The Gamebryo engine really isn't suited for this type of game. It's too sluggish even for an RPG. While it was tolerable in 2002 in Morrowind, there's no excuse now to still be using a newer version of the same engine. Animations are stilted and NPC's don't look like they belong in the world.
Impressions thread for negative impressions
- Thread starter 3rdRate
- Start date
That is really not a fault of the engine, seriously. With enough work you could do amazing things with it.
Its more a question of how much time you spend working (altering) it. And what you want to achieve.
Bethesda realised that even with minimal effects they can have great success if the marketing is just good enough.
Its more a question of how much time you spend working (altering) it. And what you want to achieve.
Bethesda realised that even with minimal effects they can have great success if the marketing is just good enough.
Eh, frankly Interplay realized with minimal effects they could market a good game too -they just put more work into choice and less into flashy flashy.
However, out of curiousity, can anyone think of a company that would be good at making a pseudo-freeform game like Fallout other than Interplay and Bethesda? The closest I can think is Bioware...Obsidian Entertainment I rule out because both their sequels to Bioware games (KOTOR II and NWN II) were both criticized much like Fallout 3 is and Bioware is the only company I can think of that has made RPGs that offer much choice and conseqence.
as far as a better engine is concerned...what would you have them use? I can think of only one engine that I'd prefer to see: Source Engine, albeit I don't know if that can pull off large-scale maps considering the only time I've really seen it used is the Half-life 2 series, which displays a lot of capabilities. Considering mods of the Half Life 2 source engine have pulled off strategy games and the like, an RPG shouldn't be that hard.
One thing I wonder about Bethesda though is... considering how they animate things and set up creatures, why haven't they been able to pull off a decent aerial enemy without it acting jerky as it travels acrossed the land? Cliff Racers were the only flying creature I can remember in one of their game, and all they did was jerkidly dive at you. Every game past that, they offered the allusion of creates just floating a few feet above the terrain. Is this a problem with their engine or just how they set things up?
However, out of curiousity, can anyone think of a company that would be good at making a pseudo-freeform game like Fallout other than Interplay and Bethesda? The closest I can think is Bioware...Obsidian Entertainment I rule out because both their sequels to Bioware games (KOTOR II and NWN II) were both criticized much like Fallout 3 is and Bioware is the only company I can think of that has made RPGs that offer much choice and conseqence.
as far as a better engine is concerned...what would you have them use? I can think of only one engine that I'd prefer to see: Source Engine, albeit I don't know if that can pull off large-scale maps considering the only time I've really seen it used is the Half-life 2 series, which displays a lot of capabilities. Considering mods of the Half Life 2 source engine have pulled off strategy games and the like, an RPG shouldn't be that hard.
One thing I wonder about Bethesda though is... considering how they animate things and set up creatures, why haven't they been able to pull off a decent aerial enemy without it acting jerky as it travels acrossed the land? Cliff Racers were the only flying creature I can remember in one of their game, and all they did was jerkidly dive at you. Every game past that, they offered the allusion of creates just floating a few feet above the terrain. Is this a problem with their engine or just how they set things up?
Trithne
Still Mildly Glowing
Playing Mass Effect, I disagree about Bioware. I really get the feeling with Bioware games that I have one or two paths, which are usually combat or dialogue if you're lucky. Most of the 'choice' in a Bioware game is choosing how you fight.
Precisely what I thought about Bioware. However, they're still one of the only companies I know of that give you choices that matter throughtout their RPGs. I can't think of many others really. Truthfully, I think Bethesda is the only company that has come close to making a game similar to the fashion of Fallout.
Where Bethesda failed, to me, was quest structure. My favorite quest in Fallout 3 is Trouble On The Homefront, or however called. It had... 9 solutions, not to mention was altered based on however you played when you left the Vault in the beginning of the game. This was Bethesda's shining moment to me: Giving you a quest where you could use your brains, use your treachery, use your guns, etc... depending on how you wanted to do it. Fallout 1 and 2 offered that en-masse, Bethesda only in a few quests.
Writing suffered majorly in the game too of course, albeit less so then advertised. A lot of info isn't given through characters, it's instead distributed through notes and terminals. People complain about no farms in the game, yet there's a ruined farm and a terminal in it that gives the story of a few wastelanders farming to survive...then the Slavers came and captured them all is implied. Stuff like that is good writing. Stuff like what various NPCs say to develop their own personalities is bland overall. I think the NPC dialogue is bland mainly because of audio restrictions though. Fallout 1 and 2, the developers could make the NPCs all various through paragraphs and paragraphs of dialogue if they wanted to. Bethesda could only flesh out thier characters by however much they could pay their voice actors to say. It's a bad tradeoff that most companies are doing now.
Bethesda did a decent job, just it's more negative then it had to be. Their previous work, Morrowind, shows they can develop a world well and also develop a lot of various NPCs IF they don't restrict themselves as much. I hope they learn to stop focusing on the combat aspect and focus more on the overall development aspect.
Where Bethesda failed, to me, was quest structure. My favorite quest in Fallout 3 is Trouble On The Homefront, or however called. It had... 9 solutions, not to mention was altered based on however you played when you left the Vault in the beginning of the game. This was Bethesda's shining moment to me: Giving you a quest where you could use your brains, use your treachery, use your guns, etc... depending on how you wanted to do it. Fallout 1 and 2 offered that en-masse, Bethesda only in a few quests.
Writing suffered majorly in the game too of course, albeit less so then advertised. A lot of info isn't given through characters, it's instead distributed through notes and terminals. People complain about no farms in the game, yet there's a ruined farm and a terminal in it that gives the story of a few wastelanders farming to survive...then the Slavers came and captured them all is implied. Stuff like that is good writing. Stuff like what various NPCs say to develop their own personalities is bland overall. I think the NPC dialogue is bland mainly because of audio restrictions though. Fallout 1 and 2, the developers could make the NPCs all various through paragraphs and paragraphs of dialogue if they wanted to. Bethesda could only flesh out thier characters by however much they could pay their voice actors to say. It's a bad tradeoff that most companies are doing now.
Bethesda did a decent job, just it's more negative then it had to be. Their previous work, Morrowind, shows they can develop a world well and also develop a lot of various NPCs IF they don't restrict themselves as much. I hope they learn to stop focusing on the combat aspect and focus more on the overall development aspect.
What. The. Fuck.
You do realize that Morrowind Bethesda is COMPLETELY different than Fo3 Bethesda?
You do realize that Morrowind Bethesda is COMPLETELY different than Fo3 Bethesda?
Morrowind -> Fallout 3 team:
Todd Howard (Project Leader, Additional Writing -> Game Director, Executive Producer)
Ashley Cheng (Associate Producer -> Production Director)
Guy Carver (Programming -> Technical Director)
Gavin Carter (Additional World Art & Building -> Lead Producer)
Mark E. Nelson (Writing & Quest Design -> Additional Quest Design & Editing)
Steve Meister (Programming -> Lead Programmer)
Craig Walton (Lead Programmer -> Programming)
Casey O'Toole (Additional Programming -> Additional Programming)
Scott Franke (Programming -> Programming)
Mike Lipari (Programming -> Programming)
David DiAngelo (Additional Programming -> Programming)
Ahn Hopgood (Programming -> Programming)
Mat Krohn (Programming -> Programming)
Chris Innanen (Programming -> Additional Programming)
Josh Jones (Additional Character and Creature Art -> Lead Animator)
Noah Berry (World Art & Building -> World Art)
Hope Adams (World Art & Building -> World Art)
Matthew Carofano (World Art & Building -> Additional World Art)
Gary L. Noonan (World Art & Building -> Character Art & Animation)
Juan Sanchez (Character and Creature Art -> Character Art & Animation)
Christiane Meister (Lead Character Artist, Character and Creature Art -> Additional Character Art & Animation)
Brian Chapin (Additional World Art & Building -> Quest Design & Editing)
If you discount the "associates" and "additionals", there are a dozen people left (out of maybe five dozen for Fo3).
Todd Howard (Project Leader, Additional Writing -> Game Director, Executive Producer)
Ashley Cheng (Associate Producer -> Production Director)
Guy Carver (Programming -> Technical Director)
Gavin Carter (Additional World Art & Building -> Lead Producer)
Mark E. Nelson (Writing & Quest Design -> Additional Quest Design & Editing)
Steve Meister (Programming -> Lead Programmer)
Craig Walton (Lead Programmer -> Programming)
Casey O'Toole (Additional Programming -> Additional Programming)
Scott Franke (Programming -> Programming)
Mike Lipari (Programming -> Programming)
David DiAngelo (Additional Programming -> Programming)
Ahn Hopgood (Programming -> Programming)
Mat Krohn (Programming -> Programming)
Chris Innanen (Programming -> Additional Programming)
Josh Jones (Additional Character and Creature Art -> Lead Animator)
Noah Berry (World Art & Building -> World Art)
Hope Adams (World Art & Building -> World Art)
Matthew Carofano (World Art & Building -> Additional World Art)
Gary L. Noonan (World Art & Building -> Character Art & Animation)
Juan Sanchez (Character and Creature Art -> Character Art & Animation)
Christiane Meister (Lead Character Artist, Character and Creature Art -> Additional Character Art & Animation)
Brian Chapin (Additional World Art & Building -> Quest Design & Editing)
If you discount the "associates" and "additionals", there are a dozen people left (out of maybe five dozen for Fo3).
