Interview Pete Hines on Oblivion and Fallout.

[bryce777]

That's the beauty of Oblivion: no matter how long your rant is, there still will be something you forgot to mention.

Hahahaha...too true.

At least they finally admit fallout will be oblivion with guns.

 

[Seven]

Since we're on the subject of interfaces anybody else notice how ridiculous it was to switch spells in a pinch. One thing that would go a long way to ease the twitchiness from combat is to improve the GUI-- or just slow things down a bit or give the player the option to slow combat down--combat'll probably still suck, but at least it wouldn't be as brutal?

 

[corvax]

At least they finally admit fallout will be oblivion with guns.

Where? Did I miss something?

 

[Atrokkus]

Where? Did I miss something?

You apparently did:

"I would say to them that you can take a look at Oblivion in terms of what to expect from us"

Or maybe it's just Pete's dumb ramblings again...

 

[corvax]

Unthoughtful ramblings lead into dumb conclusions is what I meant. I guess the rhetorical undertone of my previous post passed you right by.

 

[Pegultagol]

how about adding in a pause function to slow the combat down?
I'm beginning to worry if fallout 3 will have some kind of real time infused combat system with first person perspective orientation. I hope that the Oblivion engine is flexible enough to at least try to get the basic aesthetics of the fallout series right. Andr at least maintain all of the series' key features if not be able to add to them due to the need to bring in the console development.

 

[bryce777]

Unthoughtful ramblings lead into dumb conclusions is what I meant. I guess the rhetorical undertone of my previous post passed you right by.

He didn't quite tattoo a 4 inch high L on his forehead, but he may as well have...backtrack though he tried to do.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The lack of the crossbows and axes are just two item types they're leaving out but I'd see it more as a trend than anything else. Look at what Daggerfall offered that Morrowind didn't. Now look at what Morrowind offers and Oblivion won't have.

It just seems to me that when you're making a sequel, you should offer what the previous game had and more rather than less. Daggerfall with a new graphics engine and bug fixes would probably be better than what you're pimping here, which is really just eye candy.

Radiant AI is really just eye candy when you think about it. Does it matter to the player that some wench is hanging her laundry to dry because it's 1pm? And that after she's done, she'll go to the market to pick up some beets to make dinner which you can hang around and watch her do if you're that damned bored with everything else. Probably not.

Meanwhile, choice and style of fighting with certain weapons actually does matter to a lot of players. Bows are fine, but crossbows are generally slower and pack a better punch. Crossbows are wonderful when you want to snipe someone, bows aren't as good. The same thing goes for axes. There should be more than just swords for bladed weapons and axes are wonderful for slower moving, more deadly attacks than swords.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

And, we tend not to really talk about them or even let people know we’re doing them until we’re a long way into development and actually have things we can show and talk about.

BUT EVEN THEN THEY DON'T TALK ABOUT IT!!

... or do they actually have nothing to talk about when it comes to Oblivion?

Apologies in advance for not reading the 3 pages and if this pun was made before.

* goes off to read thread *

EDIT:

Some people mentioned an auto-reload feature that kicks in after you kill an important NPC. Neat.

What the fuck? Can I get a Bethesda answer to this one. Either yes it exists, no it doesn't or "we haven't made a final decision on that yet" will suffice.

 

[Rat Keeng]

Probably someone trying to start a rumor or some such, i can't believe they'd actually add a feature like that. Then again, there are a fair few games that already have a game-ending function attached to the death of certain NPCs, so why not an auto-reload feature?

 

[Vault Dweller]

There are a LOT of people bitching about it in several threads. Too much for someone trying to start a rumor.

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

It doesn't automatically load the last game save. It brings up the load saved game screen. But you can always press "DONE" without choosing a file and continue playing, even though you can no longer necessarily finish the main quest.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Why not do something like what arcanum did and put a note on the character or something, or even just have the character replaced after a time by a successor.

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

It doesn't automatically load the last game save. It brings up the load saved game screen. But you can always press "DONE" without choosing a file and continue playing, even though you can no longer necessarily finish the main quest.

Oh. Well in that case that is nothing like an auto-reload of last saved game upon killing certain NPCs.

Christ, I don't even necessarily have a problem with the feature, but at least say outright: yes, this is the case.

