Bit-Tech Returns To The Future Of Fallout 3

Interview with Pete Hines, with a bit more info than usual, at Bit-Tech:

We got a chance to go see Fallout 3 in action recently, and obviously we couldn’t turn it down. Though the event itself was the usual blur of excitement and curiously small burgers on cocktail sticks, we bemusedly came to the next day to find that not only had we done a hands-on preview of Fallout 3, but we’d also done an interview with Bethesda’s Pete Hines.

How had this come about? Had we managed to make it through the interview without making utter tits of ourselves or fainting like 18th century bodiced ladyfolk?

The only way to find out was to listen to the interview, which we’ve helpfully transcribed for you below – covering all manner of Fallout 3 topics from downloadable content and launch platforms, to quest design and voice actor recruitment…[...]

BT: And what sort of reaction have you been getting from the really hardcore fans?

Pete: Um, I don’t think that reaction has changed much since 2004. Y’know, I think that gets overblown a bit too much. Those guys get very excited and very passionate about Fallout, but what really defines a hardcore fan? It’s up to everyone to make up their own mind.

Everyone can decide for themselves, but if it’s not the game that you like then I’d suspect that you’re not going to play it, so…[...]

BT: What about the differences in how people play? Do you see differences there between seasoned gamers and newcomers?

Pete: Uh, yeah actually. The people who are more hardcore, they tend to pick up the core elements a bit quicker and then they usually start delving right into the stats a lot more. They start with the numbers and powergaming.

The casual guys though, they just play. They grab a gun and shoot stuff. It becomes a story driven shooter for them and they find big guns, put points in big guns and just do the whole big-gun, energy-weapon thing. It’s about roleplaying though, so there’s nothing that says some aren’t supposed to play like that.

If you’re into the stealth and the dialogue and so on though then you totally can, but we see that the people who do that tend to be the hardcore gamers. They tend to look for which perks line up perfectly with their play style.

BT: Is that why you’ve moved the game to a first person perspective? To make it more accessible to players?

Pete: Uh, no, I think we moved it because we thought that would make the best game. Like, what we’re able to do from a first and third person point of view that we can’t do from an isometric view is put the player in the world so that you aren’t always looking down and detached from the world. You’re really experiencing all this destruction around you.

First person just gives you a much bigger sense of space. When you leave the vault for the first time and you have that really cool effect where you come outside for the first time and you’re blinded by the light. The whole world is slowly revealed to you. It’s hard to give the player that same level of ‘this is all free for you to play in’ from the isometric point of view.

It’s about immersion, so honestly it’s about keeping true to the franchise. Just look at the first Fallout – that was pushing the graphics for its day. It did full lip syncing and animated faces. It did everything! It didn’t just do one thing. If it was just great dialogue then it’d be Zork. It had violence, graphics, dialogue and everything else on top.[...]

BT: Do you have a firm release date?

Pete: Yes, I have one. No, I can’t tell you. We’re still this autumn, but we can’t comment further. But it will be the same for all platforms.

Spotted at NMA.

Fallout 3 Crispy Gamer Special

There’s another hands on preview at Crispy Gamer, with several concerns:

So why am I so unsatisfied?

Maybe it’s that this demo did little to show how Fallout 3 is truly different from Oblivion. Ok, the lock-picking mini-game is slightly different (and better) but the dialogue trees, skill breakdowns and overall feel seem so much like Oblivion, at least in this early stage of the game, that the untrained eye could mistake it for a mod.

Combat is one place where the two games really diverge, but how can I really see that playing as a level-two noob with a couple of weak machine pistols? I had a difficult time fending off dogs and even a couple humans weakened from exposure and hunger. Not terribly appealing. Why not start the demo deeper into the story, where better weapons and skills could make the combat differences between Oblivion and Fallout 3 glaringly apparent? Or are they really as different as we’ve been told?[...]

At E3, Fallout 3 made a lot of “best of show” lists. I’m sure Bethesda is thrilled with that. Even in an E3 that felt positively anemic on the game front, being called out as one of the five or 10 most crucial is significant. But I don’t see it. I’ve been told for months that this is a dramatic step forward from Oblivion, but very little of the open-ended demo I had supported that claim.

They also added another interview with Pete Hines, this one is quite substantial and interesting:

Crispy Gamer: What about the gameplay — what new stuff have you added or changed this time around?

