Preview Fallout 3 nearly baked

[Major_Blackhart]

Serious Same was friggin hectic at times I thought. But in a fun way, especially when drunk and with friends while playing on a 40+ inch plasma screen.

 

[DraQ]

Also:

The games on paper when we get started…they’re alot smaller, and then as we go they get bigger…we can’t stop ourselves. We’re have tons of people with good ideas here, and if they’re good and fit the tone, we’re going to try to jam as much into the game as possible.

On wonders how Oblivion looked 'on the paper' then. Was it something like:
"Take an isolated material point in an empty space..."?

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Since the rest of the world is hyping the 200 end scene thing

200 endings? So like, they're calling every different end game slide a "different ending" now? Boy I can't wait until we actually get to count the endings though and see if the number tallies up to anywhere even near that.

The podcast went on to talk about "Dog Meat", your artificial dog ally. The game allows you to team up with Dog Meat and one humanoid ally of your choosing. Any more allies and the game would get too hectic, asserts Howard.

Any more than one human and a dog and the game gets "too hectic"? Uhh... Right. So the good ol' days of walking around with your motley crew are all over then. And I find it odd they didn't say "you're limited to two companions" EG: Two humans. Instead, we appear to be stuck with the dog. Let's hear it for Bethesda Game Design Logic! "We'll give you like, totally 200 endings but umm... You have to have a dog. Oh and you can't kill the dog either, unless you try really, really hard and even then, we've like, totally beefed him up!" I suppose this is one of those things the modders will have to "fix".

It is possible to give Dog Meat fetch commands, but players shouldn't be too brash ordering Dog Meat around, as giving him careless orders could lead to his demise.

This sentence does not fit in with this sentence:

The team decided it didn't want to constrain players into constantly protecting Dog Meat, so Bethesda decided you had to be a real reckless player for him to die.

How does "giving him careless orders could lead to his demise" sound anything like "you [have] to be a real reckless player for him to die". Sounds more like Dog Meat, the immortal one. Half the fun of Fallout was trying to keep Dogmeat alive. He usually died sooner or later and hey, wasn't that the point? Why this "ZOMG we must prevent the dog from dying at all costs!" mentality? It's a fucking dog, not superman. I'd start to get a little concerned if it didn't die sooner or later unless I really, really stuck my neck out for it.

Saint try tocheck my blog once in a while, so you'll find out about fallout 3 stuff before it gets old.

You have a blog?

 

[OSK]

<a href="http://uk.pc.ign.com/">British PC IGN</a>(as if there's a need for a British specific version of IGN for the PC)

North America and Europe tend to have different release dates spanning months in time for games, and some games aren't even released in both territories. Also, British people spell some words funny.

 

[Brother None]

200 endings? So like, they're calling every different end game slide a "different ending" now? Boy I can't wait until we actually get to count the endings though and see if the number tallies up to anywhere even near that.

No, not even. They're counting permutations of different slides

So if the options are man/woman, kill dog/don't kill dog, blow up megaton/leave megaton alone/defuse Megaton bomb, we got 2*2*3 aka 12 "endings"

That's the Bethesda way

 

[NiM82]

They're probably factoring in how many bobble heads you can find too

 

[Hory]

HELO I HAVE LONG HEAD

 

[Mefi]

No, not even. They're counting permutations of different slides

So if the options are man/woman, kill dog/don't kill dog, blow up megaton/leave megaton alone/defuse Megaton bomb, we got 2*2*3 aka 12 "endings"

That's the Bethesda way

Then lot's plot the main quest branches by getting to 200... 2*2*2*5*5

Scary ain't it if that's really how they're counting endings.

 

[mjorkerina]

Any more allies and the game would get too hectic, asserts Howard.

The man must be so retarded he must find RTS games hectic. How can you control so many units ? oh god, you are fighting against two armies ? omg clusterfuck. Bet he can't handle even something on the level of Dawn of War.

The team decided it didn't want to constrain players into constantly protecting Dog Meat, so Bethesda decided you had to be a real reckless player for him to die.

Is that their idea of a post apocalyptic setting ? that your dog companion should never be allowed to die ? are they living in Disney Land with flashy colors everywhere ? they are missing the point so much it isn't even funny to laugh at their pathetic existence.
Fallout is about a world that has seen the nuclear apocalypse. It's dark, it's gritty, it's tough. It's not an adventure with furry bears. People are ready everywhere to kill and torture for anything, drugs, money, weapon ammunition, resources are scarce and owning some means being a living, moving target for shooting practice. Your dog should be collateral damage anytime.

This is what Bethesda is looking for while designing Fallout 3 :

 

[FireWolf]

I love this kind of thing. It just makes me think Bethesda are so desperate to try and tie their game into the Fallout series by grabbing every little bit they can from the originals, transplant it and say 'look, it's Fallout!' and if more than one companion is 'too hectic' perhaps they should have gone with an isometric viewpoint? That was never too hectic and allowed more control/flexibility in combat. But, of course, then it wouldn't be Oblivion with guns, and since we already know that's the case, stupid design decisions shouldn't come as a surprise.

More and more this just looks like a cosmetic mod of Oblivion, they're not even hiding it anymore. I wonder if you can form deep and meaningful relationships based on porking a farmer's daughter and getting hitched at a shotgun wedding, too. That's a new and interesting way to pick up a companion! Maybe s/he can perform fetch commands, too.

I suppose we could just replay fallout 1 and 2 with only a companion, smack ourselves over the head with a brick anything with more than 2 generic 'good' or 'bad' conversation options pop up and stare at an HDR screenshot on occasion. It'll be pretty much the same thing.

