Interview Fallout 3 interview at videogaming247

[Calis]

Tags: Fallout 3

A rather short <A HREF="http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/02/18/fallout-3-versions-should-all-be-the-same-date-says-bethesda/" target="_blank">interview</A> on Fallout 3 was published at Videogaming247. Here's a tidbit on inspiration sources, straight from The Toddler's mouth:<blockquote>(Q The “post-disaster” genre isn’t particularly well visited in games, certainly not as well as in movies and books. Do you look outside games for inspiration? We’re thinking along the lines of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”, and so on.
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(A You picked one of the big ones, yes. “The Road” is fantastic and came out in the middle of our design phase, so it became required reading for many of us. We looked at many post nuclear movies, some very disturbing, things that deal with Hiroshima and such, and it gave us a good look at that type of nuclear destruction. Other general ones we looked at were things dealing with survival or how people deal with the effects of any war or rebuilding.</blockquote>
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Now, admittedly I'm only on page 90 in the book, but I fail to see how this book could be inspirational for a Fallout game. Maybe Bethesda needed an award-winning novel to point out that yes, in a post-apocalyptic world shit tends to be bad, and yes, nasty people tend to be about in a lawless post-apocalyptic world.
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<em>Spotted at the <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com" target="_blank">artist</A> formerly known as the Dot</em>
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[Country_Gravy]

I would have liked it if they used Fallout 1 and 2 as inspiration for their game.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I've been meaning to get the road since I heard so many good things about it.

 

[Shannow]

The book that tells the story of a father and a son and their travels in an apocalyptic world? That mostly focusses on their relationship. With the fathers losing all hope exept that his son might have a future?
Was that "the road"? Does that mean that killable children will be in?

 

[slipgate_angel]

The book that tells the story of a father and a son and their travels in an apocalyptic world? That mostly focusses on their relationship. With the fathers losing all hope exept that his son might have a future?
Was that "the road"? Does that mean that killable children will be in?

Do you really want to have children get killed?

They are our future.

 

[VonVentrue]

I would have liked it if they used Fallout 1 and 2 as inspiration for their game.

I have never heard of those books...

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

The Road was a pretty good read, but it wouldn't translate brilliantly to a Fallout game. Saying that, Bethesda could definitely do worse than borrowing its atmosphere.

 

[Brother None]

The Road was a pretty good read, but it wouldn't translate brilliantly to a Fallout game. Saying that, Bethesda could definitely do worse than borrowing its atmosphere.

Borrowing atmospheres from books doesn't necessarily work for games.

That said, I'm guessing Todd Howard is just name-dropped the Road because it sounds good. I doubt it has much meaning.

 

[BillyOgawa]

They'd be better off reading Cormac's <i>Blood Meridian</i>. Much closer to the tone of the Fallout games, I think, than <i>The Road</i>. And the Judge could inspire a phenomenal Fallout character.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

The Road is totally devoid of the ironic humor and 50's kitschy vibes of FO. It's bleak ennui (I actually used a ennui in a sentence! I'm have acheived pretentious douchebag status!) is far beyond the pale of Fallout. Fallout had some glimmers of light on the horizon, The Road had barely a pinprick.

I'm guessing Todd Howard is just name-dropped the Road because it sounds good. I doubt it has much meaning.

Seems likely. Kind of came off like the question was planted. "Enough about me, what do you think about me?"

This is the same fucking numbnuts who said the spirit of fallout was Itchy and Scratchy ultra-violence. Somebody castrate this douchebag now before he pollutes the world with his spawn.

 

[fastpunk]

So they watched documentaries portraying nuclear disaster and its effects... and all they got out of that is a weapon that fires "mini-nukes", radiation that dissipates in minutes and nuclear bombs that fall, do not explode but still make craters. The mind boggles!

 

[Gnidrologist]

Didn't Tod say that he doesn't like reading books in some other interview?

 

[fastpunk]

Didn't Tod say that he doesn't like reading books in some other interview?

He only likes books written in first-person, cause they offer more immersion.

 

[Schauman]

They should have watched A Boy and His Dog. The father MacGuffin would actually make sense then, or does it already?
Fertile Female Super Mutants need donors to reproduce, enter Qui-Gon Jinn. Not that FEV makes you sterile or anything.

