O
Old School Role-Player
Guest
Somebody asked what people should rate FOT on the Interplay website. In general, everybody gave it mediocre reviews. Then one guy gets on there, semi-flames people for giving it 5's and 6's and tells everybody how they don't know what they're talking about. I replied to him:
Would you care to tell us why it deserves 8 1/2 stars? All you did was come on here and insult everybody because it got a mediocre review. Have you ever even *played* Fallout? This is what "The Jeffersons" were to "Archie Bunker" or "A Different World" to "The Cosby Show." It's okay to play and have fun with,
but nothing like the original.
I remember reading how a lot of people complained to MicroForte that the demo lacked the feel of the Fallout world--that in Fallout 1&2, there were numerous posters on the walls to help give the world some flavor to it. I heard that MicroForte began to add these in the final version, so I figured we'd get the
retro-50's feel back. Nope. Actually, on Mission 2, I found a poster on the front. It had an army man crawling on the ground with the caption, "Keep it firing Brother." Okay, how does the Brotherhood have billboard-sized posters on an enemy encampment? That's pathetic. It would have been cool to see a "Let's go out to the kitchen" kind of poster or something. Anyway, enough of my rant, just tell me why you think this game deserves 8 1/2 stars instead of psuedo-flaming people.
After which, I got an email from one Kevin McAffrey (is he a game designer of FOT?):
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Kevin R. McGaffey" <kevin@mcgaffey.com>
To: <barry_day@hotmail.com>
Subject: FT
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 13:26:03 -0600
Heya--
There are a lot of us that really didn't care for Fallout 1 or 2, but do like Tactics. Watching you guys' myopic view of the Fallout universe has taught me a lot about my myopic view of the Tribes universe. FOT has a lot more in common with Fallout ambience-wise than you give it credit for, but it is a completely different game, and thank god too, because FO and FO2 really did nothing for me.
I know this all sounds rather nonsequitir, but I wanted to reply to your forum post. Basically, all the FO and FO2 guys bitching about FOT are reminsicent of old people at a town hall meeting complaining about why the town Rexall Drugstore has to be torn down to make way for the Wal Mart.
I don't mean any of this harshly, I was just in a hurry =D The game isn't even in the same genrre as the first two, I don't think it's fair for all of you to judge it against them.
--Kevin
To which my reply was:
If the game didn't have the name Fallout in it, I would agree with you completely. However, it does, and that creates a standard which Fallout Tactics does not hold to. Imagine if George Lucas allowed someone else to write the next three Star Wars movies. Now, regardless of whether the movies are decent enough on their own, they must be consistent with the calibre and atmosphere of the Star Wars Universe. Is it truly a good movie if the protagonist fought off Cylons with his lightsaber?
As for the idea that Fallout didn't do anything for you, that basically says nothing to me. Perhaps you are one of those people who think that Diablo was the best role-playing game of all time. If you are, then it merely shows that you do not like role-playing games at all, nor do you even know what a role-playing game is. My point is that if StarCraft is your genre, then saying that you don't like Baldur's Gate doesn't mean anything whatsoever.
No, I do not believe that FOT has a lot in common with Fallout's ambience at all. Where are the billboard advertisements for "Blades"? Where are the cartoonish-looking characters we saw so prevalent in the 1950's advertisements? Why don't the wrecked cars have a 50's flavor to them? All of the scrap there reminds me of beat-up cars from present day. What about a Cadillac? Like I've said before in my post, the game has a post-apocolyptic feel to it--just not a Fallout feel to it.
I agree that it is a fun game, but I disagree that it is an excellent game. First of all, it is completely linear. I mean, you either succeed or fail in your mission, and you can't take missions out of order. I haven't reached the end yet, but what are the odds of finding any narration of closing events in each area like Fallout?
Secondly, if the game uses the name Fallout, it must have a Fallout feel to it, which I have explained above. Seriously, why would someone put horns on Power Armor? The Brotherhood of Steel is a Paramilitary organization, not a fashion designing corporation. Form follows function--especially in a survivalist group such as the Brotherhood, agessd?
Thirdly, FOT has everything that the little ten-year-olds used to post on the old Fallout boards as to what they thought would be "kewl." How many times have you read, "I think we shud have Fallout 3 produkt I think it wud be kewl I think we shud have mor tanks n guns n bombs n we shud be able to run over peeps wit r cars n it shud b multi so I culd beet my bro bekus he thinks hes so kewl but I no I am kewler n that wud be kewl." I mean, seriously, everything that these little ten-year-old kids wanted in Fallout is in Fallout Tactics. It's not a bad thing, but perhaps the target audience should have been a bit younger maybe? Personally, I think the ambience and the non-linearity of the game is what drives it primarily into the mediocre range though.
