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"This OP sometimes changes..." FALLOUT 3 S.P.E.C.I.A.L EDITION DETAILS!!
august
where you come from is goneRegistered User regular
where you come from is goneRegistered User regular
SPECIAL EDITION HOT HOT HOT
New infos 3/25/08
NOTE: THIS THREAD IS ABOUT DISCUSSING FALLOUT 3. NOT OTHER MESSAGE BOARDS WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE CRAZY. DON'T.
New pics 3/7/08:
Thanks to KiTA for this in-depth description of the GI exclusive video interview:
Couple things. I guess they released the Collectors Edition details if you're into that sort of thing:
http://kotaku.com/378937/gamestop-details-fallout-3-collectors-editionFor $20 more than the normal edition ($79.99 console, $69.99 PC), you'll be receiving the much-coveted Vault Boy bobble head in all its encephalitic glory, a hardcover Art of Fallout 3 book, a Making of Fallout 3 DVD, and the game itself. All of this comes neatly packaged in a completely customized Fallout 3 lunch box, which I now have in both broken and non-broken varieties, thanks to the lovely folks at Bethesda. This is one collector's edition that seems well worth an extra $20, unless of course you already own half of it.
I've never bought a collectors edition of any game, nor do I think I'll buy this one but it's interesting to me for one reason. Oblivion's CE contents were revealed two-to-three months before the game came out, so hopefully this means they're almost done with it.
Then also this week there has been a lot of new previews, but like most of them before the information is just recycled stuff mostly. Some kind soul at SA compiled the new bits:
***NEW INFO BITS IN SPOILER******NEW INFO BITS IN SPOILER***Kotaku
"The Pip-Boy 3000 has many of uses for interacting with your character as well as emitting light for use in those darker areas of which there are many."
"If things get too dangerous, you can always have him (Dogmeat) wait nearby or send him back to Vault 101 where his safety will be assured." (Vault 101 = Safe?)
IGN
"This is when you get to actually choose your character's look, picking from either preset selections or creating a custom look by mixing and matching different attributes. There are plenty of options to choose from, some quite colorful, like the "gunslinger" option for facial hair."
"It's during your toddler phase where dad also introduces you to a quote that will apparently play an important role in the game (We won't print it here for spoiler reasons, but if you're curious and don't mind a spoiler, it's taken from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Look for Chapter 21, Verse 6)"
"...the idea with Dogmeat is that you can converse with him (he'll answer in barks, whimpers, and other appropriate canine noises), and he'll be knowledgeable about the surrounding area."
"There are even grenades to help clear out rooms."
"Throughout this battle the demonstrator switched between weapons using the Pip-Boy 3000."
"The supermutants carried everything from sledgehammers to rocket launchers."
Joystiq
"...but Hines expects more than Oblivion, with roughly 50 to 60 different character voices."
GameShark
"You're given a final opportunity to make any desired changes to your character--confirm sex, name, attributes, perks, etc--and then it's off into what remains of the post-modern world." - Looks like you can pull the sewer gate trick instead of redoing the tutorial, but will skipping it altogether be an option?
"Once a popular tourist spot (mall of Washington D.C.) it has degraded into a war zone, ravaged by battles between the Brotherhood of Steel and legion of super mutant that have annexed the Capitol Rotunda as their headquarters."
1up
"However, I was a bit bummed when Hines said we won't be able to become mutants."
Shacknews
"But while the general background is the same, none of the characters or locales from the original two games will make an appearance."
"It may not be a lonely world out there--what with super mutants, the mercenaries of the Talon Company, and the cult-like Brotherhood of Steel all marauding across the landscape--and it sure isn't a friendly one, either."
"Abandoned vaults and bombed-out buildings are to Fallout 3 what the generic caves and decrepit Elven ruins were to Oblivion."
"...though an interesting touch to each glowing one you encounter is a very brief (think blink-and-you'll-miss-it) flashback scene showing what that ghoul's life was like before it mutated into a hellish husk."
Gamespot
"You'll even get to take on a few rudimentary quests at your party or just watch the many-armed robot of the future, Mr. Handy, mangle your birthday cake with one of its buzz saw-arm extensions." - confirmation that "many-armed" device in birthday screenshot is Mr. Handy?
"...you can't have any meaningful conversations with him (Dogmeat) or have him carry a ton of inventory." - While you do interact with Dogmeat through the same conversation mechanism as other NPC dialog, thankfully the options are limited to commands. It is also mentioned that scolding and/or praising Dogmeat will not affect Karma.
