What will you do when Fallout 3 comes out?

[Vault Dweller]

I wouldn't go that far. Morrowind was okay, but it was more how much the design in Oblivion was godawful than how great a piece of work Morrowind was. I'd be more likely to say that compared to Oblivion, Morrowind was a complex and interesting game.

Accepted.

That's an assumption I'd like to believe. In fact, it's very likely true that Bethesda knows Oblivion has no depth. But what Bethesda knows doesn't matter here. It's what the gaming public *knows*. They *know* Oblivion is already in the top tens of Top 100 Best Games of All Time. They *know* it was released to nigh-universal critical acclaim. Many *know* it as the best RPG with the most options they've ever played. They don't necessarily need hype anymore when the hype from Oblivion has somehow mutated into this belief that it was a spectacular game. They've used hype, and general ignorance, to set the benchmark for quality. Now their hyped trash is "a brilliant gaming masterpiece". Non-Bethesda examples of this include God of War, Metal Gear Solid 2-4, Final Fantasy, and Halo 2. The hype just mutates and self-perpetuates. Pretty brilliant strategy.

The gaming public is fickle. KOTOR was praised as "Coming of Jesus: The Prequel", KOTOR 2 was kicked to the curb and not because it was unfinished. Same with NWN and NWN2. Same with even Oblivion and its expansion. By the time the expansion rolled out the mood had changed and the flaws suddenly became noticeable. Now the spell is over and everyone is aware that Oblivion was kinda "meh", hence the numerous "mistakes to avoid in FO3: #1 - Oblivion..." articles. Sure, some mags are still firmly attached to Bethesda's dick and they will praise anything with the Beth logo on it, but this time around there won't be "feel good sensation of the year" awards if the design remains the same.

Sure, a lot of people think Oblivion is beyond awesome, but Bethesda doesn't care about the fanbase. Never did, in fact. Bethesda wants glowing reviews and mass hysteria.

I think they already are. The media has everything hook, line, and sinker. They've generally convinced the gaming populous that this game is "awesome" and have scored a metric shit-ton of preorders.

I don't recall any negative opinions when Oblivion was about to be released. Now we have quite a few sites, including Eurogamer, going for Bethesda's throat. Things are not the same.

This trick doesn't work twice.

Final Fantasy is now on the thirteenth main title. It can go far more than twice.

I'm ashamed to admit but I'm not a fan of the series, but isn't FF design change with every game?

So, it's quite possible that Fallout 3 will be a much better game than Oblivion and a better game than Morrowind.

But it will still be a Bethesda game, full of the same tropes and pitfalls as every other one.

MW was playable and enjoyable. OB wasn't. That's a hell of a difference for me.

There are quite a few facts supporting this theory

Fargoth's Gold? Anything Mr. Smiley Face Dude ever said?

Well aware of that. However, now it's more than a single quest and more than some guy's fairy tales. It's possible, of course, that Bethesda fargothized a big chunk of the game this time and after the Megaton's Big Choice (TM) everything turns to shit, but it's also possible that the game's quality remains consistent throughout the game. Mind you, I'm not saying that what we've seen so far looks great and there are plenty of really, REALLY stupid things like the teddy bears of death, but the game does look better than Oblivion. That's all I'm saying, and I'm well aware that it aint much, but it's my ninja-journalist duty to give it a fair shot and approach it without bias.

...but how do I know what the rest of it will be like? Is it going to be one or two interesting locations and a sea of uninteresting ones a la Morrowind and Oblivion?

Then wait for my review.

 

[mytgroo]

I won't buy this thing not in a million years. It is not an old school isometric game. I liked Fallout, but did not like Fallout 2, and I think Fallout 3 will be even worse than Fallout 2...

 

[sportforredneck]

I'm ashamed to admit but I'm not a fan of the series, but isn't FF design change with every game?

The more recent games have been branching away from the same type of design at least for combat. But most of the titles have basically the same exact gameplay.