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Patrol1985

Could you recommend me post-apocalyptic fiction?

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I took some interest in post-apocalyptic fiction, but I lack recommendations so I'd like to ask your opinion.

I'm interested in all media: books, movies, video games.

Thus far I have read/watched/played:

- "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and it was absolutely amazing.
- the "Mad Max" series, but I really only liked the second part, and the depiction of the city in the third one.
- "RAGE" by id Software - AMAZING atmosphere for me. Exactly what I expect from games set in post-apocalyptic world.
- "Metro 2033" (the video game) - I played only 2 levels so far, because it's a typical "generic shooter" with all of its negative features so I didn't really like it, maybe I will give it another go in some time. The setting seemed good though.
- "Borderlands 2" - I didn't like it. Too "cartoony" for my taste.

Here are some popular choices I haven't had contact with yet, I'm interested in your opinion. Is there a chance I will like those based on what I've liked so far?

- "Metro" (the books) - have you read them? Are they good?
- "Fallout" series - I haven't played ANY fallout game really, be it the RPG games or the FPS games. What do you think?
- "Escape from New York" - haven't seen it, but people praise it

So what's your opinion? Can you recommend anything?

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Hi.

I honestly recommend:

Escape from New York
Escape from LA
Soldier
Terminator
Terminator 2
Terminator 3
Terminator 4
Max Max 2 Road Warrior
Mad Max
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Ghost in the Shell
Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade

Games:
Rise of the Dragon (Sega CD)
Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
Flashback (Genesis or SNES cartridge)
Shadowrun (Genesis)
Final Fantasy VII (PSX, or Windows 9X with appropriate legacy hardware which isn't exactly easy)

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What do you like about the post-apocalyptic exactly?

Patrol1985 said:

- "Fallout" series - I haven't played ANY fallout game really, be it the RPG games or the FPS games. What do you think?

Fallout: New Vegas is one of my favorite games ever, but to get the most out of it you really need to play the first two Fallout games as it builds on the events of the first two games that the PC contributes to. While Fallout 1 and 2 are really good old 90's RPGs, if you're not down with the (not always %100 fair) turn based combat, dated UIs and very little guidance for quest solving, it might become frustrating, but I'd still recommend giving them a shot, even if you have to hit a FAQ now and then. Think The Godfather to The Godfather II.

Fallout 3 is... Well, it's a decent sandbox, and I guess it'll scratch that post-apocalyptic itch, but the story gets hella dumb and reads like fallout fan faction ("well where else should we build our town? what do you mean 'Literately anywhere that isn't around a clearly visible and active unexploded nuclear bomb'? Stop your crazy talk!"). It's probably the most accessible of all the fallout games though, and it *is* fun, but don't let it be the beginning and end of your fallout experience.

For other games: While it's not exactly post apocalyptic, Have you looked at the STALKER games? I'd recommend starting with Shadow of Chernobyl, and then skipping to Call of Pripyat, and then, if you're itching for more maybe giving Clear Sky a try. There's also the free stand alone Lost Alpha which I haven't played yet.

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Holering said:

Hi.

I honestly recommend:

Escape from New York
Escape from LA
Soldier
Terminator
Terminator 2
Terminator 3
Terminator 4
Max Max 2 Road Warrior
Mad Max
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Ghost in the Shell
Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade

Games:
Rise of the Dragon (Sega CD)
Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
Flashback (Genesis or SNES cartridge)
Shadowrun (Genesis)
Final Fantasy VII (PSX, or Windows 9X with appropriate legacy hardware which isn't exactly easy)


I've seen all Terminators, and I would classify only the 4th one as "post-apocalyptic" (and it was a good movie). Same goes for Ghost in the Shell - it's a cyberpunk movie, not post-apo. Likewise for Flashback, more a typical space sci-fi than post-apo.

Captain Red said:

What do you like about the post-apocalyptic exactly?


Desolate setting (deserts, abandoned ruins of large cities etc.) and the theme of thriving on limited resources

Captain Red said:

Fallout: New Vegas is one of my favorite games ever, but to get the most out of it you really need to play the first two Fallout games as it builds on the events of the first two games that the PC contributes to. While Fallout 1 and 2 are really good old 90's RPGs, if you're not down with the (not always %100 fair) turn based combat, dated UIs and very little guidance for quest solving, it might become frustrating, but I'd still recommend giving them a shot, even if you have to hit a FAQ now and then. Think The Godfather to The Godfather II.


I haven't played any Godfathers and I have nothing against a lack of guidance (there are FAQs), but I admit I hate unfair luck based combat systems. Such a system was what made me stop the original Xcom very quickly (I got tired of save/loading because for each succesful hit ma soldiers did, the aliens did 10). Maybe I'll find a demo and decide. Fortunately, Fallout is from times where demos were still being released.

