#I’ve gone insane in the membrane over an undead cowboy

[corseque]

Here because I love your writing (and might be a lil insane for Lucy/Ghoul) and I'm a fallout nerd, I would say the wiki is great for info on the lore BUT if you want to play the games and specifically want info on the conflicts/factions/locations of Fallout the series I would avoid at first Fallout 3 and 4. They are good games in their own respect but both happen in the east coast aka with the exception of the Brotherhood of Steel (and that is very dependant on who's Elder/ what chapter of the BoS you get) that is pretty much across the whole country and the Enclave there's nothing similar to what's going on in the west coast, there's no NCR for example. Fallout 4 is a good introduction because it's the newest one and so the gameplay is more modern but it happens in the Commonwealth and although timeline wise is the closest game to the date where Fallout the series starts, it shares like, no background elements with it. Fallout 3 has perhaps the most similar beginning story to Lucy's in the series, but it's worth noting that unlike 4 or New Vegas where you can "side" With a faction and see the inner workings of them, 3 kind of pushes you along a very straightforward story.

Fallout New Vegas would be the best starting point location and gameplay wise, as season 2 is gonna happen in the Mojave, it starts 15 years prior to the show and pretty much gets you up to speed in the factions that are in the area. It can be a little buggy (tbf there are no non-buggy Fallout games) and unlike F3 and F4 it doesn't handhold you as much about the main quest and rather lets you go wherever you like whenever. It also has that "western" vibe that is absent in both 3 and 4, and from the 3D Fallout games I would say it's the one that allows you the most freedom roleplay wise with your own character. Would be my go to for a first Fallout in this scenario.

Now if you wanted the most accurate vision of the events that happened in the past on the show timeline wise that would be the original Fallout 1 and 2. They are old (as games as well as in the timeline both happen respectively 135 and 55 years prior to the show) and gameplay wise it's like eating broken pieces of glass without a drop of water to help it get through but Shady Sands or Vault 12? That's where you get to actually be in there and see how they were and what happened. I have a soft spot for them and unlike the 3D Fallout 1 and 2 are connected through the protagonist sharing a familial bond, so it's kind of a continuation (but 2 can be played on its own too having read a summary of 1). Some of its themes have aged like spoiled milk left in the sun for an entire summer and Fallout 1 has a time limit (so does 2 but it's so forgiving it barely merits mentioning), so I really can't recommend them in good faith unless you've played the rest and truly feel like you want to experience that lore first hand or you love that kind of old school 2D isometric rpg from the 90's. Just beware that, specially Fallout 2 can get pretty dark (in a distasteful way let's just say) pretty fast, and playing as a woman is... Yup.

Sorry for the infodump and you can just ignore it, but I saw you on Twitter talking about where to get the details for fanfic writing porpuses and got excited lmao 💀

Thank you so much for the information, this is actually exactly what I was about to ask. The fact that 3 and 4 are on the East coast would have been weirdly disappointing for me to play first then

I actually can’t afford to start playing at the moment, but hopefully soon I’ll scrape something together. I think I’m leaning toward NV or 1 for the first one