Game Informer Fallout 3 article scans

[Mick1965]

Weapons and armor that degrade... where have I heard of that before? Seems Beth just can't think outside the square.

Hmm...
Arcanum?

Havn't played Arcanum in a while, forgot it had weapons that degrade... having said that FO was never about weapons degrading. Beth should focus their energies on making the game work as well as the first two and not on adding features from their other games, or worrying about things like adding complex graphics for a new Pipboy. If they put their resources into the story and game mechanics they may actually end up with a better game.

Mick

 

[quietfanatic]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but is the primary statistics example for real?

The GI screen: 5+4+5+2+4+7+6 = 33
Original Fallout: 5*7+5 = 40

deficit = -7

If it is then I doubt that traits could explain this, unless they replaced 'Gifted' with 'Retarded'. So S.P.E.C.I.A.L. may have been "reinvented" too.

 

[Slicerdicer]

I think the example of the mutie they show with the hammer is a bad one however the one with it's head blown off does have a fallout style to it's outfit and remaining body. I'm under the impression that all the muties will look different from one another in that some may look crap and some may look great. I don't mind the variety if that is indeed the case. I'll just enjoy blowing the crapper ones heads off more.
Anyone notice that the crap mutie with the hammer has a gas cap for a cock piece? Make sense to me. He just has to open the lid and let the unleaded flow.

 

[alec]

It doesn't seem all that bad, they've seemingly tried a lot to introduce a certain kind of feeling to the game, but it all seems a little horror-ish to me, wouldn't you agree?

No.

What concearns me is weather Bethseda will introduce the mature themes in the game.

Oh yeah, the mature themes. The core of the Fallout heritage. Let's not forget about those. Sheesh, I sure hope I can fuck hookers in Washington DC. Sheesh, I sure hope I can steal condoms from some Jet addict, 'cause that'll totally make my gaming experience complete. Pfff... Get a life. And a girlfriend.

Yeah, I liked having sex in F2, even if it only lasted for 2 seconds of blank screen...

Go you! The FO sexxorz is teh bestest, ain't it?

the combat system seemed OK. A combination of pseudo-turn basedness for better tactical desicions sounds good to me.

Yeah. RTwP is totally Falloutish, ain't it? It's like RT with an extra something undefinable, ain't it? FO with an extra 60 seconds to use your brain. Wow! That'll be innovative on the FPS market. Imagine all those kids, who never played FO or FO2, totally getting their kicks whilst pumping lead into an Orc's dumbfumbled head. "Will I aim for his left or his right arm?" Then watch the shot in slo-mo. Wowee-zowee! That's what we have been waiting for, for 10 years, ain't it? We're so lucky, aren't we?

It doesn't seem all that bad, they've seemingly tried a lot to introduce a certain kind of feeling to the game, but it all seems a little horror-ish to me, wouldn't you agree?

Aw no, it doesn't seem all that bad. It remembers me a little of Resident Evil and Doom 3 and I'm sure it'll play as fluently as Call Of Duty. But get this: it doesn't remember me at all of those two superb games I played in the nineties, FO and FO2, and isn't that what a sequel should try to achieve? Or should we introduce some sort of Jar Jar Binks and fuck up everything we believed in? Let's ridicule ourselves, it's so frikkin' pomo, ain't it?

I've had it up to here with those "Well, it ain't that bad" posters. Have these guys actually played FO and FO2? Have they experienced that sort of classic gameplay? Travelling through the wasteland and running into a pack of geckos with only a 9mm and less ammo than you'd hoped for? Contemplating whether you should use your shotgun or your H&K G11 or your FN FAL? Wondering whether you should use three Stimpaks or two Super Stimpaks whilst taking another hit in your groin from some Raider? It's like most of these posters don't grasp the essence of the Fallout franchise. And it's like they don't even try. Or care.

45 hours without sleep. I should so go to bed and leave you guys alone.

