J.E. Sawyer once again made a number of slightly interesting posts (though nothing to blow your hat off). Here're some tidbits.
J.E. on character appearance:
<blockquote>I am a firm believer that male characters should have a "greaser" hairstyle option and females should have a "beehive" hairstyle option.</blockquote>
J.E. about some skills:
<blockquote>That's the skill breakdown I wanted from the beginning: Mechanics, Medic, Outdoorsman, Science. I was previously overruled on that decision, but, unlike war, some things do change.</blockquote>
And in response to Morcalavin asking if Mechanics = Repair:
<blockquote>Yes, but not limited to just repairing things.</blockquote>
And last, J.E. about balancing skills in a thread NMA news poster Dan posted about earlier:
<blockquote>Whether you have one gun skill, eight gun skills, or something in-between, the skill is only, at BEST, as powerful as the best tool useable by that skill. System balance with skills can be difficult to frame properly if that skill requires the use of a tool. People often forget that the extent to which people can use the skill is limited by their available tools. Big Guns with no big guns is worthless. Big Guns with a big gun and no ammo? Also worthless.
I've stated previously that the great abundance of ammunition (especially of the high end types) in the previous two Fallout games both 1) made the firearm skills have all the benefits with no drawbacks and 2) detracted from the wasteland feel of the world. You can throw a punch or a kick anytime. You can use one baseball bat to kill eighteen radscorpions. There shouldn't be sources of endlessly replenishing .50 and 2mm EC ammo so characters can burst with machineguns and fire supersonic slugs whenever they want, without any concern for what they're doing.
EDIT: Have you tried playing Fallout 2 with an unarmed character? For a good portion of the game, it's extremely useful. And once you get the Mega-Power fist, that can take you through the rest of the game. It's the intermediate phase where it becomes difficult. Fallout 2 goes from NO firearm and NO ammo in the beginning to a glut of it by the halfway point.</blockquote>
J.E. on character appearance:
<blockquote>I am a firm believer that male characters should have a "greaser" hairstyle option and females should have a "beehive" hairstyle option.</blockquote>
J.E. about some skills:
<blockquote>That's the skill breakdown I wanted from the beginning: Mechanics, Medic, Outdoorsman, Science. I was previously overruled on that decision, but, unlike war, some things do change.</blockquote>
And in response to Morcalavin asking if Mechanics = Repair:
<blockquote>Yes, but not limited to just repairing things.</blockquote>
And last, J.E. about balancing skills in a thread NMA news poster Dan posted about earlier:
<blockquote>Whether you have one gun skill, eight gun skills, or something in-between, the skill is only, at BEST, as powerful as the best tool useable by that skill. System balance with skills can be difficult to frame properly if that skill requires the use of a tool. People often forget that the extent to which people can use the skill is limited by their available tools. Big Guns with no big guns is worthless. Big Guns with a big gun and no ammo? Also worthless.
I've stated previously that the great abundance of ammunition (especially of the high end types) in the previous two Fallout games both 1) made the firearm skills have all the benefits with no drawbacks and 2) detracted from the wasteland feel of the world. You can throw a punch or a kick anytime. You can use one baseball bat to kill eighteen radscorpions. There shouldn't be sources of endlessly replenishing .50 and 2mm EC ammo so characters can burst with machineguns and fire supersonic slugs whenever they want, without any concern for what they're doing.
EDIT: Have you tried playing Fallout 2 with an unarmed character? For a good portion of the game, it's extremely useful. And once you get the Mega-Power fist, that can take you through the rest of the game. It's the intermediate phase where it becomes difficult. Fallout 2 goes from NO firearm and NO ammo in the beginning to a glut of it by the halfway point.</blockquote>
