This is the big day! The day I posted Buttons' first character sheet a decade ago! I wanted to thank you for sticking around and helping me develop him and Meg during these last 10 years by putting together this quick lil recap website. Hope you like it!

That's a difficult one to answer and I'm not sure I have the authority to do it lol

But I'll try!

The Fallout fandom is fairly complicated due to the IP being passed around and the lore/values of its storytelling being muddied over the years. That being said I think both old-school and new fans would still agree that the story is the most important element, as they're meant to be role playing games where you make decisions on often heavy matters (especially in the games of the original devs).

Fallout 1 and 2 are turn-based isometric rpg-s from the late 90s. If you like that type of gameplay, they're fantastic games and cult classics. They don't shy away from heavy themes.

Then the IP got sold to Bethesda and their version of Fallout is a FPS/TPS action experience, as seen in Fallout 3 and 4. The combat is fun but even the newest game is shit by shooter standards. If you played an Elder Scrolls game (like Skyrim), they're like that but set in a retro futuristic post apocalypse. A large slice of the fandom has only played these ones and skipped the original turn-based games.

Fallout New Vegas was made by the original team but using Bethesda's engine. Many fans would tell you that out of the modern titles, that's the one with the best writing.

Fallout 4 was a very popular title due to the scrap and build system. As you adventure, you can scavenge all sorts of trash and then build your own little settlements in the wasteland and populate them with settlers. Add mods to that, and the community really did some magic. It made people connect with the world of Fallout on a personal level.

The story in a nutshell: in an alternate timeline, survivors of a devastating nuclear war are trying to rebuild and make the irradiated wasteland of the United States liveable again but every group and faction has a different take on how society should be rebuilt. When the writing is done well, your choices have weight and it's impossible to be fair and please everyone. You get to discover a variety of different factors that lead to the Great War and you have to wager whether humanity is doomed to make the same mistakes all over again. Is there a way to avoid them? What kind of sacrifices does that require? Etc.

A lot of it is supposed to be a critical look at war, 50s Americana and the dangers of nationalism, rampant consumerism, xenophobia, etc.

Hope this helped a little! It's difficult to find two Fallout fans who are on the exact same opinion of all the games. I personally think, the fun part of the games is when you get to carve a little slice out of the wasteland for yourself and your community and the stimulating part is the overarching story and lore.

It's no wonder the original writers made The Outer Worlds too, which I don't consider a legendary game but the similarities are obvious in the themes.

Depends on how deep you want to get into it, I guess? If they're available on Xbox and you are up for the original turn-based games, I would start with that. Don't let anyone tell you that they're unenjoyable, I played through the original Fallout in 2020 and had a BLAST! So in that case I would go Fallout -> Fallout 2 (I still gotta play this but I keep putting it off because I know I'll be too into it) -> Fallout 3 -> Fallout New Vegas (still gotta finish this myself, might just start over) -> Fallout 4 The latter 3 also have DLC-s you should get, especially for Fo3 and NV.

I've seen people recommend new fans to start with Fo4 and work their way back, I'm not sure why... Playing Fo3 right after Skyrim really showed its age, and the difference is even larger between Fo3 and Fo4. I think it's easier to start with the less intuitive titles and better to start with the original vision but I understand turn-based stuff is not everyone's cup of tea (no I don't, look at how successful Baldur's Gate 3 is and Act 3 was a PILE OF BUGS!). There's also Fallout Tactics as part of the old games but ehh I think it's one of those titles most fans don't count as canon. (Except my ex, who for some reason? thought it was the best shit) And we don't talk about Fallout Brotherhood of Steel. I think you couldn't play that one even if you wanted to, probably for the best. I can't say I recommend Fallout 76, perhaps if you don't have more Fallout content left to consume and you don't mind nonsense lore stuff and just want to hang out with your friends. I have it but I can't say it brings me more joy than idk... Rust. It's just surface level Fallout for me.

This is just my personal take obviously, feel free to ask other fans.

Because for 20+ years he thought his life was going in a certain direction and he was looking forward to a slightly meaningless but comfortable existence where he has to make 0 decisions and he will be taken care of forever

but now he's in a world that doesn't care if he lives or dies (it is actively trying to kill him actually), there are no rules, no justice, only hardship after hardship and fight for survival. Now he has killed people, hurt people, ruined lives and seen the worst humanity has to offer. His whole world crumbled, there is no going back and rebuilding who he was or what he expected from a future he was promised, even if he found more meaning and love on the surface than he ever had in the Vault.

As far as GTA/modern AU Buttons goes, he's just sad that his boss doesn't want to bone him.

I'm on my first playthrough and I've been doing SO BAD with investigation that I almost completely missed that dude. I keep thinking that certain areas are off limits and I will be attacked if I go there so I didn't investigate most of the goblin camp/Moonrise Towers until the final confrontation. I just keep kicking the asses of all these named characters who I assume I am supposed to know but I don't <_<

Anyway, I already massacred everyone in the goblin camp when I found Abdirak and he was literally walking out of his room like "holy shit everyone is dead I better leg it" so yeah that was my only experience with him.

Btw the cutscenes in this game are... interesting

It is I

Promise this isn't an April Fools thing lol

I had a chance to try some @huiontablet products for the first time! This is my review + the usual speeddraw on the side. You can find the finished drawing here!

Cate Archer from No One Lives Forever If you want to see the drawing process, check out my Huion Kamvas 22 Plus review video!

It's my 12 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