Fallout 1 Time Limit
Welcome to my retrospective on Interplay's seminal cRPG Definition of 1997, Fallout 1; this part, covering Fallout's time limit and time-based cRPG reactivity. For those who don't know, Fallout was one of three masterpieces of cRPG History, and I have ranked Fallout as the second best cRPG of all-time.
As it pertains to cRPG Design, Fallout 1 is rated as Well Above Average.
Introduction: Time
We all feel time. Sometimes we feel like we don't have enough of it, especially as we grow older. On the other hand, some people feel bored and time becomes a massive burden to them. We often ask ourselves how we should spend our time, when we should really be asking ourselves how we can best use it.
Hah! I'm only mucking around...
One of these rarities -- in which the passage of time is integral to the campaign -- is found in Interplay's Fallout.
Fallout Time Limit: Find the Water Chip
In Fallout 1, there is a time limit to find the water chip for Vault 13. This timed quest represents the first of two main phases of the campaign. The quest is given to us by the Overseer of Vault 13, during the opening FMV. The situation is grave:
Ah! You're here. Good. We've gotta problem. A big one. The controller chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost. We can't make another one, and the process is too complicated for a workaround system. Simply put, we're running out of drinking water. No water, no Vault. This is crucial to our survival, and frankly, I... I think you're the only hope we have. You need to go find us another controller chip. We estimate we have four to five months before the Vault runs out of water. We. Need. That. Chip. We marked your map with the location of another Vault. Not a bad place to start, I think. Look, just be safe, ok? - The Overseer of Vault 13.
tl;dr:
The Vault Dweller (the protagonist) exits Vault 13 to arrive in a tunnel system that leads out to the Wasteland overworld.
We check the status of our Pip-Boy 2000: we have 150 days to find the water chip and deliver it to Vault 13, before everyone dwelling in it dies of dehydration.
If we "fail" to visit Necropolis before 110 days have passed, Set and his ghouls will have been invaded and slaughtered by a super mutant force, and we miss out on some quality content.
This is a prime example of how the landscape of the Wasteland changes over time. It blew me away when I first discovered it. Not just that, but it was cool to have another way into the Military Base, all those leagues away. We don't see much of this in cRPGs, past or present.
These are presented as FMVs that cut in as we play. Such quality of presentation, still holding up after all these years.
Assuming the player is attentive and acting logically on various leads that point to possible locations of the water chip, the time limit of 150 days is more than enough to complete most content in the campaign -- including side quests and a bit of aimless wandering -- but new players won't know that. Thus, they will feel a sense of urgency. And even completionist veterans who average 70-80 day campaigns always have the time limit in the back of their minds.
Burning Time on the Fallout Overworld
The lead given by the Overseer is Vault 15, several "squares" to the east. This represents about a ten-day hike, so we can see how time is a factor already -- especially since some players will return to the Overseer in an attempt to inform him that the water chip is NOT in Vault 15.
- Left circle: Vault 13 (where we start)
- Center circle: Shady Sands (the first "hub" of the campaign. It's important for initial questing and picking up our first companion who can mark Junktown and The Hub on our map, but it's not important in regards to the plot critical path.)
- Right circle: Vault 15
Now, let's put the Wasteland into perspective. This is the world map in its entirety, showing the locations the player can visit in their search of the water chip. When we compare the above journey with the distances shown below, we can see that it's going to burn a fair bit of time getting to these places let alone moving back and forth between them. However, we are basically focused on the northeastern quadrant of the map.
We want to keep backtracking to a minimum because travelling on the world map is by far the most time-consuming activity. It's also worth noting here that speed of movement is affected by terrain (i.e, it may be quicker to go around a mountain range than over it). The Pathfinder perk also reduces world map travel time by 25% per rank.
World map manually extracted, converted and annotated by Lilura1:
The Hub is a necessary visit because it gives us two leads that pinpoint the location of the water chip, which turns out to be a vault under the ghoul-inhabited Necropolis.
Necropolis Time Limit in Fallout
If we "fail" to visit Necropolis before 110 days have passed, Set and his ghouls will have been invaded and slaughtered by a super mutant force, and we miss out on some quality content.
This is a prime example of how the landscape of the Wasteland changes over time. It blew me away when I first discovered it. Not just that, but it was cool to have another way into the Military Base, all those leagues away. We don't see much of this in cRPGs, past or present.
Fallout Time Limit Reminder
As time runs down the player receives messages from their RemindBoy; namely:
- Water supplies running low in Vault 13. Find the water chip quickly. (50 day mark);
- Water supplies near gone in Vault 13. Situation critical. (100 day mark); and finally:
- Water supplies exhausted. Vault 13 dead. Mission over. (150 day mark = GAME OVER, back to main menu.)
Time Limit Extension in Fallout
Yeah, I'm not really a fan of the time limit extension. Upon reaching The Hub we can pay the water merchant to transport water supplies to Vault 13, thereby giving us an extra 100 days to find the water chip. This is a real luxury, actually. Too generous a time limit. Still, it's possible many players won't even find the merchants -- I didn't on my first run.
Fallout 1 Super Mutant Invasion Time Limit: 500 Days
There was a time limit that Interplay removed in the patch: that of completing Fallout 1 within 500 days or there would be a super mutant invasion on Vault 13! It's a pity they removed this because it's a logical consequence of the campaign. The invasion can now only be caused by revealing the location of the Vault to the enemy, which is not timed reactivity.
There are quite a few quests and other landscape changes that are based on time limits. The most famous is when Tandi gets kidnapped by the raiders a couple of days after we leave Shady Sands.
Fallout 13 Year Time Limit
The 13 year time limit for the entire campaign of Fallout is just a technical limit put in place by the coders. Players should not be concerned with it at all. If we manage to exhaust it nothing special happens; we're just presented with a game-over screen and that's it.
Other Ways Time Passes in Fallout
Aside from travelling on the world map there are other time-burning factors to take into consideration.
- Using medical skills and studying textbooks to skill up eats an hour each time.
- Waiting until a certain time of day, obviously.
- Resting Until Healed can burn significant time (use stimpaks).
- Some quests can time-lapse you; f.e, Refugee Irwin's quest (.223!) eats two days and one plot-critical journey can eat two weeks.
- Caravan runs go from hub to hub and can take a couple days, though they are much quicker than hiking to the destination.
- Brotherhood operations (for +stats) take up to 3 weeks to perform.
It is important to keep the above in mind as we play.
I've always loved the time limits in Fallout, even though they're not perfect. I don't get why people complain about them because they add a layer of depth and urgency to the campaign, giving it a sense of pacing that it otherwise might not have. Fallout's pacing is impeccable.
And this concludes Time in Fallout.
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Really nice retrospect and appreciation of the classics. Was thinking about revisiting this game recently and stumbled over this, well done.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found this readable, Steiner. Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 deserve multi-part retrospectives.
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