bit-tech.net has done a preview for Fallout 3. One should not bit-tech.net usually focuses in their reviews and previews on the technical aspects, and normally put a lot of care and thought into every article. Let's see what they come up with.<blockquote>In this line of work, it's very easy to start taking things for granted. Every day it seems like you're being shown another exclusive game or you’re meeting your heroes. Free games come through the post regularly and your workmates practically sit on thrones carved from super-expensive graphics cards. Every day is another battle in the war to keep a sense of proportion.
But, let me tell you, getting to see Fallout 3 before it was released was like a dream come true and, as one of the biggest fans of the series in the world, you can take it as a huge endorsement when I say that the game looks fantastic.
The sequel to Interplay's classic RPGs of the early nineties, Fallout 3 has been a controversial game to say the least. The sale of the game license to Bethesda may have revived the failing Interplay, but it also incensed fans who reacted strongly to the shift of developer and perspective.
Can one company's seminal isometric RPG be another company's first-person sandbox RPG? Never mind the fact that it has shifted to the makers of The Elder Scrolls series – is such a thing even possible?
Yes. Yes, it is. </blockquote>Good start.<blockquote>S.P.E.C.I.A.L. is the skeleton on which Fallout is built on; a system of statistics which govern all the players’ attributes and abilities. It stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck and by upgrading or degrading each stat players can create an alter-ego that is truly detailed. One of the classic mistakes that new Fallout players would make is to think that it was just like in Dungeons and Dragons where it only affected player actions – everyone would turn down Intelligence and beef up Strength.
The unwitting result of this tinkering would then be a character so stupid that he could not make himself understood, would struggle to get new quests and have constant setbacks on the route to victory. He’d hit like a sledgehammer dropped from a height though.
How much of this that Bethesda has really taken on board was something we didn’t really get to see and, because the game is still in alpha and filled with placeholder dialogue, Pete was understandably wary of showing us much of the game’s dialogues.
(...)
Combat in Fallout 3 has been one of the most looked at areas of the game, mainly because as a concept it’s so hugely different from the original games. What was isometric and turn-based before is now a first-person real-time kind of affair.
Well, that’s true for the most part.
Combat in Fallout 3 can actually change depending on how you want to play the game and, while the default is a first-person real-time kind of shooter, it’s not the only option. Players can switch to third-person over-the-shoulder viewing angles whenever they want if that’s their preference and the game can also be switched over to a turn-based mode using the VATS function of the PipBoy computer the player constantly carries.
Switching over to turn-based isn’t permanent though and players have a set amount of action points to use for shooting at enemies before the game reverts back to real-time so the AI can get a shot off. Your action points will then recharge after a few seconds and you get a chance to queue up your attacks once more, unleashing crippling blows however you please.</blockquote>Yip. There we go. "Turn-based".
Well done. But here's the seminal quote:<blockquote>On the downside, it does seem like Bethesda has polarised the enemies a little if you ask me. One of the things that made Fallout stand out was that there never was a true sense of right and wrong as such things as chivalry had long died in the wasteland.
On the one front, Bethesda has mirrored this once more by using Karma to track the player’s actions and popularity, but on the other you won’t be finding any friendly mutants like in past games. Pete confirmed with us that all the Super Mutants are dead – “Once a creature, always a creature.”
While that definitely makes the game a lot simpler and more accessible to players who want to boil Fallout 3 down to little more than a shooter, it does kind of feel like some of the greyness has been lost as a result. A world of black and white and clearly defined sides isn’t bad, but it is a little less involving.
</blockquote>Link: Fallout 3 preview on bit-tech.net.
Spotted on Fallout 3: APNB.
But, let me tell you, getting to see Fallout 3 before it was released was like a dream come true and, as one of the biggest fans of the series in the world, you can take it as a huge endorsement when I say that the game looks fantastic.
The sequel to Interplay's classic RPGs of the early nineties, Fallout 3 has been a controversial game to say the least. The sale of the game license to Bethesda may have revived the failing Interplay, but it also incensed fans who reacted strongly to the shift of developer and perspective.
Can one company's seminal isometric RPG be another company's first-person sandbox RPG? Never mind the fact that it has shifted to the makers of The Elder Scrolls series – is such a thing even possible?
Yes. Yes, it is. </blockquote>Good start.<blockquote>S.P.E.C.I.A.L. is the skeleton on which Fallout is built on; a system of statistics which govern all the players’ attributes and abilities. It stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck and by upgrading or degrading each stat players can create an alter-ego that is truly detailed. One of the classic mistakes that new Fallout players would make is to think that it was just like in Dungeons and Dragons where it only affected player actions – everyone would turn down Intelligence and beef up Strength.
The unwitting result of this tinkering would then be a character so stupid that he could not make himself understood, would struggle to get new quests and have constant setbacks on the route to victory. He’d hit like a sledgehammer dropped from a height though.
How much of this that Bethesda has really taken on board was something we didn’t really get to see and, because the game is still in alpha and filled with placeholder dialogue, Pete was understandably wary of showing us much of the game’s dialogues.
(...)
Combat in Fallout 3 has been one of the most looked at areas of the game, mainly because as a concept it’s so hugely different from the original games. What was isometric and turn-based before is now a first-person real-time kind of affair.
Well, that’s true for the most part.
Combat in Fallout 3 can actually change depending on how you want to play the game and, while the default is a first-person real-time kind of shooter, it’s not the only option. Players can switch to third-person over-the-shoulder viewing angles whenever they want if that’s their preference and the game can also be switched over to a turn-based mode using the VATS function of the PipBoy computer the player constantly carries.
Switching over to turn-based isn’t permanent though and players have a set amount of action points to use for shooting at enemies before the game reverts back to real-time so the AI can get a shot off. Your action points will then recharge after a few seconds and you get a chance to queue up your attacks once more, unleashing crippling blows however you please.</blockquote>Yip. There we go. "Turn-based".
Well done. But here's the seminal quote:<blockquote>On the downside, it does seem like Bethesda has polarised the enemies a little if you ask me. One of the things that made Fallout stand out was that there never was a true sense of right and wrong as such things as chivalry had long died in the wasteland.
On the one front, Bethesda has mirrored this once more by using Karma to track the player’s actions and popularity, but on the other you won’t be finding any friendly mutants like in past games. Pete confirmed with us that all the Super Mutants are dead – “Once a creature, always a creature.”
While that definitely makes the game a lot simpler and more accessible to players who want to boil Fallout 3 down to little more than a shooter, it does kind of feel like some of the greyness has been lost as a result. A world of black and white and clearly defined sides isn’t bad, but it is a little less involving.
</blockquote>Link: Fallout 3 preview on bit-tech.net.
Spotted on Fallout 3: APNB.
