User:Lazman321/Spotchecks/Fallout (video game)

Below will be my source check of Fallout (video game), divided into sections. This is in order to find and fix sourcing issues so the article can pass the WP:FAC. Lazman321 (talk) 04:27, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

And the source check is now finished. Some things might've been missed, though hopefully, it is in-depth enough to significantly improve the article. Lazman321 (talk) 04:42, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

Lead

The only source used in the lead is in a footnote located in the infobox that says "MacPlay published the Mac OS X version." The source says, "MacPlay will release the original Fallout on the Macintosh...by the end of the month." Considering there already was a Macintosh version that was released in 1997, and the fact that the source was published a year after the new Mac OS X was released, I'd say the source checks out. However, I might try to find another source to augment this claim.

Gameplay

Character creation

"The player can choose the name of the Vault Dweller." - The page that verifies this is 3-17, not 3-7. Also, the player character isn't referred to as "the Vault Dweller" in the manual; at the time, it was a generic term for anyone who lived in a vault. This sentence comes before the sentence where the name is actually verified by sources, so in this particular sentence, the character needs to be referred to as "the player character". Later instances of "the Vault Dweller" are fine because their name is already verified.
"The protagonist...has six primary statistics, governed by a system known as SPECIAL..." - Actually, its seven, and the listed source doesn't even mention the number of statistics or that they are the primary statistics. This can be fixed by adding a reference to the manual to augment the statement.

Update: Apparently someone has already corrected the number of statistics

"...provided their sum does not exceed 35." - Incorrect, the sum cannot exceed 40 but can exceed 35. The manual doesn't explicitly mention this, but because it can be determined by simple arithmetic, it is not original research.

Exploration and combat

"The game has four companions..." - The source does not mention the exact number of companions.
"The player can use the Pip-Boy 2000, which tracks these quests." - Wrong page number. The page that details what the Pip-boy does is on 4-21, not 4-12.
"The player's actions also dictate what future story or gameplay opportunities are available[21] and, ultimately, the game's ending.[8]" - Source 21 could be moved to the end, and the entire sentence could be augmented by the Computer Games Magazine review.
"Different actions consume different amounts of points." - Page 3-8 does not confirm this, but 5-3 does.
"and may acquire a diverse range of guns." - Actually, the review says "weapons", not "guns".
"Melee (hand-to-hand) weapons typically offer multiple attack types, such as "swing" and "thrust" for knives." - The manual actually says that most melee weapons can be used in two ways, those being swing and thrust. It is not exclusive to knives.

Plot

Setting

"...the ruins of Southern California, known as the Wasteland," - While the game does take place in Southern California, the wasteland does not refer to it exclusively, making this statement inaccurate.

Characters

"There are four companions the player can recruit:" - The rest of the sentence describes who each companion is, and I won't be placing it here as it is long. While playing the game can verify this, it would be preferable to have secondary sources backing up each character.
This is the first sub-section to use the page on the Master on GameSpot's list "The Ten Best Computer Game Villains". I am adding a note here because someone will inevitably try reading this source to verify its statements. For anyone who hasn't figured it out, the text is white. As a result, in order to read it, you need to highlight the text with your mouse.

Story

Because this describes the plot of the game, most elements can be verified by playing the game itself. That being said, because of the game's nonlinear nature, if anyone prefers, I could add more secondary sources.
"The Vault Dweller travels to the Mariposa Military Base to destroy it and the vats within, preventing the creation of more Super Mutants." - Even though the game does verify this, the source listed does not.
"Fallout concludes with the legacy of the Vault Dweller's decisions on the societies and people they had encountered." - The source does verify this statement, but where exactly it verifies it could be specified.

Development

"Initially, Interplay gave the game little attention, as they were focused on Descent to Undermountain at the time," - Wrong page number for book source; the page is 385, not 384. Also, the Polygon source could be moved to the end, and the second clause could be rewritten to say they were focused on other games instead of just Descent to Undermountain specifically.
The Eurogamer history source should probably be removed or used somewhere else; it neither goes into much detail on the original names nor does it augment the statements it is meant to support.
"Cain 2012, 125; 209." - Colons need to be added to this citation to make it consistent with other citations to the same reference and enhance verifiability.

Engine and design

The Next Generation source needs a retrieval date for consistency
"Cain considered the early development of Fallout to be difficult because he was mainly responsible for designing and building the engine before the increase in team members." - Although Cain did call the early development "rough" in the cited timestamp of the video, he did not specify a reason in said timestamp, though the information might be located in another part of the video. Also, the other source does not support this statement.
"Designed to be open-world and non-linear..." - Though verified, the timestamp in the citation could be expanded
Any source that uses Roushimsx's scans should be marked as dead; the website has been suspended.

