If you’re a regular reader of the finest PC gaming site on Earth, you’ll be aware that Old Man Murray hasn’t updated in years and you’re probably wondering why you keep on clicking there. But people who read us regularly will remember that the tenacious terrier of games journalism, Mat Kumar, had a quick go at Fallout 3 while at E3. Last Friday, I was left alone with the game for about an hour.
And this is what I made of it.
Actually, before I start, I’ll better show my cards. Every piece about Fallout 3 is picked over by obsessive people from either side – because, it seems, you have to have a side with Fallout 3 – looking for weaknesses in moral character. Rather than people worrying whether I’m a casual apologist or whatever, here’s the way I’m wired. While having played both the original Fallouts, I didn’t obsessively – they came out in a non-PC-owning year, and went back too late. That said, RPGs remain my definitive genre, though I’d put the boundaries further than most purists. And, probably most damningly, I don’t care about game lineages whatsoever. If Fallout 3 was a Rainbow-Islands-inspired upwards-scrolling platformer, I would only object if it was a pale imitation of those tiny-lesbians (NO REALLY!) Bub and Bob’s finest hour. And that applies just as strongly to games I adore as games I merely respect too, before anyone goes in that direction.
And, with all that said, Fallout 3 was mostly highly entertaining.
Mostly.
This is probably an artifact of the shortened time experience, but the moments I loved the most weren’t the post-apocalypse gloom ones. They were the sense of playfulness to it. I was going through the game straight – that is, heading into town, chatting to everyone, taking a quest, going for a nice little explore and then getting torn apart by a thing with claws the size of my entire body.
(By which you can read: I suspect the level-scaling problems of Oblivion are well gone. Though that caused the problem of me being torn apart. Oh, you know what I mean.)
But even as I was basically playing it seriously, I was attracted to the slightly goofy stuff. Which is, thankfully, goofy in exactly the right post-apocalyptic way you’d hope. For example, I had far too much fun drinking from the toilet. Sure, it was contaminated to shit – pun unintended, but I can’t actually bring myself to press backspace now – but it quenched the thirst and the juxtaposition of the hungry-slurping sound-effect and a bowl that hasn’t seen a brush since the nuclear war 200 years back is inherently glorious. It was almost as splendid as when I killed a bandit, stole his bondage-gear clothes, and wore them, complete with a pair of Gordon-Freeman specs and a baseball cap I’d found. I looked like Rick Moranis gone apeshit crazy, a glorious Mad Max 2 mess.
I say this to note that after all the debate about Fallout 3, and everyone trying to show how much of a serious, grown-up game it is, we shouldn’t think of it as a dour thing. This is, in a blackly comic way, fun.
(And worth stressing that there’s far more standard outfits available for those who like their post-nuclear waste straight).
The writing? Even with an hour – and half of that actually doing the social chat thing – it’s too early to really make a call. If there’s a problem, it’s less with the words or the voice-acting, but the relatively stiff characters as they deliver them. I remember the sheer wonder when I first played Vampire: Bloodlines, with characters who’d actually act like… well, actors. That we’re years on, and only Mass Effect in the RPG has really raised the stakes at all is somewhat depressing.
Oh – and there seems to be more conversation options than Oblivion too. There’s a lot of the classic three (Nice Guy/Mercenary Guy/Cunt), but alternates turned up too. Perhaps predictably with my like of slutting my way through RPGs, I picked the Lady’s Man perk which was soon put to work on a working girl. To get extra information. A little extra information I like to call “Sex”.
Actually, just extra information.
Perhaps oddly, my biggest reservation was what Mat liked a lot. That is, the VATS system. I’m not sure what may have changed – certainly in some demonstrations people have noted it seems to cause fatalities more often than would be reasonable (and lots more gore too). That certainly wasn’t true when I played, making my experience – the gore was extreme, but not comic extreme, and the killing power wasn’t absolute. Talking to another Journalist there, he couldn’t see why anyone would use it when just shooting does the job well enough. I’m not sure I agree – when it works, it’s agreeably cinematic, and it has its own flavour.
The problem is, when it doesn’t work, it just takes you out of the game entirely. Case in point is one of the most common enemies, the Mole Rats. These rodents charge at you and – rather than other creatures which do a back and forth sort of pattern – just repeatedly throw themselves against you at point blank range. You see one approaching and go to VATS. After getting off one shot, the bugger’s on you and you’re unloading at point blank range as it scurries against your legs. Which looks openly silly, as if you were trying to chastise an over-friendly house-pet.
