Fallout 3: Bad to the Bone

[Brother None]

IGN Fallout 3 week continues with Bad to the Bone, a tale of bad karma, with another video interview.<blockquote>The trouble is that it's sometimes tough to differentiate between good and evil in Fallout 3. Killing bad people like raiders or bounty hunters isn't considered evil, per se. You're ridding the world of evil, so you're doing good. Apparently all human life is not sacred in this world. All that meant to me is that I'd have to step up my shenanigans to match the twisted world I was running around in. If I was going to be evil, I wanted my karma to reflect it.
(...)
Speaking of profit, there's an ongoing quest in Megaton to help a girl gather info for an encyclopedia. It involved a lot of work, I think. I wasn't really paying attention to her pleas. I just told her I'd help, walked outside and waited 24 hours, and then came back and lied to her. Being skilled with words is a great asset indeed.

But no matter how much I stole and lied to gain some caps, the form of currency in Fallout 3, it never seemed to be enough. I bumped into a mercenary who at first wouldn't talk to me because I was too good. A few murders later and we were talking business. The jerk wanted 1,000 caps for his services as a sidekick. I told him to bug off and left him to die in the mushroom cloud that was soon to come.

While causing chaos in Megaton, I came across several aspects of the game that make it easier to be nasty. Though you can get in a pinch if you don't save often, I found that there's always a way out of the mess you create in cities. Cause as much havoc as you like, get the sheriff and every citizen chasing you with guns ablaze, and you can pop outside of the town of Megaton and they won't follow you. Wait 24 hours and go back in and the townsfolk will have forgiven (or forgotten) your deeds. This may not be realistic, but if you go on a little killing spree for fun, you can still salvage your game in the long run.</blockquote><center>
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Thanks Ausir.

 

[Brother None]

The trouble is that it's sometimes tough to differentiate between good and evil in Fallout 3. Killing bad people like raiders or bounty hunters isn't considered evil, per se. You're ridding the world of evil, so you're doing good. Apparently all human life is not sacred in this world.

I hope this is a joke, because this is the dumbest take on shades of morality I've ever seen

Durrr durr killing bad people is bad gdddurrr.

Wow, the morality of it, it's too much for me.

Wait 24 hours and go back in and the townsfolk will have forgiven (or forgotten) your deeds. This may not be realistic, but if you go on a little killing spree for fun, you can still salvage your game in the long run.

Ah. AHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!!

Bethesda's shitty design back in full swing? Looks like.

Next it was back to the ruins of Megaton. The lady looking to complete an encyclopedia somehow survived the blast. She was out researching something and missed the epicenter, but didn't make it out unharmed. She asked for some help and I told her that her face was melting off. This didn't please, nor should it. She had turned into a ghoul -- people so ruined by radiation that their bodies and minds are falling apart. The folks at Tenpenny Tower don't like ghouls, so I looked for every underground tunnel to hunt them down and shoot their melty faces off.

That's...that's not really how turning into a ghoul works. Nobody in Fallout turned into a ghoul 'cept the guys in Vault 12, who got special limited exposure. You stand next to a bomb, you die.

 

[Ausir]

That's...that's not really how turning into a ghoul works. Nobody in Fallout turned into a ghoul 'cept the guys in Vault 12, who got special limited exposure. You stand next to a bomb, you die.

Not anymore. And she wasn't standing exactly next to the bomb, she was far enough not to be killed, but near enough for radiation to get her.

But yeah, the people of Vault 12 or Van Buren's Reservation turned into ghouls after being exposed to a limited dose of radiation for a longer period of time. Not instantly after a blast like Moira.

I think it's harder sometimes to define evil in Fallout, because everybody's so desperate, everybody's trying to survive. So does it make you evil to steal food to support your family?

It's easy to check. Kill the guy and see if he drops a finger.

 

[TheGM]

Ok being clumsy and unskilled in traps and messing up don't make you evil. It makes you a clusmy fucking idiot who just killed a guy because you are clumsy fucking idiot.

BUT O WOW! My clumsiness made me turn evil because I saw the joy of Head-splosions! HUZZAH!

