By Alec Meer on September 1st, 2008 at 11:00 am.
The Penny Arcade Expo is, of course, a silly little fan-festival attended only by four people who like reading internet cartoon strips about swearing. It’s definitely not a major gaming event at which a ton of important games are on show, and potentially a serious rival to the likes of E3 and Leipzig. There’s no way stuff like Fallout 3 will reveal exciting new footage there. That would be ridiculous.
So, five lengthy videos straight outta PAX beneath the cut, showing Fallout being RPGy, and not simply FPSy, as was the case with the underwhelming E3 footage. I’ve posted my as-I-watched notes below each. Apologies for their brevity and wobbly grammar, but I figured my off-the-cuff reactions could work as well as ponderous analysis. We’ll have plenty of ponderous analysis once the game’s out, I don’t doubt.
Escape:
Very brown and grey
The faces are so much better than Oblivion’s glowing pie-men
draw distance is great
Does look a lot like post-apoc Oblivion, perhaps inevitably
Level up HUD doesn’t feature stupidly giant text. Thank Christ – Oblivion’s interface outright sucked at times
Much more emphasis on perks? Or am I not remembering the first two Fallouts correctly?
Megaton:
Naughty swears! We’re not in Cyrodiil any more, Toto.
Voice acting seems less grating than Oblivion. I have a suspicion the second speaking character in this bit is the guy who did Brother bloody Jauffre, but I’m not sure. Doesn’t sound as moronic, anyway.
The Inkspots are awesome.
“I represent certain… interests” is not a subtle thing to say, Mr. Burke. Neither is “all it needs is a little… motivation.” STOP IT WITH THE STUPID CARTOON VILLAIN PAUSES/DOUBLE-ENTENDRES. This character’s acting is… rubbish, and some of the writing is a little… worrying. Too early to… judge, of course.
Some potentially fun moralising though – a certain Vampire Bloodlines vibe.
Wasteland:
Radio sounds great – really sets the atmosphere, and seems like it’ll be there throughout rather than just appearing from occasional jukeboxes.
Slo-mo gore still seems excessive. I’m no prude, but it just seems a bit too outlandish and comic – I wouldn’t mind an option to turn it down a bit.
Looks like some really fun gear pick-ups – caps, sunglasses, crazy beards… Looking forward to the character customisation.
Ooh – you need to drink to survive, but water is radioactive. Out-Stalkering Stalker?
Too many monsters/mutants?
Mega-Mart:
Oh god, please have some colour. It’s a supermarket, there should be brightly-hued packing all over the place, not just brown and grey and grey and brown. Bethesda’s poor, hamstrung artists must cry themselves to sleep.
Power-fist! Thwack-splat, thwack-splat, thwack-splat…
Terminal hacking is based on Mastermind, it seems. At least it’s not cocking Simon Says for once.
A pet Robby the Robot. This is awesome. But he should be cherry-red, dammit.
Kinda like Bioshock, but not stupidly restrictive
Tenpenny Tower:
More emphasis on notable characters rather than just random mercs’n'mutants.
The stealth/pickpocketing is clearly employing Oblivion systems, and seems a bit of an awkward fit. A functioning invisibility generator seems a whole other level for tech from steam’n'piston guns and cola machines.
I intend to place a lot of live hand grenades in a lot of people’s pockets. I hope there’s other ideas along similar lines – for instance, planting meat in their pockets so they’re attacked by beasts?
That annoying chat-zoom thing remains. Wish they’d ditch it – there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to turn around or wander about as someone’s speaking to you.
Burke really is rubbish. I’d better be able to kill him. And his actor had better not be handling 30 other NPCs.
ULTRA- SPLODE!
Thanks to sbs and Erlend M
01/09/2008 at 11:11 Mike says:
I think you can kill any NPC in the game, no? That was touted in some recent press thing. It screws everything up, but you’re free to do so.
Or that might be on the train straight out of Imagination Town, I dunno.
01/09/2008 at 11:18 Little Green Man says:
I commented on this in your Max Payne Trailer Thread, but I’ll repeat myself: In the city it just looks a LOT like Oblivion, especiallly the awkward way people stop and talk to you, rather than just ignoring you, or they stand and watch you.
The combat looks alright, but I personally really liked Stalker: SOC’s way of saying that all weapons are lethal, so you have to just NOT GET HIT. I loved picking people off, and a couple of times I would clean up with an SMG. However, this looks like the combat is relatively easy and the VATs system makes it even easier. So as long as your relatively close you can headshot anyone with your pistol.
Still looking forward to it though…
01/09/2008 at 11:27 Real Horrorshow says:
Static objects still don’t cast shadows….STILL PISSED.
Did I just hear Malcolm McDowell? The greatest actor of all-time? Talk about real horrorshow.
01/09/2008 at 11:29 Colthor says:
Jolly good, they’ve rekindled the enthusiasm that was killed by the E3 videos.
01/09/2008 at 11:31 John P (Katsumoto) says:
Personally I find the 50s music playing on loop really aggravating. I mean, in Fallout 1 + 2 you heard it in the intro and the outro (is that a word) and it really made an impression. Hearing it 24/7 will just get piss irritating in my opinion. I want moody evil atmospheric NASTINESS. Luckily I think you can turn it off with your pipboy or whatever.
01/09/2008 at 11:32 stavrosthewonderchicken says:
I have a suspicion the second speaking character in this bit is the guy who did Brother bloody Jauffre, but I’m not sure.
Oh lordy why’d they go and hire this over-emoting ACT-OR again. Instantly reminded of Oblivion, boom out of immersion. Ah well.
01/09/2008 at 11:33 Chris Evans says:
A pretty good interview with Pete Hines and Istvan Pely over on Shacknews
01/09/2008 at 11:41 Naurgul says:
Mike, I’m pretty sure it was just your imagination, there will be un-killable NPCs in this game, as far as I know. Wait for a second confirmation from someone more knowledgeable than me, if you wish, but don’t get your hopes too high.
01/09/2008 at 11:48 simonkaye says:
The last time we saw a clutch of demonstration videos voiced by this guy, the vast majority of what we saw simply wasn’t present in the final game. Oblivion didn’t have anything like the kind of ‘Radiant AI’ that the equivalent trailers suggested it would. So why should we trust these? Admittedly, there are no claims here on anything like as ambitious a scale.
01/09/2008 at 11:49 Meat Circus says:
OH MY GOD THE VOICES MAKE THEM STOP
01/09/2008 at 11:51 Richard says:
MR. BURKE: “I’d like you to blow up this shitty town and kill everyone in it.”
BAR PATRONS: “Dude, we’re like, right here…”
01/09/2008 at 11:56 Ian says:
E3 had lowered my Excite-O-Meter into one of the varying shades of Meh, but this has rekindled my hopes somewhat, though I can’t quite put my finger on why. Some iffy voice-acting and/or writing there but plenty of other things I liked the look of. Presumably they’d changed the settings so his health/armour was way up, otherwise the combat looks too easy.
Also, does EVERYTHING have to lead to people’s body parts flying about? The thing with the pneumatic punches I could just about handle, but the “railway-gun” I was hoping to see more impalement rather than flying heads for a successful headshot.
Because I’m into the exploring, I loved that first view when stepping out of the vault tunnel. Just that huge expanse of area to play in. I suspect I shall be quite giddy when I see that for the first time in-game.
01/09/2008 at 11:57 Andrew says:
That looks so much better than the E3 video. It makes me wonder why they bothered with that thing at all.
Loving the radio.
01/09/2008 at 11:59 davidalpha says:
burke: I hardly know you but i trust you enough to give you the vital part needed for our plan to blow up this town.
if I can’t kill that guy ill just stop playing after I meet him
01/09/2008 at 11:59 Pavel says:
I was wondering when were you gonna write about those. There is a lot of things that dont make sense (but hopefully will in the full game), but I like the overall atmosphere.
