Fallout 3

[LoughlinNR]

If Fallout 3 is even half the game Fallout 2 was I will be happy. I don't think I have played any game nearly as much as I played Fallout 2...

 

[Harbringer]

Ya, Im still incredibly excited about three and ant wait till it comes out, but I have no reservations that it will in any way shape and form live up to two. Im recently playing number two and I just cant believe exactly just how damn good it is, and its ten years old, again, its absolutely amazing and I just don't think anything RPG wize can live up to it. But I still think three will be good, even if its pretty much nothing like the first and second games.

 

[King Flevance]

I have never been able to find a copy of 2. (Although I haven't searched online yet.) I am curious if anyone has played Arcanum: Magick & Steamworks Obscura before and Fallout 2 and can compare the two. Arcanum is my all time favorite RPG which is now about the same age as Fallout 2 roughly. I really want to play Fallout 2 as age does not seem to "taint" games for me. But I am curious as to how comparable these two are. I will most likely end up buying Fallout 2 online eventually in the next year but am curious of another persons opinion of both of these games in comparison.

 

[Harbringer]

Fallout 2 was infintesiamaly better than Arcanum....but Im sure its a mater of taste. To me, Fallout 2 is the apitamy of perfection, the whole atmosphere and world were so engrossing and how it all tied together were absolutely amazing. Games just dont get that good, in all honestly, there wasnt anything about the game that really bugged me, and it had features in it that Ive always wanted in games, and still want in more modern games but for whatever reason just seemed to get overlooked.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Chapter 1: Apocalypse, meet Fallout!
We find out why Bethesda loves Fallout, and they reveal a new quest! Plus, Amanda chats to Tony Parker about NBA Live 09.

Chapter 2: Choice and Consequence
How does choice factor into what kind of teammates you'll get? Also, we interview snowboarder Shaun White about his new game.

Chapter 3: A Capital Disaster!
We explore the tragic sites of a post nuclear Washington D.C. Also, Daniel chats with game composer Inon Zur about his projects.

Chapter 4: Secrets of the Wastes...
Geoff asks about Fallout 3's endings and reveals the Super Mutant Behemoth in action! Plus, a new Red Alert 3 trailer!

http://www.gametrailers.com/gametrailerstv...p;ch=3&sd=1



now excuse me I have some pants to change ! :armata_PDT_37:

 

[GVBN]

In case someone didn't know the Xbox360 version was leaked a few days ago and some players have been live streaming videos of the game. So far it looks kinda fun

 

[RomeoTheCat]

I spotted this linked on a different forum earlier today and thought I would share it here.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170521

Bethesda has revealed the PC specs for their highly anticipated post-apocalyptic RPG.

Spoiler :

Minimum System Requirements:


Windows XP/Vista
1GB System RAM (XP)/ 2GB System RAM (Vista)
2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or better)


Recommended System Requirements:


Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2 GB System RAM
Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)
Supported Video Card Chipsets:
NVIDIA GeForce 200 and 9800 to 6800 series
ATI HD 4800 series to 2400 series
ATI X1900 series to 300 series
ATI X850 series

 

[Kozmos]

Wohoo my CPU just barely scrapes above the minimum. (yes it's that old) I can already feel the stutters.

 

[Harbringer]

Mine hit max on system requirements lab.......

 

[Izipo]

New comp is coming in soon, man I can't wait...

(Q9400+GTX260+2Go DDR3... should be ok, right ?)

 

[kcwong]

Once I upgrade my video card I would have above the recommended requirement... but will the RPG aspect (and I mean real RPG like Planescape: Torment, not RPG as in Diablo) of Fallout3 be good? Any info on that from the leaked XBox version?

That's one of the weakest link in Morrowind and Oblivion, and something Bethesda have never done right...

 

[Civfan333]

what do you mean by TRUE rpg?

 

[kcwong]

Like the example I stated - Planescape: Torment. Where pen is mightier than sword.

That there are real cause and effect, real decisions to make, deep characters and emotions, instead of contents (randomly generated or not) that are as complex as a single cell organism and tons of hack and slash.

I've heard of some conversation/decision trees in Fallout3, but what I've heard so far are not very convincing, especially when combined with Bethesda's track record (Morrowind and Oblivion, which I've played).

I was hoping to find more information from that leaked XBox version... whether they can do the RPG element right or wrong will make or break the game for me.

They're using the name Fallout... so I expect a lot. Even if they cannot match the original two, they have to at least move far far away from the kind of games that Morrowind and Oblivion are.

 

[King Flevance]

I was hoping to find more information from that leaked XBox version... whether they can do the RPG element right or wrong will make or break the game for me.

They're using the name Fallout... so I expect a lot. Even if they cannot match the original two, they have to at least move far far away from the kind of games that Morrowind and Oblivion are.

Me too. I never played the previous fallout titles soo expectations are based soley on Bethesda's track record. (good, not great) But I never really get a solid answer on this because so much is "behind the curtain" for the big unveiling. The problem with that strategy it could end up being super great when its unveiled, or another Fable I.

EDIT:

Fallout 2 was infintesiamaly better than Arcanum....but Im sure its a mater of taste. To me, Fallout 2 is the apitamy of perfection, the whole atmosphere and world were so engrossing and how it all tied together were absolutely amazing. Games just dont get that good, in all honestly, there wasnt anything about the game that really bugged me, and it had features in it that Ive always wanted in games, and still want in more modern games but for whatever reason just seemed to get overlooked.

