Interview Fallout 3 Q&A on GamesPlanet

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Fallout 3

There's another <b>Pete Hines</b> <A href="http://www.gamesplanet.be/index.php?main=gp_article&info=gp_article&articleId=172&chk=5PAw0000V1">interview</a> about the <b>Fallout 3</b> grab by <a href="http://www.bethsoft.com">Bethesda</a>. It's really pretty short, but here's an interesting part:
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<blockquote><b>Fallout 2 was rated 15+ (not for immature audience) - will this trend continue with Fallout 3?</b>
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It's going to be a mature game, that's always been the plan. </blockquote>
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Just remember what made <A href="Http://www.interplay.com/fallout">Fallout</a> mature and what made <A href="Http://www.interplay.com/fbos">Fallout Enforcer</a> a pathetic joke. The difference is the key.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.nma-fallout.com">No Mutants Allowed</A>

 

[Walks with the Snails]

Maybe we'll luck out and just get lots of poop jokes like FOT.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Re: Fallout 3 Q&A on GamePlanet

Fallout 2 was rated 15+ (not for immature audience)

But strangely, it had a lot of immature content.

 

[Nick]

Uhh, people... 15+... Is it much? What's the scale? Highest mark, I suppose.

 

[DamnElfGirl]

This is one area where I think Bethseda has made some progress. The only "mature" content I remember from Daggerfall was the random, pointless topless women sitting around. They were usually in completely illogical locations and would talk to you like any other NPC. It was creepy and fairly offensive.

At least in Morrowind, the mature content was placed in the context of the game's society. Scantily-clad people were placed appropriately. Slavery was actually presented as a debate. There's a creepy guy who wants to see you naked before he'll help you out (he's actually one of the best-developed characters in the game... I felt like my character wanted to off him, and she did after she'd gotten what she needed from him). Other characters actually warn you about the guy, which I thought was a nice touch.

I do think Bethseda's writers are capable of doing mature themes well. They would have been even better in Morrowind if the game world had been more interactive... if I'd been able to really affect the slavery debate, interact with the seedy clubs, or tell the creepy guy just why I was killing him before I did it, it would have been great.

Hopefully they plan on taking things to that next level of interactivity in FO3. If they can pull that off, I'lll give the game a try.

 

[protobob]

He just refered to KOTOR as turn-based. Not that I wan't to talk about that (again). Just thought I would point it out.

 

[Nightjed]

you know ... my back hurts every time i hear a game company saying they "love rpgs" and start throwing names at random ... im pretty sure reflexive played fallout, diablo, any ff and baldur's gate yet all those games were better than their own (much better)

Well, Morrowind had over a million words of text in the game, and given the great success of that game on a console, I don't think text is something that will make or break a game.

i got morrowind with my graphic card, i played it for 2 hours or so, i tried speaking for a bit but the npcs were so boring i just started running arround killing thieves, after the first thief dungeon i got bored and left it, i dont think you could compare morrowind's dialogues to something like ps:t, i bet most ppl in xbox didnt even read 1% of it

And obviously turn-based combat has worked well on consoles, since KOTOR blew people away last year

i know protobob allready said it but... ouch

Are there plans to make Fallout 3 as mod-friendly as Morrowind?
Too early to say. Personally, I hope so. That would definitely be cool.

that answer creeps me out, will the end like morrowind and nwn having better fanmade mods than the oc ?

 

[Lasakon]

I predict they'll revel it to be a BF-1942 clone set during the Great-War...That might not be to bad of an idea for an BF-1942 mod.

 

[protobob]

I've heard people say "Hey, even if Fallout3 sucks, it will probably be easy to mod it," and I'm thinking, is the Fallout3 Construction Kit gonna let me automagically convert a crapy FP Action RPG to a ISO Turn-based game? I'm thinking no.

Of all the tons of mods made for Morrowind, none of them have made it anything other than a FP game with shitty combat.

So I don't have much hope in the wonders of an editor.