I dont understand why they had to change for example how the vault doors etc work, when they had perfect example of it in Fallout 1 intro.
01/09/2008 at 12:01 Real Horrorshow says:
@ Ian
Actually the railway gun impailed the guy’s head to a store shelf…
01/09/2008 at 12:04 Schadenfreude says:
You could find “Stealth Boys” in the first Fallout. Seem to remember them being rare enough but I could be wrong.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Stealth_Boy
01/09/2008 at 12:06 Bobsy says:
Chrissake. I mean really, you’d think Oblivion would’ve tipped them off? DON’T WASTE YOUR ACTING BUDGET ON BIG NAME CELEBS AND LET THE REST GO TO WASTE YOU BASTARDS.
Liam Neeson. Liam f(lo)cking Neeson!
01/09/2008 at 12:06 Alex says:
The bad guy in the Megaton vid is indeed one of the Oblivion voice actors. I can’t believe they cop out by not showing the explosion!
01/09/2008 at 12:13 Andrew says:
You should keep watching, it’s in a later video.
01/09/2008 at 12:15 Alex says:
Thank god! I was wondering what is happening to the internet these days, omitting a perfectly good explosion like that.
Does that other voice, when you’re watching the explosion with Burke not sound like dr. Kleiner from Half-Life?
01/09/2008 at 12:17 realmenhuntinpacks says:
you know, I would be excited. When this drops, what do you think the specs will be? Stalker wouldn’t run on my knackered old glue steed, so I’m sure this lad willnae either.
01/09/2008 at 12:17 Kyr says:
I foresee the great whining on this matter. In fact, it’s already started all over the world.
01/09/2008 at 12:22 Ian says:
@ Real Horrorshow: Ah, so it does. I think I’d seen what was presumably the enemy’s weapon (when it pans around and you see the player) and thought it was the projectile hitting and knocking off his head but then stopping.
Well that’s better than plane old beheading at least. :)
01/09/2008 at 12:23 Alex says:
I was getting more and more depressed while watching those vids. It seems the only way my PC will be able to run this is on my sheer willpower alone. :(
01/09/2008 at 12:25 Flubb says:
Certainly brings back the interest factor.
(I wonder what gaming impact nuking a city has?)
01/09/2008 at 12:29 MetalCircus says:
i dont get why the pick pocketing feels awkward? It was essentially the same in fallout 1 2 (but with fallout interface HOBviously)
But yeah. Looking good. Apart from that rubbish voice actor from Oblivion.
Oh, and I was thinking, i hope you can mod this for PC, I can see people making combat mods to make the combat more fallout-esque
01/09/2008 at 12:42 K says:
If I have an unexploded nuclear bomb in my town, I’d expect a little fence built around it, at least.
01/09/2008 at 12:45 Alex says:
You’d think twice about building a town around it before you start thinking about a little fence, I’d say.
On the other hand, in a world burned away by raging nuclear fire, health & safety regulations probably take the backburner, if you will.
01/09/2008 at 12:52 Radiant says:
That all seemed really boring.
01/09/2008 at 12:53 Monkfish says:
I wonder if Bethesda have re-hired the voice actor from Oblivion that sounded a bit like Brian Cant.
That would be cool. *
* May not, in fact, be cool at all.
01/09/2008 at 12:58 Paul Moloney says:
I hope it can be modded too… at last count, I think I have about 50 installed in Oblivion. Nothing major, but it’s the little tweaks I love the most – mods that add extra hot-keys, illuminated windows, and, of course, the wonderfully-named “Dude, Where’s My Horse?” The latest one I installed allows you to buy lamps from the Imperial City, which really livened up my display basement.
I bought the first Fallout a few weeks ago, and have played perhaps 20 minutes, but haven’t hit anything exciting yet. It’s just been rat-killing and sand-seeing so far. I’m not sure my plan to finish it before playing Fallout 3 is going to happen….
P.
01/09/2008 at 13:13 kadayi says:
Looks like a step up from Oblivion in terms of gameplay so it’s safe to assume I’ll be buying this. It might not meet the high and mighty desires of a Fallout Sequel as my good friends at NMA might wish for, but at the same time it doesn’t look that bad. I’d of preferred it if the facial animations were upto VTM:B quality, but they are bearable enough.
01/09/2008 at 13:17 SwiftRanger says:
‘Crippled arms’ nowadays means you can keep on shooting and even heal yourself by sleeping/taking stimpaks? Ridiculous levelup sounds and what kind of an achievement is getting out of the vault anyway? Interface doesn’t show enough intel at once, radio music is a bit too much as well imo (nice for an intro, not for in-game), Bloodlines had much better dialogue animations, the atmospheric music doesn’t come close to Morgan’s work… not impressed at all but there is a sense it could be a lot more though when everything comes together.
I really hope they can get those mod tools out asap.
01/09/2008 at 13:23 Pod says:
It’s nice to see that in the future people are as willing to tell complete strangers random facts, their entire life stories and details about jobs that need doing without even a hint of difficulty much like they did in medieval times.
I’m curious as to why no one these days does it, but from what the world of RPGs tells me, it was massively commonplace back then and obviously in the future. THE FUTURE!
01/09/2008 at 13:26 Valentin Galea says:
As I walk in the Valley of Uncanny…
01/09/2008 at 13:29 Willem says:
I also wrote down my thoughts when I saw the videos a few days ago:
Looks very nice. Much better than I expected.
NPC’s look a bit stiff.
I really, really hope the NPC’s don’t do the “Here’s an useless fact for you” thing they always did in Oblivion. No, I don’t want to know about mudcrabs, ffs!
Heavily scripted. That’s good.
They’re recycling voice actors. The guy that wants Megaton blown up was in Oblivion. Possibly a guard. STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM
Use of Mentats like it’s nothing. Hmm.
Megaton looks great, by the way.
I love the music.
Combat looks a bit naff.
I really hope VATS doesn’t instantly mean = GORE
No groin shots. ;_;
No eye shots either. x_x
How old is that Bethesda guy?
Hey look, adapted Mudcrabs. Greeet.
To be fair, everyone is vulnerable to shots in the face.
YES, I’M OVER 18 FFS
POWERFIST YES
hang on. You can aim at bodyparts with the powerfist, right? RIGHT?
fuck that gore
voice actors are a bit…shit. gruff voice time now!
again voice from Oblivion. This time a black guard, I think.
Okay, the handgrenade thing is just stupid of him.
Impressive explosion.
01/09/2008 at 13:39 muscrat says:
My god the combat looks terrible…
And yes there are unkillable characters; the “main ones” just like Oblivion -_-
Erk.
Oh Bethseda, how the mighty have fallen into design mediocreness to cater primarily to casual gamers, exchanging ‘acessability’ for any game design depth.
My opinion on Fallout 3 is still pessimistic… I’d like it to be otherwise, but these videos keep enforcing it. Just hearing about oblivion compared to Fallout does so too.
*sigh*
01/09/2008 at 13:40 Bollocks Mallone says:
Plenty of immersion killers:
- functioning bioshock vending machine in the middle of a wasteland desert
- oblivion models you are forced to look at while they ‘speak’ (the mouth moves, but nothing else on the face does)
- hey stranger blow up this city k thx. Better use a nuke, ’cause its heavily fortified with scrap metal and tumbleweed. My hideout with oblivion style indoors is within viewing distance but oh well radiation ftw!
- I sure hope he was using god mode during all that combat that involved unloading half a clip into enemies that barely react until they lose their last 1hp
- scoped weapons = multiply the physics backflip 10x
- quake 1 colour sceme
01/09/2008 at 14:03 Butler` says:
Sadly unimpressed – which is a shame, because I really did enjoy Oblivion in so many ways.
