CD-Action magazine plays Fallout 3

[Myryad]

Wait, I'm getting a little confused...

This means that after the "tutorial", that ends when you are 19, you can't say: "Hey man I'm not ready to go after my father, at least not for the next 10 years!".
Because I'm not 19! I'm 29 and I don't want to play the game as if I was 19, again... I've been there, done that (on Fallout 2).

Mainly because I want to be able to drink alcohol and not be arrested! (Are US "kids" under 21 arrested for drinking alcohol???)
And it would be nice to get my Sexpert reputation and Gigolo Perk, with a little hand of some street walker...


If this ends up being true, I will go from confused to pissed off.


P.S.: Not with you Ausir, with Bethestda Softworks, or BS as I also read somewhere!

Well, for what I understand, I think your tutorial ends when your father disapears, and unfortunently you can't choose to wait a few years to go after your father because the overseer ( I think ) belives that you're involved in the disapearing. It's really lame I know

 

[ZiggyMeister]

It's been known that your age is fixed since the very first Game Informer preview a year ago.

I wasn't around here 1 year ago
Although I know NMA for quite a few years, I was busy with other things until a friend told me that Fallout 3 was announced and that a teaser trailer was cuming!

Only after that I re-discovered NMA, DAC, etc... and I also found briosafreak's Blog.

 

[Bodybag]

They've said they're not attempting to give ranged and close combat equal treatment. Just another point where the game has "evolved" to fit "modern gaming".

Are you absolutey certain they didn't do it intentionally to diferentiate this game from Oblivion, even if just a little(read: with guns)? Look into your heart, Per.

He said that being able to play through the game as a 100% HtH character was not a goal, but he suggests they probably arrived there anyway. My take on that: you can probably create a godly MMA badass and beat people to death with ease up till the end, but he'll get shot alot in the act of closing the distance. I think there's room in that scenario for a satisfying challenge, but we'll see.

In the interests of full disclosure, I've never played a melee-only character in either of the Fallouts, and found it irritating, both in theory and in practice. I mean, some of these motherfuckers have lasers. In fact, when some bad guy would run up and punch me, I'd pull out the biggest gun in my inventory and fuck his shit right up, with complete disregard to things like "splash damage" or "area of effect." Hitting F9 is a small price to pay for the smug satisfaction you get when reminding some stupid cunt that he's in a fucking firefight. So YMMV.

 

[Per]

Are you absolutey certain they didn't do it intentionally to diferentiate this game from Oblivion, even if just a little(read: with guns)? Look into your heart, Per.

Not that it seems more flattering that in making "Oblivion with guns" they felt they had to do "Fallout without mêlée" to make it count, but you could be right.

In fact, when some bad guy would run up and punch me, I'd pull out the biggest gun in my inventory and fuck his shit right up, with complete disregard to things like "splash damage" or "area of effect."

<s>Hm? Grenades and rockets have splash damage in Fo1-2. What other weapons which ought to have area of effect were you thinking of?</s> No, wait, never mind. I can't tell the difference between obtuse points and waffling, it seems.

 

[Polynikes]

Or give them big weapons, so if you shot them, they will nuke you with Fat Man. :>

Nah, give the kids magic rocks that knock you unconscious on impact, no matter where they hit or what type of armor you're wearing. That way it can appeal to the magic-loving Bethesda fanboys AND the Fallout fans, who know that many kids in the Fallout games carry rocks.

 

[Bodybag]

In fact, when some bad guy would run up and punch me, I'd pull out the biggest gun in my inventory and fuck his shit right up, with complete disregard to things like "splash damage" or "area of effect."

<s>Hm? Grenades and rockets have splash damage in Fo1-2. What other weapons which ought to have area of effect were you thinking of?</s> No, wait, never mind. I can't tell the difference between obtuse points and waffling, it seems.

Or jokes, even. Jesus.

 

[Per]

Or jokes, even. Jesus.

That's what happens when you only have one mode of delivery. You could help us along by using some smiley system perhaps:

Remember the healing potions from Fallout, guys?

Translation: "Even if you try you actually won't, because I can tell you: there were none! I think this somehow casts an ironic light on what was said just now."

Remember the healing potions from Fallout, guys?

Translation: "Ho ho! Healing potions in Fallout! That is so random. Oh, never mind me. Giggle."

Remember the healing potions from Fallout, guys?

Translation: "Seriously, remember them? The potions. There were some in Junktown maybe? AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO REMEMBERS POTIONS."

