OXM interviews Pete Hines

[Brother None]

OXM interviews Pete Hines on the Fallout franchise & Bethesda.<blockquote>And is Broken Steel the last DLC for Fallout 3?

Yes, that's the third of the three things. Whether it's the absolute last one remains to be seen. Because it's been hugely successful. Operation Anchorage vastly exceeded our expectation. It was like "holy shit, we did how many?" And the Pitt was really successful, after a bit of a false start.

But Broken Steel is the one that. when we first announced all three, this is the one that everyone has been bugging us the most about, because it removes the ending and changes the level cap and lets you play more in that world. I think it's going to be hugely, hugely popular.</blockquote>Am I really the only one who thinks that since they openly admitted the level cap and endings were mistakes, it should've been fixed in a patch, rather than make people pay for it?

Eh. How about this bit of beauty:<blockquote>I'm expecting a big no here, but is there an official comment on the Interplay / Bethesda situation?

I'll give you a bit more than a 'no'. It's a whole legal thing and we let the lawyers sort out what takes place there and when they come to a resolution we'll have information to share and we'll let folks know. Something like that there's legal involved, PR is the least of our concern.

Anything on a Fallout MMO then?

It's to be seen. Our intention is that Fallout is ours, we went to great lengths to acquire it. It wasn't just something we were working on but something we owned. We want to make sure whatever it is we do is appropriate and we have a lot of love for it and respect for it.

Look, we ran a gauntlet for four and a half years doing this - there was a lot of folks weren't really sure if we were the right guys to have this. Were we going to fuck it up and destroy what was beautiful? But for the most part I think we've proven that we can be stewards for this thing and take care of it.</blockquote>

 

[Lexx]

Our intention is that Fallout is ours

This one in the context of the rest of the text makes me very sad. Not the kind of "I don't like Bethesda"-sad, it's the kind of depressed "why..?"-sad.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

But for the most part I think we've proven that we can be stewards for this thing and take care of it.

That could be argued with.
Personally I think that Fallout 3 and the following DLCs have proven that you do not understand Fallout or serious RPGs at all and that the franchise should be taken away from you.

I think we should even force you all never to buy up an RPG franchise again and stay at least thirty feet away from them.


Fallout 3 is basically a shooter with stat building elements.
The exploring part is fun until you realize that there is absolutely no point in them, you won't find exciting side quests or truly interesting locations/NPCs.

As for the writing, honestly, in both Fallout standards or general story standards is pis poor and the concepts in it have been done before.
Also, have someone proof read it, how many times I have run into grammar errors.
For example; its soldier, not solider.

Our intention is that Fallout is ours

No its not.
Yes you own the franchise and the rights, but you lack the creativity and the intelligence to use it well.
So glue the name on whatever game genre you like, you don't have and will never grasp the spirit behind it, only imitating what people have done before.

 

[Khan FurSainty]

Am I really the only one who thinks that since they openly admitted the level cap and endings were mistakes, it should've been fixed in a patch, rather than make people pay for it?

Yes, but with a patch they can't win lots and lots of gamers money. And that's the only reason they make games.

Our intention is that Fallout is ours, we went to great lengths to acquire it.

"Great lengths"? What, did you spend most of your time sabotaging Interplay so they will go on red and sell you the rights? From the first part of the sentence i would say that you did just that.

It wasn't just something we were working on but something we owned.

Yes, because owning a game is the greatest motivation for making a hit. If you don't own a entire franchise, then there is just no point in working on it. That's the logical thing.

We want to make sure whatever it is we do is appropriate and we have a lot of love for it and respect for it.

Warning! Bullshit alert! Bullshit alert!
There is nothing "appropriate" in Fallout 3 and i just can't see the "lot of love for it and respect for it." when you don't even understand it's world or it's canon. You are either liers or idiots.

there was a lot of folks weren't really sure if we were the right guys to have this.

In the beginning we weren't sure, yes. But now is different. We know that you are not the right guys to "have this".

Were we going to fuck it up and destroy what was beautiful?

It's a rhetorical question.
Of corse you were, and you have. Everything that was beautiful about the Fallout games is destroyed, and yes, you have raped it and will continue to rape it.

But for the most part I think we've proven that we can be stewards for this thing and take care of it.

O, i just love how he calls Fallout "this thing" and says that they can take "care of it". It's like if а crazy women comes to your house, takes your beloved pet, who you can't keep any more, and says that she can take "this thing" home and take good "care of it". While all she wants is to conduct sick experiments on it.

