Preview Planet Fallout on The Pitt.

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Fallout 3

Continuing in the grand Codex tradition of covering games we don't like very much, here is an <a href="http://planetfallout.gamespy.com/articles/interviews/631/Interview-With-Jeff-Gardiner">interview</a> with Jeff Gardiner, Senior Producer and best dresser at Bethesda, about the Pitt DLC, supplied by Planet Fallout.
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<blockquote>The Pitt opens with the player encountering an escaped slave from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The slave, Werhner, claims that the leader of “the Pitt” has created a cure for mutations… Once inside the Pitt the player will take on the role of a Slave – they’ll have to find work, and figure out how to gain audience with raider boss. From there things could start to devolve depending heavily on how the player chooses to proceed.</blockquote>
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You can play the role of a slave...by doing fetch quests, killing monsters, and fighting people. That's such a novel experience.
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<blockquote>At a certain point in the quest the player will have to prove their worth and fight a series of battles in the Pitt, a fighting area situated underneath the Steel Mill. Raiders climb the fence above the pitt as the player is challenged variety of foes. Each fight starts with barrels of toxic radiation being dropped down, which adds an additional element of tension. Depending on the player’s previous choices and allegiances, they’ll have different weaponry and other unique items at their disposal.</blockquote>
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Barrels of radiation? I didn't know you could contain it in barrels...
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<blockquote><i>The Achievements for Operation Anchorage were fairly linear. Will the achievements for The Pitt be the same way?</i>
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Three of the four relate to completing stages of the quest. One is much more difficult, it involves the player finding the majority of the ‘Steel Ingots’ found throughout the area.</blockquote>
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I'm sure glad they are tackling the real issues; achievements.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.nma-fallout.com/">No Mutants Allowed</A>

 

[MetalCraze]

The raider boss created a cure for mutations...
lawl

 

[Fat Dragon]

Considering this game's combat system an arena will definitely be one of the worst features of this dlc. If your character is mid-high level just pause and do a head shot, battle over. Snore.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Three of the four relate to completing stages of the quest. One is much more difficult, it involves the player finding the majority of the ‘Steel Ingots’ found throughout the area.

AARRGGGGHGHH!!!

What is it with this game, really! Do they think of an idea for more than 5 minutes before they implement it? Will game developers ever get tired of putting "find every dildo in the area" quests? It might be slightly interesting if exploring was any fun, as in a game where moving around didn't consist of walking around mindlessly, but give me a break.

 

[MetalCraze]

Yes it will be very difficult - but then you will fire up your quest compass and off you go to collect X of Y.

 

[Luzur]

I'm sure glad they are tackling the real issues; achievements.

yes, people seem to get their cocks hard about achievements nowadays.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I know I'll get flamed for this, but this seems to support the theory that says Bethesda hit its lowest point with Oblivion, and is now slowly crawling back to making a RPG. I don't believe them regarding 'morally grey choices' (there'll be one, and it will having dancing clowns around it saying 'BIG CHOICE HERE!'), but heck - if there is even one decent 'secret shortcut' and a few non-violent solutions its a good step up from FO3 and a giant leap from Oblivion. They also seem to strongly imply that there may be neutral / discoverable outcomes rather than just helping the raiders or the slaves.

I actually think Bethesda deserved Codex's 'most improved' award last year - and this may well continue it. Prior to flaming please note - I'm not saying this or FO3 is or will be 'good'. But I sank about 30 hours into FO3, enjoying most of them, before becoming shit-bored with the repetative combat, crappy dialogue and crappy main quest, and so giving up before finishing it. I would have done may 20 hours if not for the memory lane place - the 'virtual reality neighbourhood' with all the people who look happy on first appearance but are all being psychologically tortured, with the AI offering to trade you a way out only if you take part in the torment of the various other innocents. THAT was a fantastic section by any standards (if you do it without a walkthrough) - there IS a way to get out of the simulation with no loss of karma and without torturing anyone, but it is genuinely hard. In fact it's the only genuinely difficult thing in the game - to the extent that on various forums I've seen people post about how retarded it was that the game 'forced' you to be evil there, just because no-one pops up and tells you 'look for another way out sonny-jim!'.

After that little gem I kept playing for another 10 hours or so, hoping to discover something of similar quality, before quitting out of boredom.

Now I don't quit games easily - once I get started I usually play them through to the finish.

But to put the above in context - I have never managed to play more than 10 hours into Oblivion before getting too bored to continue...

 

[Fat Dragon]

the 'virtual reality neighbourhood' with all the people who look happy on first appearance but are all being psychologically tortured, with the AI offering to trade you a way out only if you take part in the torment of the various other innocents. THAT was a fantastic section by any standards (if you do it without a walkthrough) - there IS a way to get out of the simulation with no loss of karma and without torturing anyone, but it is genuinely hard. In fact it's the only genuinely difficult thing in the game - to the extent that on various forums I've seen people post about how retarded it was that the game 'forced' you to be evil there, just because no-one pops up and tells you 'look for another way out sonny-jim!'.

