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The swampfolks from Fallout 3... in Fallout 4?


SignorNessuno

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While the game desperately needs more story content I don't think the hillbilly themed swampfolk would fit in the urban setting of most of the game, farharbor already has it's own theme of survivors.

swampfolks are a sort of mutant born from incest and black plague.

Is possible there are other types of mutants similar like them in some parts of the post war america.

I guess they could be an interesting variant (and good replacement) for the FEV supermutants.

But far harbor doesn't have MUTANTS.

Radiations should mutate your body in something ugly. The fog is a nonsense. Trappers should be turned into something rotten and ugly. But no, they are just regular raiders with a new armor.

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While the game desperately needs more story content I don't think the hillbilly themed swampfolk would fit in the urban setting of most of the game, farharbor already has it's own theme of survivors.

swampfolks are a sort of mutant born from incest and black plague.

Is possible there are other types of mutants similar like them in some parts of the post war america.

I guess they could be an interesting variant (and good replacement) for the FEV supermutants.

But far harbor doesn't have MUTANTS.

Radiations should mutate your body in something ugly. The fog is a nonsense. Trappers should be turned into something rotten and ugly. But no, they are just regular raiders with a new armor.

 

I've not played Far Harbor, but I've seen reviews of it, that fog is supernatural. And I like the fact that they're no obvious appearance changes. I'm third generation hillbilly and I found the violent, disfigured caricature of back country people to be very offensive. This was only partially relieved when I found out they were Cthulu cultists. I'm normally the f*#@ your feelings type but a AAA developer would get away with that level of blackface for any other combination of race and class.

 

The thing is though having a group of people having Swampfolk like disfigurements from generations of New Plague, the way people were often scarred from smallpox, would be interesting. Even better, helping them get to an auto-doc that can restore them to normal appearance.

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While the game desperately needs more story content I don't think the hillbilly themed swampfolk would fit in the urban setting of most of the game, farharbor already has it's own theme of survivors.

swampfolks are a sort of mutant born from incest and black plague.

Is possible there are other types of mutants similar like them in some parts of the post war america.

I guess they could be an interesting variant (and good replacement) for the FEV supermutants.

But far harbor doesn't have MUTANTS.

Radiations should mutate your body in something ugly. The fog is a nonsense. Trappers should be turned into something rotten and ugly. But no, they are just regular raiders with a new armor.

 

I've not played Far Harbor, but I've seen reviews of it, that fog is supernatural. And I like the fact that they're no obvious appearance changes. I'm third generation hillbilly and I found the violent, disfigured caricature of back country people to be very offensive. This was only partially relieved when I found out they were Cthulu cultists. I'm normally the f*** your feelings type but a AAA developer would get away with that level of blackface for any other combination of race and class.

 

The thing is though having a group of people having Swampfolk like disfigurements from generations of New Plague, the way people were often scarred from smallpox, would be interesting. Even better, helping them get to an auto-doc that can restore them to normal appearance.

 

Supernatural? Nah, it isn't. Probably full of allucinations. You should play it when you have time.

We don't know much about the plague, no studies and documents in the post war america and how cure it. I would like to see if there was a quest about finding and searching a cure for ending the plague.

Racist? Please sterotypes can be real. They just looks grotesque for their mutations and some body parts with tumoral problems.

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The problem is that the Swampfolk of Point Lookout speak in a way that stereotypically 'hillbilly' which is unique to them. Not even the tribals at the Cathedral have that accent. Not even the woman who makes the moonshine. And they ALL attack you on sight. And raiders, whom have got to be inbred as f*#@ or coming from an urban area somewhere (there's too many of them to justify the level of predation in DC), but they look normal despite being under the same wretched pre-industrial conditions. Heck, given the lack of destruction around Point Lookout, the Swampfolk should look BETTER than than the raiders of DC. They have a valuable crop that thrives in radiation (the punga), they had minimal social disruption given how they're still worshipping Eldrich abominations the Blackhall family introduced them too.

A stereotype isn't offensive because it exists, it's the way it's used. Having an urban setting where every black male is dressed like a gangbanger and tries to shoot you on sight is going to cause great offense and it should. Because it's a lazy and dismissive act of bigotry. There are intelligent ways to use stereotypes, to even play stereotypes straight. For Hillfolk, you need only look at Raylan, the book that Justified is based on. It's deep in coal country and it's got a slew of very stereotypically hillbilly, right down to the vast fields of Marijuana and meth problems. But it's fair. And it's as pulpy as Fallout.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12037108-raylan

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The problem is that the Swampfolk of Point Lookout speak in a way that stereotypically 'hillbilly' which is unique to them. Not even the tribals at the Cathedral have that accent. Not even the woman who makes the moonshine. And they ALL attack you on sight. And raiders, whom have got to be inbred as f*** or coming from an urban area somewhere (there's too many of them to justify the level of predation in DC), but they look normal despite being under the same wretched pre-industrial conditions. Heck, given the lack of destruction around Point Lookout, the Swampfolk should look BETTER than than the raiders of DC. They have a valuable crop that thrives in radiation (the punga), they had minimal social disruption given how they're still worshipping Eldrich abominations the Blackhall family introduced them too.