01/09/2008 at 14:13 Voidman says:
Was there a moment of an overhead-rotate-at-will-birds-eye camera?! (as opposed to TPP-over-the-shoulder one) Could this possibly be an option to play this game?
Also, what’s the deal with those bodies. Ability to eject one’s limbs/head when injured seems to be a common mutation. Beware of radscorpion sting, it makes you jump out of your kneecaps! What a moronic idea to handle all criticals this way.
Most creatures/hostiles seem to share the mind and run at you blind no doubt attracted to your magnetic personality. While acceptable (only barely) for creatures running amok, the raider mooks seem to be a major letdown.
The bomb quest is laughable, you don’t need to wait till nightfall even, just casually approach the thing and in front of the towns mob (clearly too high on jet to even blink their beady eyes) tinker with it. Another thing is what that bomb is doing there in a first place, was the settlement build around it (or had it fallen and not gone off). Either way I would imagine some sort action would have taken place as in “Gods must have wanted to spare our miserable lives and stopped the explosion let’s venerate the bomb as a relic and build a shrine around it” (there is a church on Malta where they had a conventional bomb consecrated cos it fell on the church and not-exploded – take cue Bethesda) or “unexploded a-bomb in the village?! Maybe we should like piss off just in case it corrodes and releases radiation (not to mention the other possible outcome involving lots of heat and cataclysmic energy). If there are more precious little setting flavours like that one I intend to become a tad discontented.
Rather spiffy water effects (but that’s just gloss).
I like the idea of a solitary surviving tower building being a fortified enclave of sorts (spotted different (I assume pre-holocaust) dress codes and decor inside).
Beware of car wrecks, they are all rigged with unstable explosives. Incredible! I demand exploding barrels placed in strategic points, oh and crates with loot (crowbar probably in-game already).
Customization via found accessories I like, beverage vending machines stocking ammo not so much.
That presentation is only marginally better then the E3 material. Somehow I can’t shake the feeling that Bethesda minions have enough skill and potential to deliver a fantastic game and yet the product of their efforts seem to lack some tangible completeness and suffers from “well ok I guess but not quite there” syndrome. Could it by any chance mean rushed? Hmmm the plot thickens…
01/09/2008 at 14:21 Ian says:
By the way, perhaps somebody who possibly knows more about firearms than is healthy can explain to me the practicality of handguns with scopes?
I’m no weapons expert but that suggests you’re pulling the hand gun right up to your face to fire.
Unless it’s Prey-style and has a living suction cup thing that clamps itself to your face.
01/09/2008 at 14:24 Jetsetlemming says:
Definitely needs some color in a couple of those indoor places. I can easily forgive them for a nuclear wasteland being all brown and grey, but the grocery store? The inside of Tenpenny tower? The insides of that last building were entirely goldish brown without a single other visible color. Horrid.
Also their ragdolls and gore look shit. You’d think this was the first time they’ve ever had them or something. :/ Everything falls apart way too easily, and the way bodies break looks unnatural. A grenade went off under a dude’s feet at one point and the ragdoll was still whole except one leg cleanly fell off. They should have something like old school games, Deus Ex and the like, where an exploded enemy gets turned into nothing but little meat chunks.
Other than THAT stuff, it looked awesome.
Ian: You hold it a few inches away. Handgun scopes are specifically designed so a) They stick off the back of the gun a bit, and b) You don’t need to be right up against them to see. They’re held about the same place you’d hold the gun looking down the sights to aim.
That said, they aren’t much used, because you don’t get all that much range and accuracy from a handgun anyway. Some people hunt with big ass revolvers with scopes but that’s pretty much the extent of their usage.
01/09/2008 at 14:31 Kong says:
I still doubt that Bethesda can make a good game. It seems that they include everything that was not in Oblivion and exaggerate (language, gore). I like ragdoll effects, but a bullet does not make a body fly through the air. This can be fun one or two times, but even exploding heads do not motivate me for more than 89 minutes.
I would not want to read “hidden” or “danger” in the center of the display all the time, that is one reason why I hate online rpg’s with name tags floating above heads.
I will never forgive Bethesda the teleporting-guard thing in Oblivion nor the pauldron wings that seem to enjoy a comeback with Fallout 3. Disgusting american non-style.
01/09/2008 at 14:41 Mr Wonderstuff says:
Very negative comments here. Clearly a majority here won’t be getting it. I liked it, very atmospheric. As for the [people who express interest in the thinking behind] scopes on guns…well it is a game not COD 4 (I think some people forget that).
If this thread tells me anything its that gamers [like to talk about games].
Oh its not perfect…the voice acting is off-putting when they use actors from Oblivion.
01/09/2008 at 14:42 AbyssUK says:
What about the horrible movement.. where is the head bobbing ? It feels totally wrong… its more like your flying.. that’s going to me fixed right??
01/09/2008 at 14:46 Salen says:
Mister Burke is played by the same voice actor as the central character in the Dark Brotherhood thing in Oblivion. With the exact same idiotic ‘evil’ voice style.
The zombie trying to get in to Tenpenny Towers was voiced by one of the people that did the Argonians in Oblivion.
The voice behind the speaker outside Tenpenny Towers was the same one that did many Redguards in Oblivion, including the guy who admits you to the Thieves Guild.
It really is Oblivion with guns, and without colours. Using the same bad voice actors just serves to break the immersion, both from their lines simply not flowing correctly and from you being reminded of the legions of Oblivion characters with the same voice.
01/09/2008 at 14:47 araczynski says:
been refusing to watch any of the recent trailers of the game so as to not spoil any moments for myself. i have faith in bethsoft to deliver a great game. could care less whether its anything like the previous fallouts.
my only decision is whether to get the regular pc edition or the full blown one with the clock and lunchbox…. i could use a clock in my gaming room…
01/09/2008 at 14:51 The Hammer says:
Oh, god. Haven’t even seen the video, and I now know I don’t want to… I hated his voice and its numerous appearances on other characters!
01/09/2008 at 14:52 Ian says:
@ Mr Wonderstuff: If that was directed (fully or partially) at me I’d like to point out my gripe wasn’t with Fallout 3, it was a question about scopes on handguns in general. Be it in a video game or actual, factual guns.
01/09/2008 at 14:53 Paul Moloney says:
“been refusing to watch any of the recent trailers of the game so as to not spoil any moments for myself. i have faith in bethsoft to deliver a great game. could care less whether its anything like the previous fallouts.”
Without wanting to sound like a pathetic fAn bOi (and failing miserably), that’s my attitude too. I mean, I could easily write a page nitpicking many elements of “Oblivion”, but the whole for me was much greater then the sum of parts. I love that game and have played for 2 years on and off (I think 260 hours of play the last time I checked). So I’m quite happy to take a punt on Fallout 3.
P.
01/09/2008 at 14:54 Mr Wonderstuff says:
“What about the horrible movement.. where is the head bobbing ? It feels totally wrong… its more like your flying.. that’s going to me fixed right?”
Finally, there is someone who noticed this. Actually it was in Oblivion as well. With games like Dark Messiah you actually felt you were in control of a person as opposed to a camera like Oblivion and seemingly Fallout 3.
01/09/2008 at 14:55 Alex says:
Rather controversially it seems, this looks like it could be a nice bit of fun to me. ;)
I do agree that Oblivion had lots of incongruencies and mistakes, but I did enjoy playing it a lot.
I think I’ll go so far as to say I am looking forward to Fallout 3. Which is nice.
01/09/2008 at 15:04 Andrew says:
Of all the complaints here, I think the one about the retro music on the radio being bad simply because it’s not only in the intro like it was in the original Fallout games is the one that most deserves to be excised and booted back to NMA where it belongs.
