History Fallout4 / TropesDToI

* TheDreaded: The Boston Commons is home to a particularly dangerous Super Mutant named "Swan", for the swan-shaped boat it wears as armor. Signs litter the surrounding area warning of Swan, as well as the corpses of those who failed to heed the warnings. Companions will nervously comment on entering the Commons for fear of attracting Swan's attention. The Railroad has marked the area with a sign typically reserved for areas with heavy Institute Synth activity. Even Raiders dare not enter, and will flee rather than chase you into the Commons, sometimes saying that they'll let Swan deal with you.

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: ''Fallout 4'' generally assigns specific dialog choice-types to designated areas of the interface: Kind choices on the bottom, HowDoIShotWeb inquiries to the top, snark to the left and hostility to the right. The final choice presented by Doctor Chambers at the end of "Human Error" actually swaps the compassionate and pragmatic options around. If the player is trying to advance through the dialog and isn't careful, they can end up [[spoiler: condoning the [=SAFE=] Test when they're trying to oppose it, earning Honest Dan's ire]].

* DamnYouMuscleMemory: ''Fallout 4'' generally assigns specific dialog choice-types to designated areas of the interface: Kind choices on the bottom, HowDoIShowWeb inquiries to the top, snark to the left and hostility to the right. The final choice presented by Doctor Chambers at the end of "Human Error" actually swaps the compassionate and pragmatic options around. If the player is trying to advance through the dialog and isn't careful, they can end up [[spoiler: condoning the [=SAFE=] Test when they're trying to oppose it, earning Honest Dan's ire]].

* {{Feelies}}: Boxed copies come with a poster and a reversible cover. The poster shows the perk chart. The flip side of the cover is a panorama of the female Sole Survivor and Dogmeat near a Red Rocket Truck Stop.

** In Survival mode, VATS semi randomly locks the game up completely - "if the [=Player.EquipItem()=] function is called while in VATS it will cause the game to freeze up". Seven years after release, there is still no patch; you need to download a couple of mods (VATS freeze fix + Depth of Field) or disable VATS (remove the key so you don't accidentally press it) if you want to play Survival mode.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: As part of the general effort to [[WhatMeasureIsAMook humanize Raiders]], they can be seen caring for each other as a close team, and one terminal indicates that one of the Raider bosses, Red Tourette, genuinely loves her sister, Lily...too bad she was [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace accidentally killed by her kidnapper, Tower Tom]]. Oh, and then, in a sense, there's [[spoiler:your son Shaun/Father, [[BigBad the leader]] of the Institute.]]

** Tessa, one of the Gunners responsible for the Quincy Massacre, has feelings for Baker (another high ranking Gunner in Quincy). Her last terminal log ends with her pointing out how she CannotSpitItOut.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: In one random encounter it's possible to find 3 dead Raiders, one of them carries an "Intervention Note" mentioning how they're worried about their buddy Hank eating a mysterious pink "food paste" that made him aggressive. Apparently Hank shot some "runners" during a raid on a farm, and the other Raider mentions in the letter that they're "better than that" and don't shoot fleeing people.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: A ''nuclear'' Pinto! It's very possible to inadvertently set off a chain reaction of exploding fusion-powered cars if you or your enemies are careless around them.

* EverybodysDeadDave: The protagonist awakens from a 210 year long cryogenic hibernation to find the world a blasted ruin, with everybody they knew either dead (from natural causes or otherwise) or horribly mutated.

* EvilPaysBetter: The Raiders who inhabit Libertalia have a computer terminal containing logs from their leader. It turns out [[TheRemnant they're what remains]] of a [[FallenHero band of ex-Minutemen]] who tried to create a peaceful settlement there by trading and hiring out their services to local caravans and Bunker Hill. One log entry tells of how the leader hung two of his men for raiding a caravan for food when they were desperately running low. The penultimate log reveals that the caravans no longer trust the ex-Minutemen and keep stiffing them on deals for food. The final log triumphantly tells of how the group is now getting all the food they need by [[{{Hypocrite}} attacking the caravans]], or [[ShameIfSomethingHappened being paid to leave them alone]]. The leader says in his log that the caravans refer to his group (who were once defenders of the Commonwealth) as [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen "Raiders"]] now. Since he decided [[VillainHasAPoint principles are worthless to a starving man]], [[IgnoredEpiphany he doesn't even care anymore]], but [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone still feels guilty]] when thinking about the shame this would have brought to his General.

