FO: NV (General Discussion)

[Tale]

Y'see, every bit of it is something I can imagine having seen in an old episode of The Twilight Zone. Or as a short story in an old Sci-Fi mag. Some guy's serious attempt to criticize the selfishness of humanity in ironic tones.

 

A genuine attempt at horror. That's not surprisingly compared to The Lottery.

Edited November 16, 2010 by Tale

[Cantousent]

I agree about the Twilight Zone feeling of a lot of the stuff in New Vegas. And there were comedy Twilight Zone episodes too. I mean, I think it was meant to be humorous in a dark sort of way, and I think it succeeded well enough at that, but it was also meant to be serious. The circumstances surrounding the one female candidate struck me as sad, though, and that feeling stayed with me.

[LadyCrimson]

I had horrendous fun setting Boone to a height of 10 and having him be as tall or taller as the big dino statue. He was so large he could no longer aim properly when enemies got too close & he only had to take 1 tiny jerky half-step to keep up behind me. Making him be about 2 inches tall was also funny, especially since he kept sinking underneath the ground & disappearing from view. Plus I could totally outrun him.

 

What I really wanted, however, was to make ED-E into a tiny floating dot so it'd look like lasers were shooting out of thin air. Unfortunately ED-E doesn't seem to have height/weight values in his stat block. I was disappointed.

 

...speaking of easily amused...that would be me.

[funcroc]

NPD Sales Results for October 2010

Fallout: New Vegas (360, PS3, PC) BETHESDA SOFTWORKS - 1,117,000

 

Fallout: New Vegas (Xbox 360) - 679K - Top individual SKU

Fallout: New Vegas (PC) -- 107K (Retail Only)

Fallout: New Vegas (PS3) -- 331K (via math)

[Hurlshort]

NPD Sales Results for October 2010

Fallout: New Vegas (360, PS3, PC) BETHESDA SOFTWORKS - 1,117,000

 

Fallout: New Vegas (Xbox 360) - 679K - Top individual SKU

Fallout: New Vegas (PC) -- 107K (Retail Only)

Fallout: New Vegas (PS3) -- 331K (via math)

 

Wowsers!

 

I wonder what this will mean for Obsidian? I don't remember KotOR2 or NWN2 being this big of a success out the gate. This seems like their first genuine blockbuster.

[Gorgon]

I guess it means they can make another hopeless in-house spy thriller.

 

No, really, I don't know anything about AP. I just seemed like such an obvious joke.

[Hurlshort]

I guess it means they can make another hopeless in-house spy thriller.

 

No, really, I don't know anything about AP. I just seemed like such an obvious joke.

 

You are missing out, AP was fantastic. I would put it right next to FO:NV as my game of the year, albeit a very different type of game.

[Lexx]

Yeh, both games, AP and FNV are my games of this year. There was nothing else that I've spend so many hours in. Not even last year.

[Gromnir]

repost from codex... kinda sums up our thoughts in a manner more brief than is common for us.

 

fo:nv plays pretty much exact the same as fo3... save that it is skewed even more in favor o' shooter gameplay. vats is so underpowered compared to the iron sights option that whatever vestige o' tb gameplay that might have existed in this franchise has been thoroughly relegated to the post-apocalyptic waste pile. am supposing that some folks see that as a positive.

 

the new vegas wasteland is a a well-constructed (if stale) setting that IS more reminiscent o' fo1 than fo3. am supposing that some folks see that the return to a more generic wasteland setting is a positive.

 

fo:nv added hardcore mode... which don't make the game anymore difficult, but it does add a level o' gameplay micromanagement that were not present in fo3. 'course insta-travel means that you is never more than a tedious load screen away from a doctor, bed, water source or potential dog/geko/bighorner corpse. am supposing some folks see hardcore mode as a positive.

 

the factions is laughably broken, but we s'pose they does prevent some psychotic wannabees from indiscriminately decimating entire towns and cities. but am guessing that some folks see factions as a positive.

 

there is dozens o' skill boosting magazines, and a perk that doubles their efficacy... which largely nullifies obsidian efforts to minimize the skill point bloat o' fo3. am s'possing that some folks see the new fo:nv skill progression scheme as a positive.

 

etc.

 

we liked fo3 well enough. we like fo:nv well enough. is no surprise that we like both games, 'cause other than the blessed reduction o' the number o' radscorpion attacks we had to endure while wandering the wastes, fo:nv played very much like fo3.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

end repost.

