The Game Informer Article

aries100 · Post by **aries100** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:38 pm

The beginning sounds like smashing the beginnings of FO1+FO2 together as you're born in the vault in fo2 and you grow up in the vault in fo1, nothing innovative or creative there...

The whole character creation process reminds me a bit of what Bioware is doing in Dragon Age. And the whole Qui Gong thingie (Liam Neeson=Father) reminds me of Star Wars, just like the disappearing father and the dying mother does.

And basiccally isn't this the plotline for the main quest in BG1. I mean, your mother is dead,.....you are placed in the hand of a father figure...(gorion, eh, Liam Neeson) who then disappears (or is murdered?).

You need to find out who you father is, and then you wander out into the (urban) wasteland to try to get to know this. (If they have attacks on you by varius assasins, I will personally email Bioware and David Gaider about this - and I ain't kidding!) And in the process you fight a lot of monsters, eh- supermutants...

and in between you get to talk with other stalkers (eh, people) in bars on how great you are as a stalker when you pummeled the supermutants full of lead...

I don't want to see heads exploding... I want to see decent gameplay, a good main story with choice & consequence that matters, as well as creative & well though out misc (side) quests. I'm happy that there's a third person view, but no so much happy that it os over the shoulder as I would have preferred to be from a top down view (bird eye) thingie. Hopefully, the camera can be scrolled out a bit...

Let me remind you that before the release of Oblivion, Beth said exactly the same thing that they are saying now about FO3: you can do quest the sneaky way, the dialoque way or the combat way. This turned out not to be true...or so. Maybe if you decided to sneak to get that object you could sneak, but dialoque options in oblivion still ended in this: 'hey' i want you to down this dungeon & fetch me that thingie'. And then you'd have to fight your way through anyway...

I hope they don't bring that (stupid) dialoque mini-game from Oblivion back, though, like I hope they will make it so that if my character have an Int of 4 and a Perception of 4 that I can't neither talk to as many people nor be precise with the arms in this game.

I agree with Vasikka that the focus should be on the people (npcs) trying to survive in the (urban) jungle that is DC, and the main character should be more of an anti-hero rather than a hero, he should be one that just happens to stumble on small or larger settlements in the process of trying to find his father. And in return for doing favors for these settlements, the main character should get some info, not a heo that apparently spends his day fighting supermutants all the time.

Anyway, know we know the reason why Bethsoft decided to show the game to Game Informer, not NMA or Duck & Cover, they are trying to reel in the action crowd. Maybe that's why the focus of the story (& screenshots as well) have their focus on dark&gritty as well as the action parts??

Only time can tell...

frissy · Post by **frissy** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:41 pm

Well it has the ingredients of being a superb game, but at the same time it has the ingredients of being a true shitter.

I'm not so much worried about WHAT they are doing for me it's only the matter if they succeed or fuck it up. On paper it sounds good to me (perhaps a little suspicious).

It does have all the good elements and basically the issues that have been adressed as weak or need-to-be-fixed. They seem to have gotten the setting, and the overall design, but are they a) talented enough (i mean, look at Oblivion...uuhh..), b) given enough time and money to do it proper.

I'll be waiting for the actual creation, the design part is ok.

Ps. I want to see heads explode. Bloody mess is as part of Fallout as any of it.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:43 pm

SLOW MO HEAD EXPLOSION DEATHS WERE ALL I EVER WANTED ROFL?! SOUNDS GUT 2 MEHZ.

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:57 pm

SMALLER THAN OBLIVION??! That is fucked up. And all the stuff that sounds good you know they're gonna fail at, just like their previous promises.

Koki · Post by **Koki** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:08 pm

jetbaby wrote:SLOW MO HEAD EXPLOSION DEATHS WERE ALL I EVER WANTED ROFL?! SOUNDS GUT 2 MEHZ.

Dude, look at the TPP screenshots, there's blood on the camera, that's like, totally awesome

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:30 pm

Ok, after reading this a couple times and really studying I can take a step back. This is, in fact, Oblivion with guns. There's no way around it. Combat is the same old shit with a pause feature nobody will ever use. The game world is the same size or slightly smaller than Oblivion. That's a big fucking alarm right there. All those other features such as consequence for your actions, decent quests, clever AI, are things they dropped the ball on in their previous game. Why should we believe they won't fuck up yet again?

It looks like Oblivion with guns, it sounds like Oblivion with guns....... fill in the blank.

Dparrot · Post by **Dparrot** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:32 pm

Thor Kaufman wrote:NMA agents totally infiltrated Beth headquarters to steal top secret info from magazines that can easily be bought off stores. They will get sued for sure

Nah, but something else did happen: http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index ... p=10274514
NMA removed from the list.

Bloodlust · Post by **Bloodlust** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:38 pm

Oh my,...

I 've just finished reading the GI article.I'll post more detailed impressions when I get over the shock and get my brain functionality back.

Right now,

What.The.Fuck.Is.That ?!?!

DaC-Sniper · Post by **DaC-Sniper** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:08 pm

Mad Max RW wrote:SMALLER THAN OBLIVION??! That is fucked up.

Ugh. Everyone who wanted a bigger Oblivion should be shot on sight.

Fallout 3 shoud be not bigger than a football place, to keep damage to the franchise small.