01/09/2008 at 15:07 hydra9 says:
Visually, it’s very nice. I’m still confused about the VATS system, though – It looks like no effort or skill is required at all – Just pause time, select a body part with a 95% chance of hitting it, and KABOOM, your bullet rips a head or limb off as though the person had been pre-dunked in that toxic waste vat from RoboCop. But surely I’m missing something…
01/09/2008 at 15:07 Larington says:
I chose to go into this with 0 expectations and whilst I still dislike that whole focus on character during dialogue thing, I can live with that. Overall the experience looks to be very positive.
I found Fallout 1 and 2 to be a little bit dull to play to be honest and this looks different enough to be refreshing.
That said I do agree with some of the nit picking, for instance lack of colour in the mega mart and all of that period music could get rather tiresome, but theres no garauntee of that and it’ll likely be down to personal tastes anyway, we’ll see. I think its going on my buy around release date list in any case, not many games are doing that at the moment.
01/09/2008 at 15:12 Willem says:
@Salen: Bethesda are a bit thick, it seems. There were a lot of complaints about the limited voice actors in Oblivion and which voices do we hear in the Fallout 3 trailers? The same bloody ones. Unless this is a cunning and annoying bluff, they really are pants-on-head retarded.
@hydra9: That’s how it works, normally. You pick a body part and shoot it. In the previous games, however, there was only a small chance of actually getting a critical hit, which does not seem to be the case here.
01/09/2008 at 15:12 Ian says:
@hydra9: I’ve been working on the assumption with most Fallout 3 vids that they’ve made everything easy (high skills, armour, etc.) to show off the system.
01/09/2008 at 15:19 Jochen Scheisse says:
All in all, a lot of good news on these trailers. Looks like people actually have their belongings in their inventory, most of the dialogue does in no way remind me of typical Bethesda, the radio’s a great idea, and I like the hud. Customisation of your character’s a nice gimmick. I really hope I’ll somehow be able to play this.
Mr. Burke is, well, it’s a computer game. It’s okay. As long as he’s one of a few.
01/09/2008 at 15:20 Colinmarc says:
the no-scope with the pistol:
Is this glass bulletproof? No sir.
01/09/2008 at 15:24 Mark says:
Bitch, bitch, bitch.
01/09/2008 at 15:24 Noc says:
On. Mr. Burke . . .
I don’t mind having an over the top, cartoon villain. But to pull that off you need to sell it; he needs to be gesticulating wildly, throwing his head back when he does one of those laughs . . .
Not giving the job to you in the pub, but having you meet him at a cliff overlooking the town at midnight, where he can gesture and pace and overact properly. I mean . . . if you took a video of the guy voice acting, that’s probably the sort of stuff he’d be doing. It just looks really . . . weird when it’s delivered with a stiff back and a constant stare.
That’s something I really wish they’d gotten down. Dynamic speech behavior, instead of the head wobbling and the occasional stiff, scripted action. That’d be easier if they took out the zoom, too.
01/09/2008 at 15:25 Chris says:
Can I still set off the nuke if I knife Burke and nick the pulse inductificator from his twitching corpse?
01/09/2008 at 15:27 muscrat says:
Somthing tells me that Bethseda lost the plot in trying to figure out WHY Fallout has such dedicated fans, who are so protective of the ip and franchise.
If they could de-construct that, then maybe they would have been on right track in the first place, in creating a modern masterpiece, instead of somthing shoveled to the lowest common denominator – using the IP just for media coverage and attention.
Fallout is well over a decade old and still widely appreciated, and STILL has a thriving dedicated community.
Its testiment to HOW following sequals should be designed. To ignore such a great template is ****ing bizzare.
Of course it kind of conflicts with the idea that everything had to be totally action orientated nowadays, to hold peoples attention for five minutes.
No explosions and exessive bloom, no sales.
In certain gaming markets….
Oh well at least this is mostley speculation off previews and trailers. Maybe a miracle can happen.
01/09/2008 at 15:30 Willem says:
I feel the need to explain the concern expressed rather vigorously here by the Fallout fans to the confused onlookers. You have to look at it like this. At the moment, Bethesda looks to be acting like Hollywood. Confused? I’ll explain.
There’s a film. Nothing big budget about it, not made in America. Let’s say it’s a British film. It’s a little gem, everyone that watches it loves it. It’s a drama, that leaves no eyes drie. A few years pass and an American remake of the film is announced. Hollywood enters the picture. It gets a big fuck-off budget and is given to John Woo. They cut the emotional and dramatic bits and throw in slo-mo, explosions and guns. All the actors are now 20 years old, sexy and blonde. Also Keanu Reeves or some other poor actor. It’s shit.
And everyone that saw the original film thinks it’s a disgrace. They feel like the original film was [disserviced].
And that’s the road Bethesda look to be going down. Of course, I hope that I’m wrong here, it’s one of the few games I’m actually looking forward to. But so far, they haven’t done much to make me think otherwise. Maybe it’s just their marketing that’s amazingly shit (it is) and their game will be great, but I’m still concerned.
We’re nitpicking and critising out of love of the original games, not out of hatred for Bethesda. (Well, maybe a bit. Do not want Oblivion with guns ;_; )
01/09/2008 at 15:33 Marianna says:
Aaaaargh, pickpocketing! Aaaaargh! I hate it! It was bad in Morrowind, bad in Oblivion, and I was really hoping they wouldn’t include it in Fallout 3… waaaaah…
01/09/2008 at 15:36 Man Raised By Puffins says:
Looking pretty good to me, there are a number of niggles in there but on this evidence Bethesda are doing enough for me.
Also, good to see a wide selection of beards on offer.
01/09/2008 at 15:37 Sum0 says:
I’ve finally come to the conclusion that if you just ignore what came before and take Fallout 3 as a spin-off rather than a sequel, it’s a lot easier to accept it as what it is: an FPSRPG which is going to be a lot like Oblivion. But I liked Oblivion, you know? I truly and unashamedly think Oblivion is the best RPG of modern times, so I’m looking forward to this.
Things I am concerned about, however: the run-and-gun combat, and while I love over-the-top gore, there’s no point if heads blow off with every gunshot – it should be a rare thing when you do shitloads of damage. Also, the way the interface feels like Oblivion with a new skin, right down to “You have discovered…” and suchlike. Also, that bloody voice acting, though I’m glad they’ve got some other people in. And the head locking convo thing. Essentially these things make me think I’m playing Oblivion, which is jarring when I’m playing a completely different game.
But, past all that, these videos have rekindled my interest in the game. It’s just the atmosphere which I love, the locations and environments and that … meta-gameplay that only RPGs do.
Oh, and yes, Man Raised By Puffins, I too was pleased at the beard selection. I cannot think of a single game with a wide selection of beards that wasn’t good.
Also, regarding the easiness of VATS: I noticed some of the percentages were pretty low and they still hit, so I’m hoping they just cheated for the purposes of the video. I want VATS to stay as something extremely risky to be used in the right situation, not a all-purpose combat tool.
01/09/2008 at 15:40 monkeymonster says:
Wow, considerable amount of hate here due to the oblivion links…. I wonder if the vitriol would be quite so frothy and spat at the screen if like myself you’d never played oblivion and therefore are looking forward to this as much as a mudcrab likes a fresh facepack. Washed out colours aplenty but it is a post apocalyptic world made of re-use. Nowt fresh – and unless you happen to come across an underground dulux factory that somehow survived I could quite believe a fair bit of colour washout had occurred everywhere unless hermetically sealed behind lead walls.
You may nitpick against conversations seemingly held quite loudly in a public place but don’t then in the same breath ask for a fresh lick of paint and objectiveness from the few people who’ve survived in such a scenario when mensa is no longer around….
I’m off to omnomnom the cake that is a lie :)
01/09/2008 at 15:50 Nick says:
But.. pickpocketing and planting armed explosives on NPCs was a great part of Fallout!
Nothing like slipping some armed dynamite down a persons trousers and running off, giggling.
01/09/2008 at 15:51 Walsh says:
This thread is WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNE!
