I Prefer ‘Fallout: New California’ Over ‘Fallout 76'!
I am a dedicated fan of the Fallout video game franchise. Fallout 4 left me awe-stricken because of its visuals as well as the additions made to Bethesda’s gameplay mechanics. And then came Fallout 76, which I really wanted to believe was going to be a story-oriented single-player game just like its many previous titles. Since before the release of Fallout 4, Bethesda had blackballed Kotaku from making any more articles or leak reveals regarding the Fallout franchise. Kotaku persisted and revealed a leak from Fallout 76 saying that it was going to be an MMORPG. Why Bethesda did not sue anyone after having already blackballed these people, I do not know. I wanted to believe those rumors to be false and called Jason Schreier a liar who was deliberately sabotaging the franchise’s fanbase and spreading fear and paranoia among the gamer community. However, in the end, I was wrong on all accounts. The rumors turned out to be true. Fallout 76 is a multiplayer game that, according to what I see from other players playing the game from beta to final release, does not possess the amount of potential that the other games have. The game also came out as broken; and Bethesda, a once glorious video game company, became greedy and turned to monetization by giving the game microtransations. There was also the Power Armor Edition, in which Bethesda was acting as a bunch of cheapskates over a duffel bag. I was slowly being tempted by the graphics, visuals, world map size, and even their take on John Denver’s song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Heck, even Ron Perlman comes back to the franchise after being reduced to a cameo in Fallout 4’s prologue. But sadly, I must decline. I am not into multiplayer, mostly because everyone I meet in multiplayer from any game is a childishly competitive bully. Single-player is my preference. While playing a video game, I get along better with NPCs than I do with other players. Players have free will, which means they have the freedom of being assholes. NPCs have no free will, because they are programmed and scripted. When I say that I don’t fight fair nor play well with others, I am actually referring to their definitions of those terms. In addition to my dislike towards Fallout 76, they messed with the Fallout lore.
Video game mods are generally not canon to the games that they are built for, and that includes mods that are story-based. Regardless of that notion, there is one Fallout: New Vegas mod that I have developed an interest in. While looking at this year as a bit disappointing for the Fallout series, I decided to cast out my negativity by playing Fallout: New California. No, not the board game made by Bethesda.
Fallout: New California is a mod that acts as a prequel to Fallout: New Vegas. Instead of it being a mod that increases the exploration size of the Mojave Wasteland like most other mods have in the past, this mod literally contains a separate story campaign. It is almost as if you are playing an entirely different Fallout game. It even has its own setting in terms of story, time, characters, and location. Some of you may know of this mod as Project Brazil, which was the name of the alpha version released back in 2013. For now, Fallout: New California is a beta. The mod’s overall story quests are finished. What remains to be under maintenance are certain bugs and unfinished miscellaneous quests, which in the future will provide several more hours of content. After the release of the beta on October 23 of this year, the lead modder had feared that Todd Howard and the rest of Bethesda Game Studio was going to sue and take the mod down, given their history of being so sensitively overprotective of their franchise. However, they have decided to allow the mod to exist.
Fallout 76 alone is a prequel, taking place prior to the events of the very first game. Having a single-player prequel would have made the game’s anticipation much more appealing like that of Fallout: New California; but with it being multiplayer, there is not much story in it despite Todd Howard’s defense.
Word of caution, if you wish to read this article any further, be warned that there will be spoilers for anyone who hasn’t played the mod. If you don’t want to see what spoilers I have written and want to explore the mod for yourself, you are free to leave.
This following section contains spoilers!
Since you are still here, I shall begin discussing the mod.
The story itself does not contradict the Fallout lore in any way, but in fact gives respect to it in a rather unique way. It is set 19 years after the events of Fallout 2 and 21 years prior to the events of Fallout: New Vegas. The location of the story is a post-apocalyptic San Bernardino Cajon Pass, or simply known as the Pass, within the wastelands of California (or New California) from the first two games. You play as a vault dweller from Vault 18. The vault itself is secretly, and outside of the Overseer’s knowledge, turned into an Enclave training outpost. The vault starts suffering from a mutiny led by Colonel John Bragg, and you are left with two choices: to help your fellow vault dwellers in escaping the vault or to side with the Enclave thus leading all of the other vault dwellers to their deaths.
Now, your character is no ordinary vault dweller. Much like the Lone Wanderer in Fallout 3, the Star Player was born outside of his vault. There are many mysteries surrounding his past, and the story of this mod is about the Star Player finding out who he or she is and where they come from. The truth has a very interesting reveal. As I said, Fallout: New California is not official to the Fallout lore; but it does have some elements that greatly appeal to the first two games as well as the third. The Star Player is a clone of the Vault Dweller, the protagonist from the first game, with superhuman abilities such as fast healing. These abilities, of course, do not show themselves in the gameplay, so I found other mods to play with such as a health regeneration mod. It made more sense to have it like that. What makes the mod even more interesting is its many endings based on which faction you choose to side with. Turns out, Fallout: New California is actually a fan-made backstory for the Courier from Fallout: New Vegas. That’s right, the Star Player is the Courier. While some people find this story to be damaging for the players to use their imagination on what kind of character they wish to play for the Courier, I find that it makes the Courier’s life even more interesting. If no one was interested in playing Fallout: New California, then the start of the game will have you choose to either start with the mod or Fallout: New Vegas.
It is perhaps no coincidence that this mod was released one month prior to the final release of Fallout 76. With players losing hope of a single-player Fallout story, these modders have provided everyone with one. With the fact that it’s a beta, it is far from being perfect. It is extremely tough to play since there aren’t a lot of miscellaneous quests for leveling up your character before moving on to the finale. A lot of times, you’re going to die. Also, it is not very mod friendly. Only certain mods can work without causing technical problems.
Final Note
Since the release of Fallout 76, Bethesda has become a laughing stock to the whole video gaming industry controversy after controversy. Could they have made a Fallout game like the mod Fallout: New California? I believe they have the means to do so but choose not to. For anyone who hates Fallout 76, I highly recommend this mod. It will not disappoint.