Ranting on Fallout 3 “endings”
So I finally finished Fallout 3 last night. My final thoughts?
“Is that it?”
Wow, talk about underwhelming. I don’t care so much about my character dying in the end. I know some sites and many gamers have complained about the ending feeling that they had a proverbial gun pointed at their head when they were asked to make the decision about entering the airlock chamber alone. No, I don’t mind dying. I’ve played enough JRPGs and watched enough anime/movies where the hero sacrifices himself for the betterment of humankind and his loved ones. I was kinda expecting this kind of ending.
What I’m more upset about is that the ending feels disappointingly shallow.
All the sidemissions and accomplishments that I did felt inconsequential. Yes, I got some nice loot and perks from completing the missions, but I don’t really know what happens to the characters long after I’m gone and left for the giant vault in the sky. I’ve never played the first Fallout game and its sequel, but I am familiar that at the end of the game, you are informed of what happened to the communities and characters that you’ve interacted with. There’s a real sense of closure, and that you had truly affected peoples’ lives.
In Fallout 3, despite all the side quests that I’ve completed (pretty much all of them except for one, which required me to enslave some people), the only acknowledgement of my deeds is a couple pictures of the restoration of Abe Lincoln’s statue for the “Head of State” quest. That’s it. No word about what happened to the freed slaves in the end, or what happened to their community. For all I know, they could have become slavers themselves. Does the runaway android live a happy life? Is Agatha’s music legacy preserved? Does Big Town remain safe and harmonious? Will Oasis remain an oasis? Who knows? Perhaps Bethesda knows, but they aren’t telling.
What irks me most is that Bethesda has crafted these compelling background stories and interesting characters to get emotionally invested in, yet we get nary a whimper about their fates at the end. So when the game reels through the credits, it didn’t feel so much like my character had any effect on their lives at all. You’re left with the impression that they are soulless NPCs in an MMORPG, forever drolly rolling out requests to any passing mercenary to help them whack 200 furry bunnies for their pelt skins.
Fallout 3 is still a smashing good game. I’ve enjoyed the dozens and dozens of hours that I’ve put into the game, finding new areas, encountering new characters, and killing enemies in slo-mo. It’s just a pity that the ending gives so little closure, something that you would expect in a game which requires a player to invest hours of their time, but only gives generalized endings a few minutes long.
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