More Fallout 3 News

[Apocalypse]

Gameinformer

Last month it was announced that Bethesda had acquried the Fallout license from Interplay, and the company has confirmed that that Fallout 3 will follow The Elder Scrolls IV as a new next-generation title. While only in preproduction stages at the moment, the game will use the same technology as Oblivion, and is planned as another open-ended roleplaying game. This game however, will be decidedly darker. Imagine a survival horror-esque version of the Fallout world, with all the things you expect out of the series still intact, but with deeper, more immersive gameplay. The post-apoc theme (with tongue in cheek humor) of the series is still present, with your character having spent the first 20 years of his life living underground. Because of this, his eyes are unaccustomed to the light of day, thus players will have to train their eyes away from light sensitivity by using a special pair of goggles. Todd Howard claims that Fallout 3 will be one of the most original and violent titles ever and will be set in a familiar US city.

PC Gamer

While Bethesda is still evaluating different designs and features, Fallout 3 will undoubtedly introduce some changes to the series. Executive Producer Todd Howard wouldn’t confirm whether the franchise’s traditional isometric view and turn-based combat will be abandoned, but he did point out that the strategy spin-off Fallout Tactics retained those elements and still didn’t resonate with series fans. In Howard’s view: “There was so much more to Fallout than the angle you viewed it at, or how combat was resolved. You need to look at what Fallout did for RPG’s when it came out in 1997, and create a game that has the same effect for the next generation.”

Howard thinks the vital, mandatory elements that define Fallout games are “the overall tone and character choices. You could play Fallout in many different ways with different results. And the first game did a brilliant job of putting you in a harsh, unknown wasteland that was full of people who [hoped] humanity would survive. At it’s core, it’s a survival game.” That’s already a fitting characterization for Fallout 3 given that it’s survived considerable adversity and now the follow-up’s back in experienced RPG-making hands.

Not quite comforting to see that Bethesda doesn't really know what Fallout is and why it's fans really like it.

[Moral Hazard]

Yeah. I mean I don't know if I like Bethesda doing it, much rather see it in the hands of Obsidian or Troika. They need to hire some Dialouge writers and get a sense of humor. I see they're trying to be funny but I'll wait and see. Fallout's humor wasn't all violent and dark.

more immersive gameplay [then the originals]

good luck

Plus nothing has ever compared to Fallout's endings.

[Dis]

I actually think this will be good. Probably not as good as the first 2, but I think I'll enjoy them.

I look forward to killing people in 3D and seeing it in all it's glory .

And they do have a clue to what the originals are about. They said it's a game about survivial. This is true.

I can care less about isometric views and turn based.

I wouldn't mind if the game were more like Morrowind. But not too much.

Because morrowind lacked things such as multiple dialogue options, and varied endings. These I hope will be in fallout 3.

[Nostromo]

Although I never played Fallout, I hope they will use the SPECIAL system. The only thing I know about SPECIAL is that it was loosely based on GURPS, and one of the best parts of GURPS is character creation.

[Apocalypse]

Well, they do have the SPECIAL license, so presumably they'll use it.

[Nostromo]

Btw, I seems that Interplay actually licensed the GURPS pen and paper rpg for a while. But when Steve Jackson Games, the makers of GURPS, saw where Fallout was heading, they refused to give them the license. It seems Fallout was too violent for their tastes! Wimps! And that's how they came up with SPECIAL.

[Adagio]

Imagine a survival horror-esque version of the Fallout world

Sounds interesting

I don't care much about dialogs... some times in Fallout 2 there was too much dialog, so personally hope they'll tune this down a bit...

[Lemmy]

Keep in mind that their PR manager denies that any decisions have been taken yet about FO3's design, and that they don't even have a definite staff yet for the project....

I doubt anything we'll hear for the next few months can be considered as even remotely final design decisions.
Also from their point of view, i'd say it is natural to first look at the games they are good at making, and see what they can use from those for FO3....so the things i expect to hear most about are how certain things from Morrowind would work for FO3.....this doesn't have to mean that it will be a Morrowind mod though (as some fear now)

I do hope they keep the isometric view, i find it hard to get an overview in first person view, i always run straight into enemies in FPS ....ideally i just want an improved 3Dified (yes that's a word ) FO2 engine with a new story

[Dis]

isometric vs. 3d first person view.

I said I won't miss isometric, because now I'm used to first person view (provided you can pause the action- in Morrowind you can pause view the right click button). It takes some getting used to, but I enjoy it. I would like the ability to zoom out though. In morrowind you could zoom out slightly to get a view slightly behind the character showing the character's back, but I didn't find that view all that useful. To be able to zoom out a little further would be nice. Or maybe you could have that option in the map screen- It just would be cool to see an overhead view of the landscape.

I kind of grew up with isometric views, so I do have fond memories of those games. Fallout, Baldur's Gate. Great games. The views worked well in those games. But losing them would not be the end of the world for me.

the important thing is atmosphere. They have to maintain the Fallout feel. As I said above, they got it right it is a game about survival. Survival in a harsh landscape with harsh people. I do hope they keep that element in, and don't tone down the adult element (language etc.). But they have to improve their dialogue system. I felt Fallout didn't have too much dialogue- just the right amount (games like Planescape almost had too much dialogue, but not fallout). You had multiple responses you could answer the NPC's with. This is something I miss in Morrowind. The dialogue is lacking.

Finally we move onto combat. The most important part. How to convert turn based into real time or semi-real time. I felt Neverwinter Nights did a decent job of this with the initiate rolls. Everything was esentually turn based, but it played out on the screen like real time. Morrowind was a little less so. You had to keep clicking to keep attacking- you had to continously assign attacks/magic. I generally don't like this in role playing games. RPG's should be based on your charcter attributes, not how fast you click the mouse. But it worked okay for Morrwind. The main improvement it needs is AI and pathfinding. As long as you can pause the action and assign a different spell or attack- I'm fine with it.

[pg]

yeah that stuff doesn't sound too good but who knows... that training your eye's comment with googles just seems weird. i have to admit a big part of fallout for me was turn based combat. it was just fun.