Seraphim Pwns U said:
My 'hostility' as you put it, but rather, my outspoken disappointment and disapproval, comes from the fact that the MoO franchise is fubared because of MoO3... and Bethesda is heading that way with FO3.
I can agree with what you're saying here. MOO3 was a big let down for me. I've basically given up on MOO, now, and just play Galactic Civilizations I or II whenever I'm in the mood for a MOO type game.
If F3 turns out to be all wrong, maybe, someday, we'll have our equivalent of Galactic Civilization? A game not related to the Fallout series in any way, but that manages to perfectly capture what we loved about F1 and 2?
Anyway, I'm impressed by many of the posts on here, as they seem to do a good job at expressing my own concerns about F3. In all honesty... I desperately want the game to be good. I want it to give me the same feeling that I got from F1 and F2. But, there are all of these little things that, on their own, might not be a huge problem, but together make me concerned.
I realized after I signed off last night that Mr. Green's response discussed combat in general, but not really the Fatman itself. To clarify for him (if he's still around), while I do, in fact, have "taste" concerns about dumping turn based combat, the Fatman is more of a "setting" issue. In particular, it doesn't fit in very well with how F1 and F2 handled nuclear weapons. In both games, there was one opportunity to cause a nuclear detonation. In both cases, the character had to "get the heck out of Dodge" before the explosion occurred, otherwise he would have been incinerated. In short, nuclear detonations were NOT something to be trifled with.
Now, with the info they've released on F3, it seems we're going from the attitude I described above, to having "nuclear rocket launchers" that you use in short range combat, and you can cause nuclear explosions - again, in close combat - by detonating the fuel tanks of cars. How is that consistent with the "feel" of Fallout at all? It certainly doesn't jive with the attitude they took towards nukes in the first two games. Tell me, as someone who was able to look at the game himself, did it seem as though they found a way to make such close quarters nuclear explosions sensible within the feel and setting of the Fallout universe? Or, when taken in the context of the first two games - as any sequal should be - is it just going to seem silly and over the top, like something from a Duke Nukem style FPS?
Beyond the oddity of creating nuclear explosions in short range combat, there's the movement from turn based to real time, a concern that there might be a level of swearing that doesn't fit with the first two games, Metro ticketbots that were apparently set up to shred turnstyle jumpers to pieces before the war, the whole "healing water" issue, a sarcastic and insulting Mr. Handee, etc., etc. Many elements of the game that are meant to be humorous - like the Mr. Handee - are humorous, in a way, I guess. But, they don't seem very much like "Fallout humor."
Some of those things can, maybe, be explained away by someone who's willing to put the time and effort into it.
For example, yes, the previous games seemed to establish that "true" artificial intelligence was limited to humoungous mainframes that were located in heavily armed military bases. So, yes, one wouldn't expect Mr. Handee to have any kind of AI, let alone one capable of insulting someone behind their back. But, on the other hand, we've never really had the chance to interact with Mr. Handees in any of the games, so I guess it's possible that they may have been set up to closely simulate intelligence, without actually being a "true" AI. If that's the case, the Mr. Handee in F3 might be insulting simply because someone has been tinkering with it, or just due to regular degradation from the past 200 years.
Many of the flaws and inconsistencies with canon and setting we've been seeing could, perhaps, be explained away that way. But, the more such flaws and inconsistencies you have to explain away, the harder it becomes to keep doing so. And the less it feels like you're playing a Fallout game.
People come to this site because they love Fallout. And so many of the "little things" that have been leaking out about this game are enough to make them feel uneasy.
(actually, they kinda are...)
)