Fallout 3 writing editorial

[Kwiatmen666]

I just wish Todd Howards read this...

But again from what I can deduce from interviews and other Youtube films with him, I think he would just say something like "oh-kayyyy... did you read reviews of Falliut 3? did you see the scores? people buy it - means they like it!"

Sad, really.

 

[Hassknecht]

It seems that a lot of locations have a neat core idea, but instead of fleshing them out and thinking about consequences the design team just went for the next location.
Megaton is based on a "cool" but stupid idea. Scrap the bomb and you have Junktown, which is a cool thing. Add some farms and Megaton would have been fine. Ok, the name would have made no sense without the bomb.
Rivet City, again, desperately need a whole lot of shanty towns around it with farms. How the hell can Rivet City be the only supplier of edible food if they don't produce anything anywhere? Put greenhouses on the top, at least. Have a food source that is easily defensible.
Tenpenny Tower is just bullshit. Well, maybe again as some sort of caste-society with the rich living in the tower and the poor in slums around it. But that trope would quickly be overused.

 

[Sobboth]

@woo1108, of course it's "just" my opinion, what a stupid and much too common internet comment.
@sea unable to read ?
Of course Megatown is stupid as it is, easy to make it somewhat more logic : they discover the bomb much later once the town is built.
Same thing with Tempeny Tower : just say it was an hotel builded by a paranoid billionaire and destined to be self-sufficient, add an underground level with hydro phonic culture and common goods machinery (and make it not "visitable"if you don't want to add new graphics like the Vault).
As for Rivet City you say exactly the same things as me, good location/idea awful implementation.
And for the rest i just say the same... gamebreacking stupid thing, learn to read damnit instead of reacting like....
But almost nothing hard to correct.
And the GECK thing is a so fucking brillant idea to begin with...

 

[warsaw]

I can see Megaton working if the town actually used the bomb for something other than worshiping. Maybe as a power resource, maybe the radiation produces some form of edible plant life or fungus, or if a majority of the population was mutant (the radiation being a healing factor). Disabling it would be a gray area as the inhabitants would no longer have that resource.

Tenpenny Tower could work if the mutants trying to get in to it actually lived in Megaton, giving reason for Tenpenny wanting it gone. The rich lifestyle could be played off as a facade to reinforce Tenpenny's blind arrogance, the true resource simply being protection from the outside world. Hell, maybe he secretly enslaves mutants to make the lavish clothing he and the other inhabitants wear.

 

[Akratus]

I can see Megaton working if the town actually used the bomb for something other than worshiping. Maybe as a power resource, maybe the radiation produces some form of edible plant life or fungus, or if a majority of the population was mutant (the radiation being a healing factor). Disabling it would be a gray area as the inhabitants would no longer have that resource.

A town of radiation mutants living around an irradiated bomb. That's fucking genius. Bethesda has just now transformed from the game developer of missed opportunities into the evil god of vengeful idea destroying.

 

[warsaw]

I can see Megaton working if the town actually used the bomb for something other than worshiping. Maybe as a power resource, maybe the radiation produces some form of edible plant life or fungus, or if a majority of the population was mutant (the radiation being a healing factor). Disabling it would be a gray area as the inhabitants would no longer have that resource.

A town of radiation mutants living around an irradiated bomb. That's fucking genius. Bethesda has just now transformed from the game developer of missed opportunities into the evil god of vengeful idea destroying.

That's okay. I'm sure they'll reuse it for Fallout 4, and include a quest where some smooth skins wanna genocide them (it being a good thing, because hey, that radiation is polluting our downstream water supply).

 

[Crni Vuk]

Depends on opinion I guess really....You can break down any movie, video game, book, tv show, or whatever and find flaws in anything.

Even if you, or others "can" enjoy it, doesnt mean it has not some very serious flaws, or that it could not be done a lot better. Even as far as Morrowind goes which was one of the better Beth games out there.

Because of this

It's fine to like the game, I basically do, but I think Fallout 3 has objectively bad writing. I don't think it's just a matter of opinion.

Thing is, Bethesda CAN even do it, they are capable of doing it, they have somewhere the skill - as seen in Skyrim with a few characters. Sure they have not be super deep like in Planescape or what ever. But thats not even needed. But Paarthurnax was a character with decent writings and motivations. I would say "good" even.

No, it's a bad idea period. Why is purifying the water of the wasteland so important when everyone seems to be able to get along just fine? Has anyone tried using rainwater instead of toilet water? There seems to be tons of 200-year-old food everywhere to eat so why would anyone bother with agriculture, which is the only reason one can really justify the need for purified water? If you wanted to purify the water of the entire wasteland then why in the name of fuck would you build your purifier in a river basin? Wouldn't building portable personal-sized purifiers be more convenient than shipping water out throughout the entire wasteland? Didn't daddy Neeson just say that he got the purification technology working on a small scale, so he could already do this if he wasn't a fucking moron?