 

[Belinik]

Khan FurSainty hehe my thoughts exactly

As for mmpog fallout in the hands of bethseda (the horror images) just gonna be fallblivion with a extra large map and some more quests

Add to the fact the whole addons with fallout 3 saying hours of extended gameplay pretty much a fail, think i got anchorage done in 2 hours-the pitt in bout same time , broken steel i havent gotten around too as need to do all main quests-explore the whole map again = lazy

ah well games where so much better back in the days of 80-90s , now time for these old bones to crumble

 

[moyogo]

For not commenting on the interplay situation Pete sure is using the word "own" a lot.

It's probably a verbal interview transcribed, so I'm not going to jump on him for "this thing". If people transcribed me talking it would look atrocious.

 

[lugaru]

Also them OWNING it means they can have people they trust to make a good game and some good money work on the franchise, such as Obsidian. I know the whole point of this thread is to weep and wallow, seeing how only the potentially inflamatory bits are excerpted here but seriosly, other than be wiped from the face of the earth who do you want to own fallout?

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

other than be wiped from the face of the earth who do you want to own fallout?

Hmm, that is a difficult one, at one point I would prefer Fallout to be laid to rest rather than being bastardized even more.
On the other hand I would really like to see Van Buren being made.

Question is, would Obsidian be capable of that?

It is indeed true that Obsidian so far hasn't made an amazing title of their own yet.

 

[lugaru]

Question is, would Obsidian be capable of that?

It is indeed true that Obsidian so far hasn't made an amazing title of their own yet.

I liked NeverWinter Nights 2 but it was linear (as far as I got) and the engine made the game slow, a lot of time was spent fighting with the camera and loading.

Everyone I would like to see take on the franchise would probably make it into more of a first person shooter, such as 2k Boston (more for Freedom Force than Bioshock), GSC (stalker), and Valve (duh).

Maybe if Beth let CD PROJEKT take a stab... they made great use of the engine that Obsidian provided them with The Witcher and I would like to think that everything that was silly about the game came from the novels, but the art and system was nice.

 

[moyogo]

Also them OWNING it means they can have people they trust to make a good game and some good money work on the franchise, such as Obsidian. I know the whole point of this thread is to weep and wallow, etc

I'm just saying he is commenting on the legal stuff, ownership is 9/10 of the law or whatever. I'm interested to see what Obsidian does as well.

 

[rehevkor]

So if Broken Steel is the "last" of the three DLCs why not release all 3 together at retail?

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Also them OWNING it means they can have people they trust to make a good game and some good money work on the franchise, such as Obsidian.

I thought that Pete made it pretty clear that Beth chose them because they wanted to capitalize on the old guard fans.

I know the whole point of this thread is to weep and wallow, seeing how only the potentially inflamatory bits are excerpted here but seriosly

Not really, the whole thing was pretty bad. Interesting and unsurprising that Pete had the most trouble on the Oblivion books question, it either was unexpected or it was the only question that he hadn't rehearsed repeatedly because it doesn't pop up in many interviews.

other than be wiped from the face of the earth who do you want to own fallout?

I'll rephrase that to, "Who would you rather who would you rather have own Fallout?" so that I can give a longer answer .

Obsidian is a black box to me, they have only worked on other companies' IPs with limited time and forced to use their engine and resources from the first game. There are some good people there but I haven't really seen them do their own thing so how good they would be is a bit of a mystery. That said, they are preferable to Bethesda.

Bioware would be preferable to Bethesda but they would most likely make a standard Bioware game and thus are pretty low on my list.

Valve gets dropped in a lot but they would be a complete crapshoot in my mind. They have only made FPP games and all of them, with the exception of Portal, are FPSes. If they made a Fallout FPS it would probably be fun and have good writing, but it might do funky stuff with canon, a FPP RPG would be a bit of a crap shoot, I have no idea what they would do with the RPG elements, and a RT or TB ISO game would be a complete crap shoot.

CDProjekt would be an interesting developer to see what they made with the IP, I'm not really sure what to expect but I think that it would stick to canon decently, with only Obsidian likely doing better.

Blizzard is another company whose name gets dropped in a lot and I would be interested to see what they would do with the IP. They have demonstrated that they can make Roguelikes, ARPGs (D2), and RTS games proficiently so I'd love to see them try their hand at a TB iso RPG. It's also a bit of a crap shoot but the end result would undoubtedly be popular and polished (WoW isn't a very good game but it's very addictive) if it's released.

A Japanese TRPG developer (thinking Atlus in particular) would be interesting to see what they did with the IP. They might try and go somewhat like wester CRPGs, they might just make it into a TRPG, or they might hybridize the two and I'd particularly like to see the last or first option. I have no clue how well they would treat canon or how well the game would turn out but it would be an interesting experiment.

inXile would be another possible candidate but I think we'll see what they have to offer if/when they release Wasteland 2. That said, I haven't heard good things about the gameplay of the new Bard's Tale so they remain something of a crap shoot as well.