Apparently the only way a RPG is good is if you can kill the NPCs but you can’t talk to them randomly out of the blue either.
01/09/2008 at 16:26 groovychainsaw says:
it’s not perfect, but then neither was oblivion, and both games are still trying to do more than 99% of other games were doing. Having put in a good 150 hours with oblivion, I actually think this looks better, so maybe 200 hours with this! ;-)
01/09/2008 at 16:40 Dude says:
Obviously it will be crap, it is mainstream, it is action orientated, it is Bethesda….
Frankly I get tired of people always complaining it is not the “right” sequel to fallout. Well, get over it, if you wish they never touched it then go to NMA and continue talking about how great are fallout 1&2 and that games are not what they used to be… When I read them I fell old, seems like my grand father is talking.
Onto the subject, I am quite happy to see the footage, finally a good post-apo RPG… I like the washed out color, but like a lot of pple I was hoping for more color at some place. Some odd moment as well, as mentioned the bad guy asking you out loud to blow the town and no one seems to mind, same with you fixing the bomb… ah well, but it is a video game so I can of expect those moment anyway.
Good things that made me laugh, the “tchou-tchou” gun, the powerfist (stealth+powerfist, huuummm), the grenade in the pant. I also liked the kind of way the last building look out of place, people taking their tea like victorians in the middle of a waste land, that scored some point in my book…
So overall I think I will have fun with this one.
01/09/2008 at 16:49 Paul Moloney says:
“When I read them I fell old, seems like my grand father is talking.”
‘Nostalgia is heroin for old people’ – Dara Ó Briain.
I remember the original Slashdot thread about Bethesda doing Fallout as being the mostly hilariously over-the-top thing ever. The level of outrage was as if people had been asked to hand their children in for medical experimentation to a hospital owned by Gary Glitter.
P.
01/09/2008 at 16:49 LionsPhil says:
Oh dear. I really wanted to like this, despite the E3 trailer. But these don’t help one bit. They just make things worse.
It starts off good—the moment they got outside, the same exploration itch triggered as with Oblivion, although there’s the risk of the same bitter taste of highly unvaried scenery. (The zoom-out third person view a bit later is nice, too.) The hover drone seems somewhat out of place and high-tech, but perhaps someone gutted a Mr Handy. But then a burnt-out car somehow manages to catch fire and explode, and it all goes a bit wrong.
As has been said, “crippled” now seems to mean “slightly bruised, kiss it better”; the faces look better, but the voicework is shoddy and the ridiculously limited animation doesn’t match. And then we get the worst G-Man ever. Ye Gods.
Tinkering with the bomb right in front of the guy praying to it has to be one of the most incongruous pieces of CRPG garbage I’ve ever seen, and I can only hope that they’re going to fix that to require stealth, speech, or bloody murder.
Alchemical component collecting and mutant mudcrabs. Yeah, keep telling me it’s not “Oblivion with guns”. At least mutant mudcrabs have an excuse to be instantly hostile. Conversely, yay, radscorpion!
Totally agreed that the supermarket is dreary garbage, as is the robot. Sigh. Where are Blizzard when you need them? I hope the railway gun is outclassed by some other rifle, because a comical “toot toot” after every shot is even more annoying than the bullet-time malarky after every VATS kill.
Again, agreed on the stealth boy: horribly out of place. And it looks like they’re keeping up with a fine FPS tradition by giving grenades bugger-all splash damage. We get another demonstration of meaningless crippled limbs, too: not even slowed down by a broken leg.
“You’ve lost karma!” Subtle. Looks like the nuke was from the school of underpowered grenade explosions, too, although that’s quite a pretty mushroom cloud.
Sigh. Well, maybe it’ll piss on an excellent predecessor less than Deus Ex 2 did.
(Parting shot: does anyone else find the smoothness of console FPS viewpoint movements unpleasant?)
01/09/2008 at 17:25 Willem says:
@Dude: The only thing worse than people whining about this game is people whining about people whining about this game.
People whining about those people are great though, but people whining about those people are annoying again.
Also, why was the word “shit” changed to disserviced in my last post? Can’t I dislike imaginary films that I made up?
01/09/2008 at 17:36 Dude says:
@Willem: Sure I am anoying, I don’t like people whining about things they wouldn’t whine otherwise, I hate even more people whining about me. What wrong with shooting at the whiner?
But it all down to this: put another name on the game and most people will be like “blimey! A fallout like game that doesn’t look like sh***”.
I agree it has some of oblivion’s problems, but if most of the game we get were half as good as oblivion, well I wouldn’t know what to buy….
01/09/2008 at 17:41 martin says:
So Bethesda finally releases the new Oblivion Post-Apocalyptic Overhaul, but it seems it only added new textures, new models, new quests, a new, alternative combat system and a new leveling system (the original in oblivion is a piece of c**p). Why did they not learn their lesson with Oblivion and in cooperated many of the oblivion mods into the new overhaul. So the new Oblivion Overhaul, nicknamed Fallout3, does not other nothing new game play wise.
Final Review, probably good, due to lack of polishh far removed from all time classic.
01/09/2008 at 17:49 LionsPhil says:
Jesus, people, shut the fuck up with the meta-whining. This is a computer game critique website. It is full of opinions on the games. Ideally, these are accompanied by a presentation of the basis behind them. If the comments were restricted to “I am excited about {INSERT GAME HERE} and cannot wish to purchase it!”, it would be somewhat pointless, no?
01/09/2008 at 17:53 Andrew says:
I honestly can’t work out if martin is being sarcastic or not.
01/09/2008 at 17:55 dhex says:
I’m still confused about the VATS system, though
as am i. is there a limit on how often you can use it, etc?
i guess if you have to include some kind of turn-based element, but you’re going to keep it mostly action, you’re kind of stuck with a vats thing?
01/09/2008 at 18:06 hydra9 says:
@dhex:
Well, during the fight with the crab-men things, I could see that as each shot was fired, the crab was moving forward slightly… As this was a tougher enemy with a hard-to-hit ‘weak spot,’ this was where the system seemed to be working. The crab actually got up to the player and managed to whack him with his claws, thus throwing the player out of the VATS mode (or the VATS turn had ended by then – whatever). But all the *human* enemies went down instantly and easily.
I hope other commentators are right when they say that the game is just set to ‘super easy’ right now. If it’s *much* harder to hit people, I can see the system working. And of course, there’ll be tougher b’stards to fight later on.
01/09/2008 at 18:06 Turin Turambar says:
VATS is not a turnbased system. It’s nothing like that. It’s a recharging power, like bullet time in Fear, but it doens’t slow time, it stops it and you can choose a body part to attack.
There isn’t strategic considerations, and there isn’t action points to choose an action: move, shoot, use inventory, shoot carefully, fire in auto mode, etc.
01/09/2008 at 18:09 Willem says:
@Dude: What’s wrong with shooting the whiner? One, it’s being a hypocrite. Two, what LionsPhil said.
And they chose not to make another game. They chose to make a Fallout game. They get the backstory and reputation, so naturally they have to make a game that is worth it.
And even if they didn’t make a Fallout game (so, they wouldn’t have the entire story and such. No vaults, no SPECIAL, no pipboy, etc), we would still notice what they did wrong. Which, as it happens, is quite a lot.
And I thought Oblivion was mediocre at best. I’m not the only one who thinks that.
01/09/2008 at 18:20 martin says:
@andrew: i take it as a compliment because english is not my native language.
IMO, F3 will be like Oblivion, either you like it or you hate it. I will just wait a year or more for the mod community which will finish bethesdas job again before i buy the game.
P.S.: Oblivion is a great game in 2008 when you use 254 mods. I have currently installed app. 20GB of Mods!
01/09/2008 at 18:37 Turin Turambar says:
Also: Yeah, these videos sell the game much better than the E3 videos. I am still not totally hyped, though.