It's just too bad that getting out the other way isn't fun at all. Clicking on random items in a certain order to reveal a secret computer room, how very interesting.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

I know I'll get flamed for this, but this seems to support the theory that says Bethesda hit its lowest point with Oblivion, and is now slowly crawling back to making a RPG.

Taking it a little far, aren't you? They are adding more good elements, but I don't think that necessarily means they are improving. They could be, but there isn't really anything to support that as the reason for the inclusion of good elements. Personally, I think a more believable explanation is Todd and Emil's design theory...."If it's cool, throw it in!". Pretty much there is very little quality control or design constraint at Bethesda, which accounts for the haphazard and varying quality; why you'll run into tons of quests like "The Superhuman Gambit", Moira's book, "Reilly's Rangers", "Agatha's Song", and such next to a few quests like "Trouble on the Homefront", "The Replicated Man",and "You Gotta Shoot Em In the Head". Why they get the retro-50's aesthetic down pat, but add in idiocy like the Fatman, Auto-Axe, or railway rifle (which is only relatively useless in the face of a bountiful wasteland....). They just don't pull together well, or clamp down on bad ideas. They throw everything and the kitchen sink in...and some of it is bound to b less shitty.

THAT was a fantastic section by any standards (if you do it without a walkthrough) - there IS a way to get out of the simulation with no loss of karma and without torturing anyone, but it is genuinely hard. In fact it's the only genuinely difficult thing in the game

Uhhhh...you're kidding right? That part was terribly done, and got far more praise than parts of Fallout 3 that were actually damn good. The stereotypical portrayal of 1950's America isn't anything new, and there's plenty of reference material. The premise wasn't very novel either; you can find one like it in tons of sci-fi short stories, movies, and one just like it on every sci-fi series with enough tech in the setting. The writing was pretty poor too. Good for Bethesda, but still poorly done. Where the game had a chance was in how it played the scenario out. Here they could have allowed for loads of gameworld interaction via the PC's skills, giving the player choices based on their skils and character build. But no....that would have been too good an idea. Instead Bethesda lifted ideas straight from the Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, and Banjo Kazooie....for their RPG. You can either do a linear series of boring quests, or activate a recall program by doing a sound-pattern puzzle. No extra options for science characters....nope....a sound puzzle.

Saying that was a good alternative or a good challenge, for an RPG, is like saying the riddles in Baldur's Gate were great alternatives and a good challenge. "You can do a quest....or you can answer a riddle!" That's brilliant role-playing right there! It's totally outside the typical game mechanics, is completely detached from the character and their skills, and is just rubbish.

I think that if Bethesda actually had some standards, they could improve. Certain quests they did were legitimately great, and could stand toe-to-toe mechanically (not wholly; the writing and fluff was still pretty iffy on all but "you gotta shoot em in the head") with a lot of Black Isle and Troika quests. Hell, it would have felt just like classic Fallout when I was doing those quests had Bethesda not made a terribly imbalanced character system where being a ninja cartographer with maxed skills was piss easy (and the rest of the game not sucking harder than a hippie on a poorly rolled joint....).

But with the Pitt, they still keep showing that they don't have a focus on making good things. Stupid design like the premise, the Arena seemingly being unavoidable, and the goofy weaponry and lack of gameworld consistency don't scream improvement to me. They just seem to reinforce the idea that Bethesda throws everything that comes to mind into their games, some of it good, most of it bad.

Sorry for the text tsunami.....

 

[RK47]

I hate that part. Why am I forced to sit on the pod without knowing what it really does? Not even a chance to explore the vault and find out what's going on? Just get in, hop in and beat the VR.

 

[HardCode]

From there things could start to devolve depending heavily on how the player chooses to proceed.

de·volve (dĭ-vŏlv') Pronunciation Key
v. de·volved, de·volv·ing, de·volves

v. tr.

1. To pass on or delegate to another: The senator devolved the duties of office upon a group of aides.
2. Archaic To cause to roll onward or downward.

v. intr.

1. To be passed on or transferred to another: The burden of proof devolved upon the defendant. The estate devolved to an unlikely heir.
2. To degenerate or deteriorate gradually: After several hours the discussion had devolved into a shouting match.
3. Archaic To roll onward or downward.

------------------------------------------------------------------

e·volve (ĭ-vŏlv') Pronunciation Key
v. e·volved, e·volv·ing, e·volves

v. tr.

1.
1. To develop or achieve gradually: evolve a style of one's own.
2. To work (something) out; devise: "the schemes he evolved to line his purse" (S.J. Perelman).
2. Biology To develop (a characteristic) by evolutionary processes.
3. To give off; emit.

v. intr.

