Fallout 3 video interview

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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Hit.ro has an interview at GDC 2007 in Leipzig (where NMA was too) available on their site. We missed it earlier, but here it is. As such, keep in mind this is an older interview and some of this info could well be outdated (like the number of endings he mentions).

Part 1 deals with guns, aiming and how you can miss based on skill levels. <blockquote>It's set up so that you as a player can't really - I mean to a certain extent you can but you can't really overcome your character not being good at something. So if you're carrying a big gun, and you suck at using big guns, you can fire away but your bullets aren't oging to hit.</blockquote>Part 2 deals with environmental damage, most stuff can't blow up (only cars and stuff). The game activities are split in main quests, quests and random stuff. There are fewer quests than Oblivion, but you can do the quests in more ways. There's no "I'm joining this faction, they're evil, so everything I do is evil". You can do the main quest, ignoring the side quests.<blockquote>If we lock you in an area you can't leave, we don't want the enemies you fight to be grossly out of proportion with your character, 'cause you can't leave. So if it's an area where you can leave and run away, that's fine, we don't care, you get your ass kicked, leave and come back later. But if you're locked in a room or some place, we don't want it to be "well, these guys are 20 levels higher than you, you'll never defeat 'em, the game is screwed, sorry, too bad." We try to be a little forgiving in those situations.</blockquote>Bottle caps are in, Pete says "we'll see" to the final question "will we find some Geckos in the game?"

Link: Pete Hines interview on Hit.ro website.

Thanks stefix.
 
Brother None said:
If we lock you in an area you can't leave, we don't want the enemies you fight to be grossly out of proportion with your character, 'cause you can't leave. So if it's an area where you can leave and run away, that's fine, we don't care, you get your ass kicked, leave and come back later. But if you're locked in a room or some place, we don't want it to be "well, these guys are 20 levels higher than you, you'll never defeat 'em, the game is screwed, sorry, too bad." We try to be a little forgiving in those situations.
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Whadahazzamaha?

If you're locked in somewhere (?), enemies level-scale?

Can I get a wtf?!
 
It would seem so. But they're just trying to be forgiving BN, don't you have a heart?
Oh by the way, the first time I played FO1 I decided to screw this whole water chip thing and went west. Patrol of super mutants found me and I don't remember any forgiving.
 
Black said:
Oh by the way, the first time I played FO1 I decided to screw this whole water chip thing and went west. Patrol of super mutants found me and I don't remember any forgiving.
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Pay attention, that's not what they're talking about. That would be the same in Fallout 3, because you can still run out of the patrolling area of the super mutants.

They're talking about you being locked in somewhere, which I can't remember happening anywhere in Fallout 1 and 2 except possibly the Enclave oil rig (could you leave that before you were done?). If that happens, they don't want to be too unforgiving.

I'd say: if that happens, tough luck.
 
But if you're locked in a room or some place, we don't want it to be "well, these guys are 20 levels higher than you, you'll never defeat 'em, the game is screwed, sorry, too bad."
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So yeah - consequences, nope.
 
I thought I recognized the set-up, it's those crazy cooks in Leipzig.

Well in that case...OOOOOOLD. But whatevz.
 
Hmm yeah. That does sound a little bit fishy to me. My thought would be that if I stumbled into a room with some guys I wasn't ready for, and the door LOCKED behind me - I'm supposed to say "oh, shit." instead of "Aint no prob! I'm LOCKED in, see? These guys are cake!"
 
Apparently Bethesda doesn't like the idea of having a freaking exit. They would rather program in level scaling in select areas. How does that make sense?
 
Brother None said:
Pay attention, that's not what they're talking about. That would be the same in Fallout 3, because you can still run out of the patrolling area of the super mutants.
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no u.
I was talking about "We try to be a little forgiving in those situations." not about being closed somewhere. I don't like forgiveness. It's like... getting closed in Military Base and suddenly all SMs getting toned down to my lvl.
 
Isn't there a save option in Fallout 3?

Can't someone save the game before going to a suspicious area?