nemetoad said:
Sorry, but for me that doesn't cut it. Why capture them as slaves when there doesn't seem to be anyone to sell them to? Historically farms are a great place to sell slaves too. Seems like the slavers got it reversed.
It doesn't take too much thought to find the Fallout 3 world too artificial. It didn't have to be that way, they just managed to overlook some very basic aspects of society.
cratchety ol joe
Mildly Dipped
Hello folks, having forced my better half to endure some FO3 so that I could get an outside perspective, Here for all is what she thinks *hands over laptop*
Mrs Ol Joe:
*sighs politely* Mrs Gorgeous Young Joe at the very worst thanks.
I will say, whilst I'm not an avid gamer, I have been known to dabble. I am not totally ye olde novice - I particularly like the older style games such as Castlevania and Final Fantasy before they made it 3D and non-platform. So when I originally heard there's a new Fallout, I thought OH GOODIE! (In those very words, in my head.) So I was kind of disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I'm the classic ironic pessimist - I don't expect much, so I'm never disappointed much - but jeez. It's just not Fallout.
I apologise for destroying my partner's geeky status by proving he DOES actually have female companionship, but that's not why I've been coerced, blackmailed and finally bribed to have a go.
I've watched plenty of times so I already understood that it wasn't what I SHOULD have expected: y'know, a good storyline, hours of playability, ten years of super improved graphics , and fun - but wow.
I remember Fallout the first time round (just). What happened?
In fairness, I haven't got past the, I don't even know what you'd call it, it's certainly not a tutorial. The key controls aren't an issue, the understanding of layout not an issue (I've played Battlefield so yeah) - all pretty average there. But I wish there was a bit more adaptability to the controls. The options panel isn't superbrilliant and I have an instinctive aversion to "strafe". I'd like the central mouse clickie to be a "put your head back forwards" rather than doing the same job the F key already does. C'mon guys, you need a fairly decent spec PC to run this on - you're not going to have a mouse without a roller. It's just not the done thing. Why buy the game and not have the capacity to run it? (Also, why does it need such HUGE specs?! It makes Dame Norah Batty's look small.)
Ok. Enough basic poke complaining. Now to tackle the actual tutorial. I've been made aware that you HAVE to do it every time you build a new character (not that there's much point to doing that I've noticed, the gameplay is identical) until SOMEONE ELSE released a patch. Uh - isn't this what the company have spent the last four years doing? Perfecting the game? Oh wait. Well, there's a rose that came up smelling of sh*t.
I won't hesitate in noting that the PLAYERS got so sick with the dodgyness of the game they paid for, that they've taken it into their own hands to FIX it.
They fixed it BEFORE the game editor was brought out. That's just SHABBY. Surely they should give these nice gamehackers a partial refund at least?
I understood that from the beginning they were building a "storyline" and give them a medium measure of kudos for making it slightly understandable - but a map of Vault 101 in the corner (San Andreas for a mental image) would have been handy - you've only lived there your entire life... I know there's a map on Pip-Boy, but that's a lot of fannying round when you're trying to run away from the security guards. (What's that all about anyway? Just because your dad went defective doesn't mean YOU'RE not the model citizen.) And please, stop with the whiteout. It's cute, but for a supposedly supermodern and innovative game, a bit old hat.
A shortlived experience it may be - but when I have a go of a game in a store to see if I like it enough to buy it I don't want to waste 30 mins of valuable "ohhh YEAH" time trying to work out the bloody TUTORIAL. I wanna PLAY IT!
In summary - it's not anything like the 2D storylined games I used to enjoy - it's kind of more like Battlefield, but clunkier, oxymoronically painful AND numbing and less fun. I'm even bored of typing how boring it was. Sorry.
I liked the mindless RadRoach shooting though.
back to me:
wow, don't she go on! but seriously, I've glanced over her words of praise, and have to add, apologies for going over some tired ground, but I thought the input from a less biased and hate filled perspective would be insightful.
ahh well, I'm off for now, perhaps i'll have to buy the little lady a glittering gem.... OF HATE!
Mrs Ol Joe:
*sighs politely* Mrs Gorgeous Young Joe at the very worst thanks.
I will say, whilst I'm not an avid gamer, I have been known to dabble. I am not totally ye olde novice - I particularly like the older style games such as Castlevania and Final Fantasy before they made it 3D and non-platform. So when I originally heard there's a new Fallout, I thought OH GOODIE! (In those very words, in my head.) So I was kind of disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I'm the classic ironic pessimist - I don't expect much, so I'm never disappointed much - but jeez. It's just not Fallout.
I apologise for destroying my partner's geeky status by proving he DOES actually have female companionship, but that's not why I've been coerced, blackmailed and finally bribed to have a go.
I've watched plenty of times so I already understood that it wasn't what I SHOULD have expected: y'know, a good storyline, hours of playability, ten years of super improved graphics , and fun - but wow.
I remember Fallout the first time round (just). What happened?
In fairness, I haven't got past the, I don't even know what you'd call it, it's certainly not a tutorial. The key controls aren't an issue, the understanding of layout not an issue (I've played Battlefield so yeah) - all pretty average there. But I wish there was a bit more adaptability to the controls. The options panel isn't superbrilliant and I have an instinctive aversion to "strafe". I'd like the central mouse clickie to be a "put your head back forwards" rather than doing the same job the F key already does. C'mon guys, you need a fairly decent spec PC to run this on - you're not going to have a mouse without a roller. It's just not the done thing. Why buy the game and not have the capacity to run it? (Also, why does it need such HUGE specs?! It makes Dame Norah Batty's look small.)
Ok. Enough basic poke complaining. Now to tackle the actual tutorial. I've been made aware that you HAVE to do it every time you build a new character (not that there's much point to doing that I've noticed, the gameplay is identical) until SOMEONE ELSE released a patch. Uh - isn't this what the company have spent the last four years doing? Perfecting the game? Oh wait. Well, there's a rose that came up smelling of sh*t.
I won't hesitate in noting that the PLAYERS got so sick with the dodgyness of the game they paid for, that they've taken it into their own hands to FIX it.
They fixed it BEFORE the game editor was brought out. That's just SHABBY. Surely they should give these nice gamehackers a partial refund at least?I understood that from the beginning they were building a "storyline" and give them a medium measure of kudos for making it slightly understandable - but a map of Vault 101 in the corner (San Andreas for a mental image) would have been handy - you've only lived there your entire life... I know there's a map on Pip-Boy, but that's a lot of fannying round when you're trying to run away from the security guards. (What's that all about anyway? Just because your dad went defective doesn't mean YOU'RE not the model citizen.) And please, stop with the whiteout. It's cute, but for a supposedly supermodern and innovative game, a bit old hat.
A shortlived experience it may be - but when I have a go of a game in a store to see if I like it enough to buy it I don't want to waste 30 mins of valuable "ohhh YEAH" time trying to work out the bloody TUTORIAL. I wanna PLAY IT!
In summary - it's not anything like the 2D storylined games I used to enjoy - it's kind of more like Battlefield, but clunkier, oxymoronically painful AND numbing and less fun. I'm even bored of typing how boring it was. Sorry.
I liked the mindless RadRoach shooting though.
back to me:
wow, don't she go on! but seriously, I've glanced over her words of praise, and have to add, apologies for going over some tired ground, but I thought the input from a less biased and hate filled perspective would be insightful.
ahh well, I'm off for now, perhaps i'll have to buy the little lady a glittering gem.... OF HATE!
But what I mean. Design whise it is much easier to make a mediocre experience and "sell" it as awesome with marketing and advertising (Fallout 3 next to GTA 4 was the last games I remember with TV! comercials in Germany. They do not make much comercials for games here, not in TV. I dont even want to imagine how much money went in that throat).nemetoad said:
Now Interplay spend more time on other things then Marketing I guess, which can be seen with Fallout 1 and a few other great games (I loved Messiah, even though it was from what I think not directly Interplay).
It takes some skill, money and time to make "great" games. Not every company has that. And Bethesda proved that you can sell mediocre as wesome (see Oblivion).
Thats what I meant. Its not a issue about the engine. I am sure with enough time spend on the Fallout 3/Oblivion engine they could have made awesome things with it. But they choose the marketing. And it seems to pay of for them.
Bethesda is the MC Donalds of the gaming buisness.
Worst Fallout Ending Ever.
Lamest script ever.
Best Robot sequence ever.
Leveling up feels more rewarding.
Worst voice acting ever.
"Replayability"? all actions are superficial and don't mean anything.
Not a true Fallout 2 Sequel.
Not a true Fallout Game.
Good game, but in the end fails to recognize the broader vision of Fallout 1 and 2. Don't buy a franchise to butcher it. Next time just make a Fallout shit game like BOS or the like.
Lamest script ever.
Best Robot sequence ever.
Leveling up feels more rewarding.
Worst voice acting ever.
"Replayability"? all actions are superficial and don't mean anything.
Not a true Fallout 2 Sequel.
Not a true Fallout Game.
Good game, but in the end fails to recognize the broader vision of Fallout 1 and 2. Don't buy a franchise to butcher it. Next time just make a Fallout shit game like BOS or the like.
pipboy-x11
It Wandered In From the Wastes
My impressions.
First, I always was kind of hardcore FPS gamer. FO2 (and only then, FO1) were both my first CRPGs 10 years ago. I've played ET: Quake Wars before I've decided to try FO3 despite of everything both bad and good I've heard about it - I've tried to look at it as a completely new game, w/o reference to good old FO.
FO3 tries to be both CRPG and FPS, and fails at both accounts. Poor dialogs, horrible, put on, voice acting. Remember that women at PC's tenth birthday, "Hey, why are you talking to me like that? I'm not 5 years old!"? I always wanted to say it to 90% of NPC's
Absolutely dead, plastic faces and horrible gestures - look at those in Quake 4 for comparison. This spoils the atmosphere constantly.
Dialog organization is terrible again... why those HUGE fonts!? Oh... probably for console gamers stuck with their low-res TVs... Graphics in general sucks. I mean - with a good graphics settings (I've got quite a powerful hardware here, so I run 1680x1050 with AA and all) one shouldn't need some "radar" to spot enemies, right? I have no problem IRL spotting a human being from over half of a mile (or more, depending on weather conditions) of open territory if he doesn't hide. The same with most today FPS - be it ET:QW, UT3, Quake 4.
The whole "hybrid" battle system is just annoying. FO3 just doesn't deliver the same level of FPS experience you are expecting from a today "pure" FPS - your movements are too clunky, feels like your character is overweight a lot and barely can move, your shots miss not only because we've missed, but because you've missed your roll. OTOH it doesn't deliver the same level of tactical experience you've got from the original FO or FO:T - like "Minigun shot did only 2 HP of damage? Damn, I need to switch to sniper rifle and aim for his eyes". There are no (absolutely zero) tactical feedback or message log. You shoot - the enemy doesn't give a shit - what's going on? Either you've missed, or the weapon has been chosen wrong, or was it just bad roll? You can only guess. This is misleading. And this sucks.
Now the worst part - HtH combat. Beth devs should have taken a look at Jade Empire. Well, even NWN makes monks a lot more fun then HtH character in FO3, where you should constantly switch between real-time and VATS to get decent results in a battle. HtH from FPP purely sucks, IMO (it always did in any game), and 3rd PP is just worthless in FO3 - you constantly miss again not because of your character stats, but because the distance was wrong. You're switching to VATS because distance is being determined in VATS automatically (yep - different "mode", different logic), you're watching those slow animations over and over again (damn annoying and repetitive after a time) and then you're suddenly back in real-time, the camera position has been changed, you need to move quickly and at the same time keep your eye at the AP indicator, waiting for AP to recover to switch to VATS again... Incredibly boring.
IMO one could make a good FPS from FO game - get rid of SPECIAL, VATS, leave skills for non-combat use only... IIRC System Shock and Thief were something close to that. Both were fun. Just don't call it "Fallout 3". Or probably Bioware should have got the Fallout license - they could create a decent CRPG out of it. But it was Bethesda and I suspect I'll leave FO3 just as I did with Oblivion, which gathers dust on a shelf - I didn't finish the game. No reason to finish that one, it's just damn boring.
First, I always was kind of hardcore FPS gamer. FO2 (and only then, FO1) were both my first CRPGs 10 years ago. I've played ET: Quake Wars before I've decided to try FO3 despite of everything both bad and good I've heard about it - I've tried to look at it as a completely new game, w/o reference to good old FO.
FO3 tries to be both CRPG and FPS, and fails at both accounts. Poor dialogs, horrible, put on, voice acting. Remember that women at PC's tenth birthday, "Hey, why are you talking to me like that? I'm not 5 years old!"? I always wanted to say it to 90% of NPC's
Absolutely dead, plastic faces and horrible gestures - look at those in Quake 4 for comparison. This spoils the atmosphere constantly. Dialog organization is terrible again... why those HUGE fonts!? Oh... probably for console gamers stuck with their low-res TVs... Graphics in general sucks. I mean - with a good graphics settings (I've got quite a powerful hardware here, so I run 1680x1050 with AA and all) one shouldn't need some "radar" to spot enemies, right? I have no problem IRL spotting a human being from over half of a mile (or more, depending on weather conditions) of open territory if he doesn't hide. The same with most today FPS - be it ET:QW, UT3, Quake 4.
The whole "hybrid" battle system is just annoying. FO3 just doesn't deliver the same level of FPS experience you are expecting from a today "pure" FPS - your movements are too clunky, feels like your character is overweight a lot and barely can move, your shots miss not only because we've missed, but because you've missed your roll. OTOH it doesn't deliver the same level of tactical experience you've got from the original FO or FO:T - like "Minigun shot did only 2 HP of damage? Damn, I need to switch to sniper rifle and aim for his eyes". There are no (absolutely zero) tactical feedback or message log. You shoot - the enemy doesn't give a shit - what's going on? Either you've missed, or the weapon has been chosen wrong, or was it just bad roll? You can only guess. This is misleading. And this sucks.
Now the worst part - HtH combat. Beth devs should have taken a look at Jade Empire. Well, even NWN makes monks a lot more fun then HtH character in FO3, where you should constantly switch between real-time and VATS to get decent results in a battle. HtH from FPP purely sucks, IMO (it always did in any game), and 3rd PP is just worthless in FO3 - you constantly miss again not because of your character stats, but because the distance was wrong. You're switching to VATS because distance is being determined in VATS automatically (yep - different "mode", different logic), you're watching those slow animations over and over again (damn annoying and repetitive after a time) and then you're suddenly back in real-time, the camera position has been changed, you need to move quickly and at the same time keep your eye at the AP indicator, waiting for AP to recover to switch to VATS again... Incredibly boring.
IMO one could make a good FPS from FO game - get rid of SPECIAL, VATS, leave skills for non-combat use only... IIRC System Shock and Thief were something close to that. Both were fun. Just don't call it "Fallout 3". Or probably Bioware should have got the Fallout license - they could create a decent CRPG out of it. But it was Bethesda and I suspect I'll leave FO3 just as I did with Oblivion, which gathers dust on a shelf - I didn't finish the game. No reason to finish that one, it's just damn boring.
TychoTheItinerant
First time out of the vault
Lazy. Just... lazy.
As I was ho-humming my way through FO3, I started paying more attention to things like generic settlers' voices and ambient sound in the waste.
Sounds ripped STRAIGHT from Oblivion. What the fuck. There's even a soundbite from one of the Megaton Settlers that I SWEAR was IDENTICAL, word for word, to one I heard uttered by an NPC in Oblivion. They just copypasta'd a goddamn file.
/preachingtothechoir
EDIT: Another thing that pisses me off: Hollywood-brand exploding cars. Everywhere. Not dead hulks, but fucking atom bombs lying in wait. Gods help you if you seek cover behind one.
As I was ho-humming my way through FO3, I started paying more attention to things like generic settlers' voices and ambient sound in the waste.
Sounds ripped STRAIGHT from Oblivion. What the fuck. There's even a soundbite from one of the Megaton Settlers that I SWEAR was IDENTICAL, word for word, to one I heard uttered by an NPC in Oblivion. They just copypasta'd a goddamn file.
/preachingtothechoir
EDIT: Another thing that pisses me off: Hollywood-brand exploding cars. Everywhere. Not dead hulks, but fucking atom bombs lying in wait. Gods help you if you seek cover behind one.
My first impressions:
I am 2 hours in the game by now, i've just reached Megaton and started talking to the people there. i'm taking my time because i'm trying to get used to the XBOX controls.
So far, it's not the disappointment i expected, but still a disappointment.
There are things i've seen so far that i like.
The level design of the vault and the settlement are beautiful and fitting, and i've managed to stop thinking about the timeline inconsistency (200 years after the war and they're still living in rubbles? WTF). I'm pretending it's like 50 years after the war, and it works.
The graphics are OK i guess, however i've seen more convincing animations in older games, and the heavy hardware requirements for PC are by no means justified by the visual result.
One thing I really, REALLY hated as predicted, and i totally miss from the SOURCE engine, is that when you are in 3rd person, all you have for a cursor is the center of the screen like in First person, not the spot where your Character points to. Sticking the camera right behind the character, instead of having it float freely, is supposed to compensate for that, but it does a very poor work. Was it soo hard to raycast the characters viewpoint and see where you aim? Valve did it 5 years ago. Not understanding that technology is supposed to enhance instead of refrain the user's capabilities does not qualify for being a software developer IMO.
The PIPBOY interface is comfortable, and if you get passed the irrationality of a PDA knowing what you're carrying, how charismatic you are (with the bonus from the drugs you've taken) and how many "good" and "bad" deeds you've done, it's doing its job as a character sheet just fine. I' don't think it would be very comfortable on the PC with all those clicks you'd need to see your perks for example. I also found bartering and inventory management very ergonomic and well designed, and i think it beats the system in fallout 1/2. There, i said it. The HUD is all right, and i don't mind the compass, it's handy, given the limited overview you have due to the first person perspective, and after all it's not much for the Almighty, All-knowing pipboy to include a compass and radar, IIRC a motion sensor was designed for fallout 1.
VATS is a good take on fallout 1's body targeting system, and the only case i've seen so far where bethesda actually got creative, in the positive sense of the term. But i'd prefer the enemies to completely pause until you're finished instead of dealing less damage. And also, it's funny when you think that the tech from 10 years ago allowed for choosing where to kick someone (hmm, the groin maybe? nah, the reproductive organs are removed, because this is a game for kids isn't it?) Whereas in 2009, the targeting for melee/unarmed fighting is generic, obviously because the animations are generic. Because, visuals govern engineering, right? So if i spended 50 euros on a new "gaming" video card, i'd get more polygons and less gameplay options? How professional.
The character design/tutorial part was fun, and better than fallout 2's. Oops, i said it again. I'm not into Barbie doll dressing much, but i have to admit i spent quite some time looking at beards, haircuts, clothes, armor and the like. Too bad the body model is fixed, and not very distinct between sexes. I guess in fallout 4 i'll get the option to be fat, short and with big breasts and i'll need 256 more MB of video RAM for that.
[edit: unskippable tutorial rant removed- you can skip it if you use the autosave in the end of the tutorial]
I liked the way the whole process of designing your character was merged with the story of her/his early years. Big part of my idea of what is roleplaying, right there. Another part, which is to have consequences of your choices, is missing. For example, the GOAT is fun, but you can undo it if you dont like the result. Of course, this is a small issue, because it would be pretty hardcore to pay consequenses in the tutorial phase, but i have a feeling that this is repeated in the rest of the game: You can't fail no matter what, mr. Munchkin.
Which brings up traits. TRAITS. They're gone. Only positive perks exist. I can never get a handicap in exchange for a bonus. No handicaps. Critical misses anyone? drug withdrawal symptoms? stupid dialog? repeat after me: NO. HANDICAPS.
And now for the big issue - writing. Did people actually get paid to write it? It's terrible. Laughable. Uninteresting and uninspired stories. Juvenile humour. Generic lines from generic, unmemorable, NPCs.
"Have you seen my dad? middle aged guy", this line alone speaks for itself. Damn it how am i supposed to endure the alleged 100+ hours of playing, when all the text in the game (which seems to be a lot) is so boring and unmotivating? If I'm not intrigued to continue the storyline, what's the point? to see what the power armor looks like? To max my skills? for what?
Bottom line: 2 hours in, and there's a lot of things already to complain about fallout 3, though it could be very, very worse. I can force myself to forgive all of those and keep playing, because the game is undoubtedly fun. Most of the time. Did i mention it crashed once already? On XBOX? Nevermind.
But there's One thing i just can't get over, and that's why i decided to post in the "negative impressions".
It's that Bethesda tried to fix something that was not broken: The game mechanics. And this shows great arrogance, because they clearly are in no position to tamper with them. They don't appear to have the talent, or the skill required. Why don't the stats do what they used to? Because bethesda think they know better. Why is there no damage threshold? Because bethesda think they know better. Why do i have so many skill points and hit points? Because beth... (*continues perpetually*)
i will return for a more educated impression, later...
I am 2 hours in the game by now, i've just reached Megaton and started talking to the people there. i'm taking my time because i'm trying to get used to the XBOX controls.
So far, it's not the disappointment i expected, but still a disappointment.
There are things i've seen so far that i like.
The level design of the vault and the settlement are beautiful and fitting, and i've managed to stop thinking about the timeline inconsistency (200 years after the war and they're still living in rubbles? WTF). I'm pretending it's like 50 years after the war, and it works.
The graphics are OK i guess, however i've seen more convincing animations in older games, and the heavy hardware requirements for PC are by no means justified by the visual result.
One thing I really, REALLY hated as predicted, and i totally miss from the SOURCE engine, is that when you are in 3rd person, all you have for a cursor is the center of the screen like in First person, not the spot where your Character points to. Sticking the camera right behind the character, instead of having it float freely, is supposed to compensate for that, but it does a very poor work. Was it soo hard to raycast the characters viewpoint and see where you aim? Valve did it 5 years ago. Not understanding that technology is supposed to enhance instead of refrain the user's capabilities does not qualify for being a software developer IMO.
The PIPBOY interface is comfortable, and if you get passed the irrationality of a PDA knowing what you're carrying, how charismatic you are (with the bonus from the drugs you've taken) and how many "good" and "bad" deeds you've done, it's doing its job as a character sheet just fine. I' don't think it would be very comfortable on the PC with all those clicks you'd need to see your perks for example. I also found bartering and inventory management very ergonomic and well designed, and i think it beats the system in fallout 1/2. There, i said it. The HUD is all right, and i don't mind the compass, it's handy, given the limited overview you have due to the first person perspective, and after all it's not much for the Almighty, All-knowing pipboy to include a compass and radar, IIRC a motion sensor was designed for fallout 1.
VATS is a good take on fallout 1's body targeting system, and the only case i've seen so far where bethesda actually got creative, in the positive sense of the term. But i'd prefer the enemies to completely pause until you're finished instead of dealing less damage. And also, it's funny when you think that the tech from 10 years ago allowed for choosing where to kick someone (hmm, the groin maybe? nah, the reproductive organs are removed, because this is a game for kids isn't it?) Whereas in 2009, the targeting for melee/unarmed fighting is generic, obviously because the animations are generic. Because, visuals govern engineering, right? So if i spended 50 euros on a new "gaming" video card, i'd get more polygons and less gameplay options? How professional.
The character design/tutorial part was fun, and better than fallout 2's. Oops, i said it again. I'm not into Barbie doll dressing much, but i have to admit i spent quite some time looking at beards, haircuts, clothes, armor and the like. Too bad the body model is fixed, and not very distinct between sexes. I guess in fallout 4 i'll get the option to be fat, short and with big breasts and i'll need 256 more MB of video RAM for that.
[edit: unskippable tutorial rant removed- you can skip it if you use the autosave in the end of the tutorial]
I liked the way the whole process of designing your character was merged with the story of her/his early years. Big part of my idea of what is roleplaying, right there. Another part, which is to have consequences of your choices, is missing. For example, the GOAT is fun, but you can undo it if you dont like the result. Of course, this is a small issue, because it would be pretty hardcore to pay consequenses in the tutorial phase, but i have a feeling that this is repeated in the rest of the game: You can't fail no matter what, mr. Munchkin.
Which brings up traits. TRAITS. They're gone. Only positive perks exist. I can never get a handicap in exchange for a bonus. No handicaps. Critical misses anyone? drug withdrawal symptoms? stupid dialog? repeat after me: NO. HANDICAPS.
And now for the big issue - writing. Did people actually get paid to write it? It's terrible. Laughable. Uninteresting and uninspired stories. Juvenile humour. Generic lines from generic, unmemorable, NPCs.
"Have you seen my dad? middle aged guy", this line alone speaks for itself. Damn it how am i supposed to endure the alleged 100+ hours of playing, when all the text in the game (which seems to be a lot) is so boring and unmotivating? If I'm not intrigued to continue the storyline, what's the point? to see what the power armor looks like? To max my skills? for what?
Bottom line: 2 hours in, and there's a lot of things already to complain about fallout 3, though it could be very, very worse. I can force myself to forgive all of those and keep playing, because the game is undoubtedly fun. Most of the time. Did i mention it crashed once already? On XBOX? Nevermind.
But there's One thing i just can't get over, and that's why i decided to post in the "negative impressions".
It's that Bethesda tried to fix something that was not broken: The game mechanics. And this shows great arrogance, because they clearly are in no position to tamper with them. They don't appear to have the talent, or the skill required. Why don't the stats do what they used to? Because bethesda think they know better. Why is there no damage threshold? Because bethesda think they know better. Why do i have so many skill points and hit points? Because beth... (*continues perpetually*)
i will return for a more educated impression, later...
TychoTheItinerant
First time out of the vault
Another thing: The GNR DJ is incredibly annoying. And "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" isn't in GNR's playlist. This is a mortal sin. "Maybe" is good, it was wise of them to put that on the GNR playlist. But no Louis Armstrong? I thought that Fallout 2's theme was excellent, and it deserved recognition.