Obsidian making Fallout: New Vegas

[Promethean]

Promethean: Just assume that 20 years have passed since the bombs instead of 200. I'm really not sure why the devs were so insistent on the 200 year part but the whole game felt better if you just assumed it was WWIII +20 or so

 

But does twenty help it at all? There is suspension of disbelief, and then there is suspending it with a noose around the neck until you kill it.

[Gizmo]

Promethean: Just assume that 20 years have passed since the bombs instead of 200. I'm really not sure why the devs were so insistent on the 200 year part but the whole game felt better if you just assumed it was WWIII +20 or so

That would have been brilliant; A Fallout series reboot/ prequel FPS/RPG hybrid spin-off, set 50 years before Fallout 1.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Gizmo

[cronicler]

Well you can just ignore the standing buildings / people still waiting at megaton (for vault to open and start using geck). You can just say that raiders are descendants of the rioters and the LL is just 2nd to 3rd generation and there are many pre-war things still left around.

 

Sure I would have liked a lot more details but this is a basic substitute. The whole game feels "the bombs have just fallen". There isn't enough aging or erosion of things.

Edited May 5, 2009 by cronicler

[Tigranes]

Honestly, I hope they stick with the "+century after" timeframe then represent it properly this time - a lot of greenery and foliage grown back up, new forms of civilisation, society, government and culture growing that are not primarily based on scavenging and sucking off the fading remainders of the prewar world (because that's hardly possible anymore) but something truly 'post'-apocalyptic that now has a life of its own. New Vegas may not be able to bring us a completely new combat system or whatnot, but I'd be disappointed to find more sepia brown rocks, more abandoned buildings full of food and such.

[crakkie]

Honestly, I hope they stick with the "+century after" timeframe then represent it properly this time - a lot of greenery and foliage grown back up, new forms of civilisation, society, government and culture growing that are not primarily based on scavenging and sucking off the fading remainders of the prewar world (because that's hardly possible anymore) but something truly 'post'-apocalyptic that now has a life of its own. New Vegas may not be able to bring us a completely new combat system or whatnot, but I'd be disappointed to find more sepia brown rocks, more abandoned buildings full of food and such.

I would really like to see a game set in the pre-war Fallout universe, with the impending and unstoppable doom of the world bearing down on your character's actions and the retro-futuristic society in all of its glory. Maybe one of these decades Bethesda will spin off something like that.

[Tagaziel]

I would really like to see a game set in the pre-war Fallout universe, with the impending and unstoppable doom of the world bearing down on your character's actions and the retro-futuristic society in all of its glory. Maybe one of these decades Bethesda will spin off something like that.

 

Didn't J.E. Sawyer say, that he'd love to do a game set during the Resource Wars?

 

The unanswerable question is are you going to make the right game or just a standalone FO3 expansion?

 

Give the man a break, New Vegas is the best thing to happen to the Fallout community since Van Buren's announcement.

[GreasyDogMeat]

I think all the focus on 'this wouldn't still be standing/edible/exist/etc' after 200 years is a bit odd since previous Fallouts had the same issues. I guess that the switch to a first person perspective, being up close and personal with the environment, makes this issue more readily apparent.

 

Either that or people just grasp at straws for any little tid bit to hammer Bethesda over.

[Sarkus]

VATS is awful. Does JE have an idea to actually make this..... better other than a giant cheat mode?

 

Millions of copies sold and the fact that another Fallout RPG is being made suggests replacing or "fixing" VATS is highly unlikely.

 

There are few "unanswerable" questions surrounding the technical/interface/game systems aspects of FO:NV. The sales success of Fallout 3 has pretty much ensured that we should all know what we are going to get in this next game in regards to those issues.

 

People need to just accept that Fallout 3 was a success. Forget changes in the POV. Forget changes in the game engine. Forget changes in the combat system. Expecting Obsidian to change many of the main factors in that success is unrealistic and IMHO a waste of time to discuss.

 

What it is fair to expect/hope for are interesting characters and a good story.

[Promethean]

I think all the focus on 'this wouldn't still be standing/edible/exist/etc' after 200 years is a bit odd since previous Fallouts had the same issues. I guess that the switch to a first person perspective, being up close and personal with the environment, makes this issue more readily apparent.

 

Either that or people just grasp at straws for any little tid bit to hammer Bethesda over.

 

Key thing is that there was a lot less of it. Hell there were only like 2-3 working terminals in the originals. In FO3, they are everywhere. Just like the food. And since they have no farms, apparently there must have been airlocked bunker stocked with commercial food products people go to in order to keep living.

