Well here's my opinion over the several points stated on the interview:
Anyway, when attacked, all children flee and any regular NPCs friendly to the children will instantly attack you, so it feels good in the game, in that there is an appropriate response.
Nice, and what happens if I kill the NPC's friendly to child? what will be the appropriate response then? some kind of damage absorving skin that suddenly every child earned due to radiation?
In regards to essential NPCs, it works like Oblivion, in that when they "die" they get knocked "unconscious" and get up a little while later. It worked well in Oblivion, so we kept that system, as you can still attack everyone that you want, and get at least a small benefit (being able to avoid them while they are down). I will say that the number of essential characters is minute compared to Oblivion and we've gone to pretty big lengths to cover a lot of people's deaths, but sometimes that's just not possible.
As I said before, I seem to recall a couple of games where you could complete the main quest and still kill every single npc (except for the overseer, thanks Ausir
), I think they were named... oh yes, fallout 1 and 2.
Most are hostile, but not all. Yes, some can be reasoned with and even hired.
Finally something good, at least not every ghoul and super mutant is a retarded killer!
I don't have enough space to really do that. They are big. If you look at Fallout 1, it's deeper than that. To give you the scale, we have over 40,000 lines of dialogue, compared to a few thousand in Fallout 1.
Deeper than in Fallout? I'm going to love to see that
You can also use your Speech skill to persuade, and sometimes special dialogue options come up based on other stats, whether that is strength when talking to a tough guy, or options that come from perks you may have.
I hope that by persuade they don't mean the persuading minigame like in Oblivion...
If and when one is available, it will be a free download. I wish I could promise that an editor will be coming and when, but I can't.
Nice, now we're not even sure if the game can be modded...
Like Oblivion, we use our Radiant AI system, so most of the NPCs eat, sleep, work, etc. I think we take it for granted now, but it's pretty great to have that level of control. We've also done a lot to the conversation system, which makes them seem a lot smarter, but again, that's better data, not a new system.
Here we go again!
They are common, and play a part throughout the game, whether that's the main quest, side quests or just exploring. To even get to downtown DC you're going to have to go through some metro tunnels. And then when you are downtown, the whole thing is like one giant "dungeon". Any structure of size, an office building, destroyed factory, school, hospital, you name it – we use all of these as "dungeons".
Wow... I'm glad Bethesda already said that this wasn't oblivion with guns, or I'd be extremly worried and crying in a corner right now!
What will the map travel look like? Is it a dotted line that slowly crawls towards the destination on the map, or Oblivion-type fast travel? And will there be random encounters during said map travel?
It works like Oblivion, it's a system we got great feedback on from that game and while we tossed other ideas around, it works best for us.
And yet, here we go again!
Keep in mind the guns have condition too, which affects how much damage they do as well. The gun condition used to also affect rate-of-fire as well as the spread of bullets, but we took those elements out, it was just too much going on, and you usually started the game with a bad skill and a bad gun and it just felt "broken", with bullets shooting off in all kinds of crazy directions. Now the gun condition affects damage and how much the gun jams when you reload it, which ultimately equates to a rate-of-fire, but feels better when playing.
Well this doesn't sound too bad, yet I think they were in the right direction and then screwed up... I mean, if a bullet hits me it's the same if it comes from the best or worst rifle in terms of aim, as a bullet is always a bullet. However, if they had kept the first idea, with the bullet spread and rate of fire, it would be way better. I just hope that weapons dont start needing to be repaired after shooting 4 or 5 rounds..
Ok, time for some, perhaps, bad news. Traits have been rolled into Perks.
Excuse me?
Anyway, many traits from Fallout return, but as perks. And many perks return, as perks. Another change over the last year is that you now pick a perk every time you level, and the perks have been balanced accordingly. Like I said before, we found the level-up-pick-a-perk experience to be so enjoyable, it was actually confusing people why they couldn't do it every level.
What?! "It was confusing people why they couldn't do it every level"?! are you kidding me?! No one was confused! It was a way to keep the game ballanced and to not make it too easy, something that you don't seem to understand, as you showed us in oblivion where you could kill everything with only level one!!
Fallout gives you an already perfectly balanced leveling system, and you completely changed it to keep it balanced?? That doesn't make any sense!!
You get to create your face, but not your body style. You choose your race (Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, or Asian) and sex (Male or Female). You can manipulate your face any way you want, shaping it to your liking. We also have a number of "preset" faces, so you can start with a decent looking face. You can also pick your hair style and color. There are not scars or tattoos you can pick. But, there are beards.
Well a few good news again. I'm quite happy in being able to create my own character
You can crouch, this is good for taking cover and also acts as "sneaking".
Wow, and again, here we go again!! I'm starting to be uncertain about the not being oblivion with guns thing...
You can only have one follower at a time, you have to "fire" the one you have to get a new one.
Why can't we have as many followers as we want?
I've never really viewed Fallout 2 as a direct continuation
Well no one's asking for a direct continuation, but both fallout 1 and 2 had something to do with eachother...
It's most like the Oblivion compass, and "ticks" appear on it when you "perceive" other NPCs or creatures.
Yet again! And Bethesda still says that this isn't oblivion with guns?
They'll even pickup weapons lying around. Super Mutants can do the same. You think you've played it great when you take out the arm of one Super Mutant and he drops his mini-gun, only to see another one pick it up and use it on you.
Well let's end this with some good news, at least this shows a bit of improvement in the fighting system.
I know this might be a bit long, but I tried to include every aspect of the interview here. Thanks for reading, please tell me what you think
