Fallout 3 at E3 - Gamehelper

[El_Smacko]

I too feel that alot of posters have been a bit more negative/angry then the scant amount of information warrants. At the same time, I can somewhat understand your concern. As well as the excellent points raised by Jiggly McNerdington, Brother None, Black, and BloodNinja(sorry you got pounced on like that).

I think the big lesson to be learned from this thread is that alot of people feel differently about this new Fallout and what makes a game good. Thusly, they also like the classic Fallout games for different reasons, and that needs to be respected. Gaming, beleive it or not, is one of the MOST subjective mediums of entertainment, and I beleive that needs to be emphasized.

At the end of the day, where all here because we enjoy the Fallout games, and I think that's the most important think.


....Anyways, back on topic I now really see what alot of people have been talking about relating directly to Todd Howard. The guy seems like a Grade B numb-skull (Fallout is not Jackass funny....of course, I don't find Jackass funny anyways). Still, he's just one guy out of a big team of developers so I don't think he should hold all the blame, or be the source of all your foreboding.

 

[DirtyDreamDesigner]

Todd Howard is the executive producer and thus the head honcho of Fallout 3. That means he personally if not thought up than okayed all the intelligence insulting shit contained therein.

 

[janjetina]

So why the f— are we doing Fallout?
We all start playing and we’re like – have you seen this thing? They’ve got dip switches for violence – all this crazy sh—t. And then Fallout 2 came out the next year. It kinda became this ‘when are they gonna make another Fallout? We loved the series! And then the crack began – ah, we should do it! I was like – yeah, that’d be cool…[…]

They say there won't be low intelligence conversation options in Fallout 3, but there surely were some on the press conference.

Fallout I in particular would become the model – or the ‘tone setting’ – for the team’s approach to Fallout 3, paying particular attention to the key iconic elements of the original game; The interface bar along the bottom, the PIPBoy 2000, (your personal ‘Dick Tracy style’ PDA) the violence – would all be key elements the team wanted to retain.

So, now we know what they will keep from Fallout.

Violence – people forget but Fallout was one of those first games where [people said], ‘Hey, look at the violence’….(the journalists chuckle) Hey, Violence is funny – lets all just own up to it! Violence done well is f—ing hilarious. It’s like Itchy and Scratchy or Jackass –now that’s funny!

Jackass is funny if you are a 12 year old boy with an anal obsession. It seems like we're in for the second coming of POS.

 

[Jiggly McNerdington]

To be fair, I don't think he's saying all of Fallout's humor stems from Jackass/slapstick origins, but exploding a toilet and covering an entire town in shit certainly comes from that and does bring a smile to my face. Yes, it's silly and stupid, but it's a game for god's sake.

Though he's specifically talking about violence being amusing in Fallout which I'd also agree with. Who doesn't smile at bloody mess-ing the overseer?

 

[Black]

exploding a toilet and covering an entire town in shit certainly comes from that and does bring a smile to my face.

FO's 2 humor wasn't always on high level either.

Yes, it's silly and stupid, but it's a game for god's sake.

What kind of stupid argument is this? This is a computer game, so it means we can have Steve-O running around, doing stupid things?
No, thx.

Though he's specifically talking about violence being amusing in Fallout which I'd also agree with. Who doesn't smile at bloody mess-ing the overseer?

I smile. But I know it's not a joke- it's a violent scene. I smile because that soab deserved it.
I fail to see how ripping someone to shred's is funny. Cool looking- yes, funny- huh?

 

[Jiggly McNerdington]

exploding a toilet and covering an entire town in shit certainly comes from that and does bring a smile to my face.

FO's 2 humor wasn't always on high level either.

But even with exploding toilets, New Reno, super mutant ball gags and inflatable Tandi love dolls it's still enjoyable. I'll admit I like Fallout 1 more, but exploding toilets certainly didn't degrade FO2 to me.

I guess a counter argument to this would be to say "Well the point is that they're changing it from a tabletop simulation to a shooter exploshunz Fallout more like Elder Scrolls am I right fellas", but since people seem to be rolling their eyes and taking his comment as a sign the game will suck, I'm inclined to believe that that isn't the only thing people have stuck in their craw about Fallout 3.

Yes, it's silly and stupid, but it's a game for god's sake.

What kind of stupid argument is this? This is a computer game, so it means we can have Steve-O running around, doing stupid things?
No, thx.

He isn't saying that your character can go around lighting his balls on fire (No groin targetting (*Rimshot*)) so I'm not sure where you're getting this from. He's saying that the violence will be funny like Fallout 1/2. Case in point, lighting someone on fire with a flamethrower and having them run around. Comedy ensues.

Though he's specifically talking about violence being amusing in Fallout which I'd also agree with. Who doesn't smile at bloody mess-ing the overseer?

