Editorial Oblivion Faults that Bethesda must correct in Fallout 3

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Fallout 3

<a href="http://www.gameplayer.com.au/gp_documents/Fallout-3-vs--Oblivion.aspx?catid=Features&Page=1">GamePlayer has examined the faults in Oblivion that Bethesda must rectify for Fallout 3</a>. Here are some of these faults:
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<blockquote><b>Radiant A.I</b>: This was touted as the best artificial intelligence program ever, and it turned out to be a little bit, well, arse. Demos of the game let us see people live their own virtual lives, retiring at night and reacting to the player’s presence in different ways. Upon the game's release, the reality of Radiant A.I was that it was woefully underdeveloped.
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<b>Open World</b>: Oh yes, Oblivion had a friggin’ massive world alright – around 42 square kilometers in fact. Unfortunately, this sense of openness and exploration was a little bit of an illusion. After witnessing the surrounding forests, roaming animals and sequestered fortresses, it became quickly apparent that everything started to repeat itself, ad nauseum. Oh yay, yet another bloody cave system, and then another fort with exactly the same interior. And don’t even get us started on the Oblivion gates... actually, they’re next.</blockquote>
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How funny that all these "faults" were precisely what was praised to high noon when Oblivion was released and yet very few complained about them at the time. Except us of course.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>

 

[BillyOgawa]

..

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Yes, I've often dreamed of fucking my teammates in Fallout.

Don't tell me you didn't want to shoot Ian in the backside wit your "gun" for all the times he did it with his SMG...

Assrape joke aside, and eschewing all the talk about the generic gaming "journalist" idiocy, isn't it a little strange that somebody on a "professional" site is clamoring for video game sex scenes? Maybe I'm too old-school or culturally inept...but it just seems...I don't know...weird.

 

[MetalCraze]

sex scenes - apparently no RPG can be called hardcore without some

 

[Shannow]

"Imagine finding radioactive material that can affect certain stats, perhaps increase your attack strength or give you more resistance to radioactivity."
Imagine sticking a fork in your eye. That could make you stronger or perhaps increase your perception. Maybe you can attract lightning with the fork and shoot it out of your ass.

 

[Trash]

Pretty good article. But somehow I got the sneaking suspicion that we will see these exact same faults in fallout 3.

 

[Section8]

Open World

PRO TIP: When a game's primary feature sucks, it doesn't deserve 10 out of 10.

 

[Araanor]

Noone with a brain should expect Bethesda to improve anything after Oblivion was hailed as the second coming.

 

[Kingston]

"Imagine finding radioactive material that can affect certain stats, perhaps increase your attack strength or give you more resistance to radioactivity."

I believe they are called Artifacts and can be located in whirly air pockets near Chernobyl.

Oh and... " radioactive material... give you more resistance to radioactivity."

 

[Mareus]

Noone with a brain should expect Bethesda to improve anything after Oblivion was hailed as the second coming.

Well if some of the things Todd has been saying are true, Fallout 3 may turn to be a bit better than Oblivion. Unfortunately.. only a bit.

 

[Mareus]

"Imagine finding radioactive material that can affect certain stats, perhaps increase your attack strength or give you more resistance to radioactivity."
Imagine sticking a fork in your eye. That could make you stronger or perhaps increase your perception. Maybe you can attract lightning with the fork and shoot it out of your ass.

 

[Gnidrologist]

I want hardcore pr0n rpg. Oh wait, there already is one.
Ok, i want the typ of rpg that doesn't yet exist. Any suggestions?

 

[MasPingon]

Pretty good article. But somehow I got the sneaking suspicion that we will see these exact same faults in fallout 3.

Faultout 3 - postnuclear Oblivion with guns

 

[elander_]

"Open World: Oh yes, Oblivion had a friggin’ massive world alright – around 42 square kilometers in fact. Unfortunately, this sense of openness and exploration was a little bit of an illusion."

Every game is an illusion moron. The point is if the illusion is good enough.

