Ron Burke answers Fallout 3 questions

[Tannhauser]

Ron Burke, who wrote one of the better previews of the E3 Fallout 3 demo, has been answering Fallout 3 questions on the Bethesda Game Studios Forums.<blockquote>The behemoth creature - how huge and did he 'break' that house as he came into view or was that coincidence?
I was furiously typing and didn't see if he busted the building. Given some of the new tech in the engine though, I wouldn't doubt it. If I recall correctly I'd estimate he was 30+ feet tall.

We know that we can tune in to old songs with the PIPboy, but how was the soundtrack outside of that? Was it ambient electronic like the older games, or perhaps orchestral?
We only heard a few songs. If I recall correctly, there was an orchestral track when we went into town, but I'm not 100% sure. The combat music was upbeat but not electronic. I talked about the licensed tracks above.

Was the encounter with the brotherhood soldiers realistic? How did the soldiers move and act etc?
They took cover, displaced, and popped over the walls to fire at the enemies. It was likely scripted, but it looked good. Certainly better than the "Rush forward and be slain!" AI moments in Oblivion.

Do you know if there is any Oblivion style "quest compass" in place?
Ooooh...Good question! I'll have to follow up. I seem to recall their being a HUD of sorts in the bottom right that had several arrows on a compass. I'll have to consult my hastily scribbled notes and/or ask the developers for the answer on that one.</blockquote>If you have any lingering questions about Fallout 3 that might have been answered in the demo, here is a chance to have them answered.

Link: "I was at the demo - questions?" thread at the BSGF.

 

[xdarkyrex]

Okay, I'm really looking forward to this game, but there are a few things I don't want to hear.

Quest compass is one of them.

I HATE that shit.

Orchestral music? that worries me, but I'm willing to wait and hear it first.

Oh and actually, the behemoth being 30+ feet tall makes it seems pretty plausible that he could survive a mini-nuke.... so I guess that explains that.


I hope that they do bother to make tactical AI for the brotherhood and raiders.

 

[Makenshi]

Oh and actually, the behemoth being 30+ feet tall makes it seems pretty plausible that he could survive a mini-nuke.... so I guess that explains that.

You have to be kidding! A nuke, be it hand held or not, desintegrates to atomic level! Nothing should survive it's blast goddamnit! Maybe, just maybe, die without being 100% desintegrated, but survive... HELL NO!!!

And please, no one tell me that the idea of a hand held nuke having less power than a conventional means it won't desintegrate whatever that is in it's radius, nor that all this crazyness is 50's! The 50's vision of the future may be anything less than retarded, they KNEW a nuke IS a nuke, and what it's supposed to do, no matter the size.

 

[pnutz]

Oh and actually, the behemoth being 30+ feet tall makes it seems pretty plausible that he could survive a mini-nuke.... so I guess that explains that.

He survived 4 mini-nukes. It took 5 to kill him.

 

[Black]

I wonder what kind of super mutant it is, this behemot. Was Frank 30+ feet tall?

Average super mutants stand approximately 3.2 meters tall and weigh around 360 kg.

I'f I'm not mistaken, behemot is ~3 times taller.
Can we expect more bosses at the end of every level? Bonus stages?

 

[Zero Pike]

The rediculous-ness of whats being said I don't know why they just don't make Fallout the Side Scrolling shooter.

 

[lisac2k]

I was furiously typing and didn't see

If I recall correctly

but I'm not 100% sure

I seem to recall

I'll have to consult my hastily scribbled notes

I'd rather to hear something new from someone else.

Part with the BoS was clear, though.

 

[Mentats]

Hello,

Regarding questions related to the Fallout 3 E3 Demo.
I only have 400 bottle caps, so I'll give you a hundred for each question series I ask, fair? I'm more interested to hear the vocal information given by Todd Howard & Goons AS they are playing the demo.

1. Does he/they (Tod + Goons) have any mention of gambling, prostitutes, or stealing?

(hands over 100 bottle caps)

2. Is there any mention of the type of NPC's you may have as allies?
(ex. Dogs, Super Mutants, Ghouls, Robots, Wood Elves?)

(hands over another 100 bottle caps)

3. Since Fallout has been a sequel, a not so fallout-y game and a disaster piece. Is there any reason to believe this game is capable of having an expansion pack?

(regrettably hands over 100 more bottle caps)

4. Will Mentats still be in the game?!?!?!?!

(hands over the last remaining 100 bottle caps and scratches his head)

=) MenTaTs (=

 

[Joe Kremlin]

I think you should post this in the Bethesda Forums thread...

 

[junkevil]

I'd rather to hear something new from someone else.

Part with the BoS was clear, though.

oh, you should find someone else that will answer questions about f3 that was at e3 then. i'm sure with your award-winning personality you should have no problem making those contacts.

btw: the q&a he did at the bethsoft forums was actually pretty good and yielded a nice amount of relevant info.

