Todd answers 25 questions

[Ausir]

There were no UFOs in FO2, only in FO1. The "aliens" or "wanamingos" in FO2 weren't extra-terrestials, just some genetic engineering gone wrong.

 

[Nim82]

I sort of agree with Todd regarding descriptions, in a modern FPS if a scene needs a descriptor then the artist and sound guys have failed.

Take the following example: A room full of rotting/stinking corpses. In F1 the descriptor would probably describe: 'the putrid stench, flies buzzing around, puddles of oozing blood, etc'. In F3 they can actually have flies buzzing around, blood running into pools and suitable ambient/locational sounds. They still can't emulate smell, but the VFX/SFX possible these days are more than adequate at getting the message across (to anyone with an imagination).

The above goes for character descriptors too, in F1 the descriptor would describe someone 'walking with a limp, missing an eye, etc' - These are all equally do-able in game now. That being said, will they live up to the challenge? Oblivion failed big time and had some of the dullest most uninspired locations I can recall, not to mention lazy character design (giving Argonians human walk cycles for instance).

Overall, quite an informative Q/A, kudos to Todd for actually going into depth on many issues - I must admit I was expecting short 'Pete-esque' answers. It doesn't really change my overall stance on F3, but I did like some of the answers. This should also (finally) silence those who still claim ISO is possible 'cos it has 3rd person view

 

[Celluloid]

Well, having read the Q&A, I don't really know what to think.
A lot of things seem nicer than what was known...

It looks like he really want to point the fact that's it's closer on many aspects to Fallout, not Oblivion.
Still, on quests and how to resolve them ... I don't know what to think.
The problem is see is that ( IMHO) Emil seems to have a strong personality and - maybe due to its position - somehow an inflated ego.
And whatever are his writing skills, I would not like to be forcefed his vision of the story and that's it.
They are still a lot of grey areas on how you can complete the game without, if it's your wish, having minimum fights besides special encounters.


But the main problem is still VATS. Ok, the picture is getting clearer. Aimed shoot with pause, you can stack your attacks, as if you were making a sort of "combo" as long as you have APs.
But :
1) the fact you can't do nothing else in VATS mode means you'll have to be really fast to equip stimpacks, reload, change weapon in RT.
It really make it action oriented, like in Bioshock, when you barely have the time to use a medikit, while changing the active plasmid, while recharging your Eve, while strafing to avoid the Big Daddy "charge", all of that required at the same time ...


2) I would see the exact same benefits and drawbacks of the Max Payne bullet time.
It's cool, but a bit too powerful because you can so easily dispatch your enemies.
Sometimes, difficulty is so hard that staying in RT is a completely suicidal and you HAVE to use the bullet-time but then ... it's too easy.
I remembered some parts of Max Payne 2 when I was getting bored over the fact to constantly switch between bullet-time and non bullet-time.
This continuous back-and-forth between the two.
And I see it coming BIG with VATS.


3) How come an aimed shot in VATS would always be a HIT ?
It's nonsense !
If I try a aimed shot at the head with a low success chance, there is no way I will always hit the torso or the arm or the leg... There is more room to "lodge" the bullet in anywhere but the enemy !
If it is so (aimed shot = always a hit), what happened to "critical failures" ?

 

[xu]

You can try, but it’s not meant to be played that way, because you still have to aim at the center of the screen, and at that point, the center is the ground.

3rd person view - check.
The point in the 3rd person view - none

 

[Celluloid]

@xu> yeah, that was a pretty lame part of the answer. "3rd person view sucks cause you will always look at the ground and so bump into things. No, we don't think free look is a viable option in 3rd person view. Won't implement." ...

 

[TheVaultKeeper]

There were no UFOs in FO2, only in FO1. The "aliens" or "wanamingos" in FO2 weren't extra-terrestials, just some genetic engineering gone wrong.

Ah - so that special encounter was FO1 then. I did find it once but it was so long ago that I must have forgotten which game it was in. The nasty wanamingos aren't alien - I know, I know.

 

[BlockStacker]

3) How come an aimed shot in VATS would always be a HIT ?
It's nonsense !
If I try a aimed shot at the head with a low success chance, there is no way I will always hit the torso or the arm or the leg... There is more room to "lodge" the bullet in anywhere but the enemy !
If it is so (aimed shot = always a hit), what happened to "critical failures" ?

I read that part of the interview as meaning that the engine roll a dice for success on hitting the body part you're aiming at, and if you fail that roll then the engine sends the bullet in some semi-random direction. So if you aim for the head and miss, the bullet will probably whiz past the head, but it might also hit the torso.

I actually think this method could be more realistic than the originals. In the original, if you missed the eyes, you never hit the head, for instance.

 

[Morbus]

In regards to that quote in the newspost, here's my personal opinion. Any Bethesdians reading it, can you please forward it to Todd?

This is unbelieveably stupid. Unless you can find ways to convey the smell, texture of surface or state of the object in a graphical way, don't post such nonsense.

Text was, is and always will be the most effective way of conveying information. Especially since graphics can only present how the object looks, not how it feels or smells.

