Nothing quite like Fallout

B

Burtolio

First time out of the vault
Hi folks,

Having read CarnardPC's review, I, like many of you may, have had my suspicions and fears confirmed. For those of you who have not read the review, it's definitely worth a read; a brutally honest review which is refreshing in its angle on a game so heavily hyped.

So, the long and short of it, if you believe the review (which I do), is that Fallout 3 is a game with much potential but dumbed down for the masses. Which at least in the way of RPGs seems like the done thing now-a-days.

My questions are:

a) Do you think games (rpgs in particular) are "not what they used to be"?

b) Have there been any games lately that have had any of the original Fallouts' wit/scope etc etc, or even come close to that calibre of game?


Frankly, I have almost given up on the RPG genre. Most now seem to be marketed at stupid, materialistic saps who have the attention span of goldfish! I'm not saying that that is what the majority of gamers are like, simply that is what you'd be led to believe playing the latest rpg's. I mean, when was the last time you read some text or heard some dialogue in a game that you thought was actually clever or witty!? Actually, when was the last time you actually had to read a block of text in a game!?

I look forward to hearing your responses.

...J...
 
Well last time I read text was on my last paly through of Fallout, which just so happens to be this week!

I agree somewhat... I mean there are certain aspects of RPG's that just don't seem there anymore. Like FPP, I mean... you're role playing, which means stepping into another character, not "as I would see".
 
Apologies! That's was just a lead up to a whole other question. Basically I'm wondering what games people have played lately that they have enjoyed anywhere near as much as Fallout1/2.
 
alecish answer, I suppose. ;)
Burtolio said:
Basically I'm wondering what games people have played lately that they have enjoyed anywhere near as much as Fallout1/2.
Click to expand...
It's the wrong forum then, but that's the moderators' work. You mean RPG games, right? I enjoyed Morrowind for some time. And Thief: Deadly Shadows, which isn't an RPG, though.
 
1. Yes.

2. No. But, The Witcher handles choice and consequence well, pretty much like you see in the old Fallout games. Unfortunately, there's only about 1/100th the amount of quest choices compared to Fallout.
 
Burtolio said:
a) Do you think games (rpgs in particular) are "not what they used to be"?

b) Have there been any games lately that have had any of the original Fallouts' wit/scope etc etc, or even come close to that calibre of game?
Click to expand...

A. It's difficult to say yes to this without sounding like a total prick that's just filled with nostalgia and observes everything through rose tinted glasses, however, there is an impressive difference between the majority of RPGs today and the RPGs of yesterday.

There are some modern RPGs that I just don't like as much as older RPGs, however, a lot of these games are critically praised and I have to admit myself that several of them are well designed when it comes to what an RPG should be.

For example, I didn't like The Witcher or Planescape: Torment, but I can see where people are coming from when they say they enjoyed these games. On the other side, I was immensely pleased with games such as Wizardry 8 or Temple of Elemental Evil because they're a love letter back to the old days when RPGs were about strong impressive plotlines - which while being unoriginal were typically very entertaining - and tough as nail combats with several different factors to keep track of.

The Ultima series was always my favorite because it was a great mix of free form exploration, combat and difficulty. Starting with III the games started to become much more complex and began to mix distinct character interaction with typical RPG staples. Thanks to those games, titles such as Wasteland were provided with a great framework.

I still play Ultima IV today, along with Ultima VI and games such as Wasteland, Fallout, Might & Magic IV, Daggerfall, Darksun and the Gold Box series. I just think they're more fun.
And to be entirely honest, those games are a lot simpler than many RPGs today, which attempt to be cinematic, free form and at the same time employ character development, large branching storylines with a much vaster variety of quests. However this simplicity was attributed to their straightforward nature, most RPGs had a clear goal straight from the beginning (Often only stated in the manual which causes many modern gamers to become confused when attempting to play them) and your only objective was to reach that goal while going off on your own to build yourself up to the task.

To make up for that, most older RPGs have the distinct pleasure of being far more indepth when it comes to combat mechanics, party management (which is dead now anyways) and difficulty.
The Gold Box games are the pinnacle of this genre to me, they're tough as nails with interesting plots and much strategy involved.

I was always the kind of person who leaned more to the combat and dice rolls in D&D than the guys who liked to roleplay though, I'd always refer to my character in third person while my friends would impersonate their fat dwarves or whatever else.

B. Someone here already mentioned The Witcher, which has the same variety of moral elements. I didn't like it too much though, the same goes for Arcanum which would've been a lot better if Troika had just ditched the broken real-time combat to perfect the turn-based version and balance the game out properly.

Fallout had its share of bugs, but the fundamentals were properly executed, which I can't say for Arcanum or The Witcher, they had some problems which are very difficult to ignore, however, if you're not as fixated on complex or in-depth combat as I am, you might enjoy them much more for their variety.

Of anything released in the past years, I'd say Vampire: Bloodlines comes the closest to delivering a satisfying balanced experience, although it does have a good amount of bugs.

Seems like none of these damn games ever find themselves without bugs, the curse of the RPG I guess, even the Ultima series was infamous for its often bizarre and hilarious bugs.
 
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