Does Bethesda think accents are genetic?

[Red Zinfidel]

Seriously, why does Cait have an Irish accent? As far as I can she wasn't raised in Ireland, it seems like she's never left the Commonwealth? So what's with the accent? Same goes for the Badinov brothers in the Dugout Inn. And no Kenji, I refuse to believe you even know where Japan is.

I can get wanting to add some variety into how characters sound, but why not American accents? It would be easier to believe that Cait was from Jersey than Ireland. Lots of American accents to choose from but instead they go with foreign ones? In fact there is one region of the US known for its incredibly distinct accent. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called BOSTON!

Again, seriously, no one in the Commonwealth has a Boston accent? One of the biggest missed opportunities in the game is to not have everyone in the Institute speak with a hilariously thick Boston accent. "Have you tocked to faddah? He's wicked smaht!"

And Nick Valentine is from Chicago! "Yao guai, huh? You know what we called them back where I'm from? Daa bears!"

[Nitemares]

You want an honest answer?

OR just agreement that its silly?

Because I can do both... (I agree its silly)

[Zekiran]

It's actually been a peeve for me since the game was released. It's been 200 years - we barely understand the last version of English that existed 200 years ago in reality, how these accents would have existed in the slightest in another 50 years and then another 200 after THAT... yeah, I don't buy it either.

My personal idea is that it is all actually still just a false memory or simulation like in Fallout 3's setting.

There's no reason for any of those accents to have carried through the last 50 years in our world let alone 200 more after an apocalypse.

[Nitemares]

Originally posted by Zekiran:

It's actually been a peeve for me since the game was released. It's been 200 years - we barely understand the last version of English that existed 200 years ago in reality, how these accents would have existed in the slightest in another 50 years and then another 200 after THAT... yeah, I don't buy it either.

My personal idea is that it is all actually still just a false memory or simulation like in Fallout 3's setting.

There's no reason for any of those accents to have carried through the last 50 years in our world let alone 200 more after an apocalypse.

You ever play the Interplay Fallouts? (fallout2 specifically?)

Sulik the tribal companion from that game was great.... and probably closer to that would happen after a societal collapse.

The Sorrows and the white legs are an other good example. (FNV) where the indigenous people went back to their original languages and bastardised it.

Heck, Mad Max: beyond Thunderdome even had those kids with crappy English (no.. not natural Australian :P)

Deadboys from Mad Max Fury road and their slang...

....

WHY IS IT ALL THE GOOD NARRATIVE ♥♥♥♥ HAPPENS WHEN BETHESDA ISN'T INVOLVED??

[Mofuji]

Yes, yes they do. Or they honestly want us to believe that people are still crossing the Atlantic in the same setting that they've tried their hardest to kneecap progress wise, to a point where two centuries later, nobody is organized beyond isolated cities.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by Red Zinfidel:

Seriously, why does Cait have an Irish accent? As far as I can she wasn't raised in Ireland, it seems like she's never left the Commonwealth? So what's with the accent? Same goes for the Badinov brothers in the Dugout Inn. And no Kenji, I refuse to believe you even know where Japan is.

I can get wanting to add some variety into how characters sound, but why not American accents? It would be easier to believe that Cait was from Jersey than Ireland. Lots of American accents to choose from but instead they go with foreign ones? In fact there is one region of the US known for its incredibly distinct accent. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called BOSTON!

Again, seriously, no one in the Commonwealth has a Boston accent? One of the biggest missed opportunities in the game is to not have everyone in the Institute speak with a hilariously thick Boston accent. "Have you tocked to faddah? He's wicked smaht!"

And Nick Valentine is from Chicago! "Yao guai, huh? You know what we called them back where I'm from? Daa bears!"

You don't have to be from Ireland to have an Irish accent. There just needs to be a group of predominately Irish people somewhere in the Commonwealth or surrounding area that Cait grew up with. It is possible one exists, and we just don't see it. For the accent to survive 200 years is a bit of a stretch, but for all we know Cait is descended from Vault dwellers. The closed environment of a Vault would let an accent remain unchanged for far longer. Its even possible (though unlikely) that Caits grandparents of great grand parents were part of some other cryo project. The same could be said of the brothers.

As for Nick, he was programmed with the memories and brain pattern of a pre-war detective. That pre-war detective came from Chicago, and transferred to Boston to deal with a specific case. It would be strange if he didn't speak with a Chicago accent.

[SkunkPlaysGames]

It's so dumb. I despise Cait as a character. She's one of the most terribly written characters in the game. Her hooker with a heart of gold, butt-kicking hot house lily personality is as worn out as her long-for-rent kitty cat.

[DouglasGrave]

Cait has a genuine wasteland accent, made out of scavenged pieces of leftover prewar accents.

[Zekiran]

Originally posted by steventirey:

You don't have to be from Ireland to have an Irish accent. There just needs to be a group of predominately Irish people somewhere in the Commonwealth or surrounding area that Cait grew up with. It is possible one exists, and we just don't see it. For the accent to survive 200 years is a bit of a stretch, but for all we know Cait is descended from Vault dwellers. The closed environment of a Vault would let an accent remain unchanged for far longer. Its even possible (though unlikely) that Caits grandparents of great grand parents were part of some other cryo project. The same could be said of the brothers.

As for Nick, he was programmed with the memories and brain pattern of a pre-war detective. That pre-war detective came from Chicago, and transferred to Boston to deal with a specific case. It would be strange if he didn't speak with a Chicago accent.

I've known people including myself who hang out for 2 weeks with people with specific accents and begin to use them.

If anyone from Ireland was actually left on the east coast of the USA long enough to survive the blast, they would 100% have forgotten their accent along with everything else in the time it took them to breed. It's just lazy.

Nick is definitely the exception, he absolutely should have the heavy accent of the pre-war era. but anything else? The chinese sub captain yeah, sure. Unless a character somehow made it across the entire ocean and wherever else, not gonna keep that accent for long. People blend in, and adjust, within a very short timeframe.

[NecroMaster]

Lots of people survived the initial bombing but left their vaults once the radiation died down to a survivable extent.

Accents can in a way be genetic as people tend to talk the same way as the people who raised them.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by Red Zinfidel:

Seriously, why does Cait have an Irish accent? As far as I can she wasn't raised in Ireland, it seems like she's never left the Commonwealth? So what's with the accent? Same goes for the Badinov brothers in the Dugout Inn. And no Kenji, I refuse to believe you even know where Japan is.

I can get wanting to add some variety into how characters sound, but why not American accents? It would be easier to believe that Cait was from Jersey than Ireland. Lots of American accents to choose from but instead they go with foreign ones? In fact there is one region of the US known for its incredibly distinct accent. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called BOSTON!

Again, seriously, no one in the Commonwealth has a Boston accent? One of the biggest missed opportunities in the game is to not have everyone in the Institute speak with a hilariously thick Boston accent. "Have you tocked to faddah? He's wicked smaht!"

And Nick Valentine is from Chicago! "Yao guai, huh? You know what we called them back where I'm from? Daa bears!"

I agree. But this is one of those illogical things that fill many games. If you went through them all you'd be writing hundreds of pages of how stupid and illogical just people are in a post apocalyptic wasteland. I've made a few points as well that many simply refuse to acknowledge. And if they have to- "It's just a game!" is the final retort.

As an aside, my SS is an English man, with a very English accent, who came over as a transfer exchange with the US army which is why he speaks English in the US. And of course he was frozen so still speaks English. Of course I have Silent protagonist on and nobody notices my English accent in game, but whatever. However, Codsworth knows my name, which is nice, and he also has a good reason why he speaks English still.

[Nitemares]

Originally posted by PeaceMaker:

Originally posted by Red Zinfidel:

Seriously, why does Cait have an Irish accent? As far as I can she wasn't raised in Ireland, it seems like she's never left the Commonwealth? So what's with the accent? Same goes for the Badinov brothers in the Dugout Inn. And no Kenji, I refuse to believe you even know where Japan is.

I can get wanting to add some variety into how characters sound, but why not American accents? It would be easier to believe that Cait was from Jersey than Ireland. Lots of American accents to choose from but instead they go with foreign ones? In fact there is one region of the US known for its incredibly distinct accent. Maybe you've heard of it? It's called BOSTON!

Again, seriously, no one in the Commonwealth has a Boston accent? One of the biggest missed opportunities in the game is to not have everyone in the Institute speak with a hilariously thick Boston accent. "Have you tocked to faddah? He's wicked smaht!"

And Nick Valentine is from Chicago! "Yao guai, huh? You know what we called them back where I'm from? Daa bears!"

I agree. But this is one of those illogical things that fill many games. If you went through them all you'd be writing hundreds of pages of how stupid and illogical just people are in a post apocalyptic wasteland.

As an aside, my SS is an English man who came over as a transfer exchange with the US army which is why he speaks English in the US. And of course he was frozen so still speaks English. Of course I have Silent protagonist on and nobody notices my English accent in game, but whatever. However, Codsworth knows my name, which is nice, and he also has a good reason why he speaks English still.

The beauty of mods....

Turning the story of Nate/Nora... into the story of <insert person here>.

[steventirey]

It is entirely possible a group of Irish survivors came over from Ireland. We do know transoceanic voyages still happen, as Alistair Tenpenny (Fallout 3) came over from Great Britain. We aren't told why he did so, other than to seek his fortune in the Capital Wasteland. So it is entirely possible some others did the same at some point or another.

[Sofi]

Boston is a key destination for immigration. I'm surprised there isn't more Irish individuals to be honest. If any Irish individuals survived to the point this game is, their accent will have been passed down to them through being raised by heavy-accented parents, hearing it is enough, and keeping your child safe from raiders or traders or anyone with a different accent will ensure it's picked up by the child -- It's all they'd have to work with when learning to speak.

You're barking at the dark here.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Fun police, turn those smiles upside down. It is a woke down on accents people...don't use them or lose them. Piper has got a story in the making!

[Sofi]

"Woke" people use racism and sexism to push racism and sexism by blaming races and sexes for things. Like totally hypocritical.