Fallout 3 interviews: TeamXbox, VideoGamer.com, Gamasutra

[Noneoftheabove]

The last interview from Gamasutra with Pagliarulo seems to be most revealing about character interactions, thanks for linking it NMA.

Fallout didn't have a great many NPCs that would unload on the player with texts of information. But the game had moments that called you away to read more into the backstory of Fallout. If the writers can just achieve that, I'll be happy.

 

[Xenophile]

I don't know.. I don't think we have seen a plama weapon death, and as far as I know, they only showed the laser death once.

I am guessing at a minimum, the things we have not seen are:

Plasma
Flamethrower

I have a feeling there are at least a few more, but it's late and I can't think straight.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

I don't know.. I don't think we have seen a plama weapon death, and as far as I know, they only showed the laser death once.

I am guessing at a minimum, the things we have not seen are:

Plasma
Flamethrower

I have a feeling there are at least a few more, but it's late and I can't think straight.

Energy weapons disintegrate and I think I read something about someone getting lit on fire by the flame thrower. Still, a mini-nuke knocks off which ever limbs were closest to the explosion and that's it which means that explosions in general do that. Three types of death animations, the most common of which looks the worst, that's a problem.

 

[aenemic]

it would be totally awesome if there were more specific death animations, but I can imagine it being really hard to make them look good with 3D models.

I'm alright with what they have now, although I do agree that the way enemies die when hit with the Fatman is pretty dumb. I'd rather have them lit on fire or disintegrated if they were in the center of the explosion.

 

[Brother None]

Energy weapons disintegrate and I think I read something about someone getting lit on fire by the flame thrower. Still, a mini-nuke knocks off which ever limbs were closest to the explosion and that's it which means that explosions in general do that. Three types of death animations, the most common of which looks the worst, that's a problem.

Dunno what the mini nuke does, but it definitely shouldn't be knocking off limb. If you stand close to a nuclear explosion, you're either disintegrated or burned to a crisp.

 

[Public]

So the Fat Man is just big grenades louncher.

 

[Slaughter Manslaught]

Still, a handful of Gizmo-types wouldn't hurt.

Yeah and don't forget that it's been awhile since the end of Fallout 2 so it's bound to have at least some leeches that survive like Gizmo did, hiring thugs and eating all day.
Off topic Gizmo always reminds me of that clerk in Bartertown, without the glasses.

I wish we could make fat or unfit characters too. Just because you got some extra pounds, it does not mean that you can't kick some ass. Remember how Vic was fat and how much ass he could kick in the endgame. The Vault Dweller looked like goddamned Atlas in his sprite, although the cinematics showed a more realistic Vault Dweller.

 

[Public]

Still, a handful of Gizmo-types wouldn't hurt.

Yeah and don't forget that it's been awhile since the end of Fallout 2 so it's bound to have at least some leeches that survive like Gizmo did, hiring thugs and eating all day.
Off topic Gizmo always reminds me of that clerk in Bartertown, without the glasses.

I wish we could make fat or unfit characters too. Just because you got some extra pounds, it does not mean that you can't kick some ass. Remember how Vic was fat and how much ass he could kick in the endgame. The Vault Dweller looked like goddamned Atlas in his sprite, although the cinematics showed a more realistic Vault Dweller.

Yeah, and not Fallout related- Kingpin from the Spiderman

 

[Per]

Hollywood level writing isn't anything special and there's no reason that you can't be there (some games already are). What should be strived for is high quality book level writing with Hollywood level voice acting.

Exactly what I was thinking. Just namedropping Hollywood doesn't really give the impression of setting the bar very high. Not every studio should have to hire Orson Scott Card obviously, but there must be thousands and thousands of people out there who can write better plots and dialogue than a lot of the trash that shows up in some games.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Energy weapons disintegrate and I think I read something about someone getting lit on fire by the flame thrower. Still, a mini-nuke knocks off which ever limbs were closest to the explosion and that's it which means that explosions in general do that. Three types of death animations, the most common of which looks the worst, that's a problem.

Dunno what the mini nuke does, but it definitely shouldn't be knocking off limb. If you stand close to a nuclear explosion, you're either disintegrated or burned to a crisp.

I think you can see it in the X-Play interview (from around E3 I think) at the very end after he kills the Enclave he shoots a nuke up and get's whacked by it, knocking off and arm and a leg while sending the rest of his body (and the disembodied arm and leg) flying. He even comments that he's had a limb fall on top of his corpse by doing this before. This, along with videos of grenade and car deaths, make me assume that all explosions will act the same (which is very similar to firearms) when it comes to death animations.

At the very least it would have been nice if the arms and legs could be broken apart in multiple places (joints[elbow, knee, wrist, ankle]) and the body could be broken into four to six sections and I don't see why it would be so hard (use head-explosion type stuff for the body, use the knocking off of limbs stuff for the rest of the joints). It just seems like focusing on "awesome" deaths that use technology that's eight years old is a bit absurd and should yield a poor reception from the media.

 

[Noneoftheabove]

I was a little turned off by the interview and Pagliarulo's comment regarding writing a game plot or material for characters. It was as if he was defending mediocrity, where players should be thankful we get any kind of meaningful plot in any form. Maybe I'm wrong but that was the impression I was getting.

Striving for professional writing is good. Lacking ambition and expecting you won't achieve that is demonstrating you have no interest in what you're doing and should be shot.. Fired, I mean.