By the way, don't think I am attacking you or even saying that the game sucks or anything, but there are some very deep flaws in the game which really disappointed me.
Barry
So, what do you think?
Would you care to tell us why it deserves 8 1/2 stars? All you did was come on here and insult everybody because it got a mediocre review. Have you ever even *played* Fallout? This is what "The Jeffersons" were to "Archie Bunker" or "A Different World" to "The Cosby Show." It's okay to play and have fun with,
but nothing like the original.
I remember reading how a lot of people complained to MicroForte that the demo lacked the feel of the Fallout world--that in Fallout 1&2, there were numerous posters on the walls to help give the world some flavor to it. I heard that MicroForte began to add these in the final version, so I figured we'd get the
retro-50's feel back. Nope. Actually, on Mission 2, I found a poster on the front. It had an army man crawling on the ground with the caption, "Keep it firing Brother." Okay, how does the Brotherhood have billboard-sized posters on an enemy encampment? That's pathetic. It would have been cool to see a "Let's go out to the kitchen" kind of poster or something. Anyway, enough of my rant, just tell me why you think this game deserves 8 1/2 stars instead of psuedo-flaming people.
After which, I got an email from one Kevin McAffrey (is he a game designer of FOT?):
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Kevin R. McGaffey" <kevin@mcgaffey.com>
To: <barry_day@hotmail.com>
Subject: FT
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 13:26:03 -0600
Heya--
There are a lot of us that really didn't care for Fallout 1 or 2, but do like Tactics. Watching you guys' myopic view of the Fallout universe has taught me a lot about my myopic view of the Tribes universe. FOT has a lot more in common with Fallout ambience-wise than you give it credit for, but it is a completely different game, and thank god too, because FO and FO2 really did nothing for me.
I know this all sounds rather nonsequitir, but I wanted to reply to your forum post. Basically, all the FO and FO2 guys bitching about FOT are reminsicent of old people at a town hall meeting complaining about why the town Rexall Drugstore has to be torn down to make way for the Wal Mart.
I don't mean any of this harshly, I was just in a hurry =D The game isn't even in the same genrre as the first two, I don't think it's fair for all of you to judge it against them.
--Kevin
To which my reply was:
If the game didn't have the name Fallout in it, I would agree with you completely. However, it does, and that creates a standard which Fallout Tactics does not hold to. Imagine if George Lucas allowed someone else to write the next three Star Wars movies. Now, regardless of whether the movies are decent enough on their own, they must be consistent with the calibre and atmosphere of the Star Wars Universe. Is it truly a good movie if the protagonist fought off Cylons with his lightsaber?
As for the idea that Fallout didn't do anything for you, that basically says nothing to me. Perhaps you are one of those people who think that Diablo was the best role-playing game of all time. If you are, then it merely shows that you do not like role-playing games at all, nor do you even know what a role-playing game is. My point is that if StarCraft is your genre, then saying that you don't like Baldur's Gate doesn't mean anything whatsoever.
No, I do not believe that FOT has a lot in common with Fallout's ambience at all. Where are the billboard advertisements for "Blades"? Where are the cartoonish-looking characters we saw so prevalent in the 1950's advertisements? Why don't the wrecked cars have a 50's flavor to them? All of the scrap there reminds me of beat-up cars from present day. What about a Cadillac? Like I've said before in my post, the game has a post-apocolyptic feel to it--just not a Fallout feel to it.
I agree that it is a fun game, but I disagree that it is an excellent game. First of all, it is completely linear. I mean, you either succeed or fail in your mission, and you can't take missions out of order. I haven't reached the end yet, but what are the odds of finding any narration of closing events in each area like Fallout?
Secondly, if the game uses the name Fallout, it must have a Fallout feel to it, which I have explained above. Seriously, why would someone put horns on Power Armor? The Brotherhood of Steel is a Paramilitary organization, not a fashion designing corporation. Form follows function--especially in a survivalist group such as the Brotherhood, agessd?
Thirdly, FOT has everything that the little ten-year-olds used to post on the old Fallout boards as to what they thought would be "kewl." How many times have you read, "I think we shud have Fallout 3 produkt I think it wud be kewl I think we shud have mor tanks n guns n bombs n we shud be able to run over peeps wit r cars n it shud b multi so I culd beet my bro bekus he thinks hes so kewl but I no I am kewler n that wud be kewl." I mean, seriously, everything that these little ten-year-old kids wanted in Fallout is in Fallout Tactics. It's not a bad thing, but perhaps the target audience should have been a bit younger maybe? Personally, I think the ambience and the non-linearity of the game is what drives it primarily into the mediocre range though.
By the way, don't think I am attacking you or even saying that the game sucks or anything, but there are some very deep flaws in the game which really disappointed me.
Barry
So, what do you think?
