of cheap, but I didn't stress about it. I was relieved to have my stats in order to spare Danse.

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FO76 was a big departure, but I specifically to play with one of my friends online. I'm only a few hours into the main quest, but I love being able to share the thrill of exploration with a buddy. We don't go anywhere new without each other and only really play when we can play together. That's a very narrow way to play and has protected me from the myriad issues. The emptiness makes me a little sad though because I love all the NPCs from past games. It's rough seeing the state of the franchise at this point!

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I think Fallout has resonated with me so strongly and so consistently because of the settings. Since I'm American, each location has pretty much already been imprinted in my mind my whole life through movies, tv, music, magazines, books, and newspapers. I can latch on so much easier. I also like the central role of American history. We're a relatively young country but there's a lot of stuff jam packed in there.

In my adult life it has really spurred a love of travelling the country to make it every place in the game. So far I've been to San Diego, Los Angeles, DC, and Boston. I probably never would have known about or considered walking the Freedom Trail if not for FO4 (https://i.imgur.com/Mew8Fv7.jpg)! Las Vegas and Reno and San Fransisco and Zion National Park are all on my list. Fallout is one of the few franchises where I feel like I qualify as a fanboy, and I really enjoy when I run into people IRL with some kind of Vault Boy merch on because it's always an easy conversation to start.

Very long winded post, but I really appreciate Fallout! I never really got into reddit until recently when I saw posts from people who have kept up with the games since the original.

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