Review The Life-Affirming Smell of Fallout 3

[Thrasher]

beta testers for NWN2 patch

 

[Pliskin]

This was expected. The blowjob circus must continue. The only thing that will be amusing is reading how Bethesda has improved or fixed the flaws in Oblivion with this game, you know the flaws that didn't exist when Oblivion was released.

I can tell you right now, it has the same fatal quick-save problems that Oblivion does: Save one time too many, and it corrupts the .sav file --- of course, you don't find that out, until you exit the game. Yay --- hours of gameplay down the radioactive crapper!

Same annoying timescale compression, too: Something like 30:1, I believe. 'Course, when yr trying to fool people into believing the game world is actually larger than it really is, making the hours cycle quickly prolly helps.

From a quick glance through of the .ini file, it's rather obviously a thinly modified Oblivion. Matter-o-fact, I used several of the recommended Oblivion.ini tweaks on it, and it seems to have improved performance.

Though, personally, I'd have to say the most annoying aspect so far is the cover of the game "manual": Basically a color photo-copy of the original Vault Dweller's Survival Guide, right down to the reference number in the lower right hand corner (which they didn't even bother to switch from 13 to 101).

I knew the VDSG --- and you, sir, are no VDSG! Completely lacking in the ironic humor and versimilitude of the original. Barely explains gameplay (in short, choppy sentences), and leaves mechanics to be guessed at. (Fer instance, the Stealthboy is no longer an equipable item, but is now a temporary stat-buff that works more along the lines of a Potion of Invisibility --- something that is mentioned nowhere in the "manual". And don't even get me started on the computer hacking "mini-game": The instructions are incomprehensible!).

Feh.

 

[francisout]

Well, fuck this shit - I ain't touchin' it.

I'm gonna touch it - with a baseball bat, gasoline, a chainsaw, and matches.

 

[franc kaos]

Distractingly bad character animations...

combined with a relatively small variety of enemies...

like when I headshotted an NPC not just to watch him die but also to see what his bodyguard would do. The bodyguard continued standing there as though nothing happened...

So I guess the guy who wrote the Radiant AI program left so no update to that phenomenal AI set of packages - and Bethesda, do yourself a favour, invest in a MoCap studio (you've had the money since Oblivion was released), or nick some animation files off the internet.

Oh, and Liam Neeson? great investment there (heavy sarcasm), definitely no Aslan vibe, more like reading off a script - Picard was better.

 

[Cynicus]

Why do you people keep asking the obvious? Huge investments in PR and marketing (rich owner).

Yeah, I know. It was just ranting.

Well, actually the Terminator games from Bethesda are supposed to be popular. I suppose different people have different opinions, but I have heard from several people who really liked the old Terminator stuff like Future Shock and Skynet.

As for TES, well, how many good or great first-person action RPGs do you know? Outside of TES, I can already name you Ultima Underworld and Arx Fatalis. And no, I don't mean RPG shooter hybrids. Interplay's Descent To Undermountain was a notoriously bad game, and being released around the time between Daggerfall and Morrowind, the general consensus would probably be that the latter two are much better.

It's all relative.

I bought Future Shock, Skynet, Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind as they were released, so I do understand them relative to their time and peers, if you were implying that I might not. And popularity and concensus aren't reliable indicators of quality. Everyone may agree that one turd smells sweeter than another and choose it as their favorite, but you still have a pair of turds.

Anyway, I probably did come across much harsher than I meant to in regard to Bethesda's older games. I know that developing a good game, much less something with originality, is not easy. I don't think Bethesda was a terrible dev house, but I don't think they were ever holy-shit great, either, and their current incarnation is a bad joke to me. Still, I have no problem with anyone who does think that Bethesda's or anyone else's products are golden mana from God's own ass so long as they aren't pretending to be fair and objective "journalists" while invariably knob-slobbing favored devs even when a product is shoddy. Hype has always been a large part of this industry, but it seems like the whore-o-meter stays pegged continuously these days.

 

[Drakron]

So I guess the guy who wrote the Radiant AI program left so no update to that phenomenal AI set of packages

There is no Radiant AI, there is a collection of script packages and in order to be a AI it would have to work like the Sims were the Sims look at their motives and try to do something about looking at the available objects in the lot.

 

[Pegultagol]

I think some reviewers are giving these big scores for the obsessed to oooh and aaah at something shiny and satisfying their corporate overlords in mutual position with publisher PR pimps who would not consider those with enough discretion to actually read the reviews as their core audience anyway. One particular review I've read focuses on the negatives in 70% of the written content of the review but still ends up giving the game four out of five stars.

