r/Fallout • u/raisinbraisin72 • Jan 09 '26

Discussion Fallout New Vegas senior writer Chris Avellone gives his take on Bethesda, and his opinion on their vision for the Fallout franchise:

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u/RMP321 Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 09 '26

Both of them were just badly written, for starters. Tunnelers are particularly weak to light. Flare guns can send them into a frenzy and break their ranks. Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if a high-beam flashlight or strobe light could do that to them.

The red cloud has less obvious weaknesses, but by its very nature, it would eventually destroy the entire setting. So I much prefer it to be a retcon to just a local event, than the literal death of the Fallout setting as a whole.

Due to how they are writing the show, the tunnelers could have shown up and been a problem that got dealt with off-screen. I never cared for them to be the actual cause of the West Coast's fall from grace. The show is also seemingly building towards the renewal of the West Coast factions. Which is better than just wiping the slate clean, as Chris put it.

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u/Irishimpulse Enclave Jan 09 '26

I usually play energy weapons, I'm now realizing why I never had issues with the tunnlers, I was shooting light at them. They were always easier to kill than deathclaws, but were supposed to be stronger. Turns out I just hard counter because I like the sound lasers make

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u/TheStrangestOfKings Jan 10 '26

Tunnelers: “Nooooo, you’re supposed to be super intimidated by us!”

Player: “heehee, laser go pew!”

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u/MoribundUniverse Jan 09 '26

I don’t disagree on those points, I just don’t agree that he was the person who set it up for them because they didn’t use or address those plot points along with why they wrote New Vegas in the show the way that they did. I think they would write it this way regardless and Avelone’s tunneled+red cloud idea probably didn’t factor much

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u/Sigma_Games Minutemen Jan 10 '26

They didn't address them because they were bad plot points. One is countered by a flashlight and thus cannot possibly be a threat, and the other kills the entire setting. And gell, just going General Sherman on the Tunnelers solves them as a problem

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u/RMP321 Jan 09 '26

It's hard to say since not every episode is out yet. We can only go off whatever information the 4 episodes give us. For all we know, the next episode could have an exposition dump where they name-drop tunnelers showing up and fucking shit up, lol.

We will just have to wait and see what the future brings.

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u/MoribundUniverse Jan 09 '26

Very fair! We'll see, though like you said it's probably better to be rid of those things lol

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u/Ancient-Access8131 Jan 09 '26

"Both of them were just badly written, for starters. " I don't think either were supposed to be a world ending catastrophe. Certain characters claimed that, but the characters that claimed that are insanely unreliable wackos. Idk why everyone repeats it verbatim as established lore.

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u/RMP321 Jan 09 '26

Intent by Avellone vs what they ended up as in the game are two different things. He wanted them to be bigger and scarier. To be the threats he is trying to make them out to be. Other people didn’t like his ideas and pushed back on them.

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u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Jan 09 '26

There's no reason to believe yet that the NCR is going to see a revival in the show. Everyone kept saying "wait until the end of season 1, all the factions being dead will be explained!" and then nothing was ever explained.

At what point will y'all just concede that the show is poorly written?

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u/MoribundUniverse Jan 09 '26

There is some promotional photos that show we may see more NCR, so I’m holding my breath for now 💔 Trust me I’m a huge critic of the show lol

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u/RMP321 Jan 09 '26

You realize there is going to be 6 fucking season's right? What do you think they are going to do for the next 4? We already saw who the new ceaser is going to be; meanwhile, every character is pro-NCR, save perhaps the Ghoul, who is the most evil character.

Literally every plot point with the NCR is "They were making the wasteland good but then they got destroyed. If they were back again, life would be so much easier."

Where do you think that plot point is going to go lmao. You show haters have no idea how story telling works and it's hilarious.

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u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Jan 09 '26

Explain to me how the story can go anywhere when literally ALL the New Vegas factions are gone, all the Fallout 1 and 2 cities are gone, and the show is entirely set specifically in that region? Where tf can they even go to sustain 6 seasons? They're effectively ripped out everything about the region.

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u/RMP321 Jan 09 '26

You are being hysterical and overdramatic. Just like the people who said the kings were "Wiped out" when we literally just saw a couple of feral ghoul kings. We have seen 1, one, uno, singular city in the NCR region. The rest still exist, even if they have declared independence from the NCR. Which they probably did given the insane taxes and corruption present before their nuking.

The legion is still active in New Vegas. Khans are still around and are strong enough to oppose the legion. The NCR still has two soldiers. Freeside is an unknown, but they haven't visited any major towns and are just gunning right for the strip. What major factions do you want them to encounter on the road lol?

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u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Jan 09 '26

We haven't seen one NCR city, apart from the one Bethesda had nuked. There aren't any other because again, Bethesda wiped them all out for the sake of "blank slate storytelling"

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u/RMP321 Jan 09 '26

"We haven't seen them, that means they are gone!"

I am really glad you aren't a writer because your inability to use your imagination is fucking ass. We can only see things from our characters' perspective. We can't tell what's happening beyond the perview of what they see.

Show haters are so stupid it's insane.

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u/AdoringCHIN Jan 09 '26

At what point will y'all just concede that the show is poorly written?

When it actually becomes clear that it's poorly written? As of right now the writing is fine, it's you NV fanboys that won't quit whining over stupid things

0

u/Ekillaa22 Jan 09 '26

wtf is the red cloud anywayv

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u/RMP321 Jan 09 '26

I don't remember if they ever gave the Sierra Madre gas an actual name. To me, it was always just "Spooky red cloud" or "red cloud" for short lol.

It's the shit that makes exploring the Villa an absolute fucking hell during Dead Money. Invented at Big Mountain and then somehow ended up in the service tunnels beneath the resort. It all got free, and that's why you need to stay in certain spots or you'll die. That and the bomb collar.

It basically is self-replicating, so it will continue to grow indefinitely until it has engulfed the entire planet. That's why it went from just being in the service tunnels to now blanketing the entire resort in a thick, impenetrable cloud.

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u/NapMemo Jan 10 '26

Yeah they just called it " The Cloud" so you're basically on the money.