 

am getting that folks like fo:nv, 'cause Gromnir likes new vegas well enough. however, am completely baffled by those folks who see new vegas as some kinda major improvement over fo3.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Pop]

I definitely think Vault 11 is an example of black humor. It's just a little more stark than, say, Dr. Strangelove, where the guy riding the atom bomb is such a silly, iconic image that it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the world is ending, and the horror therein. Black humor doesn't even have to be funny, really, not in the laugh-out-loud way. It's all about the juxtaposition of the depressing / horrifying and the absurd. The execution bit in the FO1 opening that Enoch mentions is another perfect example. So is Patrick Bateman caring more about the quality of his business cards and the asian fusion restaurants he eats at than the lives of other people, or his analyzing the artistic relevance of Huey Lewis and Phil Collins while he goes about butchering them. Of course Vault 11 is black humor. It's the thirsty guy crawling through the desert to end up at a water fountain that doesn't work. It's the guy who stops time with a magic remote control and then realizes the battery is dead. It's realizing that you love Big Brother. The point is to dryly chuckle at the folly of the characters,

who only did the "right thing" when they had destroyed themselves, and rendered their reward pointless. That pitiable turn of events is then wrapped up in the sociopathic pointlessness of the Vault experiments.

 

 

Speaking of Vault 11,

what was the point of having someone survive it? The subtitles of the first / last tape make it explicit that there were 5 survivors but only 4 committed suicide. there are also only 4 skeletons at the entrance. The loading screen that mentions Vault 11 says that it's been abandoned for decades, so if the survivor is still alive he must be very old. I thought that Doc Mitchell might be the guy, but he gives you a Vault 21 suit, so that shoots down that idea.

 

 

PS Josh if you read this would you slap the guy who designed Red Rock Canyon? It has unlocked the long-dormant corner of my brain that contains cheesy John Cougar Mellencamp songs.

Edited November 17, 2010 by Pop

[Tale]

am supposing that some folks see that the return to a more generic wasteland setting is a positive.

I have a hard time accepting the idea that a recovering society with safe roads, tourism, active commercial organizations, and numerous secure settlements is somehow more generic than crumbling buildings filled with cannibals where the only settlements love to drone on about being raided and taken as slaves. Edited November 17, 2010 by Tale

[Cantousent]

I have to admit that I saw you posting and waited until you were done to see what you had to say, Gromnir. :Cant's wry grin icon:

 

I think what you had to say is fair enough. I'm enjoying New Vegas more than Fallout 3, but, at the end of the day, it is essentially the same game. Some things are better. Some things are different. If I agreed regarding the DC wasteland, I suppose I could say some things are worse, but... *shrug*

 

You would expect the next game in the series to have improvements, so you can't make too much out of the improvements that are there. I'm one of the folks who really favors the factions, but there are problems with them. I believe they are wonderfully done as a concept, but they're also buggy. I don't expect every faction to be equal in strength, so that argument has never impressed me. I do think it's really easy to break the factions in terms of all the quests. On the plus side, there are tons of faction quests. You get the feeling that every side is working towards an internally reasonable goal, although I actually think one of the major factions, the Legion, is on the odd side in terms of its own internal logic.

 

What it comes down to for me is that Fallout 3 was one of my favorite games when it came out. New Vegas is one of my favorite games, even beating out the last rpg I played, which I think was Dragon Age. In terms of time spent playing, I have played Fallout New Vegas for more hours than Fallout 3 and Dragon Age combined, which is telling since I toyed around with both of those games for quite a while. Basically, New Vegas has eaten up virtually all of the free time I could muster since I bought it. It might even beat out Fallout 2 as my series favorite, although I refuse to make that a firm statement until it's been out for at least a year.

[Gromnir]

every fallout game has had silly humor... loads o' silly humor. that includes fallout 1. the setting itself is humorous as it takes every 1950s B sci-fi movie and pulp story cliche and blends 'em together with all the delicacy o' some drunk sorority girl vomiting forth her half-eaten pizza and beer.

 

...

 

the biggest fallout mystery for Gromnir regarding the fandom has been observing how deadly serious some folks can be regarding their favorite gaming franchise, when it seems clear to us that fallout gots more in common with Burton's Mars Attacks than Lang's Metropolis.

