Game News Gavin Carter of Bethedsa speaks

[kathode]

Re: Come on.

Or, perhaps I'm mis-reading your comment, and putting more into it then actually exists.

I think you are. I was simply trying to provide some sort of civil end to my conversation with frank, who obviously doesn't care for me. Apparently I failed, so I apologize if I came off looking like a douche.

Anyway, I'm doing my best to listen to the fans. Since 5PM today when the PR came out, I've been doing nothing but surfing and reading forums (and a fair bit of posting apparently ). I took a break to eat dinner, then I was back with the power of whole wheat. There's a lot of opinions out there, and they're all strong But we definitely expected that.

 

[FrankHorrigan]

I'd call it a sarcastic and flippant end to the conversation, like this one;

I really do like you kathode, your the bestest assprod in the whole world. See?

 

[merry andrew]

Re: Come on.

This kind of indifference/sarcasm isn't going to benefit anyone.

I hope Bethesda truly thought about fan interaction/input prior to shelling out the bucks for the license.

It's going to be difficult dealing with it, but if you want a sucessful game, YOU'VE GOT TO LISTEN.
...
Or, perhaps I'm mis-reading your comment, and putting more into it then actually exists.

He's giving indifference toward personal attacks. Personal attacks, no matter how clever/considerate, are a lousy form of communication.

 

[mr. lamat]

if you're not going to answer these three questions:

1) will the game be turnedbased, isometric 3d?

2) are you aware that the 50's camp humour and excessive violence/cussing were the parsley, not the main course?

3) will it feature the special system?

then kindly, shut the fuck up dood. you do your company no good with the flamewar.

 

[kathode]

if you're not going to answer these three questions:

1) will the game be turnedbased, isometric 3d?

2) are you aware that the 50's camp humour and excessive violence/cussing were the parsley, not the main course?

3) will it feature the special system?

then kindly, shut the fuck up dood. you do your company no good with the flamewar.

I don't see a flame war, and most of those questions I'd like answered myself

 

[TFVanguard]

They just secured the franchise. Isn't it a bit too soon to start demanding specifics on the next game that isn't even in the planning stages at this point.

Hey, Kathode, are you guys still in the oversized pillbox building? Tell Todd his old 'roomie' said 'hi'.

 

[merry andrew]

They just secured the franchise. Isn't it a bit too soon to start demanding specifics on the next game that isn't even in the planning stages at this point.

stfu n00b

 

[mr. lamat]

i understand the need to pimp the game... but it's a bad crowd to antagonize and that's what you're doing. everytime you commit something with that little 'submit' button without giving people any relevant information, your just driving that little wanker in his momma's basement fucking batty.

i dunno how much of an effect they had on fot or fobos (maybe none, considering how rank the product was) but it's not a good idea to go asking for that wrath either.

 

[TFVanguard]

stfu n00b

What, some realism to dissuade the endless bitching? Oh, right, this is RPGCodex... what the hell was I thinking.

 

[kathode]

They just secured the franchise. Isn't it a bit too soon to start demanding specifics on the next game that isn't even in the planning stages at this point.

Hey, Kathode, are you guys still in the oversized pillbox building? Tell Todd his old 'roomie' said 'hi'.

Hey there! Our building definitely could be described as an oversized pillbox, though now we inhabit an underground warehouse/radiation bunker space with creepy lighting Should be good for the job we've got ahead of us! I will definitely send along your regards.

 

[kathode]

i understand the need to pimp the game... but it's a bad crowd to antagonize and that's what you're doing. everytime you commit something with that little 'submit' button without giving people any relevant information, your just driving that little wanker in his momma's basement fucking batty.

I totally understand. But this thread was about me more or less, and someone decided to give my life history in it, so I thought I should at least say hello! Sorry I can't give more game specifics. I'll leave the thread alone now.

 

[TFVanguard]

Hey there! Our building definitely could be described as an oversized pillbox, though now we inhabit an underground warehouse/radiation bunker space with creepy lighting

You must be in one of the 'inside' offices then. That's where I was (assuming the same building, I don't know anymore - the place seemed too costly when I was there). I swear, it was a utility closet for Todd and I, and it was called an 'office' just to make us feel better.

