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Interview Fallout 3 Q&A with the Right Questions but Wrong Answers

Vault Dweller

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Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Fallout 3

<a href=http://www.1up.com>1Up</a> has posted a <a href=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3162284>Fallout 3 interview</a> with Emil "I don't owe you shit!" Pagliarulo, a scholar, gentleman, and the lead designer.
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<blockquote><b>... For example, will conversations affect the outcome of the game, or is it primarily larger-scale, world-shaking actions?</b>
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We went back and forth with the impact of dialogue on the character, and ultimately decided <b>we didn't want to penalize or reward the player for carrying on a conversation</b>. ... </blockquote>A Bethesda game with meaningless dialogues? You don't say.
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<blockquote><b>You're paying homage to the original games, but making a game all your own. How do you balance these conflicting goals?</b>
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There came a point where I simply had to forget about paying homage to the original games and focus my attention on making our game. We've always got Fallout and Fallout 2 in the back of our minds. At this point, those games are just part of our collective consciousness.
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But right now, we have a vision, and we're sticking to it, and all of our attention is focused on making the best game we know how. We've accepted that we're making a Fallout sequel, and we're just moving ahead with making it.</blockquote>Translation: I don't really give a fuck about the Fallout games, and quite frankly, I don't get what the fuss is about as I'm not one of the losers who form "intimate relationship" with games. We are making this cool sci-fi shooter to diversify our gaming portfolio, so will you please focus on the visuals and stop asking me questions about some old games?
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<blockquote><b>The Fallout community is very -- very -- vocal and defensive of the franchise. Why do you think the previous games have generated such a tenacious fanbase, especially in light of the disappointments of Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel?</b>
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Yeah, I mean, it's no secret that there's a hardcore Fallout fanbase that can be very vocal, very defensive, and very wary of any changes to the original game. But why is that the case? Who are these people, and what is it about Fallout that awakens such passion?
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In my experience, a lot of these ardent fans are old-school PC gamers who don't like many -- or any -- console games. ... Some people get really attached to something and reject change. ... That fosters a really unique, almost intimate relationship with a game. I understand their feelings and sympathize...but I'm not one of those people.</blockquote>Good answer, Emil.
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<blockquote><b>The idea of an Enclave-run radio station seems to have raised a few hackles among fans of the original game. Can you explain how this fits in with the Fallout canon?</b>
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I can...but I won't. That's one of the things we're just really not ready to talk about yet. Sorry! </blockquote>Whenever you're ready. We can hardly wait.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPG Watch</A>
 

Rohit_N

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I love the user hype from this person:

while i never played the first fallout, the series as a whole can't be better than ES...morrowind alone was genius and oblivon...hell, oblivion stands on it's own as a gamer maker. Like FF7, every non-gamer i force to play it seems to go buy a 360...
I suppose it's possible for one to prefer the TES series to Fallout, but when they don't even give the latter a try...
 

Black

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Rohit_N said:
I love the user hype from this person:

while i never played the first fallout, the series as a whole can't be better than ES...morrowind alone was genius and oblivon...hell, oblivion stands on it's own as a gamer maker. Like FF7, every non-gamer i force to play it seems to go buy a 360...
I suppose it's possible for one to prefer the TES series to Fallout, but when they don't even give the latter a try...
Fact- Fallouts were shit. Now bethtards are making Fallout as it was supposed to be long time ago.

I mean, what the fuck? Isometric, turn-based game where almost everything depends on character's skills? I can't move when it's not my turn? FUCK! No wonder BIS went down!
 

Rat Keeng

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Yeah, except in checkers you have like 20 party members, and they're all fighters.

Emil P. said:
We went back and forth with the impact of dialogue on the character

Sounds like the intellectual forces at Bethesda were heard when this decision was made.
 

Lingwe

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If you've spent any time with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you know Emil Pagliarulo's work. He's the guy responsible for the Dark Brotherhood faction, often considered to be the best storyline in the game

Interesting how the using the word "best" makes it seem that it was actually really good. In reality the only reason why it is considered the "best" is because it is the only questline out of the 5 main questlines that even has a single twist in it (and it only had one at that).

And it is still has gaping wide plotholes that may as well shout at the player "I couldn't figure out a good way to get around this so you just have to suckit". E.g You have the diary of the traitor, you have his mother's severed head. You cannot tell the head Speaker who the blinking traitor is despite the fact that you hold his blinking diary in your hand. You can't even stab him dead with a dagger thanks to being marked essential (hence removing the need for scripting an alternate ending in which the killer is already dead, but that would mean that there would be an alternate ending [and alternate ending in an RPG, no way!]). Instead you forced to go along and watch as two other people are killed. Great gaping plot hole that speaks of either laziness or lack writing talent.

Additionally if the traitor is some guy who is a member of the Black Hand how exactly did Lachance come up with the idea that the traitor was a member of the Cheydinhal Sanctuary? Not a single explanation why, not a single planted clue that you are meant to discover that incriminates a member of the guild. It's just "one of them is a traitor so go kill your former friends (plot twist!!!)". Then its "no wait sorry the actual traitor is a guy who had nothing to do with the guys you killed. Oops".

