As for Neeson's role in Fallout 3, try to remember that he has played Jean Valjean, Oscar Schindler, Michael Collins, and the Doctor in Nell as well as the father in Love Actually, as well as having starred in Kingdom of Heaven and a little film called
Breakfast on Pluto. Oh, and he has played Dr. Alfred J. Kinsey in the movie 'kinsey', too.
The point is that Liam (Neeson) is a very talented & multifacetted actor who can play different roles. And is not limited to playing the wise man (jedi) from the Star War's movies. And maybe, just maybe Bethsoft did write Liam's part as the part he plays in Michael Collins or Schindler's List. And as such, yes, you could have Liam voice acting 'the old goat sitting in the cave' just a you could have him voice acting 'the tired warrior that passes, reluctantly, advice to the younger generation'. Or he could be playing, voice-acting, a character which is a brutal sob, and then the player's character need to rebel against him. This has been done before, of course, but the question really is this: If this is the way, Bethsoft is going, how well will they tell the storu and what artistic effects will they use to tell the story? And that is up for anyone's grabs to guess...I guess
As for the part of FO3 being linear, I'm fine with this. FO1+F02 were, imo, also a bit linear, at least in the sense, that after you finished the main quest, the story was over. You've had beaten the game. And there was nothing more for you to do in the game.
The Vault Dweller (no, not VD
) from FO1 could be seen as a sort of father figure. A father figure who kicked you out of the vault, but nonetheless, still a father figure. Setting the dramatic tone does not necessarily means that your father (in FO3) will get killed or turn evil. It could just mean that he, sort of, kicks you out of the tribal village or shantytown, to get the drama going. (in the main quest). My guess is that we will indeed see a dramatic conflict between father & son for the main quest, but that's just my guess.
I don't really think that paying maybe USD 500,000 (or possibly even less) in USD 15-20 million project, like FO3's budget probably will be, affect the game that much. The 38 lines text dialoque has more to do with the technichal limitations of the Xbox 360.
This is a technichal issie that probably & hopefully will be fixed in the future, I hope
And who says that this game is coming out for the Xbox 360. It could as well only be released for the PS3, which already has a game like FO3 out, namely: Resistance, Fall of Man. (and, irrc, the PS3 doesn't seem to have same tech limitations for speech that the Xbox 360 does...??].
As for the player's father apperaring prominently througout the game, this just goes to show that no matter what you, some people will still critisize you. In Obliivion, Bethsoft got a lot of heat & flames for having Patrick Stewart only appearing for the first 15-20 minutes or so. And when they then hire an actor that's supposed to be in the game, during all the game, or nearly all the game, apparently this is wrong, too. I'm sorry, but I don't understand this. It is as if some of you (not all of you, but some) want Fallout 3 to be a modern version of Fallout 1+2 instead of a different game with a different story. since some of you don't want things to change - that much.
As for the quests etc. --- please note that Emil P. is the Lead Quest Designer. And Emil P. wrote the stories (narrative) or quests for the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion, which you all seemed to like (even if you didn't like the game, Oblivion, at all & in general) I'm not that worried about linear quest (what does that even mean??) in Falllot 3. Every subquest in a game is linear in way: You get a quest, you do the quest, you come back to the questgiver, you get your reward. How you solve the quest, may be done in a different way, either through combat or through diplomacy or stealth or by the use of your other skills, perks & abilities. But we really don't know that we only can solve quest through one skill, such as combat, at this time. (or maybe VD knows more than I do??)
And please try not to make comparisions between FO3 and the TES games. They are very different games, and I do think that the devs. at Bethsoft are consciously aware of this.
As for starting the game as character that have been chosen, you seem to be fine with this in Planescape: Torment or in the Gothic series. Why then, aren't you fine with this in Fallout 3?? I don't care, if I play a young character aged 18 or 25 or even 30 in Fallout 3, as long as the story's narrative structure is well told, well-written and well-presented. Oh, and have you thought about that the main story might about how you, the player character, start out as young adolescent, and then, through, the game, become a man. Maybe this is part of the main story, maybe it isn't. We really canøt know for sure - at this time.
aries202