 

[Claw]

We looked at many post nuclear movies, some very disturbing, things that deal with Hiroshima and such, and it gave us a good look at that type of nuclear destruction.

Ah, and the result was a handheld nuclear catapult. Hiroshima must've been very inspiring. Nothing is more beautiful than a mushroom cloud.

The book that tells the story of a father and a son and their travels in an apocalyptic world? That mostly focusses on their relationship. With the fathers losing all hope exept that his son might have a future?

So that's what inspired them to use the Father hook? Someone kill the author!*

Do you really want to have children get killed?

They are our future.

That's why.



*Oh noes, I'm discrediting the Fallout fan community!

 

[Section8]

[...]doesn’t the fact that the game has shooting elements means it’s going to appeal to both those interested in RPGs and those interested in FPSs?

Todd Howard: You’re probably right, in that it appeals to fans of both, and we’re OK with that.

What the fuck kind of question is that, and what the fuck kind of answer is that? It's like saying "Doesn't the fact that you're taking the franchise in a completely different direction mean you're going to win over tons of new fans as well as keeping the old ones happy?"

When you’re making a shooter, you never ask “can the player get married and have kids?” When you’re making an RPG, that type of thinking goes on all the time

Protip: That sort of thinking shouldn't go on all the time.

Twelve alternate endings sounds, to be frank, mental. Why so many? Do you feel the need for this product to be definitive?

That number is artificially inflated, in that what you get at the very end is based on a number of things you’ve done. Some of those tweaks to the ending are pretty small, so I think it’s better to simply say the game has multiple endings based on what you did.

Big surprise there. I'm predicting: good ending, bad ending, fluff.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

When you’re making a shooter, you never ask “can the player get married and have kids?” When you’re making an RPG, that type of thinking goes on all the time

Hang on... are they making Fallout 3 or The Sims?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The Sims was innovative and creative, made by a company that can come up with multiple games in the same genre that have very unique playstyles and methodologies. That rules Bethesda out.

 

[RK47]

that line of thought never crossed me.

Getting married and having children in RPG? Wtf?

 

[Seboss]

I think that's just a wave to Fable fans.

 

[Kingston]

Obviously, the game’s pedigree is second to none, but this is a radical departure from the first two titles. What elements have you been careful to preserve as Fallout makes the jump to 3D?

Todd Howard: The world around you and the lore of the Fallout world, it’s very important to us, and we’ve always loved it. It was that world we wanted to make come alive. In addition, I think the basic character system of Fallout, with your SPECIAL attributes and perks, is something we’ve tried hard to maintain. It’s a great system, where you have to make hard choices and those choices really define who you’re going to be and what type of game you’re going to play.

I think "In addition" is a great way to talk about the core mechanics. Also, "something we’ve tried hard to maintain". It's a sequel, how hard can it be?

 

[Brother None]

Obviously, the game’s pedigree is second to none, but this is a radical departure from the first two titles. What elements have you been careful to preserve as Fallout makes the jump to 3D?

Todd Howard: The world around you and the lore of the Fallout world, it’s very important to us, and we’ve always loved it. It was that world we wanted to make come alive. In addition, I think the basic character system of Fallout, with your SPECIAL attributes and perks, is something we’ve tried hard to maintain. It’s a great system, where you have to make hard choices and those choices really define who you’re going to be and what type of game you’re going to play.

I think "In addition" is a great way to talk about the core mechanics. Also, "something we’ve tried hard to maintain". It's a sequel, how hard can it be?

Considering SPECIAL was built as a pen and paper adaptation of GURPS to a post-apocalyptic game, and considering their game utilizes FPS mechanics, I'd say it's pretty hard to maintain quite a number of SPECIAL's mechanics, especially when it comes to perks and skills.

 

[Jasede]

Well, that doesn't matter because a lot of perks and skills were completely useless in Fallout 1 & 2.

 

[zioburosky13]

Well, that doesn't matter because a lot of perks and skills were completely useless in Fallout 1 & 2.

But those are fun to play with.

Okie Karma Sutra is useless anyway.

 

[Jasede]

No, about 25%, maybe 33% are useless. I don't have the list on front of me but there's a lot of junk there.