Interview Fallout 3 interview at CVG

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Fallout 3

<b>Pete Hines</b> has given another <A href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=107079">interview</A> on the subject of <b>Fallout 3</b>, this time to <A href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/">Computer and Video Games</a>. It's rather short, and there's some things he still can't talk about naturally, but here's a question about <i>the future</i>:
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<blockquote><b>Finally, what do you think will be the next big progression in the RPG genre?
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Hines:</b> An increased emphasis on immersion and allowing players to play the game any way they want. Obviously the Elder Scrolls has always been about that very thing, but games like KOTOR were great not just because they were fun to play, but because you could have a blast playing as the good guy while your friend was enjoying it as the most evil son-of-a-gun you can imagine. Same game, but completely different experiences and choices that let you customise your experience.</blockquote>
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Anyone want to bet the <i>immersion</i> thing becomes a battlecry at some point during this development if it hasn't already?
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Thanks, <b>Mr. Teatime</b>!
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[Transcendent One]

Something tells me this guy's a KotOR fanboy

 

[Whipporowill]

Every damn developer spouts something about KOTOR when interviewed these days, it's must be the in thing to do or something. It was a good game, but c'mon?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I just find it interesting he could have mentioned Fallout and Fallout 2 under the good and evil thing, but didn't. I'm guessing that he thinks KotOR is more recogniged by gamers, but when you're making Fallout 3, surely you want the masses to know that Fallout did that kind of thing better back in 1997. You could piss off Fallout and Fallout 2 party members and get them to leave in those games. Try to piss off Carth or Bastilla and get them to leave until they've been scripted to leave before the GOOD/EVIL CHOICE IS MADE. You just can't do it, but you can piss Marcus off at any time by doing really bad stuff.

 

[manco]

immersion = FPS
NOOOOOOO!
there can be no doubt that F3 will be first person now. Not only will gun skills be fucked (because a stat has little to do with how well you aim with a mouse), melee will be god awful. I must now prepair for a character who will wander the wastes throwing right jabs at advanced AI that backpeddles while shooting me with an smg.
Unarmed gets the shaft again!
manco

 

[Briosafreak]

The good and evil from Kotor isn`t what i expect from a Fallout game.

And now for this

What's impressed you most about the Fallout series and, going forward, will this or these things still remain a core part of the third in the series?

Hines: There are a number of things that stand out. Fallout had a great setting: the environments, tone, story, characters, and so on. The role-playing aspect and the SPECIAL system were terrific. From a technical standpoint, it had great animation, voice work, lip-synching, etc. So there were a lot of elements that went into making it the memorable title it was. Our plan is to bring as much of that into Fallout 3 as possible.

Right answer.

We understand that Fallout 3 will continue the Fallout series storyline, but in terms of gameplay can we expect something Morrowind in style?

Hines: It's too early to talk specifics about what the game will or won't be.

Wrong answer.

 

[AlanC9]

immersion = FPS
NOOOOOOO!
there can be no doubt that F3 will be first person now. Not only will gun skills be fucked (because a stat has little to do with how well you aim with a mouse), melee will be god awful. I must now prepair for a character who will wander the wastes throwing right jabs at advanced AI that backpeddles while shooting me with an smg.
Unarmed gets the shaft again!
manco

Nah, aiming the guns won't be a problem. FO3's gonna play just like KotOR. Mark my words.

As for unarmed, anybody trying to fight a SMG-armed opponent with his bare fists is brain-dead anyway.

 

[Volourn]

Atari better not let Bethesda anywhere near NWN2, and BG3. It's bad enough they are already polluting the FO series with their disgusting crappy game devlopment non skillz...

 

[Greenskin13]

That would be rude. I say we kill him.

Anyone want to bet the <i>immersion</i> thing becomes a battlecry at some point during this development if it hasn't already?

The fanboys have been screaming it since we asked for isometric view.

 

[Anonymous]

Morrowind was one the most linear and unimmersive games i've ever played, Daggerfall had non-linearity but it wasnt anything constructive (just random shit over and over and over), Arena is a fucking joke and a half, I quit after the game crashed as my Micheal Flatly looking Nord was taking a nap on a shelf.

Yeah, Elder Scrolls series sure is excellent. Immesion is generic search engine NPCs, one way paths for EVERYTHING, and one of the biggest for me was that indoors and outdoors were totally seperate, once you go inside a house there are no windows and no views of the outside. I mean what the hell, not even in the forts did they have them.

