Game reactor interviews Todd Howard

[terebikun]

It's closer to the bitter chuckle I utter when my car blows up in the middle of nowhere, than it is to the wackiness you'd find in a Monty Python movie.

Very interesting that you would use Monty Python as an example of what the humor in Fallout was not like.

Nor do they "get" the 50's Retro-future idea either. Greasers IN a fucking vault? I think they took the 50's thing literally.

Speaking of which. Has any screenshot of buildings looked anything like the style of the buildings from Fallout? I don't recall seeing any of the enormous heads on the corners of the buildings or anything.

What's wrong with the greasers?! They're one of my favorite new bits in Fallout 3...I'm almost positive I've seen buildings with heads on them somewhere in Fallout, maybe in Necropolis or Adytum. Have to wait for screenshots to be sure though.

 

[Boosta]

That weird interviewer is a godd*mned insult to my people is he is swedish, which his name indicates. Awful name, by the way whichever it was. (Bengt or Benke)
I don't care is he had 'special' treatment growing up, he is by far the worst news person I've ever laid eyes on! *keeps ranting for another five minutes*

I actually could see why they want it so 'sanitized'. No new information is neither bad nor good, so you're still treading the thin line. But I think it is a little too late for that kind of information containment...

I agree. The building style really isn't right. On the other hand, after 200 years, most concrete buildings are so badly worn down that you wouldn't see heads or even walls....

 

[entropyjesus]

What's wrong with the greasers?! They're one of my favorite new bits in Fallout 3...I'm almost positive I've seen buildings with heads on them somewhere in Fallout, maybe in Necropolis or Adytum. Have to wait for screenshots to be sure though.

I think he was talking about not seeing that architecture style in FO3.

Also, I don't have anything against having greasers in the game, but it's all in the execution and how well it translates in the Fallout universe, which I don't see Bethesda doing very well.

 

[juM8o]

I agree. The building style really isn't right. On the other hand, after 200 years, most concrete buildings are so badly worn down that you wouldn't see heads or even walls....

Well... if you could decide from these two options, got the buildings standing and able to go inside them or got some fucking ruins which just block your way to somewhere, which one you would chose? I think that making just some ruins would fuck up with most of people, now making ruins with walls or even top standing can make most people feel more comfortable, because empty desert isnt really nothing.

 

[CodeZombie]

One of the early screen shots shows two statues on a building, which is a *bit* like a head on a wall

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/art/fallout3-screenshots1.html

(screen shot 4 counting from the bottom.)

(Screenshot 38 is creepy...)

 

[Dembol]

No, it's not. It's the duty of a good interviewer to get more out of the interviewee than he/she initially wanted to give away. That way the interviewer might just be able to add something new to what we already know from a gazillion other interviews.

Hey, maybe that's because they are bad mannered and actually dare to talk about stuff they're not supposed to ask???

Not at all. There's a thin line between being curious/asking difficult questions and being too nosy/rude. If he asked questions about certain gameplay mechanics which we don't know much about based on what he saw in the preview it'd be cool. Something like some random person dialouge options or maybe an example of a simple sidequest (without giving names and solutions), which could be easily snuck into the interview, be interesting and expanding our knowlegde about the game without spoiling bits of the main plot. Or make a quick complain about the animation/ragdoll physics. Let's see how Todd handles that!

What the preview did was basically say: "Hey this guy is important for the plot". Maybe it's not the same like writing that Vader is Luke's father in an "Empire Strikes Back" preview, but the info certainly takes away a little bit of the experience. I think that I can find such info on my own during the game when I decide to play it. Now I can run up straight to the guy and skip the whole process of finding whether he's important or not.

 

[alec]

Not at all. There's a thin line between being curious/asking difficult questions and being too nosy/rude. If he asked questions about certain gameplay mechanics which we don't know much about based on what he saw in the preview it'd be cool. Something like some random person dialouge options or maybe an example of a simple sidequest (without giving names and solutions), which could be easily snuck into the interview, be interesting and expanding our knowlegde about the game without spoiling bits of the main plot. Or make a quick complain about the animation/ragdoll physics. Let's see how Todd handles that!

What the preview did was basically say: "Hey this guy is important for the plot". Maybe it's not the same like writing that Vader is Luke's father in an "Empire Strikes Back" preview, but the info certainly takes away a little bit of the experience. I think that I can find such info on my own during the game when I decide to play it. Now I can run up straight to the guy and skip the whole process of finding whether he's important or not.

Boo-hoo, kid. Plus: that's not what happened at all.
Read the transcription:

GR: I found it's not easy to trust the people who are in [Megaton].

Todd: Why, what happened?

GR: Well, I think they lied to me.

Todd: ... Who's that?

GR: I don't know, that guy called Moriarty.

Todd: Yeah, don't talk to him.

GR: But it's hard to advance the game if I don't.

Todd: You're not supposed to talk about that, it's off limits.

As you can clearly see, it's stupid Todd's own fault that the interviewer actually drops the name of Moriarty and reveals plot elements. He didn't initially.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

I wonder what they aren't showing in that interview... (notice the cut right after the "off limits" line).

 

[Per]

I wonder what they aren't showing in that interview... (notice the cut right after the "off limits" line).

GR: Harold was much nicer to me than Moriarty.

Todd: That's off limits too.

GR: And then Dogmeat's eyes sprouted on mechanical stalks and talked to me in the voice of actor Liam Neeson.

Todd: This interview is over.

GR: How do you feel about that.

Todd: Goodbye.

GR: Is the final boss really teddy bear as shown?

Todd: Get away from meeee

 

[Ausir]

Well, there seems to be a ghoul barman in Moriarty's Saloon. Maybe it's Harold?

 

[alec]

I wonder what they aren't showing in that interview... (notice the cut right after the "off limits" line).

GR: Harold was much nicer to me than Moriarty.

Todd: That's off limits too.

GR: And then Dogmeat's eyes sprouted on mechanical stalks and talked to me in the voice of actor Liam Neeson.

Todd: This interview is over.

GR: How do you feel about that.

Todd: Goodbye.

GR: Is the final boss really teddy bear as shown?

Todd: Get away from meeee

Brilliant. I can just picture that happening. The 'How do you feel about that' part =

 

[Seymour the spore plant]

Well, there seems to be a ghoul barman in Moriarty's Saloon. Maybe it's Harold?

If Tom Chick got anything right, his name is Gob. Plus, is the Saloon Moriarty's? Hadn't heard of that yet.

 

[alec]

Plus, is the Saloon Moriarty's? Hadn't heard of that yet.

Apparently it is Moriarty's Saloon.

 

[Public]

Todd: I think even when you're doing it in real time, the role-playing is there, because you have accuracy that affects from your stats how much damage you're doing. We want the game to make sure it plays well both ways, and then the player can decide for himself which way he wants to take, and we found most people, it's about 50/50, real-time versus V.A.T.S.

What if I want to play with ISO view, like the real RPGs were?
I cannot! Coz Fallout became FPPF[fake]RPG

 

[grapedog]

What if I want to play with ISO view, like the real RPGs were?
I cannot! Coz Fallout became FPPF[fake]RPG

I don't think 3rd person Isometric means RPG! You can have an RPG in other formats. Many people here may not like Oblivion, but Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind were all RPG's in the first person, just to name 3 from Bethsoft alone.

To me, First Person, 3rd Isometric...whatever else, doesn't matter as long as the game lets me do my thing the way I want to do it.

 

[aries369]

Since Bethesda pretty much has the rpg sales in their bag, they are focusing on selling this game to the FPS crowd. From a strategic business standpoint, this is what they need to do - to make sure they'd get their money back. We, the hardcore fans, might not like it - even I don't like it. But such is the mechanisms of the world today. I seldom do this on any website, but I think here on NMA it is safe to point out that the world today is driven by profits. Not just earnings, but big profits. Greed seems to be name of the game here.

The capitalistic system just doesn't seem to get enough or have enough money; it always wants more money. To paraphrase Yoda a bit greed is borne out of fear. People are always they won't get or have enough money for something. Bethesa is probably afraid that they won't sell enough copies of Fallout 3 if they don't target both the FPS, the TES and and the Fallout fans. The problem with this approach clearly is that you end disappointing all three groups; everyone complaining about this or that feature etc.

As for the Gamesradar interview, I can't wait to find out what Todd remarks about a certain character being off limits (to talk about) means. I also don't like it when developers etc. decide what game journalists can and cannot talk about in relation to what they have seen. It is not like game journalists are hired by the publishers...

Edit:

hm, I didn't really find the interviewer to be the odd one...

Todd always looks a bit... erm, well.... questionable in his interviews. also, he really seems to act differently around different people.

Todd seemed very cosy and friendly and having a good time with the guys from 1UP, didn't he? They also asked some very relevant questions about the game; they seemed to know about the game. And wanted to ask some of the more tough questions to Todd. The same did the guy from GR do. And Todd did pretty good, I think.

The other people that ask -ehm- not so intelligent questions will get a not so intelligent answer.

 

[Ausir]

If Tom Chick got anything right, his name is Gob. Plus, is the Saloon Moriarty's? Hadn't heard of that yet.

Yeah, I knew it's Gob, I was just messing with ya since I didn't know his name was revealed anywhere.

 

[kyle]

Many people here may not like Oblivion, but Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind were all RPG's in the first person, just to name 3 from Bethsoft alone.

now of these i only played morrowind, and if one give it for definition by example of an rpg, than id say they are not very demanandig, imo it was pretty bad for an rpg

that said morrowind wasnt a bad game, i would say it was pretty awesome mushroom collector simulator, best i played actually (and quite fun too)

 

[ookami]

his name is Gob.

He should be voiced by this man.

 

[Ausir]

Would be great if they hired Charlie Adler to do some voice acting on FO3, even if Harold is not in the game (and if he is, they pretty much have to hire Adler for it to be the real Harold).