Bethesda’s Pete Hines Fallout 4 interview

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I will never understand what goes on in a person's head to make them think.

"Oh, this world has magic in it, that magic has rules, that means they should wizard in an alien spaceship with photon torpedoes and kill Lord Moldybutt with quantum entanglement."

When you do incongruous things, it detracts from the story.

In game with crappy gameplay, the story can make up for it.

You know, unless it's Fallout 3's story, in which case, *braaaaaaaaaap*

There it goes, pooping on your kitchen floor with it's bumbling mediocrity.
 
generalissimofurioso said:
I will never understand what goes on in a person's head to make them think.

"Oh, this world has magic in it, that magic has rules, that means they should wizard in an alien spaceship with photon torpedoes and kill Lord Moldybutt with quantum entanglement."

When you do incongruous things, it detracts from the story.

In game with crappy gameplay, the story can make up for it.

You know, unless it's Fallout 3's story, in which case, *braaaaaaaaaap*

There it goes, pooping on your kitchen floor with it's bumbling mediocrity.
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Did you use wizard as a verb? Do you remember darth vader saying that as an adjective in episode 1? I remember thinking I would try and saying that but I could never make it catch on.
 
Yes.

It's basically just a way to shorten down "A Wizard Did It".

Just because it's fiction, it doesn't mean that there shouldn't be some form of internal logic.

I mean, can you imagine just how angry those jerkdishes would get if Fallout 4 ended with a bunch of magic ponies reviving the Earth with love beams?
 
They would probably love it, Bethesda fanboys just love shoveling everything Bethesda squeezes out with a smile.
 
There has to be some sort of limit to it though.

Everything has its limits.

Unless Bethesda is the cultural singularity that signals the end of the modern era.

*prepares his TEOTWAWKI bug-out bag*
 
I never finished Oblivion or Skyrim for that matter. Got bored to tears and annoyed with the Beth Leveling System™.

--

Also regarding FO4, here is a comparison between another game's promoted strong aspects with FO4's.

Witcher 3

"The World doesn't need a Hero, it needs a Professional - Become a witcher, one of the last monster slayers for hire. Track down the child of prophecy, a living weapon capable of untold destruction. Journey through war-torn kingdoms and slay legendary creatures. Explore towns rife with corruption and sail to untamed isles, home to clans of seafaring warriors. In a world descending into turmoil, your actions shape history."
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  • In the past he has raised and overthrown monarchs, battled legendary monsters and saved the lives of many. Now Geralt embarks on his most personal quest to save his loved ones and protect the world from an ancient threat.
  • The story is drawn based on player decisions. Each action will have consequences which change the story and the game world. NPCs, communities, monsters and locations all change, based on player choice.
  • The Witcher 3 is standalone adventure, easily entered into by new players. Witcher fans will find subtle references to their adventures, but these elements are not necessary to enjoy the game fully.
  • A breathtaking cinematic introduction demonstrating the game background - this puts players immediately in the know about the situation in the war-ravaged Northern Kingdoms and the background story of the main character.
  • Unique atmosphere, memorable characters and gritty dialog - the game world has its own unique feel. It is a classic dark fantasy tale that will appeal to fans of all kinds of fantasy stories.

"Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth and complexity. Traverse a fantastical open world: explore forgotten ruins, caves and shipwrecks, trade with merchants and dwarven smiths in cities, and hunt across the open plains, mountains and seas."
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(also spoiler alert, I've played every Witcher game and read the books and am pretty obsessed with that amazing universe with a story that trumps anything Betheseda puts out these days; makes me reminsce about classic games of yore that really were immersive to me like FO1/FO2 or Torment)

Fallout 4


DESCRIPTION:
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, welcome you to the world of Fallout 4 – their most ambitious game ever, and the next generation of open-world gaming. As the sole survivor of Vault 111, you enter a world destroyed by nuclear war. Every second is a fight for survival, and every choice is yours. Only you can rebuild and determine the fate of the Wasteland. Welcome home.


KEY FEATURES:
Freedom and Liberty!
Do whatever you want in a massive open world with hundreds of locations, characters, and quests. Join multiple factions vying for power or go it alone, the choices are all yours.

You’re S.P.E.C.I.A.L!
Be whoever you want with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character system. From a Power Armored soldier to the charismatic smooth talker, you can choose from hundreds of Perks and develop your own playstyle.

