Interview Larry Liberty On Fallout: New Vegas

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Fallout: New Vegas; Obsidian Entertainment

<p>Hooked Gamers <a href="http://www.hookedgamers.com/features/2010/09/08/larry_liberty_on_fallout_new_vegas.html" target="_blank">caught up with Larry Liberty</a>, lead producer of Fallout: New Vegas and currently working at <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Obsidian Entertainment</span> Bethesda Softworks/Subdivision Obsidian Entertainment.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Hooked Gamers:</strong> The "Reputation" mechanic sounds intriguing. We already know that it affects your relationship with factions in the game, causing some missions to become unavailable. Does it change the behaviour of individuals too? And is it possible to alter your reputation to make a mission available after all? How does it work in relation to the "Karma" mechanic?<br /> <br /> <strong>Larry Liberty:</strong> People associated with a particular faction will react to your reputation with the larger group. (You start off with a blank slate with all factions and communities; doing something good or bad towards a group will trigger reputation tracking.) There will be opportunities to wipe the slate clean with the major factions absolving you of your sins against them.</p>
<p>Reputation is tracked separately from Karma, which is the universe's opinion of you and is all knowing. Reputation is based on the things you do that are witnessed by people of a particular group so they are quite different in that regard. You can be a hated tyrant in one place and a saint in another. Just because you are evil doesn't mean that you will be automatically hated by people that have never met you.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p><strong>Hooked Gamers:</strong> You've been incredibly tight-lipped about the Perks. Can you reveal even a tiny bit of information on what you are doing with them?<br /> <br /> <strong>Larry Liberty:</strong> One thing that is safe to say is that there will be a lot of perks. We plan to give a perk every other level so Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The more you get, the more meaningful it is.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/99672-fallout-new-vegas-interview.html">GB</a></p>

 

[Clockwork Knight]

We plan to give a perk every other level so Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever in Fallout 3.

Probably what he meant, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

 

[Turisas]

His name cracks me up every time.

 

[thesheeep]

Absolutely.
Just like the guy who once sold me a car: Antonio Rodriguez!

 

[Raghar]

We plan to give a perk every other level so Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever in Fallout 3.

Probably what he meant, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

We are giving perks more often. (than ever)-> Perks strongly influence gameplay -> Perk selection would be more meaningful than...

 

[Raghar]

Absolutely.
Just like the guy who once sold me a car: Antonio Rodriguez!

How long it took the car to have first break down?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

We plan to give a perk every other level so Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever in Fallout 3.

Probably what he meant, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

We are giving perks more often. (than ever)-> Perks strongly influence gameplay -> Perk selection would be more meaningful than...

I'm not sure I understand. He says in NV you get a perk "every other level" - that means every two levels, right? But in 1/2 you get a perk every three levels, and in 3 you get a perk every level...

Unless he means "We plan to give a perk every other level so AND Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever".

 

[Mastermind]

We plan to give a perk every other level so Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever in Fallout 3.

Probably what he meant, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

We are giving perks more often. (than ever)-> Perks strongly influence gameplay -> Perk selection would be more meaningful than...

I'm not sure I understand. He says in NV you get a perk "every other level" - that means every two levels, right? But in 1/2 you get a perk every three levels, and in 3 you get a perk every level...

Unless he means "We plan to give a perk every other level so AND Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever".

If he felt perks in Fallout 1/2 were horribly done (and for the most part, I think 3 handled them much better) and not even worthy of consideration, it makes perfect sense as he's using fallout 3 as the previous baseline.

 

[Luzur]

he should have been named Larry Laffer instead.

 

[Silellak]

The "Reputation" mechanic sounds intriguing.

I love how the interviewer asks this question as though having a "Reputation" mechanic in an RPG is a new and innovative idea.

"I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS...REP-U-TASHUN BEFORE! WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!?"

Just wait, in 5 years, "turn-based combat" will be new and innovative. "It's like VATS, but always on! 10/10"

Play a game made before 1999, you worthless fuck.

 

[Drakron]

I love how the interviewer asks this question as though having a "Reputation" mechanic in an RPG is a new and innovative idea.

Well he is just a "journalist" of a "gaming site", likely he have a degree in English so you cannot really expect much from such people.

 

[Captain_Obvious]

That surely means the difficulty of the game will be much, much higher, so if you pick 2-3 wrong perks you`ll be in trouble, bubba

 

[DragoFireheart]

<p>Hooked Gamers <a href="http://www.hookedgamers.com/features/2010/09/08/larry_liberty_on_fallout_new_vegas.html" target="_blank">caught up with Larry Liberty</a>, lead producer of Fallout: New Vegas and currently working at <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Obsidian Entertainment</span> Bethesda Softworks/Subdivision Obsidian Entertainment.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Hooked Gamers:</strong> The "Reputation" mechanic sounds intriguing. We already know that it affects your relationship with factions in the game, causing some missions to become unavailable. Does it change the behaviour of individuals too? And is it possible to alter your reputation to make a mission available after all? How does it work in relation to the "Karma" mechanic?<br /> <br /> <strong>Larry Liberty:</strong> People associated with a particular faction will react to your reputation with the larger group. (You start off with a blank slate with all factions and communities; doing something good or bad towards a group will trigger reputation tracking.) There will be opportunities to wipe the slate clean with the major factions absolving you of your sins against them.</p>
<p>Reputation is tracked separately from Karma, which is the universe's opinion of you and is all knowing. Reputation is based on the things you do that are witnessed by people of a particular group so they are quite different in that regard. You can be a hated tyrant in one place and a saint in another. Just because you are evil doesn't mean that you will be automatically hated by people that have never met you.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p><strong>Hooked Gamers:</strong> You've been incredibly tight-lipped about the Perks. Can you reveal even a tiny bit of information on what you are doing with them?<br /> <br /> <strong>Larry Liberty:</strong> One thing that is safe to say is that there will be a lot of perks. We plan to give a perk every other level so Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The more you get, the more meaningful it is.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/99672-fallout-new-vegas-interview.html">GB</a></p>

There will be opportunities to wipe the slate clean with the major factions absolving you of your sins against them.

This part somewhat bothers me. Will we be subjected to idiotic crap like being able to blow up an entire town, become evil, and then give a shit ton of water to a begger to become pure good?

 

[DragoFireheart]

That surely means the difficulty of the game will be much, much higher, so if you pick 2-3 wrong perks you`ll be in trouble, bubba

Hopefully.


I plan to start on Very Hard - Hardcore and see how tough it is. Hopefull Very Hard will be VERY HARD and not just normal mode like in Fallout 3.

 

[thesheeep]

Absolutely.
Just like the guy who once sold me a car: Antonio Rodriguez!

How long it took the car to have first break down?

About 2 months.

 

[FeelTheRads]

If he felt perks in Fallout 1/2 were horribly done (and for the most part, I think 3 handled them much better) and not even worthy of consideration, it makes perfect sense as he's using fallout 3 as the previous baseline.

Nice trolling there.

 

[Twinkle]

People associated with a particular faction will react to your reputation with the larger group. (You start off with a blank slate with all factions and communities; doing something good or bad towards a group will trigger reputation tracking.) There will be opportunities to wipe the slate clean with the major factions absolving you of your sins against them

Oh, how I like this. Implementing new gameplay elements and making them meaningless in the big picture at the same time.

 

[Azrael the cat]

<p>Hooked Gamers <a href="http://www.hookedgamers.com/features/2010/09/08/larry_liberty_on_fallout_new_vegas.html" target="_blank">caught up with Larry Liberty</a>, lead producer of Fallout: New Vegas and currently working at <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Obsidian Entertainment</span> Bethesda Softworks/Subdivision Obsidian Entertainment.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Hooked Gamers:</strong> The "Reputation" mechanic sounds intriguing. We already know that it affects your relationship with factions in the game, causing some missions to become unavailable. Does it change the behaviour of individuals too? And is it possible to alter your reputation to make a mission available after all? How does it work in relation to the "Karma" mechanic?<br /> <br /> <strong>Larry Liberty:</strong> People associated with a particular faction will react to your reputation with the larger group. (You start off with a blank slate with all factions and communities; doing something good or bad towards a group will trigger reputation tracking.) There will be opportunities to wipe the slate clean with the major factions absolving you of your sins against them.</p>
<p>Reputation is tracked separately from Karma, which is the universe's opinion of you and is all knowing. Reputation is based on the things you do that are witnessed by people of a particular group so they are quite different in that regard. You can be a hated tyrant in one place and a saint in another. Just because you are evil doesn't mean that you will be automatically hated by people that have never met you.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p><strong>Hooked Gamers:</strong> You've been incredibly tight-lipped about the Perks. Can you reveal even a tiny bit of information on what you are doing with them?<br /> <br /> <strong>Larry Liberty:</strong> One thing that is safe to say is that there will be a lot of perks. We plan to give a perk every other level so Perk selection will be more meaningful than ever.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The more you get, the more meaningful it is.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/99672-fallout-new-vegas-interview.html">GB</a></p>

There will be opportunities to wipe the slate clean with the major factions absolving you of your sins against them.

This part somewhat bothers me. Will we be subjected to idiotic crap like being able to blow up an entire town, become evil, and then give a shit ton of water to a begger to become pure good?

My impression was the other way around. Firstly it works off reputation, not karma - so it's a faction's opinion of you, not 'are you good or evil'. I was thinking more, that if you've done a whole bunch of small work for one group, eventually you'll get the chance to turn traitor and wipe your slate clean with the opposing faction. It makes sense, particularly given Obsidian's quest structuring - rather than locking yourself into one questline for the faction you choose earliest, I'm guessing they're giving you a chance every now and then to 'jump' to the other quest-lines instead. I just hope they add reasonable consequences to that kind of choice - if you're ratting out one faction by turning traitor and joining their enemies, they ought to REALLY hate you afterwards.

 

[Jaesun]

Just wait, in 5 years, "turn-based combat" will be new and innovative. "It's like VATS, but always on! 10/10".

That is sadly quite true. As these new AAA cRPG titles slowly devolve into Action Games, then slowly, and slightly bring back small cRPG elements fro 20 fucking years ago, the crowds will all yell "HOLY SHIT! SUCH INNOVATION! GOTY!! It's like the first cRPG ever made, KotOR, but BETTER!!!111".

 

[Clockwork Knight]

There will be opportunities to wipe the slate clean with the major factions absolving you of your sins against them

Oh, how I like this. Implementing new gameplay elements and making them meaningless in the big picture at the same time.

Well, killing a bunch of guys from team A won't necessarily make the guys from team B impervious to your bullets - if you do something that helps A immensely, like destroying one of B's bases, it's not unreasonable to assume A would probably forgive you for killing a few of their grunts.

 

[Visbhume]

Having a karma meter separate from reputation seems redundant. Just ditch karma altogether and keep reputation, which is a more general and sophisticated mechanic anyway.

Karma may have its uses in a fantasy game, but having an absolute measure of morality doesn't fit well with Fallout's gritty post-apocalyptic setting.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Having a karma meter separate from reputation seems redundant. Just ditch karma altogether and keep reputation, which is a more general and sophisticated mechanic anyway.

Karma may have its uses in a fantasy game, but having an absolute measure of morality doesn't fit well with Fallout's gritty post-apocalyptic setting.

Agreed.

Morality is subjective, different factions will view your actions in a different light, ergo having a reputation meter is a good enough measure of your morality and there is no need for a 'karma meter' or 'alignment measure' or any of that rubbish.

Even in fantasy games IMO.

Agreed. Not with the morality is subjective bit, but let's not get into that now (we probably don't disagree that much - I agree that there are multiple worthwhile ways of living and multiple just cultures, I'm simply being a wanker about whether you'd theoretically ground that in objective (or at least 'attempted objective' allowing that we might be drastically wrong about what is 'moral' ) truth-claims).

I've never liked it when developers feel the need to tell players whether their choices are good or evil. Why not let the player be a beacon of good striving against a corrupt society, if that's the way he sees it - most of Bioware's 'evil' protagonist paths might (with a few changes) be viewed by some as a lone beacon of individual responsibility and free commerce in a world of folks who seem to think that weakening others through welfare-reliance and handouts is 'good'.

If the player thinks that robbing and looting stores is a reasonable means to a greater end (defeating 'the big bad' using the stolen gains), don't call him evil for it. Just make him face the consequences (you're probably going to hurt some folks who don't deserve it - and people aren't going to like you very much for some time), of which a reputation meter is an integral part.

 

[Visbhume]

Karma could be shifted outside the game proper and into achievements: "Pacifist", "Complete Monster", "White Knight" and the like.

 

[ironyuri]

Having a karma meter separate from reputation seems redundant. Just ditch karma altogether and keep reputation, which is a more general and sophisticated mechanic anyway.

Karma may have its uses in a fantasy game, but having an absolute measure of morality doesn't fit well with Fallout's gritty post-apocalyptic setting.

Agreed.

Morality is subjective, different factions will view your actions in a different light, ergo having a reputation meter is a good enough measure of your morality and there is no need for a 'karma meter' or 'alignment measure' or any of that rubbish.

Even in fantasy games IMO.

BROS MORALITY METERS ARE INNOVATIVE AND FOR REAL BROS!

 

[snoek]

Guy has an awesome name, that's for sure