Slowtrain

I watched the Alan Wake trailer. I don't understand why that would make anybody want to buy the game. There was no "game" shown. It was just a low budget made for Scifi episode of some show. It wasn't as awful as the Far Cry 2 trailers though.

I enjoy his often negative approach, even if it is something of a shtick. Its a refreshing change of pace from the usual ball washing reviews these days. I'd like to see more reviewers take a more brutal, no-holds-barred approach to game reviews. And I have to say that a lot of his reviews of games I've played often make good points. Even when he insults games that I enjoy, I'm often in agreement with his points.

Far Cry 2! Yes, I am sloooooowwwwww........

An exploding head if I remember correctly. Gosh darn those fake exploding heads........

What was wrong with the trailer?

I said some of that. Not so much the beloved franchise stuff, but just the Bethesda past track record in designing crpgs was total ass. And it has been. But I also give them all the cedit in the world, if they've finally made a crpg that's actually worth playing. If Todd has proved me wrong and he has actually done something worthwhile in game design, then I bow and kiss his feet. Or something.

One perk per level sounds a bit like overkill. Depends how powerful they are. Its just a matter of game design, not inherently any better or worse than one every three levels.

It sounds like Bethesda really stepped up for this one. I think I'm going to faint actually. But it's a good kind of faint.

I'd have to say so, crashgirl. Take my smarmy charmy Doc Holiday character. Unlike the demo videos where that sheriff d00d threatens to "f***in' end yah" as I'm "f***in' pyscho wastelander", he's was practically melting in the palm of my hands. Almost every dialog I've seen so far has a special "speech check" dialog which is working really great for my guy. Also, depending of perks like Lady Killer/Blackwidow or Child at Heart, you'll get special dialogs with members of the opposite sex, or children, respectively. Also, there are certain primary stat dialog options too (i.e. a high strength allows you to intimidate). Good stuff so far. Wow. That sounds pretty good. So you don't feel like the game is going to railroad Doc into the same combat heavy role as it might some high strength/endurance character?

That sounds really good. Thanks for taking the time to answer, kk. I appreciate it. Here's a big question for you, and it may be too early in your game to have an answer, but I'll ask anyway: Do you feel like your choice of stats and skills is creating a unique player character? Do you feel like your player character will not have some options that another pc will and vice versa? Does having a high skill, say in speech or lockpicking, make a real difference to the game?

Also, how does exploring feel? WHen you wander about do you feel at risk? Like there are things out there could seriously damage you? Are you nervous about poking your nose into unexplored place? Are all the loot items still leveled? Like in Oblivion where all you find is completely uninteresting junk in all the chests. Are you finding cool stuff as you explore or just the Fallout equivalent of Oblivion's constant supply rusted swords and armor and forks and wolf pelts? Are stores actually useful? DO they actually sell things you can use and want to buy?

That's good news. What about level scaling? Is that horrible thing where the npcs and general bandits level with you, stats and gear both, still in play?

Just an FYI for people: there appears to be at least a somewhat significant crash problem that some people are having. Plus there appear to be some issues with the securom. There's some threads and what not in the Fallout 3 forums at Bethesda.

Not that I don't trust Jags or anything but um, who else is playing it? More opinons, please? How's the new level scaling thing working out?

@jags: Can you even use a weapon with strength 1? edit: Also, I see you like Tombstone.

Sim Fallout?

That's pretty accurate. If you're just moving around and taking in the world, the game feels almost like a simulation. Very immersive and involving. But once you start interacting with the world, you realize its all quite simplified and not terribly involving at all. That being said, this is one of those games that shows how much expectation can play into reception. I was expecting nothing from this game, and it turns out to be decently interesting so I'm having fun. If I had been expecting this game to be as good as it was hyped, I'd probably be pretty disappointed. Now if only the same thing can happen with Fallout 3...

My mouse is fine, too, but I agree with most of the points that people are making. Did you know that the art director and some of the designers actually traveled to Kenya and stayed there for a couple weeks touring the country with a guide, taking pictures and trying to get a feel for the country really felt. And they did a great job of capturing that in the game. But then, despite doing all that work, they turn around and make these really simplfied gameplay parameters which almost totally DEFEATS the purpose of making the game so authentic in the first place.

You know, that's totally true. But my expectations for this game were so low, that it's all gravy to me. Overall, its a little too "gamey" for me to say to say its really great. If the devs had pushed a little bit harder toward making the world a tad more realistic, it could have been a pretty fabulous shooter. It's funny that they seem to push so far toward an immersive, realistic world and then just stopped at the last minute.

Well, it does appear promising. If the reactions to FO3 are not so good, then I'll buy this. When I am done with FC2, of course.

Well after playing Far Cry 2 and seeing how much better the actual game is than the horrible trailers seemed to indicate, I have a lot more hope that Fallout 3 might be much better than the horrible trailers and walkthroughs have shown. I'm still not going to buy it without hearing what people think first, though.

Did you adjust the mouse sensitivity in the options? I think I had to turn mine almost all the way up to get a decent mouse response.

What else is there to do in the game besides blow appendages off? Any character development? Puzzle-type things? Research? How's the "story"? Is it all interesting or just an excuse to blow appendages off?

It would be helpful, for those of us who are genuinely interested in seeing how FO3 has turned out and what people's reactions are, if the thread does NOT turn into a piracy/anti-piracy debate.

And by interesting you must mean frustrating, because thats what 99% of gamers think when they have to restart from a savepoint a hundred miles fom where they died. Are you speaking generally or specifically? Yes, generally speaking, if a game requires save points and is not well-balanced there can be a lot of frustration for the gamer. This frustration can occur with any area of a poorly balanced game, not just save points. Random crashes can also be extremely problematic when dealing with save points. Speaking specifically about Far Cry 2, since I was in fact speaking specifically about Far Cry 2: Far Cry 2 is one of the easiest shooters I've played in a long time, plus there are enough save points to choke a horse. The game is incredibly stable. I have not had a single crash in many hours of play. There's no reason to have a save anywhere feature in this particular game.