Interview Fallout: New Vegas Interview

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Fallout: New Vegas; Obsidian Entertainment

<p>The release date of the best Elder Scrolls mod ever is drawing near and <a href="http://planetfallout.gamespy.com/articles/interviews/1930/Planet-Fallout-Interviews-Josh-Sawyer" target="_blank">Planet Fallout interviews Josh Sawyer</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Both of the Original Fallout games had a hardcore SPECIAL system that promoted specializing. Fallout 3 made it very easy to make a god-like character that could master almost everything. Which way is New Vegas going and how do you achieve that?</strong> <br /> New Vegas forces players to specialize their characters more. Our formula for calculating skill points makes it much harder to max out skills and we have fewer permanent skill-boosting items in the world. Additionally, we have changed our perk rate so players gain a perk every other level instead of one per level. PC users who wish to modify the perk rate through the GECK have the ability to do so, as I know some players like the Fallout 3 rate and some players prefer the rate of one perk per three levels found in the original games.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/100088-fallout-new-vegas-interview.html">GB</a></p>

 

[bloodlover]

New Vegas forces players to specialize their characters more. Our formula for calculating skill points makes it much harder to max out skills and we have fewer permanent skill-boosting items in the world

Fuck yeah !

 

[Exmit]

New Vegas you make me so hornay

 

[MicoSelva]

They're doing their best to bring FNV closer to the old Fallout games. The problem is that original material (FO3) is probably FUBAR.

 

[crazy_dave]

They're doing their best to bring FNV closer to the old Fallout games.

Let us hope that will be enough...

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The problem is that original material (FO3) is probably FUBAR.

afaik, the events in FO3 won't influence NV's story. They're just using the same 1st person gameplay style.

...and gamebryo, but since you can fix eventual fuckups with the console that's not a big problem.

 

[deus101]

I am more and more looking forward to this game.

 

[DalekFlay]

The Bethesda forums were a funny place to be when Fallout 3 came out because of all the whining over the level cap. "I wants to be uber!" they all screamed. "Fine" Bethesda said when they released Broken Steel, which ruined the leveling system.

I can't wait for all the bitching New Vegas will inspire, not only about this if it is true, but also about the hopefully higher impact of choices and consequences.

 

[Jaedar]

One problem I still has with skills is that you get 10 points for free, and only 0.5 for each level of INT. Should be 5 points free and 1 per INT.

 

[xemous]

whether you get a perk every odd level or not, the game is still fundamentally not a fallout one, so why so much praise for this abomination, have ye no self respect.

 

[Fat Dragon]

What day does this game come out?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

whether you get a perk every odd level or not, the game is still fundamentally not fallout one, so why so much praise for this abomination, have ye no self respect.

Fixed. Why don't you say what you really mean?

 

[FeelTheRads]

whether you get a perk every odd level or not, the game is still fundamentally not fallout one, so why so much praise for this abomination, have ye no self respect.

HOHOHO I made a smart remark that nobody ever did before. Maybe in the next post I'll play the devil's advocate.

Fixed. Why don't you say what you really mean?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

You only because you

 

[bhlaab]

One problem I still has with skills is that you get 10 points for free, and only 0.5 for each level of INT. Should be 5 points free and 1 per INT.

I don't know, Int really needed to be nerfed a bit in all of the Fallout games to date.

 

[CraigCWB]

They're doing their best to bring FNV closer to the old Fallout games. The problem is that original material (FO3) is probably FUBAR.

The other problem is that they may not actually be trying to do any such thing. The part about the source material being FUBAR sounds like you are making excuses for them already, before the game is even out. I think with enough effort they could recreate a first person version of FO2 that's virtually identical to the original. Including the overland travel, which they could do by upping the map scale substantially and then hacking the fast-travel interface so that the player would be notified of locations and interrupted for encounters while in pipboy mode. The game is out soon so we'll all see how much they wanted to bring back the original Fallout gameplay experience. The only excuse I'll listen to is "we wanted to do that but x wouldn't let us". Of course, nobody will say that because then they'd get fired, so actually I won't be taking any excuses

 

[Jaedar]

One problem I still has with skills is that you get 10 points for free, and only 0.5 for each level of INT. Should be 5 points free and 1 per INT.

I don't know, Int really needed to be nerfed a bit in all of the Fallout games to date.

No, the other attributes needed to be buffed.

The problem is that the natural skill points vastly outweigh the ones gained via character creation, which means all your characters feel more or less the same.

 

[DalekFlay]

whether you get a perk every odd level or not, the game is still fundamentally not a fallout one, so why so much praise for this abomination, have ye no self respect.

Somehow I muster the ability to play different kinds of games from somewhere deep within.

 

[CraigCWB]

whether you get a perk every odd level or not, the game is still fundamentally not a fallout one, so why so much praise for this abomination, have ye no self respect.

Somehow I muster the ability to play different kinds of games from somewhere deep within.

Me too. The things I look for most are depth and challenge. These days the only games that meet those two criteria (at least to my satisfaction) seem to be Wargames and RPGs. There used to be quite a few genres that I enjoyed. Some of them - like squad combat games - no longer exist, and others have been hybridized over time into something I don't even recognize anymore. I think there should be a new genre called "idiotware" for those.

RPGs have been descending into this "idiotware" genre for at least 10 years. But I still have hope that somebody with influence will come along and say "Hey now, wait a fucking minute!" because RPGs have always been my favorite. If it wasn't for rpgs I probably wouldn't have ever gotten into PC gaming.

I don't know what the hell is up with game companies. You don't see novelists all rushing to write books for teens, pre-teens and adult morons just because Harry Potter was so successful. You don't see the movie studios abandoning their serious projects to make Shrek clones. What the hell happened to the creative process and the self-respect of artists who do things the way they believe they should be done, instead of just using a Chinese takeout menu of features that appeal to the lowest common denominator? And the worst part of it is that the fools seem to think it's a good business practice. In what fucking industry? In what part of the entertainment industry to artists deliberately go with the simplistic and the shallow out of fear their customers may become confused? The whole idea of that is ridiculous.

 

[Rhalle]

New Vegas forces players to specialize their characters more. Our formula for calculating skill points makes it much harder to max out skills and we have fewer permanent skill-boosting items in the world

It is this way, of course, for the DLC sales.

 

[bloodlover]

New Vegas forces players to specialize their characters more. Our formula for calculating skill points makes it much harder to max out skills and we have fewer permanent skill-boosting items in the world

It is this way, of course, for the DLC sales.

Well at this point I think we can agree that most of the RPG's in the future will have DLC's coming to them. Plus F3's addons/expansions were better than the extra shit (pardon me, content) that came for ME 2 or Dragon Age (b)Origins

 

[deus101]

whether you get a perk every odd level or not, the game is still fundamentally not a fallout one, so why so much praise for this abomination, have ye no self respect.

Somehow I muster the ability to play different kinds of games from somewhere deep within.

Me too. The things I look for most are depth and challenge. These days the only games that meet those two criteria (at least to my satisfaction) seem to be Wargames and RPGs. There used to be quite a few genres that I enjoyed. Some of them - like squad combat games - no longer exist, and others have been hybridized over time into something I don't even recognize anymore. I think there should be a new genre called "idiotware" for those.

RPGs have been descending into this "idiotware" genre for at least 10 years. But I still have hope that somebody with influence will come along and say "Hey now, wait a fucking minute!" because RPGs have always been my favorite. If it wasn't for rpgs I probably wouldn't have ever gotten into PC gaming.

I don't know what the hell is up with game companies. You don't see novelists all rushing to write books for teens, pre-teens and adult morons just because Harry Potter was so successful. You don't see the movie studios abandoning their serious projects to make Shrek clones. What the hell happened to the creative process and the self-respect of artists who do things the way they believe they should be done, instead of just using a Chinese takeout menu of features that appeal to the lowest common denominator? And the worst part of it is that the fools seem to think it's a good business practice. In what fucking industry? In what part of the entertainment industry to artists deliberately go with the simplistic and the shallow out of fear their customers may become confused? The whole idea of that is ridiculous.

True dat...but, books are really the only medium that is safe from this kind of gimmick.

TV and Movies are allready into the shit end of market research and profit hubris, and so are Video games.

 

[CraigCWB]

TV and Movies are allready into the shit end of market research and profit hubris, and so are Video games.

I disagree about the movies for sure... formulaic and cliche movies tend to not do very well. I think I disagree about TV too. There's a lot of mindless garbage on - like daytime soaps - which I guess means there's a market for mindless garbage. But there's also a lot of high quality and even "boutique" programming on TV. It does happen from time to time - I've been watching two shows on Syfy Channel that I used to like that have suddenly changed direction and seem to be trying for a more juvenile audience but I expect them both to be canceled next season because they've really gone down hill a lot.

I think the main difference is that Hollywood doesn't think there's only one target demographic, or that they'll be able to get everyone in any particular demographic. So they just figure they'll make the show/movie they want to make and if it's good enough they'll get the viewers. Not so with the game industry. They think there's some mythical "lowest common denominator" and if they can just hit that sweet spot they'll get everyone who plays computer games to buy their shit. It doesn't work that way.

 

[Drakron]

One problem I still has with skills is that you get 10 points for free, and only 0.5 for each level of INT. Should be 5 points free and 1 per INT.

I don't know, Int really needed to be nerfed a bit in all of the Fallout games to date.

No, the other attributes needed to be buffed.

The problem is that the natural skill points vastly outweigh the ones gained via character creation, which means all your characters feel more or less the same.

That is hardly true, a lot due to Fallout 1-2 having weighted skill cost and the limit of a skill being 250% and not 100% with point cost being higher as you go up, I dont think you could go to 250% in 1 skill without griping the character in some measure, of course you did not need to go so far as 150% was more that enough but still you would just have some skills over 100%.

Fallout 3 brought the skill down to just 100% that allowed people to play the system to "max it", the problem also from other decisions as dropping STR requirements for weapons and making attributes besides INT redundant due to lack of hard requirements in gear and low requirements in Perks and also the very broken Intense Training perk. Now add the skill raising perks and plenty of skills books and everything just breaks down.

 

[MicoSelva]

They're doing their best to bring FNV closer to the old Fallout games. The problem is that original material (FO3) is probably FUBAR.

The other problem is that they may not actually be trying to do any such thing. The part about the source material being FUBAR sounds like you are making excuses for them already, before the game is even out.

I wrote "probably" for a reason. It is possible that they will pull off a miracle and actually make it a game truly worth bearing Fallout name, but I somehow doubt that. They usually manage to improve the source material (like KoTOR or NWN) in some aspects, but not nearly enough. We can argue about the reasons for that, but the conclusion will be something along the lines that Obsidian is just not Black Isle.

The game is out soon so we'll all see how much they wanted to bring back the original Fallout gameplay experience.

Indeed.