Fallout 3 true or false?

This can be an elaborate hoax, or the truth, I can’t confirm this nor deny it until a couple of days from here, except for a few details,but here goes, courtesy of Sallokin, a member of the NeoGaf forum:

The article is based on an hour long demo GI was given. I’ll list the high points

- Game runs on an evolved version of the Oblivion engine. Third person view has been reworked since the verdict was that the Oblivion version sucked balls.

- Game starts with your birth and your mother’s death in a vault hospital. This is essentially the character customization part of the game. Your father hands you up to have your DNA analyzed and you get to pick out all your character traits. Your dad takes off his mask to reveal similar traits to the ones you picked.

- You grow up in the vault and as you grow you get your first book titled “You’re Special” which allows you to choose you baseline stats for each of your 7 primary aptitudes. You’ll also get your first weapons and wrist computer (menu) as you get older and take tests to determine the initial layout of your skills and traits.

- Every aspect of character creation is based on S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. Of your 14 skills you can tag 3 to grow at a faster rate than the rest as you level up.

- Battle system is called the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). The article states. “While you’ll certainly be able to tackle enemies in real time using first person shooting, V.A.T.S. lets players pause time and select a target at their leisure”. Battle system still uses action points, but once you’ve used them up you’ll still be able to fight targets in real time while they charge back up.

- Game is still violent and gory. One of the featured screens is of a guy’s head exploding in super gory detail. Apparently all gory deaths in the game will be in slow motion.

- More than one way to play the game. Go balls out and kill people, or sneak past situations, or perhaps talk your way out of situations.

- Enemies can target you just like you can target them, so you can get injured in very specific points on you body. This in addition to an all new health/radiation system. This new system has you measuring how radiated certain things (like water) are and how they affect you when you consume them.

- Karma system returns[...]

-Yeah once you’re in the V.A.T.S. system every combat move you make uses AP. The amount of AP is based on your agility rating. So things like targeting specific areas etc use AP. Also things like distance etc factor into your hit % while you’re in the V.A.T.S. system.

At least that’s how it reads.[...]

-Yeah the article is chock full of screens, but I can’t post them =(

They have some really great environment shots, Some screens of the inside of Vault 101, and a really awesome shot of a first person encounter with a super mutant and another where the main character has a weapon called “The Fatman” which is a handheld nuclear catapult.

Think post apocalyptic oblivion and you’re right about there in terms of graphics.[...]

-It seems that outside of the VATS system everything is real time. The only time the game pauses is when you enter the VATS system and start using AP and issuing commands. The article doesn’t really say much more than that, but they do say that the game is geared more towards a role-playing turn based style as opposed to a twitch gaming style of play.

-It doesn’t say anything specifically about party members, but there’s a section that talks about how integral NPC’s are to the game, and that a lot of the progress in the game will be made via quests.

EDIT. A little caption under a screen shot says you’ll be able to hire henchmen to help you out but this is definitely not a party based game. Also Bethesda confirms that there’ll be a dog in the game.

-As a matter of fact they do. The game does not scale like oblivion, so if you enter a high level area expect to be promptly murdered.

Also, I just read a little caption.

Level cap is 20.

Definite ending to the game, but there are 9 – 12 possible endings.

-It is XP based. Most of your XP comes from quests.[...]

There’s more here

Edit, some more stuff:

It’s a wrist mounted computer called the Pip-Boy 3000, and it is awesome looking.

Header

New header from an original picture taken by Wooz69 in New York. Check his gallery, he rocks. I’ll be changing the header from time to time, trying to show community based work.

Round Midnight

Remember Defonten, the guy that made the best Fallout fanart ever? He has a video showing how he changed a picture of New York into something with a Fallout 3 flavor. Nice as always.

—X—

This weeks “give the man another job” award goes to Ashley Cheng with this sentence:

Anybody get their copy of Game Informer in the mail yet? I think I’m more excited about the Rock Band article than the Fallout 3 stuff.

—X—

So SimCity moved from maxis to Tilted Mill, and from the realistic urban simulation genre to the, er, something next-gen genre. I actually found this post by Chris Beatrice from Tilted Mill strangely familiar:

Given the somewhat heated nature of this thread, and the hazards of misinformation, I thought it would be a good idea for me to drop in and say a few things. First let me say, as always, thank you so much for the attention and diligence so many of you show toward TMill and our projects.

When the new SC comes out we’ll obviously leave it to you to decide whether you love it, hate it… or fall somewhere in between, or whether you even choose to play it at all. I hope you do try it, and I really hope that you do not pass judgment based on the title or some preliminary speculation on some web site.

However, I do not want to mislead anyone: This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is. No one is blind to that. And if you’re just completely turned off, even angered by the mere notion of any game called “SimCity” that is not a detailed, realistic urban simulator, I absolutely understand that viewpoint, and absolutely respect it. Passionate fans like you are the lifeblood of the gaming industry, and that is one reason why TMill provides what I think is a great outlet for this type of discussion and even complaint. But please keep in mind the irony in that – we are just a lowly developer after all.

I do want to say, though (with no insult intended to die hard SC fans) that we are absolutely thrilled to be a part of this venerable series, are extremely proud of what we have put together, and make no apologies about what we have managed to create. And while our past experiences (including contributions from many of you) certainly inform all our ongoing efforts, this SC is its own unique creation.

Lastly, for CotN and Caesar fans, rest assured that we have NOT abandoned either the CotN series nor the Caesar series.

-Chris

Ok, I got to keep an eye on this one.

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If you are into old stuff like the radio from the teaser trailer do check the Old Radios topic at No Mutants Allowed, it’s really swell young man! Good job Wr4i7h.

—X—

I was going to talk about the Meet the Devs topic at Bethesda Games Fallout 3 forum, but they are still not talking about the game so instead I’ll leave you with pics from a game someone can actually talk about, Bioshock. Two really sweet pictures, if I might add: