Interview Pete Hines on Fallout 3

[Excalibur]

NO not true, its not fallout enless its isometric, and with oblvions engine right there and all the amazing thins they did with that.... cough.... what do you think their going to do.

 

[Thrawn05]

NO not true, its not fallout enless its isometric, and with oblvions engine right there and all the amazing thins they did with that.... cough.... what do you think their going to do.

Fallout Tournament 2007?

 

[Excalibur]

haha, close, maybe kinda like vampire bloodlines, if we lucky, and dude u have more post in 2 weeks then i have had in like 2 years

 

[Mantiis]

We dont actually know anything about it yet....

 

[Slaytanic]

We're trying to move the series forward, keeping it fresh and cool while staying true to its roots.

Is it just me or is this the 235th time i'm hearing this? Madzor.

 

[Section8]

There were definitely some things in Morrowind we liked and definitely some things we thought we could do better. For Oblivion, there were some things we wanted to try that haven't been done before - like photo-realistic forests...

Translation: We wanted to waste time and resources trying to achieve the impossible, even though it doesn't actually benefit the game in anyway! Yay us! We're daring pioneers!

And really, why not draw the line at good enough?

We try not to go too overboard, and we've had to scale things back simply because we don't want things going on that the player doesn't understand.

Now, given Bethesda's opinion of their fanbase, ("most people couldn't find the Spymaster", etc.) just how "scaled back" should we expect? I'm halfway anticipating NPCs that don't even move, because that would be confusing.

If you place the Morrowind world into the Oblivion engine, you could literally see from one end of the island to the other. It feels like an amusement park because the scale doesn't fit and you can see so far.

Wait, isn't Oblivion only about 50% bigger than Morrowind?

And as for the Fallout bit, what fucking nonsense. He managed to say absolutely nothing, contradict himself in nearly every sentence and yet, somehow exude a feeling of "we don't know what the fuck we're doing with the Fallout license, but it can't be good." Worst. PR Guy. Ever.

---

Fintilgin: I was thinking exactly the same, with regard to the "cell jolt" to indicate your shit has been ransacked, and that completely overcomes the pissweak "it seems like a bug" excuse completely.

 

[xemous]

Fallout3 was great

 

[Lumpy]

Again, if they just wanted another TES game, wouldn't they just make another TES game? Since they bought the Fallout licence, doesn't that mean that they are going to do something different?

 

[dongle]

If you place the Morrowind world into the Oblivion engine, you could literally see from one end of the island to the other. It feels like an amusement park because the scale doesn't fit and you can see so far.

Wait, isn't Oblivion only about 50% bigger than Morrowind?

In the very next answer he says this:

We actually built a lot more of the world in the game space, so that when you get to the border of the game, you can still see off into the distance. We generated that terrain because even if you don't get to visit it, we don't want you to hit an invisible wall.

That assumes we need terrain as far as MW Island is long, if we can see that far. Look here:
http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... re37vp.jpg
So they built roughly three quarters of Hammerfell, Skyrim, Valenwood, Elsweyr, Black Marsh, and Morrowind provinces? Somehow I doubt it.

Now look at the reality:
http://games.bmj.pl/uploads/download/zr ... id-034.jpg
We can see from the borders of Lake Rumore to the Imperial Tower, no further. Which is roughly Vivec to Balmora, impressive but nowhere near the whole island. If Pete were correct we'd be able to see clear past the tower, the far shore, and as far away as Bravil, if not further. Clearly we cannot.

I call total BS on Pete's part.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

We've got a lot of folks working on that game now, and what I've seen of it so far is looking really good and has me very excited - I'm a big fan. We're approaching Fallout 3 as if we developed the first and second games - we're developing it just like we developed Oblivion. Fallout 3 is our baby, we want to stay true to what it is and we want to deliver something that all the fans think is worthwhile. We're trying to move the series forward, keeping it fresh and cool while staying true to its roots.

I like how he words his sentence almost as if Bethesda are making a top-down isometric turn-based game (IE: "Like Fallout 1 and 2", "stay true to what it is" "something that all the fans think is worthwhile") but then jumps back clarifies it right before you can assume too much with "just like we developed Oblivion", "move the series forward", "keeping it fresh and cool".

When we're ready we'll let people know, and hopefully people will be excited about some of the ideas we have and some of the stuff we're up to.

The minute the first Fallout 3 screenshot is released of a first-person game ala Oblivion, World War 3 will break out across every forum I know. We'll then have to put up with people who "sort of liked" Fallout telling us that "You fans are stingy, just be happy the game's being made. FPS is cool". Even worse, given Fallout has guns and Oblivion is moving more towards twitch combat (which is actually a good thing for Oblivion I think), it means Fallout 3 will be little more than a giant free-form FPS where you wander around and blow hoardes of monsters away. Well, however, many monsters Bethesda can make their engine show on-screen at any one time that is. Going by past experiences, that will be more than 1 but less than 3.

 

[kingcomrade]

 

[Kuato]

I wouldnt ever consider what Bethesda aims to make Fallout 3 at all, the Blight they will inflict on our culture will most likely resemeble something more like FO:BoS part Deux.. oh happy days!!!

 

[kingcomrade]

Well, I guess I for one would like to see the fear in the talking, massive-breasted deathclaw's eyes when I rocket-jump into the air, switch to my sniper rifle's alternate fire and feel the glorious rumble of Patrick Stewart's voice: "HEADSHOT!"