 

A stereotype isn't offensive because it exists, it's the way it's used. Having an urban setting where every black male is dressed like a gangbanger and tries to shoot you on sight is going to cause great offense and it should. Because it's a lazy and dismissive act of bigotry. There are intelligent ways to use stereotypes, to even play stereotypes straight. For Hillfolk, you need only look at Raylan, the book that Justified is based on. It's deep in coal country and it's got a slew of very stereotypically hillbilly, right down to the vast fields of Marijuana and meth problems. But it's fair. And it's as pulpy as Fallout.

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12037108-raylan

you're american, but most of the people who play it aren't also american.

We don't know nothing about the culture inside the states.

 

btw, we are in a wild world where there is no more civilization, law and order. Just the rule "the more strong must survive".

And back to the swampfolks: let's just have fun with these mutants. After all they are a good replacement for the supermutants.

And i still think this plague could be better used in a future fallout game.

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I think the plague would be something to contend with, as would things like Cholera, Diphtheria, and depending on how alternative you want to get, smallpox. I do have a problem with the Always Chaotic Evil trope. It worked for the Supermutants in 1 because they were literally brainwashed but it really doesn't fly in 3 where they are supposed to be both psychotic and social, but without an obvious leader. In 4 it's a travesty that every supermutant you meet (who's a West Coast supermutant because the Institute turned them with FEV and not EEP) is a violent degenerate savage, some so uncaring whether they live or die they act as suicide bombers. Mechanically, they're great enemies, but if I wanted good mechanics, I'd be playing Borderlands 2.

What Fallout 4 doesn't need and no RPG needs, is more mooks to indiscriminately slaughter

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I think the plague would be something to contend with, as would things like Cholera, Diphtheria, and depending on how alternative you want to get, smallpox. I do have a problem with the Always Chaotic Evil trope. It worked for the Supermutants in 1 because they were literally brainwashed but it really doesn't fly in 3 where they are supposed to be both psychotic and social, but without an obvious leader. In 4 it's a travesty that every supermutant you meet (who's a West Coast supermutant because the Institute turned them with FEV and not EEP) is a violent degenerate savage, some so uncaring whether they live or die they act as suicide bombers. Mechanically, they're great enemies, but if I wanted good mechanics, I'd be playing Borderlands 2.

 

What Fallout 4 doesn't need and no RPG needs, is more mooks to indiscriminately slaughter

well that's true, at the least we could have "not all mutants are bad"

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Given the putative origin of Supermutants in the Commonwealth (Institute meddling with FEV, which suggests limited numbers and little impetus to migrate), I think that some variation of Point Lookout's "Swamp Folk" would've made a better fit for Far Harbor. I'd go with the suggestion someone made above of a flotilla of rafts or some other sort of pilgrimage from Maryland to Maine in search of a quasi-Lovecraftian gewgaw. They wouldn't have to be exactly as they were in PL; in fact, rival factions of Swamp Folk to work with/against would have been more interesting than the generic psychotics of the fog, i.e., Trappers. =^[.]^=

 

ETA: Someone mentioned Swamp Folk women. In this hypothetical scenario (take it and run, if it strikes your fancy, modders!), it might be revealed that Swamp Folk are actually a matriarchy, and the only reason we never saw the women-folk is because they have better things to do than run around the swamps like their dim-witted brethren who do so simply to get out from under momma's thumb once in a while. Sound implausible? It's a reflection on how some rural households in the US have been run in certain cultural circles. Often Granny or mawmaw rules the roost, letting the menfolk do their thing, but never letting them get into too much trouble. A clan of Swamp Folk might even have left Point Lookout ten years ago after some fool outlander killed half the boys who went out to play in the swamps. =^[.]^=

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s

 

Given the putative origin of Supermutants in the Commonwealth (Institute meddling with FEV, which suggests limited numbers and little impetus to migrate), I think that some variation of Point Lookout's "Swamp Folk" would've made a better fit for Far Harbor. I'd go with the suggestion someone made above of a flotilla of rafts or some other sort of pilgrimage from Maryland to Maine in search of a quasi-Lovecraftian gewgaw. They wouldn't have to be exactly as they were in PL; in fact, rival factions of Swamp Folk to work with/against would have been more interesting than the generic psychotics of the fog, i.e., Trappers. =^[.]^=

 

ETA: Someone mentioned Swamp Folk women. In this hypothetical scenario (take it and run, if it strikes your fancy, modders!), it might be revealed that Swamp Folk are actually a matriarchy, and the only reason we never saw the women-folk is because they have better things to do than run around the swamps like their dim-witted brethren who do so simply to get out from under momma's thumb once in a while. Sound implausible? It's a reflection on how some rural households in the US have been run in certain cultural circles. Often Granny or mawmaw rules the roost, letting the menfolk do their thing, but never letting them get into too much trouble. A clan of Swamp Folk might even have left Point Lookout ten years ago after some fool outlander killed half the boys who went out to play in the swamps. =^[.]^=

sounds good for making a great mod :D

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