NowGamer interviews Howard and Pagliarulo

[makemeasammich]

I wish Todd Howard was my dad. My childhood would have been filled with great memories of blowing things up with fireworks and baseless excitement!

That's also a pretty good formula for a game, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Yeah, a pretty shallow one at that.

Seriously, the greatest legacy of Todd & Emil is in reverse-engineering shooters from RPGs.

They love Fallout! So much that they didn't make anything like it. Something which more closely resembles Oblivion on the RPG complexity scale than Fallout.


This interview is silly, the guy is so far stuck up their asses.

 

[Crni Vuk]

Yeah, a pretty shallow one at that.

Seriously, the greatest legacy of Todd & Emil is in reverse-engineering shooters from RPGs.

They love Fallout! So much that they didn't make anything like it. Something which more closely resembles Oblivion on the RPG complexity scale than Fallout.


This interview is silly, the guy is so far stuck up their asses.

I am not sure if they "really" love Fallout. Well to be a bit more serious about it.

I mean many things seem to be based on some form of missunderstanding. What they seem to be fans about are the general "post apoc setting" of Fallout, not really the content behind it like many times discuesed with the PNP roots of Fallout. Strange thing is that many just say those that talk about the PNP mechanics are just purists and old fashioned but fact is that the setting allone of Fallout, its post apoc design is just the icing on the cake and is almost nothing worth without the right mechanics behind with the choices that come out from the right use of skills and the right implementation in a meaningfull way.

Todd (and probably Emil) are people who love games in the sense of Oblivion but which is pretty opposed to the usual Fallout concept

 

[mountaingoat]

"my thoughts began to move from ‘This is pretty cool' to ‘Wow, this is, um, awesome’.

Danger, danger Mr. Robinson…. Huge egos ahead!... Huge egos ahead!

Modesty in peril… Modesty in peril... collapse imminent.

Fallout 3 was in the care of Bethesda Softworks, a master of the art of role-play

Ah, an excellent example of brownnosed journalism.
Good job boys! Keep those "impartial" checks coming.

“We were blown away by the similarities in theme – a father doing everything to protect his son in a post-apocalyptic environment."

Funny,all I remember is a son constantly searching for his father, and him always being absent, running away. The father-to-son bond was never there.

The entire team played the game every day, attempting to refine its disparate elements so the bigger picture would make sense

So that’s why the game is as coherent as a Babel tower.
The entire team played the game every day but somehow failed to see the lack of character development, the dull, boring and uninspired main quest, the card box cutout indifferent NPCs, the unchallenging gameplay…

The choice to save or destroy Megaton was definitely a deliberate attempt to show the world we were serious about taking on the Fallout franchise,”

So to blast or not to blast is a measure of Beth’s serious intensions to the franchise. A FOOS approach I’d say.

The fact is, Oblivion may be great, but it’s inferior to Fallout 3 in all matters but for those of personal taste. The progress is obvious in the dialogue, the voice-acting, the characters, the environmental design and – most importantly – the quests.

Yeah,I can give them that, it’s a fact indeed.

“Honestly,” Howard concludes, unaware of our hopeful internal dialogue. “I can see how to improve all of it now.” We choose to read between the lines.

Keep on spreading hope and hype Todd and who knows, someday you may rule the game world.

 

[100LBSofDogmeat]

Also, there's a VERY strange lack of bicycles. I think bicycles would be the main post-apocaliptic method of movement for most people. There's no need for fuel, there are a lot of them, bicycles are quite durable and a bicycle is not hard to make or repair with proper tools and equipament.

Bikes are actually a great idea and very realistic... surprised that never popped into my head. And yes, vehicles make sense depending on certain criteria. If this is hundreds of years after the war and people have some cities of some kind built, they would probably start building vehicles to make travel easier. I mean, Fallout Tactics had a range of vehicles one could get... and duplicate with the glitch.

Hell, why the brahmin and cart idea was never done, I don't know. Bikes would be simple and easy too.

And how Fallout 3 had two, TWO, working railroad lines is insane with nothing else functioning, including the game.

 

[100LBSofDogmeat]

I meant, In F2 caravans u could randomly meet were always heavely guarded, and they tended to make a hole in you if don't sneath your weapon. In towns there were lots of armed men and sometimes women who'd gladly feed your sorry ass with bullets and throwing knives (which usually made you to slaughter the whole town, but what the heck), now in F3 i met lonely merchants, with no guards but lots to loot, and nobody seem to object me pointing my gun in their face. It's been awhile since F2 and a lot of aspects could be improved and redone to stimulate immersion.

How many guards are there in F3? 1 in Megaton (how the hell did they defend against Rainders?) 3-6 in Rivet City (maybe more, but less than 10), that's all i can remember. And with raiders and mutties roaming around, when water and rations are fucking scarce, I'd shoot any fucker, who was approaching me with a gun or melee weapon. Life is tough, Post-Apoc life is HELL.

Dude, "Fallout" 3 was a piece of shit... why would you even ask silly, logical questions of a game that has no logic or effort put into it?

