The Official Fallout 3 Thread.

[Fire Daemon]

11 more days I think. Here anyway. I haven't pre-ordered it yet but I might do so the day before it comes out for the special treats.

 

[haruvister]

Because, I suspect, the spirit of the first two games are a live and well in the third iteration.

Then you're in for an unpleasant surprise.

A tad vague. Can you elaborate, please?

 

[[zonking great]]

Some people did not like Oblivion and because Bethesda made Oblivion and has been working on Fallout 3, they assume Fallout 3 is bad.

 

[ReepNeep]

Because, I suspect, the spirit of the first two games are a live and well in the third iteration.

Then you're in for an unpleasant surprise.

A tad vague. Can you elaborate, please?

You see, the core element of the first Fallout is freedom. The stated design goal was to produce a PC game that replicated the experience of playing a pen-n-paper RPG. The only limit to what you can do should be your imagination. Interact with the NPCs in any way you want. Tell the main questline to sit on it and spin. The vast majority of quests had at least four different ways to finish them with many having more. There was always an option to con your way through and often a way to double-cross the quest giver and/or anyone else involved.

This is also reflected in the character creation. Adjust your stats and skill as you please. Pick a couple of Traits, or pick one, or none. Pick from a huge list of Perks that come up every few levels. Play a petty thief with a drug problem. Play a Downs child with dialogue choices to match. Play a pacifist who never directly does harm to anyone in the game.

Fallout 3 does away with most of this. The biggest indicator of this is the fact that some NPCs are unkillable, and you don't even get dialogue options that can piss them off to the point they try to kill you or even refuse to deal with you. The lack of killable children is understandable as that would surely give the game an AO rating.

It's closer to Fallout that I was expecting, but at it's core its still just Oblivion with guns. They obviously tried, and the horrible stock Elder Scrolls topic based dialogue is gone, replaced with old school conversational trees that are at the very least competently written.

*shrugs*

If you appreciate Fallout for what it was and think it was the best RPG ever made (as I, and many of the other fans of the originals do), you will be very disappointed with simplified, limiting structure of Bethesda's Fallout. If you liked Oblivion and never played the originals, or, god forbid, didn't like them, you should adore Fallout 3 as it fixes a lot of Oblivion's problems.

I enjoy it as a good FPSRPG, but it's no Fallout.

 

[Robert0288]

Because, I suspect, the spirit of the first two games are a live and well in the third iteration.

Then you're in for an unpleasant surprise.

A tad vague. Can you elaborate, please?

You see, the core element of the first Fallout is freedom. The stated design goal was to produce a PC game that replicated the experience of playing a pen-n-paper RPG. The only limit to what you can do should be your imagination. Interact with the NPCs in any way you want. Tell the main questline to sit on it and spin. The vast majority of quests had at least four different ways to finish them with many having more. There was always an option to con your way through and often a way to double-cross the quest giver and/or anyone else involved.

This is also reflected in the character creation. Adjust your stats and skill as you please. Pick a couple of Traits, or pick one, or none. Pick from a huge list of Perks that come up every few levels. Play a petty thief with a drug problem. Play a Downs child with dialogue choices to match. Play a pacifist who never directly does harm to anyone in the game.

Fallout 3 does away with most of this. The biggest indicator of this is the fact that some NPCs are unkillable, and you don't even get dialogue options that can piss them off to the point they try to kill you or even refuse to deal with you. The lack of killable children is understandable as that would surely give the game an AO rating.

It's closer to Fallout that I was expecting, but at it's core its still just Oblivion with guns. They obviously tried, and the horrible stock Elder Scrolls topic based dialogue is gone, replaced with old school conversational trees that are at the very least competently written.

*shrugs*

If you appreciate Fallout for what it was and think it was the best RPG ever made (as I, and many of the other fans of the originals do), you will be very disappointed with simplified, limiting structure of Bethesda's Fallout. If you liked Oblivion and never played the originals, or, god forbid, didn't like them, you should adore Fallout 3 as it fixes a lot of Oblivion's problems.

I enjoy it as a good FPSRPG, but it's no Fallout.

So would you say a proper fallout 3 in the spirit of the originals, would be impossible to recreate because of:
1) the censors, and the game probably getting a AO rating because of the drugs, alcohol, and child killing
2) Impossible to have a combat system like they had in the original, when while in combat you had to use AP to even walk and to try to keep range on your enemies, which is impossible in a FPS game.
3) sheer amount of time needed to create potentially dozens of alternate senario's for each quest, and how it would effect the ending.

My personal idea that it would be impossible to create a true sequal to fallout 1 and 2 without using the over the top view of games from that era, also I'm reserving judgement untill i get my hands on the game, and attempt to go homicidal in my own vault

 

[pieeater911]

I'm very excited for this game.

Had the Special Edition pre-ordered for three and a half months.

 

[chronobreak]

Eh, I think I may skip this one for now. Seems too in-depth and confusing to me. I recently tried Fallout 2, trying to get into the series, but the learning curve is just awful imo, way too many options of what kind of stats or upgrades, just couldn't get into it. And I love FPS and RPG games. Guess I'll wait for the feedback.

Is anyone else in this situation? Looks to me like everyone is going to be crawling over their dead counterparts in line to get this game.

