Fallout 3

[Lean]

If Bethesda "overlooks" on it and have Obsidian (formerly the guys who made the original ones) do it, we may see a good story unfolding.

[Andrew]

I'm kind of inclined with the guy who posted that. Surely I enjoyed 3, but having played the previous ones I can say Fallout 3 is fairly easy. Colonel Autumn for a boss?

True, the Liberty Prime part of the ending is quite easy as well as a few of us discussed before. There are certainly valid criticisms to be made but at times it seems a lot of people hate it simply because it's not Fallout 1 or 2.

[el badman]

This will probably deserve its own thread at some point but...holy crap, here's the first teaser for the new Fallout, called "New Vegas".

[Lamrock]

Meh. Looks like Fallout 3 set in Fallout 2's New Reno. Will still buy it though.

[NovU]

New fallout sequel will never hurt for fans like us I assume. I sorta was surprised to see such a big change in the series in 3. I think the new one also will be closer to 3 than 1 or 2.

[Andrew]

Intriguing stuff. I reckon I'll be picking it up.

[Lean]

I'm hoping for the opposite, like New Vegas should be close to either 1 or 2. Obsidian guys should know the Fallout universe better than anyone. And I'm hoping that they won't be using the Gamebryo engine, I still hate the "sliding" animation of characters especially on combat.

[NovU]

I'm hoping for the opposite, like New Vegas should be close to either 1 or 2. Obsidian guys should know the Fallout universe better than anyone. And I'm hoping that they won't be using the Gamebryo engine, I still hate the "sliding" animation of characters especially on combat.

I actually would welcome 1 or 2 approach as I was a huge fan of them in exception of fall out tactics. They were more RPG, strategic and adventure oriented in some ways. But 3D also was good so I wouldn't mind it either way.

[Lean]

Fallout games between Fallout 2 and Fallout 3 sucked big time. Especially Fallout: BoS.

[el badman]

And I'm hoping that they won't be using the Gamebryo engine, I still hate the "sliding" animation of characters especially on combat.

From the Fallout Wiki:

Fallout: New Vegas is an upcoming role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. While New Vegas is not a direct sequel, it will use the same engine and be in the same style as Fallout 3, and is being developed by some of the people who worked on previous Fallout games at Black Isle Studios. It will be set in and around post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. It has a projected release date of Fall 2010 and will be available on the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Well, hopefully it'll be sufficiently modified, because that engine is indeed quite old by now, and just very unstable overall.
Regardless, since Bethesda is still involved, I'll buy it no matter what, F3 is my favorite gamer ever.

[StupidBoy]

There was a preview of New Vegas in the UK PC Gamer with a lot of info and pictures. This post from Bethesda's forum sums it up nice:

# There is an optional hardcore mode, the character needs to drink water, ammo has weight, healing isn't instant etc.

# Normal mode is more similar to Fallout 3 gameplay.

# The storyline is focused on the New California Republic vs. Caesar's Legion (slavers from the east) vs. New Vegas residents (Possibly the denizens of Vault 21).

# You are not a vault dweller but are given a Pip-Boy by someone who is one.

# There is a screenshot of a vault suit as well.

# There is an assault rifle looking like the M4, as well as a new big gun with a backpack, held like a minigun.

# There are special moves for melee weapons in VATS - specifically a move for a golf club called "Fore" which seems to be a groin shot.

# The Hoover Dam is in the game and is supplying electricity to the city.

# There is a quest to rescue a ghoul from some super mutants. The ghoul can then become your companion

# The Geckos are back.

# There are both dumb and intelligent super mutants, including the elite Nightkin. On at least one occasion you can convince them to fight amongst themselves.

# Some super mutants look similar to the ones in Fallout 3, while others are new. There is e.g. a female super mutant with a 1950s hairstyle who apparently is one of their leaders.

# Screenshots include a guy with a beard and straw hat, a ghoul and an NCR Ranger.

# The only picture of New Vegas itself is concept art and not a screenshot.

# Some location screenshots include a huge model dinosaur advertising a hotel, some satellite dishes, an array of solar panels

# A character generation shot showing a "vigour machine" instead of the skill book

# NCR base is the McCarran Airport, Caesar's Legion is based in the Vegas Strip, while super mutants are based in a place called Black Mountain.

# There is also a town called Fremont and another called Primm. A topless reuve is mentioned as being in the latter. Area 51 also appears.

# NCR Ranger armor is similar to a brown combat armor with sleeves, there are concept arts of a Ranger.

# Skils have a bigger effect on conversation choices. E.g. someone with a high Explosives skill may be able to have a coversation about explosives where appropriate.

# There is a Reputation system in addition to Karma.

# First-person action RPG with the same engine as Fallout 3.

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

# 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.

# Weapons also now have knock-back upon death, with shotguns sending people flying.

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

# 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".

# On 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"

# Regardin dialog (J.E.Sawyer): This is how it works. Each skill-based dialogue option has two different texts: one for high skill (which will result in success) and one for low skill (which will result in failure). If you do not meet the required threshold, you see the latter.

There are a few reasons for including this:

* In the same way that a locked safe beyond your Lockpicking skill indicates, it lets the player know that there's an option here.
* Some of the NPC responses to low skill checks can be pretty entertaining.

