Fallout: Radiation vs FEV

I talk about how radiation and FEV work in Fallout and my opinion on which one caused ghouls.

[Pierucci]

I'm pretty sure Ghouls being born from radiation is still the canon, with the exception being Harold (who is not actually a ghoul and just looked like one).

[SteeleGolem]

As someone with a theoretical degree in physics, I can confirm that ghouls came from space.

[EnigmaNL]

Totally agree. Ghouls being radiation only fits the best in the lore in my opinion. By the way I am really loving your content. Fascinating and informative stuff!

[dfshjb]

6:27 I believe what you meant to say was your hair turns gray because your cells stop producing MELANIN, not melatonin. Great video!

[squadcar]

I love how much consideration you guys put into Fallout. The game has a tone and atmosphere to it like nothing else. Thanks for the videos Tim

[beautifulbearinatutu]

My impression was that yes, ghouls were purely radiation (though I think Fallout 1 gave some of us the impression that only low-level exposure would transform people into ghouls, but it sounds from the video that exposure to high levels of radiation was always an alternative possibility), but with certain mutant creatures in the wastes it was the combination of FEV and radiation. Mostly based on the fact that the doctor in Shady Sands seemed to think that radiation alone couldn't have made the radscorpions grow so big, an idea that was also examined in the Fallout 3 quest Those! with the fire-breathing giant ants apparently being a product of FEV experimenting from Doc Lesko.

Ultimately, at this point, the franchise has passed through so many creative teams that there's always gonna be inconsistencies, but it's interesting to hear your opinion on where it all started :)

[FortunateJuice]

My favorite thing about Fallout is the lore. In my opinion, it's the lore that produces such a fierce loyalty to the games.

[jimnms]

I liked how Fallout treated radiation somewhat realistic, but it could also lead to some frustration since absorbing a lethal dose of radiation didn't immediately kill you. I've seen many people wondering why they die after leaving the glow. It sort of happened to me. I played chess with the computer and didn't realize time passed and the Rad-X wore off until it was too late. While making my way to the exit of The Glow, I noticed the messages about feeling ill, etc. I checked the "Geiger counter" and saw my dose, so I pumped myself full of Rad-Away and took more Rad-X, but I still died a few days later. BTW, the Geiger counter in the game should have been called a dosimeter since it measures your absorbed radiation and not background radiation.

[volkardlokisson]

Making it that irradiated humans that are exposed to the virus become ghouls still fits logically into the idea that The Master needed unirradiated humans in order to make Super Mutants, given that the radiation damage would result in ghouls instead and that wasn't his aim. Either way, loving the content and clarifications!

[MookieMarkova]

Ghouls being the result of radiation shenanigans makes sense to me. It's always felt kinda pulpy to rationalise it like that, but that only adds to the charm of the setting.

[MichaelCordeiro]

I love the amount of care and detail that goes into thinking about these things. I’m a lore nerd and this kind of attention to detail that informs the world and what’s in it is so cool to hear about.

[brosbeforetoes]

Mr. Cain. Please keep making these clips. Words cannot explain what an expression Fallout left on me. And hearing the inner thoughts of the 'making of' and the theorycraft of it... its truly profound, how much fulfillment I'm getting out of this. And I feel I'm not the only one, but rather speaking for the lurkers here, that aren't putting this comment in.

[JonathanRossRogers]

6:27 I suspect that Tim meant to say that melanin is no longer produced. Melanin refers to the natural pigments that give our hair and skin darker colors. Melatonin is a natural hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles and blood pressure among other things.

[Grrymjo]

Not only that is a good idea, but you explained it perfectly, with all the biochemical background. Thank you!

[dadman]

One thing that's shifted my perspective here is that I remember the original game saying Super Mutants live around 20% longer than humans, and later it was retconned to be that Super Mutants (and ghouls) are functionally immortal. Based on this quad helix information though, there's nothing actually incompatible with Super Mutant immortality right from the start. Pretty neat!

[Esure]

What's respectable, is that you clearly did your research into the topic. This is where I feel many games and stories are going awry these days. Modern writers aren't doing their homework, they're just referencing what they saw on television growing up. Whilst you clearly took liberties on how radiation worked, you grounded it in logic and consistency. When you don't do that and just wave around radiation as a magic green wand. You get a boy who survived in a fridge for 200 years because he's a ghoul.

[jromero]

Ive always understood ghoulification to be a combination of radiation and genetics, at least in terms of who becomes feral and who doesn't or how fast it happens, since we've never gotten a glimpse at the process of one becoming feral.

[christopherdavis]

I love waking up to these videos and starting my day with them.

[Toromboloize]

Awesome video! My only problem with radiation making insects bigger is that insects are not limited to their current sizes by a lack of food, rather, it's the fact that their open circulatory system depends on spiracles to distribute oxygen from diffusion. They don't have "forced" respiration, thus their size is limited by how much oxygen they can diffuse into their hemolymph by this mechanism. Ancient ancestors of insects like the Pulmonoscorpius did have primitive lungs and thus could grow bigger. The atmosphere was also much richer in oxygen in these times. Thus while radiation might mutate them bigger, it won't evolve them a lung system. Thus in my headcanon insects were both FEV and radiation enhanced, probably by accidental releases of FEV into the atmosphere. However that begs the question how did FEV hit wildlife but not the people after the bombs fell.

[vickypedias]

Tim, as a die hard Fallout universe fan, it is such a treasure to have your views and memories of the development of that wonderful world in which I've spent hundreds of hours of my life.... Thank you!!