Interview Fallout 3 interview at CVG

[Transcendent One]

The ES games are non-linear as far as exploration goes. Morrowind actually presents some varied quest solving, even though most of the time this branching is just a different way to get to the same outcome. Daggerfall was almost completely linear in its quests. And boy were they horrible. Go to town X click on person Y who tells you to go to town Z where you have to find person A who'll tell you to go to dungeon B where you'll get item C to use to kill person D. Oh sweet mother of God...

 

[AlanC9]

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.

I said "bare fists." I don't have anything wrong with bayonets or some such; the military still trains them, after all. But they should only be useful in particular circumstances. Starting at close range, starting undetected, starting behind hard cover, wearing bulletproof armor, etc. In a general mid-range engagement, guns should be clearly superior. That's why people use them.

If the choices are "boring" vs. "preposterous," I'm going to have to go with "boring."

 

[Ap_Jolly]

ITS RELEASTIC!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Power Fists > Puny SMG

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I power fist your mom.

 

[Jinxed]

If the choices are "boring" vs. "preposterous," I'm going to have to go with "boring."

That's why we don't want beth devs near it. They can turn the game into a realistic boring tour around the wasteland. I wonder if they'll throw in a jetpack for the player to fly around with.

 

[AlanC9]

Jetpacks ain't realistic. The fuel consumption is enormous.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

As long as it had a 50's feel to it.

 

[Quigs]

its going to be called

"FALLOUT: New Jersey"

It's going to be realistic, so its going to take place at the present time. The player will go on quests to the beach, and hack and slash through countless bennies. With pipe rifles.


Im actually pretty interested in where they want to place the new fallout. time place and setting are usually first on the things getting set in stone.

 

[fnordcircle]

Stop posting Quigs, until you become either smart or funny. PS - You suck.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Morrowind was definitely linear. The main storyline is linear, the quild quests are all linear. From the time you start, if you're following the main story, you go from one quest to the next in a set series of progression. You always get the same quests in the same order every time. You're always going to have to do quest A before quest B and B before C and so on. That's linear.

Basically, it's only open ended in the fact you're free to explore.

 

[Duodenum]

Morrowind was definitely linear. The main storyline is linear, the quild quests are all linear. From the time you start, if you're following the main story, you go from one quest to the next in a set series of progression. You always get the same quests in the same order every time. You're always going to have to do quest A before quest B and B before C and so on. That's linear.

Basically, it's only open ended in the fact you're free to explore.

But you can do those guild & faction quest lines in any order, or leave a quest line for a while & do quests in another line before returning. And in many cases a quest line will have several quest givers, whom you can go to in any order. Besides, any game that you "progress" through has some degree of linearity. Otherwise you're not making progress.

 

[RGE]

Yes, I believe that the Fallout quests are designed that way too. Some quests you can do whenever, other quests are given in sequence. Not very long sequences though, and I suppose the player's ability to ruin a sequence for themselves by killing people ahead of time or by making enemies with the 'wrong' people could be counted as more non-linearity. Did the quests in Morrowind offer different ways of completing them? Combat-stealth-diplomacy options? If not, that's a huge drawback compared to Fallout.

 

[suibhne]

But you can do those guild & faction quest lines in any order, or leave a quest line for a while & do quests in another line before returning. And in many cases a quest line will have several quest givers, whom you can go to in any order. Besides, any game that you "progress" through has some degree of linearity. Otherwise you're not making progress.

I played Morrowind far, far too much, and I can't offhand recall any individual quests which had multiple quest-givers. Remind me.

(I also don't recall any quests with multiple solutions, aside from the decision about whether to accept and complete the quest, but that's another matter entirely.)

As for the guild & faction quests you reference, they're just side quests. Of course you can do them in any order (or ignore them entirely); they're side quests. It's sorta definitional.

As for being able to "leave a quest line for a while," that wasn't a good thing. I loved the free-form world exploration in MW; I hated the fact that all of my quests, including those which seemed urgent, would happily wait indefinitely for me to finish lollygagging around the pixel-shaded water. Exploration in MW can take a very long time, and I was reminded of the stupidity of BG2's second chapter multiplied by factor of, say, 500. It's really a pity: BethSoft created a flat-out beautiful world, then populated it with walking, talking notice boards and a plethora of simplistic, non-branching "To Do" tasks.

 

[Psilon]

I played Morrowind far, far too much, and I can't offhand recall any individual quests which had multiple quest-givers. Remind me.