 

[Transcendent One]

That KotOR reference is disturbing.

But at least they are making a mature game.

Hopefully they won't model this "maturity" after New Reno or FOBOS

 

[sunny jim]

emm, do you think there's a chance bethesda will hire the devs from the original fallout staff? better yet, do you think there's a chance they will offer troika AND obsidian participate in the project?

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

emm, do you think there's a chance bethesda will hire the devs from the original fallout staff? better yet, do you think there's a chance they will offer troika AND obsidian participate in the project?

I don't think hiring them is possible. The more important ones are heading their own teams, or are integrating new ones (ie, JE Sawyer is in Midway Games; Chris Avellone is in Obsidian; Tim Cain is at Troika, etc).

However, one would hope that Bethesda would ask some advice to them regardless.

 

[corvax]

anyway that interview wasn't so bad...and still the negativity...c'mon guys

 

[Seven]

anyway that interview wasn't so bad...and still the negativity...c'mon guys

Wasn't so bad? As opposed to very bad, or perhaps dreadful? Well yes, then I suppose "not so bad" would be an improvement. Yes, you must forgive us for not jumping for joy.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, Morrowind had over a million words of text in the game, and given the great success of that game on a console, I don't think text is something that will make or break a game.

That's Bethesdas main fault, i've noticed. They think just because the game sold alot and there was alot of something in the game, it must be great. and when they think something is great, they dont change it or worry about it.

Which is why Morrowind was pretty much exactly like Daggerfall (except with dumbed down skill sets).

 

[Transcendent One]

anyway that interview wasn't so bad...and still the negativity...c'mon guys

It was no better than the previous interviews, except for now they also say that Morrowind had uber text and that KotOR is turn based... c'mon guy.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

I've heard people say "Hey, even if Fallout3 sucks, it will probably be easy to mod it," and I'm thinking, is the Fallout3 Construction Kit gonna let me automagically convert a crapy FP Action RPG to a ISO Turn-based game? I'm thinking no.

Of all the tons of mods made for Morrowind, none of them have made it anything other than a FP game with shitty combat.

So I don't have much hope in the wonders of an editor.

Yeah. "Don't like it, make your own game" was a popular retort in the FOT days, too. Never mind you couldn't even remake the original Fallout with the editor without dialog trees, which were left out because the campaign didn't use them. If you weren't planning on making a mod that was quite a bit similar to the original, you were pretty much out of luck. And then whatever you made would still be saddled with all the unfixed bugs seen in the regular game thanks to it being rushed out the door. And I don't know about you, but I'm not in the habit of paying someone for the privilege of spending tens if not hundreds of unpaid hours to make my own games. But why worry about all those niggling details, "quit compaining and go make your own game if you think you can do better" has a nice ring of bumper-sticker pseudo-wisdom to it.

 

[Dhruin]

Interesting that for mature content <b><i>"that's always been the plan"</b></i>, which would indicate a certain level of progress and decision in planning but for gameplay issues <b><i>"it's too early to tell"</b></i>.

 

[Goliath]

"mature"
Some naked chicks with big boobs and lots of mindless bloody violence is not "mature". It's for adolescent beavis and butthead style boys who sit in front of the screen saying something like "Eh, cool!". It would be "mature" if the game would deal with serious issues and had a more realistic story/world than those childish console crap.
Arcanum had some really "mature" stuff in it, I mean "the orc question" etc.
Well, games are mostly designed for children so I don't complain but I just can't take an RPG serious if the first thing in handbook is a young women in a CHAIN MAIL BIKINI. Totally destroys the theme for me. Who would fight in something like that?

 

[RGE]

Interesting that for mature content <b><i>"that's always been the plan"</b></i>, which would indicate a certain level of progress and decision in planning but for gameplay issues <b><i>"it's too early to tell"</b></i>.

Well, one of those things requires some planning, and the other does not. The decision to have the game be as mature or immature as it's always been is an easy one to make, even if they don't have any detailed plans for exactly what they would want to put into he game.