"Feral ghouls are extremely swift and vicious, leaping at you with tremendous speed."
"...coupled with the weapon's (minigun) startup delay..." - A nice touch of realism for the minigun
"...you'll receive most of your alerts, such as new quests, as brief text messages that fade away, similar to friends notifications on Xbox Live."
Team Xbox
"...we were already impressed by little touches, such as how the loading screen offers a selection of statistics and your level progress taken directly from your gameplay."
"when 'Dogmeat' joins you on your trek, it isn’t something that’ll happen in the game at the same point if you play it three times in a row." - confirmation that Dogmeat is part of a random encounter as suggested in earlier previews
Gamespy
"Vault 101's overseer presents you with your very own Pip-Boy 3000, which will serve as your quest log, map, and radio receiver throughout your wasteland jaunt, sporting a handsome cathode ray tube display that doubles as a flashlight when clicked on its highest setting." - More on the Pipboy "flashlight". Confirmation that instead of a flashlight setting the players turns up the brightness on the display for a light halo similar to previous Fallouts (sorry if this is boring but I had been wondering about that for ages)
Games Radar
"We also toured a mall of Washington D.C., where we saw the Washington Monument. In the future, it's full of holes, but still standing, and the elevator will still goes to the top." - Confirmation (?) that the Washington Monument from the official trailer is in fact a playable area.
"After watching the fight, we got too close and one of the mercenaries fired a few shots at us. Then he really surprised us by running over to a dead mutant, picking up his mini-gun and using it against us."
Gametap
"One interesting side detail: A Bethesda representative was demonstrating the combat and had power armor equipped. While he was basically a nigh-impenetrable tank, his visibility was cut down, so the perception stat had a significant penalty--one that made VATS nearly impossible to use, which was just one example of the hard tactical decisions you'll need to make."
One thing I especially liked in the new tidbits is the reduced accuracy/VATS in the power armor, so it looks like they hopefully won't make it required to wear the armor near the end of the game or you die in two seconds like the previous games.
New infos 3/25/08
Has no one seen this yet? Todd Howard of Bethesda appeared on the OXM podcast the other day, and divulged some pretty big details. You can listen to the thing here, but I found an excerpt.-â€Fans sending death threats†says one of the OXM guys. Another one calls Fallout fansâ€rabid Right Wing kind of fansâ€.
-Over 200 endings, since last week. The 12 endings was surpassed sometime ago.
-The game is twice bigger than what they thought in the beginning.
-Always just one humanoid-type companion, and another NPC like Dogmeat.
-Dogmeat can die, but they are working on his health and how you maintain him.
- Dogmeat can be given assignments, and will try to follow them with his Radiant AI.
-Brotherhood of Steel doing their own thing; already in finished state on the game; they are on the verge of extinction, you’ll interact with them a lot more after a determined point in the game.
-The game is finished, but needs a lot more polishing and testing, they are doing many playthroughs; they keep adding stuff, sometimes it takes 100 hours to play, just the main quest takes about 20 hours.
-Absolutely tracking at fall 2008.
- Todd notes “Usually I’m concerned with making sure they understand what the game is and what the game isn’t. I always worry that somebody reads about it and they get excited, whether they’re old Fallout fans or a newer fans of ours. My concern is usually I want them to know as much as they can so that when they go to buy the game they know what they’re getting. (…) The people who bought Oblivion and then said “I didn’t like it, this isn’t what I thought I was gettingâ€, that’s usually what concerns me more (…)
We have a lot more respect for them [Fallout fans] than anybody thinks in terms of they’re very very passionate and we wouldn’t have it in any other way.
I think you have to look at those comments and they’re usually not raging to rage, although that happens sometimes.â€
-Todd acknowledges that some of the new screenshots at OXM got positive reactions too, some fans are beginning to understand their take on the wasteland, visually.
-Todd not going to change the game, when people say they don’t like the presentation; but on aesthetics and how things were interpreted by them they go “hey is there something we’re missing or didn’t take into consideration†and deal with it.
NOTE: THIS THREAD IS ABOUT DISCUSSING FALLOUT 3. NOT OTHER MESSAGE BOARDS WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE CRAZY. DON'T.
