Fallout 3 Hands-On #9

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
Orderite
Hurray! GameShark.<blockquote>While we'd like to see the accuracy of real-time fire increased a bit, it's clear that the reduced precision comes as a way of balancing use of V.A.T.S. Still, combat is full of visceral thrills. One particularly cool scene during our time with the game took place when blasting a raider at point blank range, first with a pistol and then with a baseball bat. The action slows down and shows you're kill shot in all of its bloody glory. This is without a doubt an eye popping game and is certainly M rated. The combat looks wonderfully brutal.</blockquote>GayGamer.<blockquote>We managed to play the first bit of the game after the character exits the vault - I ran around Megaton interacting with characters and picking up quests as fast as I could, since we were on the clock, and took out many mutants, ghouls and humans on our brief sojourn.

Also like Oblivion, a huge percentage of the world is optional, so the work put into creating a sprawling, ruined world filled with death and decay should pay off most to players interested in exploring a post apocalyptic landscape. Just in my few moments with the game I realized that there was more than I could possibly absorb in one sitting, so like many of you I'm still desperately awaiting Fallout 3's release later this year.</blockquote>Gaming Shogun.<blockquote>My expo-mate, Pfgonzo took the console reigns as I scanned everyone else playing to gather as much info as possible. Aside from the seemingly open world and having people all experiencing different things at their own speed, the thing that struck me most was the combat system.

I was one of the purists who believed that a Fallout FPS would not be nearly as effective as the isometric games we are used to. Well, I am man enough to admit when I am wrong and I tell you now: I was wrong. During that half hour, not only did the first or third-person perspective increase immersion into the Fallout universe, it also gave the new combat system a much more approachable interface.</blockquote>Tom's Games.<blockquote>Since time was running short we started flipping through the pages of the PIP-Boy 3000, which contains your inventory, map, quest journal, status, skills, perks, all the things associated with Fallout role-playing. Just as we had hoped these screens look and sound like classic Fallout made new, and that's the most important thing I took away from the demo. It isn't a top-down perspective and it isn't 2D sprites but it still looks and feels like Fallout.</blockquote>For an encore, ScrewAttack's video coverage is really worth watching for the unintended hilarity.
 
Honestly, I'm confused...These reviews state that the combat/death scenes are wonderfullly brutal, highly visceral and A FEAT IN GAMING.

Yet, to me, the falling off of limbs from getting hit in the head seems totally absurd. The blood looks completely unnatural, and more like something out of the worst B grade movie, than it does of a gritty, somewhat lifelike situation.

Previous FO titles did indeed have their death sequences that made you think 'WTF'...but in every case they were explainable, within the lines of the universe.

It's already been said that this game is dead for some, and I'm on that boat for damn sure.

Time to talk to some den orphans w/ super sledge. later
 
See radiation in the water, eh? I'm pretty, no, totally sure he wasn't being sarcastic.

Poor guy just made an ass of himself in front of the whole internet.
 
Confalone said:
LOL I can't tell weather or not the Screw Attack guy is trying to be sarcastic...

"He's an idiot. Comes from upbringing. His parents are probably idiots too."
 
haha, apparently everyone on that video's comments thinks he's 'so serious.' Man that was a good laugh.
 
Gay Gamer said:
so like many of you I'm still desperately awaiting Fallout 3's release later this year.
So much for objectivity. Do they get paid for the advertisement. Actually, I'm sure it's a conscious decision in the blogs style guide to try to make it seem like they are your buddy from Facebook casually chatting about the game, but I'd like to think that eventually gamers reading gaming blogs will demand more.
Gaming Shogun said:
I was one of the purists who believed that a Fallout FPS would not be nearly as effective as the isometric games we are used to. Well, I am man enough to admit when I am wrong and I tell you now: I was wrong. During that half hour, not only did the first or third-person perspective increase immersion into the Fallout universe, it also gave the new combat system a much more approachable interface.
I know we've gone over this to death, but again the assumption that an high-end engine (which is a bit of flattery for the Oblivion engine) cannot possibly include the option for an isometric view. We now see that with the Fallout 3 style of combat that might be hard to do in isometric without zooming way out or having snipers shooting you from offscreen. But plenty of the close combat situations described thus far would work with minimal changes and an isometric view.
Tom's Games said:
we started flipping through the pages of the PIP-Boy 3000, which contains your inventory, map, quest journal, status, skills, perks, all the things associated with Fallout role-playing. Just as we had hoped these screens look and sound like classic Fallout made new,
I liked how in Fallout 1/2 you could see your inventory as you sorted it and used it. The green text is great for holodiscs, but for everything I can imagine it starting to annoy the eyes. Also it's hard to imagine a futuristic explanation for having your inventory in the PIP-Boy. Do you put RFID tags on everything before you throw it in your backpack?
 
iridium_ionizer said:
Also it's hard to imagine a futuristic explanation for having your inventory in the PIP-Boy. Do you put RFID tags on everything before you throw it in your backpack?

