Here goes. Probably many typos.
As an introduction to this Q&A it is crucial to note that we were only allowed half an hour of play. A half hour is not much. Were we to evaluate the depth, richness and creativity of the first two Fallout games in such a short time period, there is no doubt that our final verdict would be altered.
The version we played was the same as the one shown to other eurpean journalists these last weeks. The game we were given to load was saved just prior to exiting the vault, once the avatar was a full blown adult. We can not, therefore, give any details regarding the childhood of the character, partly shown in the demo, a couple of months ago. The character first steps in the outside world, and it's up to the player to guide him. Pete Hines, who was in charge of this presentation, explained that the first town we were to meet was Megaton.
1)ENVIRONMENT.
Do the environment create a feeling of freedom ? Or do the maps feel "narrow" ?
A feeling of freedom, yes. Of vastness not really : exiting the vault, the view distance is a few miles deep, and ruined Washington buildings can be seen in the distance. Instinct compels you to follow the road that leaves the vault but the player is free to roam wherever he wishes.
As for me, I walked in a straight line, to get an idea of the size of the area, while regularly checking the map to see the scale of the game. During the half hour I was given to play, I casually walked about two thirds of the map's width, while doing some fighting and exploring some buildings. As Bethesda said, the game area is clearly smaller than Oblivion's.
Is the environment strictly urban ?
No, there are also vast plains with dead trees all around, small devastated villages, or even a lake. Still, I did not notice much diversity in places and architecture, the color palette and the "atmosphere" are more or les the same everywhere. There is a blue lighting in Washington, as opposed to the orange one used in the wastelands, but nothing really different.
Does it feel enclosed ? (as in false sense of freedom => well defined corridors)
The world is open in Fallout, no corridor effect. The game area is more or less a square, freedom seems absolute. Except for some of the streets where "impassable" rubble can create some linearity.
Can many buildings and ruins be explored ?
In Megaton, first city of the game, any building, house or warehouse can be entered and there are about twenty of them. Other than private houses there is a clinic, a weapon shop, a saloon, a water-treatment plant, etc,
During my play I only entered one hostile building, an underground bunker of some sort, under Washington DC. Oddly enough, I immediately made a connection with Oblivion's dungeons : only an outside door is visible, and then corridors full of monsters. Further away in the game, I did not notice any other "enterable" buildings but I did not try to do any more "dungeons" either. It is a bit frustrating to walk along a building with broken windows, and not be able to jump through one of them to see what's inside.
What about radioactivity in the game ? Does it visually show ?
In Fallout 3, every natural water source is radioactive (puddles, lakes, etc,). If you step in one of them, your Geiger counter clicks and a red icon on the top of the screen tells you how much of a dose you got. It seems like any water you want to drink has to be purified first. I can't tell if thirst enters the gameplay at all, having not even seen a complete day/night cycle. Radiations also got into living beings, so the meat you get from dead animals can be radiated and fuck off your health. Here again, I can't say how hunger is implemented in the game, I only noticed an slight increase in health when eating.
Is the post-apocalyptic atmosphere well done ?
Considering the destroyed, rusted, filthy environement that surrounds you, yes. On the other hand, compared to previous Fallouts, it seems clear that designers went for a more realistic approach. Still some visual elements made it : The vault boy, Nuka Cola commercials, etc,
But Fallout's world is empty. Too empty. The nuclear holocaust explains it, but walking in the wastelands, encountering only a mutant dog and a giant wasp, still can be very lonely.
Many containers can be searched (trash cans, various dispensers, furniture, etc) but what you find in them sometimes breaks the game's credibility : I found three frag grenades and a Psycho in a mail box !
Are there as many movies references as in the first two ? (Eastwood movies, Monty Python, Wizard of Oz, Blues brothers and so on...)
Hard to say in such a little time, but I don't think so. The only thing I noticed (and I'm not even sure it's deliberate) is a Forbidden planet lookalike robot, standing at Megaton's entrance. Nothing else I could see. Unfortunately, I don't think that any of Black Isle's twisted humour will be present. The universe seems, saddly, more serious. I do hope that exploring the rest of the game will prove me wrong.
Is there real depth ? Zillions of details, sideways, all in all lots of little things apart from the main quest/places ? Just like there were many small villages, hermits NPC and many others in Oblivion... except they were all paper thin.
I did not meet any NPC in the wastes, except a traveling merchant of the WolfGang, hauling his wares on a brahmin. There are some details here and there, but emptiness prevails while exploring, to the point where one may wonder if adding NPCs is not on top of Bethesda's "to do" list. I also passed through a ruined village, but there did not seem to be anything to do there.
2)GAMEPLAY
Do gory violent deaths seem relevant, or is it mere showing off ?