* InterfaceSpoiler: Many players use this as a feature, not a bug: habitually clicking VATS as you wander about will alert you to landmines and to feral ghouls that are playing dead, especially useful when these are hidden in rubble / long grass, or have clipped into the terrain. [[note]] This doesn't work for everything - some ghouls are "properly" hidden, and some IEDs have scripted / specific (e.g. door-based) triggers, meaning they do not show up on VATS. Therefore some traps are much more dangerous than others. [[/note]]

** Arthur Maxson - the [[UsedToBeASweetKid timid kid]] from ''Fallout 3'' who liked writing stories and had a crush on Sarah Lyons - grew up into a [[AFatherToHisMen charismatic]] yet [[PrinciplesZealot fanatical demagogue]], leading the Brotherhood of Steel on a crusade to [[FantasticRacism cleanse the Wasteland of "abominations"]], including Synths, Feral Ghouls, and Super Mutants.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: During the quest "When Freedom Calls", the player is tasked to eliminate Raiders from Concord. After beating them and their leader, a huge Deathclaw appears from nowhere and attacks the player, serving as the "boss" of the area. There's only vague foreshadowing about it (with Mama Murphy saying that "There's something comin'. And it is...''angry''" and Preston saying that there's "something else outside"). Codsworth will also note that something "big" seems to be sleeping in the Concord maintenance tunnels, should you bring him down there before the actual encounter. Likely justified by the Deathclaw being attracted to the place by the sound of the battle between Preston and the Raiders and is looking for food.

** Really, the following comparison sums it up nicely: While Radroaches are TheGoomba across both games, in ''Fallout 3'', they're introduced as literal targets for the Lone Wanderer to shoot at with their BB gun as a child, and are only threatening to unarmed civilians like Butch [=DeLoria's=] mother. In contrast, Radroaches are introduced in ''Fallout 4'' as scavengers in the ruins of Vault 111 who can inflict ''radiation poisoning'' with their bites, and the Sole Survivor reacts with genuine horror and revulsion upon seeing them for the first time.

** In Survival mode, VATS semi randomly locks the game up completely - "if the Player.EquipItem() function is called while in VATS it will cause the game to freeze up". Seven years after release, there is still no patch; you need to download a couple of mods (VATS freeze fix + Depth of Field) or disable VATS (remove the key so you don't accidentally press it) if you want to play Survival mode.

** Paladin Danse claims that air superiority will give the Brotherhood the edge they need to fight the Institute. Vertibirds in-game are primarily [[ArmoredCoffins flying deathtraps]] that can be and often are shot down quite easily with small-arms fire, to an extent it's become [[MemeticMutation memetic]].[[note]]This primarily occurs because enemies with firearms tend to target the ''pilots'' of Vertibirds when engaging one in combat, possibly justifying why they frequently are knocked out of the sky. It's when the armored Knights aboard dismount and fight that the Brotherhood's strength is shown.[[/note]]

** Even after [[spoiler:Curie is downloaded into a Synth body]], most atmospheric comments from various [=NPCs=] (i.e., the Diamond City Guards and Neighborhood Watch in Goodneighbor) will still act like [[spoiler:she's a Miss Nanny]]. Similarly, [[spoiler:most of Paladin Danse's dialogue doesn't update to acknowledge him having been exiled from the Brotherhood due to being a Synth if he's kept alive after "Blind Betrayal."]]

* HollywoodSilencer: Returning from ''Fallout 3'' and ''Fallout New Vegas'', but in addition the heavy sniper rifles that you could suppress in ''New Vegas'', you can now add suppressors to the combat shotgun and (oddly enough) the pipe revolver. The silencer that the [[AceCustom Deliverer]] comes as-is with even has the classic *POOT* sound instead of the more modern muffled click. That said, they are more realistic than previous incarnations, as even on the quietest guns they don't completely silence the sound of the bullet and enemies will still become alerted by a near miss or you firing near them. [[ShownTheirWork Suppressors also notably reduce the gun's recoil]], a trait of suppressors that most works of fiction ignore.

** Fallout 4 features NVIDIA FleX to create debris from shots hitting surfaces. Unfortunately NVIDIA has deprecated those features and no longer supports them on newer cards. Attempting to play with a 2xxx series card or later and with weapon debris turned on is highly likely to lead to a crash to desktop within minutes. If starting a new game, you can't even finish the prologue! You will crash as you pass the couple fighting over a suitcase.

** Fred O'Connell exists both as a living NPC trader (random encounter), and as the corpse of a trader, near Coventry. If you follow the living version, he can walk past his own corpse.

* DeathbringerTheAdorable: [[invoked]] The ''Far Harbor'' DLC has [[spoiler:[[JokeCharacter the Red Death]], who's hyped up as a terrifyingly powerful sea monster, only to actually be an incredibly tiny, weak and [[UglyCute adorable]] Mirelurk with inexplicable glowing eyes.]]