Do you see now how this shit is stupid beyond belief and completely contradicts the core details of the setting and universe that Bethesda themselves established?

Not to mention there are even ways how to clean watter from radiation I think since water for it self can not emit radiation but rather the particles inside the water (might be wrong with that though!).

Instead they should have either made an story completely about the GECK or something. Oh wait ... we had that one as well already ...

 

[Per]

A town of radiation mutants living around an irradiated bomb. That's fucking genius.

Wasteland had an atomic cult living in a power plant and turning into "radangels".

 

[Crni Vuk]

Fallout Tactics had also the cult around an nuclear bomb, ghuls which worhiped it calling it plutonius

The idea for it selt though, if I remember right was also part of the old Planet of the Apes movie, with mutated and iratediated humans that worshiped some kind of doom-device. A single bomb that could destroy the whole world.

 

[Hassknecht]

I can see Megaton working if the town actually used the bomb for something other than worshiping. Maybe as a power resource, maybe the radiation produces some form of edible plant life or fungus, or if a majority of the population was mutant (the radiation being a healing factor). Disabling it would be a gray area as the inhabitants would no longer have that resource.

A town of radiation mutants living around an irradiated bomb. That's fucking genius. Bethesda has just now transformed from the game developer of missed opportunities into the evil god of vengeful idea destroying.

That's okay. I'm sure they'll reuse it for Fallout 4, and include a quest where some smooth skins wanna genocide them (it being a good thing, because hey, that radiation is polluting our downstream water supply).

So another Fallout 2 quest rehash?
Maybe we should do a big NMA-community-effort to make some kind of Megamod for Fallout 3. "NMA's big shit-fixing shitfixer for Fallout 3. Now fixes more shit!"
Ok, that would basically be a major overhaul of every location, a complete remake of the mainquest and more bugfixing than humanly possible.
But hey, the Bethboys would finally stop crying about how we at NMA do nothing but complain

 

[Muff]

I toyed with the idea of a mod making use of that bomb and Burke, that would go something like this:

Burke approaches you and says something like "Hey, Mr Resourceful, come over here I have a well paying job!"
He needs a group of men to relocated the bomb, so you find a gang of people willing to move the bomb for money any place you ask. This also involves talking the nutter worshipping it into allowing you to move it to a new "Place of worship".
So after a few more fetch an carrys (this is FO3 after all), your able to move the bomb now you have a choice stay with Burke and see what he wants to do with the bomb, or take the money an be on your way.

Path 1 would involve you travelling to Little Lamplight, and giving the kids a BIG present!, then walking away to a safe distance and have the choice of pressing the button and having the satisfaction of nuking that place off the map.

Path 2 would involve you walking round the little lamplight area some point later in the game, seeing a bright flash and a smouldering bunch of toys land around you.

 

[Gnarles Bronson]

I hate the whole "but what do they eat?" argument. It's boring. Only the nittiest 1% of gamers are really going to be offended that their aren't any farms.

It also detracts the focus away from what's really important, story and gameplay.

If fallout three had an engrossing story and sweet gameplay adventures (which it didn't) then who cares if there are no farms?

 

[BonusWaffle]

I hate the whole "but what do they eat?" argument. It's boring. Only the nittiest 1% of gamers are really going to be offended that their aren't any farms.

It also detracts the focus away from what's really important, story and gameplay.

If fallout three had an engrossing story and sweet gameplay adventures (which it didn't) then who cares if there are no farms?

I agree with you to a point. Games like borderlands can be good without making any sense whatsoever, A games purpose above all is to entertain you. My only problem with fallout three is that its part of a genre that should have internal consistency and make some sense. To me its like playing a tactical shooter and suddenly having a magical dragon come down and breath fire all over you. Its stupid and annoying.

 

[Zumbs]

I hate the whole "but what do they eat?" argument. It's boring. Only the nittiest 1% of gamers are really going to be offended that their aren't any farms.

It also detracts the focus away from what's really important, story and gameplay.

If fallout three had an engrossing story and sweet gameplay adventures (which it didn't) then who cares if there are no farms?

Because an engrossing story and a well thought out setting go hand in hand.

Considering how the creatures inhabiting your world gets their basic needs (food, clothes, shelter) covered will often give some good ideas for the dynamics and conflicts of your world. This, in turn, gives a number of interesting stories where the player will have to navigate between the different groups in the world. It does not have to be food alone. Between the powers of the real world, the battle for access to resources, e.g. oil or gold, has been a constant dynamo powering conflict and alliance upon conflict and alliance.

 

[Muff]

In a first person shooter, I will agree that where they get the food from is not a concern as the only consumables you have are Ammunition and Med kits, but in a Roll playing game it matters but on a sliding scale of importance, farms or how people live is part of the world your supposed to be part of that world while playing so it matters where your getting your food from. It adds to the sense of immersion in the world you are playing in and to the depth of that world.

