Fallout 3: Emil Clears Things Up With More Detail

Clear shot at the Super Mutant Behemoth

Pretty relevant post from Emil Pagliarulo, this one clears several issues of importance:

What was said recently, by both Todd and me, is that in real-time, skill affects chance to hit less than it used to. This change was made after extensive playtesting. Why? Most everyone found it annoying that you’d have your crosshair over an enemy, and your bullets would go completely wide. So we dialed the accuracy penalty back so it would feel good in real-time. Two things, however — 1.) it’s still not completely pinpoint accurate, unless your skill is really high. So accuracy is still affected, just less than it used to be. Again, it felt better this way, after loads of testing 2.) your damage output is affected with increased skill, so in run and gun, putting points into, say, Small Guns, will certainly improve your combat effectiveness when you use an assault rifle. Etc. etc.

Another thing to consider is that in V.A.T.S., it’s different. It’s much more of a numbers game. It’s all character skill. Your percentage numbers to hit are going to increase as your skill increases. So yeah, putting points into weapons skills is pretty damn important to your survival, whether you prefer run-and-gun or V.A.T.S.

Now, to answer the lingering misconception that you can just somehow blow everything in the game away with the Fatman. Look, the Fatman shows great in demos and movies because it packs a big punch and is visually impressive. And yeah, it’s very powerful when you use it in the game. That said, you’ve got to remember a few things: 1.) The Fatman is huge, so it weighs a lot. Carry it around, and it means you can carry less of other stuff. Your choice. 2.) The Fatman shells aren’t exactly littered around the Wasteland. They’re a valuable resource WHEN you find them (hell, the same is true of the Fatman itself). So you’ve got to use them wisely. 3.) Try using the Fatman indoors and you’re more likely to kill yourself than anyone else. In all of my playthroughs of the game, I’ve only used the Fatman a small handful of times… usually to kill a Behemoth or take out a concentrated group of opponents.

And last but not least, the original topic of this thread. Are Charisma/Speech characters gimped? Not by a long shot. There are tons of speech options in the game. I can’t even count how many quests and situations can be bypassed/modified/overcome by using the Speech skill. It’s incredibly valuable. In fact, with my most recent character, I’m not concentrating on Speech, and boy there are times I wish I had. It’s a completely viable play style.

So I hope this answers some of your questions. It’s always a pleasure to surf the forums and see such lively debate… and most of the time I just hang back and watch you guys discuss/ponder (as it should be). But in this case, I’m happy to clear up some misinformation.

You can read the full post here, thanks Incognito.

Fallout 3 At XBox360Achievements.org

Behemoth,FatMan,Pipboy3000

Another hands on piece:

Fallout 3, now being developed by Bethesda after original developers Interplay went bust, is set in the post apocalyptic Washington DC, and when we say Washington DC, we mean the whole damn city! The preview started in a small isolated bunker minutes before we embarked on our first journey across the apocalyptic wastelands. Just like Oblivion had the iconic moment of crossing the divide from the castle to the realm, Fallout follows suit as you leave the bunker for the first time as your blurry eyesight tries to adjust to the new surroundings.

The first thing that hits you when you enter the barren wastelands of Washington DC is the visuals. You seriously have to stop and take stock of the world around you … a land that was once majestic, is now just an eerie shell of its former self. The Fallout world works on the same sort of world clock that Oblivion had and even has the same sort of wait system. Washington DC seems to look fantastic whatever time of day it is and Bethesda have done a fine job of capturing getting the mood of the city with fantastically drab colours and some superb lighting effects.[...]

But seriously, it doesn’t matter what you create, you will never beat (we don’t think) the pure destructiveness of the “fat man”, Fallout 3’s very own mini nuclear catapult. You may have seen it make an appearance at the end of Bethesda’s E3 demonstrations but nothing could prepare me for the joy I had when I used it.  I luckily stumbled across one when fighting through a bunch of severely pissed off super mutants at Washington’s Galaxy News Radio station and when their king pin, a Super Mutant Behemoth, came out of nowhere, I had no other choice than to use it. A carefully aimed shot (I actually missed the first shot *shock horror*) at this badboy’s chest and I was in awe of a destructive explosion that ensued followed by the trademark nuclear mushroom cloud. I would go out on a limb and say that this is one of the greatest gaming weapons ever created!

The game’s navigational system, the Pip Boy 3000 is incredibly easy to use and in a lot of respects reminds me of the menu system in Oblivion. When pressing B you can enter the device and you can use it to heal yourself, repair weapons and use items amongst other things with great ease. Speaking of using items, the classic Fallout drug, Jet makes a welcome return and when used adds 30 additional action points to your character. However, with drugs becomes a dependency, so beware, taking too many of them may not be such a good idea in the long run. The Pip Boy 3000 also features a map system reminiscent of that in the Oblivion title and the game also features a quick travel system which will be a relief to those of you that just want to skip the sometimes long and arduous trips.[...]

To call Fallout 3 “Oblivion with guns” is a statement that sells the game short. Sure it has its similarities, but why not install some great features that have proved successful in the past  in to a new venture? Bethesda doing this really only really makes sense. Will it appease the hardcore Fallout fans? Who the hell knows, I do know one thing however and that is that Fallout 3 looks to be shaping up to be a serious “Game Of The Year” contender and if I can tell this from a hands on, I can only imagine what the finished product will be like.

I think this preview beat the record on Oblivion references. Spotted at the BGFO3 forum.