Gry-Online previews Fallout 3

[Brother None]

Its range depends on the player's perception.

Que? What is the logic behind this?

Game mechanics. It makes sense, especially since perception needs some love after being gimped by the change in combat.

The green flashlight in the PipBoy isn't new, I think I mentioned that before. In the first demo, Pete turned it on to move through the cave out of the vault. It has a kind of green-ish hue, but it's a flashlight.

The radar has also been discussed before (again, we described it in our preview). I think gry is wrong, actually, it's not a part of the PipBoy - unless they're talking about a different radar. It's the thing you see in the bottom left, and it showing NPCs/enemies in green/red has been discussed to death by now.

Does anyone know why people mysteriously use bottlecaps again?

Why not? They're a pretty convenient object to use as currency. The Hub didn't just pick it at random, they make sense.

To be totally accurate, it's not actually a flashlight at all, it's just the brightness on your PipBoy turned up, which I think is pretty novel.

What? No it isn't. I mean not really. Where is this coming from?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Game mechanics. It makes sense, especially since perception needs some love after being gimped by the change in combat.

It would make some sense if for example the Science skill would have an impact on the PipBoy since trained people can better control machines than the untrained.
Having Perception impact it just makes absolutely no sense except for game mechanics as you point out, but it doesn't stop it from being moronic, just like many other decisions made by Bethesda.

 

[Brother None]

It would make some sense if for example the Science skill would have an impact on the PipBoy since trained people can better control machines than the untrained.
Having Perception impact it just makes absolutely no sense except for game mechanics as you point out, but it doesn't stop it from being moronic, just like many other decisions made by Bethesda.

I respectfully disagree for two reasons:

1. It really isn't a part of the PipBoy, I believe gry is wrong.

2. The moment you let real-life logic take precedence over game mechanics to the point where you have to absolutely gimp one of the SPECIALs since it doesn't have a "sensible" function, you should be fired, because you're a shitty game designer. We're playing a game, not a real-life simulator, so the game mechanics should work, and that takes precedence to them "making sense".

 

[FeelTheRads]

I'm sure if one's a awesome game designer a better use for Perception could be found, especially one that doesn't completely fail at making any sense.
Wasn't there some talk about being able to see/feel NPCs/critters through walls based on Perception? That at least seems reasonable.

Then again, if it's not really part of the PipBoy and the review is simply wrong, it's perfectly fine.

 

[Brother None]

Wasn't there some talk about being able to see/feel NPCs/critters through walls based on Perception? That at least seems reasonable.

That is this radar thing (plus outlines in paused mode), as I saw it in the demo.

 

[Autoduel76]

The radar is an abstraction for the player, its not a physical object for the character. It represents what the character can see and sense, and displays that information in a way that the player can see.

 

[Madbringer]

Well, that makes a whole darn lot more sense, then.

 

[Brother None]

The radar is an abstraction for the player, its not a physical object for the character. It represents what the character can see and sense, and displays that information in a way that the player can see.

Yes. At least, that's the radar I saw. Again, I think gry is wrong in calling it a part of the PipBoy. It's possible they're talking about another radar, though.

 

[Autoduel76]

The radar is an abstraction for the player, its not a physical object for the character. It represents what the character can see and sense, and displays that information in a way that the player can see.

Yes. At least, that's the radar I saw. Again, I think gry is wrong in calling it a part of the PipBoy. It's possible they're talking about another radar, though.

I imagine that you are correct and the previewer is wrong. I'm sure that we will get a lot of confusing descriptions from previewers about what is actually on the pipboy. Because the whole game interface is designed to look similar, I expect many previewers will just call every display shown on the screen a "pipboy" display.

However, from what I understand, it should be fairly obvious when you are actually looking at the pipboy, because of the animation they have of the player actually moving his arm to view the pipboy attatched to it.

I haven't seen the game, but from your preview, the screenshots, and many of the things they've said I think the only time you'll be actually looking at the "real" pipboy is when you pause the game, to access menus or activate VATS.

^^That^^ would be the pipboy. An on screen radar, when you are moving around in real time, would not.

 

[Brother None]

I haven't seen the game, but from your preview, the screenshots, and many of the things they've said I think the only time you'll be actually looking at the "real" pipboy is when you pause the game, to access menus or activate VATS.

and for the radar. And geiger counter. And inventory.

You don't see it for V.A.T.S.

It's also not shown when you turn its flashlight on, but the flashlight is a part of PipBoy...

 

[Anani Masu]

To be totally accurate, it's not actually a flashlight at all, it's just the brightness on your PipBoy turned up, which I think is pretty novel.

What? No it isn't. I mean not really. Where is this coming from?

From various older previews and from the Pipboy dev diary.

Vault 101’s overseer presents you with your very own Pip-Boy 3000, which will serve as your quest log, map, and radio receiver throughout your wasteland jaunt, sporting a handsome cathode ray tube display that doubles as a flashlight when clicked on its highest setting

If the player’s in a dark room, only the green glow from the screen illuminates the Pip-Boy. The model is lit realistically within the current environment. In fact, the Pip-Boy can serve as a source of light when none is available. Its screen can be switched to a special over-bright mode, illuminating the immediate surroundings in a greenish glow. This can be quite handy at times.

 

[Brother None]

To be totally accurate, it's not actually a flashlight at all, it's just the brightness on your PipBoy turned up, which I think is pretty novel.

What? No it isn't. I mean not really. Where is this coming from?

From various older previews and from the Pipboy dev diary.

Well aye, I guess that's true. It was the focus on the screen that confused me a bit there, but yes, I guess that's how it functions, kinda gives you an eery glow around you.

I don't see the significance of the distinction between a flashlight/torch (in the "mining torch" sense) or the brightness of the screen turned up. Same function, different explanation, both equally feasible.

 

[Anani Masu]

I think it's mainly one of range and directionality. I've heard it compared to the light nimbus that follows characters in f1/2 which could be a little different than a more directed piercing beam.

 

[terebikun]

So, you walk around by yourself, run away from everything, don't talk to anybody, have 3 bullets total, and there are no mutants of any kind. It's like he just mentioned a random post-apocalyptic story.

What? The inspiration for something is supposed to contain every single element of the finished product? On The Beach doesn't have mutants of any kind, and Mad Max doesn't have 50s nostalgia. Guess those old Interplay developers were just mentioning random post-apocalyptic stories huh. Meanwhile, The Road does have the perfect atmosphere of dread and despair, a setting of post-apocalyptic malice, and some of the best writing in a book ever. Pretty damn good place to start for Fallout if you ask me.

I don't see the significance of the distinction between a flashlight/torch (in the "mining torch" sense) or the brightness of the screen turned up. Same function, different explanation, both equally feasible.

Well, I wouldn't consider a cell phone to be a flashlight, even though it can technically be used as one. It's not the intended purpose (or faux-intended, as in Fallout's case).

 

[Per]

The radar's *RANGE* is tied to your perception not it's *FIDELITY*.

My radar sleeps around with other players.

 

[Big T]

For fucks sake.
People.
The radar's *RANGE* is tied to your perception not it's *FIDELITY*.

Weelll. In many ways, the range would be the fidelity. It would become less readable as the fidelity decreased. requiring either a high perception to distinguish the various low-fi patterns at the edges of the radar screen, or a high intelligece/science skill to analyse them. (btw, Ranne, three of the images you posted were enhanced/abstracted in some way, the other three were less clear the further away from the centre you got (yeah, OK, blurry was a poor choice of wording on my part))

I think Autoduel76 has it:

The radar is an abstraction for the player, its not a physical object for the character. It represents what the character can see and sense, and displays that information in a way that the player can see.

Kudos

 

[Tagaziel]

Yeah, he's right.

Still, range isn't necessarily tied to fidelity. One is the range of the device, the other the quality of the output. That's my point.

Still, Autoduel nailed the question.

 

[Section8]

The big problem with perception is that it takes a lot of work to mould it into something that isn't a metagame construct. Like the distance you can scroll away from your avatar in Fallout or Arcanum. Or the little "ghosts" in Silent Storm. What Bethesda have done here is just a slightly clumsier version. It's not ideal, but it's better than nothing - provided it doesn't have some ridiculously long range like in Oblivion, where you'd know about oscure little points-of-interest from hundreds of yards away before you could possibly have seen them.

Oh, and I should also assume that perception is still tied into shooting modifiers and so forth as well, though obviously sequence is gooooooonnnnnne.

 

[Ausir]

They did say to the Gry-Online previewers that they do not intend to include modern pop-cultural references e.g. to Monty Python.

 

[terebikun]

Quinton Terratino

This physically hurt to read.