Deciding on technical aspects such as gameplay issues would depend on what would be availible whenever they got the license, and why would they spend a meaningful amount of time planning stuff like that before the license is even acquired? It makes a lot of sense to me that they'd want to start planning for gameplay design after getting the license, and I can see how that would take a lot of time. Wouldn't want to rush anything that important, and they wouldn't want to promise important things that they might not be able to keep. They're kind of up against a wall now, and the best option they have is to stall and keep stalling.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

anyway that interview wasn't so bad...and still the negativity...c'mon guys

The only negativity here is that people didn't like Morrowind and people pointing out that KotOR wasn't turn based even though Pete said it was. It's not, and people aren't suddenly going to start liking Morrowind because of a Fallout 3 interview. I know I didn't like Morrowind because of Morrowind, not because of a scary Fallout 3 interview.

 

[plin]

I'd be worried if a developer were to say that about kotor. But since it's this guy, meh. Hopefully they'll educate him in the future on these things.

 

[Duodenum]

anyway that interview wasn't so bad...and still the negativity...c'mon guys

The only negativity here is that people didn't like Morrowind and people pointing out that KotOR wasn't turn based even though Pete said it was. It's not, and people aren't suddenly going to start liking Morrowind because of a Fallout 3 interview. I know I didn't like Morrowind because of Morrowind, not because of a scary Fallout 3 interview.

Please educate me on how KOTOR does not have turn-based combat.
1. Every combatant attacks in sequence. There are no swarms, simultaneous attacks.
2. You don't press a button to make your character swing or defend. Instead, you select from menus (or just let your character's AI decide). You can queue up a few actions, but you are still selecting things that your character will perform on their own.
3. You go into combat "mode" -- you might choose to make your character/party flee, but in general you enter an encounter and have to fight until resolution.
4. If you wish, you can pause the game indefinitely while you're choosing actions for your party members.

Obviously this isn't real-time combat, and is about as far away from Morrowind's combat style as you can get. And it's not the same as Fallout's version of it. But what I don't get is how this could NOT be considered "turn-based combat". Educate me, please!

Although I'm sure I'm wasting my time -- many in here have said that Fallout is one of the only "real" RPG's that has been released in the past decade or so anyway

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

Haven't we covered this one to death by now.

The people who reference Fallout as a "real" rpg are reffering to all the aspects of fallout that concur with pnp rpgs. In fallout you play any role within the bound of the game, which has a far wider scope that most other "rpgs". It allows you free reign with character development, exploration and your own morality. The game reacts to you in sometimes profoundly different ways depending on your skills, morality, reputation, gender etc. As far as rpgs go it did it better than any of the others and that is a stone cold fact, was it perfect, no, it had some flaws but it was the best.

TURN BASED COMBAT IS COMBAT BASED ON TURNS, the turns diced up by the computer not on when you choose to hit the space bar. Big surprise, KOTOR has round based combat with pause. It's not turn based, whether you prefer round based or turn based is an entirely different issue.

You don't call a bus a bicycle, that isn't a comment on which one is better.

Kotor had round based not turnbased, that is a fact not a judgement.

 

[Deathy]

snip

Why is it that people have so much difficulty understanding such a simple concept such as turn based?

Maybe, just MAYBE, KotOR had an abstraction of turn based combat, due to the d20 style system used, BioWare's previous experiences and the fact that one can't easily mash a turn based system into real time and have it work.

In a turn based system, players take their turn in sequence, ONE PLAYER AT A TIME. I'd like to know how exactly how you could explain why as I run away in KotOR, my opponents are following me, at the same time as I am moving?

I think I'm going to get mad the next time some idiot comes here and argues that <INSERT BIOWARE GAME HERE> was turn based.

EDIT: There was an article, posted on this very site a couple of years ago, that covers combat really well.

Before you post on this site again, you'd best be reading it.

http://www.rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=21