 

[crpgnut]

What I'm curious about is how the Radiant AI affects questing. Can I get a quest from an NPC to go pick up something. Say Fred is an alchemist. Fred needs some mandrake and nightshade. He has the money, but the local shop is all out. Will Fred hire my character to get him his goods, if he likes my character well enough? If so, is Oblivion smart enough to add this randomly generated quest to my journal and then raise my reputation with the Alchemist guild? What if Fred knows a nice recipe that he makes with these reagents, will he teach it to me or give me a few free potions? How powerful is the AI?

 

[lamaslany]

It doesn't automatically load the last game save. It brings up the load saved game screen. But you can always press "DONE" without choosing a file and continue playing, even though you can no longer necessarily finish the main quest.

Rather than bringing up the whole load saved games screen wouldn't it be a little more unobtrusive to bring up a dialog box with a message similar to that of Morrowind's and multiple options, button to go to the load saved games screen, the other to continue on.

I can't help but think that the person who's more likely to object to the interruption is the one that wants to continue. Whoever reloads will not object to the extra click - the immersion is quite gone already (or it will when the game loads!).

Surely the onus would be to maintain as much immersion as possible for the player that wishes to carry on - pausing the game and displaying a dialog that allows them to see the rest of the screen is far less intrusive than completely breaking the players visual link to the game.

If you like you can make the load button the default and maybe even provide subtle reminders that the main quest is broken if you are worried about people forgetting the warning that the MQ is broken...

 

[MrSmileyFaceDude]

Perhaps, lamaslany, but on the other hand, I still think people are making a *HUGE* deal out of what's really a trivial issue -- if it's an issue at all. Besides -- people will complain no matter HOW it works

crpgnut -- no, hiring the PC to do something would involve a quest being created in the TESCS. It'd have to be pre-made, not generated on the fly. Maybe in the next game

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Bah, and there i was hoping i could be a smelly arse ugly bastard barbarian who opened combat with a high powered crossbow-bolt to the neck and finished by cleaving the fucker in two with a doublehanded axe

 

[crpgnut]

I can't wait to get some meat. So far, all Bethesda has shown/talked about are things that have nothing to do with gameplay. We know the game will be pretty and we know the game will have lots of NPC talking. That's about all we know.

Even as a fanboy, I'm starting to fear the little pieces of info that do actually regard gameplay. Less factions but prettier trees.
Less skills but lots of talking NPCs.
Less quests? but more "interactive" combat.

I'm anxious to hear about gameplay. I'm not going to see a movie, I'm hoping to play a game. Voices and art don't mean anything if the gameplay is even more simplistic this time. I'm dying to see how this game is going to tax my brain, not my reflexes.

The more I hear about Oblivion, the more it sounds like a movie and less like a game:

Oblivion starring Patrick Stewart and Lynda Carter.
Special Effects by Speedtree and Havok.
Soundtrack by Who Knows and Who Cares.
Action sequences by Johnny Joystick.
etc.

 

[Vault Dweller]

My, my, you are beginning to sound just like me. Anyway, I'm working on a very exclusive preview that should answer your questions. Stay tuned!

 

[Spazmo]

crpgnut -- no, hiring the PC to do something would involve a quest being created in the TESCS. It'd have to be pre-made, not generated on the fly. Maybe in the next game

So the Radiant AI is essentially cosmetic, then? What's it matter if an NPC will dynamically shut a window and buy some bread when the real meat of NPCs that creates proper immersion in CRPGs is good dialog and interesting chatacters?

 

[Vault Dweller]

So the Radiant AI is essentially cosmetic, then?

You'd have to read my uber exclusive preview to find out!!!

 

[android]

The lack of the crossbows and axes

No axes?

I don't understand why you all complain about the Radiant AI? Sure they overhype it, but if it were only simple NPC schedules like in Ultima 7 it would be quite nice. Actually I don't understand why it took 13 years to have it again in RPGs...

 

[Sarvis]

The lack of the crossbows and axes

No axes?

I don't understand why you all complain about the Radiant AI? Sure they overhype it, but if it were only simple NPC schedules like in Ultima 7 it would be quite nice. Actually I don't understand why it took 13 years to have it again in RPGs...

Because people like VD constantly complain about it just being a cosmetic feature... so no one bothers putting it in.

 

[Vault Dweller]

As I've said before, the schedule thing is like icing on a cake - nice, but doesn't work without the cake.

Anyway, my preview is up: http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9162

 

[Claw]

Sure they overhype it, but if it were only simple NPC schedules like in Ultima 7 it would be quite nice. Actually I don't understand why it took 13 years to have it again in RPGs...

It didn't.