Hines: Much of the basic gameplay systems and character systems are still there: SPECIALs, skills, perks, XP-based leveling up, etc. We’ve spent a lot of time working on the quests, characters, and dialogue in the game to have it match up with the tone of the original games. It’s still a “go where you want, do what you want” game, which is, of course, what we like making. But the game is played in first- or third-person, rather than the isometric view of the originals. The combat is also different; it’s a mix of real-time and this new paused mode, called VATS, where you spend action points queuing up attacks and then watch it play out using a special camera system. Our goal was to capture as much of the originals as possible while still trying some new things we think will add to the experience.[...]

Crispy Gamer: In a way, the game seems like it’s going to be a first- or third-person shooter but with deep RPG elements. Am I wrong?

Hines: It is a deep RPG with shooter elements. How to handle combat doesn’t define the game. Just because you’re holding a gun and shooting at things doesn’t make it a shooter, although some people are going to see it that way, which is okay. If you decide to play the game because it looks like a fun shooter, we don’t mind. Whatever reasons you have for giving it a try, we hope there is enough compelling gameplay to make you want to keep playing. You may not buy it because of the quests or dialogue, but if you play the game and end up really enjoying the game for those things, where’s the harm in that?

Ultimately, what makes Fallout 3 somewhat unique is that the game is all about what your character can do, which is decided by you. What you want to be good at, what kinds of things you want to do. Those choices will affect your overall experience and how you decide to play the game, but there’s nothing wrong with getting in a big fight with some Super Mutants and having a great time running around blowing things up. Many really good RPGs have quite a bit of combat to them, so we might as well make that as fun as it can be.[...]

Crispy Gamer: Do these choices have any real consequences, though? Like if you play as a dick the whole time, will certain areas be closed off to you, but if you’re nice, then you get to sleep with the blue alien lady?

Hines: To some extent that may happen, but it’s mostly about what happens in each specific instance.[...]

Crispy Gamer: So what do you think Fallout 3 does better than Oblivion?

Hines: Guns. Much better in Fallout 3.

Crispy Gamer: And what, if anything, do you think Oblivion does better than Fallout 3?

Hines: They’re really very different games. We’ll let folks like you guys debate the merits of those things. We’re just trying to make the best game we can every time out.[...]

Crispy Gamer: Finally, in a 2006 interview with TheEscapistMagazine.com, Leonard Boyarsky, who worked on the original Fallout games, said that Interplay’s decision to sell the rights to Fallout “…felt as if our ex-wife had sold our children that she had legal custody of,” though he did qualify this statement by admitting to be “possessive” of the franchise. How do you think he, and other people who worked on the original games, will feel about Fallout 3?

Hines: You’ll have to ask them. I can certainly understand that the people who created Fallout would feel strongly about it. But we saw a franchise we loved sitting there not being used, not being worked on, and it was something we really wanted to work on, so we did. We hope the folks that worked on the first two will play Fallout 3 and like it and find a lot in there that stays true to what they created, just like we hope people who played and liked the first two games will like this one as well.

A lot to read there, well worth it. Spotted at NMA.

Videogamer Fallout 3 Day

Megaton doors opening

A pretty detailed and filled with spoilers preview at Videogamer:

We know we’ve played something great, perhaps even something special, when we find ourselves thinking about it when we’re not playing it. When we find ourselves wishing we were playing it while we’re sat on the underground, or browsing the internet, or listening to our editor prattle on about Geometry Wars 2. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does it reminds us of the power video games hold over us, how entrancing the spell they cast really can be. It happened again recently, and the game was Fallout 3.

It seems ridiculous to have to form some kind of informed opinion based on a two hour toe-dip into Bethesda’s stunning post-apocalyptic world, given the gargantuan nature of this sci-fi RPG, but that’s what we’re paid to do, so here goes. Haters be quiet – Fallout 3 is shaping up to one of the best games of 2008, and, fingers crossed, could be one of the best RPGs ever.

Amoral, subversive and pulp. It sounds like we’re describing a particularly bad kind of orange juice, but it’s actually the three words our new previews editor Neon Kelly came up with when we asked him to sum up the Fallout series, a series that a lot of PC gamers still care a great deal about.

You can’t, of course, please everyone, and Bethesda knows this. It also knows that, actually, if it can make a game as good as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, it’ll have done it’s job. From our time with the game, Fallout 3 might even be better than Oblivion.

