Fallout 3 teaser

[Puni/Void]

Hehe.. that's a good one.

On the more serious side though, I've browsed through the article via the No Mutants Allowed site. I can't say that I've become more optimistic by reading it.

[Ghost]

Hello P G,

To describe the exact reason why I don't really like this Fallout 3 is a bit hard but I will try anyway.

Though no influence on the exact gameplay is the reason that there was a Fallout 3 years ago in development when Black Island still existed, as some of you may know it was cancelled in order to fully finance the rather bad console spin off Fallout Brotherhood of Steel.

When the development documents were released on NMA later I discovered how much cool stuff me and the other fans wouldn't be able to experience.
Fallout 3 would have told more about the NCR and the problems it had, the conflict with the Brotherhood, and several other storylines such as Ghouls working on a weapon to get some payback in humanity.
On the background on this all was a madman who wanted to unleash a new (old) virus and use an orbital battle platform to wipe out civilization and start over with his selected few.

Save to say I was all over this as the game sounded very Fallout and yet added more to it such as the ability to manufacture your own items and rebuild complete towns.


My worry about Bethesda getting the licence is that they never made a game like Fallout before, yes they made the Oblivion games but these were never like Fallout and the later two weren't even real RPGs anymore.

The new Fallout Bethesda has presented looks far more like a FPS game with PA elements and even those don't fit really into Fallout 1 and 2, more like Fallout Brotherhood of Steel that also included all kinds of stuff the original designers wisely never implemented in their game.
Stuff such as absurd weapons or replenishing health from drinking from a toilet.

I have to admit, the game looks graphically very nice and some of the locations speak to the imagination such as Rivet City and Paradise Falls, but it is not Fallout, it looks more like someone took a lot of inspiration from Doom 3 when it came to developing things like the Super Mutants.

The background of Fallout 3 also feels rather twisted, conflicting with elements from the first two games, yes they were violent if the player wanted to be but in general they were also subtle.
In Fallout 3 we suddenly have the opportunity to blow up towns with old atomic bombs, and we have sheriffs who like to take potshots at the people that appointed them, and if we steal their clothes we are suddenly the new sheriff.


I am not trying to sound like the old fashioned unmoveable player who wants Fallout 3 to be exactly like Fallout 1 or 2 for example.
If they can make everything in 3D I am all for it, but at least stick with the same viewpoint and background.
Also, don't overdo it to much with the Fifties 'world of tomorrow' when it comes to weapons and creatures, FOBOS did that and it was one of the points on which it failed.

[Harrison]

The big problem any developer has is aiming a game at a market and selling it well. If they were to retain the style of the original Fallout games (the isometric 3D) then it would struggle to sell as many would view it as very old and out of date. True fans know that a game is more than just the graphics and it is the realisation of the story through the writers ability to convey the game's universe through in game conversation and the events that unfold during play, combined with visual originality that draws you into the game's universe, but the majority of game players don't look at games in this way and will instantly reject a game if the visuals and effects are not cutting edge and draw them straight in.

I personally think the switch from the old style to the one Bethesda have developed is a good move as a first person perspective can be the greatest at drawing a playing into a gaming universe if done correctly. Don't forget that all first person perspective games don't have to by FPS in style of gameplay. Look back to very early examples to prove this. Even games like Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder used a first person perspective view point to play the games and they were definitely not FPSs. Equally Ultima Underworld is another good early example of using first person perspective well in an RPG.

I think we will just have to wait and see what the finished game is like to play, but personally from the previews I've seen and read it looks very promising.