software.wikisort.org - Video_game

Fallout: New California is a fan-made modification and is an unofficial prequel[1] to the action role-playing video game Fallout: New Vegas, made by Brandan Lee and Radian-Helix Media.[2] It was released in two installments, with the first installment released on May 31, 2013, and the second installment released as a beta on October 23, 2018.[3] Originally known as Fallout: Project Brazil, the modification was renamed to Fallout: New California on September 1, 2017.[4]

Fallout: New California
Developer(s)	Radian-Helix Media
Publisher(s)	Radian-Helix Media
Programmer(s)	Brandan Lee Rick Hukkanen Freddie Farnsworth
Series	Fallout
Engine	Gamebryo
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	October 23, 2018 (BETA 200)
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

In April 2018, the project entered private beta for the second installment.[5] The public beta for Fallout: New California was released as planned on October 23, 2018.[6]

Development

Project lead Brandan Lee of Radian-Helix Media, LLC[7] was inspired by the games Fallout and Fallout 2 from Black Isle Studios.[8][9] With the help of friends in the film, TV, radio, and live theater industries, Lee set out to create a modification of Fallout 3 for people who appreciated the style of the original Black Isle games.[10] According to Lee, the mod was first conceptualized in 2010, but development didn't begin until 2012, with a prototype being released for Fallout 3, and the first full installment being released for New Vegas.[11] Lee states that he headed a team of three people, with occasional community donations, who would spend four years creating the modification; eventually ending up with 5,000 lines of dialogue from twenty different actors and three hours of gameplay for the first installment alone.[12] Lee named the mod "Project Brazil" partly due to inspiration by the Terry Gilliam film Brazil,[8][13] and as a nod to Black Isle Entertainment through the Irish myth of the mythological island of Brasil.[14]

90% of Project Brazil's assets for BETA 1.0.0 were created between January 2012 and May 2013, when the story was refined after a year-long break away from the project.[15] Lee created a worldspace the size of that found in Bethesda's Fallout 3, and wrote the dialog in tandem with level and character design. Freddie Farnsworth joined in January 2013 as lead project technician; applying a global NavMesh, and re-rendering the level of detail mesh on a computer custom built for the task.[16] In 2017, the project was renamed to Project New California.[17]

While in development, the final installment promised to expand upon the mod with new quests and factions.[18] There are over 16,000 lines of dialogue in BETA 200.[19]

Gameplay

Fallout: New California was split into two installments, the first was released in 2013, and the beta for the second installment was released on October 23, 2018. As with Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout: New California has a radio station that comments on the actions of the player as the story progresses.[20] The radio stations in Fallout: New California debuted with a completely original soundtrack.[21] The player's S.P.E.C.I.A.L statistics have a greater impact on dialog choices with NPCs and player skills than in Fallout: New Vegas.[22]

Story

Fallout: New California was planned to be broken into three segments but, by December 13, 2013, the third installment was scrapped.[23] The first installment was released on May 31, 2013, the second installment was released on October 23, 2018. There are 13 possible endings.[24] The remaining two installments are separated into a prequel and three "chapters." The story takes place in 2260, 21 years before the start of Fallout New Vegas.[25]

First installment

The first installment is set in Vault 18 near the San Bernardino mountains at the San Bernardino Cajon Pass,[26] after the events of Fallout 2. Vault 18 is described as a secluded community. In the past, its residents included explorers who traveled the outside world as the "Wasteland Scouts", becoming legends for their adventures. However, after making too many enemies, the vault has cut itself off from the outside world. The aging vault population is in decline, and many of its youth are adopted from the wasteland, descended from mysteriously vanished "Exodite" tribes formed by former vault dwellers who left to settle the wasteland. The player and their siblings originate from one such missing tribe.

Within the game, the player can choose to be either a Warrior or a Scientist. It is revealed that one of the prominent members of the vault is part of the Enclave, after which the vault erupts into civil war, with the player being able to side with the Enclave or defend Vault 18. The first installment has around three hours of gameplay, and seven hours including all of the branching content.[22][27]

Prequel

In the beginning, the player is selected as a replacement player for the "Patriots" team, on the night of the championship game of the 2260 season of the "Vault Ball" sport. During the match, the player can choose to Tackle (Path of the Warrior) or Dodge (Path of the Scientist). Depending on the choice, the player is next in Coach John Bragg's Office (Tackle), being praised for winning the game and offered a job in the Vault's security force, or in the Vault Infirmary (Dodge), waking up from being injured and losing the game, with a broken leg. As a Warrior (Tackle), the player may ingratiate themselves to Coach Bragg and his sister Chevy, the Vault Security lieutenant, thus gaining a spot in Vault Security and potentially also Bragg's special "Patriot" vault defense training program. If they fail to do so, they will instead be sent to join the Vault's maintenance team. As a Scientist (Dodge), the player is given the option to help Dr. Rossman, the vault's robotics expert, repair the vault's computer mainframe, extracting information on the history of the vault and the player character along the way. Concurrently, the player may interact with other vault residents, with some interactions determining who will or will not become a potential companion for the later installment. This section is ended at any time when the player chooses to go to sleep in their home apartment.