[Gizmo]

VATS is awful. Does JE have an idea to actually make this..... better other than a giant cheat mode?

 

Millions of copies sold and the fact that another Fallout RPG is being made suggests replacing or "fixing" VATS is highly unlikely.

 

There are few "unanswerable" questions surrounding the technical/interface/game systems aspects of FO:NV. The sales success of Fallout 3 has pretty much ensured that we should all know what we are going to get in this next game in regards to those issues.

 

People need to just accept that Fallout 3 was a success. Forget changes in the POV. Forget changes in the game engine. Forget changes in the combat system. Expecting Obsidian to change many of the main factors in that success is unrealistic and IMHO a waste of time to discuss.

 

What it is fair to expect/hope for are interesting characters and a good story.

Why call it a spin off (of FO3), if its FO3 in Vegas? A spin off is typically a different game in the same setting.

[Tagaziel]

I think all the focus on 'this wouldn't still be standing/edible/exist/etc' after 200 years is a bit odd since previous Fallouts had the same issues. I guess that the switch to a first person perspective, being up close and personal with the environment, makes this issue more readily apparent.

 

Either that or people just grasp at straws for any little tid bit to hammer Bethesda over.

 

Please point out where Fallout/Fallout 2 were inconsistent in that regard (apart from the obvious New Reno). As I pointed out, there were TWO pieces of pre war food in the game, both inedible and two beverages, both likely to survive.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Got me on the food... (Maybe DC just did a better job packaging their food. ) but wooden pre-war furniture & buildings are EVERYWHERE in F1 & 2. While there certainly weren't as many computers, there were still some in locations that would have been extremely unlikely to still function.

[Promethean]

Got me on the food... (Maybe DC just did a better job packaging their food. ) but wooden pre-war furniture & buildings are EVERYWHERE in F1 & 2. While there certainly weren't as many computers, there were still some in locations that would have been extremely unlikely to still function.

 

Where?

[jero cvmi]

I think all the focus on 'this wouldn't still be standing/edible/exist/etc' after 200 years is a bit odd since previous Fallouts had the same issues. I guess that the switch to a first person perspective, being up close and personal with the environment, makes this issue more readily apparent.

 

Either that or people just grasp at straws for any little tid bit to hammer Bethesda over. shifty.gif

I dont think so.

 

Fallout1's 80 years post war was completely believable, and so was fallout2's 130. Ingame mini-societies were advanced to a reasonable level considering it's 80, and 130 years after a nuclear holocaust. For example, I didn't find irrational that Shady Sands would develop into NCR in 2 generations' time.

 

In fallout 3, it's 200 years and there's not even agriculture.

 

Point is, for a story to make sense, someone's got to do the thinking. It's not so much a matter of storytelling medium- sure, people told stories with pictures since the dawn of the human species. On cave walls. What's more important is what story one tells, and whether one has the required talent, skill, and the motivation to do some homework before telling the story.

That said, i'm pretty confident that J.E.Sawyer is "one of those people" who can tell a story that makes sense. I think the old discussion about Mormon communities in Van Buren has been reposted somewhere in this thread, and it's a very enlightening example of how one should research their story before telling it.

Keep the faith twinkie!

 

Millions of copies sold and the fact that another Fallout RPG is being made suggests replacing or "fixing" VATS is highly unlikely.

 

...and how would the game sell less copies if it supported more options, like say, called shots in unarmed fighting?

[GreasyDogMeat]

You're kidding... right? Only about a million wooden doors, cabinets and dressers through almost every city locale like the Hub, Junktown & Adytum. Searched almost every damn one hoping for stray caps or a stim pack or two.

 

As for F3's lack of agriculture... sure it could have just been ignorance or ignoring F2. It could also have been a deliberate attempt to go for a 'wasteland' look. If Bethesda had actually added regrowth there likely would have been fan outcry of it not looking like a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

 

I honestly don't care about these nit picks. The game has a great visual look and I can accept any mistakes about how far things would/should be degraded vs. radscorpions wearing glasses and playing chess.

Edited May 5, 2009 by GreasyDogMeat

[Tagaziel]

Key difference is that the West Coast in Fallout has an extremely dry climate, even more so after the war, so wood wouldn't decay that rapidly.

 

Also, who are you to say there are no skilled carpenters around that made those cabinets, doors and furniture? Most of them are simple enough to be made from scratch by anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of his tools. As for computers and other electronica...

 

http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic...p=349507#349507

 

Rosh gives good explanations.

 

As for the agriculture, why would it detract from the wasted feeling?

Edited May 5, 2009 by Mikael Grizzly

[CoM_Solaufein]

Closed for length.