Will Fallout 3 be remembered?

[Tagaziel]

Simple question, tough answer.

Fallout is famous. It's remembered. It's hailed as a great RPG.

Now, will the third game be remembered? It's my one, personal thought, that keeps me from succumbing to cynism, that it will be forgotten, unlike Fallout 1.

That this mediocre FPS/RPG hybrid will be lost to the sands of time, while the original cRPG remains in memory of gamers world-wide.

 

[rcorporon]

I doubt it. Most people don't really remember Morrowind, and I doubt that Oblivion will have much lasting power either.

FO3, hopefully, will be forgotten like the mediocre dreck it is.

 

[Eyenixon]

I said absolutely.

But not based on its quality, by itself or in comparison to its predecessors.
It will either be remembered as Oblivion is (a traditional mainstream RPG streamlined for a central audience) or as the black sheep of the series by the body of fans that find it detestable. Brotherhood of Steel was certainly forgotten by most, but Fallout 3 was billed as a full fledged sequel, hyped to excess, and generally praised by "gaming journalists".

That combination will make sure that gamers will know its name years from now, regardless of one's personal opinion of the game.
Personally I'm going to remember the game as an embarrassment, a typical example of how excessive sequels are generally a bad idea, and as another blunder on a long list of blunders for the "gaming journalists" who will ultimately discard their original impressions of the game to look back and label it as another Black & White. That's assuming any of them actually play more than 30 hours.

I doubt it. Most people don't really remember Morrowind, and I doubt that Oblivion will have much lasting power either.

FO3, hopefully, will be forgotten like the mediocre dreck it is.

Naturally Morrowind isn't know by many in the mainstream audience, but just like William Faulkner's Light in August it is known by the people who take an interest in the hobby beyond mere casualness and take interest in that specific genre. Light in August is by no means a forgotten book, however, I do think I just insulted the book by comparing it to Morrowind.
I apologize Mr. Faulkner.

 

[Hushed]

Will it be remembered by old Fallout fans? Yes, as the sequel that didn't meet expectations.

Will it be remembered by the general gaming population? Yes, just like Oblivion will be remembered. The fact that most gaming sites / magazines give it a 9/10, or better, Im pretty sure that people will remember it.

So, I pretty much agree with Eyenixon, except I don't generally think excessive sequels are bad.

 

[Karak]

I voted 'What, Fallout 3 exists?' because that is how much recollection of this trainwreck of bethesdian proportions I'll have in 10 years' time...

 

[Tagaziel]

As a mental exercise, I tried to remember some AAA titles the journalists soiled their pants about from the 2001 - 2008 period. I have a hard time recalling any... and I consider myself a hardcore gamer.

I might not be indicative of the general state of the gamer mind, though.

I'm stickying this thread, so that we get more votes. I'm really interested as to the reasons WHY it would be remembered/forgotten. Your post, eyenixon, is excellent.

 

[Public]

Hell yeah!!



As the worst sequal ever made!

 

[Brother None]

Will it be remembered by the general gaming population? Yes, just like Oblivion will be remembered. The fact that most gaming sites / magazines give it a 9/10, or better, Im pretty sure that people will remember it.

...You do realise almost every major release is getting a stack of 9/10s right now, right? BioShock PS3, GTA IV, Little Big Planet, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2, Gears of War 2, they got 9/10s from a lot of magazines/sites. Heck, four of those titles (GTA IV, LBP, BioShock PS3, GoW 2) are rating higher than Fallout 3.

Anyway, Bethesda's games actually generally have more longevity than most single-player titles mostly thanks to modders. It's not infinite, tho', and the odds of Fallout 3 being remembered 10 years from now as Fallout 1 is today are close to zilch

 

[Erny]

Rather not. cause its simply worse than Fo2.
And its derivative from both Fallout and Oblivion. And the main quest/story is a joke.
I dont think its a mediocre game tho, just not good enough. And not Fallout RPG enough.

Maybe, looking at all the huge sales, Beth gets some better designers, writers and animators and make Fallout 4 that will be a real masterpiece and will stay rememberd in 10 years... ah who am I kidding ;/

 

[M-26-7]

I think it's sort of up in the air. I think what it really comes down to is whether it can outshine the millions of other 9/10 games that have come out this year, this season even to be remembered for the next few years and then in the 7 or so years after that. Granted Oblivion is largely forgotten by the gaming community, given that the average gamer has an attention span of about 6 months so who knows if it will be remembered much in a year from now even.

 

[Barbalute]

I doubt it. Most people don't really remember Morrowind, and I doubt that Oblivion will have much lasting power either.

Most people that played Morrowind remember it fondly.

I said "Probably, yes. Look at the sales numbers." It isn't exactly what I mean, but it's as close as I can get. I think most of it rests on modding. If it still has a thriving mod community, that could make it last for god knows how long.

I think memorability wise, it's best to compare it to Bioshock or Oblivion. Bioshock if it gets no mods - it's still remembered mostly, but it's (afaik) not really being played much still anymore, and Oblivion if it does - still has a very large fanbase.

 

[Eyenixon]

I think it's sort of up in the air. I think what it really comes down to is whether it can outshine the millions of other 9/10 games that have come out this year, this season even to be remembered for the next few years and then in the 7 or so years after that. Granted Oblivion is largely forgotten by the gaming community, given that the average gamer has an attention span of about 6 months so who knows if it will be remembered much in a year from now even.