That said and done at least there was a plot twist (if a poorly conceived one) which makes Emil a better candidate for the job of lead designer than some of the other designers.

So it's no surprise they react they way they do when a company like Bethesda obtains the license

It wouldn't at all be due to the fact the Oblivion was a total disappointment as far as RPGs go would it Emil?

You can play the entire game in first- or third-person without ever going into VATS. We never actually force you into VATS for combat. So if you just want to point your weapon and pull the trigger, go for it.

Wouldn't it have a been a crazy idea if Vats was the only method of combat, oh wait.. that would lose the lucrative FPS players who will make up the bulk of the purchasers.

We went back and forth with the impact of dialogue on the character, and ultimately decided we didn't want to penalize or reward the player for carrying on a conversation. What you say and how you say it will certainly affect how NPCs react to you, and whether or not they'll give you quests, but not the ending of the game

No doubt because the Fallout FPS players would come on the ESF board whining about how they "lost" the game because they chose a dialogue option that lead to something bad happening.

In Oblivion, for example, the fiction of the Dark Brotherhood is pretty different from what had been presented before. I wanted to look at the guild from a different angle.

A euphemism for "I wanted to shit all over the previously established lore because I thought it would be cool if there was this really evil god who the Dark Brotherhood supposedly worships".

So really, the process for me is the same -- take what someone else has done, put my own spin on it, make it fun, and try really hard not to screw up.

Perhaps you should try really really hard this time Emil.

You're developing a game, set in Washington, D.C., that includes guns and graphic violence, and it's releasing in an election year. Any concerns Fallout 3 will become the focus of political scrutiny?

Well Jack Thompson would blame World War 2 on any computer game with guns if he could so it won't really shake up anything. Games like Manhunter are far more tasteless in terms of killing people.

Well, not really! You know, it's great to have made a really popular, really successful game: It lets you make the next really popular, really successful game. At least, that's always the hope, isn't it?

A game really popular and really successful like Oblivion? Hope is doomed.
 

franc kaos

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On the outside ~ looking in...
Emil P is lead designer... in name only. It's clear Tod H (apologist to his Zenimax masters who, if I'm not mistaken are in politics as well), has the final say on everything happening in the game.

Tod H still laughs at boobies and likes fighting on his 360 and 42in TV.

I'm still going to tor... 'get' the game (I bought Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion - so as far as I'm concerned BethSoft still owe me one game).

Less level scaling, game changing consequence, PC specific UI, better RAI, better dialogue (could hardly be worse), more voice actors: And I, personally, don't mind first person perspective - all in all, makes this sound as though it won't be utterly terrible. VATs will have to be seen, but I played Stalker in real time and enjoyed it.

Whilst I know Bethsoft lie (ie. make mistaken claims / remove promised features about their upcoming games), I do believe they learn from earlier mistakes.

Fuck! Just the promised PC specific UI, no non invading invasion and better level scaling makes this game 1000 times better than Oblivion.
:cool:
 

thesheeep

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fastpunk said:
Was he fucking stoned? Emil was almost honest about his feelings in this interview.

Agreed. I can't be angry at Emil now...
Of course, he doesn't grasp the reason why so many of us dislike many console games, or console gaming in general, but still... I don't see any offense in what he is answering.
 

bozia2012

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Honestly, I think Fallout 3 falls so squarely in the realm of imaginative science fiction that you'd have to be an idiot to scrutinize the game's content as anything more than pure escapist, adult fantasy.

Yeah, they sure are makin' a tr00 FO successor...

It's a failure of the free market
 

Texas Red

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So you dont even have to ever enter VATS? Staying true to the series is changing the genre? Oh, but I guess its about the "spirit", right?
 

Koby

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we have a vision...
And it doesn’t have anything to do with the original game... gee wiz, what a shocker.

Some people get really attached to something and reject change... but I'm not one of those people.
No his is not, as long at it is changed to an action game, with the best graphic that their budget can afford, no, he is not against change, he is against NOT changing it, Pfff.

We went back and forth with the impact of dialogue on the character, and ultimately decided we didn't want to penalize or reward the player for carrying on a conversation

Now, I have to admit that only recently I have become aware of this, I'm not talking about Fallout3 here but about PC gaming in general. While we all know that "reading is the hard", I didn’t realize just how profound this is until lately.

Random posts from random places:
...but only real RPG freaks will love it because of its never-ending dialogues.

I don’t mind the puzzles, but dialog puzzles are stupid, I don’t even know when it is a puzzles or just someone telling me about my mission...

To the majority of gamers, reading isn’t playing, it is not a gameplay element, and if a game will represent to much reading, as part of the game play, to some degree it is less of a game in their minds. Thinking is ok, pausing in order to think is ok, but pausing the game play in order to read is not (*click* *click* " I get it, I get it, I'm supposed to kill that dude, let me out of this fucking dialog screen already").