Could you expand on why you think the underlined part? I could say all the same things about arcanum, personally. But not much is really covered gameplay-wise.
For example me comparing Arcanum to Morrowind would be that Arcanum had a much better schematics (recipe) system and loot was well managed. You decided what fodder was based on the types of things you wanted to make but all loot could be used for something. Whereas Morrowind would sometimes offer clay pots and dishes as fodder that really served no purpose in the game. (Meaningless loot) This made money worth much more in Arcanum whereas its easy to get rich fast on Morrowind. Interestingly Arcanum did not have to sacrifice the amount of items in the game for this.
Charactor development in Arcanum was reflected more in your playstyle and choices rather than what skills you used. Morrowind however had a great idea for a leveling system and probably the best experience system I have yet to encounter in any game. However, Morrowind was almost absent of a rich story with and with player influence/involvement which is where Arcanum shined. (Well, its story was rich for its day but I have yet to find another game with that level of player influence on the environment. Which is sad considering this game was made about 10 years ago.) Arcanum had a rough but workable journal/questlog and Morrowinds was a disaster.

Overall, I would say if you want adventure styled RPG, Morrowind is probably the way to go. The world is larger and has great scenery graphics to compliment this. Its hard to find a good substitute for the world Bethesda created for charting the unknown bits of the map. The dialogue/story is not too great but if you plan on going into town only to find out information and sell items, then this will easily be overlooked and could be seen as the story not "getting in the way" of the players freedom.
Dialogue is pretty simple and runs much like the show jeapordy. You say "Balmora" and they tell you what they know about it jus not in the form of a question. Everyone responds the same way, word for word. There are some things you can say like "little secret" or "advice" where the NPC grabs a random 'tip' from those catagories out of a hat and tells you it.

If you want a richer sense of role play from an RPG Arcanum is the clear choice. The world is large but map travel will speed things along to keep you focused on the destination and help drive the story. It also helps because the environment is nowhere near as graphically stunning as Morrowind. The dialogue is strong and always seems aware of the environment surrounding it. Most, if not all, NPCs will react to your charactor's dialogue choices, appearance/race/traits, actions, and any known reputations. What makes it interesting is that NPCs hold favor/disfavor for other NPCs so aiding one NPC usually will result in an attitude modifier with someone else. There is a main story that you will eventually be faced with but when and how is entirely based on the circumstances you make building up to it. Finally concluded with multiple endings.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I have the first two Fallout games (I got them in a collection last year) but I never played them much. The first game would crash often and I though I shouldn't try the second game until I finished the first one. Apart from Morrowind, Oblivion and some BioWare games I haven't played any other RPGs.

 

[Harbringer]

@King Flevence, let me put it to you more plainly, and I should have just said this in the beginning, if you liked Arcanum, you will like Fallout 1 and 2, I think there both very much on the same level in terms of immersion and story and such, and its somewhat hard to tell on one play though, but Karma and alignment do play a pretty big part in the game, it also has the best characters and dialogue of any game ever. There are also lots of little details that they remembered to throw in that just make the game that much more amazing and the atmosphere all that much more immersive.

 

[King Flevance]

Hehe, cool cool. Yeah the whole morrowind vs. arcanum thing started off as an example but then I just got into it. I have read countless reviews for fallout 2 but enjoy hearing what others have to say about games they have played that aren't professional critics.

Thanks Harbinger.

 

[kcwong]

I have the first two Fallout games (I got them in a collection last year) but I never played them much. The first game would crash often and I though I shouldn't try the second game until I finished the first one. Apart from Morrowind, Oblivion and some BioWare games I haven't played any other RPGs.

Don't worry about it, go right ahead and play Fallout2. The start of Fallout2 is generations apart from the end of Fallout1. You will get some idea of what happened in Fallout1 in Fallout2's intro, and you can learn more as you play, there're characters in Fallout2 that can tell you about it.

There is one in-joke related to Fallout1 - but it's just a joke in a random encounter, so you are not missing much.

Here's the background from Fallout1...

Spoiler :

Nuclear World War began, and some fortunate Americans got into the safety of a number of giant underground vaults, to wait out the nuclear winter inside. In one of the vault, the computer chip used to recycle water broke, and unfortunately a shipment got mixed up and they had no spares. So one of the citizen was chosen to venture out into the radioactive waste, to find water supply and a new water chip before everyone die of thirst.

During the Chosen One's journey for water, he/she found a great evil brewing down the south that might wipe out humanity, and he set out to stop it.

In the end, the Chosen One returned to the vault, but was exiled - he/she was changed too much during the journey, and the vault's leaders feared that might bring negative influence on other citizens in the vault.

So the Chosen One left, and walked north, far far away. There he started a village.

That's where your character in Fallout2 was born. The Chosen One was your character's ancestor.

And about that in-joke encounter...

Spoiler :

In Fallout2 there's a random encounter, where you find a strange looking portal in the middle of the desert. You walked in, and found yourself teleported to a vault like room. There're computers around, and your character touched and broke a chip. Then your character said "Oops", but had a strange feeling of satisfaction, having fulfilled destiny.

That room is Chosen One's vault, back in time at Fallout1's start, and the chip you broke is the water chip.

 

[Harbringer]

You can also get the solar gun in that encounter.......

 

[kcwong]

The solar gun isn't good for actual combat... IIRC it has a 5-charges cell. Lots of fun using it to melt or slice open bandits and monsters outside during the day though.