01/09/2008 at 18:41 THEorangePANDA says:
I’ll say this Too much Oblivion, not enogh follout
01/09/2008 at 18:49 SwiftRanger says:
“Of all the complaints here, I think the one about the retro music on the radio being bad simply because it’s not only in the intro like it was in the original Fallout games is the one that most deserves to be excised and booted back to NMA where it belongs”
That kind of music felt classy in Fallout because it was used restrictively there, using it as an actual radio station feels overdone to me. It’s retro fifties alright but not how I’d like to have seen it, it felt ridiculous in the E3 demo and it feels ridiculous now. So please forgive me I don’t want to play the game like that, oh please!
And no, I am not NMA and I am planning to buy the game anyway (or is that hard to notice the hopes for a good game in my first reply?) but all those things shouldn’t even matter whether you think a complaint is valid or not, different opinions keep the world turning, accept it.
01/09/2008 at 18:52 Nallen says:
“This character’s acting is… rubbish,”
I’m certain that is the guy from Oblivion, doing his Dark Brotherhood voice. Urgh.
01/09/2008 at 19:00 Eschatos says:
I don’t mind Mr. Burke. He’s just Lucien Lachance all over again. A bit more subtlety would be appreciated though. I hope those cyclops creatures don’t end up being the mudcrabs of Fallout 3.
Also, I wouldn’t worry too much about every VATS shot blowing body parts on. That’s just the god mode making every shot a crit.
01/09/2008 at 19:10 K says:
If my cursor is over somebody’s head and I shoot in real time, does it have the same chance to hit as in VATS?
01/09/2008 at 19:19 Cooper says:
I still remain convinced that Bethesda have missed the point of Fallout’s gore. All I’ve seen so far is dismembered limbs going whee with fancy physicyness.
As before: Fallout’s gore was pre-animated, and thus always already funny. It takes talent to make a mutant melting from a laser or a rad scorpion explode from a rocket funny, often laugh-out loud hilarious. Algorithmic physicyness is not funny. Impressive, maybe, but it’s not to long before it’s; “oh. look. another decapitation. Heh.”
01/09/2008 at 19:32 PJ says:
and jesus turned water into whine….
games have changed during last 10 yrs. expecting Fallout 3 to be 2nd with revamped graphics is straight silly. considering Oblivion’s sales you really cant expect bethesda not to use verified template.
if they manage to capture the feeling of desolated, ravaged world (and so far it seems that they did just that) it will be a great game, nondependent of the fact it will be much more action oriented.
sorry guys, and welcome to the present of gaming.
ps. we’ve seen selected 50 or so minutes of the game – ofc they showed us some over the top action – dont expect each shot that you fire to decapitate the enemy
01/09/2008 at 19:40 Nick says:
Yeah guys, it’s the future. Only dayglo sheep and orange faces are acceptable.
01/09/2008 at 19:42 VFIG says:
For those of you complaining about the Stealth Boy, I don’t know what you’re on about. I started playing the original Fallout a few weeks ago, and I found a Stealth Boy very early on, that makes me invisible. It’s been very handy, but has quite a limited power supply, so I’ve been using it for more practical causes than anti-pickpocketing explosives.
Also: head-bob sucks. I guess those of you complaining about it have never actually walked or run in real life — you don’t see your whole view swinging about randomly as your head moves, instead your head and eyes stay directed at whatever you’re looking at while the outer parts of your field of view move. Since we don’t have ubiquitous eye-tracking in todays consoles and PCs, we can’t implement this in games yet; and no headwave makes for a more realistic simulation than a bobblehead player camera.
01/09/2008 at 19:58 Alex says:
“I represent certain… interests”
Stop right there, criminal scum! Otherwise, looks fantastic though – I really can’t wait for this. NMA-mewling aside, Bethesda’s talent + Fallout’s environment sounds like a winning formula.
01/09/2008 at 20:01 Himself says:
THIS IS.
A FIRST.
PERSON.
SHOOTER.
oh boy, we’re fucked.
01/09/2008 at 20:17 Bas says:
I will hold of for a year, and come back when the modding community has fixed this. That includes:
- Turning off the stupid chat zooming in thing
- The ridiculous decapitation and limbs shooting off.
Also, I barely notice things that break the immersion (like in Mass Effect, random strangers asking you what they should do with their baby, I didn’t flinch), but even I noticed when he WALKED RIGHT UP TO THE NUKE AND ARMED IT AND NOBODY SAID ANYTHING. Dear God.
01/09/2008 at 20:19 Alex says:
Oh, also (stupid me for missing the comment-editing deadline), I’m loving the hats in this game. You might laugh, but in-game millinery counts for a lot.
01/09/2008 at 20:27 Himself says:
Aside from that, i’ve yet to give Oblivion a shot, so the lack of new voice actors is not much of a problem. For me. Lucky i am!
01/09/2008 at 20:34 D says:
So´ the whole Megaton quest they’ve been hyping for six months consisted of all: 1. Talk to guy. 2. Talk to bomb. 3. Talk to guy. + Push button.
Also, I’m getting tired of hearing about people’s vain hope that “the stupid levels of gore is only because he’s cheating.” If that’s what they choose to show off, then that’s what I’ll believe the game is. Believing differently will just set you up for dissapointment.
01/09/2008 at 20:47 Bhlaab says:
A lot of these things people are bitching about like the guy just openly propositioning you in the bar and being able to waltz right up to the nuke and arm it… I dunno, I just see it as a natural extension of Fallout’s old school stylings where you wouldn’t bat an eye at this sort of thing.
What does bother me is that arming the nuke uses explosive skills instead of Science, which has seemingly just become “hacking” (and is, of course, tied to some dumb minigame. sigh.)
Not to mention the god awful voice actors. Do these guys have some sort of tenure program going on??
01/09/2008 at 20:50 Nate says:
Stiff animations are lame. As for the gore seen in the trailers, this guy took the “Bloody Mess” perk, which causes every enemy to die in an exaggerated way. This is completely optional. In the original FO series you could disable gore altogether. I expect to see something similar here.
Guns have sights for a reason. Please no more crosshairs unless I’m looking through a scope. Please also ensure the bullet path matches the way the gun is pointing at the time. The gun should move a bit as I move, breathe, etc. See Insurgency and COD4 for ex…
I would like the FPS part not to suck whale, but it is reminding me a bit of Bioshock’s. That game was great but the combat was unimpressive. People should have a fun combat experience whether they use VATS or not, but let’s not bollocks-it-up with the crosshair crap just because that makes sense with those crappy-aiming xbox 360 controllers. At least make all this easy to mod, so someone can fix your game if you drop the ball again like with Oblivion…
In the original Fallout series, Mr. Rourke would have told you to meet him in a private room, underground bunker, back at his house, etc to discuss this most catastrophic of proposals. The apparent lack of attention to detail is stunning if not altogether unpredictable. And the whole megaton backstory makes me think the writers were huffing paint or something. you’ve got to be freakin shitting me! Again, in the original, a nuke would be in a vault guarded by 100 Super Mutants!
I really want this to be good.
01/09/2008 at 20:52 Crane says:
“So´ the whole Megaton quest they’ve been hyping for six months consisted of all: 1. Talk to guy. 2. Talk to bomb. 3. Talk to guy. Push button.”
No-oo, that was one way to complete it. That said, being able to arm it right in front of everyone was stupid as hell.
Frankly, I’m not sure what to think yet. I quite like the look of it, the voice acting seems potentially awful… I don’t mind the same actors from Oblivion showing up again, but if they voice as many characters as they did in Oblivion, that willsuck. Oh, and if they have the same stupid scaling level system as Oblivion, I think I’ll scream.
@Nate:
You thought the combat in Bioshock was unimpressive? Presumably you didn’t like Half-Life 2 or Halo either?
