Fallout 3 at E3 - Joystiq impressions

[Tannhauser]

Joystiq has posted their impressions of the Fallout 3 demo Bethesda showed at this years E3. The article does cover a few new facts, and covers a lot of ground, albeit not to any great depths.<blockquote>The violence and humor are still very much a part of the Fallout universe. The game's atmosphere is best described as gritty, and we admit that it was surprising at first to hear a character curse and later see a sign outside of the vault that read "Let us in motherf**kers" (asterisks added by us). The headshots and limb shots are very gruesome, and with a laser gun you actually cut their head off instead of causing it to explode. Though the Fallout universe may precede it by a while, we can't help but be reminded by Gears of War.
Highlight of the event: a friendly Vault robot, who turns bitter and obnoxious once you turn your back on it.</blockquote>The impression concluded on the following note:<blockquote>As a fan of the original franchise, we're impressed by Bethesda's ability to retain the core elements of the franchise and improve upon mechanics. They still have over a year to develop it, but the outlook is so far great. War never changes, but the way you play it can certainly be improved.</blockquote>The article covers a slight comparison to Oblivion, facial animations, voice-acting, the quest log, and draw distance amoung other things.

Link: Joystiq impressions: Fallout 3.

 

[Brother None]

"Let us in motherfuckers"? That's a joke, right? Tell me that's a joke. That's just infantile humor, at best. What is this, France?

And what's with the desperate attempts to retcon the entire meaning of Fallout into "violence and humor," neither of which were ever major design focuses of the game.

PS:

# Random encounters are making a return, but Bethesda isn't ready to say how.
# Speech options and convincing utilizing the Speech are still there, noted by the [ Speech 29% ] tag besides a talking option.

Cool and cool.

 

[Interkarma]

"Let us in motherfuckers"? That's a joke, right? Tell me that's a joke. That's just infantile humor, at best. What is this, France?

I wonder if it was supposed to be taken as humour? I'd see it more as a protest from the left-behind who found themselves locked out in a seething world about to go nuclear. Could be Joystiq missed the mark on that one.

Edit: After reading the quote again, I think they were just commenting on the usage of profanity. The fact it was cheek and jowels with a statement on humour is just sloppy writing.

 

[Mick1965]

but many of the same voice actors we heard from Oblivion are also in here, and we noticed at least one time where the same voice actors was obviously used twice.

Noooooooo!!

 

[Plissken]

I guess draw distance leas toward no world map?

Though the Fallout universe may precede it by a while, we can't help but be reminded by Gears of War.

I liked Gears of War. But, I also like Fallout.

 

[Dracon M'Alkir]

Seems like Bethesda is imitating Gears of War - quite alot.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

[NukaColaClassic]

I guess draw distance leas toward no world map?

Mmm, well, the article mentioned that random encounters are still being made...

This is my theory. I bet the game will have a quick travel map like in Oblivion, only it works more like Fallout's world map in that you click, and it traces your movement, now at any time that movement might stop and get you back into normal gameplay with a random encounter.

 

[Slicerdicer]

"Let us in motherfuckers"? That's a joke, right? Tell me that's a joke. That's just infantile humor, at best. What is this, France?
*snipe*

I read elsewhere that when you leave the vault you see the remains of the folks who where not let in the vault including some who still hold place cards with their protests on it. "Let me in motherfuckers" would be one I think comes to mind in seriousness rather than a joke.

Imagine standing outside the vault door as your world is being vaporised and your kids radiated all the while some smug fucks are safely inside.

 

[Sorrow]

As a fan of the original franchise, we're impressed by Bethesda's ability to retain the core elements of the franchise and improve upon mechanics.

Because, the recreation of the tabletop gaming experience on computer totally isn't the core of the Fallout franchise .

I haven't heard anything so moronic from a long time .

 

[Karak]

In this build, the facial animations (and, as later pointed out by Pete Hines, the gestures) are not at this point realistic, though the lip syncing is accurate. According to Hines, much of the development time between now and its Fall 2008 release date will be spent tweaking such things, and hopefully we'll get some moving eyebrows.

hopefully we'll get some decent looking Fallout mutants too, not that it matters at this point...still, it seems the game is pretty much done and the best they could come up with to showcase it is toilet drinking, bobble head power ups, mushroom clouds around every corner and...

Some details for the true Fallout fanatics:
The toughest weapon in the game will likely be the Fat Man, a portable launcher that lobs nuclear grenades.

wtf??...I've seen this mentioned somewhere before, presenting this moronic weapon as part of Fallout canon...amusing, they're still doing it...

 

[NukaColaClassic]

As a fan of the original franchise, we're impressed by Bethesda's ability to retain the core elements of the franchise and improve upon mechanics.