"Radiant A.I: This was touted as the best artificial intelligence program ever, and it turned out to be a little bit, well, arse. Demos of the game let us see people live their own virtual lives, retiring at night and reacting to the player’s presence in different ways. Upon the game's release, the reality of Radiant A.I was that it was woefully underdeveloped."

From my Oblivion moding experience i have to say that Radiant AI as a tool is quite good. The problem is that any tool requires talent to be properly used.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

"Imagine finding radioactive material that can affect certain stats, perhaps increase your attack strength or give you more resistance to radioactivity."

Imagine sticking a fork in your eye. That could make you stronger or perhaps increase your perception. Maybe you can attract lightning with the fork and shoot it out of your ass.

in all fairness, you pretty much described the radioactive artifacts in stalker...

 

[Darth Roxor]

Interesting, last time I checked, radioactive goo in Fallout caused damage and made you go all "CLICKCLICKCLICK" on the geiger counter, but I guess making yourself an X-Man is what all the cool kids want.

 

[Chefe]

I remember when I went to obtain the water chip from that destroyed vault. I had just gotten the game and didn't know you had to inject yourself with the anti-rad stuff. So I went inside, searched around, talked to the computer, and walked out. My geiger counter was off the charts. As soon as I left the fallout area and started on the world map, I died.

I guess that experience in Fallout 3 will make my character an ultra-powerful godlike being.

 

[Nightjed]

i remember when i first went to The Glow. then come back out and after a few hour noticed my stats had been permanently drained by radiation poisoning, forcing me to restart from a veeeery old savegame, at least then i understood something Bethesda doesn't :
Radiation = Dangerous

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

I remember when I went to obtain the water chip from that destroyed vault. I had just gotten the game and didn't know you had to inject yourself with the anti-rad stuff. So I went inside, searched around, talked to the computer, and walked out. My geiger counter was off the charts. As soon as I left the fallout area and started on the world map, I died.

I guess that experience in Fallout 3 will make my character an ultra-powerful godlike being.

I think most of us went through this.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Using V.A.T.S. will cost points for both the player and enemies, so it’s going to be quite tactical; do you use those last few points for that fairly low level enemy or save it up for Mr. Nasty Mutant?

Such monumental complexity! Do I use the points on the weak thing or the super big strong thing? DECISIONS!

You're not even exaggerating. It's a paused shot mode. You can't move - how's that for tactical depth. Positioning and movement is the entire basis for strategy. You can't move for cover, can't reach in inventory, can't heal, can't reload etc. etc.

This is one of these half-assed Bethesda design decisions that's a fucking dead end before it even starts. It a developmentally spineless display of compromise, they've made a system that won't appeal to the RT/FPS or the TB crowd.

VATS is stillborn.

edit:
Now you got my Irish up.

You know, the worst part is that Bethesda embraces their self-styled progressive design culture. It's all bullshit - they just don't know what the fuck they're doing, because they keep bringing in clueless rookies and promoting interns. Nothing in their work manifests any kind of design philosophy at all.

You know VATS and all this other shit won't stick, Fallout 4 will be done from the ground up and they only consistency with it will be that they make new unforseen blunders in their feeble attempts to make shit fly.

 

[Rat Keeng]

Err, Deja Vu?

Why the dick would gameplayer rebadge a two month old article?

 

[Shannow]

snip

in all fairness, you pretty much described the radioactive artifacts in stalker...

But is it? I never read the manual for Stalker and didn't play the game much. Does it say that the artifacts are radioactive substances?
And if it did: Does taking over a moronic idea make it less stupid?

 

[MetalCraze]

I don't really remember but geiger's counter doesn't go crazy near them, so they aren't.
though I remember that they were some kind of anomaly according to the game.

 

[aron searle]

Artifacts in stalker normally gave you a small dose of radiation, in exchange for something else, i.e bonus to armour, i think only a handful had no drawback, but only gave a minor boost to balance it.

IIRC the items that gave you a + to radiation resistance took away you're stamina.

 

[Texas Red]

Well, doesn't it make sense since those are alien artifacts. Though how he can use them is another question. And the point of Roadside Picnic is that the aliens were so advanced that they considered humans insects, and probably wouldn't need "armor" or such.