What's with Advanced Power Armor MKII in Fo3?

K

Knightlag

First time out of the vault
I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, btw... Anyway, what's with the Advanced Power Armor MK II? I can understand why Bethesda nerfed power armor due to how they implemented it in the game, but still... Why the hell does it look like the Midwestern Brotherhood Adv' Power Armor spraypainted black?

Did the Enclave remnants, due to losing the oil rig, have to steal their armor from the Midwestern Brotherhood? Sorry if I sound like a troll, but I actually *do* like this, and the previous Fallout games. I'm just curious as to what others opinions are on why Bethesda did this to such a badass armor.


edit:
They only major difference visually is the pauldrons, from what I've observed. o.O Helmet is also slightly rounder, but they still look almost the same, but with a paintjob.

*copies image links from the fallout wiki*
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Image:BOS.jpg = midwestern bos armor

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images//a/aa/Fallout_3_Enclave_Powered_Armor.jpg = Adv' Power Armor MK II in Fo3.
 
I thought the midwestern armor looked more like the Enclave armor, with the bug head. The FO3 armor had a more traditional helmet.

None of the armor looked as bulky I didn't think.
 
I think the Midwestern Armor is the step between T-51b and the advanced Power Armor in Fallout 2. Honestly, the midwestern helmet reminded me of Frank Horrigan's a bit. I think a lot of the design for the armor in Fallout 3 comes from not having a clear image of the one in Fallout 2 and trying to make something look different. Sides, maybe the armors came from Raven Rock and not the Oil Rig. After all it seems established that was an Enclave base since the beginning.
 
According to Todd, it is supposed to be the same Advanced Power Armor Mk II as in FO2, apparently with retconned appearance.

I still assume that canonically, the original Mk I APA is still the same as it was in FO2, and only the Mk II's appearance was retconned (given that according to the FO2 description it was supposed to have an entirely different design, it actually should look different, not saying that I like this particular appearance).
 
Ausir said:
According to Todd, it is supposed to be the same Advanced Power Armor Mk II as in FO2, apparently with retconned appearance.
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If you ask me, someone there just thought that "merging" a Tactics armor with the original Enclave armor would just look "cool".

I just doubt that they really think so far to even care about either look or canon.

If one can not see the obvious similarities between the Tactics armor and the Enclave armor in Fallout 3, he really has to be blind :P
 
Ausir, I agree with you... why did the Mk 2 look exactly the same when even the description said it should look different? I assume this was probably just a result of Fallout 2 being rushed like it was towards the end.

I just doubt that they really think so far to even care about either look or canon.
Click to expand...

This is what some people actually believe!
 
Yazman said:
...
This is what some people actually believe!
Click to expand...
And its not true?

They really pay not much attention to Fallout canon or "spirit" as long its not absolutely needed. Thats why you have Enclave, Brotherhood and Vaultboy inside. That it at least looks like its Fallout.
 
The Power Armor in Fallout 3 made me want to hurt someone. Nice level plain leading to the neck area. Mmmm-mmm. Ain't that just the bee's knees? Who wouldn't want to wear a suit of powered armor designed to give your opponent a 360* direct line of sight to shoot you in the head?
 
Grimhound said:
The Power Armor in Fallout 3 made me want to hurt someone. Nice level plain leading to the neck area. Mmmm-mmm. Ain't that just the bee's knees? Who wouldn't want to wear a suit of powered armor designed to give your opponent a 360* direct line of sight to shoot you in the head?
Click to expand...

Oh come on, do you actually expect BethSoft to put that much thought into their armor? XD

Look at most of the vanilla armor in Morrowind: it's got either the entire lower neck exposed, or big gaps between the various pieces.

BethSoft designs based on their ideas of aesthetics, not on logic, game canon, or anything else. Just look at the FO3 production sketches of the buildings - it's like the guy thought starting on the other side of the country start you with a creative clean-slate.