While the player sleeps, John and Chevy Bragg are revealed to be members of the Enclave who have used their Patriots program to indoctrinate the young vault residents into loyal Enclave soldiers. Forced to accelerate their plans for the vault, they begin a revolt, causing an explosion which collapses parts of the lower levels.

Chapter 1

The player wakes up, finding their siblings dead and their home destroyed, while the vault security forces and Enclave Patriots fight outside. The player may choose to side with Vault Security to defend the vault, or join the Enclave if their relationship with Bragg is good enough. After helping the security forces quell the Enclave assault or helping the Enclave break through the security defense line, the player confronts the overseer, learning that he has set the vault to self-destruct. They are then told to gather their remaining allies and evacuate, and the chapter ends upon reaching the gate to the outside world beyond the vault cavern.

Second installment

The second installment, released on October 23, 2018, focuses on the player dealing with three main factions. The first is the growing New California Republic (NCR), trapped in domestic turmoil amid its vision to encompass all of the territory of California, led in the region by the hawkish General William Silverman. The second is the Raider Alliance, a loose confederation of tribes, rebels, criminals, and others displaced by and radicalized against the NCR, led by the psychotic warlord Juan Maxson-Elsdragon. The Unity is an army of super mutants made up of the remnants of the Master's Army from the original Fallout, led by the mysterious "Father". Two other main subfactions are the Bishops, a criminal mob family with control of NCR politics represented by Senator Paul Duville, and the Nanjima Shi, a clan of samurai-styled Japanese warriors within the Raider Alliance led by the warlord Kieva Nanjima.

Depending on who to go to either to New California or in Survivalist territory (which will alter the story entirely), the player eventually meets up with Kerry Vargas, a surviving NCR ranger struggling to fight out of a Survivalist ambush. After eliminating the Survivalists ambushing the NCR and its reinforcements, the player is invited to come along with a ragtag squadron of NCR troops led by Captain Les Jameson to Union City, a makeshift township. Jameson meets with General William Silverman and reports about the ambush, but Silverman eventually recruits the player to restore the NCR's dwindling water and power supply by activating a power plant controlled by the Shi and the water valve embellished as an altar by the Xiabula tribe. Depending on the player's choices, he or she can work with the NCR, or do so while staying as a Enclave undercover agent. Eventually, after doing a series of assignments for the NCR, the player is sent with Jameson's squad to investigate an abandoned military base leading straight to the dam for a scavenge mission, but are forced to retreat when the abandoned base is eventually revealed to be a Super Mutant fortress containing the remnants of the Master's army. Alarmed, the NCR is placed on high alert due to the release of the super mutants now running amok in New California. However, Silverman dispatches the player to deal with the Survivalists by kidnapping the daughter of their leader, Juan Maxson-Elsdragon as leverage to negotiate. Depending if Elsdragon lives or dies, the Survivalists will leave the NCR alone, leaving the latter to focus all efforts on the remnants of the Master's army. The player is then invited to lead the charge against the super mutants straightly at their base with either the NCR or the Enclave, eventually encountering their leader, the Father. The Father reveals that the player is actually a creation made by the Unity, but is eliminated afterwards. The player is then given a mission to detonate an intact nuke in the base to destroy the fortress, but is stopped mid-way by Annai Oran, the mercenary the player encounter earlier. Oran corroborates the player's origins and reveals that she is a super mutant, having maintained a human body all her life to hide her mutated background. If the player sides with the NCR, Oran joins the player to stop the detonation of the nuke, kill the Braggs, and sacrifice herself to stop the nuke from launching, having revealed to the player that she's had nothing worth living anymore; if the player sides with the Enclave, Oran and her brother, Jerri, will attack the player as a final boss. Regardless of the choices, the Unity remnants are exterminated, but the player has lost contact with the faction he or she had sided with, prompting the latter to start over as a courier in New Vegas, leading to the events of the vanilla game.[28]

Reception

Project Brazil was ninth on Mod DB's Top Mods of 2013 list.[29]

References

External links

• Official website

---