Stainless · Post by **Stainless** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:15 pm

you're born in the vault in fo2

Er, the main character looks pretty healthy for someone living as a tribal for 80+ years.

frissy · Post by **frissy** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:37 pm

Who said tribals are unhealthy? Hell, the most healthy persons alive are the bloody bushwackers. Or course in a radiated hell it might be the opposite...

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:44 pm

Smaller gameworld than oblivion is very worrying. didn't spot that the first time round. Oblvion felt like a capital city with a couple of fields around it. Rarely were you out of sight of the main city. FO1 and 2 had half a continent to explore. Shit.

And they've blacklisted NMA? I'd like to be sure of that first before drawing any conclusions. EDIT: not blacklisted, just removed from the list til they remove the magazine scans.

sah · Post by **sah** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:59 pm

The "action RPG" tag was probably invented by a journalist who worked on the article. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

VasikkA · Post by **VasikkA** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:29 pm

I don't actually mind Fallout 3 taking place entirely in the DC area. Fallouts were basically a bunch of maps linked together by green dots on a 'world map'. Yes it's different, but so what? Hell, VtM: Bloodlines was based around LA and Troika managed to create an intense, interesting story. There's no point having a huge gameworld if you aren't going to fill it with something worthwhile.

I hope by 'smaller' they mean less generic dungeons.

And they've blacklisted NMA? I'd like to be sure of that first before drawing any conclusions. EDIT: not blacklisted, just removed from the list til they remove the magazine scans.

Yeah, that'll have a huge impact on the site visitor count, I'm sure.

Brother None · Post by **Brother None** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:45 pm

Mr. Teatime wrote:And they've blacklisted NMA? I'd like to be sure of that first before drawing any conclusions. EDIT: not blacklisted, just removed from the list til they remove the magazine scans.

Yip, just that. But I've also noticed a bigger tendency to remove links, Rohugh just removed a link of mine to an NMA thread because there was swearing in the thread

I wonder how they can link to DaC at all, doesn't your rotating title system include swearing? Yay for partial modding

And seriously, removing us from that list might make a smattering of difference to our reference count, about .1% I'd guess, while BGSF as a whole accounts for probably 1-3%, but all of that is people linking to articles on our site.

Still, hilarious move by BethSoft, as if it is the first time we have article scans on the frontpage.

The "action RPG" tag was probably invented by a journalist who worked on the article.

Very like, Bethesda wouldn't like such a tag. But guess what, if the journalist added it himself, wouldn't that be the impression he got from the game?

frissy · Post by **frissy** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:54 pm

WTF! No swearing in DaC....yeah right. We only have badgers doing the helicopter...

Well I understand them completely on the scans, but removing links that go outside their forum due to a few naughty words...specially when the article has a head exploding with gore...

Mori · Post by **Mori** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:54 pm

I actually think it looks good. If they keep their promises.

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:14 pm

i actually think it looks pretty good as well, there's a lot to be happy about, and eh, as for the negatives, you can't say you didn't already know they were coming. OH NOES, the combat system is exactly as any rationally-minded person could have predicted it would be. few shitty points aside (the BFG, the lame-ass she-hulk supa-dupa mutant) the article brings relatively good news. the idea that every part of the environment should have a function, even if it's fictional, is very nice - it's always something i hoped would be the case in the original games, when examining all the different computers in the vault for example. if the environment is designed not just with how it can interact with the player to advance the plot in mind, then that's certainly a good thing.

they claim the game world is huge, and then they say it's slightly smaller than it was in oblivion? so certainly it'll just be in ruined DC + environs. i was under the impression that the world in oblivion was quite small though, can anyone clear up how big it was? 10 square miles or so?

also, what in the fuck is "depth of field"

-Malkavian da pizza man

Mori · Post by **Mori** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:30 pm

Depth of Field: stuff in the distance is slightly blurry, as far as I can remember. Helps with fog effects and stuff, by making it hard to see. Oblivion had a massive gameworld, bigger than all the actual areas of the first two Fallout games put together. However, the magic of technology meant you could see from one side to the other. Put that with the stupid fast-travel and the world seemed very small. I guess this game will be more about settlements built within and around the ruins of DC. Which I really like the sound of, it's fairly realistic, in that everyone from a massive ruined city didn't magically find eachother and found one big town. They've said there will be a ruined subway and sewer system too. I also like the size of the town. Having a modern city as big as the map for oblivion is a good move, possibly the first vaguely realistically sized city we'll ever see. I stress the term vaguely.

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 4:30 pm

Well, there are undoubtably some positives, but there are such huge changes that smack of the whole 'updating' thing that goes along with, well, 'consolisation' and all that, that I'm just not sure I could play it as a FO game. Can't find that out until I actually play it for myself, that is.

And I'd just love for the quests and atmosphere to work like Fallout, regardless of the combat or viewpoint. But Ive seen very little evidence of that, just people saying 'trust us'. And that supermutant and the nuclear catapault don't inspire trust in me right now :/

Personally I think those two things should be the focus of our criticism to Bethsoft right now. As they're specific details we can point to and explain what's going wrong, with a fair chance of them being changed before it's too late (unlike, say, the viewpoint).

I'd write up an article but am pushed for time right now.