 

[Lexx]

The idea for it selt though, if I remember right was also part of the old Planet of the Apes movie, with mutated and iratediated humans that worshiped some kind of doom-device. A single bomb that could destroy the whole world.

I always thought that this is where the idea originates from. Mutant humans worshiping the Alpha-Omega bomb in the second Planet of the Apes movie.

 

[AtomBomb]

Depends on opinion I guess really....

You know what they say about opinions? But, no, it's not question of opinions, in this case it's not even question about quality of writing (in a literary sense). It's, more than anything, a question about coherent and logical writing and sane inner workings of quest plots. As Sea have written, they basically don't make sense in most cases.

You can break down any movie, video game, book, tv show, or whatever and find flaws in anything.

There is different levels of "flaws" and what we are talking about is level of flaw: asinine. Citing films today is not a good argument pro "I don't care actually" - most of US films are the same shit like the rest of this "fast food" entertainment today. But that's different story.

I enjoy every bethesda game Iv'e played, and quite honestly thought that they've done a good job on most.

Good, congratulation, you have an opinion... Care to explain why do you think they did a good job? But, please don't say "millions of moms/kids bought it".

I didn't care for Skyrims ending, but that's just me...

But I don't care to be honest...you can't argue opinion anyways.

You are not alone in that feeling that you don't care. That's the single most important reason why today games are the way they are. "I don't care" is very dangerous state of mind. Not so much for you as it is for the rest of us. And not just in games...

/edit spell

Overall, I enjoyed the game...You can knit pick any game if you don't like it. I thought they did a good job because in the end the game gave me a very high level of satisfaction, nearly to the point of ejaculation. Do you even understand what I meant by "I don't care"? probably not...but what I meant was that I don't really care that I'm one in a few people on this site that really enjoyed fallout 3. I agree that If people don't care about the quality of game they're getting, the big companies will keep spewing out shit such as the COD series.

 

[Gnarles Bronson]

You are not going to tempt me into writing another essay right now, but I'll give you the short version.

etc.

Congratulations. This is the longest single post I've ever read from any person on the internet, and though I disagree I thought it was really good. Hope that gives you a boost to your self esteem for the day.

Also lol at that being the short version.

Also I'm going to spend some time trying to think up good games that don't necessarily make sense now, someone help me out.

 

[Eumesmopo]

Megaton is a shanty town built around an unexploded nuclear bomb. Nobody before seemed to realize "holy shit that is a terrible idea you guys, we should run away!", nope, let's just build our town around a source of deadly radiation that could go off at any moment and kill everyone.

They lampshade that with some npcs saying that "it's not like we planned to build it ya know"... Anyway, at least blowing it up is beautiful.

How do they get supplies out in the middle of nowhere?

Canterbury Commons, you know; that place with only half a dozen npcs in it and which is supposed to be the great trading hub of the wasteland.

trying to stop an old man from committing suicide

I got furious after receiving bad karma for putting him out of his misery. Fuck you Beth for judging me with your warped morals.

 

[smber2cnma]

Also I'm going to spend some time trying to think up good games that don't necessarily make sense now, someone help me out.

To change anyone's opinion, I think you need more than a "good game that doesn't necessarily make sense". I think you need to find a good game that doesn't make sense and benefits from the illogical/lazy world design. Otherwise, the game would be good despite poor world design, which also means a "good" game would have been even better with coherent world design.

To the point of "what do they eat?" I think it is a good point, but of course is one representative question of an array of like minded questions. Many people don't realize this and think it's just about eating. Thus that video should have asked a variety of these questions:
What do they eat?
Where do they sleep?
Where does their power come from? How do they power these generators? Do they make fuel or collect it? From what/where?
What do these people do all day? What evidence is there that they have been doing this work for several years?
What common sense protective measures has this community erected?
Do communities that have existed for years or decades know about the other communities around them?
If there are communities in close proximity, what is their relationship? Do they fight over water, food, shelter, supplies? Have they specialized with one providing medical care in exchange for the others food?
What use could these people have for new creatures in their environment and are they utilizing these opportunities as real communities would? (ex. gecko skin rugs, kitchen knives made from Deathclaw claws, scorpion armor or city defenses, domesticated versions of some of these animals - either for food, transport or warfare).


Before you suggest, "I just play to have fun & don't care if any of that is explained." Let me suggest you choose to care. B/f if none of these answers are either explained in game, then this games quests will be much crappier.

Quests where 1 community asks you to undermine another's power supply or defenses can't be implemented, or have no rational purpose when implemented if:
1) they communities don't know of each other & some relationship hasn't been established.
2) if communities don't have things like defenses, power supplies, or other resources to destroy.

So by making communities that have all the components real ones have; then players have a much wider range of ways to affect those communities, allowing for superior quests and for superior quest resolution.