The Forgotten Revolution of Fallout

It appears that Sol Invictus has left his post at Hellmode for Gameranx, where he’s posted an editorial entitled “The Forgotten Revolution of Fallout”. In it, he gives us a brief history lesson for Interplay’s original title before proceeding to explain why Dragon Age: Origins, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and Deus Ex never quite attained the same level of freedom that Fallout did:

These choices already yield more options than anything Dragon Age has to offer, without even touching upon how the possible decisions affect the endgame. Interplay designed the Fallout in 1996, and released it in 1997 — over a decade before Dragon Age saw the light of day.

Against the choices you had as a player a decade ago, RPGs today are miles away from offering the same freedom and lack of narrative restriction as the aforementioned Fallout. Of course, not every game was like this. Fallout was one of two games offering this much freedom. The other was Fallout 2.

Morrowind, a (revolutionary) game, offered a large world and an expansive setting, but the player never had any real choice as to how the story played out. There was the option to venture into any number of dungeons, and to equip one’s party with any number of classes and equipment, but the narrative was always restricted by its linearity. Death was always on the plate for Dagoth Ur.

Deus Ex, another game often touted as revolutionary, featured a multilinear storyline forking at the game’s finale into three separate, yet wholly unfulfilling endings. The choice was cheapened by the fact it happened literally moments before the credits rolled. Players could choose to save the lead character’s brother Paul or let him die, but the option had no bearing on the ending.