FO: NV radio stations

[Walsingham]

I think two things are important to Fallout and that is echoes of the past and contrasting (favourably and unfavourably) them with the 'present' hellish wasteland.

 

It occurred to me that this could be delivered using the (slightly rubbish) radio system Fallout 3 uses.

 

1. Have a 'raider' station which is hideous anarchy. Drumming, shrieking, gunfire. Make it as violent and shocking as possible. I'm thinking Firefly reavers here.

 

2. Have a 'scanning' function on the radio. This permits the player to pick up on useful 'secret' transmissions, but also picks up 'ghost' transmissions from the past. Snatches of radio songs from all eras, and particularly snatches of speeches from Charlie Chaplin and marconi to Roosevelt, the moon landings, messages of promise and foreboding. The good thing about this is that being old you can probably get them on the cheap.

 

3. The emergency broadcast system should be transmitting advice and propaganda. Again you should be able to scaffle this from historical records.

[mkreku]

Also, lots more snippets of things happening around the wasteland would be appreciated. At first, in Fallout 3, it was cool hearing whatever you had caused being talked about on the radio. But after a while (and I mean a short while) you had looped through everything Three Dog had to say and the ONLY news he had was whatever you were up to. This didn't exactly help the overall feeling of you being the only active participant in the world that Falout 3 already suffered from.

 

You could even pick up quests by listening carefully to the radio transmissions. Stuff like "huge explosion was reported west of Turmoil Hill yesterday, no reports of any casualties", and when you'd go west of that place, you'd find something had happened and a quest would trigger.

 

Ok, my point is: the radio was a good idea, badly implemented by Bethesda. Let's hope Obsidian expands on it. It has potential to be a great asset to the game.

[jero cvmi]

also, can we have some subtitles for the radio transmissions please? we're not all native engrish speakers...

[Walsingham]

Also, lots more snippets of things happening around the wasteland would be appreciated. At first, in Fallout 3, it was cool hearing whatever you had caused being talked about on the radio. But after a while (and I mean a short while) you had looped through everything Three Dog had to say and the ONLY news he had was whatever you were up to. This didn't exactly help the overall feeling of you being the only active participant in the world that Falout 3 already suffered from.

 

You could even pick up quests by listening carefully to the radio transmissions. Stuff like "huge explosion was reported west of Turmoil Hill yesterday, no reports of any casualties", and when you'd go west of that place, you'd find something had happened and a quest would trigger.

 

Ok, my point is: the radio was a good idea, badly implemented by Bethesda. Let's hope Obsidian expands on it. It has potential to be a great asset to the game.

 

Agreed.

 

Would it be funny to suggest that the radio report on nice/amazing things happening wherever you weren't?

[Niten_Ryu]

Ol' blue eyes Frank Sinatra is 50's Las Vegas. Of course it's another matter if it's possible to licence songs from him (US copyrights laws being what they are currently, not even songs made from 50's and by now dead artist seem to be enough). Maybe boozehound Dean Martin will do

[mkreku]

It wouldn't have to be that drastic. Just little stuff like shotgun weddings happening somewhere, someone lost their most precious brahmin, someone was born somewhere, maybe tiny commercials for iguana-on-a-stick, how the radiation levels are at certain parts of the wasteland, even weather reports. Just random stuff to make the radio seem less empty and dead and focused on YOU. It would also be very easy to bake in more or less concealed references to the earlier iterations in the game series that way.

 

They wouldn't have to be long either, just snippets. Lots of them. Some randomly selected by the radio code, some triggered along with the players progression through the game.

[Starwars]

No 3 dog would be an improvement.

 

But yeah, being less player character centred would be nice. And I really hated how the radio constantly referred to my character as the "hero of the wasteland" and all that.

 

Personally, I'd like a radio station that was less about the "attitude" and more about facts you know. So the radio guy isn't a DJ, but just a dude who reads the news, informs people of what's going on and plays some music. Not a howling idiot screaming about the good fight. And as such, I'd like it if it were more localized. I liked GNR the best before you do the radio dish quest, because it feels like you're heading into the wilderness/danger when you head outside its radius. Increasing static the further away you go, to the point where it really just is static. Completely alone, out in the goddamn post-apocalyptic desert, with not even the radio to take comfort in. Hell yeah.

 

That will all depend on how the world is built of course. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the game was completely radioless but it'd probably be a risky move to drop it since it seems to be quite popular in Fallout 3.

[vault_overseer]

No 3 dog would be an improvement.

 

But yeah, being less player character centred would be nice. And I really hated how the radio constantly referred to my character as the "hero of the wasteland" and all that.

 

Personally, I'd like a radio station that was less about the "attitude" and more about facts you know. So the radio guy isn't a DJ, but just a dude who reads the news, informs people of what's going on and plays some music. Not a howling idiot screaming about the good fight. And as such, I'd like it if it were more localized. I liked GNR the best before you do the radio dish quest, because it feels like you're heading into the wilderness/danger when you head outside its radius. Increasing static the further away you go, to the point where it really just is static. Completely alone, out in the goddamn post-apocalyptic desert, with not even the radio to take comfort in. Hell yeah.

 

That will all depend on how the world is built of course. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the game was completely radioless but it'd probably be a risky move to drop it since it seems to be quite popular in Fallout 3.

 

[intelligence] So you don't like three dawg?

[Oner]

...

I think "we" (I didn't make any suggestions yet afterall) should stick to being constructive, and "remove it/him cuz I don't like it/him" is just personal preference. Now I could elaborate on why I don't mind 3 Dog's person per se, but frankly I'm lazy.

[jaguars4ever]

...but frankly I'm lazy.