Should be good for the job we've got ahead of us! I will definitely send along your regards.

Great. Good to know that he took the helm. No secret that I considered Julian a porn-loving dumbass. How Todd managed to avoid working under him for the last bit of Daggerfall I just don't know...

 

[plin]

I'd call it a sarcastic and flippant end to the conversation, like this one;

I really do like you kathode, your the bestest assprod in the whole world. See?

You suck donkey dick. That wasn't sarcasm.

Oh and kathode, don't bother with the people in this page of the thread. They're fucking idiots, not worth any time in the world.

edit: oops, someone already said that, and your done. Oh well. Don't take the rabid kiddie's comments to heart, since none of them matter.

 

[TFVanguard]

Oh and kathode, don't bother with the people in this page of the thread. They're fucking idiots, not worth any time in the world.

Well, at least, by definition, we're getting some.

 

[finneusgage]

What, some realism to dissuade the endless bitching? Oh, right, this is RPGCodex... what the hell was I thinking.

Realism doesn't fit into the meta-narrative of endless persecution and victimization of the poor Fallout wahabi.

 

[TFVanguard]

Realism doesn't fit into the meta-narrative of endless persecution and victimization of the poor Fallout wahabi.

I'm not quite understanding why there isn't more effort for a Fallout clone.. I mean, the feel is just the 1950's got nuked.. there's not much more to it than that...

 

[Sol Invictus]

Oh, screw this game.

 

[TFVanguard]

Oh, screw this game.

Well, that option was in Fallout II... oh, the actual game? Erm.. nevermind.

 

[taks]

Realism doesn't fit into the meta-narrative of endless persecution and victimization of the poor Fallout wahabi.

I'm not quite understanding why there isn't more effort for a Fallout clone.. I mean, the feel is just the 1950's got nuked.. there's not much more to it than that...

actually, i think that's where the comments about "The Fall" come into play... they were in here a while back and managed to ruffle more than a few feathers... carsten strehse (sic?, owner) made a ton of well-wishing and got some free press out of the deal but kinda backed down on some "promises" resulting in... well, we don't hear them post much anymore.

taks

 

[pseudo intellectual]

Morrowind: awful RPG in my opinion. Boring NPCs, generic world (not corrected by unusual flora and fauna)... poorly executed. Content is king in an RPG, both paper and pen and CRPG, and Bethsoft doesn't appear to realize this. I gave the game away to a friend.

This is my 3rd encounter with Bethsoft, who will soon, no doubt ruin Fallout 3 with poor execution and mediocre content all because they don't realize that content is king.

 

[TFVanguard]

Actually, i think that's where the comments about "The Fall" come into play... they were in here a while back and managed to ruffle more than a few feathers...

Well, it's something I've played with - a tactical iso-engine, but my art skills aren't up to it... and I'm a stay at home dad now. Might do something similar as a hobby thing sometime, though. Not like I don't have the time.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I'll name the elements that are the essential make-up of Fallout 3:

1) First Person with shoddy 3rd Person view for avatar.

2) Shoddy/almost non-existent interface.

3) Unresponsive controls

4) Dialogue trees which resemble branches of a digital encyclopaedia rather than actual dialogues.

5) Guns

Plain description: Morrowind with guns. Don't try to deny it.

You might be an 'associate producer', but that's a title that everyone with half a brain knows doesn't mean jack shit. You might as well call yourself an associate bullshitter and be done with it. Pete Hines made it pretty clear that it wasn't going to resemble Fallout, in any way other than having a post-apocalyptic setting.

Pete Hines: Again, it's early to say, but it wouldn't be a leap of faith to say that we plan to use technologies in development otherwise. You could make some fairly safe leaps of faith that it would be similar in style. We're not going to go away from what it is that we do best. We're not going to suddenly do a top-down isometric Baldur's Gate-style game, because that's not what we do well.

