Kjarista

What Fallout 3 did well was to tell stories indirectly, using graphics as well as text (terminals) and voice shorts (holotapes). I find it more interesting to look at the surroundings and piece together what happened there. I would perfer this form of storytelling...the indirect way, to more "in your face" type of storytelling. Direct,e explicit storytelling has it's place to be sure, but so does the indirect approach.

Yes, and the problem is that the definition of an "ideal" balance point is subjective. Many of us feel that the balance point content producers have found is tilted in a decidedly anti-consumer direction. Obviously, because we are consumers. If that was our money being lost, or potentially being lost, we may feel otherwise.

Mine's better ~but also its foremost, to block out the obviously frozen bystanders (as well as be reasonably similar to the other two in the series). *Also its part of a larger mod in progress. (and its awkward without the rest of it) ~not ready to play just yet. **As for the "foggy" alpha overlay... The glass is white (Actually I'd assume the glass is clear, and coated on the inside... I didn't mind it, but I might thin it out a bit more in the center). Well, the overlay does look more like Fallout 1, but it further removes the player from the game. That is, the PC is looking dorectly at the individual speaking, and not looking at a Pipboy representation of the individual speaking. As far as the mutants, well, it doesn't make that much difference to me.

If that was one of your biggest complaints, Then that's quite a victory for Beth, I would think. I hve mixed feelings about forcing food/drink on PC. It doesn't sound like many players would find that fun or interesting, although I agree that it would be realistic. I just don't think it really adds enough to the game to spend development resources on, when there are better things, like dialogue and quests to spend time on. On Vegas, I would imagine that the desert would be well on it's way to reclaiming the city. I could see drifts, some rather high, amongst the ruins. Perhaps many survivors have gone underground to escape the heat, and several of the remaining buildings have their first several floors buried. Inside the ruins is fairly safe. Outside, on the sand, it's dangerous

Ya, now I get it...that was unfortunate, but it still was one of the greatest gaming moments for me. You left "in Fallout 3" out of your post, I think. If so, I'd probably agree with you. Whoever decided the ka-ching sound was needed, cool or anyway positive deserves a smack. Ya, I might ignore you here as well.

I don't buy many games anymore, and I thought The WItcher was a pretty good game, so I decided to go buy the EE as new copy. Treat it as new game, as it were. It was worth it. Havent played it, but was looking at it in the store. So you recommend it? What did you like the most? The least?

Ya, now I get it...that was unfortunate, but it still was one of the greatest gaming moments for me. I really hope you haven't played many games. That's cute.

Ya, this is a strange argument. On one hand folks (I cant remember if you do this...I ought to include you just for Drama's sake) argue that they can't possibly imagine anything that's not spelled out in the game specifically, then they argue that people don't like ISO because the lack imagination. When I was in the military, we used to sit around the hotel room and play DnD, with no dice...with nothing but our collective imaginations. That PnP experience...the root of it...the collective imagination, is all that is needed to roleplay. All the rest is window dressing...the rules, the stats, the environment, are nothing without that imagination. Yet folks want huge, complex stories, apparently because it's easier, and they want rock solid rules, apparently because it's easier, and they want solo games, apparently because it's easier. RPGs have been dummied down because kids these days grew up watching TV and playing console games...no imagination required. When I grew up, I played swordfighting with stick out in the yard and palying with all kinds of stuffed critters my mom made for me. Times have changed.

Ya, now I get it...that was unfortunate, but it still was one of the greatest gaming moments for me.

*achievement sound* What, you like achievements better than anything else? That was one of the best visuals I've ever seen.

Oh geez, give it a rest already. I bet you wet your pants when you saw those BOS with mini guns, and I bet you went down the glowing hole just so you could get them and PA. And just for the record, stepping out of Vault 101 and seeing for the first time the immense wasteland was one of the best game moments for me. Had one in Fallout too: The intro movie. As far as the dire feeling of wasteland, I think FO3 did taht better than the earlier 2 games.

People keep saying this, but maybe it's just me I CAN'T play an RPG unless I'm interested in the story, or even if I hate the story I need to know that there's something I'm "meant" to be doing. In Fallout 3 I beat the main quest, hated the ending, and then decided to reload an old save and continue exploring where I left off and just couldn't do it. It's just a difference in playstyle. That's why this project with Obsidian is so interesting. it's going to be interesting to see a story driven Fallout. Again, it's not quite my cup of tea, but I'm still looking forward to it.

