FO:NV: The Return of Gameplay Mechanics Discussion

[Guest Slinky]

[Perception] These conversation jokes never get old, do they?

 

[intelligence] So you believe these jokes have gotten old?

 

[brain damage] Hmggglrh!

[Sannom]

@ Syraxis

 

You can click on the "Explosives" or "Science" optional dialogue, but if your skills aren't high enough it will just say "you fail!", not make the nuke you're trying to defuse explode in your face. Coherent with some of Josh's view on gameplay that he defined in some of his blog posts : all options brought by a certain score in a skill or attribute should be displayed as such. But they went a little bit too far here in my opinion...

 

I suppose it is to give the player a hint of the different things he could do with a different build...

Edited February 6, 2010 by Sannom

[Slowtrain]

Why developers keep feeling the need to recycle old ****?

 

SUpermutants? Geckos? Please. Its about as interesting as a pair of old socks.

[Guest Slinky]

Yeah, screw the mutants and stuff, I wanna shoot teletubbies! And change the whole post-apocalyptic setting too, it has nothing to do with Fallout!

 

[Oner]

I can understand the complaint about suppersupermutants, but geckos? The ****ing fauna?

[funcroc]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthrea...0#post372124597

 

Yeah that stuff is all true I just got my copy of pc gamer uk. I'm glad someoen else typed it up because I was just about to.

 

edit: There's also a screenshot of a huge solar power plant, like that real one they made where hundreds of mirrors all focus the sun onto a central tower

 

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthrea...0#post372125533

 

Confirming again that the PC Gamer UK stuff typed up there really is in the magazine.

 

I don't think they confirmed Area 51, though, they just said it'd be stupid of them not to use it.

[Syraxis]

Hey magazine owners, less clarification more scanz please.

[Starwars]

Okay so my subscriber copy of PC Gamer UK arrived, and they have an eight-page article on New Vegas. Salient points:

 

- First-person action RPG with the same engine as Fallout 3 (sorry, Van Buren fans).

- Set in the Mojave wastelands. Vegas didn't get many nukes. More intact buildings, as well as desert vegetation. Vegas itself is mostly intact.

- You don't play a Vault Dweller (or descendant of one) but a courier, left for dead and saved by a friendly robot.

- The overarching story is a struggle between the locals, Caesar's Legion (a faction of slavers from the east) and the New Californian Republic. Vegas itself is mostly intact.

- Both karma and reputation are tracked. If I'm reading it right there's separate reputations for each of the settlements, as in 1 and 2.

- All dialogue options are shown to all players, regardless of whether you have the stats to succeed or not, though there's no punishment for failure.

- Bartering is not just lower prices but negotiating for better rewards.

- VATS returns, and melee weapons have special moves in it. The golf club has "Fore!", which is a shot to the golf balls (so to speak) that knocks the opponent down. Weapons also now have knock-back upon death, with shotguns sending mans flying.

- Super Mutants return, but in two varieties - the smarter ones from Fallout 1, and the idiot ones from Fallout 2. On at least one occasion you can convince them to fight amongst themselves.

- New weapons include what appears to be an M4 and a grenade machinegun.

- Followers can be managed through a context-sensitive menu, with orders like "follow", "stay" or "attack".

- Hardcore Mode! In this mode, Stimpacks heal over time (as opposed to instantly), combat is tougher, ammo has weight and you can suffer dehydration, so keep some water on you!

 

One of the screenshots has a Super Mutant with a blonde wig and pink heart-shaped glasses.

 

- Vegas intact. Not sure if I like that... It'll be interesting to see how they pull it off though.

 

- Thank god we're not a Vault Dweller again.

 

- Overarching story sounds good and hopefully we'll get to choose who to support.

 

- Reputation is good.

 

- Bit about the dialogue options is the worst news yet. I don't want to see all that right away, those are the nuggets that I wish to discover when I return for a replay. If they change the dialogue according to your skill level I could see it. So, if you have a low Repair skill, you'd get a [Repair] dialogue option which is "faulty" or a bit dumb. No punishment for failure is a real bummer also, bleh. Takes away a layer of being careful in the dialogues.

