New dev diary on Fallout 3 site

[terebikun]

Most of the time when you try to make an argument you don't completely turn around and do what you're arguing against since it's a little thing called hypocracy which isn't so good for credibility...

You're right, I totally was arguing for a positive reaction to the concept art, and then I just turned around and blasted it. Huh? Also, that little thing is called hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. You could cleverly and cynically refer to the government as a hypocracy I suppose, if you're a fan of political puns. And who isn't?!

Deathclaws look like they've been made to(sic) serious/"realistic" with too much spikeyness(sic) going on and misproportioned extremities

Disproportionate extremities? Have you seen pictures of the original deathclaws? Maybe you should look them up.

Bramen(sic) look like they've gone to(sic) far with the whole mutatation(sic) thing with the worms coming out of the face and the FEV-like lumpyness(sic)

When trying to discount an argument, most of the time you don't agree with it.

Also:

Attire strikes me a bit too much Mad Max.

Wait, was Fallout not supposed to reference Mad Max? Someone might want to go back in time and tell the original developers before they directly referenced it numerous times.

 

[Jiggly McNerdington]

Wow, love the concept art. 'course, games are never as pretty as their concept art, but I still like a good deal of it.
The differing mutant sizes in the bottom of http://fallout.bethsoft.com/images/art/fallout3concept/concept14B.jpg that picture makes me wonder if they'll have the stupider mutants be hulking, and the more Master's super race idyllic mutants be the smaller ones.

And the brain-bot and Mr. Handy are pretty recognizable, but the other robots are a bit iffier. Also really like the flame sword because yes it's retarded, but damnit, IT'S AWESOME. Certainly not as a manufactured pre-war weapon, but kluged together by some deranged raider? Awesome. Just depends on how it shows up in the game. If there's a weapon that needs the close range help of a sword, it's a flamethrower. Where they actually GOT swords is probably a mute point.

I agree it's kinda silly that the game is supposedly going so well that they don't have any fear of missing a fall release date and they're just doing concept art though. Still, at least it's pretty concept art. Wouldn't mind using some of it for a wallpaper, particularly the vault suit concept picture. Hope they wallpaperise it.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I think that capsule or pod with 'Duck and Cover' on it is the 'coin operated' nuclear fallout shelter mentioned in one of the earlier articles.

 

[Jesterka]

Just a few words from me.

The Mr. Sputnik is brilliant. By contrast, the robo-idiot with swollen hands on the left is just a fuckin' disaster.

Also, I honour most of stuff here (globe... the globe) and here (where's almost nothing to lose).

Vault boys and chicks are OK.

The guns are kinda boring, the monster roster is a bit strange (on cue). I like the little fuckin' cockroach.

Supermutants are obviously a crap.

 

[terebikun]

Also really like the flame sword because yes it's retarded, but damnit, IT'S AWESOME.

I wasn't going to say anything on account of the people who already hate me, but goddamn I kind of like the sword too. I don't want to like it, and conceptually it's dumb as hell, and the one area in the game that to me does legitimately reek of trying to instill some fantasy setting, but I still can't help but have a special place in my heart for it. It seems like something my engineering-inclined friends would actually try and put together, and someone would lose all their hair because of it. Papercraft this, internet.

I didn't notice until you posted it, Jesterka, but that vacuum cleaner in this is being ridden by a man. Truly excellent.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I think the Sputnik thing is suppose to be a 'flying eye' bot.

 

[Ausir]

I think another, intentional aspect of Fallout's dark humor is that there aren't cockroaches. Here it is, a post apocalyptic world come to life, and the old saying about cockroaches surviving doesn't hold water. The universe is telling you to reevaluate your preconceived notions. But no, you'd rather just have cockroaches because "people say they would survive the apocalypse." Well, in that case I think Cher should be the end boss of Fallout 3.

There are mentions of cockroaches in FO1 and 2, just not giant ones:

{257}{LIEUT54}{You know, you remind me of a cockroach I once owned.
I crushed it because I was annoyed with its scurrying little noises. Remember that.}

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Personally I am not so happy with a lot of Bethesda's inventions, I won't go into all of them as that would take to much time which I don't have but I will mention the few that stand out to me on the moment.

The whole 'human' eating Super Mutants, who ever came up with this idea?
Has this got something to do with the fact that the Super Mutants now resemble Orcs?

The new weapons, I really hate the idea of some of the weapons like the junk launcher of the flaming sword which is more of a fantasy weapon.
Some might talk about the last being a good melee weapon but I am pretty sure that people in a PA setting can come up with a melee weapon that doesn't borrow elements from the fantasy realm.

The new Brahmin is totally over the top now, feeling more like something you would find in FO:BOS.

Last, that coin operated nuclear fallout shelter, I just can't stop thinking of the stupidity of this thing.
Unless its suppose to be an ironic joke or something I think the person who made it up really needs a kick against the head.

Edit:

This thought just came up, what if the coin operated nuclear fallout shelters have a similar function to the regeneration capsules in Bioshock/System Shock?

 

[McRae]

I gotta say that the monster with two tongues/tentacles (or whatever it is) reminds me of the mutant (if it's a mutant) we can see in one of the first artworks =>

<center>

</center>

what do you think?

I know it was just an artwork and that we don't clearly see the character... But if they're the same character, it gives me one more reason to be agree with BN. These pics should have been put on Beth's website much earlier.

