Fallout: New Threadening

[factotum]

The Institute would probably work better if they were walked back to the premise given for them in FO3.

They weren't secretive, presented as isolationist and extremely arrogant, but the core idea was that they were creating (then robotic) synths as an artificial slave caste and opposed by people who were against slavery.

Wasn't the major sidequest concerning synths in FO3 about precisely the sort of infiltrator synth that carried on into FO4, though?

[Mando Knight]

Wasn't the major sidequest concerning synths in FO3 about precisely the sort of infiltrator synth that carried on into FO4, though?

No, Harkness was a typical Railroad synth: liberated, mind-wiped, and smuggled into the Capital Wasteland where they hoped the Institute would never find him (the other known synth in 3 is Armitage, effectively the archetype for 4's Coursers). Infiltrators were introduced in 4, perhaps as a logical extension of the Railroad's efforts to hide escaped synths in the general populace and of the Institute being developed into a secretive society tinkering with the wasteland from afar.

The difference between the two is that what the general populace fears the Railroad's synths are, the Institute's infiltrators are in truth, and the Railroad generally creates new identities while the Institute prefers to body-snatch.

[Cikomyr2]

There is a logic gap however. If the synths look "off" to a human, then escaped synths would never be able to pass as humans after the mindwipe.

I do love the idea.

[GloatingSwine]

Actually..

How about if the question is if the Brotherhood stays or leave the Commonwealth.

The plot should have had more after the destruction of the Institute. Feels there's more to say.

This is why the OG Fallout games have their epilogues, because there's more to say.

Fallout 4 has less epilogue than the toaster got in New Vegas.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I still want to see Danse be the figurehead for 'reform' in the BoS, if for no other reason than the quest can be called 'Danse Danse Revolution'. Even if that reform is simply deciding that their goal is to protect humans rather than be their tyrants, but everything else (including sapient ghouls and synths) are still KoS.

[Batcathat]

I haven't played Fallout 4, so I can't speak to that incarnation of Brotherhood of Steel, but personally I wasn't a fan of their depiction in Fallout 3, since I felt they were turned into a Generic Hero Faction without much personality. (I can't say I love the Lawful Stupid version in New Vegas either, but at least it's more in line with their original depiction).

[GloatingSwine]

In Fallout 4 the Brotherhood have pretty much gone straight fash, they're just the Enclave now.

And yeah, the ones in New Vegas are dying out because they're so Lawful Stupid. They're experiencing the consequences of their ideology rendering them irrelevant.

[Mechalich]

"If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail"

The Brotherhood is a hammer. They have an extraordinary level of force available to them and a military orientation. Insofar as a problem is amenable to a brute force solution, the Brotherhood are beneficial (obviously the cost/benefit analysis will vary depending on their efficacy in any given zone). In FO3, the Enclave is preparing for a genocidal campaign and must be met on the battlefield, so the Brotherhood become the 'good guys' by default. The economic drain they create is ultimately worth it because the alternative is death. Likewise, in FO:NV the overall campaign is preparing for an immanent war. The Brotherhood's participation is not dispositive, but they are an elite force worthy of recruitment by whichever side intends to triumph as an asset worth more than their cost. Similarly, in FO76, the Brotherhood is essential in holding the line against the Scorched advance, which successfully protects the rest of Appalachia for roughly a decade, though the resources require to sustain this campaign are extreme and gradually build resentment against the Brotherhood. Still, once the Brotherhood falls, the remaining factions are completely unable to holdout against the Scorched advance (this is nobody's fault, the Scorched plague simply allows them to win the logistics battle decisively).

In FO4 the issue is that the Institute, while parasitic on the Commonwealth, is not an existential threat to the people the way the Enclave, Caesar's Legion, or the Scorched are. Plausibly they aren't even as big a threat to the livelihood of the people as Raiders, Super Mutants, Gunners, or Feral Ghouls. The game reinforces this by allowing the player to obliterate the institute without any assistance from the Brotherhood at all. The Commonwealth, ultimately, doesn't need the Brotherhood's assistance in their aid could be put to far better use somewhere else.

[GloatingSwine]

In New Vegas the Brotherhood is useless in the coming conflict. They might be annoying and everyone wants them dead for it, but they got their asses handed to them by the NCR over control of Helios One and they're in no position to do anything other than sulk about it.

They're a former power, an irrelevance to a world that has moved on from them.

