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The original Fallout games under Interplay are some of the best isometric RPGs ever made, but they didn't have to be. Isometric, I mean. For a time, Fallout leads Tim Cain and designer Leonard Boyarsky considered using new 3D animation tech to make the 1997 game.
"When we first made Fallout, there was a discussion between me and Tim [Cain] about whether we're going to be first person," Boyarsky tells GamesRadar+, "because 3D was just coming out at that time, but that's like the days of Tomb Raider, the original Tomb Raider."
Considering the fact that 1996's Tomb Raider – aside from important distinctions like one of the most recognizable female protagonists, and innovative action gameplay – is best known for Lara's unhealthily cubic bosom, I'd say Boyarsky made a reasonable decision.
"As the art director, I'm like, 'No, because I want a certain amount of detail and fidelity from the art. So, we can't do 3D at this point,'" Boyarsky recalls. "But man, we would have loved to – you know, we had to write in the little box in the corner about you, for the first time as a Vault Dweller, ever seeing the sun."
The Fallout franchise didn't quite capture the visual magic of that moment, Boyarsky suggests, until Bethesda's Fallout 3 in 2008. "They were able to show that moment," he says. Still, "We were really lucky on Fallout."
"I mean, I love the fact that in the early games, players had to buy into it, and kind of like, meet you halfway," Boyarsky continues, remembering how the game leaned more heavily on dialogue than animation. "I think that was a cool experience."