 

[denizsi]

Fail. You still post F3 news with the title "Fallout 3" when it should be "Bethesda's Premium PA Mod for Oblivion".

 

[Hazelnut]

Also:

The games on paper when we get started…they’re alot smaller, and then as we go they get bigger…we can’t stop ourselves. We’re have tons of people with good ideas here, and if they’re good and fit the tone, we’re going to try to jam as much into the game as possible.

I guess posting "less is more" over on the ESF isn't gonna sway them then?

 

[Hazelnut]

<a href="http://uk.pc.ign.com/">British PC IGN</a>(as if there's a need for a British specific version of IGN for the PC)

North America and Europe tend to have different release dates spanning months in time for games, and some games aren't even released in both territories. Also, British people spell some words correctly.

Fixed.

 

[afewhours]

Also, British people spell some words correctly.

How do I spelt colour?

 

[Keender_surprise]

The funny thing is, you could actually have more than one companion in Oblivion

 

[Section8]

Also:

The games on paper when we get started…they’re alot smaller, and then as we go they get bigger…we can’t stop ourselves. We’re have tons of people with good ideas here, and if they’re good and fit the tone, we’re going to try to jam as much into the game as possible.

I guess posting "less is more" over on the ESF isn't gonna sway them then?

Yeah, when a developer's idea of "game design" consists of starting with a basic concept and then letting every single yahoo that works for you creep features in until alpha, I'd say they're a lot cause. It's a shame so many gamers are so enamoured with quantity that they forget that each one of two hundred different flavours of shit, still tastes like shit.

 

[denizsi]

two hundred different flavours of shit, still tastes like shit.

:ESF: Sure, it comes out of your ass but ever think about the nice round asses of females it comes out from? Also, have you tasted shit? HAVE YOU TASTED SHIT?

 

[User was nabbed fit]

Also:

The games on paper when we get started…they’re alot smaller, and then as we go they get bigger…we can’t stop ourselves. We’re have tons of people with good ideas here, and if they’re good and fit the tone, we’re going to try to jam as much into the game as possible.

Ahhh, Fallout 3 is going to be a great sequel to Fallout 2.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Fallout 2, actually. And it was fucking stupid anyway. If you can't see what's wrong with that, ponder on "Uh, you're a bit crowded there. Tell somebody to GTFO if you want me to come" for a while.

No, I think it makes sense. The more charismatic a person is, the more people will follow him. The "You're a bit crowded" thing was a little goofy, but I'm not sure how they can state the "More charismatic you are, the more people follow" in dialog without just saying it with <GAME> tags around it. If you want an NPC to say something to elude to the game mechanic, there's not too many other ways of doing it.

Higher CHA should unlock certain companions, but the total number should be mostly unrestricted (except when it makes sense in the narrative).

I agree with this also. It would have been a neat feature.

if more than one companion is 'too hectic' perhaps they should have gone with an isometric viewpoint?

There's quite a few of their game mechanics that are like this. There's been a few times they fudged something where I've thought, "That would have worked in 3/4 view, numbnuts!"

More and more this just looks like a cosmetic mod of Oblivion, they're not even hiding it anymore.

Actually, it looks to me like it's a scaled back Oblivion with guns. Of course, that's not shocking at all since Morrowind was a scaled back Daggerfall, Oblivion was a scaled back Morrowind, so..

It's kind of funny they claim they have tons of feature creep in their games going from the design doc to the final version when each of their games have had less features than the one before it.

I think the statement that Oblivion's design doc must of been "Start in a small, empty space" is accurate when you combine it with Howard's statement on feature creep.

Saint try to check my blog once in a while, so you'll find out about fallout 3 stuff before it gets old.

The main reason it's old is because I worked billions of hours on the weekend. BILLIONS.

 

[Mefi]

I think the statement that Oblivion's design doc must of been "Start in a small, empty space" is accurate when you combine it with Howard's statement on feature creep.

Go anywhere, do anything = there's fuck all to do so go and have a look at the scenery.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Eh.

He looks like a terrier for some reason, unlike Max' dog. 'coz, y'know, Max's dog looked like this

That, my friend, is an Australian Blue Cattledog. Or 'bluey' as they're affectionately called down here. One of the toughest and most loyal of all dog breeds.....would have been a perfect choice for Dogmeat (or Dog Meat...whatever).

The Mad Max films as you're probably aware were Australian films after all (as is Mel Gibson).... :D

 

[tunguska]

This is what Bethesda is looking for while designing Fallout 3 :

Classic. Yes. That is *exactly* what bethesda is going for. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. Bethesda is so evil. I liked daggerfall a lot, but now I just look upon their new releases sort of like a 3Dmark benchmark to see how my new fancy card can deal with the pretty graphics. Each time I hear news about FO3 it is like someone is jabbing a rusty spear through my neck and each time they push it deeper.

 

[ghostdog]

don't mess with my avatar ! :evil:

Dog is the best name anyway...

 

[muds_animal_friend]

Also, have you tasted shit? HAVE YOU TASTED SHIT?

I paid money for Oblivion; I imagine that's as close a simulated experience as is possible.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Fallout 2, actually. And it was fucking stupid anyway. If you can't see what's wrong with that, ponder on "Uh, you're a bit crowded there. Tell somebody to GTFO if you want me to come" for a while.

No, I think it makes sense. The more charismatic a person is, the more people will follow him. The "You're a bit crowded" thing was a little goofy, but I'm not sure how they can state the "More charismatic you are, the more people follow" in dialog without just saying it with <GAME> tags around it. If you want an NPC to say something to elude to the game mechanic, there's not too many other ways of doing it.

Thats a pretty good point that I didn't think about. With a developer so obsessed with immersion, they are breaking it quite hard when they only allow you one NPC.