The latest issue of PC Gamer UK, now on subscribers' doormats, has a long, 10-page spread on Fallout 3. The basic outline is the same as what GameInformer brought us, and their screenshots are again the same. Still, some choice quotes:<blockquote>The comparisons between this early scene and that of Oblivion won't be lost on Bethesda, developers of both games, nor their divided fan-base. Rarely can a game announcement have been met with such vitriol. The Fallout name is such a sacred cow that amers decried with spittle-flecked rants Bethesda's acquisition of the rights to develop a third in the series. Fears of trite quests, repetitious dialogue and a bland world ran rife among the online chatterati. But they haven't seen what I've seen.
(...)
"There's an undertone of pulp sci-fi adventure," says Todd of the Fallout world. "It's not Mad Max post-apocalyptic future, it's a 1950s tomorrow land...it's how they imagine the world would be."
(...)
[on character creation/tutorial] "We wanted people to experience something they've never had in a role-playing game before," explains Emil Pagliarulo, Fallout 3's Lead Designer and evidently its creative visionary. "In most games you start out at a certain point; you never get to develop your character through the course of his or her life. We wanted to show you what it's like to grow up in the Vault so we start at the point of your birth. You get to know the people in the Vault, including your dad."
(...)
[on selecting Liam Neeson] "We were daydreaming about who would be good as your father," says Todd. "We just thought Liam Neeson would be perfect... We asked him, and he said yes."
But isn't it a bit of a publicity stunt - especially as this was the first snippet of information released about the game? "We could have had a perfectly good voice actor who isn't famous, and I suppose there is a marketing thing to it," admits Todd. "But regardless, he's a seriously good actor. He understands the role completely and has an incredible professional attitude. (...)"
(...)
Emil again: "it's a shock when you find out your dad is missing, and the Overseer [the chief of the Vault] is pissed off. He thinks you had something to do with it and he sends his thugs after you. The Vault is no longer safe for you. In addition to you wanting to find your dad, you're under pressure to get out..."
(...)
Todd warms to the theme. "In Oblivion, we say, here's the good part of the game and here's the evil part. In Fallout we say, here's the situation. You deal with it in ways that feel natural to your character... Later on, we realised a lot of the quests we were making were morally grey, neither definably good nor evil. We asked, do they need to be clear? And decided, no, definitely not."
"We want people to agonise over things," adds Emil, a glint in his eye. "For things not to be clear."
It all sounds dangerously like actual roleplaying. And it's tied in with Fallout 3's character development system, which fans of the original will find happily familiar. The big difference between it and Oblivion's is that you will never become an all-round everyman in Fallout [3], skilled in most things.
(...)
Ah, the weapons. Drawing heavily from the original, we'll be reunited with a host of old friends; from the super sledgehammer, simple pistol and rifles like AK47-alikes, plasma guns and the monstrous Fat man (...) You'll occasionally find or be able to buy schematics for new and unusual toys which can then be built using parts scavenged from the world. The best example of this is the Rock-It-Launcher: a jerry-built projectile lobber that can fire rocks - or any junk you may have clogging up your inventory.
(...)
[On VATS] The VATS system is a reflection of the old Fallout targeting system, which allowed a very similar level of detail and strategic thought (...) Once your orders are selected [in paused mode], up to a maximum governed by your action points, real time continues, with your actions rewarded with slow-motion close-ups if you score a particularly ugly killing blow.
(...)
[sheriff Lucas Simms of Megaton] He's cautiously friendly, but warns you what'll happen if you misbehave in his town. A good man doing a tough job? Or a self-important egotist living out his cowboy dreams? (...) you'll start to realise there are hidden depths to many of Fallout 3's characters.
(...)
[on NPCs] I certainly didn't see anything repeated, anything out of character, or anything that broke the consistent, convincing atmosphere - all complaints that have been leveled at Bethesda's previous works. Lucas is a good example of what Bethesda are aiming to do with NPCs: make them more subtle, less obvious, more human.
(...)
[options on Megaton's quest] You could ignore him and keep pursuing your dad. You could say you'll do it, then rat him out to the sheriff. You could say you won't, then do it anyway, just to piss off everyone. The upshot is that, a couple of hours into the game, you could be standing on a rooftop watching a town and its inhabitants being atomised... or you could still be there, doing odd jobs and getting pally with the lunatic who worships the bomb as a god.
(...)