New pics 3/7/08:
Some new screens:
sir_michael7 wrote: »GI Scans!
http://i9.tinypic.com/53hsaat.jpg
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http://i18.tinypic.com/4qf7djq.jpgToday, though, Bethesda revealed that it will give the world its first look at Fallout 3 on June 5. That's when the countdown touted on the recently launched official Web site for the game will end and a teaser trailer for the game will go live. (The trailer will also be available on GameSpot.) The once-bare site also now sports the Fallout 3 theme, which sounds much more serious than its ironic predecessors and concept art (pictured). A rep for Bethesda says the latter will be updated weekly as the trailer's debut approaches.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6170006.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0
http://fallout.bethsoft.com/
Very interesting... soon we may be able to see just how well Bethesda will do with Fallout. Thoughts or specualtion? Do you think Bethesda will be able to do it or will they drop the ball?
NEW INFO! Thanks for the post Carnivore:Bethesda Softworks Announces Award-Winning Actor
Liam Neeson to Play Lead Role in Fallout 3
Famed Actor to Provide Voice Work in Game Developed by
Bethesda Softworks, Creators of the 2006 Game of the Year
May 8, 2007 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks® is pleased to announce that highly acclaimed international actor Liam Neeson will lead the cast providing voice work in Fallout 3. Neeson will play the role of the player’s father and will appear prominently throughout the game. Fallout 3 is currently under development at Bethesda Game Studios, creators of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, which won numerous Game of the Year and RPG of the Year awards in 2006.
“This role was written with Liam in mind, and provides the dramatic tone for the entire game,†said Todd Howard, Executive Producer of Fallout 3. “Liam is absolutely amazing to work with.â€
Neeson is known for starring roles in blockbuster films such as Schindler’s List, Star Wars: Episode I, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Batman Begins. Throughout his illustrious career, Neeson has been the recipient of numerous honors for his work in film and theater, including Academy Award, Golden Globe and Tony Award nominations.
“It’s been a pleasure bringing the father to life and working with the wonderfully talented people at Bethesda on Fallout 3,†said Neeson. “I hope the fans of the franchise and the game will be excited by the results.â€
No other details on Fallout 3 have yet been revealed by Bethesda. More information will be coming in the next few months.
New "Info" on Fallout 3 from GI:
- Game runs on an evolved version of the Oblivion engine. Third person view has been reworked since the verdict was that the Oblivion version sucked balls.
- Game starts with your birth and your mother's death in a vault hospital. This is essentially the character customization part of the game. Your father hands you up to have your DNA analyzed and you get to pick out all your character traits. Your dad takes off his mask to reveal similar traits to the ones you picked.
- You grow up in the vault and as you grow you get your first book titled "You're Special" which allows you to choose you baseline stats for each of your 7 primary aptitudes. You'll also get your first weapons and wrist computer (menu) as you get older you'll take tests to determine the initial layout of your skills and traits.
- Every aspect of character creation is based on S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. Of your 14 skills you can tag 3 to grow at a faster rate than the rest as you level up.
- Battle system is called the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). The article states. "While you'll certainly be able to tackle enemies in real time using first person shooting, V.A.T.S. lets players pause time and select a target at their leisure". Battle system still uses action points, but once you've used them up you'll still be able to fight targets in real time while they charge back up.
- Game is still violent and gory. One of the featured screens is of a guy's head exploding in super gory detail. Apparently all gory deaths in the game will be in slow motion.
- More than one way to play the game. Go balls out and kill people, or sneak past situations, or perhaps talk your way out of situations.
- Enemies can target you just like you can target them, so you can get injured in very specific points on you body. This is in addition to an all new health/radiation system. This new system has you measuring how radiated certain things (like water) are and how they affect you when you consume them.
- Karma system returns
- XP based system, most XP comes from quests
- Level cap is 20
- 9 - 12 possible endings based on your actions in the game
- No level scaling like oblivion, you walk into a high level area, you die horribly.
- There are NPC's you can hire, but this is not a party based game.
Thanks to KiTA for this in-depth description of the GI exclusive video interview:
Sounds like it's basically what's in the magazine article.
edit: Anything else that's interesting in the Q&A?
Hm.
- It's not "Oblivion with Guns." Dialogue engine is the same as Oblivion's, at least for now. "Combat, questing, character creation and "tone and style of the gameplay" is closer to Fallout than Oblivion.
- It's not turn based, but rather, "Real Time with a Paused Tactical Combat Mode". You can use AP to pause the action and then directly aim -- the example given in the article was of a SuperMutant with Fallout-style target points and % chance to hit. This makes me think that it won't be Oblivion-style dumbing down of attacks, where if your sword made physical contact it would do damage. You can make blind attacks in real time after you're out of AP, but your AP will either regenerate extremely slowly or not at all when you do so.
