They brought Fallout to a more modern audience with 3, making it fully 3D and putting you right into the action. Imo, if the series has stayed isometric, most people would have forgotten about it after Tactics. It's just the natural evolution of games.

[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago

It’s just the natural evolution of games.

Lol no.

The indie market isn't drowning in fully 3D games, is it?

If Bethesda hadn’t taken up Fallout, it would have been forgotten in the dirt with Brotherhood of Steel, or Van Buren.

Probably. But it also wouldn't have had Bethesda's cack-handed interpretation of the setting. It's why I'm enjoying the TV show - they seem to get basic stuff like "the Brotherhood of Steel are not The Good Guys - they're more complex than that" and "Fallout doesn't need super mutants to be Fallout".

I'm not surprised that making the setting more simplistic, switching genre, and ploughing an enormous advertising budget into it resulted in better sales. The games weren't bad, but Fallout 1 and 2 were great.

To compare it to other mediums - what's most popular tends to be blander but the things that try their own thing have the most loyal fans. People were queuing up to watch the various Avengers films but you don't meet many people who watch a lot of movies who would say they're their favourite films. They'll usually be fans of something that appeals to their sensibilities but didn't set the world on fire when they came out.

Crucially I don't want you to think I hate the Bethesda games. I don't. However it never felt to me like they "got it". They're more theme parks than interactive narratives. I'm glad lots of people get to enjoy them but they don't hold a candle to the first two - in my opinion.