Which, I suppose, is a good thing – the system as a whole appears to operate, but a specific interaction causes problems. It’s only so worrying that Mole Rats were the most common antagonist in my time in the game. Which would have been dispiriting anyway, even if they were a more interesting opponent to fight against. Rats? Bloody Rats? This RPG designer in-joke must be crushed.
That’s a little downbeat to end on. But it is a post-apocalypse game, so perhaps that’s somewhat appropriate.
Related Stories:
Hah, seems like they have. Just when I’d stopped watching the news on it, too. Thanks for the heads up!
Huh. During my go at it I went straight north to Bethesda’s DC offices and was soundly HP-raped by a load of flame-thrower wielding bandits. Never even saw a mole rat or fire ant.
?
RPG’s should have “boring” and uninspiring enemies at the begining, imo. That is something that always drives me, to see the more interesting enemies further on. It’s like that for a good reason imo. Bethesda might not be that good in making good “actors” but they just crush the competition in everything else, interactivity, number of items, NPC AI (Bioware’s AI’s are laughable and comparable, even to this date, to Pac-Man). Exploring is always fun in their games, their games doesnt feel totally linear as Bioware games (Mass Effect, KOTOR etc) do. I love their attention to detail, day/night cycles etc. Really looking forward to this, almost as much as STALKER Clear Sky.
There should be an RPG where a rat asks you to remove humans from its basement.
I’d still say Vampire is the high watermark for RPG dialogue delivery/acting. Although Mass Effect has the most realistic looking human faces, the actual animation is pretty feeble – the emotional range simply doesn’t match that of the voice acting. Everyone always looks too calm, there’s no extremes.
Vampire, on the other hand, had genuine moments of extreme emotion, even if it was just Jack’s fits of raucous laughter.
As others have said, though, its Vampire’s writing that makes it. Same with Valve’s stuff in HL2 and sequels. The difference is that there’s almost always a subtext in Troika and Valve’s writing, whereas Bioware’s stuff only tends to operate on a simple (albeit entertaining) surface level.
Diogo,
There was a similar (as in subverting the rat-killing tradition) kind of joke in Oblivion. In Morrowind, one of the earliest fighter’s guild quests is to remove rats from the house of a local called Drarayne Thelas. In Oblivion, a fighter’s guild quest kicks off in the same way, and you turn up the house of an Arvena Thelas only to find the rats you thought you were there to kill are actually her pets whom you have to protect.
Can’t say I’ve ever really minded the inevitable rats-of-unusual-size. They get forgotten soon, quickly replaced by more interesting baddies. Personally I’ve always hated giant spiders, though, as if they’re in one section you know you’ll be seeing them in droves, and they have poison attacks, antidote potions being typically rare and you never bother to buy some anyway, making it all very, very frustrating.
I remember the one from Morrowind, Oblivion’s not quite so well, in part because I haven’t messed too much around the game. Seems it lost momentum a bit after several hours of exploring. Might give it a go again if I can muster the courage to see my graphics card and low memory compulsively cry at the requirements.
Could molerats be the new mudcrabs!?!?!
Molerats are the new rats. With moles.
As I asked before, any support for Legacy controls?
“Also, after reading this thread I feel a strong urge to play some more Vampire: The Masquarade – Bloodlines, which I picked up a few weeks ago from the bargain bin; I still have to finish this one.”
Yes, go hurry and install it – and don’t forget to install the community patch.
I just finished Mass Effect myself, and while I enjoyed it a lot, the characterisations or dialogue don’t have that spark that VtMB had. And the Source engine seems, to me, to still be the best engine for first-person characterisation.
I suppose it’s being too optimistic to hope for another game in the same world, but then if Beyond Good and Evil is getting one, there’s still hope.
P.
@Paul Moloney:
If you’re talking about another game in the Vampire: Bloodlines world it’s not likely to happen, as it was based off the Pen and Paper license, which now has a new setting – Requiem. Any future games bearing that license should use that setting as well. Plus, Troika won’t be developing it, which may be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective and tolerance for technical issues.
