at least fallout 3 wasn't just "get up, you got shot in the head. go find the person that killed you".
honestly fallout 3 went from when you were born even. I wouldn't say fallout 3 had a groundbreaking story either though
Fallout 3 was a stuffty rehash of Interplay's Fallout.
The game revolving around water plant? Try Fallout 1's main quest.
Finding the Geck and your dad? Try Fallout 2's main quest.
Armada banishing you from the vault. Fallout 1's ending.
Evil organization trying to take over the us by committing genocide? Fallout 2.
Finding dogmeat after his previous owner had been killed? Fallout 1.
Then comes the world building itself and Bethesda's stuffty story writing. The origional super mutants weren't brain dead brutes with guns that shot at people. Instead Bethesda used them as generic orc like enemies that exist purely for shooting at.
Then you have the brotherhood of steel as the generic good guys. The original brotherhood of steel only cared about technology and no one else. They were greedy and selfish, by Fallout 2 their organization had become irrelevant due to human advancement in technology and government, plus the fact the brotherhood had dwindling numbers. NV did a good job reflecting this.
Enclave was the generic evil empire/national socialists of fallout 2. No surprise Bethesda brought them back to do the same evil plan they tried to do in fallout 2.
Fallout has always about what happens after the bombs, its about living in a generic Thunderdome style world. You grew up in a bomb shelter your whole life, you were sent out to go find a computer chip to save your vault. Imagine leaving your shelter to finally see what it looks like on the outside, only to find miles of barren desert inhabited by mutated wild life is small pockets of humanity which is barely civilized, and you alone are tasked to travel all over the desert to find a water chip.
Fallout 2 same premise, life after the bombs. However the world has become more civilized, technology is coming back, governments are also starting to be established.
Fallout 3, generic thunderdome style wasteland game with leather clad enemies in pots and pans.
There also numerous plot wholes like jets existence on the east coast, as well as the existence of super mutants, but that is for another time.
gameplay:
old fallouts were about using your skills to complete the task. You could fight stuff, you could talk your way out of situations, you could sneak through and not kill anyone, you could be a hacker/thief, or you just brute force your way through the game.
New fallouts have more emphasis on combat and pretty much combat. Basically a linear shooter in disguise.