All in the spirit of friendly communication.

 

[generalissimofurioso]

Perhaps he is like me and finds the usage of Smileys to be irritating.

 

[LuckyOasis]

As for being able to pick up a hooker... I think that's kind of a popular archetype in our culture. We have a thing for the "hooker with a heart of gold." Are you upset because the game won't let you sleep with her because it strays from the "source material" (and incidentally, all that happened in the source material was that you were a few dollars less rich), or are you upset because the one woman in the game who we know might be a pseudo love-interest isn't interested in your character?

As far as narative goes, I find it far more compelling to hear that the game features a hooker who won't sleep with you because you're too young (although maybe "innocent" is a better word), than simply being able to walk up to a hooker, hit a button, and lose some money with nothing to show for it.

People on these boards complain all the time about Bethesda not putting in enough grey areas regarding moral choices in the game. I have repeatedly read that a lot of you think the game looks too black-and-white. This is a great example of a grey area. The hooker who accepts cash for sex won't sleep with you because she has some sort of a moral compas inside of her that prevents her from doing so.

THAT is compelling, and makes for an interesting gaming experience, in my opinion. For the world to be believable, I think it is important to see other characters living in the world making choices that are just as difficult as those the PC makes, every day. That makes the world come alive. I think Bethesda hit it spot on on this one.

As far as the killing of children goes... I think we all have to remember that gaming was a very different industry ten years ago than it is today. To be honest, I'm surprised that there was (as far as I could tell) so little uproar over BioShock's allowing players to harvest Little Sisters. I have played the game to completion almost three times now, and I only harvested a Little Sister once, because I felt so sh*tty about it afterwards.

Some things should be kept sacred. You don't f*ck with kids.

 

[LuckyOasis]

More about the age thing:

I'm 28 and I'll be honest that I'm really disappointed the game absolutely insists that you play as a 19 year-old. I think that was a terrible idea, in spite of my earlier post about the hooker not sleeping with you.

But, really... when is the last time age really mattered in any game, (or any other form of entertainment) outside of in our own minds? Stats are stats; abilities are abilities; age has nothing to do with it. How old was Luke in Star Wars? I think he was supposed to be about 19, and I don't like watching Star Wars any less. I'm 28, but I admit that I love the Harry Potter books.

Age ain't nothin' but a number; and it sucks to be 19 and have people tell you that you can't do something just because you're too young.

So, the more I think about it from a character experience, I think being "too young" might not be that bad. Being too young SUCKS. What's more, being too young REALLY SUCKS when nobody else around you seems to care that in spite of your age... you just so happen to be saving the damn world.

We can all relate to those feelings of frustration and indignation that come from people not listening to us, or respecting us, or just letting us buy a couple of damn beers merely because some stupid rule says so... in a world that often seems not to be run by rules at all.

That's a role playing experience. That's what we have all been begging for, hasn't it? We're going to be playing a character that is being discriminated against. In our character's world, it is because of his/her having just got out of the vault (and because of his/her age), but to make us really FEEL that discrimination, Bethesda is tapping into feelings we all have felt for extended periods of time by once again, making age an issue. They are taking away things we (as plus 21s, in the states at least) take for granted.

That is what life would be like. The world has been turned upside down, and we don't get to live the lives we used to live. By making age an issue, Bethesda is making the character feel like an outcast in the worst possible way: People aren't telling us that they don't like us because we come from a vault... but that is exactly why they don't like us. People are telling us they are treating us differently because we are too young.

I think that is how discrimination actually works these days. We mask it in politically correct ways, and now we all get to feel that experience in a game where we have to prove ourselves to a world that doesn't want us to be a part of it by saving that very world and earning its respect.

Genious story-telling, I think.

 

[Ausir]

Some things should be kept sacred. You don't f*ck with kids.

So killing a kid is worse than nuking an entire town?

 

[shihonage]

I am guessing now that Megaton has no kids in it, because if you nuked it, the kids would keep running around the smoking radioactive rubble, exposing the ridiculousness of Bethesda's game design philosophy.

 

[LuckyOasis]

Here is a true criticism:

I'm bummed out that there is no weather whatsoever.

I really wish they would make it rain on ONLY ONE DAY in the game. I think that would be really cool. You wander around the wastes for whatever it is... 40 hours let's say... and there is only one brief rain storm that occurs at random.

Maybe you'll be out in the wastes alone, and it will be beautiful, and every plant in sight will bloom for five minutes, before fading back to gray.