So of course they're still the poster boys for Bethesda, who can't move on from the iconography of early Fallout at all.

(TBH Bethesda's main studio should just give up and let ZOS do all the story and quest writing for them.)

[Cikomyr2]

I haven't played Fallout 4, so I can't speak to that incarnation of Brotherhood of Steel, but personally I wasn't a fan of their depiction in Fallout 3, since I felt they were turned into a Generic Hero Faction without much personality. (I can't say I love the Lawful Stupid version in New Vegas either, but at least it's more in line with their original depiction).

Personally, i always believed the genius of New Vegas writing when it comes to the BoS really showcased to everyone why Lyon did what he did with the Eastern Brotherhood. Just being isolationists crusaders of technology created lots of enemies and prevented the rallying of allies, and the Western Brotherhood died off to factions who could more easily replenish their forces and challenge them. Not necessarily beat them, but challenge them and win the long war of attrition.

Maxxon may have steered the Brotherhood back toward a more ruthless ideology, but he kept some of Lyon's reforms in place; especially when it came to allowing outsiders to join up.

[LibraryOgre]

Personally, i always believed the genius of New Vegas writing when it comes to the BoS really showcased to everyone why Lyon did what he did with the Eastern Brotherhood. Just being isolationists crusaders of technology created lots of enemies and prevented the rallying of allies, and the Western Brotherhood died off to factions who could more easily replenish their forces and challenge them. Not necessarily beat them, but challenge them and win the long war of attrition.

Maxxon may have steered the Brotherhood back toward a more ruthless ideology, but he kept some of Lyon's reforms in place; especially when it came to allowing outsiders to join up.

Really, the Brotherhood was always doomed to fail... they couldn't control enough technology to prevent people from building on what survived, and so their technological edge was bound to erode, until they were just sitting on things.

Take Helios One. The NCR clearly had the technology to build a Helios One, but controlling the existing one, already hooked into the power grid, was a lot easier and cheaper. They couldn't/didn't want to invest the resources in making Helios Two. While the NCR wasn't sporting power armor, they were doing pretty well without it, and I doubt finds like the one the Chosen One made in the Gecko caves were unique... especially after fighting the Enclave, when there would have been scrap everywhere.

Lyons, in the East, tried to turn the Brotherhood into a civilizing force; they still controlled some technologies that they didn't want others to have, but they weren't in the business of shutting down technology people already had, because it would be a waste. Rivet City could have been a gold mine for the Brotherhood... intact planes! Intact avionics! But they didn't set it up as a secondary facility. But it was a different path from the core Brotherhood philosophy, which is why you got the Outcasts, clinging by their fingernails to an office building.

The Brotherhood was going to die out. In the NCR, they joined with the nation. In New Vegas, they tried their "lords of technology" schtick and got whipped out of their glorious find. In the East, one side decided to use their power to help people, while the others tried to cling sadly to their "control technology" ideas. In the Pitt, you had a former Paladin who decided to become a Warlord... and Maxxon did the same in Boston.

[Winthur]

The Brotherhood was going to die out. In the NCR, they joined with the nation. In New Vegas, they tried their "lords of technology" schtick and got whipped out of their glorious find. In the East, one side decided to use their power to help people, while the others tried to cling sadly to their "control technology" ideas. In the Pitt, you had a former Paladin who decided to become a Warlord... and Maxxon did the same in Boston.

And, however vaguely canonical the Chicago one might be (from Tactics), they probably got the better shot at survival from actually trying to mingle with natives and loosening a little bit.

[Triaxx]

My favorite thing about the BoS is that they've been in 7 games now and they've been different each time. (Yes, counting the weird PS2 game.) Tactics is my favorite depiction of them, if only because they weren't really the good guys, they were also not the bad guys.

Of course the whole: We are the holders of sacred and ancient technology! Nonsense doesn't work against House, who was there when it was being made and was responsible for making quite a lot of it. Not unlike showing a long lost tribe fire, only to find out that they've invented the pocket lighter.

[Batcathat]

My favorite thing about the BoS is that they've been in 7 games now and they've been different each time. (Yes, counting the weird PS2 game.) Tactics is my favorite depiction of them, if only because they weren't really the good guys, they were also not the bad guys.

I think I might agree with you. The blandly heroic BoS of Fallout 3 is rather boring, but the "sort of heroic but with imperialistic undertones" of Tactics is kind of interesting.