It was hard to imagine a futuristic reason for having your inventory displayed in the originals too, but did you complain about that? Just think of the Pipboy as an interface tied to the game, rather than a real device. It's a gameplay artifice, nothing more, nothing less. After all in real life we don't increase our "skills" via a screen either, nor do we take turns when fighting someone.

If you're going to play the "it's not real" game, then you're going to lose because there's plenty in every game out there that's not "real". Some things are in games because they approximate reality, others are there for gameplay purposes, others are there because they're fun.
 
iridium_ionizer said:
The green text is great for holodiscs, but for everything I can imagine it starting to annoy the eyes. Also it's hard to imagine a futuristic explanation for having your inventory in the PIP-Boy. Do you put RFID tags on everything before you throw it in your backpack?

Didn't they also say (a while back) that you can change the textcolor in the pipboy? It just comes into my mind again, after reading this.
 
Confalone said:
LOL I can't tell weather or not the Screw Attack guy is trying to be sarcastic...
I got really confused when I read the comments. I was sure he was being sarcastic until now. How awkward.

Lexx said:
Didn't they also say (a while back) that you can change the textcolor in the pipboy? It just comes into my mind again, after reading this.
Are you for real?! This is going to be the awesomest game evaH!!1!
 
first or third-person perspective increase immersion into the Fallout universe

Ok What I want to know is have they scrapped the ability to zoom out near iso perspective.

Shit want I am thinking this is a FPS.
 
Grifman said:
iridium_ionizer said:
Also it's hard to imagine a futuristic explanation for having your inventory in the PIP-Boy. Do you put RFID tags on everything before you throw it in your backpack?

It was hard to imagine a futuristic reason for having your inventory displayed in the originals too, but did you complain about that? Just think of the Pipboy as an interface tied to the game, rather than a real device. It's a gameplay artifice, nothing more, nothing less. After all in real life we don't increase our "skills" via a screen either, nor do we take turns when fighting someone.

If you're going to play the "it's not real" game, then you're going to lose because there's plenty in every game out there that's not "real". Some things are in games because they approximate reality, others are there for gameplay purposes, others are there because they're fun.


Real or not, its much more interesting and nice to have textured items and weapons. Now everything is green! There is no uniqueness. They were just lazy, thats all.
 
Grifman said:
It was hard to imagine a futuristic reason for having your inventory displayed in the originals too

Well, the thing is, it wasn't displayed in the Pip-boy. Yeah, it was there only for gameplay purposes, just like the stats screen and skilldex, but the Pip-boy was very much designed to be an in-game device. So, while realism might not be the actual gripe here, I certainly get that it bothers people the way interface was simplified (consolified, even) to the expense of a bit of lore.

Grifman said:
After all in real life we don't increase our "skills" via a screen either, nor do we take turns when fighting someone.

This "turn-based is unrealistic" argument used to pop up a lot in some forums, and I can't for the life of me understand the rationale behind it. It's merely an abstraction, one shouldn't mistake a game's mechanics for the objective reality of what happens in-game.
 
Seymour the spore plant said:
This "turn-based is unrealistic" argument used to pop up a lot in some forums, and I can't for the life of me understand the rationale behind it. It's merely an abstraction, one shouldn't mistake a game's mechanics for the objective reality of what happens in-game.
Plus, they are forgetting that gameplay isn't supposed to be like real life. A game is a game.
 
Grifman said:
After all in real life we don't increase our "skills" via a screen either, nor do we take turns when fighting someone.
one would think that realistic way to rise your skill is just using it, but than look at morrowind - you ended up behaving ridiculously unrealistic (and stupid) for sake of increasing your skill

that said, id rather have character progresion toned down a bit as i found low/mid levels in fallout to be way more enjoyable than later ones
it is quite stupid anywyas that you suddenly become master of X during course of a game and gain in vitality four-fold
 
iridium_ionizer said:
I liked how in Fallout 1/2 you could see your inventory as you sorted it and used it.

If I see and remember correctly from the demo videos, in F3 weapons are depicted using Vault Boy illustrations (unless those are skills?). It would have been better for the actual look of the weapon to be shown in-game, in COLOUR. Imagine trying to sort through all you weapons and items looking through the same green text/images. This is something that, sadly, might need to be upgraded with mods. The coloured map mod in Oblivion was popular because the original looked so drab (all brownish-gray).
 
Serifan said:
Ok What I want to know is have they scrapped the ability to zoom out near iso perspective

As explained so many times before; the near iso perspective is there, but is highly awkward for gameplay purposes.
 
The accuracy problem the first guy mentioned is, I imagine, has to do with your skill in whatever weapon you're using.
 
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