Is that why you forgot the "B" in front of your user-name?

[Oner]

...but frankly I'm lazy.

Is that why you forgot the "B" in front of your user-name?

Says the guy who substituted 'for' with a number?

(And to answer your question, no.)

[Malcador]

Always wonder how Three Dog learns of your deeds anyway. It'd be nice to hear radio reports of some other adventurer being a hero or villian, too.

[Aristes]

Hey, I just want some music. The other ideas are good also, but the radio was a lot of fun. I do think that having the "alternative" radio station not being a complete farce would be good also. The enclave thing was just frustrating to me. Maybe a little time consuming to implement in practice, though.

[Deraldin]

1. Have a 'raider' station which is hideous anarchy. Drumming, shrieking, gunfire. Make it as violent and shocking as possible. I'm thinking Firefly reavers here.

 

I'd rather have them actually trying to run a radio station, but constantly getting in fights and insulting each other on the air. "No that song is stupid, play something else! All your music sucks! *sounds of a fight in the background while the song is still playing*

[Amentep]

1. Have a 'raider' station which is hideous anarchy. Drumming, shrieking, gunfire. Make it as violent and shocking as possible. I'm thinking Firefly reavers here.

 

I'd rather have them actually trying to run a radio station, but constantly getting in fights and insulting each other on the air. "No that song is stupid, play something else! All your music sucks! *sounds of a fight in the background while the song is still playing*

 

Raider sketch comedy program

Raider amateur hour

Raider point and counter point

Raider DIY segments

 

The list is endless!

[Oner]

1. Have a 'raider' station which is hideous anarchy. Drumming, shrieking, gunfire. Make it as violent and shocking as possible. I'm thinking Firefly reavers here.

 

I'd rather have them actually trying to run a radio station, but constantly getting in fights and insulting each other on the air. "No that song is stupid, play something else! All your music sucks! *sounds of a fight in the background while the song is still playing*

+1 on this.

[Starwars]

I'd rather have them developed into a faction of non-idiots. Cruel people perhaps, without scruples. But not necessarily idiots.

 

Maybe we can have Beavis and Butthead run a radio station though.

[Walsingham]

1. Have a 'raider' station which is hideous anarchy. Drumming, shrieking, gunfire. Make it as violent and shocking as possible. I'm thinking Firefly reavers here.

 

I'd rather have them actually trying to run a radio station, but constantly getting in fights and insulting each other on the air. "No that song is stupid, play something else! All your music sucks! *sounds of a fight in the background while the song is still playing*

 

LOL. Raider Jukebox Jury! You could have them trying to big up several equally appalling thumping screeching tracks then, as you say, getting into a fight.

[entrerix]

slaver station:

 

remember metzger? or gizmo(not a slaver i know). i'd like to see a station run by guys like that. they have their goons on the air advertising their slaves or drug trade.

 

"we offer 1000 caps for healthy males, 4000 caps for young, disease free, females. the boss will pay 600 caps for the head of that bastard who killed john j at the scuzz pitt yesterday, he was wearing a yellow and blue jumpsuit with the number 13 on it."

[HoonDing]

To appease Lord of flies, there should be more "People's Radio of America" types of radio stations.

[cronicler]

I just wish there was a possibility of having some of the designers (and their conscripted friends) just recording their lines on crappy pc mics and using those for a full blown Radio quest(s). Its like having a network of amateur radio station(s) that chatter away in the night as an escape from the crumbling dreams of reality.

Tieing some quests to that like a chance remark about a lost caravan in XY map grid or a radio station (in a settlement near your location) saying goodbye to others as they are attacked by raiders and they don't have a hope (cue the wandering firemagnet/idiot hero). It could be nice....

[Oner]

To appease Lord of flies, there should be more "People's Radio of America" types of radio stations.

And 5 minutes before the game's end Liberty Prime finds the origin of the signal?

[Tagaziel]

Meh, I find radio stations a kind of a stupid addition. Radio beacons, emergency broadcasts etc. are fine, but radio stations? What's the point of maintaining a transmitter, power generator, scrounging rare parts all over the wastes to run a radio station c.a. ten people will listen to?

 

In my opinion, a better idea would be to endow each location with a unique musical background via public announcement systems. I find it far more likely that someone would put together a few pre-War PA speakers, wire them to a gutted radio with a crude microphone and play music and announcements for the entire settlement. It'd be useful to also expand on the atmosphere of locations - crude Raider settlements would have pieced together speakers and recording "studios", with a crackling, static-ridden broadcast. Settlements in old casino buildings would make use of their PA systems, for a clearer and cleaner broadcast, while pre-War bunkers would have perfectly functional broadcast systems, with well maintained musical archives and crisp sound quality.

 

Thats what I found jarring about Fallout 3 - the radios didn't make much sense, as to listen to Vault 101's PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT system you had to tune in with your PIP-Boy. In The Pitt you were apparently the only recipent of Ashur's speeches, as only you had a working radio in your PIPBoy. Enclave Radi made a tad more sense, since it obviously used pre-war wavelenghts.

 

But the GNR was an insult to my intelligence. Am I to believe that a howling retard would really obsess about a random dude in a Vault suit and have INSTANTENOUS information that I disarmed the bomb in Megaton? Gee, that post-apoc communication network is even better than before the war.

[Slowtrain]

In a game as stuffed to the gills with stupid ideas as FO3 is, I find it hard to single out the idea of radio stations for specific criticism.

[Bos_hybrid]

GNR's broadcast for very evil characters alway brought a smile to my face. 'He may look like one of us, but he calls hell home, he is legion for his deeds are many'.