I am truly disappointed. Truly, truly, truly. I don't think a lot of these new posters know how true fans have waited for this. It's been 10 years, dawgunnit. Do you have a clue of how long that is? I played Fallout when it hit the shelves and I fell in love with it immediately, and now you've got all these youngsters going "Well, it ain't that bad, at least it looks good and I hope you'll get to fuck some radiated whores."
Sheesh. Sure, if you were fed Counterstrike at birth, this ain't all too bad. But this contraption that's being made by Bethesda is not only a clear sign of how the games industry has changed, it's also a sign of how older gamers are completely ignored. And don't you forget: we made this shit possible. We saved pennies to buy a Commodore 64 and play crappy games, we saved more pennies to upgrade and play sweeter games, we tasted Fallout before you kids knew how to properly suck your momma's nipple. Do not tell me how a worthy Fallout sequel should look and play like. All of you are looking at the make-up, the cosmetics and you fail to see how they fucked up the contents, the inside, the mechanics that made it all work.

You get a teaser trailer that makes you sorta hopeful. Sorta nostalgic and sorta positive. Then you get an article with screenshots that makes you remember how shitty the games industry has become.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Arcanum was the last RPG that was able to make an old-school gamer like me a happy man. I'm 31 now. I was 21 when I played Fallout. I finished it in one long session, sipping lemonade and smoking pot. It was the first game I ever finished without cheats, the first game I played without feeling cheated by some obscure developer. It felt awesome. The minute I finished it, I couldn't believe I had achieved such a goal. It was a moment of magic. A sort of magic I've only re-experienced when finishing Fallout 2, Arcanum and Commandos 2. Open your eyes: most games are utter crap. Most games don't give you that sort of sensation. I can't stress this enough. It's a memory worth cherishing. Not unlike your first fuck or the first time you finished writing a novel and mumbled: "Sheesh, I actually did this!"
You think this Bethesda contraption will let you experience such a feeling? Bwahahaha. Think again, young padawan. This is console crap that you won't remember on your death bed. This will seem like a waste of time once you hit thirty. It's cosmetics without any contents. A bitch you meet at the discotheque with the right clothes but the wrong personality. Good for a 15-minute fuck but not an option to get married to.

I've seen the trailer, heard the tunes, saw the concept art (and retched), and now I've read the article and saw the screenshots (and retched yet again). We'll be discussing this crappy sequel for months to come. We'll see screenshots of ghouls and be sad. We'll analyze game mechanics and get sad. We'll hear rumors, we'll post scans and be persona non grata on the Bethesda fora. We'll be busy. We'll scream and we'll comply. We'll loathe stuff and we'll love things. All in all, though, we'll be handed a major disappointment Fall 2008. I know it and the more intelligent members of this forum know it.

This time it's not "The best is yet to come", but "The worst is yet to come". We've seen two excerpts from Bethesda's project and most of us are desillusioned already. The meteor shower is yet to come. I only have one advice for my brethren: "Duck and cover!"

Duck and cover. Peh-lease.

 

[Pope Viper]

[Clap Clap Clap]

Well said, Alec. Let's not forget waiting to see what The Guardian was going to do, or how they could kill Dupre.

I also am an old school gamer. 37 years old. So. 27 when FO came out. I remember staying up until 3am, then having to drag my ass into work at a stock brokerage firm. The game reminded me of when I played Wasteland, a game that came out 10'ish years before FO.

10 years later, I'm married, have a kid, still working in the brokerage industry, but a manager, instead of a LAN admin when FO first game out.

For us old guys, we remember when games were actually developed for the gamers, instead companies wanting to primarily focus on the almighty dollar. Granted, money was a concern, but a GOOD game was the focus. Good game = good money,

In my opinion, it's sad what the game industry has become. Massive corporations, churning out the same crap, with little innovation, and even less desire to break out of the same shell that everyone else has.

Will I buy FO 3? As it stands now, no. I find myself playing less games, due to family/life responsibilities. It takes a unique game to catch my eye, and cause me to invest time into it. What I've seen of "The Game" (as I've seen it called), the interest isn't there. It's NOT a Fallout game. It has the ghost of SOME of Fallout's charm, but that's all I've seen. A ghost. Of a franchise that gave this guy a lot of entertainment and enjoyment over the past 10 years.

Argue all you want about perspective, combat systems, character gen. To me, the FEEL isn't there. When I saw the Van Buren or Troika's proposed PA screens/demos, I felt Fallout, the ghost had materialized into a tangible entity.

I don't feel this for The Game. I don't feel anything but sadness for something that I had high hopes for.

 

[Neal]

I agree that the worst is yet to come.

We are going to slowly see how bethdusa is making an rpgish game with the Fallout title. Were going to see them mash every possible thing from their other games into it thinking that if they take aspects from there games it will make it better.

