Fallout: a post-nuclear role-playing game, developed and published by Interplay Productions and released in 1997, was a truly revolutionary game. Often credited with reviving the computer RPG genre after its decline in the mid-1990s, precipitation set the standard for all RPGs to follow and gave birth to the AAA precipitation franchise that fans know today. Despite its significance to the genre’s history, precipitation featured a mechanic that never returned to the franchise, and is only very rarely encountered in today’s open-world games – time limits.
Success in precipitation depends not only on a good build and tactical combat decisions. While these are important, players also work against various timers in the background, two of which will cause game-over states if not thwarted. The time limits were a pretty controversial addition, as many players felt they didn’t have enough time to fully experience the game’s content. As a result, the 500-day time limit to prevent the Super Mutants from finding Vault 13 was extended to 13 years. While many players are happy to leave ticking clocks in the past, correct time limits can actually enhance the open world experience. This is why this forgotten aspect of a classic game should return.
Time limits make the world of Fallout feel real
The main storyline of precipitation begins when the main character, the Vault Dweller, is ordered by the overseer of Vault 13 to go into the wasteland and find a water chip. The vault will run out of water in 150 days, and without a replacement chip, the people of Vault 13 will die from dehydration. This time limit applies to the first half of the main mission, where the player’s Pip-Boy includes a stark countdown to remind them of the responsibility that rests on their shoulders.
The disastrous outcome of failure doesn’t just exist within the story – it’s a real and possible end to the game. This makes the citizens of Vault 13 feel like real people who exist in the game world, no matter what the player is currently doing. Whether the player is settling the dispute in Junktown or monitoring caravans leaving the Hub, Vault 13’s water supply continues to run dry and the ominous deadline is always approaching.
In the second half of the original version of the game, the player is given 500 days to destroy the Super Mutants before they find Vault 13. However, this time limit can be shortened if the player sends water caravans to Vault 13 to extend that time. limit, as it causes the Super Mutants to follow the trail of the caravan. This level of dynamism gives an extra level of realism to the Super Mutant threat, showing that they pursue their goals in a reactive world, just like the player.
Likewise, if the player visits Necropolis after 110 in-game days have passed, they will find that it has been besieged by Super Mutants. If the player takes too long to defeat the master, the town of Shady Sands will be overrun with mutants at the end of the game. The Super Mutant army acts independently of the player, reminding them that the world doesn’t revolve around them.
From the water supply of Vault 13 to the frenzy of the Super Mutants across the wasteland, precipitation is a game where events are constantly happening off-screen. It’s one of the few open world games that is as much about what players don’t see as what they do see. Vault 13’s plight isn’t just a motivating plot point in the game’s script — it’s a material threat that gets closer as time goes on. The game treats the people who live there as real people, just like the player.
Likewise, the constant but gradual advancements of the Super Mutants grant an independent authority to both the victims and the Super Mutants themselves. The deadlines within precipitation makes the wasteland feel less like a video game environment and more like a real world, one that doesn’t conform to the player, but rather relegates to one of the many inhabitants struggling with a life of adversity they didn’t choose.
A lack of time limits can break the immersion
precipitation shows that time-sensitive content can increase the realism of a game’s world. On the other hand, open world games with no time limits can create an eye-catching sense of ludonarrative dissonance. This term, coined by Clint Hocking in 2007, describes the disconnect that occurs when a game’s mechanics conflict with its story. Open world games often feature main storylines with a sense of urgency – and yet if the player chooses to ignore them, there are usually no consequences.
For example, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrimpublished in 2011 by Bethesda Softworks, the current owners of the precipitation franchise, begins with the return of Alduin, the leader of the dragons, who seeks to resurrect his fallen dragon army and consume the world. However, if the player decides to ignore his fate as the Dragonborn and focus only on side missions, Alduin’s plan seems to grind to a halt. This disconnect negates the sense of urgency of whatever danger looms over the world of the game, as there is nothing major for the player to worry about. This creates distance between the player and his character in the world.
Another problem caused by the lack of time limits is a world that feels static. For example, return to the precipitation franchise, Fallout 4The Commonwealth is a place where conflicts arise. While the Institute terrorizes the people on the surface, the Railroad wages a guerrilla war to save the Synths and the Brotherhood of Steel as they prepare for all-out war, the world of Fallout 4 is one that is buzzing with activity, both on-screen and off. But without player input, none of the factions make any progress towards their goals. The lack of urgency and a sense of stagnation pull the player out of the experience. Setting time limits can go a long way in making these worlds feel more real — like precipitation did so long ago.
0 Comments