01/09/2008 at 21:09 D says:
@Nate: Afaik, the bloody mess makes every limb come off a guy when you shoot him (E3 trailers). I don’t believe he had bloody mess picked for these recent ones, because it had somewhat less gibbing. DONT GET YOUR HOPES UP PEOPLE.
And I don’t want to use the option of disabling gore – it’s awesome if rarity is preserved. *Sigh*
01/09/2008 at 22:24 Erlend M says:
I saw a radscorpion the other day.
Actually, I feel cautiously optimistic about this game. What bothered me most with Oblivion was that with Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul installed (which I did to avoid the game being completely leveled with me), there was just too much grinding required in the game. I hate grinding, but I’d also hate the alternative with vanilla Oblivion, being able to finish the game before even leveling.
For instance, having to create a 1 magicka restoration spell which I cast continuously when walking around to be able to increase my restoration skill to anywhere – that’s a total immersion breaker. I’ve always been more fond of the Fallout type of RPG system, where you amass XP doing quests or killing monsters. Enough XP means that you level, letting you assign skill points as you see fit, even to skills that you haven’t been using at all. Sure, it might be less “realistic” than training skills through use, but it’s far better than having to grind skills that you’re bad at.
Even if Fallout 3 is “Oblivion with guns” to a certain degree, it’ll also be Oblivion with a superior leveling system. Yay!
01/09/2008 at 22:41 wyrmsine says:
These trailers have changed my opinion for the better, except… well, I’d be cautiously optimistic if it weren’t for the colour scheme. “Nuked wasteland = brown/grey ftw” seems the very height of mediocre art direction.
There’s a lot to like in those trailers, though – even where the elements are wholly derivative of previous works (the Robbie-robot and railgun come to mind), they seem to succeed in creating a convincing world.
Still, current feeling is cautiously pessimistic – it seems to have too much of Oblivions faults in it, and the overall art direction is pretty much maimed by that colour scheme.
02/09/2008 at 00:07 Ashbery76 says:
After playing the game 100+ hours you should be able to have the honour to slot your Dad NPC..
02/09/2008 at 00:35 Alexander says:
I really don’t understand how they even failed to successfully exploit their primary Fallout IP pre-teen demography marketable gore and violence. The person shooting the radscorpion, uncanny black hole them Bethesda people discovered!
I guess we are doomed to accept substandard voice, acting, character design, stupidly bad narrative decisions in general, simply to have a glimpse of the superb but horribly ressurrected Fallout IP.
So I am praying now, not for OG, but for the Rage game ID is making and I damn hope they understand. http://www.gametrailers.com/player/38582.html
edit:
It’s late, Fallout IP has deep ties to my aura, I am pissed off. Why on earth does Bethesda force me to choose ‘you don’t scare me’ for every damn time I will encounter the Megaton sherrif… why?!
02/09/2008 at 01:51 Alex says:
This is the kind of gaming I just don’t get. Surely that’s only an ‘immersion breaker’ because you choose to do it. Sure, the game makes it possible to do it, but that doesn’t mean you have to play it that way.
It’s like people who instead of walking somewhere in Morrowind or Oblivion, get there through constantly jumping. The only reason they do it is because that way they can level up quicker. How about just, you know, playing the game instead of focusing on leveling up? It’s baffling to me.
02/09/2008 at 03:24 blindpsychic says:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s no SDK being released with the game, nor do they have plans on releasing one promptly in the future. So any modding that will be done will be fiddling around through the backdoor.
“@Nate:
You thought the combat in Bioshock was unimpressive? Presumably you didn’t like Half-Life 2 or Halo either?”
I have to agree, I really disliked the combat in all of those games. STALKER does it pretty much perfectly for me, able to use iron sights, and people fucking die when you shoot them in the head. I really hate when games get stuck half way between being realistic and being like DOOM. You either go one way or the other. Those videos just feel like you’re strafing around like in DOOM but with completely impotent weapons unless you use VATS. I’d rather you’d either be able to rocket jump around and blast people like you’re a soldier/scout in TF2, or get nitty gritty with the weapon physics, how they handle, and giving us more combat options besides crouch and strafe. (ie, prone, iron sights, melee with weapon, lean, wall hug, etc.)
02/09/2008 at 04:26 Esha says:
I want to be excited about this, but for everything they do right they do two things wrong. Here are a few examples…
Pros:
- Clever and amusing 60′s-inspired robots.
- Graphically interesting.
- The BATS system.
- Hacking looks inventive.
Cons:
- It still seems to be nothing but quests leading to an excuse to kill someone, or hurt someone in some way.
- Is it me or does it look like the torso and pelvis are actually one, whole targetable area? Are the US so afraiid of genitals that I can no longer target them? There go my dreams of pneumatic groping.
- The voice actors from Oblivion, this has been covered already.
- The amount of people who want to talk to the player, this is disturbing because in the original Fallout games there were plenty of people who were quite happy to tell the player to bugger off, and only those desperate for help would ask.
- Man threatens to blow up town of scum whilst town of scum are standing mere inches away from him and should gut him for this but don’t. He should hand the player an envelope with a quest or a meeting place.
- Man trusts person he’s never met (player) with explosives, believing that the player is goinig to do the wrong thing. “I like the cut of your jib kid, here’s some explosives, don’t expose me… please?”
- Looks like a post-apocalyptic Oblivion because despite the lack of boomy faces, people still look far too clean and well-kept (with hair that looks like it’s styled and restyled on an hourly basis) for the environment they’re in.
- Background chatter feels too rehearsed, sounds like a crass sitcom rather than a post-apocalyptic future filled with low-lifes and desperate people. All that nonsense about the radio simply felt awkward, almost as awkward as “Mudcrabs? Dirty creatures.”, but not quite. I’d expect people to keep to themselves, grunting accompanied by the occasional swear, an argument ended by a gunshot… like Westerns! But no.
I can’t say I care though, Fallout has been dead for a long time so I’m ambivalent to Bethesda’s new game. Because Fallout 3 exists doesn’t mean that the first two Fallout games don’t. Fallouts 1 & 2 are still bloody fantastic, and I could quite happily play them again instead (have done recently, actually). I’m not going to buy this, of course… it looks too much of an Oblivionish mess to me, but I’m not angry at them for what they did with the Fallout license either. They’re a company, have money, will get license, have license, will make money.
If they really wanted to get my attention though, a remake of Fallout 1 (keeping every NPC in there and all the original voice samples, no re-recordings!) would be most welcome. And the most exciting part about Fallout 3 is that someone might just do a remake of Fallout 1… though it’ll probably take a few years, so in a few years I’ll be totally hyped about this game.
02/09/2008 at 08:27 Kyr says:
As I foresaw, the whining and moaning. The game that isn’t done yet already made everyone unhappy. Imagine the world, where BethSoft made Fallout 3 without making Oblivion first. What will you do when you have nothing to compare to? Compare not lest you be compared.
02/09/2008 at 08:38 Erlend M says:
You know, I agree with you in principle. I want to be able to play the game naturally and never have to think about grinding. But the skill advancement rate for Restoration (one of the most important of my major skills) was ridiculously low compared to my other skills, so the skill became totally ineffective.
I had to choose between two immersion breakers: Struggling through the game with a really subpar character because the mechanics of the game were unbalanced, or grinding a little. I hated that I had to choose between the two. I guess I could have hacked my savegame to increase my skills, but eew, no.
This is one of the things I’ll like about Fallout 3. Since they’ll be using the same RPG system as the earlier Fallouts, I can just play the game naturally without having to think about how to advance individual skills. My main problem with Oblivion will be removed.
02/09/2008 at 09:39 Mr. President says:
Speaking of good templates, didn’t Oblivion outsell both of the Fallout games, like, 10-to-1?
02/09/2008 at 10:11 aldo says:
Here’s a question – will not having played Oblivion make Fallout 3 better for me?
Hoping it’s good, though. Been needing a good post-apocalyptic wanderer….