Go look at the GameFAQs forums for a second - yes, yes, I know it's incredibly difficult to do - and read some posts on the forums of various RPGs.
To many people Oblivion is a standard for RPGs. It's the first major RPG release of this console generation and as such it's held in pretty high esteem by people who don't know anything about anything.

It's not entirely accurate to discredit them by saying they have short attention spans, they do to a certain extent - they follow newer releases much more than you or I do possibly - but they also have their favorites and don't tend to forget games they spend uncountable hours on, take a look at all the Halo nuts who have soaked thousands of hours into epithet slinging retard matches online.

 

[kxre]

Voted for 'Absolutely. It will leave a lasting impression'

I will always remember Fallout 3 as a fine example of a cult game turned mainstream.

 

[Roflcore]

Once you played the shitty mainquest and have explored a bit the game gets pretty boring. I read about a lot of folks which thought F3 was great but realized after some time that it is not. So I guess in about a year the only thing you will remember about F3 is "oh well as a shooter it had some short moments" or you will mod the shit out of it. So I'd hit the mediocre button in the hope that mods can fix the game and do the work bethesda should have done.

 

[Rabban]

Once the bombs drop, everything will be forgotten. But seriously, this kind of game will be forgotten in a couple of years, easy. Look at it this way. Battle Toads. I know, don't kill me, I have a point. People still remember freaking Battle Toads although it's been maybe 20 years or so. Look at Street Fighter, who doesn't know Shoryuken or Hadouken? Once you go into the computer game genre, people remember, and even play the classics like Doom (1993), Fallout (1997), Diablo (1997), Star Craft (1998). These games are 10+ years old. I used to play these games when I wasn't even tall enough to get the cookie jar on top of the fucking fridge. A game can be stupidly popular, like Fallout 3. But it's only a trend. It's hip only now. A couple of years down the road, even the bribed magazines that said it was the hottest shit since the sun came into existence will start saying, "...actually it did have some problems..." Fame is a fickle thing, people are going to forget most of our current action stars, but Arnold and Sylvester are going to be remembered forever. Think of Fallout as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Fallout 3 as Vin Diesel. Who's honestly going to remember "The Fast and the Furious", or "xXx", or even "The Chronicles of Riddick" in a few more years? Such is the difference between good and mediocre.

 

[Eyenixon]

Yes, but you must factor in the fact that this is something far from the norm.

This game had a large amount of controversy surrounding it, be it the disgruntled reception from some of the fans or the backlash caused by that, and it also resurrected an RPG series that has long been considered one of the greatest sagas in the genre.
Like I said in my first post, it will be remembered not because of its quality, but the circumstances surrounding its release. Look at Daikatana for example, the game itself is just incredibly mediocre, not necessarily terrible (although the menagerie of weapons that tend to gib the player into thousands of chunky seeping pieces of flesh more than they put a tiny dent into your enemies were atrocious) but the circumstances surrounding its history and release led it to be remembered by the vast majority of gamers who take an interest in the history of gaming.

Of course Fallout 3 isn't going to be remembered by the typical gamer, just like Ultima IX, Ultima VIII, Daikatana or even great games such as earlier Wizardry's or Might and Magic's, but it is going to be remembered as either the black sheep of the series - wrested from its grave and through manipulation of discordant polymorphisms, warped into something that resembled its earlier incarnations but failed to deliver any of their excellence - or as "that game with the bunch of nutjob fans who really hated it, it was pretty good though guys".

 

[Rabban]

But how long can that kind of legacy stand for? And I assure you, I remember Ultima IX. Oh God, do I remember it. The horror... the horror... And in all honesty, my buddies who bought the game (They're still good people...deep inside...) didn't pick it up because "a bunch of nutjob fans hated it", but because it was just hyped the fuck out of. If you're going to speak on historical terms, an actual gaming historian is going to say, "The game was poorly received by the fans, and was well received by the public. The game did have many flaws that could not be disputed, but it still appealed to the masses. However, it cannot be the perfect game as Gamespy and Eurogamer claimed it to be. And unlike the previous Fallouts, it received censorship and was catered to not offend anyone in particular. Several things were censored. For example, in Japan's release one could not blow up Megaton, nor were the Fatman weapons called Fatman, as it could have brought negative commentary upon their finished product." That would be a rather proper entry, rather than, "Fallout 3 was awesome, you are idiots if you didn't like it." Even Gaming History is subject to fine manipulation, so if Fallout 4 comes down the road, this process is going to be rinsed and repeated, except that they're gonna add, "But we promise to fix all the problems with Fallout 3."

And in our defense, don't we who like the original Fallouts want this game to be remembered as the black sheep of the series? The blight upon what could have been Van Buren? (I know not everyone liked Van Buren, but come the fuck on. That was a way better concept than this.)

 

[alec]

It's time someone wrote an article about the obvious generation gap in the world of gaming. Kids nowadays are developing new standards for what they think gaming should be all about. Even though we dislike the idea, FO3 will be remembered by them. As a really awesome game. And there's nothing we can do about it.

 

[Rabban]

We could always legalize abortion, and say "This is what I should have done with you. I have no son if you like this game"

 

[Public]

It's time someone wrote an article about the obvious generation gap in the world of gaming. Kids nowadays are developing new standards for what they think gaming should be all about. Even though we dislike the idea, FO3 will be remembered by them. As a really awesome game. And there's nothing we can do about it.

We gotta teach them a lesson! Where do I sign?