Why will there be any areas where you'll get locked?? This is ridiculous.
 
IMHO the whole level-scaling thingy is a rather poor excuse for crappy location-planning. And implemented in such way (let's not make dungeons... erm... valuts too hard) gives a picture of the target audience - one doesn't have to be especially brilliant to get the idea of saving the game before entering an unknown area in an rpg. Personally I think that getting out of no-win situations, even with pure luck, is an unforgettable gaming experience and hand-holding the player just breaks the fun. Or is it just me...
 
GammaRay said:
IMHO the whole level-scaling thingy is a rather poor excuse for crappy location-planning. And implemented in such way (let's not make dungeons... erm... valuts too hard) gives a picture of the target audience - one doesn't have to be especially brilliant to get the idea of saving the game before entering an unknown area in an rpg. Personally I think that getting out of no-win situations, even with pure luck, is an unforgettable gaming experience and hand-holding the player just breaks the fun. Or is it just me...
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It's not just you, beating the odds is always satisfying, however if the odds are stacked against you too often rolling those dice can be a painfully frustrating experience.
 
Ravager69 said:
Isn't there a save option in Fallout 3?

Can't someone save the game before going to a suspicious area?

Why will there be any areas where you'll get locked?? This is ridiculous.
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My feelings exactly. Being "locked" in an area sounds even worse than those dreaded "invisible walls" that more linear games like to throw at you.

I say if you enter a room and the door closes and locks behind you, and 20 super mutants armed with rocket launchers and miniguns then appear from the shadows, you're fucked. Reload from your last save. Oh, you didn't save? Well, next time you'll save more often.
 
I predicted that few threads ago when I said that it will all end up in going "exping" to "hostile zones" full of mutants. We're getting an FPS not an cRPG and we better prepare for it...
 
If you get into a situation where you're locked in a place with several higher level enemies, it's in all likelihood your own fault. If it isn't your own fault, it's probably crappy level design. Level scaling sucked in Oblivion, I dunno why they're bringing it back.

Seriously, they say "leave and come back later" if you meet high level enemies outside. Why can't you just reload your game if you meet high level enemies indoors? This game needs danger and should require rational choices. Rational isn't "I'll go into a building, have the door somehow get locked behind me, then expect to survive when I get ambushed." You should die, seriously.

Unless it's some scripted crap that requires you to get locked in. That might very well be the case. But then obviously it doesn't make much sense that you should be forced to go through a scripted event like that. bleh, whatever
 
Just an example (might not be the best): Imagine getting from Arroyo armed only with a spear and getting into the Military Base - the wolves at the entrance would be a problem not mentioning the SM on level1. Now imagine F2 had level scaling and you could beat the shit out of your enemies almost with bare hands. Would it be fun/challenging? Don't think so.
 
The fact that they'd have areas where you're stuck with fighting your way through, and the enemies scale so you can beat them to continue, kinda throws the whole diplomatic or stealth character choices out the window as legitimate options with consequences for your stat choices.

Should they really scale Mutants or their speedy ghouls down to the level of your character's fighting abilities if you happen to be a 90 lbs weakling who talks his way out of most things and managed to sneak your way into an area infested with badies?

How do you scale down one Super Mutant's fighting abilities in a believable fashion so that such a character could kill them, without major continuity problems when one faces other un-scaled Mutants that they are able to run away from?

Maybe they just put boxing gloves on them, that they can't take off.
 
The only way to scale difficulty without screwing up continuity would be to mess with gear, for example giving super mutants later in the game better weapons or armor.

Really though it's very hack and slash to have the same mob be different strengths because you are in a different area. Nothing immersive about that at all.
 
GammaRay said:
Just an example (might not be the best): Imagine getting from Arroyo armed only with a spear and getting into the Military Base - the wolves at the entrance would be a problem not mentioning the SM on level1. Now imagine F2 had level scaling and you could beat the shit out of your enemies almost with bare hands. Would it be fun/challenging? Don't think so.
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Yeah, good example, my thoughts exactly.
 
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