You may be wondering why we’re comparing Fallout 3 to Oblivion in the first place. It’s because the game could almost be Oblivion 2, or, as some journalists are calling it, Oblivion with guns. What’s certain is that it feels very similar. The trademark vistas, the dialogue system, the camera angle when you talk to NPCs, the instant teleportation to already discovered locations, it’s all there.

Simply saying Fallout 3 is Oblivion with guns doesn’t do Bethesda’s hard work justice. Fallout 3 looks better than Oblivion, even though it’s not finished.[...]

But it’s also a world with a few technical problems. We noticed a degree of texture pop up as we explored the world. The camera sometimes has a fit when in VATS slow motion mode. The third-person perspective we imagine will go largely unused. And at one point we were forced to reboot the game after we got stuck under part of a collapsed bridge – fast travel wouldn’t work because the game thought we were falling. Our hope, and our belief, is that Fallout 3 won’t be let down by any technical issues that might make it into the released code.

And Videogamer continues the coverage with some words from Pete Hines:

“I have no doubts in my mind that, at its core and for everything that it provides that Fallout is a better game than Oblivion was. For sure.”

Bethesda Softworks vice president Pete Hines was unable to confirm if its upcoming post apocalyptic RPG Fallout 3 would feature PS3 Trophy support.

“I don’t know. I can’t tell you for sure whether or not we’ll have them or not,” said Hines.

It’s a different story regarding Xbox 360 Achievements though, with Hines confirming that they are “mostly complete”.

“… we still like to mess with that stuff sometimes in late stages, just in terms of ‘yeah it’s taking a little too long to get this one’, which is why we didn’t want anybody to look at them, because I wouldn’t want you guys putting something out that we then changed and is completely different,” said Hines. “Yeah, they’re largely in there and there’s some really good ones in there… some that I rather enjoy.”

Asked about the PS3 version of the game which wasn’t available to play at the recent preview event, Hines said: “It’s coming along. We’re getting down to the final strokes on all three versions. The goal is to have all three of them be the same game, the same kind of performance on all three platforms.

“That’s the goal, that you can’t tell the difference.”

Spotted at NMA.

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.

Best PS3 G 2 PSU

Fallout 3 won the Best PS3 Game award at PSU:

Edging out some very stiff competition (seriously, we debated this one for hours on end), Bethesda’s Fallout 3 nabs our crown for Best PS3 game of E3 2008. Featuring some of the most intricately designed visuals we’ve seen to date, this post-apocalyptic epic not only looks the business, but offers an incredibly vast, captivating gameplay experience explored through its bleak, open-ended wastelands of North America. With an intuitive combat system, dozens of classes to master, not to mention the inclusion of two viewpoints and gameplay styles to suit your own personal preference, Fallout 3 is the one game to watch out for when it finally hits stores, appropriately enough, this fall.

It seems that was a rather controversial decision, just read the comments on that page. Spotted on the BGFO3 Forum.

Gennext Games Interviews Pete Hines

more about “Gennext Games | Games, video’s, scree…“, posted with vodpod

The author of this interview talks a bit more about the experience here, there’s an alternate translation of the original article that came with the video at NMA.

No Cryolator, A Few Misses At MTV Multiplayer

Behemoth

More Fallout 3 talk at MTV Multiplayer blog:

Howard dropped some other bits of info for me. I asked him about novel weapons and the obligatory tactical clichés like melee and range weapons. He mentioned that they removed one tried-and-true video game offensive technique: freezing. It didn’t play very well. We talked about the game’s 500-something endings and he confirmed that they are generated by the game, which assembles a quick sequence of scenes that correspond to a handful of key choices players will be forced to make along the way. We talked about music and he regaled me with examples of licensed 40s music that sounds amazing, like a sad-sounding song called “Happy Time” sung by Bing Crosby’s brother Bob. Said Howard: “He kind of sound like his brother but there’s some remorse — I hear that in him.” Gamers can also anticipate listening to singer Roy Brown’s “Butcher Pete” which is about a serial killer but is also a euphemism for sex and is, according to Howard, “really fast, peppy song and the refrain is: He’s chopping up all the women’s meat.”

