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So ends the story of the Lone Wanderer, who stepped through the great door of Vault 101 and into the annals of legend. But the tale of humanity will never come to a close, for the struggle of survival is a war without end, and war – war never changes.Narrator, FO3 ending

Just like the intro, the ending of Fallout 3 is narrated by Ron Perlman. The first and final parts are the same for each player, the 3 middle parts depend on their choices, Part 4 may not be played if having entered the wrong code when trying to activate the purifier (the purifier will be destroyed in an explosion that way).

Unlike previous Fallout games, there is no ending narration for individual towns visited during the game. The only thing influenced by side quests is the choice of some of the slides shown during the ending cinematic.

Ending[]

Part 1:

  • Video segment 1 - Will always be included.

Part 2:

  • Video segments 8, 17, 18 - Based on Lone Wanderer's Karma. (One of them will always be included.)
  • Video segments 2 to 7 - Based on whether the Wanderer completed a specific side quest. However, only one of them will appear.

Part 3:

  • Video segments 9, 10, 11 - These segments are based on end-game decision in the control room. (One of them will always be included.) #9 is slightly altered by Broken Steel.
  • Video segments 27 to 29 - Same as video segment #10 (Sacrifice Another), but showing RL-3, Charon, or Fawkes instead of Sarah Lyons. These are added by Broken Steel.

Part 4:

  • Video segments 12, 13, 14 - Based on end-game decision on FEV. (One of them will be included if Project Purity was not blown up.)

Part 5:

  • Video segments 15 and 16 - These two segments have identical voice overs. Based on the Lone Wanderer's gender. (One of them will always be included.)
  • Video segments 19 to 26 - These segments show the same scene, differ only on player character's race and gender.

Video segments[]

There are 26 (29 with Broken Steel installed) independent video segments for the Fallout 3 ending. They can be viewed on the PC version using the external software "RAD Video Tools." Whether they are shown depend on certain task performed in-game. Some are mutually exclusive.

# Voice-over narration Scenes In-game Condition
1 And so it was that the Lone Wanderer ventured forth from Vault 101 intent on discovering the fate of a father who had once sacrificed the future of humanity for that of his only child. Video appears generic, therefore should almost always appear.
2 None Complete Head of State by helping the escaped slaves.
3 None Complete Agatha's Song by bringing the violin to her.
4 None Good Karma
5 None Complete The Power of the Atom by detonating the bomb in Megaton.
6 None (Very) Evil Karma, do not detonate the atomic bomb, Complete Oasis by burning Harold, (Flamer, Shishkebab.)
7 None Seems to be triggered if anyone in Rivet City is killed, or Flak is enslaved as part of the Strictly Business quest. However, enslaving Flak will not always get this ending; can also just need evil Karma.
8 The Capital Wasteland proved a cruel, inhospitable place. Neutral Karma
9 But it was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer learned the true meaning of that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. Stepping into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity, the child followed the example of the father, sacrificing life itself for the greater good of mankind. Step in the Control Chamber at the end and activate the Purifier. Occasionally, ending 11 with the destroyed Purifier may be obtained instead, even if the Purifier is activated, by taking too long to do so and therefore triggered that ending.

In Broken Steel, this segment is replaced with its own version. This version is the exact same, but with scene 4 cut out of it for obvious reasons.