And by 'generation' they probably mean until the next elder scrolls game is announced to start a whole new hype shitstorm.

 

[St. Toxic]

I'm also in the camp that believes that 10/10 is not the same as a "perfect" game

I'll let this quote represent all the other posts on the subject.

If 10/10 isn't as high as a rating goes, then what the fuck comes after 10? 11/10? "OSHITE THIS GAEM IS OFF THE SCALEZ! 666/10!" ? 10/10 is the perfect score for the perfect game; don't get fooled by the way gamerags & co are throwing 10's in every direction.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

Bollocks. Ten out of ten means exactly what it says in the corresponding editorial policy. That's one of the reasons why certain aspects of meta sites like metacritic and gamerankings don't gell that well upon closer examination (and have rather odd impacts occasionally) - scores from different sources, even those that look like they could cannot be compared to each other just like that. Let alone converted and added up to calculate that "average score".

 

[Azael]

I'll let this quote represent all the other posts on the subject.

If 10/10 isn't as high as a rating goes, then what the fuck comes after 10? 11/10? "OSHITE THIS GAEM IS OFF THE SCALEZ! 666/10!" ? 10/10 is the perfect score for the perfect game; don't get fooled by the way gamerags & co are throwing 10's in every direction.

This is is the same flawed logic such as suggesting that if you get an A+ on a paper, it's a perfect paper. I'd take 10/10 to mean Great as opossed to 9/10 which would be Very Good.

Again, it's not really important. There is a huge grade inflation in the gaming press, it's been going on for years now and I highly doubt that Fallout 3 is worthy of a 10/10

 

[Shannow]

I'm also in the camp that believes that 10/10 is not the same as a "perfect" game

I'll let this quote represent all the other posts on the subject.

If 10/10 isn't as high as a rating goes, then what the fuck comes after 10? 11/10? "OSHITE THIS GAEM IS OFF THE SCALEZ! 666/10!" ? 10/10 is the perfect score for the perfect game; don't get fooled by the way gamerags & co are throwing 10's in every direction.

But if 10/10 is reserved for perfect games and there is no such thing as a perfect game you have a score on the scale that no game ever reaches and that is thus useless. They should use all scores on their rating systems and not just 4-6 for absolute crap, 8 for average and 9-10 for AAA titles from companies that pay their advertisements.

 

[Slobbergoat]

This is is the same flawed logic such as suggesting that if you get an A+ on a paper, it's a perfect paper. I'd take 10/10 to mean Great as opossed to 9/10 which would be Very Good.

Again, it's not really important. There is a huge grade inflation in the gaming press, it's been going on for years now and I highly doubt that Fallout 3 is worthy of a 10/10

I dunno; A+ is a range of marks (in this country at least, 85-99%) while 10/10 is a constant value. 100% on a paper would imply it was perfect, which is why it is (at least traditionally) never given, no matter the quality of work, unless it's a strictly scientific and provable (IE, mathematic) subject.

Anyway, is it just me or did this 10/10 crap start as soon as GTA4 got given a 10/10 by a bunch of selloutish monglers? It seems like it's a bigger occurance for any "big name" game to NOT get 10/10 lately, with at least a half-dozen games receiving the score this year.

 

[Gragt]

Life-affirming sounds awfully post-modern.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

You lot surely must be following quite many an outlet to make generalist statements like that. Not so sure though, otherwise you'd be famlilar with the basics. Editorial policies and all that.

Anyway, is it just me or did this 10/10 crap start as soon as GTA4 got given a 10/10 by a bunch of selloutish monglers? It seems like it's a bigger occurance for any "big name" game to NOT get 10/10 lately, with at least a half-dozen games receiving the score this year.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... the%20dark

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... erclearsky

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... d?q=crysis

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... llshighway

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... ns%20creed

:codexdevil:

 

[Slobbergoat]

Life-affirming sounds awfully post-modern.

At least maybe they might stop using "next-gen" to describe games for a while. Hearing a review rant on about how the features of a game are "just not next-gen" or "totally next-gen" (like its' mainstream media equivilent, 'edgy', what's next gen and what isn't is actually indefinable) makes me want to punch somebody in the dick.

 

[Balor]

Well, game CAN be awesome in spite of numerous flaws - think Troika's games.
But it depends on flaws. If a game claims to be an RPG and got huge flaws in quest, dialogues and storyline department... then it does NOT deserve high score.
Unless judged as a shooter.

 

[St. Toxic]

This is is the same flawed logic such as suggesting that if you get an A+ on a paper, it's a perfect paper.

It should be, to deserve the A+. Above and beyond the "good" and "great" papers; outside of the constraints of standard average works.

I'd take 10/10 to mean Great as opossed to 9/10 which would be Very Good.

Doesn't really matter wether it's "Great" or "Perfect" for a 10; such quality of games seldom makes an apperance, and 10's wouldn't be used particularly often if it was game quality being ranked. The important part is that average and above average games are given the 5-6 they deserve.

But if 10/10 is reserved for perfect games and there is no such thing as a perfect game you have a score on the scale that no game ever reaches and that is thus useless.

Much like ideals concerning world peace, the ascencion of mankind and a fair self-regulating free market. Or, now that I think about it, the current rating scale. The Perfect 10 could be there, perhaps, to inspire developers to go above and beyond in attempting to make TEH BEST GAEM EVER. Besides, nothing wrong with getting 9/10 as a standard, with 10's reserved for the Messiah of games.

 

[Darth Roxor]

10/10 pretty much means perfect or at least flawless. If it has flaws, it can't be 10/10, because the flaws are nowhere pointed out in that overall score, there's *nothing* intervening in the game's design that would require points to be substracted from the overall score.

9 = not flawless.

9.5 = still not flawless.

9.9 = almost flawless.

10 = pretty much flawless.

 

[Chadeo]

Ok I was almost read to buy this, but then I watched those youtube videos.

You assign your stats out of a baby book? Seriously? I could not make up something that lame if I tried.

I gave morrowind a shot to see what all the hype was about. It was a fun exploration game, but the gameplay and "role playing" aspects of it were a total joke. I am positive I will feel the same way about F3.

I guess I will just go buy the originals again as a mini protest.

It is so depressing to think that the last RPG I played was probably a decade ago. It has gotten so bad that I do not even bother trying to talk to people about it any more. The concept of a dialog tree based on your characters stats and history leading to future changing consequences and multiple paths is just this alien concept now. I don't even know what to call it, RPG seems to refer to two things now, final fantasy or for the true hard core fans, bioware. *shudder*

 

[Texas Red]

"It is so depressing to think that the last RPG I played was probably a decade ago. It has gotten so bad that I do not even bother trying to talk to people about it any more. The concept of a dialog tree based on your characters stats and history leading to future changing consequences and multiple paths is just this alien concept now. I don't even know what to call it, RPG seems to refer to two things now, final fantasy or for the true hard core fans, bioware. *shudder*"

That's pretty much your problem. There have been plenty of very good RPGs released this decade.

 

[Volourn]

"It is so depressing to think that the last RPG I played was probably a decade ago."

Let me guess, GB series is your RPG ideal. Or DF. Shut the fuck up.

And, if you haven't played a RPG in 10 years, why the fuck are you on a RPG focused site? Dumb fuckin' shit spamming a fourm based around soemthing he doesn't even play! FFS

 

[Jaime Lannister]

Pretty much if you like Morrowind you'll like FO3, if you don't you won't.

I give FO3 an 8.2, bad combat, repetitive, sometimes too much handholding, but overall a much better game than Oblivion (and much worse than Fallout 1 and 2)

 

[Rancen]

Bethesda - games for morons by morons

Haven't played the Shitout 3, but have seen hd video from GC'2008. Quality of dialogues haven't improved even on a jota from Oblivion - same childish stupid shit over and over. They have 14 years old game designers or what? Just check sheriff dial... err monologue and your replies:
- Right. Message received.
- You dont scare me.
- Say nothing.
Next Todd choose: "You dont scare me", sheriff answers: "You've got something you want to prove, boy?", and another great Bethesda style choice of replies appears:
- There's a new sheriff in town! It's time to die, asshole.
- I want that hat what do you think about that?
- Ha! I just messing with you.

Great, isn't it?
Animation is awful, as always. Even Quake animations is better.
A bit later some braindead citizens appears who's praising the atom bomb. Player is activating the bomb on their eyes. Can you guess the ai reaction? Its bethesda style - Retarded. Artifical. Intelligence.
I'll never buy this shit.

 

[Volourn]

spamming the same message in mutliple threads? At least mix it up like most people would.