Another thing mentioned is stuff like attacking THE ENVIRONMENT, the example being given blowing up a car's nuclear fuel tank using AP. All in all, the AP system is there to give you a chance to pause the game and think carefully about your next few moves.
- No known SPECIAL changes, but interviewee (who works at Bethesda, but not as a Developer) says he'd be pretty surprised if all the traits and perks survived unchanged.
- There are Vehicles in the game, but you won't be driving them.
- Not allowed to talk about the ESRB rating, but they anticipate an M.
- Fallout 3 will be more open ended than Oblivion, "in some ways." The example given was the Dark Brotherhood quest in Oblivion -- in Fallout, you would be able to simply storm in and kill them all, or join the traitor (or town guards) and bring them down from the inside.
- They're aiming for Dark Humour, Fallout 1 and 2 style. The example given was a malfunctioning Robot's weird dialogue or "funny" death and gore. No word on if it's closer to the first or second game's humour style.
- The game will not be connected, storywise, to Fallout 1 or 2. The universe remains consistant, but it takes place on the other side of the US.
- When asked if "porting" it to the XBox 360 AND PS3 would hurt it, they shut that down, saying that it's not a port if you're designing the game from the ground up with all 3 in mind (PC, 360, PS3) and at the same time.
Specifically mention that making it a PC and Console game allows them a bigger budget, because they're guaranteed more sales.
- The art retains some assets from the original games -- for example, stimpacks look the exact same, only 3d now. Every single object in game has a point, reason, and purpose. For example, no more random pressure gauges on weapons, or random straps on mutant faces. They based most of the art, just like in Fallout, on 1950s, cold war / post WW2 ideas of the year 2050+.
- It's primarily first person, but they're going back and re-engineering the 3rd Person mode to make it not suck. It's not Isometric -- they specifically mention this, so I imagine they've been getting spammed about that. Camera can be moved "quite far back" -- perhaps to make it Van Buren style?
- Unknown if you can play the game without ANY combat at all, but they are working on multiple answers to every quest and situation in the game -- Stealth, Combat, Diplomacy. The devs still, apparently, haven't figured out if they're going to make it possible to be a complete pacifist.
- No word on how nonlinear it is, although specifically mentions the town of Megaton as an example -- if you don't kill them with the Nuke, the strange man won't talk to you, but the townspeople will eventually start to tolerate you as you do other quests, giving you an entire new quest hub. But the strange man and his town wouldn't open up, blocking off some (probably pretty damned evil) quests in the process. The theory is that you could play through the game several times and never get all the quests in one go.
- Violence is, if anything, worse than Fallout 1 and 2. Very bloody and gory. One example in the article was headshots (in the AP system?) pause the game, and do a slow motion replay.
- The map is the same size / slightly smaller than Oblivion's, and takes place around Washington DC.
- The game takes place 200 years after the Great War, meaning Vault 101 must have been some severely weird experiment (perhaps experimenting on "permanent isolation")
- No different races. Can only play Humans, but can play them in various ways. No Ghouls?
- Drugs are in, in particular many drugs from the previous games.
- "A lot more" voice actors than Oblivion.
- There is definitely melee combat, not sure if there is hand-to-hand / unarmed combat. Likely, though.
- No enemy scaling. (However, Bethesda has said that with an * before, so there may be very limited scaling.)
- No co-op, no multiplayer.
- Game has plenty to explore, even with it being based on the real world. The Fallout timeline diverges after WW2 and by 2277 (the start of Fallout 3) quite a bit is different. The majority of the landmarks in Washington DC are still there -- being made before WW2 -- but there will be quite a few surprises.
- They're designing the game to be enjoyable if you do not have knowledge of Fallout 1 / 2, and if you do. You probably will miss out on some in-jokes without having played Fallout 1 / 2.
- No word on Collectors Edition. Target Ship date is Fall 2008.
- Game takes place in AND AROUND, Washington DC. Both Above and Below Ground. No Fallout 1 / 2 / Tactics environments return.
- The game is not just like Oblivion.
- The gane is not just like Fallout 2.
I'll copy the last question verbatim, since I think it's important.Q: What is your overall impression of the game?
A: To be clear, I was and continue to be a big fan of the original Fallout games. Believe it or not, so are the guys over at Bethesda. From my perspective as someone who loved the originals, I have to say that my feeling of the direction that Bethesda is taking the franchise is very strongly positive. If you are a fan who is adamantly against some significant changes to the way gameplay occurs in the Fallout series, I’m going to tell you right now and save you the disappointment: I don’t think you’ll like Fallout 3. However, if you’re a fan of the Fallout universe, of the unique look of the world, of the moral ambiguity, of the dark and often violent humor, and the invigorating branching story paths, then everything about what I’ve seen of Fallout 3 should please you.