From the pics in the mag It doesn't look or feel like fallout and the same goes with the teaser concept art that we saw before the trailer. It didnt seem quite right it had the post nuclear war feel but not fallout itself. In my opinion it looked to real. Fallout is a little cartoonish, and the more i think about it blizzard would of done a better job with it than bethdusa but hey they have the ink spots so its ok......

 

[Plasma-pip]

My only hope at this point is that the little kiddies will get frustrated by the amount of "choices" there are and the game doesn't sell. Then Beth might decide to pawn off the franchise to someone that actually gives a rats ass about doing it correctly.

 

[Xython]

Having read the article, both in my copy of GI (which came yesterday evening) and on the site... I have to say I'm quite psyched! I loved Oblivion -- even with it's limitations -- and Fallout 3 seems to have every bit of the Fallout Spirit.

I mean, honestly? Return of SPECIAL? A hybrid Real Time + AP combat system? Many ways to get through quests? Body part targeting? Karma and Multiple Endings? And most importantly, no (or very limited) enemy scaling?

It's everything we could have hoped for from a modern Fallout so far.


Did anyone catch that they're using "I don't want to set the World on Fire" -- which according to the Fallout Bibles, was the original song for the title screen of Fallout (2?). Sweet.

 

[Nim82]

I've had it up to here.. [snip]

Brilliant post, sums up my thoughts exactly. Your comment on most new games being crap is bob on, it's rare for me to play a game these days that I actually enjoy playing. Most become a bloody chore that I can't wait to get to the end of. I think I began using god mode 1/3 of the way into Doom3 (just to get to the end that bit faster). Heck I felt someone should have been paying me to play that POS.

..we remember when games were actually developed for the gamers..

Agree there as well, there was a time when originality and gameplay design were just as important as depth of field blur and HDRI bollocks. Gaming died and stagnated in my eyes around 99/00'ish, since then its all been about the graphics (and not even artwork). Whole genres have vanished, or regressed stupidly. I was a fan of isometric shooters, space combat sims, PnC's as well as RPG's - where the hell have they all gone? Really sad state for a such an immature industry to be in at this early stage.

I trained up as a games artist - but didn't have the heart to stay in the games industry, so do freelance stuff now. People with passion are just used and abused there these days, passion to publishers means your willing to work as many overtime hours as they want you to. Creativity is a dirty word, having thoughts outside of your station is a frowned upon. By gamers, for gamers is a distant memory.

 

[Xython]

I agree that the worst is yet to come.

We are going to slowly see how bethdusa is making an rpgish game with the Fallout title. Were going to see them mash every possible thing from their other games into it thinking that if they take aspects from there games it will make it better.

From the pics in the mag It doesn't look or feel like fallout and the same goes with the teaser concept art that we saw before the trailer. It didnt seem quite right it had the post nuclear war feel but not fallout itself. In my opinion it looked to real. Fallout is a little cartoonish, and the more i think about it blizzard would of done a better job with it than bethdusa but hey they have the ink spots so its ok......

It only looked cartoonish because of the technology of the time. They couldn't exactly go nuts with the graphics with sprites, after all.

It looks fine. They even got the random propaganda and 1950s-era technology right.

 

[Neal]

We know they used " I don't want to set the world on fire" from the ink spots which we know was the intro to the original fallout that doesn't make everything ok. if anything its a knock against the original and they should of found a different song from the era for the intro. yes its cool there using SPECIAL , looks a like a toned down version of it.

here are a few major issues.
1. nuclear catapult
2. Doom Oblivion hybrid
3. A more linear story line
4. looks more like an FPS
5. Its ported to other systems (meaning we will loose certain aspects no matter what)
6. more like Bos and Fo tactics not Fo1 and Fo2


I have been finding out that many games that have came out as of late there mods are better than the games themselves because someone cares, yeah they might not look as great but there is better game play. Nintendo figured this out with the wii its not about graphics but the games now the rest of the industry needs to figure it out

 

[bluurg]

If this wasn't fallout i would be slightly happy about it, because it sounds like a fucked up version fallout... or even doom3 with rpgs elements and a pause button with special attacks...

If the game didn't have the Fallout name, I'd actually be looking forward to it as a potentially pleasant diversion. I like post-apoc stuff in general and I like Doom variety stuff as well (fighting demons, hell gates, all that jazz). The thing that is so painful is that I'm looking at this generic Post-Apoc/Doom/Resident Evil game and seeing the name FALLOUT slapped onto it, and it just makes me see red, as in I hate Beth and everyone employed by them and hell if I don't have a stomach ache by now. Man, I hope this game gets torn to shreds by the press. I hope it is a miserable fucking bomb. I hope Todd Howard and all of those arrogant twats who refused to listen realize that they never should have ignored the true fans.

 

[bluurg]

It only looked cartoonish because of the technology of the time. They couldn't exactly go nuts with the graphics with sprites, after all.

Man, I'm so sick of this RETARDED line of reasoning that comes out of the mouth of every Bethboy around. You would think 1997 was 1977 and FO1 was coded on an Atari VCS. Cartoonish because of technology limitations my ass. It was artistic intent.

It looks fine. They even got the random propaganda and 1950s-era technology right.

Blah blah blah. Yes, it will be a great game. Etc.

 

[Slicerdicer]

Having read the article, both in my copy of GI (which came yesterday evening) and on the site... I have to say I'm quite psyched! I loved Oblivion -- even with it's limitations -- and Fallout 3 seems to have every bit of the Fallout Spirit.

I mean, honestly? Return of SPECIAL? A hybrid Real Time + AP combat system? Many ways to get through quests? Body part targeting? Karma and Multiple Endings? And most importantly, no (or very limited) enemy scaling?

It's everything we could have hoped for from a modern Fallout so far.


Did anyone catch that they're using "I don't want to set the World on Fire" -- which according to the Fallout Bibles, was the original song for the title screen of Fallout (2?). Sweet.

Actually sounds great on paper but looks like shit so far in some of the scan pics. I think it will fall somewhere between the two and be at least an ok game. I'll reserve my finial judgment when I actually try it. Beth's biggest mistake in all of this not actually any thing in/of the game I've seen but simply calling it Fallout:3. If they called it Fallout: A new begging or insert whatever it wouldn't have as much negativity towards it. By calling it FO3 their saying it's a continuation of the story of it's predecessors. People that played those game rightly expect there to be certain linkage (Styles, views, mechanics, suits etc) to them. Beth seems to have tried in some regards (Setting, SPECIAL, music) but seems (Won't know for sure until better details come out) to have miscued on others.
So far this is mainly a PR mess for Beth at the moment . If I where them I would put up on my own site a sample walk through play vid like they showed those GI guys and let folks see for themselves. The GI pics (Essentially screen caps of a vid) make this look bad. Their transcripts actually sounded good until the pics came out.

Bethesda if your read these forums (We know you do) put the damn vid up on the trailer site already. Dumbasses.

 

[Nim82]

Having read the article, both in my copy of GI (which came yesterday evening) and on the site... I have to say I'm quite psyched! I loved Oblivion -- even with it's limitations -- and Fallout 3 seems to have every bit of the Fallout Spirit.

I mean, honestly? Return of SPECIAL? A hybrid Real Time + AP combat system? Many ways to get through quests? Body part targeting? Karma and Multiple Endings? And most importantly, no (or very limited) enemy scaling?

It's everything we could have hoped for from a modern Fallout so far.


Did anyone catch that they're using "I don't want to set the World on Fire" -- which according to the Fallout Bibles, was the original song for the title screen of Fallout (2?). Sweet.

Being a fan of Oblivion, the fact you get to fight Orcs with nuclear weapunz in FO3 must positively make you horneh!

Seriously is Beth paying you to spurt this crap? Even the most optimistic of true FO fans would hold off on stating 'seems to have every bit of the Fallout Spirit'....

FO was always meant to be comic esque in style, why do you think the damn loading screens feature comic book covers? Why did the cut scenes & talking heads feature comic esque CGI heads, when it would have been much easier to use a bit of FMV ala C&C?

Starcraft was comic book in style, was that only because they were using 2D sprites? If so why does SC2 look exactly the same despite being 3D and featuring every bit of new technology available?

I could go on, but it's not worth the effort - obviously a windup.

 

[Tannhauser]

Xython, reviewing artistic materials unrelated to technological constraints might show where you are wrong in the aesthetic being purely a result of those limitations. Two examples from Fallout:

 

[Xython]

We know they used " I don't want to set the world on fire" from the ink spots which we know was the intro to the original fallout that doesn't make everything ok. if anything its a knock against the original and they should of found a different song from the era for the intro. yes its cool there using SPECIAL , looks a like a toned down version of it.

here are a few major issues.
1. nuclear catapult
2. Doom Oblivion hybrid
3. A more linear story line
4. looks more like an FPS
5. Its ported to other systems (meaning we will loose certain aspects no matter what)
6. more like Bos and Fo tactics not Fo1 and Fo2

1. While I agree the Fatman is a but much, they might be just using that to show off the engine. Even if it's not a joke / tech demo item, well... I could honestly see some of our... less intelligent compatriots, especially those from 30 years ago, who might think something along those lines wouldn't be a horrible idea.

2. Where do you get "Doom Oblivion Hybrid?" Am I missing something? Can you explain the reference? The only thing I can think of is a complaint about the first person viewpoint, and, well, the second they mentioned AP and Called Shots, my concerns about that went away.

3. The Storyline isn't out yet. All we know is that the game starts with the hero growing up and leaving the vault to follow his father. That's about it. Would you rather the hero be able to choose to not grow up? Fallout itself wasn't all that nonlinear, it just had a lot of sidequests. Same as Oblivion, really.

4. I am not quite sure I agree with this, either. Most of what we've seen so far doesn't look like an FPS. There are a few shots of the character using a gun in first person -- but they've already said they're working on the 3rd person cause Oblivion's sucked.

5. While I'm not too keen on the idea of it being ported, I can't say that anyone who knows Bethesda is AT ALL surprised about this. However, Having played Fallout 2 with a SNES pad with great success, I'm not too worried about this aspect of it.

6. Again, I'm not quite sure what you mean by this -- could you explain? I avoided F:BOS like the plauge, but I enjoyed F:T quite a bit for what it was -- basically a PC version of FFT, with the Fallout background.


I agree that there are valid concerns about Bethesda and Fallout 3. I'll give you that much. But I'm not sure I agree with your list. My major #1 concern is that Bethesda seems to struggle with nonlinearity -- specifically, you might get a quest to look into a group of vampire hunters, and you might get the choice to go with them or stay behind... but you don't have the choice to run into the dungeon and warn the vampires, or even join them.

It's that kinda thing I am hoping for Fallout 3. Joining Raiders, talking bandits out of attacking cities, stealing valuables from traders and framing politicians, etc etc.

 

[Slicerdicer]

Having read the article, both in my copy of GI (which came yesterday evening) and on the site... I have to say I'm quite psyched! I loved Oblivion -- even with it's limitations -- and Fallout 3 seems to have every bit of the Fallout Spirit.

snip

Hrmm the term plant come to mind. Beth's plant.

 

[Xython]

Having read the article, both in my copy of GI (which came yesterday evening) and on the site... I have to say I'm quite psyched! I loved Oblivion -- even with it's limitations -- and Fallout 3 seems to have every bit of the Fallout Spirit.

I mean, honestly? Return of SPECIAL? A hybrid Real Time + AP combat system? Many ways to get through quests? Body part targeting? Karma and Multiple Endings? And most importantly, no (or very limited) enemy scaling?

It's everything we could have hoped for from a modern Fallout so far.


Did anyone catch that they're using "I don't want to set the World on Fire" -- which according to the Fallout Bibles, was the original song for the title screen of Fallout (2?). Sweet.

Being a fan of Oblivion, the fact you get to fight Orcs with nuclear weapunz in FO3 must positively make you horneh!

I think personal strawman attacks might be a bit over the top right yet, don't you agree?

As for using the Fatboy, no, I'm more of a sniper player than anything else. Called shot to the eyes / groin? Yes Please!

Actually, I'd really rather like to try a bare handed fighter in Fallout 2 next... That might be fun, and I've never done it.

 

[Neal]

I like how he tried to quote the fallout bible, he is also being very exact with his words unlike most people.

1950's era look yes technology not really, a nuke catapult. I don't remember that from a Fo1 or 2 and a catapult if they were going for some sort of BFG it should at least be some sort of rocket launcher

oh and I agree with you Bluurg it was more artistic intent otherwise they could have made it more realistic if they wanted especially for the time they could of went for a quake or tomb raider look which looked more realistic for that time