Jake

Idle Thumbs 237: Momazon Prime

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Idle Thumbs 237:

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Momazon Prime

Fallout 4 has us in its thrall, but we still have questions. What would a Fallout sequel be like if it was set in the Middle East, or South America? If you're a Raider and your parents immigrated from Tuscany, does that make you a Tuscan Raider, or a Tuscan-American Raider? Why do you have to hold the shift key to navigate menus with WASD? What's "tatoes?" Plus, we talk about the lost Fallout sequel "Van Buren," and Chris' experience with Kero Blaster.

Games Discussed: Fallout 4, Kero Blaster, Downwell, Van Buren, Fallout New Vegas

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Still listening, but I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a Latin American Fallout game.

 

Not a ruined landscape, but the exact opposite: a landscape that's come to life that's covered buildings and is larger than usual ; it's a radiated tropical jungle. It's all populated with a mixture of different Latin Americans cultures and languages. All of it under the hand of a dictator.

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On the idea of what would a Fallout game look like removed from America, a fascinating question to me is what would it be like to have it be a foreign country that wasn't devastated going out and re-exploring the world.  In World War Z, Cuba is one of the few (or the only?) countries to survive the zombie apocalypse relatively unscathed, in part thanks to their social/political isolation and in part thanks to being a small dictatorship willing to use brutal tactics to protect the greater population.  Cuba ends up taking the lead on a lot of humanitarian aid and rebuilding in the years following the apocalypse.  So having a game where say a North Korean expeditionary force ends up stranded in Mexico and has scavenge and survive would be fascinating. 

 

I'd also enjoy seeing the Metro devs get a shot at making the Soviet version of Fallout, something big and open world rather than the linear shooter design of the Metro games. 

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I'd also enjoy seeing the Metro devs get a shot at making the Soviet version of Fallout, something big and open world rather than the linear shooter design of the Metro games.

I think you are sort of describing STALKER, developers of which split off to found Metro developer 4A.

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I think you are sort of describing STALKER, developers of which split off to found Metro developer 4A.

 

I know the STALKER games exist and are beloved by their fans, but I've never really known a lot about them (or the connection between the games). 

 

Edited to add: Oh hey, Stalker totally gets mentioned later on in the cast.

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At the beginning of the podcast Jake mentions a South American "crazy communist future computer".  What you're thinking of is Project Cybersyn, which was implemented by the Chilean President Salvador Allende.  Now the history of Chile during this period is a somewhat contentious subject, but I couldn't help but bristle at the characterization of the Allende government as a "shitty dictatorship".  Especially considering his government only lasted three years before a CIA backed coup brought Agusto Pinochet (correctly described as a shitty dictator) to power.

Anyway I enjoyed the rest of the podcast, I just felt the need to make a correction on this point.

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If you want to get lost and wander without any extra guidance on the HUD in Fallout 4, bShowCompass=0 in the [interface] section in docs\my games\fallout4\fallout4prefs.ini will just remove the compass and let you keep the other info visible, unlike making the whole thing transparent. It's strange they don't just put that toggle in the gameplay menu, but I'm glad it exists. First thing I do in these games is turn that stuff along the floating quest and enemy markers off. I'd rather not be led around and shown something of interest is nearby before I even get there. I like discovering stuff for myself, and if I miss something - I miss it.

 

With the pip-boy companion app, you can also pull up the map on a tablet or phone device and use that for real-time navigation when you need it. It's kind of like Far Cry 2's map system for real, but not real. You know what I mean. It's crazy that you can do that, and that it works.

 

There's a mod out there that leaves the compass visible but remove the point of interest markers, too if you still want cardinal directions on screen. There's a lot of little mods already since the file structure is similar to Skyrim and some of the 3rd party tools for changing variables works just the same. Someone has even made the dialogue interface more suitable for keyboard selection on PC with the diamond selection transferred into a list corresponding to the number keys, which is really impressive to me without the official tools. Some people may not like that it also shows your full response in text instead of the short paraphrases, but I don't mind that.There's a few things out there that are really neat, quality of life improvements, mods that add to the workshop building and crafting options, etc, and then of course plenty of real dumb stuff that I just don't understand. Be warned if you browse the rest of mod files on that site!

