Interview Pete Hines on Oblivion and Fallout.

[Naked_Lunch]

TO-HIT ROLLS? MORE LIEK TO-SHIT ROLLS OLOL

 

[Screaming_Dude_In_Vegas]

Wow...One post and I'm already hated...I just topped the record I set at Duck and Cover...

Anywho most of the features you mentioned will have one form or another in Oblivion...

If they were using somthing like Unreal engine, that was set up for colision and balistics and such (which I think they should have done anyways, but thats another story) I would have said "Sure, add TWs and X-bows"...But there using Gamebyro, and setting up the balistics for the bows takes quite a bit of time. You realy need at least 5 different tragectory modles to implement all types of ranged weapons mentioned. Most FPS only have around 20 at the most...and TES has to do alot more than just figuring out balistics.

Last time I checked, swimming wasn't out, and there will be sneak attack options, including just doing a power attack from a sneaking position (the main disadvantage of power attacks is leaving yourself open, but if your sneaking up from behind this realy won't matter). Only feature you mentioned thats realy out is climbing, and thats just hard to do in a 3D enviroment.

I don't think that positioning the camera at an overhead angle will stop bethsoft in it's tracks. They also have the basic FO combat system to work with as a base. There are quite afew improvements that they could make to the system though, and I think they'll give improvement a shot. Hopefully this will work out, though maby it wont.

That doesn't reflect highly on your ability to read

Well I read through this thread and afew others, and my conclusion is that you guys all have your heads up your asses. Make of it what you will.

 

[Twinfalls]

And so come the spotty little ankle-biting chuckleheads from the Village of the Damned XBrick. Well done Bethesda, your canny shift to the consoles has brought you such thinking fans.

I've seen the destruction brought to TTLG thanks to the 3rd Thief game. Perhaps the vitriol content here serves to ward them off.

 

[merry andrew]

Well I read through this thread and afew others, and my conclusion is that you guys all have your heads up your asses. Make of it what you will.

I always laught at them beacause most of the games they like to call real RPGs force you to go through as a killing machine of one type or another

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[Vault Dweller]

Wow...One post and I'm already hated...I just topped the record I set at Duck and Cover...

Hated? Don't be a drama queen.

I would have said "Sure, add TWs and X-bows"...But there using Gamebyro, and setting up the balistics for the bows takes quite a bit of time. You realy need at least 5 different tragectory modles to implement all types of ranged weapons mentioned. Most FPS only have around 20 at the most...and TES has to do alot more than just figuring out balistics

Well, they took their sweet time playing with forests, didn't they?

Last time I checked, swimming wasn't out

Swimming the skill?

...and there will be sneak attack options

Skills. We are talking about skills.

Only feature you mentioned thats realy out is climbing, and thats just hard to do in a 3D enviroment.

Why? You could climb in MW, only not high enough or good enough.

Well I read through this thread and afew others, and my conclusion is that you guys all have your heads up your asses. Make of it what you will.

Well, our conclusion is that you are an idiot who can neither read nor argue. I'm not sure what you can make out of it, as we are not impressed with your comprehension skills either.

 

[Screaming_Dude_In_Vegas]

Wow...One post and I'm already hated...I just topped the record I set at Duck and Cover...

Hated? Don't be a drama queen.

I do alot of thetre...I kinda have to be

I would have said "Sure, add TWs and X-bows"...But there using Gamebyro, and setting up the balistics for the bows takes quite a bit of time. You realy need at least 5 different tragectory modles to implement all types of ranged weapons mentioned. Most FPS only have around 20 at the most...and TES has to do alot more than just figuring out balistics

Well, they took their sweet time playing with forests, didn't they?

They also spent a sweet bit of time doing other things, like RAI. Also, SpeedTree is a peice of middleware...they madely tinkered and meddled with that.

Besides the forests are realy bringing somthing to the industry. These are the only forests I've seen that are actually good.

Last time I checked, swimming wasn't out

Swimming the skill?

Athletics afects it. I honestly don't see why it needs it's own skill. It's a minor part of the game. More random skills dose not necisaraly make a better RPG.

...and there will be sneak attack options

Skills. We are talking about skills.

I still don't see why it needs it's own skill. There will be "Perks" to help your sneek attacking abilities, and these should work pretty well.

Need I say it again: More random skills dose not necisaraly make a better RPG.

Only feature you mentioned thats realy out is climbing, and thats just hard to do in a 3D enviroment.

Why? You could climb in MW, only not high enough or good enough.

You could jump, and you could walk up steep slopes. You'll be able to do that in OB. By climbing I generaly think of going up a stone wall or somthing with your hands and such.

