Bethesda gets Fallout

[NiX]

If we're lucky it can be modded, and in a couple months people will have turned it into a good fallout game.

fify

[SnakeCharmer]

Hrm.

To buy on PC or 360.  The dilemma.

I think the only reason to choose a console over PC would be if you're near or below the minimal requirements.  Expecting good performance with a lower end machine on a Bethsoft game would be folly. 

Even though being right around the recommended specs has me a bit worried, I don't care about making Fallout pretty.  Sure it'd likely look a lot better on the PS3 and the big TV, but it's a Bethsoft game and it's Fallout.  Ugly and poor art direction is in its genes.  Plus, it has shooty controls and the mod community working with Fallout assets is something really intriguing.  I also assume at some point, fan patches will clean up a lot of the lazy mistakes and small annoying bugs that are sure to be rampant.

Reviews will likely be on the payola high side.  I'm sure critical reading of the reviews (well, depending on the source) will clue you in immediately to the anticipated shortcomings.

edit: grammar

Good stuff, thanks.  I'm way over min specs (and req), so it shouldn't be an issue.

[lamaros]

All reports say it looks like ass on PS3. It's an xbox game. Looks better on xbox, and only the xbox gets updates I believe.

Looks best on PC from reports though, with an outside chance of mods in the distant future.

[Signe]

I don't know if I'll like this.  I'm torn.  I hated Oblivion.  I even hated it when I could cheat and I usually love cheating. 

[Jade Falcon]

I don't know if I'll like this.  I'm torn.  I hated Oblivion.  I even hated it when I could cheat and I usually love cheating. 

I'm in the same boat.Going to hold out until a few reviews start rolling in around here before I decide.If it turns out as obliviony as it's been hinted at I might just save myself the trauma and just let fallout die while I still have the fond memories of the franchise.

[LK]

As long as there isn't a difficulty slider with 100 different settings, should be OK.

[Sky]

I'm also in the (very crowded) burned-by-Oblivion boat.

[Morfiend]

I enjoyed Oblivion, quite a lot. After I modded the stupid EXP skill gain system.

Having said that, I think I am going to wait on this one for a bit to see what happens. I just don't have the cash to run out and buy everything I want right now.

[Litigator]

I have not got Fallout 3 yet, but a couple of points about Fallout and Fallout 2.

I always thought the key joy of these games was the sense of freedom, the characters and stories you encounter, and the high degree of choice in how to approach these things. 

Combat was never the high point of fallout.  While the locational damage system was cool for the time and the animations were neat, combat was still a bunch of guys standing in the open unloading at each other, and you frequently had to reload battles when your various non-controllable companions ran into your line of fire.

Also, the specialization necessarily undercuts difficulty, because they can't balance the combat around an expectation of how much health a player will have or how much damage he will deal.  There are many different paths that a capped intelligence player with specializations in speech and bartering can take that a strength specced player with specs in heavy guns cannot, and vice versa, but there are many points where both characters will have to handle the same combat situations. 

The game has to assure that the intelligent character who can't swing a sledgehammer or hold a chaingun steady will never be too weak to progress, and the character who can't barter with shopkeepers or hack terminals for credit also can never be too poor to progress.  That means that there will be points where you're richer or stronger than you need to be, which makes the game easy.

If Bethesda can retain the personality, and the high degree of freedom and choice, they can make an excellent fallout game, and revamping the visuals and the combat system is no big deal. 

[schild]

If Bethesda can retain the personality, and the high degree of freedom and choice, they can make an excellent fallout game, and revamping the visuals and the combat system is no big deal.

Didn't, almost did, spent a lot of time revamping the combat system and the graphics are an uber-reskin of Oblivion, people are still ugly.

Though, again, I'll have fun exploring the ideal D.C.

[Ragnoros]

As long as there isn't a difficulty slider with 100 different settings, should be OK.

Fallout has a difficulty knob.   

Slider < Knob? 

[LK]

I hate Bethesda.

Even moreso now that my friend has told me that Bethesda has purposely instructed Fed Ex to delay deliveries of the game to distributor's such that the street date isn't violated. As a result, some distributors aren't even getting the game on launch day.

[Ragnoros]

I hate Bethesda.

Even moreso now that my friend has told me that Bethesda has purposely instructed Fed Ex to delay deliveries of the game to distributor's such that the street date isn't violated. As a result, some distributors aren't even getting the game on launch day.

Well they DOUBLE failed then. Because there are photos on Kotaku of wal-marts selling copies already.

[Murgos]

I hate Bethesda.

Even moreso now that my friend has told me that Bethesda has purposely instructed Fed Ex to delay deliveries of the game to distributor's such that the street date isn't violated. As a result, some distributors aren't even getting the game on launch day.

Internet rumors are for winnars!

Anyway, I just picked up my CE from Best Buy.  I won't get a chance to play it until this weekend at the earliest though.

[Tebonas]

The retards at Ubisoft told me our version is multilingual and now I have wait until the street date to call them on their bald-faced lie.

Assholes.

[Big Gulp]

The retards at Ubisoft told me our version is multilingual and now I have wait until the street date to call them on their bald-faced lie.

Assholes.