10 It was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer was faced with that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. But the child refused to follow the father's selfless example - instead, allowing a true hero to venture into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity and sacrifice her own life for the greater good of mankind. Let Sarah Lyons enter the Control Chamber at the end.
11 It was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer was faced with that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. But the child refused to follow the father's selfless example. Let the Water Purifier explode. Sometimes, this ending will be gotten even if the Purifier is activated and taking too long to enter it.
12 Thankfully, when selected by the sinister president to be his instrument of annihilation, the Wanderer refused. Humanity with all its flaws was deemed worthy of preservation. The waters of life flowed at last – free and pure, for any and all. The Capital Wasteland at long last was saved. FEV not added at the end and Raven Rock not destroyed.
13 Thankfully, when selected by the sinister president to be his instrument of annihilation, the Wanderer refused. Humanity, with all its flaws, was deemed worthy of preservation. The waters of life flowed at last – free and pure, for any and all. The Capital Wasteland, at long last, was saved. FEV not added at the end and destroyed Raven Rock.
14 Sadly, when selected by the sinister president to be his instrument of annihilation, the Wanderer agreed. Humanity will be preserved, but only in its purest form. The waters of life flowed at last, but the virus contained within soon eradicated all those deemed unworthy of salvation. The Capital Wasteland, despite its progress, became a graveyard. Add the FEV at the end.
15 So ends the story of the Lone Wanderer, who stepped through the great door of Vault 101 and into the annals of legend. But the tale of humanity will never come to a close, for the struggle of survival is a war without end, and war – war never changes. Occurs with male character even if these locations are never visited and Dogmeat is never encountered.
16 So ends the story of the Lone Wanderer, who stepped through the great door of Vault 101 and into the annals of legend. But the tale of humanity will never come to a close, for the struggle of survival is a war without end, and war – war never changes. Occurs with female character, same as above.
17 The Capital Wasteland proved a cruel, inhospitable place, but the Lone Wanderer refused to surrender to the vices that had claimed so many others. The values passed on from father to child – selflessness, compassion, honor – guided this noble soul through countless trials and triumphs. Good Karma
18 The Capital Wasteland proved a cruel, inhospitable place, and the Lone Wanderer ultimately surrendered to the vices that had claimed so many others – selfishness, greed, cruelty. These were the values that guided a lost soul through countless trials and triumphs. Bad Karma
19-26 None 8 videos for each of the 8 combination of race and gender chosen.
27 It was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer was faced with that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. But the child refused to follow the father's selfless example - instead, allowing a true hero to venture into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity. Send Sergeant RL-3 into the control room. Can only be done with Broken Steel installed.
28 It was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer was faced with that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. But the child refused to follow the father's selfless example - instead, allowing a true hero to venture into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity. Send Charon into the control room. Same as above.
29 It was not until the end of this long road that the Lone Wanderer was faced with that greatest of virtues – sacrifice. But the child refused to follow the father's selfless example - instead, allowing a true hero to venture into the irradiated control chamber of Project Purity. Send Fawkes into the control room. Same as above.

Comparison to other Fallout titles[]

Comparison

Fallout and Fallout 2[]

Fallout and Fallout 2 had a narrated slideshow as the ending, but without added visual effects, instead of using solid full-screen images. The images were high-quality artwork, not in-game images (as these titles were played from an isometric perspective). While the first part of each ending was the same no matter how the game was played, it was followed by a town-by-town epilogue based on the actions in-game. Locations that had been “skipped” were not mentioned. New Reno in Fallout 2 had no less than 7 endings; siding with one of the four families, impregnate Leslie or Angela, not siding with any of the families, killing everyone in the city.

There are 47 possible ending "factors" in Fallout 2; this means that the ending gotten after completing the game can vary in many different ways. Only a few of these endings are "required" (in that they are obtained no matter how the game is completed, and cannot be changed or avoided), but the rest of them appear or do not appear depending on choices made throughout the game.

Continue playing[]

Fallout 2 allowed players to continue playing after completing the main questline. There were no “consequences” to having beaten the game, and new endings would not display if the conditions later changed. Aside from a few little extras (like congratulatory remarks on defeating the Enclave), it was the same as having never triggered the event that takes the Chosen One to the final area. Fallout and Fallout Tactics did not allow continuing play, although there are mods that do this in the former game.

The add-on "Broken Steel" for the PC, PS3, and 360 allows continuing past the end of the main quest. In this add-on, the ending is altered and the effects of the choices made at Jefferson Memorial during the final quest Take It Back! are able to be seen.

Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel[]

Fallout Tactics had a combination of a "True" cinematic ending and a narrated slideshow. The cinematic was the same under all 5 possible endings, with the slideshow following the Fallout and Fallout 2 formula of solid images with voice-over. Fallout Tactics had no town-by-town analysis, as the game featured few RPG choices (someone lives or is dead).

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel features a rather short narrated slideshow that ends with the three main playable characters watching the mushroom cloud blossom into the air after the final boss fight and the Vault is blown up. This game has few RPG choices, and no characters other than predetermined enemies could be killed. While there are side quests, they have no impact on the overall plot, so there is only one way to play the game.

Fallout: New Vegas[]

Fallout: New Vegas follows the style of the first two games' endings, going through all of the Courier's major choices in a slideshow with voice-over, and showing the consequences of each of these actions. Thirty topics are covered in this slideshow, and each topic has several different slides; which one is shown depends on the choices made. Thus, like in Fallout 2, there are hundreds of different ending combinations.

The player character is placed into a very small room where they are unable to move, and they are shown the "slides" on a screen in front of them.

See also[]

External links[]

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