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.

# A Vault 21 suit spotted (possibly the inhabitants of New Vegas - speculation)

# About Area 51 (Jason Bergman, Bethsda): The Area 51 thing was pure speculation on PC Gamer's part. We did not show it or confirm whether or not it's in there. PC Gamer put it in because it's Nevada, and they think that means it will be in there.

I'm not saying it is or isn't, just that we haven't said either way.

# The engine is clearly the same, although the colors look more vibrant.

# Animations seem to be very similar to the ones in F3;
# The models also look very similar, not only the mutants, but pretty much all of the models and enough assets look almost exactly like the ones in Fallout 3 (of course, this doesn't say much about the final quality of the game, just mentioning).

# Looks like dynamite might be in as a weapon.

# Doctor Mitchell, the one that revives the PC at the start of the game, lives in a town called Goodsprings (described about as "a few shacks with some mutated sheep"). He might also be a ghoul since he says he lived in a vault before the war. He might also own Victor the robot, aparently the one that is digging up the sand in the teaser trailer - and, very probably, the game's intro.
# And it seems that the body in the sand is the Player Character.

# It might be that we'll have many more options in dialogue based on skills, although this is not clearly explained in the article. (I'm mentioning this because you can't really tell what exactly they say about this: is it more evolved than what Fallout 3 brought or exactly like that, since there are enough skill, stat, perk and karma checks in F3)

# A new minor faction is in, the Powder Gangers, which will give some trouble to the player, at least at the start of the game.

# The action takes place 3 years after the events in Fallout 3.

# One of first quests seems to involve dealling with some geckos - probably the standard "kill the rats" quest.
# A new weapon is in until now - Varmint rifle.

# Along books, magazines seem to be back.

# It seems radio stations are back and one of them is the mutant radio station at Black Mountain, run by their leader, Tabitha. She took control of the place two years before. Every day, on air, she threatens to kill the ghoul - Raul - mentioned somewhere above but stops when he promises he will fix her favorite robot. This probably leads to the quest about helping Raul and making him a follower.

# Vegas is under construction.

# A grenade machinegun is mentioned.

# Helios One is an abandoned solar energy plant built by Poseidon and is currently owned by the NCR. A little description says: "a refractor mirror that could power the Strip and a giant frickin' laser". The NCR want the secrets and weapons (and energy for their base at McCarran Airport) of HO so they hired a screw-up scientist named Fantastic for the job. This leads to a quest and the PC can choose what to do with the energy. It seems if he chooses to keep it for himself he gains acces to Helios' secret weapon, Archimedes II - a "Giant Frickin' Laser". As long as the sun is up, he can call down lasers for an attack.

Link: http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1074207

Hardcore mode, goddamn awesome. Also, there seem to be factions returning from previous Fallouts, the New California Republic and Ceasar's Legion and no more BoS and Enclave

[Andrew]

Sounds pretty good to me, though as I've said before I've gotten into the series beginning with Fallout 3 so I don't hold as much affection for the original games or that style of gameplay.

[Lean]

Geckos are back.

[el badman]

Well thank you Mr. Bot, I don't think anyone in this thread knew any of that.

[Oznogrd]

so finally got this game yesterday for 17.99 used at gamestop:

Hotness: all i can say. RPG like hours/elements...with replay value?

all for under 20...

[Andrew]

Are you going to get the DLC, or did you pick up the GOTY edition?

[Oznogrd]

Are you going to get the DLC, or did you pick up the GOTY edition?

Gonna see if theres anyway for me to get it by renting or the like. Im gonna play through it a couple of times no xpacs first then decide if i really want more. Like when i finished gta iv and looked at the xpacs: it turned out to just not be worth the investment for me. Right now i'd say thats not the case here (not nearly as much faffing about as GTA in this game). Also, may go for 1000/1000 on xbox achievements to reap some more benefits out of it.

[Andrew]

Fair enough. I loved the DLC and felt they were worth it, but admittedly some folks had mixed reactions.

[Lean]

But the Alien Epoxy is worth it.

[Andrew]

True. I'd also recommend Broken Steel for the game's "true" ending and unlimited sandbox gameplay; in fact, if you get only one pack, I say make it Broken Steel.

[Oznogrd]

wow didnt realize there was 5 xpacs...thats insanity: about how much do they run costwise on XBL?

Also last night i probably had the biggest challenge yet most fun i've had in the game: i accidentally killed eulogy jones a little too early in paradise falls. I had to fight off the entire camp of slavers...with 33 health. Was awesome. Grouse and a guard gave me some trouble up front so i snuck behind a wall, lobbed a grenade, and got the fuck out of there.

[Andrew]

The packs are 800 Microsoft Points each.

[Oznogrd]

Well shit...i killed crowley in underworld by angering him during the "shoot em in the head" quest: i already have the keys though. If i go grab the armor do i get the quest out of my log? (Trying to get every achievement for quests i can before starting a new going for negative or neutral karma)

[Patr1ck]

Getting the armor gives you the achievement, I believe.

[Andrew]

You do. Whether you kill Crowley in Underworld or not, I feel that taking the armor for yourself is the only way to complete that quest.