Visual crack likes Fallout 3

[Brother None]

Though I do have to say I'd like to think that it's possible for games (even beloved ones) to evolve and bring in new mechanics. Obviously I hope it's for the better for all you guys who know and love the original games.

Possible?

It's damn-near obligated. I would hate for a computer series to become tepid and recycle the exact same mechanic over and over.

But here's the problem: RT is not evolution of TB. First person is not an evolution of bird's eye. They're separate design conventions, not evolutions of one another.

While I'm admitting things I'll also admit I'm not a hardcore RPGer. I have enjoyed Elder Scrolls IV a lot but so far my favorite PS3 game is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. If that doesn't give you an idea of what my favorite games lean toward I don't know what will.

Well, if you like Oblivion, and perhaps if you like FPS-RPGs like Mass Effect, Fallout 3 will probably be up your alley, from what I've seen of it.

 

[Kyuu]

Given that stunningly insightful commentary it's a wonder I don't have a boyfriend. /sarcasm

You'll have to excuse that... as he explained, it's something of an in-joke. I don't believe he actually wished you physical harm.

Maybe I should have been more clear when I wrote the post, but, in all honesty I didn't expect many people to ever see it.

Well take the lesson to heart: when it comes to the internet, always assume that absolutely everyone will see what you post, since you never know when some admin from NMA will stumble across your site and make a news post about it.

And I thought it went without saying that since Bethesda is developing it, there's a more than fair chance the game is going to be good. I'll give them the benefit-of-the-doubt.

Another lesson: there are, in fact, many people who didn't like Oblivion. I myself played it for a while before figuring out it was an absolute turd of a game. So, it certainly does not go without saying that because Bethesda is making it that it's certain to be good.

By this point the screenshots are what are getting my attention. I totally admit I'm a graphics glutton.

Speaking both on technical merit and art direction, FO3, much like Oblivion before it, isn't all its cracked up to be in the graphics department. There are games that do much better. Really, there are. You never noticed the awful LOD (Level of Detail, where far away textures were blurry and and low-res?) in Oblivion? The overdone bloom? The stiff, unnatural, and generally poorly done character animations? The fact that is was extremely difficult to make a character with a non-ugly face? The laughable physics that made objects fly across the room at a touch and bodies twitch uncontrollably, among other things? Ah, I guess I'm straying away from the graphics. And of course you can't see all that in just screenshots, but even the screenshots just don't look that great to me. The characters are a small improvement, but I still don't think they really look good. And I doubt the animations will have really improved: they were bad in Morrowind too and I saw zero improvement from Morrowind to Oblivion.

Not that it was all bad. The trees were kinda nice. And I'm sure the toilets in FINO3 will be nicely done, with bloom veritably exploding out of the bowl. Sorry, just can't get over that toilet-drinking nonsense...

Anyway, welcome to NMA!

Edit:

Anyway, I'm happy to be here and discuss Fallout. I realize I'm somewhat of an outsider but I'm looking for the first two Fallouts right now so I can get my game on.

The Fallouts were supposedly to be made available on Gametap, but I've not seen any sign of them yet. Best way to get them nowadays is probably the Fallout Collection on DVD. Just don't skip ahead and play Tactics. That's a spin-off strategy game, not a proper RPG like the original Fallouts.

 

[Dracon M'Alkir]

And here I'll admit again that I never got to play the original Elder Scrolls games so my view of Bethesda is based on what I have played and seen from them. While I'm admitting things I'll also admit I'm not a hardcore RPGer. I have enjoyed Elder Scrolls IV a lot but so far my favorite PS3 game is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. If that doesn't give you an idea of what my favorite games lean toward I don't know what will.

Anyway, I'm happy to be here and discuss Fallout. I realize I'm somewhat of an outsider but I'm looking for the first two Fallouts right now so I can get my game on.

Unfortunately, it might be a little hard to actually get into the game. I know from my own experiences that my first attempt was a complete failure. Fallout isn't something that just reveals it's beauties to you immediately. You need to understand the atmosphere and really dig into the story, because only then do you sit down in complete awe. "Oh, I'm in a cave with stupid rats." No. You see beyond that, and you have patience.