Dont forget the great wildlife of the game, that made you feel like you were just in real life, of course. Everything down to sewer rats was out for your blood.

 

[taks]

MW was great for immersion... in boiling oil.
i tried, i really tried, to fire it back up. to no avail. i've already lost the will to play.
i'm thinking this pete hines has just sent out a gazillion canned interviews to all the gaming rags. i hope so at least, it's getting old hearing the same crap over and over again... sounds like all the theif tunnels over and over again... a pattern here.
taks

 

[pseudo intellectual]

I love the hell out of Fallout, and I understand that turn based combat is necessary due to SPECIAL and action points, but let's face it, there's zero chance Bethsoft will do isometric viewpoint.

Baulder's Gate 2 had phased based combat and there was a large amount of latitude for tactics (in contrast with the hack and slash, non-tactical nature of KotOR), was this due to the spell casting dimension of BG2, or was it KotOR's 3rd person perspective vs BG2's isometric perspective? Is it possible to have a highly tactical first or third person perspective game with phase-based/turn based combat?

The paper and pen 3.5E D&D battle mat adds a huge amount to tactical combat, is there some way to incorporate a hex grid on a 3rd person perspective game so as to mimic this? Perhaps a virtual battle mat could be achieved by true 3D camera rotation (e.g., Myth 2, Bungie's RTS, or the “Bullet Time” camera view used in the Matrix.

I think this game can be done with a first/3rd person perspective---hell look at Troika's Vampire: Bloodlines, I doubt there's a person on this board who will not buy that game, hell I'm going to buy 5 copies, I wish Troika had a pay pal donate button on their website---anything to keep them making CRPGS.

 

[Nightjed]

hey how about from now on we count the ammount of "its too early to say" answers ?

i counted 2 " early"s 2 "avoid"s and a "maybe" out of 9 questions (2e and 1a of 3 questions if you only count FO3 related ones)

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

Same game, completely different experiences? Was he playning the same Kotor? The only difference is the end sequence based on a choice five minutes from the end of the game.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

As for unarmed, anybody trying to fight a SMG-armed opponent with his bare fists is brain-dead anyway.

If that's the case, then guns should be the only viable weapon in the game - which is boring.

 

[Jinxed]

Most of the Beth devs never played Fallout and didn't care. Suddenly, they buy the license and Beth tells its workers: "ok people, now you are working on Fallout". The level of cluelessness and how they relate more to examples from recent games instead of the original prove that they have the slimest idea of what Fallout is, if any.

At least it's fun to read the interviews and laugh our asses when they make blunders after blunders.

<Terra-Arcanum> The original Fallout was released 7 years ago from now. It set a landmark in the RPG industry along with standards that many people feel haven't been met even up to now. Can you tell us just how faiithfull FO3 will be to the first game from the series?

<Beth> All of us here played Fallout and loved it. We don't plan to stray away from what has been proven succesful. That's why we decided to leave the player with the option to choose from Turn Based combat and Real Time.

 

[Jinxed]

As for unarmed, anybody trying to fight a SMG-armed opponent with his bare fists is brain-dead anyway.

Going bare fists is taking chances. It's possible to play this way only if you're feeling lucky. But usually when the player has great armor, or a hand to hand weapon.

Otherwise, if you pick a fight without decent armor bear fisted against someone with an SMG weapon, you won't last 2-4 turns depending on where it happens

 

[Duodenum]

Most of the Beth devs never played Fallout and didn't care.

How can you POSSIBLY know that? How can you possibly have any idea whatsoever that that is even remotely true? How many devs have commented on Fallout 3? And of those, how many have said that they haven't played Fallout? And finally, how many Bethesda devs have said NOTHING on the subject whatsoever? (For that matter, do you even know how many people work for Bethesda to begin with?)

Most game developers are HARD CORE GAMERS. That's why they got into the field in the first place. It certainly isn't for the money.

Hate on Morrowind or other Bethesda titles all you want. Assume that there's no way Bethesda can make the Fallout you want. That's perfectly legitimate, because it's your opinion. But what you said as a statement of fact is something you can't POSSIBLY know to be true.

 

[Anonymous]

How can you POSSIBLY know that?{/quote]

Their games wouldnt be so shitty.

It certainly isn't for the money.

Then why are there so many craptastic games that try to appeal to this or that popular idea instead of taking what worked and using it. It's like trying to forge a sword out of a FunNoodle because FunNoodles are the cool thing now, then heading out to battle (in this case, the battle is seeing how good your game (sword) is against real ones).