 

[rcorporon]

"You talk to somebody and your gun accidentally goes off..."

Are these guys for real? They get a paycheque for this type of crap?

 

[generalissimofurioso]

I came across a town named Andale. All of the folks touted it as the greatest city on earth. It was almost too happy. It turned out the city had a dark secret. Ask around and you can hear hints of an inbred population. Do some more exploring and you'll find something that made my stomach turn. I'll let you figure that one out for yourself.

The Hills Have Eyes 3: The Hills Still Have Eyes.

 

[Brother None]

I like (as in I don't) how Emil's obsession with removing old people's heads and putting them on shelves continues.

I'm sorry, but this is probably one of the single-most depressing features on Fallout 3 I've ever seen. These guys just don't get it.

I do like Todd lecturing on reactions to stealing; remember in Oblivion how everyone would jump up shouting if you picking up a loaf of bread in an inn? If any designer ever seriously messed up on the logic of stealing, it was probably Bethesda. I remember well one time (when investigating that grave-robber quest), I was in the dude's cellar, no one around, and suddenly a guard pops up out of nowhere and arrests me. No chance to explain myself either. Bethesda never got it.

Not anymore.

Wow, these guys are really messing up the lore, huh?

 

[Makenshi]

Woman turning into Ghoul the way described completely rapes Fallout lore, and defies reality in a level that should be respected even in fiction

Get in, kill, be hated, get out for 24h, come back, no hate? 200% retarded...

I'll play Fallout 3 after 2012, if the world doesn't "end" & people mod it from the roots to the leaves...

I think it's harder sometimes to define evil in Fallout, because everybody's so desperate, everybody's trying to survive. So does it make you evil to steal food to support your family?

It's easy to check. Kill the guy and see if he drops a finger.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Wait 24 hours and go back in and the townsfolk will have forgiven (or forgotten) your deeds. This may not be realistic, but if you go on a little killing spree for fun, you can still salvage your game in the long run.

Ah. AHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!!

Bethesda's shitty design back in full swing? Looks like.

They really get choices and consequences, eh?

I think it's harder sometimes to define evil in Fallout, because everybody's so desperate, everybody's trying to survive. So does it make you evil to steal food to support your family?

It's easy to check. Kill the guy and see if he drops a finger.

Hahaha

I can talk to an old lady or an old guy and have them be a character and then I can kill them. And, you know, really feel like I killed a person. And then I can like you know, pick up their head and put it on a shelf and I look at and it's like "I was talking to that person five minute ago and now I'm not."

Do the gaming industry a favor and never do an interview ever again. No, you cannot really feel like you've killed a person by doing it in a game and suggesting as much will bring more undue attention to the media and feed people like Jack Thompson.

 

[RayTracer]

Evuhl...you can be evuhl...you can KILL people and then you become evuhl. This drops your karma so KILLING is bad. Yeah so...evuhl...you can also become evuhl by stealing...little bit I guess...but more fun is KILLINING...cause KILLING is evuhl.....aaaarh gotta kill!
Yeah, we like that sort of stuff, evuhl stuff. Not like insult other people, or drive them mad by driving the wrong political decisions. That's boring ya know.
We like the kill other people kind of evuhl, kill good people is evuhl. Ya know, there are only good and bad people, like my mum said. Raiders are bad, I don't like them, they try to survive and that sort of stuff. They are evuhl. So basically ... [ok, i guess we can sum it up] evil kill evuhl kill put the fucking skull on a shell. And oh yeah, killing old people is evuhl TOO.





GOD. seriously. This was the dumbest interview i've ever heard. The last reviews and so on made me really hope F3 actually could be a good spinoff, enjoyable. But hearing these two psychopaths talk about decision making and the principles of our society makes me puke. I really tried to be forgiving but...
SERIOUSLY : I really can sympathize with german politicians if they censor games because of guys like those two. Something isn't alright with them....

 

[Lyc]

No, you cannot really feel like you've killed a person by doing it in a game and suggesting as much will bring more undue attention to the media and feed people like Jack Thompson.

Thankfully that paticuliar problem has been solved for now - Disbarred.