Well I read through this thread and afew others, and my conclusion is that you guys all have your heads up your asses. Make of it what you will.

Well, our conclusion is that you are an idiot who can neither read nor argue. I'm not sure what you can make out of it, as we are not impressed with your comprehension skills either.

Thats good for you. I personaly don't give a damn what you think. It just so happens that the TES forum (with easily as manny people as you guys) finds you just as idiotic. I'm just glad you huys have a place to do your thing away from senceble people.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Re: Wow...you guys are crazy...

May I point out that this is a very different type of RPG than the standard isometric style game.

It is? Holy shit!!! Well, dude, thanks for telling us!

Crap. You totally beat me to this reply.

 

[Sarkile]

Your posting style really isn't backing up your intelligence. Honestly, there's a rather good chance I'll end up buying this game, but I don't see how you can defend some of this shit. As for Radiant AI, it just sounds like NPC scheduling to me. And many rpgs have had that over the years. Without dumbing down their game for retards who can't spell sensible, many, and guys I might add.

 

[6pack1]

Well, from what I have seen here, I am not too impressed by the members here either. I see so many grammatical and structural errors that you poking fun at Screaming dude is just laughable!

I see absolutely no reason---wait, let me take that back. The reasons I see and read why you hate Bethesda are probably THE most stupidest, if not the worst planned reasons. At least be able to back up your shit.

NONE of you, absolutely NONE seem to know how much work actually goes into making RPGs. Not only do the linear RPGs like Final Fantsy, and others like that take a lot of work, but these open-ended RPGs take even more time, because they need to make the options you can pick, the systems implemented into the game; Combat, Magic, Stealth, Mount-riding.

They have totally revamped the Combat system, giving it a more fun way of working. Magic will be easier to use than in MW and also actually have an effect on the way you play! Stealth has been upped to make the whole reason for being a thief or assassin in OB more fun and more immersive. Cross-bows aren't so important that because they were dropped the whole game will be crappy and suck all because they wanted to make the Bow and Arrow more realistic. I think, in my opinion, that it was a sacrifice worth making, if to make the way bows and arrows play in the game more realistic physically and make it more fun immersively.

Radiant AI, or Artificial Intelligence for you who didn't know, will make OB more fun that any RPG on the planet. If Bill was going to work at the mill, and you wanted to meet him, why not wait at the mill for a few seconds as he walks up the road, and maybe you even run up to him and talk to him? I mean, in real life, don't you wait for someone you made an appointment with, and that person was always on time? I do, mostly because if they make it on time, it is worth waiting for the appointment.


For the issue on Fallout, it will just have to wait for when they release anything on it and when they actually put their focus on it other than OB. That is also one of the reasons why OB doesn't have a lot of time, because FO is being discussed, worked on, and designed. They have a viable reason to not have enough time right now. If you were making two games at almost the exact same time, the one being released in the next few months would not have enough time to have everything you wanted. They aren't pleased with what they have done, but they are trying to put the best that they can get. They would have liked to add more, but FO needed to be talked about, such as how the game will be played. I really doubt they will screw it up, because the Fallout technology has most likely exchanged companies to BethSoft, so they can make the game that we remember so vividly, and also innovate on it. Don't you like upgrades to games? Wouldn't you like to see change and improvement in games? Those are rhetorical questions...For people who don't know what Rhetorical is, it is a question or sentence said to inspire thought.

I mean, what would you rather want? More skills and items, but are half-assed, or fewer skills and items but are detailed and made fun and immersive? I personally choose fewer but better quality. Quality over quantity, as the saying goes, and for this that saying is more than true. Who wants a half-assed big game when you can have a slightly smaller detailed quality world? OB is the latter, not the former.

I would like to see better vocabulary here also...it seems like over half of the population here doesn't even know what a Metonymy is.

 

[6pack1]

Adding on to my former post in here:

Swimming - I still see swimming in OB, as they have WATER in tehe middle of the city-state you are in. MW had swimming, and also climbing by running up and jumping on slopes. Climbing is finding the best way to get to the top with the least resistance possible.

Sweet time - They have also put a LOT of time into being able to fully customize your character, not only at the beginning, but when you gain armors and such. That adds to the immersion factor considerably, and makes it more fun. I will be spending a whole hour just having fun making my character's head and face! Now I don't know about you people, but I like customization, and I say it is an immersive feature in games. The only other games that have ever even came close to being fully customizable are Sports and Wrestling games. But don't you see millions of people having fun making people? In one of my games I have made three people, all different variations and also making their own story between each other. Now, Fighting games like Tekken and Soul Caliber are testing waters by starting their own customization. Tekken 5 has started this pretty well, considering it is their first customizable set-up scheme. Soul Caliber will be even better because of the options you can do to the characters you can make.