The last thing I wanted to ask Howard about before wrapping up the interview was the name of the game’s first town, Megaton. It can be blown up. It’s the result of a bombing. Surely the town’s name is related to all that. But if “Fallout 3″ isn’t secretly political, could we at least assume that the town’s name is secretly a reference to the gaming message-board meme about “Megatons,” which are over-hyped announcements? Nope, Howard told me.

Clearly I kept seeing things in “Fallout 3″ that weren’t there.

If you read the article you’ll agree with that last sentence. Thanks Incognito.

Fallout 3: E3 Awards and Opinions

IGN gave Fallout 3 his Best of E3 Award:

While I knew that Bethesda could deliver in terms of story and convincing world creation, the big unknown for me has always been the actual gameplay. Fortunately, I got to play through a good bit of the game at the show and I was really impressed with the overall feel of the game. I was particularly happy to see how well the turn-based VATS combat worked. I was worried that the pause and play nature of the system would interrupt the flow of the game, but it really only served to make the game feel more tactical and heighten its cinematic appeal.

– Steve Butts, Executive Editor, IGN PC Team

It’s either pause and play or TB, Steve. You can’t have it both ways. And it’s actually “a glorified aimed-shot mode”.

Fallout 3 continues to impress with an engrossing story, great visuals, and a compelling mix of gameplay styles. It is predominantly a Western role-playing game similar to Oblivion (with guns). But you could choose to play it like a run-and-gun first-person shooter, if that’s more your style. V.A.T.S., the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, adds turn-based strategy elements. However you slice it, Fallout 3 looks like it will deliver one of the largest adventures in gaming this year. The post-apocalyptic world Bethesda has created is an intriguing dystopia we can’t wait to explore. There were several standout games at this year’s show. But none of them seem to offer the freedom and unique vision of Fallout 3.

– Daemon Hatfield, Associate Editor, IGN Nintendo Team

Nintendo? Anyway that Oblivion with Guns talk isn’t good news, but for Bethsoft the fact that they also won Best RPG, Best XBox Game and Best PS3 game and a few other runner up citations is good news.

Still at E3 the Bethblog brings us some other awards:

In other online coverage, Fallout 3 has pulled down a few more E3 awards. Here’s a rundown:

• GameSpy honored Fallout 3 as the Xbox 360 and PS3 Game of Show. The game was also was named the Game of Show Overall Runner-Up.
• GamePro has their awards up, where they awarded the game with a E3 2008 Silver Award.
• Planet Xbox 360 awarded the game their Best of Show honor.
• GameDaily listed the game among their Best of Xbox 360 here.
• At Gamezone, there’s a Top Ten Games of E3 list where Fallout 3 makes the list at the #2 spot.
• Scrawlfx declares Fallout 3 their Game of Show.

Also Fallout 3 is referred in this article about the problems of the event itself at Gamezone:

There was no enthusiasm, no energy that should be associated with the vibrant industry that brings imagination to life. This year’s show was dull to the point of boring. Yes, there were still good games to see, but altering the format, visiting their studios on media tours would have accomplished the same thing, only with deeper experiences with the games. The studio visits are more advantageous because instead of getting 25-30 minutes with a superb title like Fallout 3 in the Bethesda booth, a visit to the studios would likely mean more hands-on time, access to developers … in short, the kind of visit that means robust coverage, giving players and consumers not only a sense of the game itself, but also allowing for interview time with key developers.

All through E3 was happening I was at the beach relaxing. I’m still trying to catch up on things.

Questions About No Fallout 3 DLC For PS3

Image Pspsps

From Edge-Online:

Analyst Colin Sebastian with Lazard Capital Markets told us on Monday that Microsoft and Bethesda likely came to some sort of financial agreement to leave PS3 DLC out of the equation.

“…I think it’s a very good possibility that Microsoft and Bethesda were partners in this decision. Obviously Microsoft paid up to secure exclusive online content for GTA IV, and online is a cornerstone for Microsoft’s digital media strategy.”

But Bethesda won’t share details of its decision to bring Fallout 3 DLC only to Microsoft platforms.

“…We aren’t going to get into the details of the hows and whys,” said Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines in an e-mail. “[DLC] will be exclusive for PC and 360. [We're] not going to give any other qualifiers or clarifications as it relates to other platforms.”

More Fallout 3 At E3

Some more previews, most of them spotted at NMA:

Tom’s Games:

If you don’t have enough Action Points to attack using VATS you can still fight as if it were a standard first or third-person shooter. After a couple VATS fights with wild dogs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Dogs we tried approaching it as a straight-forward shooter and found that it was faster and easier to take out the enemies that way.