Super Deluxe Pixels!
An all-new next generation graphics and lighting engine brings to life the world of Fallout like never before. From the blasted forests of the Commonwealth to the ruins of Boston, every location is packed with dynamic detail.

Violence and V.A.T.S.!
Intense first or third person combat can also be slowed down with the new dynamic Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S) that lets you choose your attacks and enjoy cinematic carnage.

Collect and Build!
Collect, upgrade, and build thousands of items in the most advanced crafting system ever. Weapons, armor, chemicals, and food are just the beginning - you can even build and manage entire settlements.
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Witcher 3 markets the story in a very subtle way, without spoiling too much, but gives you a generally idea of what to expect based on that description. It makes me want to find out more about that incredible sounding Medieval/Dark-Fantasy World and find the child of prophecy to see what's in store for that character after playing through the previous 2 entries start to finish. The world is described as simply massive with intriguing locales to discover, while also reminding me of a deeply intricate story no less than 4 or 5 times with "gritty" dialogue. As an avid book reader and fan of classic games, I hope to be impressed upon with those selling points.

Fallout 4's description just doesn't grab me in the way the other game did - namely the story being a mystery. Having played the previous games FO1/2 and being disappointed with FO3, I am immediately wary as FO3 is a selling point. Very little is even hinted at all regarding the story. I'm the sole survivor and only I can save the world? How so? I mean, I'm just a nobody sole survivor. Hmm, surviving in a Wasteland, well, that's interesting at least - Post-Apoc setting is always cool. And by the rest, it sounds like I'm in for a Shoot 'Em up action game where I can do ANYTHING and collect lots of stuff!


Of course, this may be different for each consumer/gamer depending on their likes, but its still strange that the story or dialogue with people of that Wasteland is not really selling point for FO4 where they can't bother to describe it in non-spoilerly terms. The Witcher series also emphasizes how you're not really out to save the world, you are but one person in a world full of turmoil and actions you take do have real consequences should you choose to involve yourself.

Like what are the consequences of me suddenly disengaging myself from a character trying to explain something to me important in FO4, as a supposed selling point? When I try to talk to them again do they gruffly retort why they should help me for being a rude airhead that didn't bother to listen? Do they quip that I'm like a child bouncing off the walls?
 
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I really liked the Shivering Isles DLC of oblivion, actually. I thought it had a cool story and creative characters and so forth... I thought it was an enjoyable experience. I didn't finish it because I ran into the Beth leveling system, but other than that I was pleasantly surprised.
 
The Shivering Isles was bad. Boring locations, repeating maps and few enemies. The quests were cool though, but it was annoying to explore.
 
Even with all its faults, I still liked Oblivion far more than Skyrim. And the only problem I had with Shivering Isles was that I couldn't get myself to go back into Cyrodill when I was done with it.
 
Dr Fallout said:
The Shivering Isles was bad. Boring locations, repeating maps and few enemies. The quests were cool though, but it was annoying to explore.
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I don't think this is a defensible position irt boring locations. Aside from Alice I can't think of another game that went with an Alice in Wonderland motif. I also thought that the art style was a nice mashup of the typical Tolkein dark-ages and Lewis Carroll. You may not like it, but I can't imagine any justification for calling the Alice in Wonderland style world boring.
 
The thing is... it's not Alice in wonderland style. It's just a mashup of dreary and dark woods and bright yellow hued forests... which after a while gets boring. Morrowind had at least seven different type of location styles, which is nice for exploring (even though the graphics aren't the best... Skywind improves them... a lot). Over all I don't get why people like it. To me everything in Oblivion is boring and bad. But as you said, my opinion.
 
Yeah, I think shivering isles is just the only bethesda game i actually liked. I think the fact that its a dlc and thus shorter made the story tighter and more coherent. Though really its main storyline is just as long as skyrims.

Thats it though.
 
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Here's the opinion of Josh Sawyer about Fallout 4 in an interview with PC Gamer:
 
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Well making it easy to create mods for it is of course relative. I guess if we nail it down to new models and texture changes than it is easy - albeit I would not say THAT much easier to what you can do with many other engines, like the unreal engine for example which has seen quite a lot of good mods! But anything more complex requires also a ton of extra content with Bethesda games, like the script extenders, memory fixes and other tweaks. Yeah, lots of talented modders playing and modding Beth games. No doubts about that.
 
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