02/09/2008 at 10:46 sinister agent says:
… and again, the opening line starts the whole thing off on a mssive cringe. “where no-one ever enters! And no-one ever leaves!”
as if that weren’t embarassing enough, his very next words are “your father has left, and now it’s your turn.”
I mean, seriously. I know it has nothing to do with how good the game may be, but christ. At least TRY to present it well, mate.
Poor acting, there – totally expressionless face on that bloke welcoming you to the town. Better than Obliv already, although a few of the voices sound eerily familiar. At least the girl at the table at least sounded a bit like she meant it. I hope they’re going to tweak the expressions at the last minute.
I like the zoomed out view from above. Some decent third person views are always welcome.
Why is a town built around an atomic bomb, exactly? I mean, I thought living on a fault line was as stupid as people got. But a live nuclear weapon?
And not even being able to TRY something if your skill is too low is a bit dull. Why not let us try the long shots?
Combat seems promising. No groin shots, disappointingly (there should be a cheap shot option, even if just for non-combat characters so they can get a shot or kick off and run), but it looked like you can shoot someone’s gun out of their hand, which could be fun. Gore is a bit over the top though – it’d get old fast.
Liking the music.
Not liking the idiot-proof stealth. “HIDDEN/DANGER” indicators slightly urinate all over the tension, surely.
Punching heads off… doesn’t seem to fit the style of the game, to be honest. But we’ll see I guess. Hand to hand combat looks pretty much exactly like armed combat, just at point blank.
Lockpicking looks promising. Depends how difficult it is and how highers kills would alter that though, I expect.
Drinking water irradiates you, and yet detonating a nuclear device and casually watching it from a few miles away is harmless? I … see.
It could still go either way… I think first and foremost, they need to get rid of all the Oblivion voices entirely. Seriously, they’re bloody horrible. Making the characters a little more expressive would help, too. Then tone down the gore – use it sparingly and it’ll be more fun. And add some colours, ffs. Beyond that… still hard to say. It has promise, but it still worries me.
02/09/2008 at 13:09 Willem says:
@Kyr: We’re not allowed to compare Fallout 3 to Oblivion? I’m fairly sure we actually can, because Oblivion shows us what Bethesda can do. It’s even built with the same engine.
@Mr.President: Well, high sales figures aren’t a sign of quality per se. There are enough great games that barely sold any copies.
And further, you can’t compare the sales figures of games published in 1997 and 1998 to the sales figures of a game published in 2006.
02/09/2008 at 13:17 Colthor says:
Esha says:
- The BATS system.
After 30 days..?
02/09/2008 at 15:03 Vincent V says:
The article mentions too much of grey and brown, but you have to consider, it’s been about 200 years since the bombs fell. All of the packaging in the supermarket, for instance, will have faded and/or disintegrated, and the same goes for painted buildings, etc. The only source of color you would get in this world, at this point in time would be plants. Still, it’s a valid point, and FO1 and 2 had color in them…
02/09/2008 at 15:11 Alec Meer says:
I’ve already said this to someone else, but in a world where you can build a railgun out of scrap metal and fight mutant crab-men, you can’t really employ logic as solid justification for why everything has to be brown.
02/09/2008 at 15:18 The Sombrero Kid says:
yeah but te colour palettte is important for setting the scene and theme of the world, you couldn’t do a game set in this world with a bright colour palette convincingly
02/09/2008 at 15:24 Alec Meer says:
Just because the world needs to be murky doesn’t mean all the objects and people within it should be. To bring today’s arguments full-circle, Stalker’s not a bad comparison – it adds eye-engaging touches of colour to a bleak place without making it not-bleak. And I don’t mean just “there are trees”.
02/09/2008 at 15:43 The Sombrero Kid says:
yeah but as i said in the other thread stalker isn’t a game it’s an experiment in pain lol, seriously i see what you mean but i still think they’re sapping all the colour out to make it seem a bit pre wizard of oz if you know what i mean
02/09/2008 at 16:02 cyrenic says:
Swearing should not be aloud in video games unless they can do it as well as Company of Heroes.
02/09/2008 at 16:03 AndrewC says:
Different colours have different effects on our emotions. Red is ‘hot’, blue is often ‘cold’. People smarter than me can probably dig up lots of articles about this and other related topics, liek syneasthesia. The point being that the careful use of colour can improve and deepen immersion and one’s emotional attachment to the world. Just bleeding out all the colour mostly just makes it boring.
02/09/2008 at 16:08 The Sombrero Kid says:
it’s not like they’re using that palette cause they havn’t heard of the other colours, it was a design descision made for a good reason the cultural mash up of the 50′s and the post apocalyptical future calls for a low contrast palette and you’d be loosing some of that character if you made it TF2 or WOW bright imo
edit changed 30′s to 50′s it’s post war i think
02/09/2008 at 16:09 AndrewC says:
Colour doesn’t mean bright.
02/09/2008 at 16:11 The Sombrero Kid says:
they defiantly use colour i seeeeee it
02/09/2008 at 16:45 Willem says:
Something I’ve been thinking of: How will they get away with the ULTRA-GORE in countries like Germany, where they aren’t that keen on that sort of stuff. (IIRC, Germany doesn’t allow blood in games, or something?)
02/09/2008 at 20:12 KruddMan says:
Anyone else think the Megaton theme sounds like the map music to Jagged Alliance 2?
Not a bad thing
02/09/2008 at 21:33 Plant42 says:
Nope. This isn’t going to cut it. We were hosed when then went full FPS.
How NOT to do a sequel…
03/09/2008 at 05:10 Zyrusticae says:
Y’know, part of me wonders if they should’ve just gone black-and-white…
03/09/2008 at 08:19 Mr. President says:
Megaton is a pretty badass name for a town. I remember Fallout: BOS having a town called “Carbon”, which was also frikkin awesome and probably the only thing that game had going for it.
03/09/2008 at 09:55 rob says:
I’ve just started Mass Effect and the one thing that has consistently impressed me so far is how natural conversations are. Not so much in terms of the dialogue (which pauses uncomfortably as characters wait for one another to finish their lines) but more how they’ve used body language during conversations. Going from a system where characters gesture, pace and change expressions based on what is being said to looking at these trailers makes me think maybe Bethesda could learn a lot from what other people are doing. I don’t know if this is a huge issue since I’m not sure that the focus of the game is going to be on character interaction beyond shooting one another but it really is quite jarring to watch people stand perfectly still and deliver their poorly-acted lines.
05/09/2008 at 19:47 Yhancik says:
I like it.
It’s surely not a masterpiece, and will be plagued by incoherences, exaggerations, bad acting and several flaws of Oblivion. But I want to explore that post-apocalyptic universe, I want to shoot people on *that* music with that puerile crude violence. It’s like one of those post-apocalyptic B-movies from the 80s that you watch because it’s both awesome and pretty stupid. It’s Cyborg, Escape from New-York or The New Barbarians, and I’m perfectly fine with that :D
07/09/2008 at 18:12 Kaininable says:
You should all just shut the fuck up and wait to play the game.Its gonna be good,you all sound like lil whiney bitches.wah wah wah
17/09/2008 at 17:51 Petethegoat says:
People need to learn that all games have flaws, albeit some more than others. I would love to see someone try name a flawless (or near flawless) game.
Pong doesn’t count. :D
28/10/2008 at 16:39 Joe says:
Okay, everyone: yes the game has some flaws like the acting, and how overly gory it is, but the in only a few hours, I will be playing this game and I know it will kick ass. Seriously, this is SCIENCE!, not science. Plus, dull colors make sense when food is more important than living in a well furnished house. And this is still not the final version of the game. I’m sure they’re reading forums like this and changing things. I have high expectations after Oblivion (I’d never played anything like it b4), but Bethesda will deliver. Also, everything they have created works well in this fictional world!