 

[radnan]

This thought just came up, what if the coin operated nuclear fallout shelters have a similar function to the regeneration capsules in Bioshock/System Shock?

oh god no

 

[nobuo]

Standing alone, this guy is a great artist. That's pretty obvious. As for how this concept art pertains to Fallout, I think they missed the boat on most everything which isn't all that surprising at this stage.


Supermutants: This just makes me sad. The fact that they look like giant ogres/orcs and eat other humans (Wtf?) is just ridiculous. How could they miss the mark so badly? It confounds me at how little Bethesda cares about the cannon of the game.

Weapons:

I wanted these to look like they’d actually work. Emil gave me a list of ingredients for each particular homemade weapon. It was my job to stick em’ together and make the whole thing look deadly. The parts themselves were innocuous enough. Old toys, mason jars, a crutch, refrigerator parts? Tricky. For each one I was purely and truly stumped. I made piles of drawings that never looked menacing enough, or even mechanically sound. Each failed design had me yelling “This would never work!”

Huh? Last I checked, when they had to actually make a weapon from scratch in Fallout, they were making them out of gun parts and pipes(pipe rifle, FO2) - to KILL PEOPLE, not mason jars and old toys to experiment with.

Fashion: I don't totally dislike the fashion of the civilians. FO1/2 was somewhat limited in the attire people wore. Having said that, I wish Bethesda would take it more seriously. What the heck is that stupid thing with the space helmet?

Vault Suit: I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I like the extra detail, and it makes sense. On the other hand, I really like the sleek design of the original. Still, this is one of the few areas where cannon hasn't been totally bastardized.

Machines: I like these. The duck and cover machine, as well as the Nuka cola machine are pretty cool. I'd like to see a Nuka cola machine that you can actually operate in FO3.

Architecture: Good stuff. I actually think this part is probably the easiest to get right.

Robots: The first thing that came to mind when I saw this picture was the dwemer robots in Morrowind

Maybe I'm thinking too much.

Creatures: The scorpion and the Deathclaw I like. As long as the Deathclaw aren't just mindless monsters, it will be ok (not counting on this). Everything else just has a weird feel about it. I don't particularly like the Brahmin either.

 

[MrBumble]

This thought just came up, what if the coin operated nuclear fallout shelters have a similar function to the regeneration capsules in Bioshock/System Shock?

oh god no

Yeah...better not be the case ( even though I believe that the idea that you could recreate one's body after his death fits the 50's sci-fi setting but in the context of the apocalypse : HELL NO ).

 

[Briosafreak]

There is a description of those "Duck and Cover" machines on the NMA preview. Brother None or SuaSide can talk more about them, I guess.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

can't believe i'm actually going to say this:

but i really like some of these.

i agree with kharn on the mutants, and have been hating this misguided mutant shit from the very beginning. the robots don't bother me, in fact...the brain-bot looks fucking great, imo. some of the creatures look excellent...and i could EVEN forgive crab-man...but glasses-wearing double-tongue man? WTF, Bethie?? are you guys fucking with us? weapons? well, the flaming sword looks better than i imagined, but i still think it's a silly concept (not silly in a good way, mind you). i DO like all the Brazil-style tubing and duct-work on all that stuff, though. i'm actually most excited about backgrounds, building detail and npc's so far. that merchant looks pretty great. the npc/fashion stuff is pretty bad-ass, and even his (at least his concept art) facial stuff harkens to the old '50's catalogs.

end 2 cents here.

 

[Anani Masu]

The fact that they look like giant ogres/orcs

I can't really see how they could have avoided this at all. Brother None went through the fan art archive and couldn't find any art with better super mutants. When you've got large brutish humanoids with green skin as your base, it's hard to avoid coming out with something that couldn't be referred to as an orc.

In fact the biggest changes I see tend to make them less orc like than before. Skin color has been changed from predominately green to a pale yellow with little bits of green and red. They walk with better posture (excepting the behemoth) and have less oversized lower jaws. Making em all bald does push em towards the stand orc/ogre archetype though.

I'm actually kinda curious if there are any full length shots of supermutants for the old games. The closest I cant find is when the supermutant is being shot in the vault corridor during the master ending but I cant seem to get a screencap. The only concept art I can find is this guy

which is not what I would call either accurate to the final product or un orc like.

minor edit in bold

 

[Morbus]

Well, it's pretty obvious those aren't supermutants, no matter what. Those are FOT's supermutants.

 

[Mettle]

Just noticed, why does the radscorpion have 8 legs? Don't remember then having that in the previous games.

 

[Cold Zer0]

Then where are the huge irradiated cockroaches.

Why wouldn't they be normal sized cockroaches? Aren't they supposed to be radiation-proof?

Actually the ants are more likely to survive radiation than cockroaches. Simple explanation is because ants have much much smaller percent of water in their body. That way it is impossible for gamma-rays to it's thing in a body. I know it's not much of explanation but I just started my course on nuclear physics

On the topic, I like the machines, most of them (especially cordless phone ), and suits but I don't like robots. Only robo-brain looks like the old one did.

 

[Anani Masu]

Just noticed, why does the radscorpion have 8 legs? Don't remember then having that in the previous games.

Just checked in game and yep they have 8 legs on the targeting screen. Same problem that prevents me from getting a pic of the supermutants in videos prevents me from posting a picture of it.

 

[Bodybag]

I'll agree the Super Mutants shown so far look a lot different from the previous games, but when using "too orc-like" as the main criticism I gotta ask:

How is that not an orc?