Also, whenever in doubt, hit F1, and when really in doubt, check Per's nearly-ultimate Fallout guide. Per's like a.. lizard deity around here. You might see him sometime.

Oh yeah and: You can play a female in Fallout.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

per's guide ftw!

also, Fallout actually contains dialog options. not just lame-ass wiki-linking.

 

[Eyenixon]

Hey, the Hellboy movie sucked.
It was like the comics without the intentional cheese.

 

[terebikun]

but if you're going to be a jerk I'll just ignore you. I don't mind spirited debate, it's the ad hominem and strawman attacks that irk me.

Pretty sure he was referring to this.

Hey, the Hellboy movie sucked.
It was like the comics without the intentional cheese.

Whoa whoa. You take that back.

If you think the movie didn't have intentional cheese, maybe you should watch it again. Take care to notice moments when Hellboy punches Cthulhu. Also, animatronic undead decapitated Russians? Yeah, not cheese at all.

 

[Forhekset]

Hey, the Hellboy movie sucked.
It was like the comics without the intentional cheese.

Naw, the Hellboy movie was pretty damn entertaining. I admit that I've never read the comics, though. But the flick seemed to contain a pretty hefty amount of intentional cheese and didn't take itself too seriously, which I liked.

Edit: and speaking of Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth was awesome.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Guillermo Del Toro FTW!!! Hellboy = my seal of approval.

 

[Ravager69]

Hey there Mac, I'm gad you came here to clear things up. I rarely see people do that, they mostly tend to rant on their sites about the "rabid fanbase" and don't try to talk with them at all.

Anyway, I strongly encourage you to try both Fallouts and even the Van Buren tech-demo, if you'll have time, if only to see how the original developers wanted the series to progress.

 

[Mac]

I liked Hellboy. It was entertaining and, as mentioned, didn't take itself too seriously. I don't pay much attention to directors, but Guillermo del Toro is awesome. I loved Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone was pretty good, and I'm really looking forward to Hellboy II.

Oh, and if you haven't seen the animated Hellboy movies you should really find them and watch them. Good stuff.

Hey there Mac, I'm gad you came here to clear things up. I rarely see people do that, they mostly tend to rant on their sites about the "rabid fanbase" and don't try to talk with them at all.

I think anybody who has played the original games has a legitimate right to question the direction of a series. Sometimes I wonder if it's a little overboard, but I don't want to attack anybody when I'm just expressing an opinion.

I think I feel the same way about the Splinter Cell series that you guys do about Fallout and I'd feel justified in questioning Ubisoft if they decided to really screw with the series (as it is I'm just pissed they aren't developing it for the PS3).

 

[generalissimofurioso]

(as it is I'm just pissed they aren't developing it for the PS3).

Alas 'tis disheartening, but at least we get MGS4 next week.

 

[JR Jansen]

Hey Mac, firstly i want to apologies for the misunderstanding about the music.

Anyway, Fallout had it's feeling that you can't know without having played it. As was the case on the Beth board in the beginning, people mentioned that the atmosphere of the games was what was really important to them. Then Beth started to change that (having 'cities' close to each other wich makes the world less 'desolate' etc) and still those same people were exited by it. The problem with a lot of the changes they made is that they are making a sequel. If they would have made a spin-off, those changes would have been less of a problem.

 

[Eyenixon]

Hey, the Hellboy movie sucked.
It was like the comics without the intentional cheese.

Naw, the Hellboy movie was pretty damn entertaining. I admit that I've never read the comics, though. But the flick seemed to contain a pretty hefty amount of intentional cheese and didn't take itself too seriously, which I liked.

Edit: and speaking of Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth was awesome.

Dude, you do NOT know how much intentional cheese the comics have - it's mind bending - therefore it's fair to say that the film had no intentional cheese.

 

[Mac]

Initial thoughts of Fallout:

The story has me from the beginning. The graphics are dated but the game is a good 10 years old so I can't really fault it for that (anyway, I've been playing Simon the Sorcerer which is a good deal older). The gameplay confuses me. I died fairly quickly. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I suck at pretty much any combat system that doesn't involve button mashing (I'm not joking, I'm really that bad).

HOWEVER, I can totally see myself getting into this game in a big way. If any of you old hands have tips I would be very much appreciative of the help.