 

[mipegg]

Iv never really been a fan of fallout, it just never really clicked with me. Though I do have to say that the new one looks like it could be quite fun, I'll probably borrow it off someone to see what its like then wait until the price drops to buy it. It doesnt seem to be doing any single aspect that other games have done already, it just seems to be doing a fair few of them quite well. Though this could all be good advertising, remember how awesome oblivion looked?

Also, to the person who said Xbox magazine gave it 10/10? Is this the 'official' magazine, the one that never gives anything below a 7, give or take a few points?

 

[Gestapo Hunter]

I NEED that lunch box..and that Nuke cola

 

[ReepNeep]

So would you say a proper fallout 3 in the spirit of the originals, would be impossible to recreate because of:
1) the censors, and the game probably getting a AO rating because of the drugs, alcohol, and child killing
2) Impossible to have a combat system like they had in the original, when while in combat you had to use AP to even walk and to try to keep range on your enemies, which is impossible in a FPS game.
3) sheer amount of time needed to create potentially dozens of alternate senario's for each quest, and how it would effect the ending.

My personal idea that it would be impossible to create a true sequal to fallout 1 and 2 without using the over the top view of games from that era, also I'm reserving judgement untill i get my hands on the game, and attempt to go homicidal in my own vault

1: Pretty much. A high profile, graphically detailed modern game simply can't get away with that. A few concessions can be made without seriously wounding the game (I'm not some crazy black and white absolutist here) but that is a very fine line to walk, perhaps impossible and certainly beyond Bethesda's skill.

2: This one is really complicated and, I assume, subjective. The more action elements are added to a game, the more the Player's skill is favored over PC's skill. The very act of making the game real-time contributes to this. You can strike a good balance, the best example of which is Bloodlines. The best actual FPSRPGs like Deus Ex and System Shock are relatively slow paced and more about making good decisions than your FPS-ish twitch skills.

Fallout 3 has more shooter in it's blood than any of the other three I've mentioned. I would have preferred they stuck with a turn-based tactical combat approach but apparently the Bethesda thinks their real-time FPS-with-stats method will sell better and I can't argue with them on that point.

3: This is a very real problem now that every line of dialogue needs to be fully voiced and every character needs to have a unique mesh and skin, not to mention all the complex animations and environments. I am more than willing to forgive recycling of assets as I grew up playing games in the late 80s' and early 90's. Today's kids and other people new to video games are considerably less so. If you want big sales, you need to capture the mass market...

Impossible? No, but very difficult. Once every few years difficult. I can count the other RPGs that were Fallout caliber on one hand, and three of them were made by a bunch of the same people. Also, the last one of those was released in 04, just before the seventh-gen consoles.

I tried to play fallout 1 but I almost died from boredom. Who knew killing rats just outside the vault took so much time/health/effort.

It's not for everyone. Have you considered trying Halo? It may be more your style.

 

[Chiasm]

Impossible? No, but very difficult. Once every few years difficult. I can count the other RPGs that were Fallout caliber on one hand, and three of them were made by a bunch of the same people. Also, the last one of those was released in 04, just before the seventh-gen consoles.

Same,I kind of hate how Fallout in Fallout 3 is not the same Fallout I still enjoy and cherish,However like anything these days old is better, Take even furniture a couch I buy today is not the same quality as workmanship as the couches that were made 200-300 years ago,If only due to the fact the couches 300 years ago are still alive and well and your lucky if your Ikea couch lasts 6 years. I am just hoping for a fun sci fi fps action with rpg elements now,Any hope of a great fallout esque rpg is in the indie developer's hands I think.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I love RPG's, really, but i'm the kind of player that doesn't necessarily like absolute freedom. I need some sort of linearity to guide me, otherwise my degree of OCD will have me weighted down in the Oblivion start dungen with Rat Meat.

Fallout 1&2 were great games for a hardcore crowd but I don't like feeling overly vulnerable or underpowered in my games, and Fallout always made me feel this way. I don't need to be a walking tank with a BFG 9000 but, capable at least.

I hope Fallout 3 has made some concessions for more casual players because- and i'm not dissing the original Fallout experiance- the originals just weren't for me. When I play games my solution is invariably 'lets kill shit'. But I also like to play a witty, charismatic character with special skills. It tends to be very hard to play anything but a minmaxed character with very particular skills in open ended RPG's.

 

[ThaBenMan]

I am really looking forward to Fallout 3. I didn't get hung up on how different it is from the originals because the first I heard about it was an extensive article in Game Informer. I knew what it would be from the start, and the fact that it's called "Fallout 3" (but is so different from 1 and 2) is really just semantics, if you ask me. I think it looks great.

Although I never did play Oblivion...

But the largest assortment of facial hair customizations in a game, ever? I'm fuckin' there!

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

I haven't been convinced that this is worth the buy yet...ok well it's worth the money but I just don't feel like it's worth putting my time into it. I've heard not-so-good things from people who've played the game (and no not just gen-hellspawn here at escapist).

Also, that portable nuke launcher was kind of a dissapointment for me, but I guess the one in Crysis has spoiled me. (talking about the multiplayer)

But the largest assortment of facial hair customizations in a game, ever? I'm fuckin' there!

This is a game seller for you?! 50 - 60 dollars for BEARDS?!

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Maybe he likes mustache rides. Don't judge his lifestyle choices.