Captain Red said:

Fallout 3 is... Well, it's a decent sandbox, and I guess it'll scratch that post-apocalyptic itch, but the story gets hella dumb and reads like fallout fan faction ("well where else should we build our town? what do you mean 'Literately anywhere that isn't around a clearly visible and active unexploded nuclear bomb'? Stop your crazy talk!"). It's probably the most accessible of all the fallout games though, and it *is* fun, but don't let it be the beginning and end of your fallout experience.


I don't really like sandbox games. I'd rather be guided, but with as big a degree of freedom as a non-sandbox game can provide. Rage is a good example, whereas Metro is a bad example (NPCs win the game for me...).

Captain Red said:

For other games: While it's not exactly post apocalyptic, Have you looked at the STALKER games? I'd recommend starting with Shadow of Chernobyl, and then skipping to Call of Pripyat, and then, if you're itching for more maybe giving Clear Sky a try. There's also the free stand alone Lost Alpha which I haven't played yet.


I haven't played STALKERs, but from what I've read it's the kind of game I might be looking for! Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out.

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Patrol1985 said:

I have nothing against a lack of guidance (there are FAQs), but I admit I hate unfair luck based combat systems. Such a system was what made me stop the original Xcom very quickly (I got tired of save/loading because for each succesful hit ma soldiers did, the aliens did 10).

Oh not to worry, it's not at X-Com levels of unfairness. Just once in a blue moon some jerk will roll a critical success when he shoots you that will bypass your armor and do a ludicrous amount of damage. Nothing the old 'save early, save often' mantra won't cure.

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Desolate setting (deserts, abandoned ruins of large cities etc.) and the theme of thriving on limited resources


Call me crazy but I thought the movie Waterworld was good. If you like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, you might like it. It's set completely on water, but everything else is like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (criminals, survival, crazy people, etc.). I honestly think movie ratings that are based from Turkey to 4 stars (or more), are the worst way to judge a movie.

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Hmmmm books... The Genesis of Shannara trilogy (Armageddon's Children, The Elves of Cintra and The Gypsy Morph) by Terry Brooks if you don't mind a bit of magic, elves and demons in your apocalypse. Also there's a prequel trilogy to the series I never did get to read called Word & Void (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East).

There's an older set of two books written by Andre Norton called Starman's Son and No Night Without Stars. The Omnibus version is called Darkness and Dawn. It's very oldschool sci-fi set on a post apocalyptic Earth with a mutant dude and his feline companion. May not be Norton's best work but I enjoyed it a few years back. I tend to like odd stuff sometimes tho.

As for Vidya games I think Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl and Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas were pretty fun. Metro 2033 was good but I got so far and stopped playing. Hmmm wonder what Metro Last Light is like...

Holering said:

Call me crazy but I thought the movie Waterworld was good.


You crazy. I liked Waterworld too. Haven't seen it in years tho. haha. I also liked The Book of Eli. Mad Max and other films have already been mentioned so I'll shut up now.

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Here are some things that haven't been mentioned and yes Terminator: Salvation is the only post apocalyptic one.

Games:
Fallen Earth Free to Play
Terminator: Salvation (2 hour arcade game)

Movies:
I am Legend
Screamers
Planet of the Apes
The Stand
Tank Girl
Zardoz
Idiocracy
Wall E
Zombieland

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Kontra Kommando said:

Derp


Oh wow. Those Kauffman & Herz dudes sure made a lot of B-movies.

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Holering said:

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Wouldn't recommend this except for laughs.

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Definitely play STALKER games, and read the book "Roadside Picnic" that they were based on.

Oh, and +1 for The Postman. Loved that movie.

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Stalker games. Read Roadside Picnic.

I've read the original Metro book, nothing special. The world is interesting but the writing is very poor, feels like he was focusing on advertising his world design skills. The story is just a showcase for all the stuff that's going on on various stations, as the main character who's as boring as they come zooms through them towards his "goal", which turns out to be a ridiculous deus ex machina ending.

Fallout 1 and 2. 1 feels more like Tolkien, with clear cut good and evil sides to the factions and storyline. 2 is like The Witcher, just a huge mass of moral gray areas and conflicting interests. I prefer 2. Don't listen to complaints about the combat system, you're never forced into fights you can't win at your current level (a bad crit can always get you though). Fallout 3 didn't do a thing for me, just as boring as Morrowind. Haven't tried New Vegas, probably not going to bother.

Movies not previously mentioned:
A Boy and His Dog

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While I have yet to personally play it myself I have heard interesting things about I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. Its available on GOG and is based off of a short story in the same vein. You may want to check it out.

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Six String Samurai



Belial said:

Fallout 3 didn't do a thing for me, just as boring as Morrowind. Haven't tried New Vegas, probably not going to bother.