 

- Good to see that there will be variety in Super Mutants.

 

- Don't care that much for followers in the Fallout games but it's good to see they're improving the system.

 

- Hardcore mode is probably the best news so far for me. Hope they make it really challenging. I also wonder if it's the highest difficulty level, or simply an option alongside the usual difficulty levels.

 

Super Mutant in blonde wig and and pink glasses... er, hope the game won't be too silly in some areas.

[Morgoth]

That sounds all good to me, except this:

 

"- All dialogue options are shown to all players, regardless of whether you have the stats to succeed or not, though there's no punishment for failure."

 

I don't really like having all options shown, because it diminishes the joy to replay it with a different build. Also having no penalty for low-stat choices comes even to dumbing down.

Edited February 6, 2010 by Morgoth

[Ausir]

From Beth forum:

 

You're a courier, wounded and left for dead in a shallow grave. A friendly robot, Victor, digs you out, and his doctor owner Mitchell patches you up. You take a "vigour test", which is some sort of electric parlour game. This decides who you are and sets up SPECIAL. You can also take some Rorschach tests, but the mag says this is for fun. The Doc then gives you a Pipboy as he was once a Vault dweller.

 

"Hoover Dam", and "Helios" (a solar plant, confirmed by the mag to have been built by Poseidon) are fought into and then you can direct the power to wherever you choose. In the case of Helios you can also keep the plant for your self use the energy to call down a powerful laser, or even try to distribute to all equally, however there is a risk of overloading the reactors.

 

There is a "reputation system", in which all three factions (NCR, Ceasar's Legion and the locals) will either see you as good or bad toward them individually.

 

There is a screenshot of three Capital Wasteland mutants running toward the player, who is wielding what *looks* to be a heavy incinerator, but has a TV screen and no flamer fuel tanks. He's also wearing NCR combat armour, which is in gold/mustard colours.

 

There are two separate screens of supermutants that look to be more local, grey skin, and the two are wearing very different clothes. One is Tabitha, who is hearing a blonde wig and love heart glasses. The mag implies she's "not all there".

 

One that quest, you rescue Raul, a ghoul who Tabitha kept alive to fix her favourite robot. He appears to be a follower, as the mag says you can give him items, and also commands, such as "stay, follow or attack", and also tell him to switch to melee, in which case he'll mutter "sure, I'll put away my rather effective gun, and switch to this piece of um, metal tubing here".

 

From what I read, the "all dialog" thing seems to imply there will be failures for skill checks as well as speech checks, though, as the mag states, there is no penalty for failing a skill check. In fact, the mag gives an example: A woman who the player tried a Sneak skill attempt on in conversation failed when convincing her an ambush would help the town be rid of a gang of raiders. She simply says ""Good luck with your, uh, ambush"

[Syraxis]

You're a courier, wounded and left for dead in a shallow grave. A friendly robot, Victor, digs you out, and his doctor owner Mitchell patches you up. You take a "vigour test", which is some sort of electric parlour game. This decides who you are and sets up SPECIAL. You can also take some Rorschach tests, but the mag says this is for fun. The Doc then gives you a Pipboy as he was once a Vault dweller.

 

A courier for who or delivering what? I wonder. Doesn't sound as good as "The Prisoner" imo but it's still too early to decide.

 

"Hoover Dam", and "Helios" (a solar plant, confirmed by the mag to have been built by Poseidon) are fought into and then you can direct the power to wherever you choose. In the case of Helios you can also keep the plant for your self use the energy to call down a powerful laser, or even try to distribute to all equally, however there is a risk of overloading the reactors.

 

Interesting.

 

There is a "reputation system", in which all three factions (NCR, Ceasar's Legion and the locals) will either see you as good or bad toward them individually.

 

 

 

There are two separate screens of supermutants that look to be more local, grey skin, and the two are wearing very different clothes. One is Tabitha, who is hearing a blonde wig and love heart glasses. The mag implies she's "not all there".