That's not the issue. Fallout is about P&P feel. So there HAS to be some sort of dungeon master or game master. No description box, no master. Besides, Ron Perlman, the game master, at the beginning of the game, DOESN'T know the player will leave the vault (read the intro), so this proves bethesda completely missed the point. Completely and utterly missed it.

Also, drugs and addictions are in.

Not downside effects for their immediate usage though. That's stupid. You use some sort of amphetamine, you have downtrades immediately. You use sedatives, downtrades all the way. Some sort of hallucinogenic? Then again... It just doesn't seem to happen in FOE.

 

[TheVaultKeeper]

That's not the issue. Fallout is about P&P feel. So there HAS to be some sort of dungeon master or game master. No description box, no master. Besides, Ron Perlman, the game master, at the beginning of the game, DOESN'T know the player will leave the vault (read the intro), so this proves bethesda completely missed the point. Completely and utterly missed it.

I believe that with P&P you can choose to view "the dungeon master" as either "the game master" or as a medium. The graphical presentation is just an extension of the "medium" version IMHO.

 

[radnan]

i dont agree with todd

bioshock had a description system only it was very brief. more detail would have been lovely. but it does work and makes the enviroment seem richer and with purpose

 

[El_Smacko]

Yay, they picked the only really good question I asked.

Still, not really satisfied with the answer. Seems like there's no "oops said the wrong thing and now everyone wants to kill me". Sure it was aggrivating in Fallout, but it made for a better and more unique (and immersive to be honest) game.

 

[globbi]

The question quoted in newspost is shocking to me.
"I liked the discription, they were really cool, will they be in?"
"No, you are wrong, it sucks, it won't be there"
And Todd, it sucked in Oblivion becouse of quality, not because there were descriptions!

Also, this looks like they simply screwed combat.

2. Is combat playable in the zoomed out third person ("almost iso") perspective and how will VATS work from it, meaning - will it zoom into FP or something else? [kaos]

I’d have to say “no”. Combat’s not really playable when you zoom the camera all the way back and point it down. You can try, but it’s not meant to be played that way, because you still have to aim at the center of the screen, and at that point, the center is the ground. It’s playable from 1st and 3rd person, but closer-in over-the-shoulder 3rd person. Regarding VATS., it does zoom in on your target, from your eyes, so I guess you’d say it is a “1st person” view. So if you’re playing in 3rd person and enter VATS, you zoom in on the target, and when you’re done, it flips back to your 3rd person view. It happens pretty fast and it’s smooth. I kind of see VATS as its own view.

They added the 3rd person view so that they can now say it's like Fallout and the VAULT-TECH WIZARDS MADE IT!!! but the FPP view is the only right view.

 

[Dracon M'Alkir]

4. Because so many of us still don't understand, could you describe VATS in painstaking detail? No really, please! [Waterchip]

Zip! Simplified.

Vats is coolstuffs, like bullet trackers in Deer Hunter, slow motion gibbing, and blood! Awesome! You have no idea, like the replays make you feel so proud of yourself for killing someone, it's like AWESOME, bet ya'll like it after you shoot an orc in the head!

I'm kind of upset at Todd.

He's got the zeal of a console gamer, but he's in charge of a major development house, which is.. like.. every gamer's dream come true, but a nightmare for anyone that isn't into the entire Xbox/Halo ideology.

9. Will you have the written descriptions of items or just the visual? Granted, the visuals work just fine for me, but I loved the descriptions from the earlier Fallouts about how nasty the bed looks or whatever. Will there be something like our beloved text box anywhere in the main HUD? [anonymous]

We just show the object name, like “nasty bed”, but in general, I think if we’re relying on text to describe how something looks, sounds, etc, then we screwed up not having that come across naturally with what the player is seeing. It annoys me whenever we have to resort to describing something like that, even in Oblivion, with, say a journal describing how I feel or what I am seeing…it should just happen naturally.

Very dissapointed with the questions overall.

 

[Sorrow]

Not to mention the caravan girl in the Hub...

 

[Kyuu]

but a nightmare for anyone that isn't into the entire Xbox/Halo ideology.

What the hell is the "Halo ideology" and what does it have to do with Bethesda's take on Fallout 3?

God, just because Halo has become immensely popular, and has tons of stupid jerks who like to play it on Xbox Live while shouting obscenities in their 12 year-old prepubescent voices, it's become everyone's whipping boy, as though it's responsible for every poor game design decision.

 

[quietfanatic]

I thank Todd for sharing. Little on canon destruction and many answers could be clearer, but that is unsurprising. Combat, interface and setting look poor, but choice, consequences and dialogue sound very good.

Looks like they might overpower melee before even getting to technological enhancement.

Not being able to fight in 3PP is annoying, but one would probably be forced into 1st via V.A.T.S. anyway, although I don't see why it appears we can't do that constantly. I expected RT AP consumption but other actions should take AP too.

And that’s the key “behind the scenes” difference between VATS and real-time, in real-time the bullets just go-where-they-go, based on your skill, the gun, and some randomness. We don’t calculate a hit-chance and roll dice against it.