Fallout NV was made by many of the former black isle members in Obsidian (it even uses elements from the scrapped game Van Buren, which was going to be Fallout 3 before Bethesda got the rights) and is a much, MUCH better Fallout game then 3.

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Deus Irae by P.K. Dick and Roger Zelazny. Post-apoc doesn't get any weirder. The main hero is armless and legless and travels throughout the wasteland on his cybernetic wheelchair. He searches for a guy that blew up the Earth to paint a mural of him, because he became the central figure of a new religion of Wrath. His encounters are rather trippy, it feels a bit like Monty Python does Fallout, sans humour.

Angel's Egg, an anime movie by Mamoru Oshii. Oh wait, this one's even weirder. Artsy, almost speechless movie full of religious symbolism. Watch at your own risk.

The Massive, a comic by Brian Wood, has one of my favourite post-apoc settings, because it doesn't sift through wastelands and ashes of nations. Instead, it shows the decay of our global civilization after a series of sudden, closely unspecified catastrophes.

Damnation Alley is an 80's movie adaptation of a Roger Zelazny book. Read it, skip the (really bad) movie.

From the stuff already mentioned...
Fallout is your step 1, a modern classic.
I didn't like The Road much.
Holering mentions Jin Roh. That's not post-apoc, that's alternate history in which Japan was invaded by the Nazis in WW2 (iirc) and later down the timeline the riot police fights some domestic terrorists.
Escape from NY is awesome pulp classic, Escape from LA jumps the shark and gets very, very cheesy (but still fun).
Waterworld is dumb popcorn fun, Postman (another post-apoc Costner movie) is braindead and unwatchable poop.
Book of Eli is utter garbage with a premise so cringeworthy and jaw-droppingly stupid that it has to be revealed at the very end so you can't quit on the spot.
Aeon Flux the movie is a poor man's Matrix, we're talking Somalia poor. Shame, I remember liking the MTV series back in the 90's, but that may be nostalgia drive.
I Am Legend is a full feature Will Smith commercial with hilariously bad CGI monsters and butchered ending that twists the book's entire point to massive cringe.
Zardoz... uh. It's really weird and it stops making sense at least several times. I think everyone in the movie just did a ton of drugs.
Six-string Samurai is a really cute indie movie, although the post-apoc settings are pretty much unnecessary.

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Maes said:

Oh wow. Those Kauffman & Herz dudes sure made a lot of B-movies.


No lie, I pretty much live in the real Tromaville. Parts of the Toxic Avenger was filmed by me.

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Thanks for your feedback guys! I just love how Dew writes about shitty movies / books. It actually makes me want to try them :D :D :D

reality 2.0 said:

I recommend do androids dream of electric sheep aka blade runner.


I haven't read the book yet, but the movie is definitely NOT post-apoc. It's futuristic sci-fi and still an awesome movie, but just not what I'm asking about

Technician said:

Doom 2. But I'm sure you've already played that.


Never heard of it, is it good? :P Surprisingly, it DOES fill the "post-apocalypse" criterion! :D

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Metro 2033 - the Book(s)
The original book was so popular, that it inspired people to do many fanfictions. And among the fans, there were actual writers, so there were not just txt files, but actual paper books written by fans and sold officially. And of course, those books became official canon parts of the written version of Metro 2033 Universe.

Most of them probably haven't been translated from Russian language yet, but i'm pretty sure the following books are available in English:

Metro 2033 - Britannia (Grant McMaster)
Metro 2033 - Roots of Heaven (Tullio Avoledo)

And a bunch of other ones that i'm too lazy to remember... (And i'm not sure if they're translated)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe_of_Metro_2033

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I enjoyed Dark Angel, the TV series that helped make Jessica Alba famous.

As a kid I enjoyed a lot of post-apocalyptic books (even before I knew that term), one series that comes to mind is the Keill Randor series of Douglas Hill (The Last Legionary etc.). Some seriously awesome villains and characters. I also read and enjoyed one or two of his other books.

I also once enjoyed a book called The White Mountains which is part of a series called The Tripods. Never read the others though.

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Panzer Dragoon series video games.

Saturn Panzer Dragoon Saga is not worth $200.00, but if you can read Japanese you might be able to import it at a fair price. It is a great game (especially considering it's an RPG), but not to the extent "fanboys" make it out to be worth $100.00+.

Panzer Dragoon Orta is probably the best one (besides Saga). It's an Xbox game too and it seems to work on Xbox 360 with no problems.

Would also say Neverending Story movie. Yeah it's a fantasy, but somehow it's post apocalyptic in a very twisted out of body experience.

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Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series is pretty awesome. It's not exactly what you might expect from a "post-apocalyptic" story, but the main world is takes place in (and kinda weaves in and out of) is, and is very well done.

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