Quote Originally Posted by Spore View Post
And conversely 3D Fallouts try to give you a sense of emptiness. A few years or a decade after the bombs, the primary thought should be danger of visible and invisible variety. Predatory animals (and mutant beings) roam the land in an ecosystem not fully balanced yet. Some are vicious to the point of frenzy, some are diseased from having their territory pushed into radiated zones. But all things are hostile. Weather and radiated areas should play a role. Rain pushes radiation in the water, heavy winds make radiation move far.

The primary feeling should not be emptiness, but rather a resurgence of life that is very much threatened from all angles. But I feel at this point I should just play STALKER.
This was how FO76 initially felt (and to a significant degree still does, outside of a few areas with people tacked on). There's plenty of life, and robots too, but just about everything you meet is trying to kill you. There's even a contrast between pre-war structures that were in use after the war and post-war construction built in new areas - such as the territory reclaimed after the Charleston dam was destroyed. There's even, via the Whitespring, structures built to pre-war luxury standards and fully maintained. So the full gamut is presented.

FO76 also offered greater clarity with regard to how the Fallout setting isn't just one apocalypse but rather a sort of 'rolling apocalypse' produced by the machinations of the extremely corrupt groups controlling the country in the immediate pre-war timeframe. In Appalachia there was an initial period of recovery following the bombs, followed by additional devastation due to war with the raiders, followed by even further loses as the scorched overwhelmed the Brotherhood of Steel and then systematically overran the entire region.

The lore in FO76 really manages to hit the right buttons, aside from a few annoying indulgences like Super Mutants. There's a lot to like about the setting, it's just a shame about the gameplay.