Oh, I’m no “Vampire” geek, so I’m not hung up on whether it’s “Bloodlines”, “Requiem” or whatever.
What was Troika’s problem? A chronic lack of a QA department? Good designers but poor coders? I suppose it can’t have helped much that they were working with what was a beta release of the Source engine.
P.
@Paul:
Not a geek either, just thought I’d point it out in case you were explicitly in wont of a Bloodlines, rather than Vampire, setting :)
As for Troika, I believe favouring ambitious design over good programming and proper Q&A eventually got the best of them.
I thought that CCP’s new MMO, World of Darkness, was using the Vampire IP… like, 100% sure… now my faith has been rattled!
So you lead off with a non sequitor about Old Man Murray, and never pay it off? We call that being a tease. And not in a good way.
MKultra says:
“RPG’s should have “boring” and uninspiring enemies at the begining, imo. That is something that always drives me, to see the more interesting enemies further on.”
Why not just change to another game that has interesting enemies? Why suffer through boredom and work for your fun when you have fun on tap simply from swapping a disc? You already “earned” that fun when you raised the cash to buy the game at your job.
I’m still wanting to know about those lesbian bubble-blowing dragons…
Did you get to see the supposed top down view mode ?
I was under the impression that had been pulled from the game given the lack of info but one of the recent previews seemed to mention it again.
This is the one thing I dislike the most about first person view points, in the old RPG games of yore you could see everything & where you wanted to go. But in first person you will have to traipse around the back of buildings through corridors only to see nothing is there. That’s why I could never get into the kind of RPG’s Bethesda make, I just find their exploration aspect a chore.
@Taxman:
The same happened with Fallout’s isometric (I assume this is what you mean by “top down view mode” but as they say, assuming might make an ass out of me) view – alleyways and back of buildings were only made visible if you went there yourself, with a portion of the obstructing wall phasing out to let players see what was there.
Even if I am an avowed Bethesda hater, I still am eager to try this. Also, I really don’t get they whole “It has to be dark and serious” thing I have seen some talk of. Fallout was quite silly as I recall and I am glad they are retaining some of that tongue in cheek attitude.
@ape:
I think that stems from a genuine concern with priorities. The humor in Fallout was often incidental, as opposed to bluntly intentional in its sequel – which some people disliked, me included. It’s not so much a distaste for the funnier side of thermonuclear genocide, but wanting that the humourous bits don’t detract from the darker aspects which were handled in the games – decadence, breaking down of law enforcement and power structures, cannibalism, and so on.
“Sounds like Bethsda are going to turn this into another Oblivion grindfest. I can’t wait to stab rats for two hours before I can learn how to use a gun, no sir-ee!”
I hate to take any sides in this debate, but in Fallout 2, my ranged combat character had to run around with a spear for the first three or so hours because I was unable to afford/kill for a gun.
“I thought that CCP’s new MMO, World of Darkness, was using the Vampire IP… like, 100% sure… now my faith has been rattled!”
The pen-and -paper vampire game (Requiem, that is) is part of a larger series, World of Darkness, which also has Changeling, Werewolf, soon Hunter, and (I kid you not) Promethean. I’ve never heard of a WoD MMO before, though.
Yes, CCP are working with White Wolf on a WoD MMO, not sure how long before it’s out though-quite a while, I’d guess.
@Diogo Ribeiro
I think one of the big problems for VTM:B was that Activision in their (facepalm) infinite wisdom decided to release the game the very same day as HL2 came out and spent next to nothing on advertising it. If they’d waited a month they could of cashed in on a lot more sales, esp if they’d pitched it as using the ‘HL2 Source engine’. Despite reasonable reviews, the game didn’t sell well in it’s first month (because everyone was too engrossed in HL2 and CS:S) and that pretty much was the nail in the coffin for Troika (*shakes fist at Activision suits).
@kadayi:
True, Activision also had a hand in it. Troika were never really fortunate in their dealings with publishers.
Off topic: WoD-meister (and Fading Suns) General Bill Bridges now works for the dudes who wrote EVE on their, erm, upcoming WoD MMORPG (is that acronym right?)
It will probably be a while after release before I decide whether to buy this game or not. As someone who played and enjoyed Oblivion I feel modding tools (or a lack of) for the PC will make or break this game for me. Not just for added content, but to eliminate things like hand holding pop-up messages and fan made patches.