Come on people, DC's skyscrapers etc. don't look somehow fundamentally different from LA or SF's buildings. So why the heck would you make the game that way?

In the end, the answer is simple; BethSoft brass wanted a high-grossing game. The developers wanted to make their *own* game, and not one of either group cared a dime for the FO series or its fans.
 
The helmet is where the similarity begins and ends, and while it's pretty clearly heavily based on the midwestern PA, the rest is not. I actually really like the aesthetics of the PA in Tactics, though I'm not so sure that the BoS developing it made the most sense.

Better image for comparison:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images//6/66/FoT_Power_armor.png - Tactics
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images//a/aa/Fallout_3_Enclave_Powered_Armor.jpg - F3 (original image linked)
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images//1/1a/FO2_Intro_APA.jpg - Fallout 2

dingohunternigel said:
BethSoft designs based on their ideas of aesthetics, not on logic, game canon, or anything else.
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There's a balance to be struck but, depending on the game, designing for aesthetics over realistic function is fine. Still, it's best for games to create some sort of logic to how things function in their world so that it makes sense that things look and function as they do.
 
The main problem with their design for both the Brotherhood and Enclave armor is that there are too many parts sticking out, the strange "ear-flaps" borrowed from Tactics, and the shoulders all seem to hang off or just project outwards, amongst other pieces of the armor.

In FO1/FO2 everything was sleek and close together, a somewhat compact design where there weren't too many parts sticking out, it gave it the iconic tin man look instead of the cyberpunk feel of functioning parts protruding from every visible seam.
 
The incredibaly exposed arm and thigh joints don't help the Fallout 3 power armour either. Though possibly explains why it's defense is so crap.
I think the Tactics armour would of worked well in Fallout 3, the modellers seem to be better at modelling plate armour than power armour and the Tactics stuff lends itself to that.
 
I hate how Power Armor lost what made it so special.

The fact that I am no longer a walking tank, destroyer of scum, killer of many and saver of few that has bullets ping of me is a big let down.

So far the only solution is to put the game on Easy to get that "HAR HAR RAIDER SCUM YOUR PUNY GUNS CAN'T HARM ME FOR I AM IN MIGHTY POWER ARMOR NOW DIE!!!" feeling.
 
well what makes the Powerarmor in Bethesdas Fallout crap is just the copy paste simplicity of Oblivion. Damage and and the armor system work in Fallout 3 almost as how it is in Oblivion. It really is more or less like a "deadric" armor of some sort.

Where you had several stats for damage in Fallout 1/2 you have more or less one "generic" damage for Fallout 3.

One should as well not forget that a Powerarmor in the past Fallout games did not only gave you more protection it also cause less "hits". In Fallout 3 you almost always get hit as long the enemy keeps firing long enough on you. The PNP mechanics of "protection" have been replaced by the Oblivion mechanics where you always score a hit and your skill only decide how high the damage is. That obviously makes the power armor less of a armor compared to the past games.
 
Honestly Im not bothered by the look of Tesla or enclave armor. How ever Im interested what niche does the armor Midwestern BOS uses occupy. I assumed that ones the MW BOS had were next step from t-51b. And were supposed to go Alaskan front for military. And the new design took from 51b, but was made more flexible and appearance to have shock and awe effect. The last part might have had to do with crowd control in cities, but this is just speculation.
 
Story wise I don't think it hurts the canon, but the equipment and the creatures are another matter. You could say the same with FO2 though.

Canon should be only Fallout 1. Once another game gets it right, then we can have more canon.
 
It was said by Bethesda IIRC, that Tactics is non-canon. Later it was altered by Fo3 in that canonicity was extended to the presence of a rogue BoS detachment around Chicago, but that's about it.

FOT's design doesn't fit in with the aesthetic of the Fallout series, so it's not canonical, it's that simple.

Unless you're stupid, but that's not my problem.
 
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