Concept and influences

"Commentators also noted Fallout's strong similarity to X-COM." - This is only supported by a remark by Next Generation that the combat was reminiscent of X-COM. It does not say that other commentators had the same opinion and adds little information about the development of the game.
"Cain admired Star Control II for its open exploration, which became an inspiration for Fallout's open-ended design." - In the book, Cain never claimed that the exploration in Star Control II inspired Fallout's open-ended design. All Cain said was that he liked that the exploration and that the game influenced Fallout's open-ended design; he never makes a connection between the two.

Characters and writing

"The sprites in Fallout were highly detailed for the time." - Although Cain does the sprites had high detail, they rejected using polygons in favor of sprites in order to reach the detail they wanted, and that they took up a lot of memory; he doesn't say they were highly detailed for the time.

Release

"Promotion and advertising for Fallout was headed by Boyarsky and art director Jason D. Anderson." - The source only says that Boyarsky and Anderson created all the advertisements, not that promotion was headed by them in general, though it is implied. Also, Anderson is credited in-game as one of the lead artists, not the art director; Boyarsky is the sole art director.
"Fallout was released on October 10, 1997, in North America for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows." - While this is verified by the PC Gamer source, it is contradicted by the development logs, which reported its release on October 9. This is an issue I've noticed for a long time but didn't bring it up due to previously established consensus being that Fallout was released on October 10 and PC Gamer being a WP:SECONDARY source, which is preferred in Wikipedia over WP:PRIMARY sources which the logs are. I will mention that contemporaneous sources prior to the game's release expected the release date to be October 10, including the development logs.[1][2][3]
"The Mac OS X version was released worldwide by MacPlay in July 2002." - See lead section
The IGN source meant to support the information about the Fallout Trilogy set redirects to IGN's game page for Fallout.

Reception

Not related to the source check itself, but I did find some contemporaneous reviews thanks to Newspapers.com and Gale Academic OneFile
"The post-apocalyptic setting and non-linear plot were praised as innovative for a role-playing game." - Although both of the listed soures did praise the post-apocalyptic setting, neither considered it innovative. Even less so for the non-linear plot; Computer Games Magazine actually had a mixed opinion on the non-linearity of the game. A better opening sentence for the paragraph is needed.
"Next Generation said that the original quest of finding the water chip, divided into multiple subquests, remained cohesive." - The source says, "The quest evolves from there — dead ends open up new avenues of investigation while storylines separate and come together in a cohesive and natural matter." I don't think the two sentences mean the same thing, so a rewrite probably needs to be done to make the two sentences match in terms of information

Sales

The Desslock's sources need retrieval dates for consistency
The Computer Gaming World source could be moved next to the Games Domain source as they both support similar information: Fallout was successful but didn't sell as much as Diablo and Baldur's Gate
Similarly, the IGN source could be moved next to the Eurogamer source as they support similar information: Fallout acheived a fan following despite not meeting expectations in sales

Awards and accolades

None of the sources aside from the GameSpot sources have a retrieval date.
The Online Gaming Review source has the publisher listed in the reference that should probably be removed for consistency since, aside from books, none of the other sources use the publisher parameter and I can't verify if Strategy Plus is the actual publisher at the moment. If they aren't, I am curious if Online Gaming Review is actually considered a reliable source or if the source can be replaced.

Legacy

Influence

"The mid-1990s saw a decline in the popularity of role-playing video games..." - Considering the sources used in the sentence, it's probably best to just say "1990s" instead of "mid-1990s", as the sources give different estimates of when the decline started. Also, it could be clarified that CRPGs rather than RPGs in general were experiencing a decline in popularity, as console RPGs such as Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger were still successful during the 1990s.
As a note for anyone wanting to read the 1Up.com source, you might have to reload at least once in order for its text to reload.

Retrospective reception

"The Master received acclaim from critics and players..." - None of the sources say that players were giving the Master acclaim, even if the critics were.
A page number could be added to both the Computer Gaming World source and the two IGN top PC game lists.

Series

"The series as a whole has become critically acclaimed, influential among developers, and among the most popular in the video game industry." - While the listed sources do verify all three statements, the Wired article will probably be replaced due to it only mentioning the series in passing and the article being published before Fallout 3 came out.
"Interplay started developing Fallout 3, code-named Van Buren, around this time, outsourcing much of the development to Titus Interactive. Troubled production led to Van Buren's cancellation." - The source does not say that much of the development was outsourced to Titus, only that Titus was purchasing much of Interplay around the time. Also, the cancellation is discussed on page 4, not page 3.
"Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel...was a commercial failure." - Not directly stated by the IGN history source, though it did give a negative review of the game and considered it an example of the string of failures among the Fallout series prior to Bethesda Softworks's purchase. Nonetheless, it doesn't verify the statement that the game was a commercial failure
"Fallout 76...was released...to negative reviews." - Probably should be clarified that users and players were giving the negative reviews; critics actually gave the game mixed reviews.

Other media

One of the citations has a space between it and the period.