 

 

One that quest, you rescue Raul, a ghoul who Tabitha kept alive to fix her favourite robot. He appears to be a follower, as the mag says you can give him items, and also commands, such as "stay, follow or attack", and also tell him to switch to melee, in which case he'll mutter "sure, I'll put away my rather effective gun, and switch to this piece of um, metal tubing here".

 

 

From what I read, the "all dialog" thing seems to imply there will be failures for skill checks as well as speech checks, though, as the mag states, there is no penalty for failing a skill check. In fact, the mag gives an example: A woman who the player tried a Sneak skill attempt on in conversation failed when convincing her an ambush would help the town be rid of a gang of raiders. She simply says ""Good luck with your, uh, ambush"

 

Ah... it is clear.

[Syraxis]

I also do want to clarify what is meant by "no penalty for failure". All it means is that you won't wind up in a worse position than you were before selecting it. If a dude bursts in and is intent on killing you, he's still going to want to kill you if you fail the Speech check to talk him out of it.

[Oner]

I also do want to clarify what is meant by "no penalty for failure". All it means is that you won't wind up in a worse position than you were before selecting it. If a dude bursts in and is intent on killing you, he's still going to want to kill you if you fail the Speech check to talk him out of it.

I thought that's obvious.

 

Then again, it's on a forum where common knowledge is repeated every two posts.

[Syraxis]

I also do want to clarify what is meant by "no penalty for failure". All it means is that you won't wind up in a worse position than you were before selecting it. If a dude bursts in and is intent on killing you, he's still going to want to kill you if you fail the Speech check to talk him out of it.

I thought that's obvious.

 

Then again, it's on a forum where common knowledge is repeated every two posts.

 

[Mikhailian]

I can understand the complaint about suppersupermutants, but geckos? The ****ing fauna?

Seriously, if Mart's Mutant Mod taught me anything, it's that if I'm playing some dusty desert drifter in the FO universe, occassionally blasting the scales off of a 4 foot tall bipedal lizard serves up a little variety. Furthermore, the more geckos there are, the less radscorpions and ants there's likely to be. Do not question my logic.

[Pop]

Josh on SA:

For each skill-based dialogue check, there is a high-skill (will succeed) and low-skill (will fail) option. Naturally, the NPC has different responses for each one.

So put away your fainting fans!

[Morgoth]

I'm satisfied. Now we only need mutant exotic dancers and NV will be perfect.

[Mikhailian]

I'm satisfied. Now we only need mutant exotic dancers and NV will be perfect.

with sparkly nipple tassles. And tassle physics so the dancer can make them helicopter appropriately.

[Oner]

Ghouls. Way of the Fruit + Bonsai. Banana bonsai.

Think about that for a second.

[Mikhailian]

Ghouls. Way of the Fruit + Bonsai. Banana bonsai.

Think about that for a second.

I don't wann think about your banana bonsai.

Or do I?...

[Oner]

You can forget about mine, that's exclusive content.

[Mikhailian]

You can forget about mine, that's exclusive content.

Crap. Yet again I'm shut out for owning a PS3 instead of a SexBaux360.

[deleteduser]

I'm satisfied. Now we only need mutant exotic dancers and NV will be perfect.

with sparkly nipple tassles. And tassle physics so the dancer can make them helicopter appropriately.

 

/wrist

[Oner]

You can forget about mine, that's exclusive content.

Crap. Yet again I'm shut out for owning a PS3 instead of a SexBaux360.

 

 

with sparkly nipple tassles. And tassle physics so the dancer can make them helicopter appropriately.

/wrist

Great, finally a dev whose name doesn't end in Sawyer or Rorie, and you make her kill herself.

[Mikhailian]

You can forget about mine, that's exclusive content.

Crap. Yet again I'm shut out for owning a PS3 instead of a SexBaux360.

 

 

with sparkly nipple tassles. And tassle physics so the dancer can make them helicopter appropriately.

/wrist

Great, finally a dev whose name doesn't end in Sawyer or Rorie, and you make her kill herself.

I was just channeling my misspent youth and mustang gets all emo about it.