NMA Fallout 3 preview and Q&A
- Thread starter Brother None
- Start date
Lived Through the Heat Death
SuAside said:
That could be plausible if there's some kind of recording or communications with the Overseer but I can't remember that info from the bible.
I wonder if the mutants will be hired muscle for some madman that turns out to be your uncle or grandfather. Just trying to throw out some cliche twists! out there.
UniversalWolf
eaten by a grue.
There seems to be a general softening of opinion based on this preview, and that's interesting, because I'm having the opposite reaction. I now know with absolute certainty FO3 is a game I will never play.
My primary objection is that the entire project reeks of unimaginative sequelism. It's the same simple-minded idea that plagues second-renditions of nearly all games and movies: everything that was popular the first time around must be made bigger. In the original FO games, there were super mutants; since FO3 is a sequel, we have to have Super Duper BEHEMOTH Mutants! In the original FO games there were rocket launchers, so FO3 must have ATOMIC BOMB LAUNCHERS! This is despite the fact that, logically speaking, there ought to be fewer super mutants as time passes, and that the whole concept of a nuclear bomb catapult is, frankly, absurd. It reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean - that unexpected little gem of a movie - and how with each sequel it became less and less about pirates or the Caribbean and more and more about bigger, flashier special effects and supercool plot twists until by the end it was just a convoluted mess.
Second, the fact that the people making this "sequel" are not the people who made the original means the player, provided he is familiar with and enjoyed the original material, is going to be surrounded by a pseudo-milieu: the product of lesser minds or lesser inspiration aping the original vision. Is there anything more icky? Consider the humor. Original FO has a quirky, nerdy, unusual sense of humor with roots in the computer geek community of the 1980s. The original FO people managed, as a group, to capture that spirit and make it work. Now imagine some one who isn't funny in that way trying to imitate that sense of humor. For those of you who aren't already in pain, I'll try to illustrate the concept more effectively. Think of your favorite comedian or comedy - for me it would be Steve Martin's standup from the 1970s, and Monty Python - then try to imagine some one else trying to be funny *like* Steve Martin or *like* Monty Python. It's...ugly. That's what you've got in FO3. A sign that says, "Local Cult?" Under the circumstances I find that incredibly un-funny.
Third, FO3 suffers from the greedy selfishness and arrogance of Bethesda's need to own the setting. The only reason it's set in D.C. is because that's where they are; there's no other good reason for a FO game to be on the east coast of the U.S. I see lots of destroyed buildings, but where is the desert? Where is the Wasteland, for crying out loud? They've amputated a big chuck of the FO setting that goes back at least as far as The Road Warrior: the wasteland.
This preview has changed opinions because it is the first skeptical, objective assessment of the game. It's changed my opinion for the worse. The intellectual content is going to be lackluster. If the intellectual content isn't great, what good are sparkly new graphics? There have been a thousand games with better graphics than FO, but how many games have been better than FO? If I want to waste my time with a FPS, I have a whole slew of options that won't be irritating me by mimicking something I liked, but they're incapable of understanding.
My primary objection is that the entire project reeks of unimaginative sequelism. It's the same simple-minded idea that plagues second-renditions of nearly all games and movies: everything that was popular the first time around must be made bigger. In the original FO games, there were super mutants; since FO3 is a sequel, we have to have Super Duper BEHEMOTH Mutants! In the original FO games there were rocket launchers, so FO3 must have ATOMIC BOMB LAUNCHERS! This is despite the fact that, logically speaking, there ought to be fewer super mutants as time passes, and that the whole concept of a nuclear bomb catapult is, frankly, absurd. It reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean - that unexpected little gem of a movie - and how with each sequel it became less and less about pirates or the Caribbean and more and more about bigger, flashier special effects and supercool plot twists until by the end it was just a convoluted mess.
Second, the fact that the people making this "sequel" are not the people who made the original means the player, provided he is familiar with and enjoyed the original material, is going to be surrounded by a pseudo-milieu: the product of lesser minds or lesser inspiration aping the original vision. Is there anything more icky? Consider the humor. Original FO has a quirky, nerdy, unusual sense of humor with roots in the computer geek community of the 1980s. The original FO people managed, as a group, to capture that spirit and make it work. Now imagine some one who isn't funny in that way trying to imitate that sense of humor. For those of you who aren't already in pain, I'll try to illustrate the concept more effectively. Think of your favorite comedian or comedy - for me it would be Steve Martin's standup from the 1970s, and Monty Python - then try to imagine some one else trying to be funny *like* Steve Martin or *like* Monty Python. It's...ugly. That's what you've got in FO3. A sign that says, "Local Cult?" Under the circumstances I find that incredibly un-funny.
Third, FO3 suffers from the greedy selfishness and arrogance of Bethesda's need to own the setting. The only reason it's set in D.C. is because that's where they are; there's no other good reason for a FO game to be on the east coast of the U.S. I see lots of destroyed buildings, but where is the desert? Where is the Wasteland, for crying out loud? They've amputated a big chuck of the FO setting that goes back at least as far as The Road Warrior: the wasteland.