HEY THIS REMINDS ME OF SOMETHING, OH RIGHT, EVERY GAME THEY'VE MADE!

They are the freakin videogame divison of ZeniMax media..

 

[ichpokhudezh]

Same game, completely different experiences? Was he playning the same Kotor? The only difference is the end sequence based on a choice five minutes from the end of the game.

I somewhat disagree. As a KotOR fanboy .
KotOR really provided 'immurshan' for SW fans by the sheer power of resemblance of everything: locations, characters, voices, plotline advance. The environment was extremely well crafted. A casual gamer (several hours) wouldn't probably even notice that a lot of it was a copy-paste job.
In regards to 'completely' different game experience, I should say that KotOR made your choices very easy-to-grasp and graphic. That made gamers, who associate their PC with themselves, be real sensitive to the 'evil' choices. And there seems to be a whole lot of these out there.

 

[Duodenum]

Sorry my friend, but you're just digging yourself deeper into the pit. Stick to your opinions about games and gameplay -- you know a lot about that end of things -- but you clearly know very little about the game industry itself.

Game developers -- programmers, artists, designers -- that is, the people who make the games, get into the field because they LOVE GAMES. It's a passion. They love playing them, they love everything about them. They read about them online and in magazines. They talk about them every chance they get. They live and breathe games. You don't get to be one unless you feel that way. Every game producer WANTS hard-core gamers on his or her team, because only hard-core gamers will have the enthusiasm, dedication and drive to put in the hours required. There are far more people who want to become a game developer than there are jobs in the industry, and for that reason a) those hiring can be quite picky in whom they choose to hire, and b) the salaries are FAR less, especially for programmers, than can be made outside of the industry. You really, REALLY have to want it, bad, to get in.

These people are not in it for the money. They are in it for the love of games. THAT is who I'm talking about.

"Their games wouldnt[sic] be so shitty."

That is your opinion. Morrowind for example is an extremely successful game that won many, many awards, got excellent reviews, and has a dedicated fan base. It is a different type of game than the ones you enjoy. That it is "shitty" to you doesn't make it "shitty" in fact. If it had sold very few copies, received poor reviews and no awards, and had no fan base whatsoever, then you might have a point.

 

[Jinxed]

How can you POSSIBLY know that? How can you possibly have any idea whatsoever that that is even remotely true? How many devs have commented on Fallout 3? And of those, how many have said that they haven't played Fallout? And finally, how many Bethesda devs have said NOTHING on the subject whatsoever? (For that matter, do you even know how many people work for Bethesda to begin with?)

One of them, who was verbose enough said that he is starting to play Fallout 2. My guess is that he played part 1 just a few days ago, as he later complained that he is behind work.

Any particular reason why he is suddenly playing Fallout during his coffee brakes? I sure think so! :D

Most game developers are HARD CORE GAMERS. That's why they got into the field in the first place. It certainly isn't for the money.

By Gamers for Gamers eh?

Hate on Morrowind or other Bethesda titles all you want. Assume that there's no way Bethesda can make the Fallout you want. That's perfectly legitimate, because it's your opinion. But what you said as a statement of fact is something you can't POSSIBLY know to be true.

I don't hate them. I just don't find it possible for them to make a good Fallout game. Perhaps if they will hire some new people in, people that actually know what Fallout is.

 

[Ap_Jolly]

There are far more people who want to become a game developer than there are jobs in the industry, and for that reason a) those hiring can be quite picky in whom they choose to hire, and b) the salaries are FAR less, especially for programmers, than can be made outside of the industry. You really, REALLY have to want it, bad, to get in.

...and then you're stuck making sequels for the rest of your life. But since you love games, what do you care.

These people are not in it for the money. They are in it for the love of games. THAT is who I'm talking about.

I've never seen a single developer who wasn't interested in money. These people have kids and mortgages and college bills to pay for.

If it had sold very few copies, received poor reviews and no awards, and had no fan base whatsoever, then you might have a point.

So Deer Hunter was a good game?

 

[fnordcircle]

Morrowind was one the most linear

Here, this might help you:

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?b ... &va=linear

I'm not going to argue with people who didn't like Morrowind, to each his own. But calling that game linear is baffling.

 

[Jed]

Morrowind was one the most linear

Here, this might help you:

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?b ... &va=linear

I'm not going to argue with people who didn't like Morrowind, to each his own. But calling that game linear is baffling.

"All roads lead to Rome."