[side-bar text] A higher charisma score gives more chat options.</blockquote>It strikes me how easy it is to imply now that Oblivion wasn't "actual roleplaying", or how the press recognizes issues with Oblivion's NPCs only now.
PC Gamer UK's cover shows what some suspected; the already emblematic BoS soldier is holding a laser rifle:
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Thanks to Moribundus for helping us get a look at the article.
(...)
"There's an undertone of pulp sci-fi adventure," says Todd of the Fallout world. "It's not Mad Max post-apocalyptic future, it's a 1950s tomorrow land...it's how they imagine the world would be."
(...)
[on character creation/tutorial] "We wanted people to experience something they've never had in a role-playing game before," explains Emil Pagliarulo, Fallout 3's Lead Designer and evidently its creative visionary. "In most games you start out at a certain point; you never get to develop your character through the course of his or her life. We wanted to show you what it's like to grow up in the Vault so we start at the point of your birth. You get to know the people in the Vault, including your dad."
(...)
[on selecting Liam Neeson] "We were daydreaming about who would be good as your father," says Todd. "We just thought Liam Neeson would be perfect... We asked him, and he said yes."
But isn't it a bit of a publicity stunt - especially as this was the first snippet of information released about the game? "We could have had a perfectly good voice actor who isn't famous, and I suppose there is a marketing thing to it," admits Todd. "But regardless, he's a seriously good actor. He understands the role completely and has an incredible professional attitude. (...)"
(...)
Emil again: "it's a shock when you find out your dad is missing, and the Overseer [the chief of the Vault] is pissed off. He thinks you had something to do with it and he sends his thugs after you. The Vault is no longer safe for you. In addition to you wanting to find your dad, you're under pressure to get out..."
(...)
Todd warms to the theme. "In Oblivion, we say, here's the good part of the game and here's the evil part. In Fallout we say, here's the situation. You deal with it in ways that feel natural to your character... Later on, we realised a lot of the quests we were making were morally grey, neither definably good nor evil. We asked, do they need to be clear? And decided, no, definitely not."
"We want people to agonise over things," adds Emil, a glint in his eye. "For things not to be clear."
It all sounds dangerously like actual roleplaying. And it's tied in with Fallout 3's character development system, which fans of the original will find happily familiar. The big difference between it and Oblivion's is that you will never become an all-round everyman in Fallout [3], skilled in most things.
(...)
Ah, the weapons. Drawing heavily from the original, we'll be reunited with a host of old friends; from the super sledgehammer, simple pistol and rifles like AK47-alikes, plasma guns and the monstrous Fat man (...) You'll occasionally find or be able to buy schematics for new and unusual toys which can then be built using parts scavenged from the world. The best example of this is the Rock-It-Launcher: a jerry-built projectile lobber that can fire rocks - or any junk you may have clogging up your inventory.
(...)
[On VATS] The VATS system is a reflection of the old Fallout targeting system, which allowed a very similar level of detail and strategic thought (...) Once your orders are selected [in paused mode], up to a maximum governed by your action points, real time continues, with your actions rewarded with slow-motion close-ups if you score a particularly ugly killing blow.
(...)
[sheriff Lucas Simms of Megaton] He's cautiously friendly, but warns you what'll happen if you misbehave in his town. A good man doing a tough job? Or a self-important egotist living out his cowboy dreams? (...) you'll start to realise there are hidden depths to many of Fallout 3's characters.
(...)
[on NPCs] I certainly didn't see anything repeated, anything out of character, or anything that broke the consistent, convincing atmosphere - all complaints that have been leveled at Bethesda's previous works. Lucas is a good example of what Bethesda are aiming to do with NPCs: make them more subtle, less obvious, more human.
(...)
[options on Megaton's quest] You could ignore him and keep pursuing your dad. You could say you'll do it, then rat him out to the sheriff. You could say you won't, then do it anyway, just to piss off everyone. The upshot is that, a couple of hours into the game, you could be standing on a rooftop watching a town and its inhabitants being atomised... or you could still be there, doing odd jobs and getting pally with the lunatic who worships the bomb as a god.
(...)
[side-bar text] A higher charisma score gives more chat options.</blockquote>It strikes me how easy it is to imply now that Oblivion wasn't "actual roleplaying", or how the press recognizes issues with Oblivion's NPCs only now.
PC Gamer UK's cover shows what some suspected; the already emblematic BoS soldier is holding a laser rifle:
<center>
Thanks to Moribundus for helping us get a look at the article.