I think he's talking about setups like the Thieves' Guild, in which you can get missions from all the branches simultaneously.

(I also don't recall any quests with multiple solutions, aside from the decision about whether to accept and complete the quest, but that's another matter entirely.)

There are a few. An early thief quest has you get the key to Nerano Manor and return it to the boss. There are two keys. You can break into the manor and kill the owner, looting his body for the key (and less of a reward). Alternately, you can go to the Council Club and get the key from his servant. Besides the bloodthirsty approach (which grants a full reward), you can bribe/admire/charm the guy and get him to give you the key.

Most of the quests are extremely linear, but there are alternate routes here and there.

 

[Duodenum]

What Psilon said.

 

[Quigs]

Annoying part is doing earlier quests can have stupid consequences. I played a fighter/thief character. When I had to get the key in nerano manner, I just slaughtered Mr. Nerano himself.

Of course, when doing a redoran house quest later in the game, somehow he manages to mock house redoran, well past death. And the solution, is to challange him to a duel. You can't tell the quest giver you dueled him, because a trigger is activated when you talk to him. Stupid triggers.


RGE, very few times are there multiple ways of doing the same quest. Theives guild quests are usually "steal this" or "kill him" Fighers guild and mages guilds are usually "Deliver this" or "Kill him"

Then again, you couldnt talk frank horrigan into killing himself, or sneakall the slaves out of the den.

 

[Duodenum]

Annoying part is doing earlier quests can have stupid consequences. I played a fighter/thief character. When I had to get the key in nerano manner, I just slaughtered Mr. Nerano himself.

Of course, when doing a redoran house quest later in the game, somehow he manages to mock house redoran, well past death. And the solution, is to challange him to a duel. You can't tell the quest giver you dueled him, because a trigger is activated when you talk to him. Stupid triggers.

Sounds like a bug to me, rather than a design flaw.

 

[MF]

No, it's a design flaw. Good design works well towards preventing bugs.

They should have used flags for that instead of triggers.

 

[Psilon]

The funny thing is that you don't have that problem with a lot of the Morag Tong quests. if you already killed the target before getting the writ, they'll just say "Oh, well" and send you off on the next one.

 

[Duodenum]

The funny thing is that you don't have that problem with a lot of the Morag Tong quests. if you already killed the target before getting the writ, they'll just say "Oh, well" and send you off on the next one.

Like I said, it sounds like a bug.

 

[triCritical]

Then again, you couldnt talk frank horrigan into killing himself, or sneakall the slaves out of the den.

And that is why FO2 blew chunks compared to FO. Nevermind that you are talking about the end game scenario vs. the MW quest recipe book. MW you have different quest for different characters. FO, everyone has the same quest, and you just solve it using the strength of your character.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, that and everything on the oil rig just seemed to come out of no where. But generally, Fallout 2 was poorly scripted compared to Fallout. Sure, it was bigger, but many things weren't done better and the ending is a prime example of that. The fact that Frank has to die, and you simply can't do it with just Sarge Granite and the turrets alone unless you get really lucky is one of the classic problems with FO2 versus Fallout.

 

[Volourn]

I didn't get far enough into MW to really get a clear picture of its linearty which to me is a good thing.

As for FO2 vs. FO1; sure FO1 had more ways to deal with the Master than with Frank; but to me that was kinda fitting to Frank's chaarcter. When you build someone up to be a 'monster'; better expect him to act like one. Still, FO2 had lots of stufff and not just because it's lots that made it stand out against FO1 though they are pretty much equal. Two of these things are Vault City, and *looks around* New reno thatd espite its supposed anti 50s feel atmosphere is one of the most engaging, most interetsing, most role-playing fille cities in any CRPG I have ever come across. great stuff. overall, I think the quests in FO2 felt more "real" and not just there as in FO1 (though FO1's quests were good too).

Meh.

 

[plin]

Well, that and everything on the oil rig just seemed to come out of no where. But generally, Fallout 2 was poorly scripted compared to Fallout. Sure, it was bigger, but many things weren't done better and the ending is a prime example of that. The fact that Frank has to die, and you simply can't do it with just Sarge Granite and the turrets alone unless you get really lucky is one of the classic problems with FO2 versus Fallout.

Um.. doesn't the master have to die in FO1? And in that 15 minute completing fallout video, I believe the guy never attacks frank, only the turrets and enclave soldiers kill him. Looked pretty simple to me. But I guess he could have gotten lucky.