 

[Alphadrop]

And how Fallout 3 had two, TWO, working railroad lines is insane with nothing else functioning, including the game.

Not quite true, Fallout 3 has a ton of functioning guns that have been left in the baking wilderness for 200 years. They work fine as does every piece of ammo you find in pre war houses and buildings (who knew so many civilians had two or three ammo crates in their kitchen).

 

[Public]

And how Fallout 3 had two, TWO, working railroad lines is insane with nothing else functioning, including the game.

Not quite true, Fallout 3 has a ton of functioning guns that have been left in the baking wilderness for 200 years. They work fine as does every piece of ammo you find in pre war houses and buildings (who knew so many civilians had two or three ammo crates in their kitchen).

And computer terminals which need no power to work. And robots traveling the wastes for no reason why and how they got there or how they're still running.

 

[eternaut]

And how Fallout 3 had two, TWO, working railroad lines is insane with nothing else functioning, including the game.

Not quite true, Fallout 3 has a ton of functioning guns that have been left in the baking wilderness for 200 years. They work fine as does every piece of ammo you find in pre war houses and buildings (who knew so many civilians had two or three ammo crates in their kitchen).

And computer terminals which need no power to work. And robots traveling the wastes for no reason why and how they got there or how they're still running.

It remainds me of the Simpsons, that episode when the kids use Dr.Frink's machine to look to the future. Marge says, at one point: "We can do anything now that science has invented magic". Perhaps this is the case. Scary, uh?

 

[TheWesDude]

Todd Howard and Emil Pagliarulo

"It was pretty late in production, when all the combat was balanced and VATS was working well, and my thoughts began to move from 'This is pretty cool' to 'Wow, this is, um, awesome'. I'm a huge gamer, and there came a point where, for the span of a few months, I was having more fun at work than I was playing other games at home.

for me, this is the most telling portion. its nice to know what part of FO3 really made him proud of the game.

not the storyline, the various quests, karma, conversation trees, coherent storyline with rational ties to the previous titles... what really makes him proud of this game...

combat. the same combat that let me at level 2 kill a behemoth. sir, i am inspired by what you consider the greatest part of FO3.

but then again, if you had said quests/storyline/conversation trees that would have been embarassing as well eh.

 

[makemeasammich]

Todd Howard and Emil Pagliarulo

"It was pretty late in production, when all the combat was balanced and VATS was working well, and my thoughts began to move from 'This is pretty cool' to 'Wow, this is, um, awesome'. I'm a huge gamer, and there came a point where, for the span of a few months, I was having more fun at work than I was playing other games at home.

for me, this is the most telling portion. its nice to know what part of FO3 really made him proud of the game.

not the storyline, the various quests, karma, conversation trees, coherent storyline with rational ties to the previous titles... what really makes him proud of this game...

combat. the same combat that let me at level 2 kill a behemoth. sir, i am inspired by what you consider the greatest part of FO3.

but then again, if you had said quests/storyline/conversation trees that would have been embarassing as well eh.

ummm...why SHOULDN'T he be proud of a combat system, that, after 65 hours of gameplay (pour moi) STILL hasn't gotten old? VATS is a perfectly balanced system, and while the FPS combat has a few kinks in its armor, it's still incredibly fun. Furthermore, that behemoth you had to kill was felled with a Fat Man, correct? The weapon that does 1610 points of damage (compared to say, the hunting rifle, which only does 25 DAM per shot). Furtherfurthermore, that behemoth was part of a mandatory quest EARLY in the storyline, which means you were most likely at a low level. Now tell me, if you HADN'T been able to kill that behemoth, you would have been incredibly frustrated, lessening your enjoyment of the game, right? That doesn't sound like a broken combat system to me.

 

[TheMutantMe]

I'm not sure how you can not get tired of VATS after 65 hours (or still be playing after that long, I ran out of things to do and see after about 35). I admit the appeal lasted longer then I expected, but those slow-mo shots inevitably went from amusing to annoying to incredibly frustrating long before I was done.

 

[Trithne]

VATS is broken, it cheats.

The behemoth is abysmal plot design. This utter unknown element comes out of the wastes and meets up with a bunch of the BoS, who just say 'come along but keep your head down', while they lead you through the city, kill super mutants for you, and then start being attacked by a behemoth. Then they tell you to pick up a nuclear bomb launcher. You. The complete unknown. Never mind the potential danger, and seeing as the behemoth can be killed with smallarms fire (I never found the fatman there), it's pointless anyway. So we have a huge, threatening enemy that can be killed at level 2. That shouldn't happen. It breaks verisimilitude.

Furthurmore, an additional example of bad plot design, if the player doesn't follow the BoS, or, worse, decides to kill them (Not nearly as hard as it should be, with VATS and shitty AI), you... can't advance the plot. A good, nay, a decent RPG allows the player multiple avenues through the plot, with repurcussions on how the world treats them. Fallout 3 does not do this. That is just one of the problems.