Because, the recreation of the tabletop gaming experience on computer totally isn't the core of the Fallout franchise .

I haven't heard anything so moronic from a long time .

What is and what's not "core" in a game is up to the opinion of the individual. If they think that Fallout 3 retained the core elements, let 'em think that. That doesn't make them any less "intelligent" than you.

 

[Sorrow]

No, the core is what the franchise was built around. And it happens to be the recreation of the tabletop roleplaying experience on computer.

What they said may be not less inteligent, but certainly ignorant.

 

[FeelTheRads]

That doesn't make them any less "intelligent" than you.

But it does. Because obviously they where braindead when playing the games.

Or, and this is actually my serious opinion, they just say what Bethesda says. These journalists don't actually think for themselves to write. Why would they when it's easier to take what it's already there:

Bethesda: We're retaining the core elements of Fallout.
Journalist: They're retaining the core elements of Fallout.

Bethesda: Drinking toilet water and first-person makes the game immersive.
Journalist: Drinking toilet water and first-person makes the game immersive.

Etc.

 

[stingray420]

Some details for the true Fallout fanatics:
The toughest weapon in the game will likely be the Fat Man, a portable launcher that lobs nuclear grenades.

wtf??...I've seen this mentioned somewhere before, presenting this moronic weapon as part of Fallout canon...amusing, they're still doing it...

nuclear grenade, sounds a tad, a little itty bit better then just saying it fires mini-nukes. Its Just a word, that's true, but I could almost see a nuclear grenade in fallout it almost fits. Almost, because still it is questionable how an explosion could be made that small and not incinerate the user as well.

But your right, it is not Fallout Canon, not by a huge long shot.

 

[Stag]

So, it would seem that VATS regenerates about as quick as Van Buren, hmm...I don't know. If this is true, I'm pretty happy.

Isn't Beth going to toss the Fatman? Lord knows they've gotten enough shit for it.

No good news on the mutant front.

Also,

Can't wait for this game! If no vehicles, then throw in a couple of mechs- the VOTOMS SCOPEDOG would be awwwwesome.....whew!

*Shudder*

 

[Lexx]

and apparently never changed their taste in music. (Not that we mind at all.)

Well, yes it is right.. because in 50s future vision, there is no "hip hop", "metal" or what so ever music...

 

[maximaz]

Why the fuck aren't they showing anything new for E3? I was painfully waiting for them to show Fallout from E3 on G4 (it's painful watching those dumbass hosts on that channel) and all they showed was Todd Howard in F3 shirt saying the same fucking shit, showing the same fucking trailer, what the fuck is he doing there then?? Absolutely nothing new. Those people suck balls...

 

[quietfanatic]

No mention of ambient music, again. Unless we are expected to listen to jazzy stuff as we sneak up on mutants in desolate ruins.

Random encounters, fast AP regeneration and speech skill checks sound good though.

All the emphasis on graphics and shininess is annoying. There is all this spin about great attention to detail, but visually rather than in terms of role-playing. Was it a Bethsoft person who said every button on a gun has to do something and make sense? I forget. What about all the inconsistent, silly features then? It seems like they can handle some small technical details fairly easy, but neglect role-playing and setting, as they cannot integrate them into the big picture, so many things just don't fit.

I read elsewhere that when you leave the vault you see the remains of the folks who where not let in the vault including some who still hold place cards with their protests on it. "Let me in motherfuckers" would be one I think comes to mind in seriousness rather than a joke.

Imagine standing outside the vault door as your world is being vaporised and your kids radiated all the while some smug fucks are safely inside.

If you wanted to be let in (with the prudish retro-fifties future), aggressively adding profanity is unlikely to be persuasive. In desperation you might scream insults, but writing them down along with pleas seems counterproductive and illogical. "Let us in motherf**kers" as opposed to let me in, or for the love of God let us in etc. I wonder what the other ones say, maybe there are no religious people or minority groups, whilst potty mouths (heh) deserve to fry. See, it's dark, subtle humour. Sure panicking people might behave strangely, but concentrate on swearing on placards at the dawn of the apocalypse, probably in an exposed position as well?

 

[MrSambuka]

and apparently never changed their taste in music. (Not that we mind at all.)

Well, yes it is right.. because in 50s future vision, there is no "hip hop", "metal" or what so ever music...

Wow, height of idiocy. Stop nitpicking everything.

The statement was clearly, CLEARLY a joke.

My god.

 

[Sorrow]

nuclear grenade, sounds a tad, a little itty bit better then just saying it fires mini-nukes. Its Just a word, that's true, but I could almost see a nuclear grenade in fallout it almost fits.

Such weapon doesn't make sense unless it's effects are catastrophic.
That's why Fallout had Plasma Grenades, not nuclear ones.