I smile. But I know it's not a joke- it's a violent scene. I smile because that soab deserved it.
I fail to see how ripping someone to shred's is funny. Cool looking- yes, funny- huh?

Different senses of humor I guess. I can find comedic violence funny. Blowing someone in half and watching as they drag themselves along is pretty comedic in my book.

 

[Black]

He isn't saying that your character can go around lighting his balls on fire (No groin targetting (*Rimshot*)) so I'm not sure where you're getting this from. He's saying that the violence will be funny like Fallout 1/2. Case in point, lighting someone on fire with a flamethrower and having them run around. Comedy ensues.

Dunno, I never thought of FO's violence as 'funny'. Cool looking, nice to watch, but funny? Different sense of humor I guess.
Anyway, I wouldn't expect much from Todd- his definition of 'funny' is blowing someone to shreds, turning pip-boy on and looking at Vault Boy with his thumb up.

 

[Jiggly McNerdington]

He isn't saying that your character can go around lighting his balls on fire (No groin targetting (*Rimshot*)) so I'm not sure where you're getting this from. He's saying that the violence will be funny like Fallout 1/2. Case in point, lighting someone on fire with a flamethrower and having them run around. Comedy ensues.

Dunno, I never thought of FO's violence as 'funny'. Cool looking, nice to watch, but funny? Different sense of humor I guess.
Anyway, I wouldn't expect much from Todd- his definition of 'funny' is blowing someone to shreds, turning pip-boy on and looking at Vault Boy with his thumb up.

You gotta admit at least a little of Fallout's humor is from things like that. The cards, for instance. Bloody mess in particular. It could very well be that why he comes across in interviews and such as a dork is simply because he's excited to be working on a Fallout game. Or he could just be a dork.

But like El Smacko said he certainly isn't the only person working on it. And while he might have final say in what gets put in and what doesn't, that doesn't mean the other people can't talk him into and out of things.

 

[boer_kameel]

“Violence – people forget but Fallout was one of those first games where [people said], ‘Hey, look at the violence’….(the journalists chuckle) Hey, Violence is funny – lets all just own up to it! Violence done well is f—ing hilarious. It’s like Itchy and Scratchy or Jackass –now that’s funny! “</blockquote>Fallout 3 is Jackass funny?<blockquote>

Jackass is laughing about people hitting eachother in the groin. The GROIN.
Bit of a contradiction - he references Jackass, yet makes F3 without the ability to hit someone in the groin?

 

[Makagulfazel]

Most of the people here are worried about the emphasis that the Fallout 3 team has been putting on violence and its ability to be funny. Violence just isn't that great of a means for comedy. Rich dialogue and NPC events were what made FO2 funny. I didn't laugh when I saw someone do a machine gun dance or get a chunk blown out of their side. I laughed when I threw down a landmine to Lloyd, the motherfucker who tried to blow my character up with that same landmine.
Laughing every time you see the same death animation is borderline juvenile/psycho. Todd and Pete need to grow up/get evaluated.

 

[whirlingdervish]

What I don't understand is how they could mistakenly assume that there was some huge emphasis on comedic violence in Fallout.
The funniest part of the violence was not the death animations: it was the text descriptions of those actions that managed to score a critical hit. otherwise there was nothing all that funny about killing things, you just did it 'cause you had to survive.

example:

I think this was funny, but nowhere near as valuable to the atmosphere as the many other hilarious happenings in the Fallout world..

Here are some examples of real comedy from fallout games that had nothing to do with violence. (pics from F02 as it's the only one on my comp right now)

the distinction between the two forms of comedy is that the real humor would appeal to a person who is actually educated, and the violence only makes kids/todd giggle after a certain point.

Will console kiddies even know what Fedora is?!?! no.
Will they understand the allusion to classic gangsta movies that they've never seen? no.

Will they have ever played with something as classicly cool as the magic 8 ball and understand how mystical it used to seem to people? no. they had a gameboy and they wouldnt get the joke.

Is it much funnier to reply to someone with stinging wit, who just cussed you out and threatened you, or to say "STFU you suck! Imma kill joo!"? OF COURSE IT IS! Only a stupid child would think otherwise!

on that note, does anyone want to bet that the word subvert will never appear in the F03 dialogue trees?

 

[Pope Viper]

Pervert might, but subvert?

No.

 

[Brother None]

Even those are Fallout 2 jokes, whirlingdervish. Only funny text descriptions of critical groin hits were in Fallout 1, and of course;

Vault Dweller: How did you survive?
Harold: Didn't. Got killed.

 

[whirlingdervish]

rofl I remember that dialogue.
nearly crapped myself laughing when I had that first convo with Harold about his buddy and the military base(?)..

That was some quality humor.

I do find the FO2 humor to be a bit punny at times, a bit lighter, and not quite so unexpected as it was in F0..

That's definitely a good example of the unexpected humor that you'd get in Fallout when some NPC decided to screw with you a bit and yank your chain.