Maybe you'll be in town and everyone will scream and run for cover.

It would have been a beautiful moment.

 

[gc051360]

yeah. The weather thing is actually something that is even getting the Bethesda fans a little irked.

But, forcing my character to be 19 is wicked lame. I know it is older than a great deal of Bethesda's target audience....but to me. It seems like a kid. I don't want to play Fallout 3 as a kid.

 

[LuckyOasis]

Come on, Ausir.

I think we can all see that it is about more than that. This is a really complicated issue. I encourage you to check out an episode of RadioLab (available as a free pod-cast download from iTunes) about morality.

There are certain barriers the mind's of most people will not let them cross. Killing a child standing right in front of you is one thing, but pushing a button and seeing a mushroom cloud on the horizon is another. Obviously, this can seem counter-intuitive because we're talking about the death of one, versus the death of many.

But we're human beings, and for whatever reason we seem to agree that it is more acceptable to push a button and watch thousands burn in the distance than it is to kill a child first-hand.

I don't know the reason for that, but it seems to be a consensus among pretty much every even-remotely civilized culture. We have an instinct to protect our young. I am all for a nearly limitless freedom of expression, but when it comes to children I think we need to tread very carefully indeed.

 

[Typoteus]

...bloom for five minutes...

Don't worry you will have bloom for every minute of the game.

 

[LuckyOasis]

gc05136:

You're not playing as a kid. I think 19 was a deliberate choice because it makes you an adult all around the world. The point is, even though you're an adult, you're being treated like a kid. We can all relate to that, can't we? Think of superiors at work, professors, parents, the list could go on for days. People talk down to us all of the time. This is the same thing, and like I said, I think it is just a mask for the prejudice against vault dwellers.

typoteus:

I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but you could at least respond to the substance of what I was saying, as opposed to referencing something that has nothing to do with what I was talking about with the sole purpose of either slamming Bethesda or flaming me for simply expressing my opinions.

 

[terebikun]

They should let the kids be mortal and just not put any head-explosions (or shit like that) to their models.

I'm pretty sure any game in the current political climate that has any sort of graphic depiction of childkilling will get the ax, otherwise knows as the AO. Even Bioshock's black screen copout was a source of controversy.

what?!??? char too young to enjoy a paid fuck?!?!?

Yeah! All prostitutes are inhumans with no standards whatsoever! In the post-apocalypse they should be running around fucking anything and everything!

About the lack of sex in this hands-on... Isn't it contradictory with the info in the PSM3 hands-on?

It is contradictory, and sex probably is in the game, but then people would be denied one less thing to complain about. Look at how long it took for people to stop bitching about a nonexistent robo-horse.

I hope they didn't take gambling away because it is... what? Sinful?

Probably because it's too easy to exploit and just plain isn't much fun.

So much for targeted Super-Sledge mayhem.

"Hand-to-hand" does not necessarily mean all melee combat.

 

[LuckyOasis]

Also, I just want to say this because I've posted quite a bit today as opposed to my usual sporadic comments:

I'm not just here because (as it seems you might think) I'm a fan of Bethesda. I started out not liking Bethesda's games at all... back when they still showed square boobs and had you fighting dragons.

Anyway, I've been coming here for years in spite of what my "joined since" says. I bought Fallout back in '98 as I was heading off to college, and I absolutely loved it.

I just want you all to know that because I feel a lot of animosity coming from people who think I'm a Bethesda apologist. I'm not here and saying what I'm saying for any reason other than that I'm looking forward to Fallout 3; regardless of how it has been expanded in some ways and limited in others compared to the original games (which, love them though I do, I consider flawed in many ways).

Anyway, whenever I post I get a lot of sarcastic and mean-spirited responses. I'm not trying to make anybody mad. I just really wish more people in this forum that I have respected for years would be a little less negative about Fallout 3 and Bethesda. Game companies are never perfect... but some try harder than others. I think Bethesda is one of those companies. Bungie, BioWare, and Rockstar are a few others that have my respect for consistently trying hard to give the public a good all-around experience.

Fallout and Oblivion are very different games from very different times in gaming. I just hope we can all remember that from the point of view of an outsider, the greatest changes will seem to be nothing more than minor revisions.

 

[Bodybag]

[;,,,;]

It's as though someone snapped your funnybone in two and shoved one of the jagged ends into your temple. You can't EVEN begrudgingly giggle without melting down (over a post in another thread[that was relatively benign]). Have I really gotten under your skin that much?