 

[lisac2k]

oh, you should find someone else that will answer questions about f3 that was at e3 then. i'm sure with your award-winning personality you should have no problem making those contacts.

Now, that made me laugh. However, my comment was more kind of mockery about today's gaming journalism than judging Ron to death sentence.

btw: the q&a he did at the bethsoft forums was actually pretty good and yielded a nice amount of relevant info.

Agree, though I didn't see this the first time... I'm just reading it, nice thread.

EDIT: There still seems to be many uncertain points regarding the demo/game. Anyway, good thing someone decided to start answering questions.

 

[Per]

btw: the q&a he did at the bethsoft forums was actually pretty good and yielded a nice amount of relevant info.

It's still somewhat boggling that a journalist should hold a Q&A session about what he's trying to remember on the developer's own forum.

 

[Mura]

The dialog tree (the one I referenced in the writeup) had multiple options, showing the full text of what you say (although you have no voiceover of course). In the demo there were a few instances where there were more than one option for those 'shades of gray' dialog choices, as well as a few that required a roll in the background (they had a <29> or the like next to them to give you an idea of your chances).

Actually, that doesn't sound to bad, having serveral "shades of grey" options.


Edit:

about exploding cars:

Like an exploding barrel full of gasoline (large fireball, quick dissipation - let's not talk about why I know that. ehhehe) Again, I suspect that this was to demonstrate the new particle effects (and damn they are pretty) more than anything - I don't think the world of Fallout 3 is going to look like a used car lot with cars just waiting to explode.

Really doesn't sound to bad at all.

 

[Killzig]

again, really disliking the gears of war influence on the super mutants. the behemoth (and any other mindless console type mini-bosses) can and will be modded out of the game. I thought someone said we could help the Super Mutants against the Slavers? Up to now they've been portrayed as just big scary monsters for the ka-boom'ing. Boring.

 

[Seraphim Pwns U]

Really doesn't sound to bad at all.

Agreed.... after reading that Q&A, I'm no longer 'whole heartedly pessimistic' anymore... more like 'cautiously neutral, while still scratching my head on a few issues'.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Really doesn't sound to bad at all.

What doesn't sounds bad? The fact that MAYBE (remember MAYBE since he's just making assumptions) they won't be so retarded as to make every car explode in a mushroom cloud?

 

[GamingTrend]

Oh and actually, the behemoth being 30+ feet tall makes it seems pretty plausible that he could survive a mini-nuke.... so I guess that explains that.

You have to be kidding! A nuke, be it hand held or not, desintegrates to atomic level! Nothing should survive it's blast goddamnit! Maybe, just maybe, die without being 100% desintegrated, but survive... HELL NO!!!

And please, no one tell me that the idea of a hand held nuke having less power than a conventional means it won't desintegrate whatever that is in it's radius, nor that all this crazyness is 50's! The 50's vision of the future may be anything less than retarded, they KNEW a nuke IS a nuke, and what it's supposed to do, no matter the size.

I'm opting out of any more nuke balance discussions. It's bad for my sanity.

 

[GamingTrend]

I was furiously typing and didn't see

If I recall correctly

but I'm not 100% sure

I seem to recall

I'll have to consult my hastily scribbled notes

I'd rather to hear something new from someone else.

Part with the BoS was clear, though.

Can't see the point of this other than to insult me, but I'm more than happy to answer questions. Given that we weren't allowed to record, I can't be 100% sure on some of my answers.

 

[GamingTrend]

1. Does he/they (Tod + Goons) have any mention of gambling, prostitutes, or stealing?

(hands over 100 bottle caps)

I REALLY wanted to record at least the audio to replay (it'd have saved my fingers typing all that out) but he didn't mention gambling, prostitutes, or stealing. I'd guess stealing would be easy as it was already instituted in Oblivion. *shrug*

2. Is there any mention of the type of NPC's you may have as allies?
(ex. Dogs, Super Mutants, Ghouls, Robots, Wood Elves?)

(hands over another 100 bottle caps)

He mentioned that you would have companions, but we didn't see any or get any specific info on who / what they'd be.

3. Since Fallout has been a sequel, a not so fallout-y game and a disaster piece. Is there any reason to believe this game is capable of having an expansion pack?

(regrettably hands over 100 more bottle caps)

Given Bethesda's track record, I'd expect it.

4. Will Mentats still be in the game?!?!?!?!

(hands over the last remaining 100 bottle caps and scratches his head)

=) MenTaTs (=

Absolutely! I believe I saw a pack of them early on. Todd remarked that for demos he likes to put crazy things in mailboxes like ammo, drugs, and money and then proceeded to grab the same out of a nearby mailbox.

 

[GamingTrend]

btw: the q&a he did at the bethsoft forums was actually pretty good and yielded a nice amount of relevant info.

It's still somewhat boggling that a journalist should hold a Q&A session about what he's trying to remember on the developer's own forum.

Further proving the "Can't please some of the people any of the time" mentality. Would you rather just have questions and no answers? I'm doing my best here...