 

[7th Circle]

haha, close, maybe kinda like vampire bloodlines, if we lucky

A post-apocalyptic Bloodlines type game is probably what people should be hoping for, if not expecting, under the circumstances.

We're trying to move the series forward, keeping it fresh and cool while staying true to its roots.

Is it just me or is this the 235th time i'm hearing this? Madzor.

It strikes me as the stock PR line when making a sequel.

 

[Shinan]

I have to admit though that a good FPS set in the Fallout universe would be kinda fun. Of course then only as a spinoff like those other Fallouty games and not a true sequel. I would prefer if it was good though and not shitty like them others...

I don't think Bethesda can do decent FPSes either though.

 

[stonecourier]

Another Pete Hines video interview (humour)

http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/54440

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Seen it. Didn't find it funny, save for when he dresses up as a clown. Clowns are funny. If they're drunk.

Edit:

We're trying to move the series forward, keeping it fresh and cool while staying true to its roots.

Is it just me or is this the 235th time i'm hearing this? Madzor.

It strikes me as the stock PR line when making a sequel.

Well, what on earth is he supposed to say? There's no way any of the Bethesda folks will ever come clean and admit that yes, it'll be a lot like Oblivion but you'll have more guns and mutants than you had in Oblivion.

But he's not entirely wrong. Making Fallout 3 an FPS-RPG light will be fresh. Will it be any good? Only time will tell. Now let's hear the Twilight Zone theme song!

 

[FireWolf]

We're approaching Fallout 3 as if we developed the first and second games - we're developing it just like we developed Oblivion.

No matter how many times I read this I can't quite fathom what he's trying to say. Is he saying that they're following the design laid out by the first and second games - Isometric, turn-based combat, retro-futuristic Role playing game with a dynamic character system and open gameplay - or are is he saying that they're treating the franchise as if, because they own the rights, they can take it in any direction they want. When a huge number of people are worried about Fallout being a Morrowind with guns (I believe they even stated that this was not their prefered option?) it seems like a total fuck up to say you're developing Fallout in the same way as they're making oblivion.

and hopefully people will be excited about some of the ideas we have and some of the stuff we're up to.

So long as their ideas and 'stuff they're up to' is limited to story and additional interactivity whilst keeping the core mechanics and environment of Fallout, then there's something to be excited about. If "[moving] the series forward, keeping it fresh and cool" consists of keeping it 'fresh' by introducing techno-trance music, thongs and excessive swearing and keeping it 'cool' by making combat real-time, or "phase based" or anything other than turn-based, popping in strict character classes and a quest compass (because having to work things out for yourself is square, man.) then, well, I hope it BoSes.

 

[Briosafreak]

We're approaching Fallout 3 as if we developed the first and second games - we're developing it just like we developed Oblivion.

Does not compute.

 

[Araanor]

We're trying to move the series forward, keeping it fresh and cool while staying true to its roots.

Clue for Pete and Todd: hookers, drugs, foul language and "grittiness" does not mean staying true to its roots.

Gore, weapons, power armor, radiation, rusty old machines and raiders are not enough.

No, not even the brotherhood of steel, deathclaws, super mutants, radscorpions and ghouls are enough.

Feck, not even spectacular death animations, random encounters, pipboy, nukes and vaults are enough.

Fallout is more than a setting and visuals.

Fallout is game mechanics, SPECIAL in its entirety, isometric view, turn-based combat, dialogue, moral greyscales, non-linearity, multiple solutions, choices and consequences throughout, style, 50's sci-fi gone through an apocalypse, survival and more.

When we're ready we'll let people know, and hopefully people will be excited about some of the ideas we have and some of the stuff we're up to.

I wonder if they realise the magnitude of the shit-storm they might release. Waiting won't make it less -- it'll only make it harder for them to change plans.

 

[Thrawn05]

...and dude u have more post in 2 weeks then i have had in like 2 years

Hehe, working at home is so much fun. :D

Fallout is more than a setting and visuals.

That's my opinion on every game.

 

[Section8]

Fallout is more than a setting and visuals.

That's my opinion on every game.

Morrowind is only setting and visuals.

 

[hiciacit]

We're approaching Fallout 3 as if we developed the first and second games - we're developing it just like we developed Oblivion.

No matter how many times I read this I can't quite fathom what he's trying to say.

I think he means: "We'll take a good look at everything that was wrong with 1 and 2, and then change it."

That can't be good.

On a side note: unbelievable, that crap they keep spewing.

 

[Jon]

We're approaching Fallout 3 as if we developed the first and second games - we're developing it just like we developed Oblivion.

No matter how many times I read this I can't quite fathom what he's trying to say.

I think he means: "We'll take a good look at everything that was wrong with 1 and 2, and then change it."

That can't be good.

On a side note: unbelievable, that crap they keep spewing.

Iirc Beth like to go on about how they start over from scratch with each new TES game, applying this to FO we can conclude that FO3 will be nothing like either FO1 or FO2...

So no surprises there then.

 

[obediah]

Can we borrow a supercollider thingy and cram Pete Hines in one end and Peter Moore in the other? I'm pretty sure the resulting cocksplosion could power a city for several weeks, and atmospheric methane levels would drop substantially.

But it is good to know that fallout fans will be as happy with FO3 as daggerfall fans will be with Oblivion. That should save us a lot of time.