Human(ish) enemies have always tended to be my favorites to kill in most games. They simply have a wider range of reactions, tactics, loot, and are more viscerally satisfying to make dead. HL2’s repeated reliance on the extremely one-note headcrab zombies over the bits where I get to pitch Combine corpses off ledges or trigger that lovely bit of com chatter as I end the life of a Combine metro cop always kinda annoyed me.
Rats, on the other hand? Bleh.
yeah,there is a reason why one cannot buy or use the product in aussieland,take comfort in some other form of entertainment,perhaps that your friends and fellow citzens
arnt twisted mediaphiles that rest on little details like beheadings and drug use.go play tennis or somthing haha.
all i mean to say is maybe your population shouldnt be mimicing the west too closely on our freedoms of choice of consumtion.it truly retards us,and thats why you whoop us @ tennis and such.
Well I have to admit i’ve been reading Fallout fansites etc for days now reading the back and forth and felt i had to comment on some of the aspects.
Firstly (and i know i’ll probably get slated for this) i’m replaying Fallout 2 again now (being someone who always states it as one of my favourite games of all time) and to be honest, it’s not that great *ducks*. Granted i love the setting, the feeling, the writing and the humor but technically it leaves a lot to be desired.
The turn based system for example, whilst great in the later stages can lead to some EXTREMELY boring and drawn out fights especially in the early stages. For those people slating VATS in Fallout 3, personally i think the chance to have combat that flows a little better will be awesome – i think it will all depend on how APs are calculated and how quickly, once you resume live combat, they take to regenerate.
Concerns over ‘dull’ starting enemies – I’ve found the first few hours of playing Fallout 2 a continual process of getting my arse handed to me utterly by boring rats, lizards and bugs and having to reload. Even once i had a couple of basic guns the difficulty is still way up there – i mean, just trying to travel from A to B is a game of chance. Possibilty to defeat a group of highwaymen or robbers? Nil. Granted this may be realistic, and i love the premise of having area’s which are just madness to enter at low levels, giving you something to look forward to coming back to, but at times Fallout took this to extremes, and i think perhaps rose-tinted glasses mean some don’t remember how frustrating Fallout 2 was at the start.
Concerns over ‘wooden’ animation – Come on now….on the one hand i’ve read hundreds of posts (not necessarily here) by raving fanboys basically STILL after all these years wanting Van Buren. With one breath people claim that the only possible great outcome of Bethesda developing Fallout would be almost an identical recreation of Fallout 1/2 and with the next slate Fallout 3’s animation. *news flash* Fallout 1/2’s animation was fairly shocking especially given the hex based movement leading to zig-zag running.
I for one CAN’T WAIT for a modern, pumped up, slick, powerful reworking of the classic Fallout setting as long as it captures the SPIRIT of the first two games – in my opinion that’s all that counts.
Moyles
I guess what I don’t understand is the argument that because the combat in Fallout 1 and 2 wasn’t perfect that it therefore follows that Bethesda’s take is entirely appropriate and the obvious best one.
I hope you’re right about the spirit but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve read enough interviews to see that most of those involved are interested in their own views of what makes the game great (which I don’t begrudge, but don’t pretend it’s all in service of the old games) and what will attract the largest obvious (which I can begrudge because I think it’s more important to make things that are good and popularity will follow). It seems like so many of their decisions are based on what they would like to see and whether it makes sense or not doesn’t even enter into it – fatman, drinking from toilets, nuclear barrels.. uh ‘cars’, and a transplanted setting that manages to use everything recognizable from the first two games (Enclave and BoS the most obvious) when it would have been a hell of a lot easier to just use their own creations to fill those roles.
description boxes for objects you can obviously now see in great detail thanks to a significantly more advanced engine = stupid idea. Yeah, I know it was something you liked about the originals, but it’s retarded to think nothing is going to change when we have had almost 10 years of technological advancement since then. Why not also demand grainy 640.480 2D graphics…. Oh wait the NMA tards do that too don’t they? Idiots.
@sam
That makes no sense. Most of them were not just descriptions. They were commentary. And most of it was hilarious commentary. They do the same thing in Penny Arcade Adventures, to great effect. You can clearly see every detail in that game, so it’s got absolutely nothing to do with that. kthnxbai