** [[invoked]] All of your companions ([[spoiler:with the sole exception of Danse and X6-88, and that's because they can't be at the Railroad HQ at this point for story reasons]]) will be [[DudeNotFunny furious at the Sole Survivor for being sarcastic]] when trying to [[spoiler: comfort [[VasquezAlwaysDies Glory]] as she dies after helping [[YouShallNotPass halt]] the Brotherhood's raid on the Railroad HQ]].

* EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture: [[invoked]] In contrast to the Brotherhood of Steel, which has been mostly just ''salvaging'' old tech and so has a very {{Diesel Punk}} styling, the Institute has been busily researching new tech ever since the bombs fell. Their Synths and Institute Laser Guns look sleek, white and plasticky compared to the boxy chrome and steel of Pre-War laser weapons and robots, and their entire facility looks like something out of ''Film/LogansRun''.
** [[invoked]] The In-Universe reason for averting EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture in the ''Fallout'' series is because the worldwide petrol shortage has made the manufacturing of commercial plastics incredibly expensive, hence why nearly every weapon has a wood or metal stock (as opposed to a carbon one), every home device is made of metal, and everything generally looks like the pre-plastic world. There are only a handful of junk items (inexplicably a bread box and salt and pepper shakers) that are plastic, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality but this was for gameplay balancing reasons]], since energy weapons require plastic to modify, so it must be found in at least ''some'' scrappable objects. Meanwhile, you can visit Cambridge Polymer Labs, where attempts were being made to synthesize alternative plastics out of some kind of radioactive material. [[FridgeBrilliance It's likely that]] the Institute learned how to reverse-engineer those methods to create their [[RaygunGothic new underground society]].
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: All wildlife and most thinking beings in the Commonwealth will try to murder you on sight.

** [[invoked]] When Elder Maxson sends the Sole Survivor to [[spoiler:execute [[TomatoInTheMirror Paladin Danse]] for being a Synth, Danse accepts his fate in the most dignified way possible. He actually ''insists'' they do it and even delivers a SoProudOfYou line [[TearJerker as his last words]] just to give that already mean PlayerPunch some extra kick.]]

** When combined with [[GoodCounterpart Good Counterpart]], the Minutemen are this to the Gunners. [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores The Gunners]] are a group of [[PrivateMilitaryContractors aggressive mercenaries]] and {{Sociopathic Soldier}}s intent on using [[TrainingFromHell extreme military discipline]] to conquer the entire Commonwealth. They're also one of the only factions to have access to Pre-War military tech, being that they mostly use {{Energy Weapon}}s and even have ''Vertibirds'' on their side. [[TheParagon The Commonwealth Minutemen]], in contrast, are a band of [[VigilanteMan heroic militiamen]] and citizen soldiers that want to help unite the Commonwealth together by protecting settlements and laying the groundwork for a new society. They seem to rely mostly on [[HadToBeSharp training their soldiers]], [[ScavengedPunk cobbled-together weapons]], and utilizing [[CombatPragmatist anything they can grab]] when protecting the innocent. It's not that big a surprise that these factions utterly hate each other and are in the midst of a vicious war.
** The Institute serves as another Foil to the Brotherhood of Steel. The Institute replaces racism against Wastelanders with racism against Synths, and is willing to [[PragmaticVillainy incorporate the best into their ranks]].
** There's also a few cases of this among the [[PlayerCharacter Sole Survivor's]] companions.
*** [[invoked]] [[ConsummateProfessional X6-88]] has ''three'' different companions each serving as Foils for him - namely, Paladin Danse, Curie, and Nick Valentine. [[FantasticRacism Paladin]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Danse]] [[GenreBlind focuses on the good parts of his faction]] to the point that [[spoiler: he's completely [[TomatoInTheMirror shocked when he finds out]] he's a Synth]] and is clearly aspiring to be a [[KnightInShiningArmor Knight in Shining Armor]]. [[NoSocialSkills X6-88]] does ''nothing'' to [[KickTheDog soften the actions]] of [[WellIntentionedExtremist the Institute]] and is a remorseless hunter. [[ThePollyanna Curie]] and [[TheCynic X6-88]] are both artificial lifeforms ([[spoiler:she can [[BrainUploading even become a Gen 3 Synth]] like X6-88 in her companion quest]]). However, while [[NiceGirl Curie]] sincerely wants to be seen as a person ([[spoiler:even literally]]), [[PragmaticVillainy X6-88]] makes a point of being as [[DullSurprise cold]] and [[MachineMonotone mechanical]] as possible in spite of looking like an actual human. [[HardboiledDetective Nick]] [[NiceGuy Valentine]] is a [[BodyHorror badly degraded]] Gen 2 Synth and is obviously mechanical from a simple glance, but is a kind soul with a strong sense of morality. [[LackOfEmpathy X6-88]] is a realistically human-looking Synth [[UncannyValley who's clearly]] ''in''human due to his [[JustAMachine behavior]], and [[TheSociopath cannot feel empathy for others]]. It even goes into their respective professions: As a detective, Valentine's most common job is tracking down and [[BigDamnHeroes rescuing]] those who've gone missing. X6-88, as an [[HunterOfHisOwnKind Institute]] [[OneManArmy Courser]], has the job of hunting down Institute Synths and agents who've gone rogue.
*** [[invoked]] [[NiceGuy Preston]] [[BewareTheNiceOnes Garvey]], a member of the [[WeHelpTheHelpless Minuteman]], is a Foil to the [[UndergroundRailroad Railroad]] agent [[DeadpanSnarker Deacon]]. Preston sticks out among the companions as [[OnlySaneMan relatively normal]] and for having a [[OfficerAndAGentleman professional soldier's personality]]. In contrast, Deacon's an utter enigma - in no small part due to his [[ConsummateLiar near-constant lies]] - who [[CloudCuckoolander speaks in a very breezy tone]] and [[SpySpeak uses a lot of lingo]].

** The entire Island in the ''Far Harbor'' DLC is blanketed in a thick irradiated Fog that slowly yet steadily raises your rad count just by standing in it. Pretty much everyone on the Island respects and fears the Fog, and the Children Of Atom even worship it as a holy extension of their god. What makes it truly deadly, however, is the wide array of mutated and deformed creatures that infest it like a plague. If not for the Fog Condenser technology, it's highly likely that humanity would have been forced to leave the Island a ''long'' time ago. Fortunately, the Fog also has a few positive aspects to it as well, such as providing new and potent recipes for the player to craft. [[DeathWorld They will certainly be needed.]]
** In the Commonwealth proper, overcast fog is not dangerous ''per se''... but the things in the deep fog '''are.''' Radiation storms from the Glowing Sea (ground zero of the bomb that ruined Massachusetts) blanket the Commonwealth in a sick, green fog while green lighting strikes and irradiates whatever it touches.

* DeathOfASpouse: There exist many cases of this as the player wanders the wasteland and meets the people having to live there every day in a CrapsackWorld. The most impactful, however, comes from their own family, as the prologue has the Sole Survivor forced to witness their spouse being gunned down in Vault 111 and their infant son taken by unknown perpetrators.

** As usual, almost everything living in this world wants to kill you, but with the addition of monsters that can spawn out of the ground (including Deathclaws!), radiation storms, and just how plain toxic nearly every food and water source is, survival will be a task. Various Endurance perks ease the pain by increasing your health and toughness, and giving you a lot of ways to mitigate radiation poisoning, but even then, there's no permanent way to be immune to all sources of radiation.
*** There is a perk that allows you to naturally heal radiation damage, but it requires maxed out Endurance and reasonably high level to do so. Even then, it only works outside during the day, and so is no help in the numerous underground ruins that dot Boston.

*** Several comments from [[HardboiledDetective Nick Valentine]] show that he's a big fan of classic literature. For instance, if he's with the Sole Survivor when the ''Prydwen'' arrives, he will quote [[Literature/TheRaven The Raven]]. Also, when he opens up to the Survivor with the story of his first few days outside the Institute, he paraphrases ''[[Theatre/TheTempest The Tempest]]''. If you kill "Skinny" Malone, he'll quote Theatre/{{Hamlet}}. Later on, Nick can sarcastically paraphrase Creator/PercyShelley's "Ozymandias" when seeing the giant Mr. Handy statue at the General Atomics Galleria. Finally, he quotes Robert Oppenheimer (who in turn was quoting the Bhagavad Gita) if you destroy The Nucleus in the ''Far Harbor'' [=DLC=].

[[/folder]]

Fallout4/TropesAToC | '''TropesD to I''' | Fallout4/TropesJToP | Fallout4/TropesQToZ]]]]-]

[[Fallout4/TropesAToC Tropes A-C]] | '''Tropes D-I''' | [[Fallout4/TropesJToP Tropes J-P]] | [[Fallout4/TropesQToZ Tropes Q-Z]]
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!!!''VideoGame/Fallout4'' provides examples of the following tropes: