Emil on level scaling

[Brother None]

Yeah yeah, blah-blah, NMA is offering a partial transcript of the Xbox World 360 article, read it, realise once again how terrible Fallout 3 is shaping up to become, but I just had to drop by to drop off this tidbit we left out of the newspost (my highlight):

"The levelling in Oblivion has become infamous," says Emil, with his designer hat on. "The leveling worked really well in certain places where it balances the game out to the player's experience level, but I think we made some really egregious mistakes - the bandits which level up and get Daedric armour; the siege of KVatch gets really hard as you get stronger. These things should have been really obvious."

No friggin' goddamn shit. Yet somehow almost all reviewers and all Bethesda staff were oblivious to the problems up to the previews of Fallout 3.

Bethesda Lies: the Blatancy, part II

PS: also, remember this one since I'm betting it won't match up with the gaming experience:

We emerge a mile or tow from Megaton in the middle of a bandit camp based around Friendship Heights' Metro station. We're immediately thrown into combat against a small army, with every enemy clearly thinking and plotting before rushing into combat against the man firing the death rays. "We have a complete nav-mesh which covers the whole world, and all the edges are marked hish how high the cover is," eplxains Todd. "AI can take cover behind anything. They know how high this desk is and whether they can crouch behind it for cover."

 

[JarlFrank]

Reminds me of the Radiant AI video they showed before Oblivion's release, with the woman in her house doing so many cool things. Strange that I never actually saw anything close to that in the game. Fallout 3 will be just the same.

 

[Darth Roxor]

the siege of KVatch gets really hard as you get stronger."

Fun, I remember I completely screwed the whole main quest until I didn't have anything else to do and by that time my character was a super hero and I pretty much steamrolled through the "really hard siege of Kvatch".

 

[Raapys]

Huh, are they actually considering implementing level scaling in FO3 too??

 

[Earth Nuggets]

Fun, I remember I completely screwed the whole main quest until I didn't have anything else to do and by that time my character was a super hero and I pretty much steamrolled through the "really hard siege of Kvatch".

I think it mostly had to due with the fact that the leveling system is fucking abysmal. Creatures in the world apparently get substantial attribute increases as they level with you. On the other hand, the player has to spend time grinding up two minor skills connected to two different attributes at least ten times before then increasing a major skill connected to yet another attribute at least ten times to level up and get the best stat bonuses possible. So, if you don't understand the system, you could easily screw yourself. I also believe the guards meant to aid you in the battle either remain at a constant level or always wear the same shit armor... and hey, Bethesda could have patched the game to make this quest easier; a lot of people were whining about it.

 

[Crichton]

Fun, I remember I completely screwed the whole main quest until I didn't have anything else to do and by that time my character was a super hero and I pretty much steamrolled through the "really hard siege of Kvatch".

I don't remember what level my character was when he got there. He was a stealthy, fist-fighting cat-man, so maybe he was a lousy character or something. But neither he, nor the guards could scratch these big crocodile-men that were wrecking the place. The one guard was immortal, but the crocs killed him like 143 times, completely destroyed his armor, his shield and, I think, his sword and they tore my character into bits whenever they spotted him (which thankfully wasn't often).

 

[Raapys]

Well, there was a difficulty slider. Take it all the way to the left and stuff died in 1 hit, take it all the way to the right and you could hack for hours on a single creature.

 

[Athiska]

Oh, yes. Stealth-based characters were easy meatbags, considering that they could never win. The sneak attack which saved many from many reloads never did much past level 20. The best non-mod alternative was to don heavy armor and beat mudcrabs with claymores until suitably non-killable... or so I was told.

Well, there was a difficulty slider. Take it all the way to the left and stuff died in 1 hit, take it all the way to the right and you could hack for hours on a single creature.

That gives the player control over his killability, and not the developers. And puts him at fault for dieing when that handy slider makes everything, ah... "die in one hit".

Bugger... every thread becomes an Oblivion rant, doesn't it?

Anyhow, I've failed to understand why levels should affect anything in the world. At least in that review Fallout 3 was called "Oblivion 2," in a rare show of honesty. I find the conclusion a traditional saccharine assertion.

Accept no lies, Fallout 3 is too grand a project for us or any other games magazine to have fully understood in just a few hours' play.

I am sure all will be amazed.

 

[Kingston]

I think BN has reached breaking point. He tried hard though, oh yes, always looking for the positive, the slight comment that might hint at something to hope for. This newspost however killed everything. Fallout 3 will be a horrible clown.

"We have a complete nav-mesh which covers the whole world, and all the edges are marked hish how high the cover is," eplxains Todd. "AI can take cover behind anything. They know how high this desk is and whether they can crouch behind it for cover."

Hoho, the bullshit train is in full swing. I wonder how Fallout 3's AI will compare to STALKER: Clear Sky's...

 

[Brother None]

I think BN has reached breaking point

I think I snapped when Bethesda announced they purchased the full rights and ownership of Fallout.

I've just been running on fumes since.

 

[Raapys]

It wasn't *so* bad back when they announced it, I think. Back then we still hadn't seen the abomination that was Oblivion.

 

[Midwinter]

Pete on the fact that the compass will point the way to unknown locations: "It's our way of saying 'there's fun over here'."

Argh, why do they insist on copying everything that Fallout-fans hated about Oblivion? They could at least have looked at the way STALKER handled locations on the map. Is it already known whether or not the compass can be disabled?

Thanks for posting the link, Brother None. Now I'm 100% sure I'm saving the money for STALKER: Clear Sky. I was a careful optimist once too, but there are so many idiotic quotes in this preview...

We've had a focus test to see how well our tutorials were working, and in the initial run-through we forgot to tutorial VATS. People were playing without even knowing it existed and they just played it as a first-person shooter. That's reassuring.

Very.

We wanted them to be able to go into a room and go boom, boom, boom, boom and see views of their character blowing guys away from crazy angles.

That describes Bethesda's vision quite well. Maybe they should make it the subtitle - Fallout 3: Boom Boom Boom.

 

[racofer]

We've had a focus test to see how well our tutorials were working, and in the initial run-through we forgot to tutorial VATS. People were playing without even knowing it existed and they just played it as a first-person shooter. That's reassuring.

Very.

We wanted them to be able to go into a room and go boom, boom, boom, boom and see views of their character blowing guys away from crazy angles.

Oh for fucks sake.................

 

[Kingston]

I could use a Roshambo rant right about now.

 

[Jaesun]

I could use a Roshambo rant right about now.

He already told us the shit game we are getting. Though it would be nice to hear from him again.

 

[Comrade Hamster]

Is it already known whether or not the compass can be disabled?

If not, there's a chance it could be modded. Here's to hoping that the modding community will save some of the gameplay.

 

[Chefe]

I didn't think modding was in.

 

[gc051360]

We wanted them to be able to go into a room and go boom, boom, boom, boom and see views of their character blowing guys away from crazy angles.

Remember. These are the words of a genius.

 

[Volrath]

I didn't think modding was in.

There supposedly releasing the mod tools after the game has been released, which means NEVAH in my eyes.

We're stuck with this piece of shit for life it seems.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Reminds me of the Radiant AI video they showed before Oblivion's release, with the woman in her house doing so many cool things.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=X-zk0eodQHI

 

[Shoelip]

Reminds me of the Radiant AI video they showed before Oblivion's release, with the woman in her house doing so many cool things.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=X-zk0eodQHI

I think he means the one where she tries to sleep then sets her dog on fire because it won't shut up.

Great video though.

 

[Midwinter]

Is it already known whether or not the compass can be disabled?

If not, there's a chance it could be modded. Here's to hoping that the modding community will save some of the gameplay.

Was this possible to mod in Oblivion? If not, I don't think there's a big chance it's possible in this game, if the mod tools are released. Even then, someone just reminded me that no-one in Oblivion ever gave you directions. You were just supposed to follow the arrow. But of course someone could mod the dialogue and journal to include directions. Won't be a quick modification, though.

 

[Mareus]

Hey, the arrow is Bethseda's way of saying: "This is where the fun is!"

It's next gen innovation. You guys are just retarded.

 

[Texas Red]

I don't know about you guys, but I see a lot of potential in a fan project that uses these tools. If not for the FPSness, we could get a true FO sequel.

 

[Thor Kaufman]

Is it already known whether or not the compass can be disabled?

If not, there's a chance it could be modded. Here's to hoping that the modding community will save some of the gameplay.

Why bother, it's not like the quests will be worth it. Besides, you might run where the fun is