That, is E3's syndrome. Bethesda wanted to promote the adult side side of Fallout 3 and showed extremely gory and violent fights in gameplay videos. At the begining of the presentation, Pete Hines played that card as well, by using the "bloody mess" trait, thus making deaths goriest, fights turned donwright silly : shoot an enemy in the foot and the whole body explodes in a pool of blood. When actually playing, it is less impressive and enemies die without overdoing it. Cool. But inconsistencies are still there, like the mini nuclear missile that "only" chops off an enemy's foot, etc,
Is playing Fallout 3 with a paddle a good experience ? Will the interface be adapted to mouse and keyboard ?
Not being a big console FPS player, I found it extremely difficult to control the character, and to aim correctly. In that sense, VATS then becomes useful, when I first thought it was useless. When facing a group of enemies, entering VATS is probably the wiser move. On a PC, I'm not so sure : The keyboard/mouse combo, making aiming very accurate, we can imagine Quake 3-like fights, with the player straffing around enemies while emptying their guns, with VATS all but forgotten. As in Oblivion, stats do play a role in the hit/miss ratio, but still...
If the PC version is identical to this one (Xbox 360), as it probably will, will it be a drag ? (Interface, saving,...)
Oh yes. I think PC's interface will be a pain. Bethesda decided to put all menus in the Pipboy on your wrist. Great for immersion but shit for ergonomy : a stick to switch between the three main menus (Stats/Items/Data), and another one to navigate the sub-menus and displayed elements.
Furthermore, the inventory is reduced to a list of items names, an icon showing on the right of the screen when hovering the mouse over them. Also, forget about the two rapid items slots at the bottom, you don't need them anymore anyway, turn based combat having been dumped. Here, you just equip a weapon ad that's it.
Is the "turn based" system using action points still relevant or even useful, in a real time game ?
On the 360, as I mentioned earlier, with the console FPS interface, VATS is necessary to survive. Enemies often close in pretty fast for melee and VATS allows you to handle many a delicate situation. I did not see any overpowerful use of VATS and I often had to step-in closer, to increase my chances to succesfully hit. Hit localization will please the fun lovers : like in shooting a supermutant's weapon off his hands. Such accuracy is hard to reproduce when staying in real time mode. But truth be told, you just end-up using all your action points aiming for the chest, without any deep consideration. Reloading and inventory management being real time, action points it seems, are only useful for aimed shots. A real bummer for the tactical part of the Fallout franchise.
Level scaling or not ?
Big question. The guys at Bethesda assured us, a couple of month ago, that level scaling, which angered so many Elder Scrols fans, was not in Fallout 3. I strongly doubt it. Check this : near the end of my half hour of gameplay, roaming around Washington DC, I stumble upon 3 supermutants, one weilding a Gattling. I'm only level 3 and wearing a raiders light armor. I have a baseball bat, a 10mm basic pistol and an empty laser pistol. I enter VATS and try to make the mutant drop his Gattling. I miss and the other two rush towards me. I weild my baseball bat, alterning between VATS and real time, while my action points recharge. The first mutant dies, I grab his spiked bat and kill the second one while a mutant arachnid attacks me. I kill it using the spiked bat also. The third mutant will fall to a combination of grenades and 10mm bullets. Less than half an hour of play, I'm only level 3, yet I just killed three supermutants and an unidentified arachnid quite easily using a bat, and I now have a Gattling. Things are quite dandy.
Are dialogues well written and ambiguous, or does it boil down to :
1) bad
2) nice
3) kthxbye.
The only piece of dialogue I sampled was with Lucas Simms, Megaton's sheriff. He is a key character for the main quest and thus, it seems logical that the choice of answers here is an indication of the depth of other dialogues in the game. If some answers are rather colourful, like the one that basically tells him to fuck off, it still looked more like "nice/bad/rumours/kthxbye". There was not anything really subtle here, but once again, I did not play long enough to really have a clear opinion. Some conversation choices necessitate having good converstaion skills. Percentage of success is indicated, between brackets, in front of the answer.
Is the game difficult ? Is the start fucking hard ?
No, at least not as much as in your first run of Fallout 2 if one was to compare. Enemies are weak, and the aforementioned mutants fight is a clear indication of that. I only died twice, out of being too casual, once because an ill thrown grenade torn my legs out. The game then brings you back a bit "before" in your play. It looks like a mix of checkpoint and autosave.
Do you have to kill rats ?
Yes. Lots. The only "dungeon" I entered was full of them. And turrets didn't seem to mind, when the would shoot at me for just peeking in a monitored corridor.
Is the IA as shitty as in the videos ?
Yes, unfortunately, it's one of Fallout 3's main flaws. Mobs are totally stupid, NPCs running towards their aggressors, enemies blocked running by a low ceiling (so I could kick their asses with my bat), rats charging you so close that they "melt" with you, uselessly hoping around trying to hit you. It's the main flaw that Bethesda absolutely must correct.
Did you try to steal ? Is it like in Oblivion ? Can NPCs steal some of your gear ? Do they attack you if you miss or can you fail without creating a slaughter ?