So why use VATS when you can just run-and-gun your way through? As Executive Producer Todd Howard told us VATS ensures more critical hits and allows some strategic choices like deciding whether to destroy an enemy’s leg to hinder movement or their arm to make them drop their weapon. Frankly the low-level monsters we were fighting – wild dogs and fire ant warriors – didn’t pose a big enough threat or much opportunity to engage in strategy.

I loved Fallout 2 as much as the next PC gamer but some of the early fights, like when you’re beating rats to death with a stick, get a tad tedious using turn-based combat. Tedious? Actually I found them to be soul-destroyingly boring. Thankfully, this won’t be a problem with Fallout 3.

GameShark:

While we’d like to see the accuracy of real-time fire increased a bit, it’s clear that the reduced precision comes as a way of balancing use of V.A.T.S. Still, combat is full of visceral thrills. One particularly cool scene during our time with the game took place when blasting a raider at point blank range, first with a pistol and then with a baseball bat. The action slows down and shows you’re kill shot in all of its bloody glory. This is without a doubt an eye popping game and is certainly M rated. The combat looks wonderfully brutal.

Fallout 3 distinguishes itself with this inventive combat system and we’re pleasantly surprised at how well it works. Longtime adherents to the franchise shouldn’t worry that their beloved universe has been torn to shreds in some shooter, as Bethesda looks to succeed in revitalizing it with a sequel that retains the spirit of the series while introducing interesting new element. The game should be ready to roll this fall.

GamingShogun:

I was one of the purists who believed that a Fallout FPS would not be nearly as effective as the isometric games we are used to. Well, I am man enough to admit when I am wrong and I tell you now: I was wrong. During that half hour, not only did the first or third-person perspective increase immersion into the Fallout universe, it also gave the new combat system a much more approachable interface.

GayGamer:

Fruit Brute and I got a few tightly-scheduled moments with Fallout 3 last week, and the experience managed to be all I’d hoped and familiar at the same time. What’s familiar is the lore and world of Fallout, which Bethesda has managed to reproduce and elaborate upon in a way that only a company that focuses on complete world building can do. Fallout purists may still resent Bethesda’s position, but as a die-hard Fallout fan myself, I was more than satisfied.

What’s also familiar is the control scheme and general gameplay environment – if you’ve played Oblivion, you’ll find a lot of familiar elements here. That’s no surprise, of course, as we’ve known this would be both a Fallout game and a Bethesda game, but the menu system, camera, and basic control layout are all more or less the same.

PS3 Fanboy:

This will all be familiar to Fallout fans, but seeing this combat system integrated so well into a next-gen 3D game has us very excited. We came away from the game thinking that Bethesda was the perfect choice for the game. They know how to make incredible, living worlds on a huge scale and clearly know and understand the Fallout franchise inside out.

As you play Fallout 3 you’ll constantly be reminded of Oblivion, but you’ll also be experiencing something unique and new. For fans of the series, this will be set in a universe you know and love. We’re very interested in seeing more of this title — particularly the narrative and character development. The thirty minutes of hands-on we had went by far too quickly.

Funny Fallout 3 Impressions At ScrewAttack

more about “Fallout 3 Impressions | ScrewAttack.com“, posted with vodpod

Spotted at NMA

E3 Is Almost Over

In the meantime a few more Fallout 3 impressions, by Crave, by Gaming Target, and a large one by WorthPlaying:

Fallout vets will be glad to hear that Items are back and in as substantial numbers as they were in the previous games. During my forays into the various houses, I was able to find everything from pre-war snack cakes to random books scattered throughout the areas; so far, they seemed to serve little purpose other than to take up inventory space. There was also a fair amount of actually useful stuff, such as new weapons, ammunition and even the password to a computer belonging to the town information monger, which provided useful quest information.

All this scavenging comes at a price. When exploring, you’ll find certain items or doors marked in red, and if you take those items or pick those locks, your Karma will drop, and you’ll end up ticking off a lot of people. One unfortunate foray into the Children of the Atom’s stronghold left me faced with an entire group of angry people who were out for my blood. To make matters worse, every item I took or door I opened dropped my Karma, and once the Children of the Atom got angry at me, fighting back also dropped my Karma further. It’s entirely possible to play Fallout 3 as some sort of homicidal maniac, but don’t expect to do so without anyone calling you on it.

