Wasteland's identity is basically Mad Max, but in a world that has more going on in it than road warriors battling in the desert.
To me, the most noticeable difference between Wasteland and Fallout is that in the latter, the shadows of the old world seem to exert much more of an influence. In a way, contrary to popular opinion, it's Fallout that is the wackier of the two. A setting that's constantly haunted by the pre-apocalyptic past, while the world of Wasteland concerns itself with the here and now.
Like yeah, it's "disjointed" because that's how a post-apocalyptic reality would be when you don't have these viral concepts like the Vaults and the Brotherhood of Steel overshadowing your entire setting! But yes, those pervasive "old world blues" do serve as an organizing principle for the Fallout setting that Wasteland lacks.
That's an intersting argument, that Fallout is actually the wackier part of the post-apoc series compared to Wasteland. I guess I kind of agree, but still, it seems more grounded, because there's not many zany and lulsy outlies like fucking clown factions and that stuff, which kind of borders on pretty fucking dumb and silly
.. then again, you could argue that big green orc like super mutants are also fucking dumb and silly as fuck, but it kind of gels better still
Fallout 2 had alot more "silly" elements, to be sure, but I still think there's a bleak contrast between fallout 1 and something like WL3.
I thought Wasteland 3 alludes quite abit to pre-war times and the time in between, to bridget the gap to the here and now, it just doesnt hold as much punch narratively and not as engaging as the fallout premise overall.
I mean vaults are directly tied to the old-world-new world era, so yes, they were a brilliant concept back then.
I found myself constantly wanting abit more "realistic and down to earth" stuff in Wasteland 3, like old bunkers, secrets and shit like that, because they allude to it, but what I got was more of a fun crazy themepark. The sillyness aside though, Wastelands premise is definitely not a bad one, and is quite engaging especially in some parts that hit just the right notes