Well, my rambles are over until I find another ignorant bastard to spread my wisdom to.

 

[whitemithrandir]

Well, from what I have seen here, I am not too impressed by the members here either. I see so many grammatical and structural errors that you poking fun at Screaming dude is just laughable!

[volourn]ROOFLES, WHY DO YOU LIE?! [/volourn]

NONE of you, absolutely NONE seem to know how much work actually goes into making RPGs. Not only do the linear RPGs like Final Fantsy, and others like that take a lot of work, but these open-ended RPGs take even more time, because they need to make the options you can pick, the systems implemented into the game; Combat, Magic, Stealth, Mount-riding.

Actually, I do believe Vault Dweller and a few others here are involved with developing RPG's, not to mention the various devs that often leave their mark here.

They have totally revamped the Combat system, giving it a more fun way of working. Magic will be easier to use than in MW and also actually have an effect on the way you play! Stealth has been upped to make the whole reason for being a thief or assassin in OB more fun and more immersive. Cross-bows aren't so important that because they were dropped the whole game will be crappy and suck all because they wanted to make the Bow and Arrow more realistic. I think, in my opinion, that it was a sacrifice worth making, if to make the way bows and arrows play in the game more realistic physically and make it more fun immersively.

At what cost? At the cost of restricting the variety of ranged weapons to one type? This really goes in sync with freedom of choice that serves as the flag of the TES series, doesn't it?

Radiant AI, or Artificial Intelligence for you who didn't know, will make OB more fun that any RPG on the planet. If Bill was going to work at the mill, and you wanted to meet him, why not wait at the mill for a few seconds as he walks up the road, and maybe you even run up to him and talk to him? I mean, in real life, don't you wait for someone you made an appointment with, and that person was always on time? I do, mostly because if they make it on time, it is worth waiting for the appointment.

I can't see how this would enrich the game any more than creative scripting, which, by the way, RAI is.

I mean, what would you rather want? More skills and items, but are half-assed, or fewer skills and items but are detailed and made fun and immersive? I personally choose fewer but better quality. Quality over quantity, as the saying goes, and for this that saying is more than true. Who wants a half-assed big game when you can have a slightly smaller detailed quality world? OB is the latter, not the former.

I would rather have the TES series stick with its freedom of choice. That's the core of TES, and it seems like Oblivion will be slicing into that core to make room for other peripherals, such as graphics or realistic forestry.

I would like to see better vocabulary here also...it seems like over half of the population here doesn't even know what a Metonymy is.

Is this really needed? Honestly, your arguments would hold a lot more water if you didn't mindlessly place yourself as the representative of some giant organization. This isn't some sort of stupid little war between the Codex and TES boards, dude. Drill that into your head. It's about gamers vs. expectations vs. Oblivion. And we're all on the same side. Feel free to argue, but don't attack an entire group of players "just because".

 

[Atrokkus]

I personaly fin multi option dialouge boxes annoying, especialy with fully voiced dialouge. You have to click through the same stuff over and over agin to get to what you want. This you can just choose the topic. As for the forced reload thing, that wasn't crazy at all. When I said crazy, I was thinking the people who were like "Well by taking away dice roles they are turning it into a console hack n' slash" or "Well REAL RPGs are isometric top down view"...I always laught at them beacause most of the games they like to call real RPGs force you to go through as a killing machine of one type or another

This quote alone implies that your vision of RPGs is as dim as water in my lavatory pan.
That's not bad. You just don't like real, pure RPGs. You don't like dialogs, you don't like NPCs with personality, you don't like to think on what to say to NPC, you don't like to think over important decisions in the course of the game.
You just want to level-up your character, become uber-god, climb the cliffs, smell the flowers and destroy the monsters.

 

[littleboy]

I think most of the vitriol stems form the kind of game that morrowind: the eldar scrolls was, and that the game will (considering it's the next in the series) be much like it's predicessor. And for my taste the main problems were; bad charicter interaction with waaay to much text that was unnecessary (this comming from a guy who loved Planescape) and frankly poorly written, combat was stand in one place and click the mouse/gamepad button, and a pretty vanilla world. I own the game and have never had any intrest in finishing the damn thing. If Oblivion fixes those issues (in particular the bad writting) i'll pick it up, if not then I won't, simple.

 

[obediah]

They have totally revamped the Combat system, giving it a more fun way of working.

