Races in Fallout 3

[Odin]

Well a thread about races in Fallout 3 and should we be able to start as different races has made some answers come out, Puuk aka Damien Foletto said this:<blockquote>....playing a ghoul, or super mutant, would result in a lot of prejudicial treatment by the smooth-skinned locals. It would definitely be a different playing experience. The player would have to carefully weigh how much emphasis he would put into his speech skills just to avoid getting in a lot of fights, or at least heavy emphasis on stealth skills. Also, not every human would instantly go homicidal on a ghoul or super mutant on first sight. In fact, a ghoul or super mutant might be able to use their scary appearance as an intimidation tool. Just because the PC is a ghoul or super mutant does not mean they must fight through the whole game; the player would just have to play strategically.</blockquote>So would having a different race make the Fallout storyline go down in flames? Actually I like the idea of having the choice of a different race. It certainly can make the story interesting and I don't see it corrupting the Fallout storyline since you would then probably be presented with a different view. JE also said this which indicated that this Fallout game would not revolve around a big major quest to get something (ala fed-ex quest):<blockquote>Maybe you don't actually start out in home sweet home. And maybe the whole primary plot doesn't revolve around a fed-ex quest to save your community.</blockquote>You can all read the entire thread right here.

 

[Malky]

....Hm...that would be interesting, and make for great replay value.

What if you could also choose your affiliations? Maybe you could be a police officer of a small town (somewhere like Junktown, or even go all the way and say someplace like San Francisco), a ruthless hitman for a gangster, or even a full fledged BOS guard? They could actually incorporate all of these into the game experience, just as they did in FO 2. Remember becoming a Ranger, or even a Raider? They should just put more emphasis on it, and more sidequests for each position. Maybe if you stuck with one position long enough, you could increase in your rank.

That would be really cool, although I doubt any of this will be in the game.

-Malky

 

[Odin]

Remember becoming a Ranger, or even a Raider?

Actually I always wanted to see more about those Rangers and more deserted places to explore. The Glow was one of my favorite places..

 

[[PCE]el_Prez]

i always wanted to join the raiders. I think it would be fun to have different groups like raiders, rangers, bos, hubologists that you need to do a quest for and then you can be a member. maybe each different group will teach you in a certain skill (i.e. hubologists: science, raiders: unarmed, rangers: outdoorsmanship).

 

[Chairface]

If they do include different races, something will have to be done to balance out humans at higher levels. In Fallout Tactics (not an RPG, granted, but the only Fallout game where non-humans were primary characters) the last few missions were impossible for anyone but humans to survive. Why? Because only humans could wear Power Armor and there was nothing even remotely comparable for other races. Deathclaws, ghouls and Super Mutants were all incredibly useful when you picked them up in the mid-game. But against the killer robots, the lack of proper armor was insurmountable.

Am I suggesting that Super Mutants and Deathclaws have power armor equivalents? No. Am I suggesting they get SOME armor? Yes. And it should be at least comparable to metal armor mk2, or possibly even combat armor. The lack of viable armor for ghouls was especially puzzling, as ghouls are at least human sized and human shaped, and one would think they could at least use most human armor...

If variant races are allowed, they need to be much better balanced than they were in Fallout Tactics. Super Mutants were basically useless once heavy weapons humans became available, because the only weapon too heavy for the heavy weapons humans is the Browning M2 .50 cal machinegun. And it's too heavy for even the strongest super mutants to lug around, with reasonable amounts of ammunition and supplementary gear like medkits. Super Mutants' lowered agility also crippled them, as SPECIAL puts too much emphasis on agility. Compound it all with their low intellect (and thus few skill points) and lack of meaningful armor and you see why they just weren't worth having around.

Ghouls had much the opposite problem, they were too powerful in a very limited role. FOT Ghouls had generally very high perception. A ghoul with a sniping rifle or even a gauss rifle was absolutely devastating in the mid-game, provided he was kept away from danger. Outside of sniper/bomb tech/medic/other high-perception situations, ghouls were totally useless.

 

[DarkShade1989]

My thought on races:

Since ghouls and super mutants were both mutations of humans, I think it should be possible for the player to change into them.

For example, the player might be exposed to a fairly low level of radiation. The player writes it off, thinking it's nothing serious. They would start noticing changes after prolonged exposure. These would eventually lead to the mutation into a ghoul.

Well, that's my 2 caps

 

[Chaoticlandraider^]

nice idea DarkShade1989 although i reckon there should be a way to stop the process say with a hell of alot of radaway..incase the player is someone who really doesnt want to become one.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

My big problem with that is how it would be done.. I mean, who the hell would want to be a ghoul? How can you possibly have the motivation to become a necrotic, radiated freak?

I can see the Supermutant thing so long as you agree with the Master's points on the subject of humanity's ills.. but.. The Master's dead. You'd be over 80 years too late to get in on that seminar.

 

[Chairface]

I'd love being a ghoul. That's what I play in Fallout P&P. But they'll have to balance em better.

 

[Odin]

My big problem with that is how it would be done..

I'm also quite curious about this..

I mean, who the hell would want to be a ghoul? How can you possibly have the motivation to become a necrotic, radiated freak?

I'd like it more if you can become a ghoul/Mutant or some other race rather than have your starting character be a ghoul/mutant. It's a nice twist tho, your choices in the game could result in becoming something you'd like or not like.

One thing that also comes to mind when looking at this is, if your character has been exposed to alot of radiation, should you get a permanent "disability" because of that ? ie more perception, less perception etc.. That's something I'd like to see..

 

[Malky]

One thing that also comes to mind when looking at this is, if your character has been exposed to alot of radiation, should you get a permanent "disability" because of that ? ie more perception, less perception etc.. That's something I'd like to see..

...Yes, but I really suck at video games...that would be a pain in the ass for me, because I would always be loading and saving...eheheh...



-Malky

 

[atoga]

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