"In a four-page written order, the Florida Supreme Court today affirmed a referee's recommendation to permanently disbar controversial Miami attorney Jack Thompson.

The action, which takes effect in 30 days, means that Thompson will no longer be licensed to practice law and may not apply for reinstatement. Ever."

 

[EnglishMuffin]

I must say that this video is the BEST reason NOT to buy fallout 3.

Can the fallout fans just totally reject fallout 3 from lore please.

 

[mandrake776]

Evuhl...you can be evuhl...you can KILL people and then you become evuhl. This drops your karma so KILLING is bad. Yeah so...evuhl...you can also become evuhl by stealing...little bit I guess...but more fun is KILLINING...cause KILLING is evuhl.....aaaarh gotta kill!
Yeah, we like that sort of stuff, evuhl stuff. Not like insult other people, or drive them mad by driving the wrong political decisions. That's boring ya know.
We like the kill other people kind of evuhl, kill good people is evuhl. Ya know, there are only good and bad people, like my mum said. Raiders are bad, I don't like them, they try to survive and that sort of stuff. They are evuhl. So basically ... [ok, i guess we can sum it up] evil kill evuhl kill put the fucking skull on a shell. And oh yeah, killing old people is evuhl TOO.

I'm sorry, I must not understand. Is killing not evil? Especially killing good people?

 

[bonustime]

Wait 24 hours and go back in and the townsfolk will have forgiven (or forgotten) your deeds.

Okay so now I think THIS is definitely the worst news I have heard about this game. Forget the Fatman and all the rest, this is the dumbest fucking thing.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

No, you cannot really feel like you've killed a person by doing it in a game and suggesting as much will bring more undue attention to the media and feed people like Jack Thompson.

Thankfully that paticuliar problem has been solved for now - Disbarred.


"In a four-page written order, the Florida Supreme Court today affirmed a referee's recommendation to permanently disbar controversial Miami attorney Jack Thompson.

The action, which takes effect in 30 days, means that Thompson will no longer be licensed to practice law and may not apply for reinstatement. Ever."

I know, that's why I said people like him. Unfortunately the problem is much bigger than him and there are idiots on congress who push it too.

 

[RayTracer]

Oh yeah, so Hitler wasn't evuhl because he actually didn't kill anyone by himself. Or wait wait...maybe his propaganda minister, all he did was just some small talk. No evuhl there!
But soldiers, yeah soldiers are evuhl. Except good soldiers.



Come on wake up, the world has more to offer than two colors

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

My lord, it's like they reversed the old morality game stereotype; that it's easier to be good than bad.


Here, it seems like they've programmed it to be a chore to be an evil little bastard and be known that way in the world. You're given every chance to repent, folks will forget your crimes in a day or two (Fable 1, sounds like), etc, etc.


If someone wants to take the low road, shut off the crap from the high. And if they're going to turn it around, make them *work* for it so that means something.

 

[Ad Astra]

Emil's comment about feeling like he killed someone real really blew me away. Drugs and sex in video games are are bad, bad, bad, but a combat system that's supposedly realistic to that point that you genuinely feel as if you have killed real people is a-ok!

 

[RayTracer]

It's just an retarded arcade game. It's like they have taken two brushes and colored all good guys (by their definition) in blue, and all the bad in red. So now if you kill one of the blues you get 1 point, killing one of the reds lets you loose 1. genius ruleset, never have seen that much complexity, would make a great patent.
No need for story. No need for background. No need for depth. No need for things like slavery and that kind of stuff. No need for identification with the person you actually kill and no need to think why you actually "accidently" pulled the trigger.
Like in real life, kill your neighbor, you'll get into jail. But wait, just blow some murderers head off and everythings fine!

Oh yeah, and if you don't manage to find any criminal within 24 hours...never mind!

This is even worse than pacman in 3D with gore.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

you can pop outside of the town of Megaton and they won't follow you. Wait 24 hours and go back in and the townsfolk will have forgiven (or forgotten) your deeds.

Oh riiiight.
The 24 hour statute of limitations rule.

Or is it like that movie Groundhog's Day?


It's bush league design like this that buries this game for me.