"fun" is subjective. A more objective statement would be that player reflexes are much more important than in previous TES games, and character skills are much less important. For those of us that prefer combat to be based on character skills, it is less fun. Funny how that works, huh?

Magic will be easier to use than in MW and also actually have an effect on the way you play!

Magic had a huge effect on the way I played MW and Daggerfall. If it didn't for you, either you chose to play a straight up fighter or thief or you were too stupid to find the magic key.

Radiant AI, or Artificial Intelligence for you who didn't know, will make OB more fun that any RPG on the planet. If Bill was going to work at the mill, and you wanted to meet him, why not wait at the mill for a few seconds as he walks up the road, and maybe you even run up to him and talk to him? I mean, in real life, don't you wait for someone you made an appointment with, and that person was always on time? I do, mostly because if they make it on time, it is worth waiting for the appointment.

1. I can't pull a single cohesive thought out of that paragraph.

2. You think learning where and what time Bill goes to work, so you can go there and kill time until his shift starts would be the best, most fun RPG ever? Save your money and buy some old Carmen Sandiego games, you're in for a real treat.

3. Following a schedule is not AI. Running 5 minutes late for a schedule is not AI.

For the issue on Fallout, ... thought.

Hire an editor. You could have just said "I'll pass judgement on Fallout when we know more about it, which won't be until after Oblivion".

Who wants a half-assed big game when you can have a slightly smaller detailed quality world? OB is the latter, not the former.

Can you state anything objectively? "half-assed", 'slightly smaller", "quality". Some people really like big open-ended games. Some people like very detailed focused games. Some people prefer a 60 hr linear rpg, but other prefer a 15 hr rpg with high replayability. The changes people are complaining about are trade offs that Bethesda has made, not absolute improvements. As Bethesda leaves the niche that they built there name on to expoit the casual masses, they have to expect their older fans to be upset. Or perhaps in the great tradition of musicians, writes, movie and game makers, etc... it is purely coincidence that their "personal growth" is making a bee line towards increased sales.

I would like to see better vocabulary here also...it seems like over half of the population here doesn't even know what a Metonymy is.

Well it's common in people with schizophrenia, which would explain the lack of insight or ability to separate your preferences from universal law in your posts so far.

 

[Screaming_Dude_In_Vegas]

I personaly fin multi option dialouge boxes annoying, especialy with fully voiced dialouge. You have to click through the same stuff over and over agin to get to what you want. This you can just choose the topic. As for the forced reload thing, that wasn't crazy at all. When I said crazy, I was thinking the people who were like "Well by taking away dice roles they are turning it into a console hack n' slash" or "Well REAL RPGs are isometric top down view"...I always laught at them beacause most of the games they like to call real RPGs force you to go through as a killing machine of one type or another

This quote alone implies that your vision of RPGs is as dim as water in my lavatory pan.
That's not bad. You just don't like real, pure RPGs. You don't like dialogs, you don't like NPCs with personality, you don't like to think on what to say to NPC, you don't like to think over important decisions in the course of the game.
You just want to level-up your character, become uber-god, climb the cliffs, smell the flowers and destroy the monsters.

Quite an acusation your throwing around there, considering that I've made 3 (including this one) posts hear.

I love a good dialouge, I don't love seeing it 300 times.

I personaly love NPCs with personality, thats one of the things that I didn't like about morrowind.

However, the topic based dialouge system works pretty well when afew changes are made. By making each NPC have their own set of responces to the topics, you can make the information gathering part of things alot less annoying.

It is also possible to implement a classic "conversation tree" style dialouge with the morrowind/oblivion style dialouge. It's been used in quite afew mods, and works well for developing the storyline of a quest. It dosn't work for asking bob the bartender if anything weird is happening around town.

 

[merry andrew]

Well, from what I have seen here, I am not too impressed by the members here either. I see so many grammatical and structural errors that you poking fun at Screaming dude is just laughable!

Hmmm, ideals VS. grammatical and structural correctness. Hmmm.

followed by:

THE most stupidest

The most above all bestest point you made.

NONE of you, absolutely NONE seem to know how much work actually goes into making RPGs.

Oh man.

Magic will be easier to use than in MW and also actually have an effect on the way you play!

For the issue on Fallout, it will just have to wait for when they release anything on it and when they actually put their focus on it other than OB. That is also one of the reasons why OB doesn't have a lot of time, because FO is being discussed, worked on, and designed. They have a viable reason to not have enough time right now. If you were making two games at almost the exact same time, the one being released in the next few months would not have enough time to have everything you wanted. They aren't pleased with what they have done, but they are trying to put the best that they can get.
...
Quality over quantity, as the saying goes, and for this that saying is more than true. Who wants a half-assed big game when you can have a slightly smaller detailed quality world? OB is the latter, not the former.