No word on if there will be random encounters, I certainly hope so, but I don't know if they can mutate the map sufficiently to handle a bar appearing in random spots, or whatnot.
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Now, now, Echo! tsk, tsk
Although there's some sort of paradox going on now because that-forum-which-must-not-be-named was just named.
To reiterate/re-whinge and get it rolling again: nuclear devices. Not good. Catapult double plus ungood.
I'm pretty sure they are cheering.
Nuking a town as part of a quest double-plus good.
The catapult I'll wait and see on.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
The difference between mourning and cheering is razor-thin in a post-apocalyptic world.
BTW, does anyone else think The Postman would make a good mod for the PC version? With Kevin Costner's likeness and everything?
Well I'm gonna say they are cheering because they aren't Brotherhood soldiers so have no real reason to mourn him.
I never asked for this!
At the very least, can we kick a door down or deform terrain with explosives?
Fallout 3 takes place on the east coast so no, it isn't in any of the other games.
It could be this: http://www.paradisefallscabin.com/
I'll se you one CHAINGUN VATS TO THE GROIN and raise you one GATLING LASER VATS TO THE GROIN.
Of course, you probably still can't aim with burst shots. But still.
Nuclear Catapult to the groin?!?!
I wonder if thats aimable...
I never asked for this!
Might not even be a soldier in that armor. No blood, dents, bullet holes, burns, or other signs of combat on it. Could be lucking out on a supply cache and finding a cache of pre-war tech would be huge grounds for celebration.
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could also be an enclave type soldier, as opposed to the brotherhood of steel.
2% chance to hit...... good enough!!
Despite being outrageous, I think it'd present a neat gameplay element. Assuming it's powerful, or very powerful, it has the repercussion of likely radiating you as well.
Just don't give it to any team mates you can hire if you can give them guns. Imagine the amount of damage they could do thanks to their stupidity.
There's no guarantee that power armor is solely the domain of the BoS and Enclave anymore either. Even back during Fallout 1, you could find an npc that knew how to work on it in the Boneyard. Multiple scientists in SF were familiar with it and merchants sold it. Plus the stuff was used by the US military as a whole during the war, not just the group that became the BoS, and there are a TON of Army, Marine Corp, and Navy training facilities, testing grounds, museums, etc. in the Maryland and Virginia area.
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combine that with bloody mess perk... man that was an awesome game.
I think a lot of people may not be remembering just how miniaturized nuclear technology was in the games. The power cells that operated plasma/laser/pulse weapons, the chainsaw, and the powerfist and even your car's engine were all nuclear devices. Since things don't go Hiroshima during a critical fumble, I don't think we're talking about large scale nuclear devices all the time.
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There was also the supersledge, YK32 Pulse Pistol, YK42B Pulse Rifle, Tesla Armor (metal armor with fucking tesla coil rods attached to it), and the ripper (a vibroblade powered by energy cells).
exactly quit whining about the nuke.
See : Crysis, World in Conflict.
Its really physics and shaders which needed to advance to get proper nukes in a game.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ripper_%28weapon%29 It looks more like a knife with some spike added onto it.
From the screenshot the explosion looks little more than what a grenade launcher or something would do.
edit: Though they do have a screenshot of an actual nuke from the quest.
That's Fallout; if you dont like it , go home. A nuke-slingshot, however, completely crosses an arbitrary imaginary line I have demarked, and then hidden the map to. I am the sole determiner of Fallout-y goodness. Behold my terrible wrath and tremble. Or someshit, I dunno.
Frankly, I don't like the nuk-a-pult, but I'm hoping - okay, praying - that it's not a game breaker that I don't like the idea, much like the gattling lazer. I hope to be able to ignore it just like I ignored the gattling lazer or the flamer. I really hope it's not some BFG 9000 that you just gotta use in the end stages else you're totally fucked.
It could be something like the shell on the W54, which is basically just a really heavy bazooka with an atomic payload. It's yield is smaller than a lot of conventional weapons.
The fun part is, it's blast radius was still wider than it's maximum range. Might be a fun weapon in game - destroy a large group of enemies and effectively bypass what would be an extremely hard fight, but irradiate yourself, your entire party, and probably kill your dog because every one of them I've ever let tag along, whether organic, robotic, or even the pariah dog that supposedly never helps in combat, ALWAYS gets in the line of fire.