Duck and Cover interviews Tim Cain

A Black Isle developer? That's off-topic.


V
IS IT A DUCK!?

 

hmmm. sounds like troll...

looks like troll...

tastes like troll...

...

 

I used to be a troll. NMA knows what they're talking about. Most of the time.

 

Yeah yeah yeah, I meant on more recent stuff. Why not try to get some Q&A love from Chris about New Vegas (for example), since most don't seem happy with the questions asked by the more mainstream sources.

Call me naive on the subject, I don't know much about the process. Hence the question. Obviously there was success talking to the other producers in the past!

 

Any such Q&A would have to go through Pete Hines, so it's doubtful they'd allow it.

 

Except if the Q&A is exactly about the same we know already. :p

 

Yeah... Beth isn't a big fan of our little "hivemind" .

 

No offense, but I think some of you guys are going a bit over the top calling everything which comes from the original developers a lie or sarcasm when it comes to Fallout 3. Of course they need to look where to get the food from, they won't criticise a thing from their "feeders", but it's not that FO3 was crap overall, it sure got some good moments. And seeing it in the perspective of the developer there were really some nice ideas built in, but were poorly implemented. I for one take them serious when they say that they enjoyed travelling etc.

Sometimes the stereotype here on NMA is really true - the angry ones who mone about everything etc. Don't get me wrong - this was even the reason I registred here, because I like the realistic criticism on games. But please, don't go too far, that's all I wanted to say.

 

That's why I wrote "some of you guys".
And I know that there is no "THIS is NMA". But there's just a stereotype of people who rage about everything for which is NMA "well known". That's what I wanted to say, I love this site. And people should follow your advice, that there isn't just the "glittering gems of hatred".

 

One can only hope...

 

Shame he didn't elaborate on what he would have done differently. But oh well.

 

It's pretty obvious when one reads what he would change in Fallout 1. Or rather what he didn't wrote he would change there.

It's not a surprise to me that he liked FINO3 - after all, he had positive expectations for it when it was being developed and from what I heard from my friends, it's a quite entertaining game.

Still, later in this interview, in the part about what he would have changed in Fallout 1, he reaffirmed the validity of the Fallout-style gameplay in modern times.
Improved interface, improved turn-based combat, larger game and better marketing is the real evolution. Not FPS gameplay.

 

Over the top? Probably.

But consider what kind of design principles are evident in the previous work of Chris Taylor and juxtapose that against where Bethesda took Fallout. Where Taylor and Howard diverge in the production of RPGs is manifest in their games. Compare Arcanum or FO to Oblivion. The differences in the way they design speaks for itself. They are at opposite ends of the RPG spectrum with Todd Howard populating the shallow end of the pool.

These guys have nothing to gain from trashing each other, why would they?

I, on the other hand, have no such scruples.

 

The thing is, there's really no way to tell what anyone really thinks. If they liked it, or if they didn't like it, it would look the same. It's like someone saying that something in a historical account couldn't have happened because it sounds "made up". The problem is that if the thing that sounded "made up" actually did happen, however unlikely, it would look still look untrue regardless so it's impossible to know. Is there a name for this kind of thing?

NMA isn't all the same. I don't post much (so I might not count in the first place, but I read, dammit) but I liked the Rock-It Launcher. And New Reno. I understand that most of the BOS in FO3 aren't pussified but explicitly stated to be a different faction with different values. I enjoy FO3 for what it is. I really don't like it AS a Fallout game, but it's still very fun if you ask me. Maybe that's what they like. The fun part. Not the "a worthy sequel to Fallout 2" part or the being "well made" part. Lastly, as illogical as they are, I enjoy exploding cars. That chain reaction outside of the Flooded Metro makes up for it not making sense.

I'd take all this with a grain of salt though. I have a high crap tolerance. I usually liked the teachers everyone else hated.

 

We wuv ya, Tim!

 

And DAC too.

 

I wasnt really trolling most nma posters so much as the ones that show up at news article threads that mention anything after FO2 and shit all over everyone that could like the games in a really self-righteous way to the point where you can almost feel the bile leaking through your monitor. even though I agree with about 90% of the NMA criticism on the games it still rubs me the wrong way and is where most of the hatred directed towards this site comes from.

 

It really sin't hard to believe Tim Cain enjoyed F3. I could even enjoy a playthrough of F3.

The statement is would you have done things different and the resulting answer of yes.

As others have pointed out, merely look at the differences between F1 and F2 and then compare it to F3. The former is clearly meant for the pnp crowd while F3 is clearly a shooter/action game first, with rpg elements.

And to shinyman

If you have read some of the inane posts we have gotten here then you would understand the irritation that some might feel.

A prime example is: Had F:BOS succeeded, then NMA fans just might have gotten their wish with Van Buren. It is your own fault you did not get Van Buren.

Or how about: I do not see how FBOS contradicts Fallout canon anywhere.

http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5365

http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/vi...ys=0&postorder=asc&highlight=darkcorp&start=0

This guy comes here with a joke/flame bait and freaks out when people attack/jokes with him back in return.

 

I can understand that people come in posting stupid things but its really the way that people smugly shit all over this imagined fallout 3 fan when no one has actually posted in the thread.

both extremes are just as bad.