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At the beginning of the podcast Jake mentions a South American "crazy communist future computer". What you're thinking of is Project Cybersyn, which was implemented by the Chilean President Salvador Allende. Now the history of Chile during this period is a somewhat contentious subject, but I couldn't help but bristle at the characterization of the Allende government as a "shitty dictatorship". Especially considering his government only lasted three years before a CIA backed coup brought Agusto Pinochet (correctly described as a shitty dictator) to power.

Anyway I enjoyed the rest of the podcast, I just felt the need to make a correction on this point.

Please write in and correct me and we will read it! I'll try to remember to correct myself as well. I was more flippant with that than I needed to be, especially with my super hazy memory on the subject.

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Spaff asked if Fallout Bible mentions a vault like the one Chris did in Fallout Shelter.

 

The actual answer is yes. Fallout Bible described Vault 69, which was populated by 999 women and 1 man.

 

There was also a counterpart Vault 68 with 999 men and 1 woman. Vault 69 was also mentioned in official Fallout webcomic made by Penny Arcade and there was a Vault 69 concept poster.

 

(i've sent this over in questions@ too)

post-33496-0-15403500-1447940785_thumb.jpg

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"Kero" is Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a frog makes, like "ribbit". That explains the kero in Kero Blaster.

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A couple clarifications on Amazon Underground.  You don't need a Fire or Kindle device or Amazon Prime.  It comes packed in on those devices but it's also available for Android (and Blackberry or via the web).  You just have to download their Amazon Undergound app (which is basically just the normal Amazon app but with some extra hooks for Underground stuff).  You have to enable data collection usage because that's how Amazon tracks how long you've been playing so they can pay the developers.  It's an opt-in program meaning developers have to submit their app to the program themselves.  It's mostly an extension of their Free-App-A-Day program they used to run in their app store.  Amazon labels all the apps that participate in the program with a small sash that says "Actually Free".  These can be apps which normally cost money or free apps with in app purchases, or both.  There are some notable apps that participate in this, such as Monument Valley, Jetpack Joyride, Knights of Pen and Paper +1, Goat Simulator, Duck Tales Remastered, Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Where's My Water, and many more.  There are also apps that aren't games such as Officesuite Professional 8

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"Kero" is Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a frog makes, like "ribbit". That explains the kero in Kero Blaster.

 

And the "e" is pronounced like the vowel in "pet."

 

Also, since my nitpick is gone, I'll just say that the supposedly random year thrown out by Sean for the date of Shadow Zenith's email about MeUndies was 941. The only notable thing that happened in 941 was the birth of Brian Boru, eleventh-century high king of Ireland and founder of the O'Brian dynasty... the heirs of which were the subject of the Thumbs' Crusader Kings 2 playthrough. Hmm!

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Does anybody know the whereabouts of the article Jake described as detailing a Chinese Room implementation for a South American computer? It was a really intriguing description.

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Does anybody know the whereabouts of the article Jake described as detailing a Chinese Room implementation for a South American computer? It was a really intriguing description.

 

At the beginning of the podcast Jake mentions a South American "crazy communist future computer".  What you're thinking of is Project Cybersyn, which was implemented by the Chilean President Salvador Allende.  Now the history of Chile during this period is a somewhat contentious subject, but I couldn't help but bristle at the characterization of the Allende government as a "shitty dictatorship".  Especially considering his government only lasted three years before a CIA backed coup brought Agusto Pinochet (correctly described as a shitty dictator) to power.

Anyway I enjoyed the rest of the podcast, I just felt the need to make a correction on this point.

 

Don't know which article Jake was referring to, though.

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Don't know which article Jake was referring to, though.

 

Oops, my mistake, somehow I completely missed that post when I looked before. Cheers for pointing it out  :)

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