Fallout: New Vegas

[funcroc]

MCV: New Vegas pre-orders outgun Fallout 3

Edited August 5, 2010 by funcroc

[WorstUsernameEver]

Seems almost certain that the game will get some very good sales regardless of the reception (which will likely be very good anyway).

Good to know.

Hopefully the game will deserve those sales, but for now I have no reason to be pessimistic.

Edited August 5, 2010 by WorstUsernameEver

[Wrath of Dagon]

Even if hardcore mode doesn't change damage received/damage dealt vs non-HC mode, the change to the stimpack healing mechanic (over time vs instant) which I believe IS part of HC mode, will make a pretty big difference to how combat plays out.

 

I'm curious if the AI is also affected by the healing mechanic change of HC vs non-HC mode.

The new healing mechanic should at least be an option in the non-HC mode as well. I think I would prefer that over standard, but not interested in the game being very fiddly, as HC mode seems to imply.

[sorophx]

hope I'll still be able to kill people (and myself) with super stimpaks

[Slowtrain]

"Hardcore Mode inherently discourages Fast Travel as a solution to dehydration/starvation/sleep deprivation because Fast Travel takes time. In Hardcore Mode, time = all your Hardcore meters keep increasing. And the time it takes is based on your speed, so if you're wearing heavy armor and have both your legs crippled, it will take that much longer. That's not to say you can't do it, but there is a cost associated with it. In some cases you will be better off looking around for supplies in the immediate vicinity. In other cases, Fast Travel to a nearby supply depot/bed will be the best solution."

 

 

That's great. Anything that puts costs on fast travel is great. I'm not opposed to fast travel in big open world games, but it has to have some sort of cost/limitation or it is a huge balance breaker.

 

HC mode is sounding better and better.

 

 

MCV: New Vegas pre-orders outgun Fallout 3

“Fallout: New Vegas pre-orders are far outstripping those of Fallout 3,” Bethesda’s European marketing and PR director Sarah Seaby told MCV. “Based on the feedback from gamers, we anticipate fans will enjoy returning to the Fallout universe, where they will experience a new story in an exciting New Vegas setting.”

 

 

That's totally fab.

 

I really really hope this game makes a giant splash. If this game sells better than FO3, we will maybe see more of the features that Obsidian has added in Bethie's next iteration.

 

Plus, if it does well, maybe Bethie hires Obs for another go.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Slowtrain

[vault_overseer]

I really hate this... 2 months and 2 weeks still to go, how will I bear the wait?

[WorstUsernameEver]

I really hate this... 2 months and 2 weeks still to go, how will I bear the wait?

 

Think about it this way : the more you're waiting the more polished it's becoming!

 

That's totally fab.

 

I really really hope this game makes a giant splash. If this game sells better than FO3, we will maybe see more of the features that Obsidian has added in Bethie's next iteration.

 

Plus, if it does well, maybe Bethie hires Obs for another go.

 

 

Obsidian being hired for another 'spin-off' would please me greatly. I'd get Obsidian using Bethesda's tech and assets and all that jazz and I wouldn't have to bear Bethesda horribad writing.

Edited August 5, 2010 by WorstUsernameEver

[HoonDing]

"Hardcore Mode inherently discourages Fast Travel as a solution to dehydration/starvation/sleep deprivation because Fast Travel takes time. In Hardcore Mode, time = all your Hardcore meters keep increasing. And the time it takes is based on your speed, so if you're wearing heavy armor and have both your legs crippled, it will take that much longer. That's not to say you can't do it, but there is a cost associated with it. In some cases you will be better off looking around for supplies in the immediate vicinity. In other cases, Fast Travel to a nearby supply depot/bed will be the best solution."

At least it's better than the spirit meter, since I can turn it off.

[Wombat]

MCV: New Vegas pre-orders outgun Fallout 3

[vault_overseer]

Hey, I remember that day in 2003 too:'(

[Mirage]

Another thing I thought of, that concerns me. NV has been declared to be "roughly as big" as Fallout 3. Now, I love open-ended, massive games. I'm just wondering if that stretched Obsidian's resources too much, and the writing--while it will still be head and shoulders above the industry--might suffer (they might be more dedicated than I give them credit). But, concerns aside, I still have the CE pre-ordered

Edited August 6, 2010 by Mirage

[sorophx]

only Fallout 3 was by no means big

[WorstUsernameEver]

only Fallout 3 was by no means big

 

You have pretty high standards, haven't you?