While the bleedout from the console platform to the PC platform take many shapes and forms, some of these ever growing similarities are a bit more subtle then others. It seems that o the majority PC gamers TODAY reading isn’t gaming, and the biggest victim of this phenomena is of course CRPGs, Fallout3 will be just another dot on the graph that shows the general trend.
 

sabishii

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...but only real RPG freaks will love it because of its never-ending dialogues.
ORLY. So they finally admit they are not "real RPG" players.

To the majority of gamers, reading isn’t playing, it is not a gameplay element, and if a game will represent to much reading, as part of the game play, to some degree it is less of a game in their minds. Thinking is ok, pausing in order to think is ok, but pausing the game play in order to read is not (*click* *click* " I get it, I get it, I'm supposed to kill that dude, let me out of this fucking dialog screen already").
But somehow they want voice acting instead. As if that's any "better" than reading? Yet if you asked them if they have an audio recording of the Lord of the Rings rather than the actual book(s) they would of course wholly deny it.
 

VonVentrue

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Re: Fallout 3 Q&A with the Right Questions but Wrong Ans

So, they insist on ruining the franchise... That's some news.

Fallout = R.I.P.
 

Texas Red

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Re: Fallout 3 Q&A with the Right Questions but Wrong Ans

VonVentrue said:
So, they insist on ruining the franchise... That's some news.

Fallout = R.I.P.

RIP 1997 - 1998. 9 years of raping the corpse and it will still continue for at least half of that time more.
 

aries202

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As as building a weapon from schematics may seem, to me, it doesn't have anything to with Fallout? I don't think you could do this in the Fallout 1 and Fallout 2? Also, why wouldn't it be your science skills that needed to be used when building weapons, not your repair skills?

As for the dialogue not influencing the ending, well, he does mention that karma (e.g. your action throughout the game) will result in seeing different endings.

As for Emil's answer to the homage question, I like he's being honest about his feelings or visions of the game. He basically is just saying that he needed to 'forget' the older games, and concentrate on their own vision when make the - ehm - sequel. In my mind, however, Fallout 3, doesn't seem or look like a sequel, it looks like 3D scifi third or first person shooter game that (maybe) could be fun to play. But certainly doesn't to me feel like a (true) Fallout game.

I have to say (again) that I really do think that you
needed to grow up during the cold war, living through the fear, anxiety and angst from the 1950s to the 1980s, to actually understand how
much this fear of the A-bomb seethed through and into everyday life. This is the basis for Fallout. And people in the Fallout universe would never pray to an nuclear A-bomb or allow an A-bomb to wipe out an entire town or village. (due to their experiences with nuclear A-bombs earlier).
 

Micmu

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Fagmaster said:
We went back and forth with the impact of dialogue on the character, and ultimately decided we didn't want to penalize or reward the player for carrying on a conversation. ...

So when the fuck will these faggots stop talking about "capturing Fallout's soul" already???
 

Vault Dweller

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They didn't capture it. Herve did and sold it to Bethesda. It sits in a jar on Todd's desk now.

istockphoto_2034986_froggy.jpg
 

Claw

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aries202 said:
As as building a weapon from schematics may seem, to me, it doesn't have anything to with Fallout? I don't think you could do this in the Fallout 1 and Fallout 2?
Your point being? New features are are not my concern with Bethout. The lack of the old ones however is.

Also, why wouldn't it be your science skills that needed to be used when building weapons, not your repair skills?
Repair sounds about right to me. Not that the game will suck less for having one thing that isn't outright wrong.


PS: I'm so not impressed by the new PA look. Lat me rephrease that. I wasn't terribly impressed when I first saw it, and now I know it looks even worse from behind.
 

Twinfalls

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Re: Fallout 3 Q&A with the Right Questions but Wrong Ans

The Fallout community is very -- very -- vocal and defensive of the franchise. Why do you think the previous games have generated such a tenacious fanbase, especially in light of the disappointments of Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel?

Yeah, I mean, it's no secret that there's a hardcore Fallout fanbase that can be very vocal, very defensive, and very wary of any changes to the original game. But why is that the case? Who are these people, and what is it about Fallout that awakens such passion?

In my experience, a lot of these ardent fans are old-school PC gamers who don't like many -- or any -- console games. ... Some people get really attached to something and reject change. ... That fosters a really unique, almost intimate relationship with a game. I understand their feelings and sympathize...but I'm not one of those people.

See, this is why e-mailing a bunch of questions then slapping up whatever the fuck the response is shouldn't be called an 'interview'. An interview involves follow-up questions - in this case, something like '"Emil, do you actually understand the meaning of the word 'why', or are you deliberately being obnoxiously evasive?"
 

Morbus

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Edward_R_Murrow said:
Hai! I'm an oldschool gamer gusy! I played FO when I was 9!

Better they have played Fallout than something like Diablo...
What about playing Fallout AND Diablo? :lol: Happened to me. A year and a half ago, I still thought Oblivion was a good RPG, and now I hate bethsoft and consoles with everything in my heart. Guess I'm an oldschool gamer too huh? :lol:
 

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