Chris Avellone Q&A
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Avellone is in my personal opinion one of the most overrated designers in the RPG genre.
Worked on the worst areas in Fallout 2 (New Reno, Christ), did practically nothing but produce extremely flowery superfluous dialog that seemed to stretch on forever in PS:T, yes, it was entirely pointless dialog that took around five hundred words to establish something that could be done in four hundred less (yes describing things with less words but maintaining the same effect is a highly praised attribute of certain writers), and the only thing that prevents me from comparing it to Max Payne's is the fact that Max Payne was tongue-in-cheek and let easy when the actual gameplay came around, and worst of all he was Producer for KoTOR2 which I still can't believe I played all the way to the end to this day.
Don't get the love brothers, I don't understand it, is it because of his attitude? Is he some bizarre parallel dimension Todd Howard that translated to our dimension? Because honestly all I see is charisma, not much talent.
Worked on the worst areas in Fallout 2 (New Reno, Christ), did practically nothing but produce extremely flowery superfluous dialog that seemed to stretch on forever in PS:T, yes, it was entirely pointless dialog that took around five hundred words to establish something that could be done in four hundred less (yes describing things with less words but maintaining the same effect is a highly praised attribute of certain writers), and the only thing that prevents me from comparing it to Max Payne's is the fact that Max Payne was tongue-in-cheek and let easy when the actual gameplay came around, and worst of all he was Producer for KoTOR2 which I still can't believe I played all the way to the end to this day.
Don't get the love brothers, I don't understand it, is it because of his attitude? Is he some bizarre parallel dimension Todd Howard that translated to our dimension? Because honestly all I see is charisma, not much talent.
Well written I agree, which is surprising because I hate the writing in Planescape, but I completely disagree with well designed, it's large, confusing, filled with aimless NPCs that force you to wander around looking for someone who isn't entirely nondescript, and for the most part it has a lot of broken quests, boring quests, and quests that breach the game's sense of isolation and societal collapse.
I liked Vault City because of its oppressive nature, but even NCR bothered me a little with how out of place it was, also that town is pretty big for a whole lot of nothing going on, which is the opposite of New Reno.
I liked Vault City because of its oppressive nature, but even NCR bothered me a little with how out of place it was, also that town is pretty big for a whole lot of nothing going on, which is the opposite of New Reno.
Morbus
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
I myself love the writing of planescape. It's not so much the time it takes to read (as I NEVER bother about time when I'm playing planescape), but how "deep" you get into what it's about. It's almost magical, I find it really awesome.
cause its a 1930s mafia-gangster setting thrown in a 50s vision gone-to-hell world. Fallout always tried to portray not only a simple generic post apocalyptic setting but a setting about a world nuked to hell as (somewhat) inspired by the way how the 50s seen the future.bhlaab said:
An artistic example of the 50s vision about "our" time. Al Capone or Lucky Luciano somewhat just ddo not fitt in to this.
New Reno was something that would fitt more in a novel/story from Dick Tracey.
*Edit
To say that, I always enjoyed and liked new Reno and personaly did not had that many issues with it, except that it was a bit confusing to find a single character. But I definetly can see the reasons why one would say that it does not fitt in to the usual setting of Fallout.
Meh, still not into F3 even if Chris is.
I'd have to agree with a post that was stated earlier: Oblivion was better. Oblivion guys. Oblivion.
As for New Reno... from a purely gameplay perspective, I thought it was fun. However, whenever I go to New Reno, I must say I do feel detached from the rest of the game at times.
Oh well, must be why it's just one big side mission that has next nothing to do with the rest of the game.
I'd have to agree with a post that was stated earlier: Oblivion was better. Oblivion guys. Oblivion.
As for New Reno... from a purely gameplay perspective, I thought it was fun. However, whenever I go to New Reno, I must say I do feel detached from the rest of the game at times.
Oh well, must be why it's just one big side mission that has next nothing to do with the rest of the game.
Crni Vuk said:cause its a 1930s mafia-gangster setting thrown in a 50s vision gone-to-hell world. Fallout always tried to portray not only a simple generic post apocalyptic setting but a setting about a world nuked to hell as (somewhat) inspired by the way how the 50s seen the future.bhlaab said:
An artistic example of the 50s vision about "our" time. Al Capone or Lucky Luciano somewhat just ddo not fitt in to this.
New Reno was something that would fitt more in a novel/story from Dick Tracey.
*Edit
To say that, I always enjoyed and liked new Reno and personaly did not had that many issues with it, except that it was a bit confusing to find a single character. But I definetly can see the reasons why one would say that it does not fitt in to the usual setting of Fallout.
Now, the way I've always seen it is that the 1950s retro stuff is how the world was before it was destroyed (and inside the vaults, since they seem somewhat stuck in time) Otherwise, where does all the Mad Max and western-inspired stuff fit in?
In fact, that was a problem I had with Fallout 3, where you'd run into 1950's type people like in Andale who are seemingly oblivious to the fact that the world was blown up and American culture was more or less thrown out the window.
For New Reno, sure it's a little hokey that you can become a porn star and visit mafia owned casinos etc, but I don't see how it's detrimental to the setting. It at least makes sense as far as versimillitude goes.
If anything I thought the tribal stuff in Fallout 2 was wayyyy more "out there" than New Reno or even Point Lookout.
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
here's an idea: maybe he like the game extra much simply because it's Fallout? he might actually enjoy seeing his old odies used again or used as inspiration (hardly) for new ideas. you know, nostalgia and just a little bit of proudness?
Chris Avellone is a Master of verbal skills.
This minor note describes fallout 3 so accurately, pointing out subtly what exactly is and isn't fallout 3.
I hated fallout 3, and at the same time i couldn't aggree more with his description: I couldn't roleplay, unkillable NPCs sucked, i didn't follow the stupid plot after the vault, but exploring the wasteland was kind of fun.
I guess he knew what to expect and so he wasn't disappointed.
Chris Avellone said:
This minor note describes fallout 3 so accurately, pointing out subtly what exactly is and isn't fallout 3.
I hated fallout 3, and at the same time i couldn't aggree more with his description: I couldn't roleplay, unkillable NPCs sucked, i didn't follow the stupid plot after the vault, but exploring the wasteland was kind of fun.
I guess he knew what to expect and so he wasn't disappointed.
zag said:
The Fallout Overseer was immortal too, if I remember right.
Crni Vuk said:
Haha that picture is so stupid. Just look at the monorail: It's attached to the ground and to the rail. Then look at what hangs up the train: CRASH!!! What where they thinking??? Even my asipfsaipfhahi-paintings from pre-school was more logical...
(yes I want to waste some time because I have nothing to to the coming 4 hours...)
Well, if the column is attached to the left side and the train on a rail to the right side, it can work.
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
it's the Future, man. it's Science! almost as good as Magic!