 

[Joervol]

ummm...why SHOULDN'T he be proud of a combat system, that, after 65 hours of gameplay (pour moi) STILL hasn't gotten old? VATS is a perfectly balanced system, and while the FPS combat has a few kinks in its armor, it's still incredibly fun. Furthermore, that behemoth you had to kill was felled with a Fat Man, correct? The weapon that does 1610 points of damage (compared to say, the hunting rifle, which only does 25 DAM per shot). Furtherfurthermore, that behemoth was part of a mandatory quest EARLY in the storyline, which means you were most likely at a low level. Now tell me, if you HADN'T been able to kill that behemoth, you would have been incredibly frustrated, lessening your enjoyment of the game, right? That doesn't sound like a broken combat system to me.

You take 10% of damage while you are on vats. I could have stopped right here but anyway.

Slow motions shots can't be turned off (admittedly i did play fallout... long enough to reach the first town in which point i just gave it back, but i had already grown tired of slow motion)

You can kill anything if you have patience and enough ammo. I think there are videos on youtube of mutants being kitted and killed with a simple pistol.

I also don't get it how a quest which wants me to kill something BIIIIIIG and...... gives me a nuclear catapult to do it, either justifies the combat system or that it should make me happy. I have also killed the big bad guy in the end of doom 3, I didn't throw a party for it. Point being, if i had an option NOT to kill that behemoth, or do something and manage not to kill him and still continue on the story line then yes, managing to kill him would have been nice.

 

[Ratty Sr.]

ummm...why SHOULDN'T he be proud of a combat system, that, after 65 hours of gameplay (pour moi) STILL hasn't gotten old? VATS is a perfectly balanced system, and while the FPS combat has a few kinks in its armor, it's still incredibly fun.

Try playing a real FPS some time. BethSoft have no clue about designing a first-person combat system, and this is demonstrated over and over again when even indie titles consistently have superior combat (see Oblivion vs. Mount&Blade for reference), not to mention their own games from 13 years ago (see: Daggerfall).

 

[fedaykin]

Furthermore, that behemoth you had to kill was felled with a Fat Man, correct? The weapon that does 1610 points of damage .... Furtherfurthermore, that behemoth was part of a mandatory quest EARLY in the storyline, which means you were most likely at a low level. Now tell me, if you HADN'T been able to kill that behemoth, you would have been incredibly frustrated, lessening your enjoyment of the game, right? That doesn't sound like a broken combat system to me.

Giving the player a superweapon to easily kill a boss creature early in the game? No, that does not sound like a broken combat system. It sounds like an action game for children. Challenges are sooo frustrating.

 

[rcorporon]

ummm...why SHOULDN'T he be proud of a combat system, that, after 65 hours of gameplay (pour moi) STILL hasn't gotten old? VATS is a perfectly balanced system, and while the FPS combat has a few kinks in its armor, it's still incredibly fun. Furthermore, that behemoth you had to kill was felled with a Fat Man, correct? The weapon that does 1610 points of damage (compared to say, the hunting rifle, which only does 25 DAM per shot). Furtherfurthermore, that behemoth was part of a mandatory quest EARLY in the storyline, which means you were most likely at a low level. Now tell me, if you HADN'T been able to kill that behemoth, you would have been incredibly frustrated, lessening your enjoyment of the game, right? That doesn't sound like a broken combat system to me.

Replying to this after your argument has been thouroughly shredded above seems like overkill, but I still feel compelled.

After playing FO3 for about 10 - 12 hours, I was utterly sick of VATS. It truly is the "I win" button in that game. Allowing me to shoot the faces off things half a kilometre away with my pistol is the essence of a broken combat system.

 

[100LBSofDogmeat]

And how Fallout 3 had two, TWO, working railroad lines is insane with nothing else functioning, including the game.

Not quite true, Fallout 3 has a ton of functioning guns that have been left in the baking wilderness for 200 years. They work fine as does every piece of ammo you find in pre war houses and buildings (who knew so many civilians had two or three ammo crates in their kitchen).

Haha, I was actually referring to vehicles... we were talking about vehicles prior, right?

Yes, oddly for building no one visits, lives in, or are even near, there is a lot of ammo and such still un-scavenged.

Oh, and makemeasammich, I hope you are joking... the combat system in this game is utter garbage. And I'm not just saying that because I hate "Fallout" 3, it really -is- a crappy system.

 

[100LBSofDogmeat]

Replying to this after your argument has been thouroughly shredded above seems like overkill, but I still feel compelled.

After playing FO3 for about 10 - 12 hours, I was utterly sick of VATS. It truly is the "I win" button in that game. Allowing me to shoot the faces off things half a kilometre away with my pistol is the essence of a broken combat system.

I do agree and I'll go on to say I think this simplified combat in games today is making people into sore losers when they finally (if ever) die. Weird how you can just hide behind a corner and regen health to full in most FPS games.

Oddly enough "Fallout" 3 didn't use that funct... er... Operation Anchorage. Nevermind.

 

[gc051360]

The comparison between Michael Bay and Bethesda is apt.

Whenever I read what they have to say, that's who they most remind me of.