Troika would have been my number one choice but they are dead.

 

[I_eat_supermutants]

Our intention is that Fallout is ours

I get a real bad "Emperor from Star Wars" vibe from this line.

 

[Brother None]

seeing how only the potentially inflamatory bits are excerpted here

Hey, you know how newspaper interviews always print the most remarkable lines in special blockquotes or headlines? 's pretty much the same thing NMA does. We select the quotes that are most interesting. Nobody here gives a shit about the Oblivion books, nobody gives a shit about how much of a circle-jerk these guys can build over Bethesda and Xbox's incestuous relationship. I quote what people care about, it's Pete that makes it inflammatory.

 

[Ausir]

I liked NeverWinter Nights 2 but it was linear (as far as I got) and the engine made the game slow, a lot of time was spent fighting with the camera and loading.

Well, to their defense, Obsidian's titles so far have been sequels to BioWare games, and thus follow BioWare's linear formula. Their approach to Fallout will hopefully be different.

Maybe if Beth let CD PROJEKT take a stab... they made great use of the engine that Obsidian provided them with The Witcher and I would like to think that everything that was silly about the game came from the novels, but the art and system was nice.

It's BioWare that provided them with the engine. And no, the silly parts don't come from the novels (at least not for me, but I wonder which parts you are referring to).

 

[Ashmo]

Re: Owning

That's exactly why I hate the concept of intellectual property. Just because you buy the rights off a dying man doesn't mean there's any REAL relation between your ideas and his.

If you only want the rights to re-invent what you just bought the rights to, you shouldn't own the rights in the first place.

Gah. Even the craploads of PNP and forum RPGs that existed between FO2 and FO3 were closer to the spirit of Fallout.

But I have to agree. Yes. Beth has and IS "owning" Fallout. In the internet meme sense of the word.

 

[lugaru]

Troika would have been my number one choice but they are dead.

Yeah, in an "other developer living or dead" argument I would have loved to see Troikas take on it. It would have probably been like Vampire Bloodlines which was buggy and FPS oriented but it was also extremely good in terms of characters, dialog, options and design. It was a particularly kind game towards people who like to make characters who dont fight much, although it did contain a few insane and obligatory boss fights. Then again I could say "Black Isle studios"...

As for a Japanese Tactical I would not mind traveling to whatever strange alternate dimension where this gets made... and of course I would bring back Final Fallout Tactics Ogre for my DS. Shooting rad scorpions on my commute would be... rad.

BrotherNone: I dont see where we are disagreeing.

 

[Ausir]

Blizzard is another company whose name gets dropped in a lot and I would be interested to see what they would do with the IP. They have demonstrated that they can make Roguelikes, ARPGs (D2), and RTS games proficiently so I'd love to see them try their hand at a TB iso RPG. It's also a bit of a crap shoot but the end result would undoubtedly be popular and polished (WoW isn't a very good game but it's very addictive) if it's released.

And they have Leon Boyarsky.

I would also like to see a Fallout Tactics 2 made by Nival.

Yeah, in an "other developer living or dead" argument I would have loved to see Troikas take on it. It would have probably been like Vampire Bloodlines which was buggy and FPS oriented but it was also extremely good in terms of characters, dialog, options and design.

Actually, it would probably be more like Troika's canceled post-apocalyptic game.

 

[Brother None]

TW silly parts: sex cards and farcically "gritty" dialogue about dwarf penises.

Also, Frith I'd hate most of those companies getting it. Blizzard sticks to its formula well, yes, but it does so because it's a massively popular formula, not sure if they'd take on a TB-RPG. Valve? Pew-pew. BioWare? A Japanese dev? Gotta be kidding me.

InXile's previous game sucked but they're a tabula rasa enough despite the fact that prior to the JDA hiring they had shit-all to do with the Fallout IP.

Obsidian, with Troika dying, has been the only really valid option for aeons now, and that's where it's at now. If you pretend Fallout 3 doesn't exist it's actually pretty sweet, if you also forget NV will likely keep Fallout 3's core gameplay "concept"*.

BrotherNone: I dont see where we are disagreeing.

Your tone was accusatorily desultory.

* The quotation marks are present because I don't feel it's completely fair to apply the word "concept" to something that comes across as a bunch of random ideas thrown together

 

[Ausir]

TW silly parts: sex cards and farcically "gritty" dialogue about dwarf penises.

Sex in the witcher novels sure as hell wasn't as overdone as in the game. And I don't recall dwarf cocks being mentioned. And the dialogue in general felt like someone trying to do a bad impression of Sapkowski's language.