Cain appreciated the performances and storytelling, but singled out how the show nailed the Fallout “vibe” as its biggest achievement. “I was just looking at all the props,” he said of one scene. “I realized after a few minutes went by that I had not followed the dialogue at all, because I was so engrossed by it visually.”
On a more sour note, Cain took time to address the way fans of the series can behave poorly online, particularly regarding any perceived rivalry between Fallout entries developed by Bethesda (3, 4, and 76), and those from Interplay, Black Isle, and Obsidian (1, 2, and New Vegas). Cain spoke positively of Todd Howard, and said that “Some of the stuff you [series fans] say online is so off.” See also: the debate about whether the show somehow overrode or ignored the events of those non-Bethesda games, which has since been denied by a senior developer at the studio.
I’m glad I haven’t been reading much about the show online. I just finished episode 4 last night and I’m really loving the show. They absolutely nailed the visuals and general vibe of the world. I’ll admit to be being skeptical about the show in Amazon’s hands. The Rings of Power and first season of Wheel of Time were just poorly written. Though, I did feel that the second season of WoT picked up a bit. So, maybe the folks at Amazon are learning. My only remaining concern for Fallout is how subsequent seasons go. They have hyped the involvement of Johnathan Nolan who was behind Westworld on HBO. Westworld season 1 was downright awesome. But, the rest of the show felt like they were so busy trying to re-capture that magic that they forgot to tell a good story. Fortunately, Nolan is directing and producing Fallout and not writing it. So maybe it won’t get written into a corner where there really isn’t any more story to tell and several more seasons ordered.
You’re right about the writing, and the moment that sold me that the writing in this show is actually good was when Maximus and The Ghoul are fighting in Filly and instead of showing the entire fight, they cut to the people inside talking. Realizing that the fight adds nothing of substance but showy graphics is usually the indicator to me that the writers are in control of the vision of the show which pretty much always bodes well.