I was under the impression that Bethesda releases their TES games pretty much whenever they want, but oke.

Check this out zomg!!111: http://www.bethsoft.com/games/games_main.html

Thank you very much I laughed until my tummy hurt.

 

[merry andrew]

I love a good dialouge, I don't love seeing it 300 times.

What

 

[Screaming_Dude_In_Vegas]

I love a good dialouge, I don't love seeing it 300 times.

What

Like this (* next to the one chosen):

"So, what can I do for ya?"
1> Tell me about the caves of whatever?*
2> What has been going on around town lately?
3> Nothing, I was just leaving.

"Oh there up north, past the forest of evil bad stuff, but there are hidden dangers in the cave."
1> What is the Forest of evil bad stuff like?*
2> What kind of hidden dangers?
3> Thank you, buy.

"The trees are mean and abusive, and there is evil bad stuff. Anything else I could tell you?"
1> Yes...*
2> No, thanks.

"So, what can I do for ya?"
1> Tell me about the caves of whatever?*
2> What has been going on around town lately?
3> Nothing, I was just leaving.

"Oh there up north, past the forest of evil bad stuff, but there are hidden dangers in the cave."
1> What is the Forest of evil bad stuff like?
2> What kind of hidden dangers?*
3> Thank you, buy.

"Their Hidden, because you can't see them, and they're dangerouse too, anything else I could tell you?"
1> Yes...*
2> No, thanks.

"So, what can I do for ya?"
1> Tell me about the caves of whatever?
2> What has been going on around town lately?*
3> Nothing, I was just leaving.

"Lots of stuff. A random person has gone missing, the chickens are sick, and I can't find my favorite hat."
1> Tell me about the random person...*
2> What exactly is wrong with the chickens?
3> I can help find your hat...
4> Oh, well that sucks, bye.

"They like fish, and they always hang out around the well, talk to Mr. Townsguy about it"
1> I'll do that, but first can you tell me about...*
2> Thanks, I'll do that...

"So, what can I do for ya?"
1> Tell me about the caves of whatever?
2> What has been going on around town lately?*
3> Nothing, I was just leaving.

"Lots of stuff. A random person has gone missing, the chickens are sick, and I can't find my favorite hat."
1> Tell me about the random person...
2> What exactly is wrong with the chickens?*
3> I can help find your hat...
4> Oh, well that sucks, bye.

"They're sick, I think they have ebola"
1> I'll try to find a cure, but first, can I ask you a quesion?*
2> Well thats to bad, bye!

Need I continue?

 

[Vault Dweller]

A poor example. It's like saying that TES RPGs suck because Battlespire did.

 

[Antagonist]

I think he meant that he tries out every possible dialogue combination in a game with a dialogue-tree until he gets the big sword instead of trying to play a coherent character.

 

[merry andrew]

I think he meant that he tries out every possible dialogue combination in a game with a dialogue-tree until he gets the big sword instead of trying to play a coherent character.

I'm thinking the same. The great thing is that I often do that, but I don't really complain about it, because I understand that I'm making the conscious descision to seek out every possible option.

 

[Spazmo]

I don't quite understand how that's worse than clicking a button marked "dark elves" and having every single NPC in the game recite the exact same paragraph at you.

 

[Screaming_Dude_In_Vegas]

I think he meant that he tries out every possible dialogue combination in a game with a dialogue-tree until he gets the big sword instead of trying to play a coherent character.

I was actually thinking more along the lines of when I walk into a town in Fallout, and feal like getting info about the various "quests" that are in town.

You guys are hopeless...

 

[merry andrew]

I don't quite understand how that's worse than clicking a button marked "dark elves" and having every single NPC in the game recite the exact same paragraph at you.

I sorta liked that about Morrowind. It certainly made me think twice about talking to people. So before I figured out the generic NPC template, there was a loss of that foreshadowing that you get when unique dialogue options magically appear while you're speaking with the nth generic NPC.

 

[merry andrew]

I think he meant that he tries out every possible dialogue combination in a game with a dialogue-tree until he gets the big sword instead of trying to play a coherent character.

I was actually thinking more along the lines of when I walk into a town in Fallout, and feal like getting info about the various "quests" that are in town.

You guys are hopeless...

What

"feal" lawl

edit: I'm sorry. To be more specific: So you're talking about how redundant it is for you to try out every possible dialogue option so that you can get every possible quest available in a given town? Help.