spymuffin wrote:

Again, alien technology is the explicit basis of the Skynet supercomputer in Fallout 2.

Fallout 2 also introduced ghosts and the supernatural into the Fallout setting, and that, IMO, was also a mistake. Were the Dunwich quests interesting in FO3 and FO4? I enjoyed them as quests go (certainly more than the locket quest in FO2), but do they strengthen the core thematic arc of all 5 major titles? Not really, no.

No one ever said Black Isle was perfect in their writing.

Adding aliens as an influence behind the Great War (especially an important influence) undermines the central theme of conflict throughout history being cyclical due to an inherent flaw in human nature.

Keep the extra-terrestrial and supernatural as side content in a Wild Wasteland capacity by all means, but I'd rather that the game writers not fall back on "How do we explain <x>? ALIENS!" as a crutch.

There is way to introduce aliens in the lore without breaking the main point of the franchise. if human nature will inherently lead to devastation, why wouldn't a more advanced species be able to exploit that? From what we know, the aliens are curious, if they were certain humans would destroy each other and wanted to test their hypothesis, they could have given it a "push".

But, it's subjective, people don't liking aliens in the Fallouit franchise as a whole is a subjective theme, some people will like, others won't. IMO, specially as an aspiring writer, plot can be interpreted into many distinct variations, there's no "correct answer".

Also, let's not forget, that there's also a chance Vault-Tec was responsible for the war, or at least, had a finger on it, following your logic, that would also undermine the whole "War never changes" concept, since, in the end, it wasn't human nature, but rather, the promisse of profit and the chance to run unethical experiments unhinged. The Enclave had a plan B which consisted in leaving Earth behind and collonizing another planet, Mars if I'm not mistaken, how to you think they got the technology necessary to allow for interplanetary travel? We know they knew about Aliens before the war, we have Skynet after all. In FO2, we also get the impression the crashed UFO was under military custody before it got "recovered" and dropped in the middle of the desert. You may not like it, but, at this point, we can no longer ignore the implications and call Aliens in Fallout a "gag", they're clearly part of the lore, whether we want or not, like T-60 Power Armor and fusion cores, I don't like it, but its part of the Lore now.

I think the alien lore should be expanded on but it should be subtle bits and pieces you find rarely in the game because I really like that the aliens are actually kind of a big thing in the fallout universe being behind a whole bunch of stuff in the fallout lore but no one really knows about them cuz obviously those lil green bastards can just skrrt away in their spaceships

After mothership Zeta (and even more now with the F76 alien event), I don't think Bethesda takes the alie3ns too seriously or has any long-term plot plans for them, and they are more of a fun side element to the game. I really like them, but I think they are best used ask mysterious, like the crashes or the "ghost" versions in 76. Zeta kind of lifted the veil too far, and even though I loved that DLC, it really felt more like a mod than a formal DLC. I am sure that there are plenty of ways to expand on the premise, like having different aliens besides the zetans. I am also surprised that there are not more alien-themed mods, they have a lot of potentials to go nuts with weapons, monsters, locations, etc.

I've never really had problems with the Aliens in the Fallout series; I do appreciate how they're generally handled with a rather 1950s-60s B-movie sci-fi flair. That being said, I always hope that they're left on the sidelines; I feel they're best handled as a silly sideshow romp rather than a serious lore dig where they might dominate the narrative focus.

I really enjoy aliens whenever they pop up in Fallout. But I think they work best as just easter eggs or special-encounter type things. They are fun in small doses, but I think trying to really delve in explain what makes them tick would be a mistake. Partly because the ambiguity is what makes them interesting, but also because it may end up being too distracting given the nature of Fallout as a series. Its a reason why some folk find Mothership Zeta to be a bit jarring.