 

[JR Jansen]

Initial thoughts of Fallout:

The story has me from the beginning. The graphics are dated but the game is a good 10 years old so I can't really fault it for that (anyway, I've been playing Simon the Sorcerer which is a good deal older). The gameplay confuses me. I died fairly quickly. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I suck at pretty much any combat system that doesn't involve button mashing (I'm not joking, I'm really that bad).

HOWEVER, I can totally see myself getting into this game in a big way. If any of you old hands have tips I would be very much appreciative of the help.

Well, this probably should go in to the Fallout RPG game help forum but here goes. The best type of characters for a novice usually have good agility and intelligence with small guns (or melee), speech and lock pick tagged. You can gimp on endurance. It may make the beginning a bit harder but armor is more important in this game then hit points are. The combat system might need a little getting used to but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. It involves more strategy then your run of the mill button mashing game. Remember that critters also have action points, just as you have. Sometimes it's better to attack once and then run away and have the critter close in so that it uses up it's action points then to stay put and attack all the time. But again, if you have any specific problems, do a search on the forum i mentioned before or post in there or read Per's guide. Although for a novice player, i don't really want to suggest the later because you'll be spoiled to much.

 

[Per]

You're calling me out, specifically? Have yourself a strike, pal.

If I only wanted to troll I'd go after Black with every post.

Who is the REAL villain here?

It's society.

lizard deity

Woooo

 

[Seymour the spore plant]

On the Hellboy topic I have to say that not only I found it a pretty good movie, but also lightyears ahead of most comic-to-movie adaptations out there (except Sin City, I guess). It certainly does more justice to the source material than that damn V for Vendetta or ANY of Alan Moore's work, for that matter, and I include here the upcoming butchery of Watchmen.

and speaking of Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth was awesome.

It was. All the more, to me, because it is an original script, and not an adaptation of a novel, comic or game, like almost all movies recently.

If any of you old hands have tips I would be very much appreciative of the help.

You could check out Per's walkthrough for tips on character design and combat. If it's the basic functionality of the game that's bugging you, maybe the manual can help you, plus it's a nice reading by itself (that's a pretty heavy .pdf scan there, so beware if your connection's not that good).

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Ah good to see more Hellboy fans here, a while ago I read all of the Hellboy and BPRD comics, the movie holds up surprisingly well.

 

[ookami]

But here's the problem: RT is not evolution of TB. First person is not an evolution of bird's eye. They're separate design conventions, not evolutions of one another.

I could not agree more. Claiming that as being evolution is like saying a rhino is the evolution of an elephant. Bringing it even closer to the manner that Bethesda seems to be approaching this, removing the trunk and putting a rhino horn on an elephant doesn't really make it a better elephant or even a better animal in general. I just keep wondering why the rhino specialists at Bethesda are messing with Black Isle's elephants when they don't even seem to want the elephant to be an elephant.

The gameplay confuses me.

There certainly is a learning curve, especially if you're not used to RPGs like this. But don't be discouraged, NMA's forums have a very handy search function and a fount of info. It's one of the reasons I have so few posts even though I've been registered here for several years. I've never personally had to ask about anything, I just used search.

I died fairly quickly.

Save wisely. Save often. Fallout isn't impossible by any means, but it also is known to be rather unforgiving. But that makes successes that much more rewarding. Expect to give the game 'the finger' in triumph and defiance after overcoming certain obstacles.

Who is the REAL villain here?
It's society.

And the worst part is... I never learned to read.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

hellboy, bodybag, lost....wtf were we talking about again?

on topic:

@mac---> i recently had a friend whom i forced Fallout upon. he claimed the same thing: "i died right away." as if that was it, game over. i tried to explain to him how it's really meant to be played slowly and methodically. the quick save "ctrl-s" is your friend, use it wisely. your first run through of the game? save before every seemingly important event, whether that is just talking to somebody new or leaving and/or entering a new town/area. pay attention to EVERYTHING no matter how meaningless it may appear and remember that dialog choices can pay off in huge (and oftentimes hilarious) ways. again, save constantly and don't be afraid to try different ways of achieving each different goal. some obviously work better for different character-builds.