I agree. I also agree. Make no mistake I like freedom in my games. Not a big fan of super linear games. Even good ones like Half-Life. So I was playing awhile ago, and found the way to get up to the bridge across the road between Dukovs, and the bridge to Jeff memorial. Sounds stupid, that after several hundred hours of gameplay, I just now decided to find a way up there. Point is, after all this time, I'm still finding things I didn't know about.

Of course, but they could have come with something a little better than: PC, Find your father! The narrative is so weak that it seems like they didn't even care enough to bother. That's OK in a shooter or something, where your "character" is just a walkign weapon platform, but I think a crpg needs a bit more. But that's the point. It's a design that benefits sandbox roleplayers at the expense of folks who like more story, just as more story-centric RPGs, don't do much for sandbox RPers like me. The art in the design (ideally, that is) would be to come up with something that attracts both types of players. Fallout 3 would have been a much better game if the main quest was stronger, but it would have been a much worse game without the freeform aspects of it.

No, they're hyper-sensitive and have very hyper-sensitive rules determined by the personalities of the mods and their interpretation of said corporate rulesets. most of the time i got warnings i was completely caught off guard. at one point i was temp-banned for making a joke about Canada (while having made it known i was actually dating somebody from Toronto and couldn't possibly have been disparaging). some times it's obvious, but they've got some insanely strict bid'ness over there. it actually became an incredibly difficult game trying to figure out just HOW to post critically without getting warned to death. *drumroll.......and here we have the eyeroll* Ya, well I got warnings for abusing you, and a couple of NMA personalities, when I figured I was just giving what I got, and I did some heavy complaining to the mods about how you guys were getting away with murder, so I guess perception is everything. I still don't much care for the way they mod their forums, but they gave you guys a lot more leeway then they should have done, IMO.

Oh, I took the main quest as not more than a way to get the player into the world. The first time I played I hit level cap long before I finished the main quest, which to my mind, is a greater problem. Using a pacing mod helped in that regard.

No, they ban people who are abusive to other posters. I almost got banned myself, and I keep getting accused of being a Beth fanboi.

The mood clip of the jungle looks impressive. All the movie clips look interesting.

See, I like the exact opposite. if the game doesn't tell me who I am supposed to be, then I can decide who I want to be, and how I got to be where I am. Starting in prison with no set background offers creative freedom, which is important in the type of roleplay I engage in. I don't want to be told who I am, what I'm supposed to look like, and what I'm supposed to be doing. If Fallout 3 fails in this regard, it's because it was TOO restrictive in who the PC is to be. It is possible, however, to play FO3 and never touch the main quest. IMO, the game is much better played that way.

Oh, I hope not. There's nothing wrong with structured RPGs per se, but I prefer freeform RPGs, like the ones Beth makes. I want to make my own story, not be dragged along some canned story. I thought the main quest in FO3, for all it's faults, was pretty good in scope. One can follow the quest or not, and work on it when the mood strikes, and still have plenty of exploring to do. And maybe I don't want to be the nameless one. That really irritated me in PS:T. I want to create my own character and make my own way in the world. That is, if the game is story driven, there better be more to do than follow the story, and there better be a way to make a character I feel comfortable with playing.

They haven't posted sales numbers, but they have made several comments about how pleased they are with it's performance.

Ya, I call BS on all of that. Most of my characters are long range specialists and I can snipe, hit, and kill mobs so far away I can't tell what they are. And if my half century old arthritic hands and my sloth like reflexes can do you, you probably can too.

It does work that way though, at least with limbs. Shoot the mob in the gun arm and they drop the weapon. After they pick it up, their aim is horrible. Shooting the mob in the head often kills them outright, but at very least, they stop shooting at you for a second or two (hands to face animation) and that might be enough to take them down. The eye and groin thing, along with the overland map, are mostly FO1/2 trappings that those folks miss in this game. RE Vats: On my first couple of playthroughs, I used VATS exclusively. Now I mostly run and gun, or snipe. I could live without it. On the other hand, it would be easy to include eyes and groin as VATS selectable called shots.

This is getting annoying, and I imagine that our Obsidian hosts are getting annoyed at us as well. Do you folks really need to come over here with all your Beth bashing? Isn't it enough that you trash the Beth boards? I'm out until a real F: NV discussion starts. You two can keep it up if you like. Have fun.