I for one think it's pretty clear what this means. What's Bethesda good at?

1) First Person - though that's only at best arguable, given the horrible rendering latency in Morrowind. It's amazing how you guys managed to fuck up NetImmerse.

2) 3d graphics - The animations were a joke, as were the models and the skins. It's beyond my understanding how such ugly, undetailed faces can manage to comprise of over 1800 polygons per, when the user-created faces with much superior graphical and symmetrical detail manage to comprise of less than 500 each. What's up with the running animations, anyway? Not to forget all the feet in MW looked more like hooves. Does the modeller have a horse fetish?

3) First person real time combat - Oh, that's got to be a joke, right? Please tell me that Bethesda forgot to implement the real combat module before sending the gold master off to duplication.

4) Interactive environment. Oh, I get it - randomly scattered inventory boxes on plants, rocks and random bumpy spots on the ground equal an 'interactive environment'.

5) Highly detailed NPCs with speech patterns. Encyclopaedias are definitely full of details, but they aren't the kind of details most people look for in people, artificial or otherwise. Adding a bunch of stupid phrases and terms does not make for an 'interesting speech pattern'. Go watch some Monty Python for the real deal.

Saying that you've liked Fallout or enjoyed playing it when it was first release in a press release is not the equivilent of proof of talent. I just think it's completely fucking asinine for Bethesda to try to cash in on the FO license. Just let it die.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I forgot to mention: the towns in Morrowind were totally fucking small, and the distances between the towns was completely unrealistic. I've been playing World of Warcraft lately, and I've come to appreciate the vastness and variety of the environments. I get rather tired looking at the same old green pastures adjacent to Death Valley adjacent to swamplands bullshit that Morrowind had going for it. What the hell was up with that?

For starters, you've got really small towns that are packed with a population of 20 or so NPCs, and 'cities' like Vivec which are packed with around a hundred. Fuck! Hicksville, TX is bigger than that. What's worse is how the towns are all about a few minutes walk away from each other. What's that like, a two block radius? Oh, and to top it off, there's -bandits- on the roads in between the towns. Haven't these people heard of security - with all the militia and imperial soldiers moving around.

I see. It's a "FRONTIER" town, so I guess that means people don't care about getting mugged every couple of minutes by 'highwaymen'. I didn't think that highwaymen could roam around what would more or less constitute as a very short street and still be called that.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Here's how I see Fallout 3's combat:

It's like Morrowind, but with guns. Innovation! SPECIAL will probably be in, and so will all the uninteractivity of Morrowind. Basically, if you're using a gun, you won't be able to target limbs or anything like that. They might implement called shots, but firing accurately at someone's head probably results in some dice rolling that determines whether you actually managed to hit the head or not, even if you actually shot it head on. Perception? Sure, it's in, it'll probably determine your character's chance-to-hit, in a very uninteractive, as I've said before, real time mode.

Combat will revolve around two characters facing each other and shooting until one of them falls dead. Just imagine Fallout in real time, and you've got it! Of course, it might be a 3rd person shooter like GTA3 and GTA San Andreas but that doesn't change the fact that it wouldn't be anything like Fallout.

Oh shit. Did I just get an epiphany? It's possible that FO3 = GTA3 in Post Apoc Setting! You know what, that wouldn't sound half bad, if it didn't actually sound half-assed. Scrapland will probably be a pretty interesting game because of the many different locations, the multitude of characters you meet, things to do and so forth, but how could a GTA3-esque game in a post apocalyptic setting especially that of Fallout's be in any way interesting? It wouldn't make sense to have any densely populated areas and to enforce a little realism to the setting, there'd be very little to actually do besides survive and wander in very similar-looking locations. If it had lots of densely populated areas, it'd just be a modern world with no electricity.

I bet they're going to put cars in, too. Gotta have that whole Mad Max tribute. It's a staple of every wannabe-Fallout game. Or mechs. If they have power armor, they gotta have mechs!

Oh, and walking from Junktown to the Hub will probably take 2 minutes.

 

[plin]

haha, what a whiny little bitch.