 

"On the plus side, there are tons of faction quests. You get the feeling that every side is working towards an internally reasonable goal, although I actually think one of the major factions, the Legion, is on the odd side in terms of its own internal logic."

 

you not need factions to create loads o' side quests, but am agreeing that we is looking forward to do more o' the faction quests... although so far they has been kinda underwhelming. nevertheless, the potential is apparent, just not actual execution. as for the legion...the legion bugs us, and not just a little. is not so much post-apoc as it is history nerd indulgent. seems out-of-place on multiple levels.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited November 17, 2010 by Gromnir

[Wombat]

Of course, there are different types of improvements through different standards. Ground-breaking and original improvement can be nice but, IMHO, going back to the original and thinking how some essences/spirits of it can be done in modern context is also important.

 

I think there are some often argued opinions about Fallout-ness. For some, its the canon, for some others, it's tactical game-play and, for yet others, the capability of free-roaming. However, for me, it's probably PnP feel, where we can enjoy order-made adventures. If I value Obsidian more than other "RPG" makers, I think its is because they seem to make their games with this PnP feel in their mind. Even the "new" reputation system is merely a device to realize the custom-made adventures for CRPG players. Reading quite many reviews now, I believe Obsidian is successful in carrying it for various types of players, at least to some extent.

 

The game seems to be released in Japan and I read some comments in Japanese. Personally, I found this user review interesting.

 

"More I play, More I feel how the designers put their efforts into it."

 

"We live in the world where no majorly accepted justice, devouring some social evils, questioning our own faiths by ourselves: Shouldn't we give such a game, where we can realize our modern society, to our next gen? For we have fed up with a games where the good beats the evil."

 

The reviewer obviously hasn't played FO or FO2 but, isn't it sweet to see even people who probably played mainly JRPGs make a comment like this? Its quite obvious that designers like J.E. Sawyer is heavily influenced by post-modernism and it's interesting to see that Obsidian was able to give some quasi-experiences to people who have different social contexts.

 

BTW, "We prepared a stage for you, now enjoy your freedom!" is a catch in Japanese.

[funcroc]

PR - Fallout: New Vegas: Dead Money out on December 21

 

BETHESDA SOFTWORKS REVEALS DETAILS FOR FIRST FALLOUT

Edited November 17, 2010 by funcroc

[pmp10]

Still no word as to who develops?

[Monte Carlo]

It's pretty simple for me: NV feels more like it was written by people who play games and are simpatico the way I like to play them. I'm pretty indifferent to Fallout as a franchise in general and as a gaming totem in particular but I'm loving NV. I liked FO3 too, just not as much.

 

I'm not saying that this makes Obz geniuses, or that I'm a fanboy, just that their style is more in sync with what I like than any other developer out there at the moment.

[Bendu]

Still no word as to who develops?

 

Published by Bethesda Softworks and developed at Obsidian Entertainment, Dead Money will be available for 800 Microsoft points.

 

 

 

As for the DLC. I was hoping for something more interesting.

[Lady Evenstar]

Still no word as to who develops?

 

Published by Bethesda Softworks and developed at Obsidian Entertainment, Dead Money will be available for 800 Microsoft points.

 

 

 

As for the DLC. I was hoping for something more interesting.

 

I wouldn't expect them to release "most wanted" DLC as a platform exclusive.

[Labadal]

About the DLC: Sounds like it could be fun.

 

My current walkthrough: I'm 20+ hours in and I have only completed one main quest. I'm roaming the Wasteland, doing side stuff. Joined the Kings, couldn't resist.

[Monte Carlo]

My current walkthrough: I'm 20+ hours in and I have only completed one main quest. I'm roaming the Wasteland, doing side stuff.

 

This is the stuff of CRPG awesomeness, Bioware please take note.

[Bendu]

So Dead Money is a reference to poker and the plot is inspired by The Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

[Flouride]

Meh, not coming out on PC. That sucks. I guess Bethesda doesn't want my money...

[Enoch]

Meh, not coming out on PC. That sucks. I guess Bethesda doesn't want my money...

Well, they don't want anybody's money-- they want their "Microsoft Points."

 

(cue "we don't need no stinking..." jokes)

[funcroc]

Jason Fader, lead producer

My current project has been announced! :-D http://bethblog.com/index.php/2010/11/17/f...-dlc-announced/