Obsidian making Fallout: New Vegas

[Slowtrain]

I haven't read all the 65 536+ pages, but will it be possible to bring Traits back? They were pretty awesome and a lot better than the Bethesda's "+5 to two skills" crap.

 

 

Interesting perks would be nice as well. Maybe more like the original 1 every three levels, but make them more interesting and useful than most of the ones Beth used. Again, a smaller number of choices, but make each choice more significant. Which Bethesda seems incapable of doing.

 

 

Also, I would prefer the original take on tag skills: have a tag skill receive double the points spent vs a flat +15 point bonus. The double points implementaion works better to define your character over the long term plus it makes the choice of tag skills more significant to how your character is going to play. Again, a more consequential and important choice that what Beth implemented.

[Slowtrain]

Josh,

 

Are you guys going to be allowed by Bethesda to possibly change things like adding traits, changing tag skill implementaion, changing number of perk granting levels, or is that stuff not open for you guys to mess around with?

 

It would be nice to know if there's even any point in talking about it and/or getting our hopes up for that sort of change.

[J.E. Sawyer]

There's always a point to talking about what you like/don't like, but we can't discuss the direction we're taking with the game yet.

[Gfted1]

I wonder how well this will sell. After the tens of you who want the same exact game, except "as it should have been", blow your wads how many others will actually pay for it after such a short time of FO3's release. I would have loved to been a fly on the wall during that meeting;

 

"Check it out, how about WE do Fallout too?"

"Huh? It was just done a year ago."

"Yeah, but this time we'll do it "right" to cater to a ridiculously small demographic."

"SOLD!!!"

[funcroc]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.ph...ghlight=#749128

 

Avellone wears many hats at Obsidian. He is currently the chief creative officer (or something like that) as well as the project director and lead designer for AP.

 

To whomever asked up above, Feargus is of course still at Obsidian. He is currently the CEO and project director of an unannounced project that is not FO.

 

Josh Sawyer is the project director and lead designer of Fallout: New Vegas.

[FabMan_UK]

Hey guys do you know what would be great? Thinking before posting, yeah.

 

Why is it being pointed out that skeletons shouldn't remain intact, computers shouldn't work and power shouldn't be available as if Bethesda failed when creating Fallout 3. Who doesn't think it's possible to create a list of 30 things unrealistic in Fallout 1 and then a completely separate list for Fallout 2? I also find many things annoying in Fallout 3, but can we not make out Bethesda are villains for carrying on a trend started well before they did.

 

I'd love to see realism mixed with fantasy. I'd really love to see these human communities in this post-apocalyptic world surviving and trying to thrive, while having to deal with a harsh environment. Having scorpions wander around makes it play more like a computer game, but finding a colony of scorpions and having the chance to wipe them out will give it a much more authentic feel. Why? Well if you had a community of people trying to survive but the people were slowly being picked off, don't you think they'd work together to destroy that colony... of course. Humans have wiped out many predators in the past and I'm sure they'd do it again.

[H]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.ph...ghlight=#749128

 

Avellone wears many hats at Obsidian. He is currently the chief creative officer (or something like that) as well as the project director and lead designer for AP.

 

To whomever asked up above, Feargus is of course still at Obsidian. He is currently the CEO and project director of an unannounced project that is not FO.

 

Josh Sawyer is the project director and lead designer of Fallout: New Vegas.

It will be a 40K cRPG starring a slightly overweight fourty-something Space Marine with a wry sense of humor who travels around the Imperium in search of True Love, improving the planets he visits with the help of his trusty Power Fist.

Edited April 22, 2009 by H

[FabMan_UK]

[quote name='H

[Gizmo]

Why is it being pointed out that skeletons shouldn't remain intact, computers shouldn't work and power shouldn't be available as if Bethesda failed when creating Fallout 3. Who doesn't think it's possible to create a list of 30 things unrealistic in Fallout 1 and then a completely separate list for Fallout 2? I also find many things annoying in Fallout 3, but can we not make out Bethesda are villains for carrying on a trend started well before they did.

Fallout was abstract on the micro details of the landscape, and Fallout 3 is depicted up close and personal with them... (and a lot of it doesn't make sense)

 

~Namely, (off the top)... The folks in Megaton have had micro-fusion power for decades [centuries?] and they live in tin shacks surrounded by a sheetmetal wall. Their computers work, but they use them for stuff they could write in a [paper] notebook.

 

Fallout 3's towns exist in a static time capsule that hasn't changed in 200 years (where the rest of the series depicted the world slowly recovering from the war). These kind of oversights don't go well with a game that has the kind of detail they have put into the rest of it. Some of us want to follow the story from start to finish, others want to run around lobbing shots with the Fatman and don't care about anything unless it won't blow up.... The rest are somewhere in between ~and probably snicker or scoff every time their PC drinks from the toilet.