That is not particularly clear. Whose skill, the player's? That would very bad. I was arguing before that they would use a consistent dice based system, but this seems to contradict that. Does he mean that they dispense with cover, distance and location modifiers, and use base character skill, or that they use a separate randomisation/accuracy system to temper hand-eye coordination (such as shakiness)? It looks like the latter unfortunately, so there goes RPG combat. Missing with aiming and having a chance of hitting something else should apply without V.A.T.S. as well. No mention of critical failures. The slow motion still looks annoying.

Flavor consequences could lead to meaningless alternatives. The work on alternative approaches and dialogue looks very encouraging.

Don't really like the loss of five character points, but the effect will depend on their formulae. It implies they might retain Gifted.

Fleshed out NPC's are good.

I hope faction reps are well integrated, but that seems sensible.

I am very sad to see the loss of the text box, but that is not surprising with their huge interest in crazy graphical detail before good writing. It diminishes written humour and hurts the P&P feel. They could get NPC's to comment on things, but I doubt it.

Looks like A.I. really will see considerable improvement.

Addiction is good, and I expect there will be immediate negative effects too.

We already knew about the quest compass.

Obvious foreshadowing looks like a likely flaw, but they might not always telegraph every consequence to the player 50 years ahead of time. We can only hope the target audience is not the moronic teenage male.

Less linear story arcs are good.

The effort going into dialogue looks very encouraging, but I guess the writing will still be poor. They should really have primary statistic checks rather than just skill checks, such as intelligence and perception.

Emil doesn't seam to be able to write particularly well, so I don't have the highest expectations.

Looks like they will have some sex, but probably not much and probably clumsily implemented.

I would really like the traditional ending slides, so I hope they are implementing them. I fear that they might rely too much on karma, but they probably won't.

Slightly more positive than negative all up, but again, it doesn't really explain disregarding the setting and they might not be pulling off what they aim to.

 

[maximaz]

as for VATS itself, i find it a joke... first he tells us that VATS is real time with special actions. then he tells us that you're real time, your enemies are slowmo and the world is paused?

make up your mind...

then he goes on to say damage on you is nerfed from enemies hitting you while in VATS play mode, and with the reason that it was annoying when watching the slowmo sequence? funny how 'looking really cool' takes precedence over actual GAMEPLAY. thanks Toddler.

I think you misunderstood him or maybe I misunderstood you. I think he is talking about just the cinematics during VATS. VATS is not really a combat mode, it's just a special aiming system you can use if you have enough AP. Enemies cannot attack you back while in VATS, it's always your turn. When you enter it, everything freezes completely, but when you actually make a move, during the playback of that move, everything starts moving: you move in real time, your enemies move real slow and the world is paused.

So while you're in the process of actually pulling the trigger at someone, if someone else is hitting you say from behind, they do it really slowly, and if they do connect, the damage is minimal so that you don't sit there and watch the playback while your character is being beaten to death by someone.

If they had the game execute your actions in real time, the enemies could get behind cover while you lift your gun and pull the trigger, which would look stupid if you still hit them where you were aiming. So they have to use slow mo. They could have everything pause, including the NPC's, but then everyone would be frozen and your character would make a shot after shot, since it's not turn based, and it would make no sense and look weird.

VATS, with slow mo is the only thing they can do without creating a new alternative combat system. They decided on real time combat system and this is the only thing that the system will allow without a lot more work. Slow mo and decreased damage are the tools to cut corners to make the system operational. It makes no sense that PC is damaged less, it's just a lazy solution to a problem with the system. That's one thing that can potentially ruin this game. There were a ton of things in Oblivion that had great potential but were implemented with so many cut corners and overall "it's good enough" attitude that they turned out like shit. We'll see i guess.

 

[hatchen]

MATURE CONTENT

12. Will we see anything similar to the sexual encounters possible in both of the earlier Fallout games? The first 2 games had all of that but they kept their ratings by fading out (as did Fable). There was one quest in F2 where you could lose a bet and end up as a supermutant's toy for the night (you got to keep the ball gag as a gift). Can we expect that kind of adult content? [anonymous]

Actual player goes off and has sex? Not right now, but if a situation called for it, I wouldn’t flinch at adding it with the fade-out. We did that in Daggerfall using the fade out. We actually did paintings for the scene and it never made it in Daggerfall, but I still have the paintings. In regards to adding a supermutant rendezvous with a ball gag, the marketing department has been asking for this to put on the box, but we just haven’t found the time.
[quote/]

kinky

Of course he had to mention that

I don't know what to really think of this game, I guess I will have to rely on reviews once it hits the shelves. Maybe then I may be able to have an opinion. Until then I will remain in the dark and confused

 

[SuAside]

So while you're in the process of actually pulling the trigger at someone, if someone else is hitting you say from behind, they do it really slowly, and if they do connect, the damage is minimal so that you don't sit there and watch the playback while your character is being beaten to death by someone.

that's my point.

they altered gameplay for the sole purpose of making it 'cool looking'.

 

[Psyckosama]

I don't really remember any sex in Fallout 1. I hear its there, but I've never come across it, or noticed it, in 10+ times of playing through it.

Fallout 2 is another story, of course.

Junk Town, the hooker at the Inn