For those of us of the less violent persuasion, Fallout 3 includes plenty of people to talk to. Conversations take place in a fairly simple menu-driven system, where you pick your choice and the character responds. The twist is that not all of your choices are available at all times, and certain conversation choices are only available to certain characters. Your skills will also influence the success rate of conversations; a character with high Charisma and Speech skills may be able to charm information out of a normally uptight individual, and those with a high intelligence may notice something that less clever characters don’t. If you’re discussing explosives, having a high Explosive skill will make it more likely that folks will believe you. Even certain perks influence your choices. The Lady Killer perk, for example, gives you a bonus for talking to female characters and also provides a couple of conversation choices that wouldn’t normally be available. If you’re the kind of gamer who just wants to get back to the shooting, you can ignore most of these conversation trees and focus on the smashing, but it might come back to haunt you later.

You can find a few more previews at NMA.

Not Fallout Oblivion After All

So says ShackNews:

“You so much as breathe, and I’m gonna fuckin’ end ya.”

The words may as well have been coming directly from Bethesda. It felt like the company was challenging me, daring me to write anything negative about their new sequel to Black Isle’s classic RPG series. I was very skeptical of whether the company could match the tone and content of the original titles. As good as Bethesda is, the bar was set very high ten years ago.

But based on what I just played–and I had free reign to explore the world at whim–I came away feeling good about the game. Fallout 3 is not Fallout 2.5, and that can be a little disappointing at first, no matter how irrational of a feeling that is. But Fallout 3 is undoubtedly shaping up to be a solid game in its own right, and one that clearly takes many significant cues from the previous titles–from the opening scene, to the wonderfully realized PIPBoy menu. Oblivion: Fallout 3 this is not.

The first thing I wanted to hit with my hands-on time was a load of conversations. Dialogue is half of what made Fallout so engaging–the freedom to piss off and be pissed on by any number of disgruntled apocalyptic survivors spawned most of my favorite Fallout memories.

After wandering out of the Vault, through the traditional cave–no rats to be found–and out across the wasteland, I managed to locate the town of Megaton rather quickly. Greeting me outside was a tall 50s-style robot, waving its stiff arms toward the town in greeting. Upon entering the town, Sheriff Lucas Sims gave me a gruff hello, and I engaged him in verbal combat.

The most encouraging aspect of Fallout 3′s dialogue is the number of options available. Oblivion’s simple approach to dialogue trees would not suffice here, and as a result, I often had up to five or six options at any given time. With the Sheriff, I had enough choices to easily pick a fight with him, and did so immediately. Bad idea.

After reloading the game, I had a long chat with my murderer. The dialogue engine is indeed reminiscent of Oblivion, but after noticing this, I never gave it a second thought. Instead, I was focused on learning about the town, looking for quests, and more typical Fallout goals.

It was a short demo, and an early area, and the game is not finished, so I can not judge it based on this first taste. Suffice it to say, the tone of dialogue was close, but not right on. I was entertained, but not surprised.

Overall I would say that the demo area dialogue clearly eclipsed Oblivion’s writing, but did not quite match the effectiveness of Fallout. There was certainly an edge to it all, as evidenced by the wanton use of vulgar language and themes–see the opening quote from the Sheriff. A few mildly humorous moments were produced by said vulgarity. But none of the characters caught me off guard or engaged me in the same way that Fallout did, and the voice acting was sometimes rather wooden.

There’s more, worth checking.

Polish PSX Extreme Preview and a Note From Emil

Thanks go to Ausir for sending us a summary of Polish PSX Extreme magazine preview of Fallout 3:

The July issue of the Polish PSX Extreme magazine has a Fallout 3
preview, based on the same London demo as all other recent previews in
Polish press. While the previewer (Bartosz “Zax” Dawidowski) is
completely sold on Bethesda hype (“Fallout 3 will ensure an
unprecedented level of immersion in a virtual world. And it will do it
with such class that it can be rated pretty much only in comparison to
itself”), he is also fairly competent about Fallout and Fallout 2.

Aside from the preview itself, there is also a frame about the Polish
Bethesda concept artist, Adam Adamowicz, and a short interview with
Pete Hines.

Some interesting bits:
* At 16 we select our perks – e.g. Bloody Mess or Good Speaker. Pete
didn’t want to say what the rest of the perks will be.
* No word on whether children will be killable – when asked, Pete was evasive.
* No romances.
* The enemies are the most frightening in the history of RPGs and the
game can be treated as a survival horror.
* We will often have problems with lack of clean water or food. The
Geiger counter will sound pretty often. Hines says that when he plays
the alpha at home, he is pretty much never fully healed – he’s always
either wounded or radiated.
* Eating food is not mandatory, but food increases your HP. However,
you should look out for radiated food. Sometimes you will have wonder
whether to eat radiated food, even with low HP, since the consequences
of radiation are even worse.
* Radiation is a much bigger problem in FO3 than in previous games. It
drastically decreases your combat abilities, and can even lower your
skills permanently.
* Destructability of the environment will be unprecedented for RPGs.
* There will be around 50 different weapons.
* While we’ll be able to find e.g. Power Armors early on, they will be
in pretty bad condition (low CND bar) and will require extensive
repairs or will get broken quickly.
* The role of Charisma is lower than in previous games, Fallout is
relies on combat much more than FO1 and FO2. However, we’ll be able to
use stealth throughout most of the game.[Brios:see the note in the end]
* Many weapons can be constructed based on schematics.
* If you have your weapon on your shoulder, you can run and the NPCs
are not aggressive. If you equip it, you can only walk.
* Jumping has no influence on the combat system, it’s just for
avoiding some obstacles.
* Enemies will not adjust their levels to that of the player. If you
come to a certain place when your level is too low, you’re expected to
die.
* There is no gambling, you cannot participate in slaver raids nor
guard caravans.
* No locations are randomly generated. However, depending on which way
you’ll head, some scripted events will appear there, e.g. you will
encounter Dogmeat early on regardless or where you go.

Regarding Charisma Emil Pagliarulo made a correction:

If you want to sweet talk your way through situations, a high Charisma is definitely valuable. As is, of course, a high Speech skill.
There’s a ton of dialogue, as has been mentioned before. Lots more to say to individual people (true conversation trees), and lots of opportunities to talk your way through quests/gameplay situations.

Again thanks Ausir.

IGN Anticipates a Good E3

I’ve already talked about IGNXBox360 making Fallout 3 their most anticipated game of E3, now it’s time for IGNPC to do the same:

It’s been over a decade since the first Fallout released and any who played it have likely been keeping a close eye on Bethesda. The developer best known for its open-world Elder Scrolls RPG series made some controversial decisions with Fallout 3′s design, most notably moving it into a first-person perspective. Those concerned whether or not the “spirit” of Fallout has been retained or lost will have to wait until the game’s release date, which at this point remains nebulous. We can say so far Fallout 3 is certainly looking pretty, has some interesting ideas, and seems to retain some degree of humor in the dialogue and game world. We’ll bring you more at E3.

And IGNPS3 also puts the game in their most anticipated list:

Why it’s hot: Take the massive world, tons of characters, near-endless quests and character creation of Oblivion and then drop a nuke on the whole mess. The result, if done right, leaves an irradiated wasteland full of mutants, ghouls, fallout shelters and the kind of good vs. evil vs. survival that Bethesda is known for, but in a setting all too familiar to PC gamers.

We’ve seen Fallout 3 a couple of times now, and every time we do, we want to see more, which is always a good sign. Improvements over Oblivion are numerous, though, from an updated engine to more traditional leveling up to characters that don’t look like space aliens. Well, not unless they’ve seen a bit too much radiation.

Spotted at the BethBlog.

PSM3 Fallout 3 Special

Huge article with new pics at PSM3, some ideas collected by NMA:

So, the first hands-on preview of Fallout 3 is generally available, and is big. Quite a bit of it is repeating info from previous demos and explaining what the Fallout franchise is, but there’s more than just that. Some bits:

