I disagree that they were boring, but ironically enough they’re mostly interesting precisely because Elder Lyons was going against the grain to make them the good guys (mostly). Especially when you talk about them in the context of an arc that does end with Maxson’s coup.
I think they came across as boring because the player is somewhat groomed to look at them as the good guy faction, doing mostly good guy things in a situation that desperately needs someone like that, and we go “obviously this is the right thing to do” but, as you mentioned, the BoS shouldn’t be those guys.
Which is kind of funny, because FO3 was designed to introduce a new generation of gamers to the Fallout world but you won’t really understand why Elder Lyon’s decisions are unpopular with some Brotherhood unless you’ve seen the before and after.
I also liked the parallel between Lyons and the Fallout 1 Elder. In Fallout 1 they aren’t quite as fashy as an organization yet but even when faced with an opponent that is everything they are clearly sworn to fight against, actually doing their job is unpopular, going by the comments of the council and the rank and file in the base.
They just want to steal tech and live in bunkers, man, none of this “protecting humanity from the perils of mad science” business.
Your third paragraph is the big point I’m trying to get across, actually! 3 did a lot of reintroducing and playing against type, yet also boxed into a new corner, for many subjects. Super mutants are present for some reason, but are also completely different, as a quick example. It’s familiar yet completely different, it’s aesthetically in line with the classics even if every element is subverted, and I’m not as much of a fan of that. I think it’s better to either stick with the classics for such a reintroduction, or move beyond them and imagine new classic factions, New Vegas only works well because it plays off 3 and 1/2 for a fanbase of both.
Also not a fan that you have to side with them unless you decide to commit genocide, but that’s neither here nor there.
1 is probably my favorite portrayal, but I like how 4 subverts expectations and I like how NV takes the issues of 1 to logical conclusions.
I disagree that they were boring, but ironically enough they’re mostly interesting precisely because Elder Lyons was going against the grain to make them the good guys (mostly). Especially when you talk about them in the context of an arc that does end with Maxson’s coup.
I think they came across as boring because the player is somewhat groomed to look at them as the good guy faction, doing mostly good guy things in a situation that desperately needs someone like that, and we go “obviously this is the right thing to do” but, as you mentioned, the BoS shouldn’t be those guys.
Which is kind of funny, because FO3 was designed to introduce a new generation of gamers to the Fallout world but you won’t really understand why Elder Lyon’s decisions are unpopular with some Brotherhood unless you’ve seen the before and after.
I also liked the parallel between Lyons and the Fallout 1 Elder. In Fallout 1 they aren’t quite as fashy as an organization yet but even when faced with an opponent that is everything they are clearly sworn to fight against, actually doing their job is unpopular, going by the comments of the council and the rank and file in the base.
They just want to steal tech and live in bunkers, man, none of this “protecting humanity from the perils of mad science” business.
Your third paragraph is the big point I’m trying to get across, actually! 3 did a lot of reintroducing and playing against type, yet also boxed into a new corner, for many subjects. Super mutants are present for some reason, but are also completely different, as a quick example. It’s familiar yet completely different, it’s aesthetically in line with the classics even if every element is subverted, and I’m not as much of a fan of that. I think it’s better to either stick with the classics for such a reintroduction, or move beyond them and imagine new classic factions, New Vegas only works well because it plays off 3 and 1/2 for a fanbase of both.
Also not a fan that you have to side with them unless you decide to commit genocide, but that’s neither here nor there.
1 is probably my favorite portrayal, but I like how 4 subverts expectations and I like how NV takes the issues of 1 to logical conclusions.