[Mechalich]

I think I might agree with you. The blandly heroic BoS of Fallout 3 is rather boring, but the "sort of heroic but with imperialistic undertones" of Tactics is kind of interesting.

Well, the Brotherhood does have 'heroic' origins. The genesis of the Brotherhood is a rebellion by low-level military officers - the original founder is a Captain, the branch spreads to Appalachia under the leadership of a Lieutenant - against the spectacular corruption and general weird science madness afflicting the upper ranks. This is very much in keeping with Fallout's, 'it's the 1950s, but forever' vibe. Of course the upper level of government is a giant mess, but the grunts are honorable if jerkish.

[Batcathat]

Well, the Brotherhood does have 'heroic' origins. The genesis of the Brotherhood is a rebellion by low-level military officers - the original founder is a Captain, the branch spreads to Appalachia under the leadership of a Lieutenant - against the spectacular corruption and general weird science madness afflicting the upper ranks. This is very much in keeping with Fallout's, 'it's the 1950s, but forever' vibe. Of course the upper level of government is a giant mess, but the grunts are honorable if jerkish.

Sure, they were always at least a little heroic in the games too, I just found them completely embracing that aspect in Fallout 3 rather boring.

[Cikomyr2]

Sure, they were always at least a little heroic in the games too, I just found them completely embracing that aspect in Fallout 3 rather boring.

I think what irks most people is not the aspect itself, its the lack of nuance. There are no debate about the benefits or costs of such approach. The Outcast are depicted as just ******* disgruntled about the new ideology, but their argument are nothing but reactionary "oh my god Lyon turned their back on tradition".

Compare to the Stormcloaks, who have shades of good and bad.

[MCerberus]

I think what irks most people is not the aspect itself, its the lack of nuance. There are no debate about the benefits or costs of such approach. The Outcast are depicted as just ******* disgruntled about the new ideology, but their argument are nothing but reactionary "oh my god Lyon turned their back on tradition".

Compare to the Stormcloaks, who have shades of good and bad.

Hold up weren't the outcasts kind of right? The first new instance of advanced tech in the wasteland was immediately seized by bad actors and would have killed EVERYONE

[NeoVid]

The Outcasts being partly right leads straight to another good potential plot twist that was thrown away: Bringing in the Outcasts for the final showdown against the BoS' old enemies, the Enclave. Learn a bit of the Brotherhood's history and once you know what the Enclave's goals are, you should have the opportunity to do some persuasion checks on the Outcasts to convince them that stopping the Enclave from killing everyone in the region and retaking the capitol of the country are worth temporarily putting aside their differences with Lyons.

[LibraryOgre]

The Outcasts being partly right leads straight to another good potential plot twist that was thrown away: Bringing in the Outcasts for the final showdown against the BoS' old enemies, the Enclave. Learn a bit of the Brotherhood's history and once you know what the Enclave's goals are, you should have the opportunity to do some persuasion checks on the Outcasts to convince them that stopping the Enclave from killing everyone in the region and retaking the capitol of the country are worth temporarily putting aside their differences with Lyons.

"Look, you don't have to agree with Lyons to agree that shooting the Enclave is part of your mission, right? So, stand on this side of the river, and when the shield goes down, start shooting them with missiles and sniper rifles."

[Cikomyr2]

Hold up weren't the outcasts kind of right? The first new instance of advanced tech in the wasteland was immediately seized by bad actors and would have killed EVERYONE

The Outcast wanted Lyon to stop hunting down supermuties ("helping the wasteland") and just focus on salvaging technology. I dont see how them having their way would have made things better.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

You know, that Concord scene with the power armor and the Deathclaw was an absolutely brilliant tech demo to unveil the game. It demonstrated a lot of differences and advances between this game and the previous ones, it made power armor look awesome finally, and it certainly was an amazing set piece for a tech demo to get people interested in the game.

However, leaving it in at the very beginning of the game was very poor game design. It should have been a moment of 'this is what you CAN do eventually', not 'here, you get this free with your admission'. It completely throws off the balance of the early game, absolutely trivializes Corvega and even the Triggermen if you focus on the main plot, and the minigun is completely and entirely useless in most practical settings due to its abysmally low damage per shot which means against anything more heavily armored than tissue paper it does practically nothing, which was needed because otherwise it would be ripping through literally everything since it was handed to you as part of your tutorial mission. And even then, it still rips through everything in the early game until you run out of ammo.

It just... good idea, excellent tech demo, but it should never have remained in the beginning of the game as presented.

Also, decided to go Brotherhood route this time because Preston's passive aggressiveness but still whinging about settlements despite not trusting me got on my last nerve. And hey, they may be jackboot stomping caricatures, but they're jackboot stomping caricatures with a big stompy robot that carves a path through most of the Commonwealth. I mean, that's got to count for something. Besides, this checks it off the list of things to do so I don't have to go back and side with them again.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

So... 'beat' the game. Saw the most underwhelming game ending I've ever witnessed. Since I went with a BoS victory, it was a complete stomp, ran through with my X-01 fully upgraded and kitted out Nuka World power armor, using Splattercannon as a tactical semi-auto rifle and OSG as my sniper, with my plasma rifle in shotgun configuration as backup CQB weapon. Put Shawn out of his misery after gloating a bit, dumped the synth kid, because synth and we're BoS here. The whole stompy robot sequence was probably worth the price of admission at least. It had me chuckling a few times.

So, from this playthrough of mostly vanilla FO4 with only 'fixing bethesda's problems' mods installed, I will have this to say:

I actually never really went 'stealth sniper'. I had a gun that could snipe, sort of, but never felt it was all that strong because rarely could you get one shot kills, even with a legendary two-shot combat gun fully upgraded. I suppose if you invest in perks like Sandman it would get better. Also, I didn't lean that heavily into stealth, I just got the third rank so I could get Light Step for Nuka World. I was mostly a CQB kinda guy, stepping up and shooting down. Once I progressed in Far Harbor, I was rockin' a full suit of Marine Armor over Ballistic Weave clothing and Ballistic Weave hat. Made me sad that I would be leaving so much defense on the table if I wore the Marine Helmet and Skinsuit. But I guess that's what mods are for.

The Good

* Power Armor feels like goddamn power armor for once! One of my biggest problems in New Vegas is that it just didn't... feel appropriately stompy. It didn't feel all that much safer either. Leaning into the Light Armor perks seemed a no-brainer in New Vegas. This game, however, actually makes me look at power armor and go 'Oohhh... shiny!'. Never did hang out much with the Atom Cats, maybe need to do that next time, get some sprays for my ride.

* The gun modding system in general. The framework here as presented is really quite good, I like it a lot. Maybe not the results always, but I suppose that's what mods are for. I really like that you can go with a Reflex Sight for your CQB weapons as distinct from the scope for sniping tools, and it makes sense in each case how they function. It's a rare case of Bethesda actually having a good idea. A vast improvement from New Vegas's weapon modding system, even with WMX.

* The crafting system in general. As with the gun modding system, it presents a very robust crafting system with a number of stations that aren't particularly difficult to obtain or at least gain control over. It's an improvement over New Vegas, and is a good framework to mod on top of. It gives plenty of early game healing options as well as late game buffs. In some cases, perhaps tuned a bit too well, if you know how to exploit the system, but we'll get into that below.

* There are certain areas which are perfect Fallout vibes. Goodneighbor in general just feels right as a Fallout-verse post-apocalyptic generally welcoming town who is tolerant with nonhuman sapients who are willing to play nice. And honestly, Diamond City is a great city. It makes sense that Fenway Park would be easily reinforced to make a good living space. Places like Greygarden are also great, you've got Mr Handy/Ms Nanny bots doing what they've been doing since the fall happened, which is great, and all those robots are capable of fending off normal raiders. Granted, there's a lot of areas that don't fit, but there's more than I thought that do. Taken independently and without context, they're great places.

* Graphics got a brush-up from FO3/NV. I mean, it had *better*, given the time difference. And while there's still a LOT of jank involved (more on that below), it's a world I can game in.

* Dogmeat is Best Boi. I literally ignored any other companion unless they were literally forced upon me. Ironically, I never got the Attack Dog perks. Did get Lone Wanderer, since Dogmeat doesn't count as a follower and as such its perks still work.

The Meh

* The majority of the map. I mean, I wasn't expecting much from a Fallout game, and it did not exceed my expectations. Outside of some really cool areas, most of it is boring, repetitive, and uninteresting full of generic raiders/super mutants/critters to mindlessly kill. I mean, I'm not disappointed here, but I'm not giving more marks than this for what I got either.

* Animations could definitely be better. Fortunately, from what I hear, There's A Mod For That(tm).

* VATS. Half the perks in the tree need you to use it for it to do anything. This makes me sad. I consider VATS to be more of a crutch than a playstyle. Obviously, Bethesda disagrees. I do like how VATS just puts everything into Slo-Mo instead of pausing the game. But everything else about it is just... it's a feature I didn't want, and they went and leaned into it even more.

* Power Armor being available right out of the gate. LIke, Power Armor is cool and all, but you know what would make it even cooler? If you didn't have it as an option in the earliest part of the game, rendering any armor decisions entirely moot and pointless, as well as making Corvega a complete non-threat. Maybe even have your first suit of Power Armor come from the Brotherhood, like in previous games. I get that your character was active duty military already trained in power armor (male was a line soldier, female was JAG) so you don't need them to train you, but I feel making Power Armor more rare would make it more special and keep the vibe of seeing someone in power armor equates to Pucker Factor Twelve. Which also gives you a reason to give Danse the time of day. Consider Nuka-World DLC. For all its many sins, the two suits of power armor it offers are both behind substantial locks. One needs power recovered in the bottling factory, the other needs every single star core recovered. That's the kind of rarity that makes power armor feel awesome. In my next playthrough, I will certainly be ignoring the initial power armor offered and dealing with the Deathclaw in my own way.

* Some of the crafting recipes. Like... Vegetable Starch. Once you are aware of this recipe, the only thing you should ever grow for crops are Tatos, Corn, and Mutfruit. Then again, I suppose it was necessary given how much Adhesive you go through trying to keep up with the power curve and keeping your weapons up to date with the latest mods. Cutting Fluid is another one that is necessary, given how much oil is needed if you decide to get into power armor tweaking.

The Bad

* The Plot. We've gone over this before, I won't belabor the point.

* Game Balance on a fundamental level is whack. Like, it's not a multiplayer experience so I don't expect a tightly balanced game, but good lord is it egregious at points. And Bethesda's only way of acknowledging power spikes is just to boost damage and health numbers on everything you run into in the most boring 'fake difficulty' BS I've encountered in any major franchise. If I were to make ONE mod, it would definitely be to at least bring the firearms into some semblance of balance.

* Legendary affixes. I got precisely *ONE* legendary affix I ever used in the entire game, and that was off of a specific unique weapon guaranteed to be in a vendor's inventory. In particular, there were no legendary affixes on armor that at any point in my playthrough I was like 'oh, that looks pretty cool' on anything I would ever try to wear. Fortunately, I hear there's a Mod For That as well.

* The Quests, or the vast majority of them. As with Plot, we've gone over this before, so moving on. One thing that really burns me is the quest on the USS Constitution actually *HAS* an extra option if you have Scavenger. The potential was THERE, they just NEVER USED IT! Just... aarrrrrrrrghblargle. Exceptions being things like the Silver Shroud questline which are actually well written. I'll even give the Mechanist DLC points for having a villain that had a legitimate reason to have a heel-face-turn.

* Stability, engine optimization, and extreme lack thereof. Like, fix your damn game engine already, Bethesda. Either that or find one that isn't broken.

All told... I actually enjoyed my experience, as long as I could completely and totally ignore the discontinuity of the main plot and disengage from the seriousness the plot presents itself as in order to enjoy the actual game itself. Which can be hard to do at times when the protagonist is whining SHAWWWWWWWWN every five minutes if you talk to the wrong people, but I managed.

Headcannon for my next run is going to be 'Yea, wife and kid are both dead, there's no way my kid is still alive at this point. So let's move on to good ol' fashioned Revenge Plot. Which means gearing up, because whomever put this chucklehead up to the job has enough resources to field teams of specialists. So, let's get started'. This gives me a lot more narrative room to actually explore the Commonwealth, and makes a good deal of sense. It also predisposes our protagonist to be looking for factions to join, because if your opponents can field units of specialists, it'd be real damn handy to have an army of your own to back you up against them.

[Cikomyr2]

Ive been watching Many A True Nerd's lets play of the Frost and Dust mod, and in some way i appreciate the intellectual justification behind the "sanity" mechanic those mods implemented. Its about making taking human life a sacrifice. You cant just walk up to strangers, shoot them in the head and then claim the experience left you the same.

(Sure, making it that the most common mean of handling sanity loss is downing incredible amount of alcohol may not have been the best follow through, but nothing is perfect).