1. To undergo gradual change; develop: an amateur acting group that evolved into a theatrical company.
2. Biology To develop or arise through evolutionary processes.
[/u]

 

[Davaris]

Edward_R_Murrow
>Why they get the retro-50's aesthetic down pat

That didn't feel right either. In the first Fallout, we were presented with a 1950s vision of the future, that was destroyed by a nuclear war. F3 felt like the aftermath of a nuclear war that started in the 1950s, with a few high tech gadgets thrown in.

 

[Jasede]

They didn't get anything right; the game was bad; this is going to be bad; the only direction they are moving towards is the abyss; semi;colons make you smart.

 

[poocolator]

I'm sure glad they are tackling the real issues; achievements.

yes, people seem to get their cocks hard about achievements nowadays.

Well, like good pets, children these days need all the praise they can get (since mommy and daddy are too busy with their corporate jobs and/or don't provide enough love).
*BAWL*
so sad :`(

 

[MetalCraze]

I know I'll get flamed for this, but this seems to support the theory that says Bethesda hit its lowest point with Oblivion, and is now slowly crawling back to making a RPG

No - in fact this seems to support the theory about the Decline of the Codex - due to it Codex now has a high tolerance for shit games like SoZ, TW and F3 (and the same hypocrites bash Bioware games for the exactly same things they praise Bethesda for) - games that only 2 years ago would've been considered piss poor (and they were).
OMG Bethesda added dialogues to F3 - they are improving.
No really can you imagine - they added the thing that was a norm for the genre for more than a decade - unbelievable. Even Wing Commander - a space arcade from early 90s had better dialogues and more C&C than Fallout series fugly abortion - but hey this game is better than Oblivion somewhat (like you can make it any worse) - Beth is on a right track (c) the same non-hypocritical people who were crying about how Beth rapes the shit out of their precious Fallout for 2+ years.

 

[RandomLurker]

to the extent that on various forums I've seen people post about how retarded it was that the game 'forced' you to be evil there, just because no-one pops up and tells you 'look for another way out sonny-jim!'.

Except for that one old lady who autoinitiates dialog with you and does exactly that - only you don't have to look for anything because she simply points it out for you. Pretty much the only thing you have to figure out for yourself is that the items inside the house are part of a retarded sound puzzle, and that is kind of bleeding obvious.

 

[Azrael the cat]

I know I'll get flamed for this, but this seems to support the theory that says Bethesda hit its lowest point with Oblivion, and is now slowly crawling back to making a RPG

No - in fact this seems to support the theory about the Decline of the Codex - due to it Codex now has a high tolerance for shit games like SoZ, TW and F3 (and the same hypocrites bash Bioware games for the exactly same things they praise Bethesda for) - games that only 2 years ago would've been considered piss poor (and they were).
OMG Bethesda added dialogues to F3 - they are improving.
No really can you imagine - they added the thing that was a norm for the genre for more than a decade - unbelievable. Even Wing Commander - a space arcade from early 90s had better dialogues and more C&C than Fallout series fugly abortion - but hey this game is better than Oblivion somewhat (like you can make it any worse) - Beth is on a right track (c) the same non-hypocritical people who were crying about how Beth rapes the shit out of their precious Fallout for 2+ years.

Look up the definition of 'improving'. And while you're at it you may as well look up the concept of 'lesser evil'.

I also notice you specifically ommitted the part where I said that I wasn't saying FO3 was any good. I might have suspected that you did so in order to create a straw man fallacy, but I think it's more likely that you're just too retarded to understand the relevance of it to your post.

 

[MetalCraze]

Or maybe you are too retarded to understand that nowhere in my post I flamed you.

Unexpected plot twist, yes?

As for the 'lesser evil' - I wrote clearly what I think about that concept.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Personally, I think Bethesda should just keep getting their Codex Award for "special" people.

 

[elander_]

Does anyone knows if this one quest expansion will have bosses?

Is not that i'm planning on playing it. I not even played Fallout3 but admit the game (Fallout3) may have a few interesting quests and role-play value if you can buy it later for, say 10€.

What pisses me off is when a game that advertises c&c uses an archaic gameplay pattern for pure action games that is having a boss you have to fight in a place you cannot avoid. It pissed me off greatly in Bloodlines too.

 

[Section8]

It's impossible to tell if Bethesda are improving, because they're working toward completely different design goals with Oblivion and Fallout (as much as the two games are about 95% of the same shit). I look at it this way. They failed to capture the essence of a Fallout game at least as much as they failed to capture the essence of an Elder Scrolls, ergo there's no improvement.

When Elder Scrolls V comes out, don't expect them to suddenly include a whole bunch of "Fallout-ish" conventions.