[sorophx]

I enjoyed it somewhat, but the fun stuff was scarce. I enjoyed it as a shooter. but it wasn't a RPG in it's true sense for me

[Mirage]

Btw, I still have a lot of criticisms towards Fallout 3. I really want NV to out-shine it in every way possible.

 

EDIT: Random thought, but I want to see Vegas itself to be fairly populated, I know this is post-apoc, but I still want to feel like I am in a city of some sort (one that doesn't feel half-abandoned).

Edited August 6, 2010 by Mirage

[Slowtrain]

What? You mean you don't like towns that consist of a grand total of three people?

 

Canterbury Commons cracked me up.

[Jackalmonkey]

What? You mean you don't like towns that consist of a grand total of three people?

 

Canterbury Commons cracked me up.

I think that somewhere on the far side of the Uncanny Valley (which we've still yet to get through) is an even creepier place: the Uncanny Village.

 

The Uncanny Village, where utterly believable digital people stand silently in their sparsely populated (but polygon-rich!) hamlet for four to five hours at a time, their wet eyes focused on an invisible point ten feet in front of them. Waiting. Their tiny electronic souls idling way down deep in their collision-detection zones until the precise moment when the PC gets close enough to trigger a recognition statement.

 

I think RDR was a pretty lousy game (terrible story, underutilized weapon set, repetitive missions), but its designers understood that very few people just stand. People tend to keep themselves pretty busy - and even those of us who need to stay in one place for very long typically find a way to sit or at least lean. Everyone in RDR seems to be doing something, and even characters engaged in random semi-scripted conversation are often simultaneously smoking or drinking. If you're walking down the street in Armadillo, and you see someone standing square in place: that there is a character who is intently waiting - typically to duel you.

[vault_overseer]

RDR owned with its atmosphere, I can only hope that F:NV can match even half of it.

[Hurlshort]

If RDR is a lousy game, then I am a big fan of louses.

[Tale]

If RDR is a lousy game, then I am a big fan of louses.

We knew that much.

[entrerix]

rdr lousy?

 

well, i dislike gta and halo so I guess to each their own, but I loved rdr.

 

I too am worried that some of the towns will be underpopulated in new vegas, but my fingers are crossed...

 

has anyone ever counted the npcs in shady sands (a small town) and compared them to the amount of npcs in any of the towns in bethfallout?

[HoonDing]

The Pitt > Shady Sands.

[Jackalmonkey]

It's not my intention to divert the topic to the failures and successes of RDR; my point is that if nothing else, RDR has a terrific 'sense of place,' and its variety of character animations and behaviors were assets toward creating a plausible and engaging setting.

 

Fallout 3 does have a fine sense of place, but the behavior of its characters was constantly at odds with the environment. The setting is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where the otherwise mundane goal of survival becomes one's primary and most difficult job. It takes a hell of a lot of work to live in a semi-industrialized society where there's little labor specialization. But you rarely see anyone working (unless standing behind a shop counter and staring hard at passersby and customers is 'working'). Instead there's a very sparse population of tireless cyborgs who are plainly waiting for something to happen, and doing their best to stick to more or less human schedules in the meanwhile. They're not made by or for the world they inhabit.

 

In a game like Fallout (1 or 2), where isometric character models don't so much resemble human figures as merely represent them, this isn't an issue. But as graphics become more sophisticated and realistic, developers often seem to forget that the active human figure will always be the player's primary means of identification and engagement. And this is why the uncanny valley is perceived as 'uncanny' at all: it's created by the divergence between players' expectations of humanity and the way humanity is depicted in the game. In short, your massive vistas and ragdoll physics don't amount to much if your people don't look and ACT like people (or at the very least, like people consistent with their world).

 

Based on the limited amount of gameplay footage we've seen in FO:NV, I doubt this will be as much of an issue as it was in FO3. Recent gameplay footage from the strip makes the area seem a little underpopulated, but in the gameplay trailer, a crowd of Caesar's Legion soldiers do pushups and spar; street gangs loaf and lean on their corners. Looking at some of these shots, it seems like more than a dozen people can congregate in an area while maintaining system performance, and that Obsidian is taking advantage of this, doing their best to make populated areas actually populated.

[vault_overseer]

The Pitt > Shady Sands.

 

The Pitt had absolutely fantastic atmosphere! The story and quests blew though:(

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Dear Josh,

 

Why does everything have to be yellow in FO:NV? Is the FO3 engine incapable of other colours?

Edited August 6, 2010 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY