Kharn said:I admire MCA as a game-maker, but not as a dev on Fallout. Which is why New Reno is a fantastic CRPG town, but a lousy Fallout town. Just like van Buren might have been a great game, except for some of the factors I named above, but not a great Fallout
That is entirely the point, Kharn. We're now on the fourth developer that has claimed to be a Fallout fan and has a chance up at bat (fifth, if you count Van Buren). Given that each time the game's setting has suffered a bit, of the released games only Fallout 2's had good design though much of it was misplaced.
Bethesda looks like they understand some aspects good for their genre (and I'm not talking about "lump everything with stats into the CRPG genre" definition), but when it comes down to it, their design preferences are much further away. Plus, it might turn into another "hairy deathclaw" or some other mangling of the setting, as they don't have the artistic direction of those who designed it before. Sure, some of us do understand the design more than others, but that's because we've literally taken apart the game and have spoken with the developers at great length. We also don't want everything to be restructured so it seems to be like everything else. That's why people have been getting quite disenfranchised with the Final Fantasy games, because they were just rehashed, formulaic, and quite dull - so then they had to put out a couple of story sequels, however...uh...yeah.
But then again, it appears a lot of people like Fallout CRPG, else the news wouldn't be this wide-spreading. Huh...then why would those fans want to play something besides what they got into the series for?
I'm not trying to say that Bethesda is full of bad developers. On the contrary, but what they look to be offering is just a bit...misplaced towards the Fallout setting and the purpose of its originally intended design to be a P&P RPG on computer (hence the term, CRPG, and why Fallout is held to be an example of how the genre is to be done even by PC Gamer), especially when they don't give word to the contrary and of course, the PR guy.
I know you don't need to have read this, Kharn, but I'm closing up a few parallels for some people.