Fallout 3's commercial success

[Commiered]

Well there are good RPG's or rather ONE modern alternative in the Witcher, but it never had the media propaganda blitz as Fallout 3 has had, so even though a far better game, it is outshone by it. At least the makers of The Witcher turned a profit, and a million sales just on PC, with the console version to come later it will do very well, relatively better than Fallout 3 when you compare budgets.

Fallout 3 is not better than we made it out to be. I mentioned that it had 'hed shotz' to mock it's main selling points for the console crowd who only have the Japanese RPG's as an alternative. Just because it's different doesn't make it better as in reality those Japanese RPG's often are far better in story and gameplay than Fallout 3 anyway.

 

[jamesmcm]

Well there are good RPG's or rather ONE modern alternative in the Witcher, but it never had the media propaganda blitz as Fallout 3 has had, so even though a far better game, it is outshone by it. At least the makers of The Witcher turned a profit, and a million sales just on PC, with the console version to come later it will do very well, relatively better than Fallout 3 when you compare budgets.

Fallout 3 is not better than we made it out to be. I mentioned that it had 'hed shotz' to mock it's main selling points for the console crowd who only have the Japanese RPG's as an alternative. Just because it's different doesn't make it better as in reality those Japanese RPG's often are far better in story and gameplay than Fallout 3 anyway.

I disagree, I really enjoy all of Bethesda's games and love FPS/RPGs. I'm not the typical 'b00m lolz headshotz' console gamer (I only own a Wii), but I really enjoy stealth/action games and some RPG games and think Bethesda's games provide the great mix of both. (Same with System Shock 2, Deus Ex, etc.) [Fallout 3 actually reminds me of Deus Ex 2 quite a bit at times (the weapons mainly)].

The Witcher kept crashing constantly and had hundreds of bugs on my system basically rendering it unplayable. So I wouldn't be so quick in saying it's a better game.

Oh and JRPG's suck, it's like reading a book where you have to play some boring minigame between the pages. Why not just read a book? I also hate them for the same reason I hate the leveling system in Gamebryo. Whenever you get stronger so do the enemies so it ends up being really boring and repetitive without any thought necessary. At least Gamebryo has stealth/action to make up for it though.

 

[Corvin]

I didn't enjoy The Witcher game nearly as much as the books.

 

[Ulysses]

I disagree, I really enjoy all of Bethesda's games and love FPS/RPGs. I'm not the typical 'b00m lolz headshotz' console gamer (I only own a Wii), but I really enjoy stealth/action games and some RPG games and think Bethesda's games provide the great mix of both. (Same with System Shock 2, Deus Ex, etc.) [Fallout 3 actually reminds me of Deus Ex 2 quite a bit at times (the weapons mainly)].

Yeah, I loved Fallout 3 as much as I liked Deus Ex 2. And the Witcher's bugs weren't that crippling, I found it to be far better than Fallout 3, more interesting world, better atmosphere (granted you step into Geralt's shoes not Joe Q Vault Dweller)

 

[jamesmcm]

I disagree, I really enjoy all of Bethesda's games and love FPS/RPGs. I'm not the typical 'b00m lolz headshotz' console gamer (I only own a Wii), but I really enjoy stealth/action games and some RPG games and think Bethesda's games provide the great mix of both. (Same with System Shock 2, Deus Ex, etc.) [Fallout 3 actually reminds me of Deus Ex 2 quite a bit at times (the weapons mainly)].

Yeah, I loved Fallout 3 as much as I liked Deus Ex 2. And the Witcher's bugs weren't that crippling, I found it to be far better than Fallout 3, more interesting world, better atmosphere (granted you step into Geralt's shoes not Joe Q Vault Dweller)

Well I might try it again on my new machine. It was such a horrible experience with all the bugs and crashes that I just totally forgot about it. The combat was a bit lackluster too.

 

[TheLastOutlaw]

One thing BethSoft has proven they can do is build hype. They have a wonderful marketing department and they know how to play the reviewers.

Raise your hands if any of you read the early previews for Oblivion, the ones with the earliest "HANDS ON ZOMG!!!!"

Beth kept the reviewers out of the Oblivion Gates, one of the areas where level scaling demonstrated how broken of a concept it was, and included character creation in the hands on time, knowing most reviewers would mess with it a fair amount to see how robust it was, as well they should.

They're good at putting a veneer of "ooh that's sort of nifty" in the early stages of the game. Because how many reviewers can play 100+ hours of a game?

They are masters of spin and packaging. I'm not really surprised at the high sales and sadly it probably means they feel rewarded by their mediocre effort and won't improve much upon it for part 4.

 

[Commiered]

Yeah I remember one preview for Oblivion showing how characters 'age' over time in the game! Of course it was a blatant lie; all they showed was the same characters face after playing around with the 'aging' slider during character creation. Yet they said it was a feature in game.

I remember the 'that's sort of nifty' moments for myself too in the first stages of Oblivion and even Fallout 3, so you are right on the money there. Too bad the effect wears off after a couple hrs of playing.

They will bask in the sales of Fallout 3 and no doubt release 4 on the basis of the console crowd that wants even less RPG and more action. The fact that the first expansion is being called a military simulation shows where Beth wants to take Fallout.

Good thing is that companies like this tend to overestimate their appeal in the long term and stagnate. Beth wil go the way of Atari or Activision. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of bastards.

 

[Patton89]

Anyone remember the "500" endings ploy they used in fallout 3 ? And what we get is 2-3 endings, thats just cheap. T
hey should have done Fallout/Fallout 2 type of ending, where your actions effect the ending. Atleast than they could have claimed that they delivered what they promised.
Most reviewers dont seem to remember the ending lie at all.

 

[Crni Vuk]

it are 4 endings for the main-quest and 8 in totall with the side quests if I remember correctly.

The "500" different endings come only from the small permutations like, if you did it as "male" or "female" which would give a different picture in the end then (but the describtion by perlman is the same). So Well they did not lied really, but they used the wrong idea that the endings would be like in Fallout 1/2 were you get a insight in the future of the communities. So well ... I dont know it was kinda selling things with wrong impressions of the people or such.

 

[Corvin]

The 500 endings thing is actually one of the ploys I got mad at Bethesda over. The ending to the main quest and the 'endings' were really lame. I'm glad that even Bethesda seems to have finally recognized this.

 

[TheLastOutlaw]

Yea, the 500 endings claim is something to get angry over. It was ridiculously misreprensented.

Speaking of claims that were totally lies remember the early claims of Oblivion having soil erosion? It was heavily implied that ground would wear based on foot traffic and weather during the game. It was played off on the behind the scenes footage as "We studied erosion in nature when desiging hillsides and while modeling rocks."

They are masters of spin.

 

[Commiered]

Well their study of erosion had an impact in the game. It eroded the RPG elements.

 

[jamesmcm]

Yeah, I remember all the hype about the Radiant AI in Oblivion was a bit over-hyped. That said, they still make amazing games even if they do over-hype some parts.

 

[TheLastOutlaw]

The early heavily scripted "examples" of Radiant AI had nothing in common with what went into the game. Beth rode the line between hype and false advertising.

 

[jamesmcm]

The early heavily scripted "examples" of Radiant AI had nothing in common with what went into the game. Beth rode the line between hype and false advertising.

To be fair though, Beth aren't the only ones - although the Radiant AI stuff was almost on Peter Molyneux's level.

Nothing will beat Spore for that though.

 

[Crni Vuk]

The early heavily scripted "examples" of Radiant AI had nothing in common with what went into the game. Beth rode the line between hype and false advertising.

To be fair though, Beth aren't the only ones - although the Radiant AI stuff was almost on Peter Molyneux's level.

Nothing will beat Spore for that though.

Maybe EA and Zenimax should conclude to band together ? Just think about the posibilities ...

 

[Tessera]

Perhaps the following post might serve to shed a bit of light upon this topic:


http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php/topic,55202.msg51233.html#msg51233


Happy holidays, everyone.

 

[GuardianPL]

Thanks Tessera, well done

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Oh and JRPG's suck, it's like reading a book where you have to play some boring minigame between the pages. Why not just read a book? I also hate them for the same reason I hate the leveling system in Gamebryo. Whenever you get stronger so do the enemies so it ends up being really boring and repetitive without any thought necessary. At least Gamebryo has stealth/action to make up for it though.

FFVIII is the only JRPG I know of that has level scaling.

it are 4 endings for the main-quest and 8 in totall with the side quests if I remember correctly.

There are 17 endings: 3 for karma, 3 for solution to end, and 2 for going with the Enclave's plan or not.

The "500" different endings come only from the small permutations like, if you did it as "male" or "female" which would give a different picture in the end then (but the describtion by perlman is the same). So Well they did not lied really, but they used the wrong idea that the endings would be like in Fallout 1/2 were you get a insight in the future of the communities. So well ... I dont know it was kinda selling things with wrong impressions of the people or such.

Actually Pete or Todd (think it was Pete) said that it was like or just like what Fallout 1&2 did, so they did lie.

The 500 endings thing is actually one of the ploys I got mad at Bethesda over. The ending to the main quest and the 'endings' were really lame. I'm glad that even Bethesda seems to have finally recognized this.

They did?

To be fair though, Beth aren't the only ones - although the Radiant AI stuff was almost on Peter Molyneux's level.

Nothing will beat Spore for that though.

What did EA lie about with Spore? The game was entirely underwhelming but I didn't follow it enough to know what they lied about (haven't bought or played it beyond the creature creator [which always seemed to be the high point of the game as it's mostly what they focused on]).

 

[Crni Vuk]

Actually Pete or Todd (think it was Pete) said that it was like or just like what Fallout 1&2 did, so they did lie.

Meh ... when itcomes to Bethesdas "comments" and "promises" it all just looks like a stinking rotting swamp anyway. I knew that already from Oblivion. You know ... its like you know where ever you put your foot inside you never can know which hole is more deep and stinks more.