Edited April 22, 2009 by Gizmo

[Ausir]

Well, I'm pretty sure that Josh would like to bring traits back if he's able to. And since traits were supported even in early builds of Fallout 3, bringing them back shouldn't be that hard tech-wise.

[Gizmo]

Well, I'm pretty sure that Josh would like to bring traits back if he's able to. And since traits were supported even in early builds of Fallout 3, bringing them back shouldn't be that hard tech-wise.

To me...Traits seem awfully close to TES Birthsigns, and Perks seem awfully close to permanent spell effects, so if they change the basic character gen. screens, there should be little problem one would think.

[Purkake]

Woah is the NMA invading us? Damn Fallout thread opened a bridgehead and now there's no stopping them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

J/k, I love you guys!

[J.E. Sawyer]

Fallout 1 and 2 weren't entirely consistent with the idea of energy scarcity.

 

*fires a laser gatling gun burst that would consume enough energy to power a town for a week*

 

The degradation/decomposition of everything from our energy production infrastructure to machine lubrication to smokeless powder to rubber bushings would make the "real" future far more grim and low-tech than it is in any Fallout game.

[Ausir]

Traits shouldn't be hard to implement tech-wise, removing them was a design decision by Bethesda which should be easy to change by Obsidian if they are allowed to do so.

Edited April 22, 2009 by Ausir

[FabMan_UK]

Fallout 3's towns exist in a static time capsule that hasn't changed in 200 years (where the rest of the series depicted the world slowly recovering from the war). These kind of oversights don't go well with a game that has the kind of detail they have put into the rest of it. Some of us want to follow the story from start to finish, others want to run around lobbing shots with the Fatman and don't care about anything unless it won't blow up.... The rest are somewhere in between ~and probably snicker or scoff every time their PC drinks from the toilet.

 

Yeah it's silly, the oversights can be bugging indeed. I still find it funny that the basic necessaries for humans to live, isn't available to them, yet people are still thriving... kinda.

[Ausir]

I'd also like to see some of the background material, factions, characters, etc. from Van Buren used, particularly from Hoover Dam, which is a Van Buren location pretty close to Vegas. They could mention stuff like the NCR-BOS war, or even, if the game is set around the time of FO3, reference the ending of Van Buren's storyline, saying that 20 years before some pre-War satellite went nuts and nuked a bunch of places like Shady Sands in the middle of their war with the NCR (maybe even people blaming the BOS for it, not knowing anything about Presper's plan?) It would somewhat fulfil the original plan of taking the Core Region somewhat backwards in terms of rebuilding the civilization in Van Buren and incorporate Van Buren's story into the official canon, even if it won't be released as a full-fledged game.

 

Given that Bethesda has been using some of Van Buren ideas, I see no reason why they wouldn't allow Obsidian to use them.

Edited April 22, 2009 by Ausir

[Aristes]

I don't really want to get into possible story-lines, Pop, but I think there are a variety of locations that have potential around which to build stories.

 

For example, There's McCarran, Nellis, Area 51, UNLV, Lake Mead, Boulder Dam, and, course, the Strip. If the team wants to use some of the local flavor, there is a lot of difference between the various parts of the greater Las Vegas area just like every other large city. For example, there's the strip, Las Vegas, Sumerlin, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Green Valley, and a bunch of other little places with different and often opposing attitudes. Boulder City is closer to Las Vegas than Area 51. Baker is certainly no farther away, and the challenges surrounding the PC as he tries to traverse the mountains provide not only an opportunity for the design team to create quests and objectives, but also allow for variation in settings, from desert to moutain to forest. Assuming they use lake mead, there will even be lakefront and underwater areas. Don't be fooled by a satellite view of the lake. It is much larger than a lot of folks might think, even shrinking as it has. It even has little islands in the middle of it where my family camped when I was a child.

 

There isn't a large subway network, so those of you who hated the "dungeon hack" aspect need not worry about Obsidian implementing it in quite the same way as Bethesda. Still, there's plenty of opportunity for underground fun between all the places. Area 51, by reputation, has a huge underground network of bunkers, of course, and Hoover Dam has potential for spooky experiences in the dark as well.

 

I'm looking forward to the New Vegas title. and not just because I'm a native. I had great fun with Fallout 3, and it seems to me that Obsidian is in a great position to improve on some of the defects. I don't expect the dialogue or story to be the equivalent of PST, but Mask of the Betrayer displayed a happy felicity of writing talent. I'm more excited by this game than I've been about any game in years.