The steal system is much like Oblivion's : crouch to sneak. Then you can see if you are visible or not thantks to an onscreen indication. If you miss, you karma drops but nobody ever attacked me, even when I tried to rob a young lady in megaton.
Burglary on the other hand, might not be to your liking : a door's name shows in red when you enter it illegaly. Any item you pick-up inside drops your karma. Even if no one notices you. All knowing NPCs, who know what you did, remind me of Boiling point and that is not a good reference.
Can combat be avoided ?
The thing is I couldn't even try : using sneak, one could probably avoid an enemy, but them seeing you before you do prevents it. Another IA problem, that should be solved before release.
Are weapons customizable, are there different types of ammo ? (Yeah, I'm dreaming, I know)
From what I could see, no. Weapons showing as a list of names, it doesn't seem possible to combine items in the inventory. And I didn't encounter different types of ammo in my play.
How many weapons will there be ?
I wasn't told. It seems that there is a great variety of firearms, blunt weapons, new weapons like the item-thrower or back from earlier games like the power fist.
Is there a shitty quick travel like in Oblivion ?
Yes, after some exploring, a message informed me that fast travel was unlocked, to facilitate my travels. I did not use it.
Multiple ways to solve quests ?
Developpers claim that they wanted the player to solve quests the way he wishes. Megaton's exemple shows this : The bomb at eh center of the city has not exploded and the citizens worship it like a sacred relic. The sheriff asks you to help him defuse it. If your skills are high enough, you can defuse it or make it blow. You can also meet some weirdo in the city who will ask you to help make the bomb blow. You can either help him, send him off, or tell him to the sheriff.
I'm still affraid of some linearity in the game's actions : Pete Hines told us that every turret sat close to a computer that could be used to hack it. It's a good thing to offer a alternate way to the player, but if it is systematicaly the same, it might turn off the more experienced players.
3)THE TECHNICAL SIDE.
On the technical side, first impressions are confirmed : It's ugly, textures are bland and sometimes undetailed, the game is over aliased and colours are not, I repeat not, a good pick. They might not be too far off from the Fallout spirit, but they are a mess in terms of realism and basic looks. Once again, this is to be taken with a grain of salt, it is not the final version, but it does not bode well and fallout 3 will not shine on the technical level.
Can we zoom out a bit more than the "stuck-up-PC's-ass" view ?
There are two views : one FPS and one third person a la Resident Evil 4. There was a bug, at one point in my game, which put the camera farther away from the PC, yet centered on him, as in... Oblivion. But zooming out is not implemented, you'll have to make do with "over the shoulder" camera.
Did they keep that music, the one you found awful ?
Yes. Inon Zur's orchestral music is still here. Hard for us to see that our divine opinion was not taken into consideration. Music is quite discreet, but checking the options, I could see that it had been lowered to a third of its full level. The military march style music, that some preview mention and that can be heard in some gameplay videos, comes from speaker wielding robots, probably some sputnik's offspring. Your Pipboy also warns you when it pick-up a local radio signal, you can then listen to it.
Is character animation still done the Bethesda's way ?
Yes. Bethesda's mark is unmistakable here : characters "smurfing" over rocks with extremely stiff animations, totally unnatural. The "over the shoulder" view suffers from those animations and eventually becomes tiresome. Jumps, in FPS, are really slooow, like on the moon. In third person, they still look as slow, but the animation is even more ridiculous. It was one of Oblivion's engine main beefs, it's a shame that nothing was done to make it more fluid.
In the gameplay videos, during slow motions, it seemed that the camera was stuck up a bull's ass (as in you don't see nothing). Is it still like that ?
Yes, yes, a thousand yes. I really hope this is not the final system. Either during slow motions or VATS, camera often focuses away from the action, showing a wall, a foot, nothing even. And I coul not find any way in the options menu to turn off the slow-mo shooting effect. My time ine the underground dungeon was made very unnerving because of that. Action was messy, with rats that I couldn't properly aim and that kept running into my feet, like kangaroos high on acid.
Does one need a NASA-like computer to run the game ?
I have no idea of the PC version requirements, but the Xbox version was not really fluid. Moving in the dungeon's corridors vas a very jerky business, even though it was a very simple map. Yes, there were some smoke effects, but nothing that should show on a piece of harware like the 360. It's obvious that there is an optimization problem that Bethesda's developpers should solve before release.
4) CONCLUSION.
Once again, it's not easy to know what Fallout 3 will be when released. As it is now, there are many bugs for the development team to squash. It is, however, certain that the game will not shine through it's technical aspect, showing empty environements and "rigor mortis" animations, with an aging, ill-used engine.
Stepping away from pregvious Fallouts' gameplay, Bethesda tries to promote it as an action RPG, just like Oblivion. I can't garantee that it will be a good Fallout game.. not even simply a good game.