Then i was watching MATN playing Fallout 76, and i realized just how much similarity there is between Frost/Dust and 76. Especially when it comes to storytelling and interaction: you only pick up the remains and legacy of those who precedded you, and you have to figure out their context. But otherwise, the world is just one blank canvas for your murderhobo character to wander in, looting for survival until you stumble on whatever plot exists.

The similarities only highlighted the difference between the games. Where Frost and Dust asked clumsily how an existence predicated on predating other human beings would impact you, Fallout 76 did everything in its power to make sure the question would never even arise.

The solution to the problem of "how can anyone remain sane in the face of so much violence comitted on humans" was "remove the humans".

You cant lose sanity in 76. Go shoot at your heart's content, kill anyone you see, nobody will ever miss you.

Id love it if it turned out the Fallout 76 people were exposed to a hallucinogen that made them perceive all other human beings as Scorchs.

[Spore]

Ive been watching Many A True Nerd's lets play of the Frost and Dust mod, and in some way i appreciate the intellectual justification behind the "sanity" mechanic those mods implemented. Its about making taking human life a sacrifice. You cant just walk up to strangers, shoot them in the head and then claim the experience left you the same.

I have been musing on how Fallout's karma differs so heavily from the real world idea of karma. Bad karma ingame is literally just a pointless counter of evil vs good. I feel if the games push such a karma thing, they should at least have bad things come to bad people. I am not talking about "no one talks to "Evil McVileperson anymore" or "Good Twoshoes gets 50% discount in shops", but rather a result in writing.

It could also mean just tying the Luck stat to your gameplay. Good deeds would give you luck perks and push up your luck stat. Bad deeds would decrease your luck stat, but reap vastly superior material rewards.

Nuke a town? +20.000 caps, a custom endgame item, -1 karma/luck
Kill the dude who wants to nuke the town, and give his assets to the town? Unlock new items in the town shop, +1 karma/luck.
Kill the dude who wants to nuke the town, but repossess his tower instead? Gain income generated every 7 days plus random useables as gifts, no karma.

[Cikomyr2]

I have been musing on how Fallout's karma differs so heavily from the real world idea of karma. Bad karma ingame is literally just a pointless counter of evil vs good. I feel if the games push such a karma thing, they should at least have bad things come to bad people. I am not talking about "no one talks to "Evil McVileperson anymore" or "Good Twoshoes gets 50% discount in shops", but rather a result in writing.

It could also mean just tying the Luck stat to your gameplay. Good deeds would give you luck perks and push up your luck stat. Bad deeds would decrease your luck stat, but reap vastly superior material rewards.

Nuke a town? +20.000 caps, a custom endgame item, -1 karma/luck
Kill the dude who wants to nuke the town, and give his assets to the town? Unlock new items in the town shop, +1 karma/luck.
Kill the dude who wants to nuke the town, but repossess his tower instead? Gain income generated every 7 days plus random useables as gifts, no karma.

That'd be beat. Gameplay impact of Karma. Maybe some perks are karma-locked? Some perks "evolve " when pass certain karma thresholds?

Alternatively, if you dont allow ***people*** to respawn after being killed (only monsters and hazards) you could try and keep track of the % of sapience the player wiped out in the Wasteland..

[Vinyadan]

Id love it if it turned out the Fallout 76 people were exposed to a hallucinogen that made them perceive all other human beings as Scorchs.

That's actually a quest in Oblivion

[Cikomyr2]

That's actually a quest in Oblivion

Fighter guild quest if i remember.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Id love it if it turned out the Fallout 76 people were exposed to a hallucinogen that made them perceive all other human beings as Scorchs.

Wasn't that a vault premise in Fallout 3? The guys who keep shouting 'Gary'?

[Grim Portent]

Wasn't that a vault premise in Fallout 3? The guys who keep shouting 'Gary'?

Nah, that vault's gimmick was being an experimental cloning facility, where they cloned a resident named Gary. Every clone was dangerously psychologically unstable and non-verbal, and as such confined to an observation room. As space ran out they decided to try and kill some of them to make room for more tests, but the clones managed to break out and take over.

Despite only being able to say 'Gary' the clones managed to form a small functional society in the ruins of the vault, with different Garys having different jobs.

I do remember there being a hallucinogenic vault of some sort, but I don't remember the details. Might have been the sound one? With the subliminal messaging making people see and hear things before they all killed each other.