- The previewer played Fallout 3 for 3 hours and could do whatever he wanted, rather than being set on a linear demo
- Springvale appears deserted, but “the school holds an intriguing secret in its basement”
- “If you cause a ruckus near an Enclave-controlled area, these Vertibirds in and drop off reinforcements”
- “Bethesda have stated Fallout 3 has no vehicles. But evidence leads us to think there’ll be a robot horse. Madness? Well, when the game loads, retro ’50s-style adverts cycle past for things in the game. ‘Giddyup buttercup’, a robot pony for little girls. “He neighs, he trots, he loves you a lot!” says the ad. Such a huge game without any transport? Really?”
- “This one is called Galaxy News, presented by a DJ called Three Dawg and broadcast from a secure bunker in the heart of DC. Dawg reports on current events between records.”
- “You’ll also come across the Enclave; the remains of the US government who have access to incredible technology and broadcast patriotic marching band music. Their President is voiced by Malcolm “A Clockwork Orange” McDowell. He’s a major villain.”
- They list a few skills: barter, big guns, energy weapons, explosives, lockpick, medicine (determines how much stimpaks and other healing items actually heals) melee combat, repair (description only lists its usage for repairing guns), science, small guns, sneak, unarmed.
- “We left Megaton, chose a random direction (west) and walked. And it didn’t take long to find paying work. Bigtown used to be a sprawl of suburban housing, but now it’s a makeshift fortress. Walls made of debris, car shells and a single, pathetic guard watches over the entrance with a rusting hunting rifle. Inside we learn that the Supermutants – giant, violent monsters spawned from the fallout of the nuclear war – have kidnapped some of their people, including a vital medic. We agree to rescue them, but only in exchange for bottle caps, Fallout’s bizarre currency. The Supermutants, we learn, have set up a camp in a place called Germantown.”
- “Say you have five Action Points, you could fire at their head five times, or disable them by shooting at their legs. You can even aim for their gun and disarm them. When you’ve cued up your attacks, press X and the game unpauses and switches to third-person view for a better view of the action. (…)
We take the mutants down with our shotgun – a few point-blank blasts to the chest did the job – and continue onwards, fighting our way through the enemy’s defences until we reach the police station. Inside, it’s Fallout’s version of an RPG ‘dungeon’ – loot to hoard, keys to find and enemies to kill. We snuck through the station using stealth (crouch to hide yourself in shadows) and used VATS with melee weapons (police baton, sledgehammer) behind enemies to quickly and quietly dispose of them.”
- “In fact, at times it feels exactly like Oblivion in terms of mission structure and the way you navigate the world. We loved Oblivion so we aren’t complaining, but if you found Cyrodiil’s vast openness daunting or the RPG mechanics too complicated, Fallout 3 might not be the game for you. Especially since the game is ten times as customisable. You can create new weapons from scratch by scavenging for parts. For example, find an old leaf blower, combine it with a lawnmower blade and another few items and you create your own portable rocket launcher that’s able to fire any object you see in the world at high speeds; almost like a retro-fit Half-Life gravity gun.”
- “We find an elementary school crawling with raiders who’ve been trying to tunnel into Vault 101, but have failed after disturbing a nest of giant radioactive ants. We find an old sentry bot lying in a junk pile and manage to activate it, after which it becomes our personal body guard…until a Deatclaw – a monster mutated from a grizzle bear – tears it to pieces, then kills us. Later, in a moment of madness, we wander into the heart of DC, despite warnings from the developers, and get vaporized by a remote sentry gun and a gang on Enclave soldiers.”
- [Todd Howard loads up a game 70 hours in] “He was in the heart of DC and fought a group of Enclave troopers with a portable nuclear missile launcher called the Fat Man – the game’s most powerful weapon.”

A list of the skills displayed:

Small guns
Big guns
Energy weapons
Melee combat
Unarmed
Medicine
Sneak
Lockpick
Explosives
Science
Repair
Barter

There’s more in there, for instance if you can hit someone without being detected using the Sneak skill you’ll have an automatic Critical hit; the “special services” from the loose morals ladies will give you a small boost to your health; the Vertibird that is displayed in the mag is perfect, exactly like the old ones; there’s a great retro futuristic vehicle, that unfortunately is only used for the nuclear explosions; the robot pony is just an advert, everything else seems to be speculation from the guy that wrote the thing.

And a lot more, recomended reading.

The Enclave Marches To Fallout 3

From the BethBlog:

The latest issue of PSM3 (issue #103) hit shelves in the UK this week with an eight-page cover story for Fallout 3. You’ll definitely want to check it out as it has hands-on impressions and plenty of new screenshots. Here’s a sample of the article:

“You’ll also come across the Enclave; the remains of the US government who have access to incredible technology and broadcast patriotic marching band music. Their President is voiced by Malcolm “A Clockwork Orange” McDowell. He’s a major villain.”

Something new for us to discuss, finally.