I think this sums up most people’s complaints:

How not to do a sequel.

b) nothing Bethesda’s ever turned out has mapped very directly onto previous games of theirs

That would be an incredible feat, considering they have developed about 50 games over the years (according to Wikipedia). Especially since they have done a number of sports series (Wayne Gretzky Hockey for example). And for their flagship series, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is very similar to Morrowind in most regards.

Malkav the point is, almost EVERYTHING they ever discuss is “Like oblivion but…” better, worse, different. It doesn’t sound like a new game ever, it really sounds like Oblivion with guns, even though they always mention “no, it’s not that”.

“American football is like football, but…”

Using Oblivion as reference point makes sense when large part of your intended audience (the console players) have likely had little experience with this kind of gameplay beyond Oblivion.

for instance see how B.A Baracus doesnt like flying, i feel the same way about pineapple, also id have to be druged to eat it!

As for substantial dialogue and all that, all we have is their word, they’ve shown absolutely nothing, and it’s not like they ever hyped Oblivion as having a shallow storyline and simplistic dialogues. If anything, their stupid dialogue system with the mini game was highly hyped itself as bringing a new level of character interactivity or whatever bs like that.

I have no faith in seeing any real improvements from all I’ve seen so far (which is not much). It’s like they’re hiding the game so we don’t see it and can only go by screenshots and the mainstream press’ rave reviews, just like it happened with Oblivion…

If its a good game, thats great if its bad well aww shucks does the name really mean that much? Loads of gamers have never even heard of it let alone really care, also a few people getting huffy about it round here were the same people laughing at people getting there knickers in a twist over D3’s art direction.

As far as the Oblivion with guns bit goes….these are the people who made Oblivion (or some of them, anyway). That’s their background, and so, yeah, they’re going to reference it a lot. Plus the engine’s the one they used for Oblivion, with some modification. What, you were expecting “like Baldur’s Gate but…”

That said, I see no reason to believe that Fallout 3 will be Oblivion redux because: a) some of the team is entirely new, others worked on Oblivion but are leading the F3 project, b) nothing Bethesda’s ever turned out has mapped very directly onto previous games of theirs, c) they are clearly, and demonstrably loading it with all kinds of stuff that Oblivion never had, like substantial dialogue, and gore (complete with dismemberment). If you feel that the basic design philosophies behind Oblivion (and indeed, all the Elder Scrolls) games may carry over, and that that would be a detriment, well…I can’t say for sure, yet. Neither can you.

If any Aussies want to make a complaint (and bloody hell, you should) here’s the government complaint form online:

http://www.classification.gov.au/special.html?n=1&p=227
P.