Wait, so does that mean that in the future not only will DC be turned into a Mad Max wasteland, but that all the inhabitants also speak German?

[Morfiend]

So all the reviews seem to be saying that its a very good game. Really fun and pretty.

Basically Oblivion with Guns like every one said it would be, and with a better leveling system, but not very Fallout.

A few tidbits from the WIRED article.

Fallout 3's story seems like a similarly well-crafted re-creation of the classic tales of the first two Fallout games, at first, but after a few hours long-time fans will realize that the whole thing feels a bit off. It took me nearly 15 hours of gameplay to figure out what exactly felt wrong.

And then it dawned on me: Nothing in Fallout 3 is funny.

Very very mild spoiler:

[Bunk]

Got my lunch box sitting here calling to me on my desk at work.

[justdave]

Very very mild spoiler:

Man, someone at Bethsoft really has a hardon for those things. That's really ridiculous.

[Murgos]

Very very mild spoiler:

Man, someone at Bethsoft really has a hardon for those things. That's really ridiculous.

Fallout I and Fallout II had aliens and ghouls.  *shrug*

[Takshaka]

Very very mild spoiler:

WTF!  well, Bethesda has done it again.  I was burned with Oblivion and now this sounds like some of my worst fears have come true, nothing is funny in F3 and you can become a god damn *****.  I would be perfectly ok with it if you became a ghoul, but seriously....

Although, I picture one of the first mods that comes it is the removal of that quest.

[K9]

Fallout I and Fallout II had aliens and ghouls.  *shrug*

The ghoul was just the term used to refer to a set of mutants. In every other sense of the word they were not ghouls.

[Nevermore]

Fallout I and Fallout II had aliens and ghouls.  *shrug*

The ghoul was just the term used to refer to a set of mutants. In every other sense of the word they were not ghouls.

'Vampires' based on mutation or a biological disease rather than some mystical or magical means isn't exactly uncommon in sci fi.  As Murgos pointed out, it's not exactly a big leap from mutant 'ghouls'.

[Rasix]

Steam download keeps fucking up. 

[Engels]

Steam download keeps fucking up. 

Too congested? Or some buffering issue or? I was sorta counting on doing this tonight, but if its a breadline download, I'll pass.

[justdave]

EDIT: No idea why that posted twice.

[justdave]

Very very mild spoiler:

Man, someone at Bethsoft really has a hardon for those things. That's really ridiculous.

Fallout I and Fallout II had aliens and ghouls.  *shrug*

Ghouls? I thought they were mu-tants. It's has been a while, though, so I pre-posthumously admit to being mistaken.

EDIT: Okay, so I'm not crazy, at least in this regard.  I'm a little more inclined to accept 'ghouls (Man, ionizing radation sucks, oh, shit, my ass just fell off well I didn't fucking need it anyway)', as a mutation as opposed to a sudden taste for blood. Just doesn't seem Fallout-y to me.

[Rasix]

Deathclaws. Game has all sorts of weird shit that occurred post apocalypse. Not saying I appreciate Bethsoft managing to put vampires in, but it's not totally out of the realm of possibility.

Steam download keeps fucking up. 

Too congested? Or some buffering issue or? I was sorta counting on doing this tonight, but if its a breadline download, I'll pass.

Keeps pausing out saying "Download starting.." but it never starts. I have to Pause the download and Resume to get it going again. Pain in the ass. If you have no urge to play today, just leave it on overnight.

[Ingmar]

Is the PC interface better than the initial Oblivion one was?

[rattran]

It's a bit buggy, and suffers from consoleitis about the same as Oblivion.
I keep finding places in the terrain to get stuck, the VATS system has some issues, and Assault Rifles and Pistols seem to have the same effective range. And two appcrashes in 2.5 hours of playing.

That said, it was fun. Post-apocalyptic Oblivion, but no humor so far. Not even gallows humor. And the few things I've found with a good/evil choice it really is super-niceness or blackest evil.

[Tebonas]

And here I thought the humor was lost in the translation. 

[Surlyboi]

Fallout I and Fallout II had aliens and ghouls.  *shrug*

The ghoul was just the term used to refer to a set of mutants. In every other sense of the word they were not ghouls.

'Vampires' based on mutation or a biological disease rather than some mystical or magical means isn't exactly uncommon in sci fi.  As Murgos pointed out, it's not exactly a big leap from mutant 'ghouls'.

Fuck that shit. I want vampires, I'll wait for the game version of I Am Legend.

[Hawkbit]

Is the PC interface better than the initial Oblivion one was?

I think it's a lot better, overall.  It feels more 'shootery', although the VATS system seems a little off. 

So far, I don't think it warrants the 112% ratings it's getting from robotjesus.net, but it seems pretty fun. 

[Reg]

I had that "Download Starting" bug over the weekend when I was downloading Bully. All the time it was displaying the message it was actually doing the download. Eventually, I got suspicious and right clicked the game. When I did that it gave me the choice to launch it and when I launched the game it updated itself to say the install was complete.

[LK]

Finally got my copy for 360 and will be plowing through it.

I'll take 360 over PC version any day of the week if only for the support of the Live Network and to show off my progress to my friends (also known as Achievement Whore Syndrome.)