This preview has changed opinions because it is the first skeptical, objective assessment of the game. It's changed my opinion for the worse. The intellectual content is going to be lackluster. If the intellectual content isn't great, what good are sparkly new graphics? There have been a thousand games with better graphics than FO, but how many games have been better than FO? If I want to waste my time with a FPS, I have a whole slew of options that won't be irritating me by mimicking something I liked, but they're incapable of understanding.
That's Kharn's hair falling out due to radiation, dur.
Briosa, awesome how that thread is 8 pages in less than a day.
Briosa, awesome how that thread is 8 pages in less than a day.
Briosafreak said:
In the tracker side, where Fallout would track "number of people killed" and the like, the following was visible:
corpses eaten
unique weapons created (or crafted, scribbly handwriting)
dismemberments
edahl said:
Yeah, I thought that but he clearly emphasizes which vault, Vault 101, you're from. If nothing else he knows about Vault 101, through visiting it or something otherwise there's no reason to say it the way he did. Just saying, "Hey, there's a vault suit, haven't seen one of those in a while" would suffice.
he put emphasis on it being vault 101.
a new guy might read most of this as good stuff, but a fallout fan wont have too much hard time fishing out the bad stuff, even if it wasnt worded as being 'bad'.
softening? well, not for me. the demo pretty much confirmed what i already thought (which is what is written in the preview & the conclusions).UniversalWolf said:
the point of the objective assessment was of course for people to make up their own mind.UniversalWolf said:
a new guy might read most of this as good stuff, but a fallout fan wont have too much hard time fishing out the bad stuff, even if it wasnt worded as being 'bad'.
Autoduel76
Look, Ma! Two Heads!
One thing I have to say about the Brotherhood of steel talking like a Military outfit...
I really don't see how that clashes with the Brotherhood of Steel from the original Fallout. The members of the BOS, in Fallout, had a military style of speaking as well, with the exception of the Elders and scribes, and the non threatening members you found scattered inside the BOS base.
But Maxson, Rhombus, the Paladins and Knights, all had a Military style of speaking as well and it only makes sense that any platoon that was sent out after mutants, like in the demo, would be made up from that group. They are the military branch of the BOS and spoke like it in the Original Fallout.
I really don't see how that clashes with the Brotherhood of Steel from the original Fallout. The members of the BOS, in Fallout, had a military style of speaking as well, with the exception of the Elders and scribes, and the non threatening members you found scattered inside the BOS base.
But Maxson, Rhombus, the Paladins and Knights, all had a Military style of speaking as well and it only makes sense that any platoon that was sent out after mutants, like in the demo, would be made up from that group. They are the military branch of the BOS and spoke like it in the Original Fallout.
in Europe, military style speaking doesn't mean cursing in every friggin' sentence.Autoduel76 said:
and i'm pretty sure Maxson, Rhombus and even all the BoS members in their bunker never cursed ingame. (except perhaps after an eyeshot or a groinshot, but who could blame them)
i'd personally love to see the BoS as a disciplined outfit with nice squad movements without them swearing at a 10 second interval at the initial meeting.
You mean Tactics style?
Autoduel76
Look, Ma! Two Heads!
SuAside said:in Europe, military style speaking doesn't mean cursing in every friggin' sentence.
And in America we call our flats apartments. I'm not sure how Europe style speaking applies here, but, cursing and the Military does go together quite a bit in America.
With that said, the swearing sounds over the top for everyone, Brotherhood or not. But, that seems like a different issue than the Brotherhood platoon speaking like a military outfit, which I don't see a problem with.
requiem_for_a_starfury
So Old I'm Losing Radiation Signs
Hmm replied to the wrong thread maybe?Autoduel76 said:
What jars about the cursing and the Brotherhood is it doesn't fit in with the 50's vibe. Not saying the military didn't swear back in the 50's but the examples given just don't fit, if you know what I mean.
Joe Kremlin
First time out of the vault
I didn't post after reading it yesterday, just wanted to say amazing work and thanks for the preview that actually gives me a sense of what the game is like.
I honestly don't think this new info is any worse than what we came up with based on what we've been given.
I honestly don't think this new info is any worse than what we came up with based on what we've been given.
Autoduel76 said:
The problem is that between that, their bad discipline, their apparent goal to drive out supermutants, their "knightlyhood" and their look, there is not a *single* identifiable feature except the BoS patch on their armor that could possibly identify them as Brotherhood of Steel. They simply have no relation to the original organization, *at all*
Joe Kremlin
First time out of the vault
So Neeson was a bust? I honestly couldn't care less about him being included. I'd personally rather have Leslie Nielson doing all the talking.
Joe Kremlin said:
So funny. The first time I read that Liam Neeson would be voice acting, I read it as Lesli Nielson; I wish the dyslexia were right.
PS: There Kharn, I quoted.
"By this time, my lungs were aching for air"
(serious bonus for who gets that joke)
Leslie Nielsen has a great voice, actually. Way more distinct than Liam, plus he starred in Forbidden Planet!
(serious bonus for who gets that joke)
Leslie Nielsen has a great voice, actually. Way more distinct than Liam, plus he starred in Forbidden Planet!