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 like the show, the only problem is that it reduces the universe for the purpose of its medium, and factions essentially become people. Otherwise, the show is what I would expect from a Fallout game, a slowly developing main quest where a lot of the experience is in the random encounters and side quests. I’m looking forward to the possibility of them talking about THE courier and their legend, and perhaps even bring out the lore of the random stranger. Worst criticism I have is that its removing a lot of the mystery surrounding Vault-Tec lore by serving it out on a silver platter, it was basically the one mystery that stretched out and was never fully revealed throughout the games, where you actually had to dig into to know more, now being served to any person who watched the show whether they want it or not. It’s sort of like my problem with Starfield, it brings you too close to all the major players in that universe way too quickly, making the world smaller and eliminating mystery, anticipation, and depth before it has had time to ripen.