[Ausir]

For example, There's McCarran, Nellis, Area 51, UNLV, Lake Mead, Boulder Dam, and, course, the Strip.

 

If by Boulder Dam you mean Hoover Dam, it was a major town in Van Buren, the original Fallout3 project by Black Isle:

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Hoover_Dam

 

It would be great if they were able to reuse at least some of that design.

 

After they lost contact with Shady Sands during the NCR-BOS war, Hoover Dam became the self-claimed capital of the New California Republic (a bit of a misnomer, given that it's in Nevada).

Edited April 22, 2009 by Ausir

[Aristes]

Yeah, I caught myself the second time I put it in there. I've just gotten used to using Boulder/Hoover interchangeably. Don't know why. I think the name has been Hoover Dam since before I was born.

 

The idea in the your link sounds great. I also think it would be good to use some of the Van Buren design, assuming that Obsidian can do so legally.

[crakkie]

Yeah it's silly, the oversights can be bugging indeed. I still find it funny that the basic necessaries for humans to live, isn't available to them, yet people are still thriving... kinda.

 

That's why I'm hoping they will bring back the most important aspect of Fallout that was missing from the third entry: the corn.

[Ausir]

Bethesda owns the Van Buren designs, and is publishing Obsidian's New Vegas, so I see no reason why Obsidian wouldn't be allowed to use Van Buren ideas, considering that Bethesda itself has used some of them (e.g. events originally mentioned only in the Hoover Dam design document from Van Buren were also mentioned in the Operation: Anchorage Fallout 3 DLC.), as long as they keep their game consistent with Fallout 3.

Edited April 22, 2009 by Ausir

[Aristes]

Oh, I didn't know that Bethesda owned the rights. In that case, it makes perfect sense to include Van Buren design where they can.

[Gizmo]

Bethesda owns the Van Buren designs, and is publishing Obsidian's New Vegas, so I see no reason why Obsidian wouldn't be allowed to use Van Buren ideas, considering that Bethesda itself has used some of them (e.g. events originally mentioned only in the Hoover Dam design document from Van Buren were also mentioned in the Operation: Anchorage Fallout 3 DLC.), as long as they keep their game consistent with Fallout 3.

What about [how about] series concepts from all three that were cut? [The EPA, the original idea with Junktown (used on a different town), and whatever else they wanted but could not include at the time]...

 

*I once asked Emil Pagliarulo about audio touch ups... and if they did any that brought Ron Perlman back into the studio... to ask him to say that one line in the end that reflected the original ending for Junktown, and put the wav file in the goodies folder for Fallout 3 ~with that, a modder could reconstruct the original ending as intended

Edited April 22, 2009 by Gizmo

[Ausir]

Yes, e.g. the Chinese Stealth Armor (Hei Gui) is originally from Van Buren. Even one of the Operation: Anchorage notes mentions that "This armor appears to be a more recent prototype of the same HG stealth armor captured from enemy infiltrators at the Hoover Sabotage.", the Chinese sabotage of Hoover Dam's secret laboratory being an event described in more detail in Van Buren's Hoover Dam design doc.

 

Actually, Hoover Dam already being mentioned in the Fallout 3 DLC is even more of a reason to include it, if not as location then at least its NCR government as a faction present in New Vegas.

 

What about [how about] series concepts from all three that were cut? [The EPA, the original idea with Junktown (used on a different town), and whatever else they wanted but could not include at the time]...

 

To my knowledge, Bethesda owns all these as well.

Edited April 22, 2009 by Ausir

[mkreku]

I don't give a **** about how big the game world is, I don't think it's possible for Obsidian the fail there. I just care about how well made the content in the game world is.

Basically, I agree but the setting is in Nevada. How do you manage to express a vast and waste desert in a game without boring the players, then?

By creating content that makes you want to explore.

If you have a desert, you probably have a half-withered road (if you start in some sort of civilized area, which I assume you will). The road might lead into the desert, and all you can see is kilometer after kilometer of sand and a mountain range on the horizon.. except for a small dot in the distance along the road. When you bring out your binoculars, you notice an abandoned gas station a few kilometers away.. and so you start walking.. and the game is on.

 

That is how I would start the game if I had to start it in a desert. Make people walk to that gas station, find an abandoned motorcycle (or Humvee or any other vehicle), let the players play almost an adventure game trying to assemble the vehicle to working conditions, let them drive it along the road and end up in Vegas (or lost in the desert if they choose that path).

 

Huge map, not much combat (perhaps a few sand worms along the road), lots of tiny quests in the starting suburb/village/house, even more tiny quests in the gas station, and then it's off to Vegas where the real adventure begins, (I assume).