New Fallout 3 Info

Some good juicy bits on the latest Game Informer regarding Fallout 3. Sounds great!

The article is based on an hour long demo GI was given. I’ll list the high points

  • Game runs on an evolved version of the Oblivion engine. Third person view has been reworked since the verdict was that the Oblivion version sucked balls.

  • Game starts with your birth and your mother’s death in a vault hospital. This is essentially the character customization part of the game. Your father hands you up to have your DNA analyzed and you get to pick out all your character traits. Your dad takes off his mask to reveal similar traits to the ones you picked.

  • You grow up in the vault and as you grow you get your first book titled “You’re Special” which allows you to choose you baseline stats for each of your 7 primary aptitudes. You’ll also get your first weapons and wrist computer (menu) as you get older you’ll take tests to determine the initial layout of your skills and traits.

  • Every aspect of character creation is based on S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. Of your 14 skills you can tag 3 to grow at a faster rate than the rest as you level up.

  • Battle system is called the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). The article states. “While you’ll certainly be able to tackle enemies in real time using first person shooting, V.A.T.S. lets players pause time and select a target at their leisure”. Battle system still uses action points, but once you’ve used them up you’ll still be able to fight targets in real time while they charge back up.

  • Game is still violent and gory. One of the featured screens is of a guy’s head exploding in super gory detail. Apparently all gory deaths in the game will be in slow motion.

  • More than one way to play the game. Go balls out and kill people, or sneak past situations, or perhaps talk your way out of situations.

  • Enemies can target you just like you can target them, so you can get injured in very specific points on you body. This is in addition to an all new health/radiation system. This new system has you measuring how radiated certain things (like water) are and how they affect you when you consume them.

  • Karma system returns

  • XP based system, most XP comes from quests

  • Level cap is 20

  • 9 - 12 possible endings based on your actions in the game

  • No level scaling like oblivion, you walk into a high level area, you die horribly.

  • There are NPC’s you can hire, but this is not a party based game.

Sounds like it’s made of awesome and win. I approve!

Sounds good, but it’s a long way off… any word on moddability?

(And hey, where’s my issue of GI?!)

Sounds spot on awesome. I’m concerned there are going to be no kids to blow away though.

Did they plan it all along or did they just listen to the fans? I’m liking it, one way or another.

I don’t think there is anything they could have said that would have gotten as positive a reaction from me.

First person makes me somewhat sad. Combat system sounds a bit wierd - it uses AP but you can still fight while they recharge? Eh? Clarification on that might be nice.

But overall, WIN.

-[quote=] Battle system is called the Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.). The article states. “While you’ll certainly be able to tackle enemies in real time using first person shooting, V.A.T.S. lets players pause time and select a target at their leisure”. Battle system still uses action points, but once you’ve used them up you’ll still be able to fight targets in real time while they charge back up.[/quote]

I’m not sure what this means. Sounds like you have to click on whatever target you want to shoot at, which is kinda rpg-like, but then it also sounds like they let you to aim a la fps too? You can only aim/shoot at a targetted enemy? And if you’re out of action points, why are you still allowed to take action? Are action points kinda like ‘time it takes to reload’ and ‘time between shots’ or something, and you can still dodge between them? odd. Want more info. Otherwise, sounds good.

Hopefully we can buy vehicle armor on the XBox Marketplace :-)

Sounds promising! Think I’ll watch some old Fallout cutscene videos to make the wait shorter…

Sounds great, but I wish they were starting the hype machine closer to release.

Edit: One thing I didn’t see in that summary: the promise of detailed, multi-path conversations whose options depend greatly upon the nature and abilities of your character.

I wonder if this is going to be like the old Space Hulk game where you played in real time building up a meter that determined how much paused/order time you had. It worked pretty well for that game. You just had to ensure that you got to cover by the end of a phased turn.

Hell fucking YES.

I promise you I will detail every stinkin purchase I make from them. Oh man, I might even make some purchases twice and write long dissertations about how happy I am that my money isn’t going to Troika.

FPS combat for normal. But bullet time with AP? I am so happy that sly shit at EB tacked a game informer subscription on to my bill by ONLY mentioning the 5% off coupon in the magazine on the checkout counter.

How is anything but complete SILENCE going to not start the hype machine?

Sounds pretty cool, actually. Not sure I undertand what the V.A.T.S. is really like though. Action Points + Real Time – huh?!

That was my first thought, except that it seems like it works the other way around. In Space Hulk if I remember correctly you were almost always turn-based and had to conserve your real-time action points. Here it sounds like you’re almost always in real-time, but can pause the game by burning action points…or…something…On the whole I’m with Spiffy. I need to see an actual demo or get a more detailed explanation of the mechanics before I can figure out what to make of this.

EDIT: The only other game that springs to mind is Arcanum, and well…as much as I love that game the real-time stuff was just screwed up.

I’m a bit disappointed at the lack of a party, but I’m not exactly surprised. As for the rest, I don’t know…BethSoft’s great at making big worlds that are interesting to explore. Designing gameplay that allows for multiple resolutions to the same quest for different types of role-players? Not so much, and even less when it comes to NPC dialogue and persuasion mechanics. Here’s hoping they’ve taken that lesson-learned from Oblivion to heart.

I guess after the teaser footage and the knowledge that SPECIAL is back (thereby hopefully avoiding BethSoft’s apparent inability to design a balanced levelling mechanic) I’m starting to feel some faint, cautious optimism towards FO3.

Could Action Points somehow be analagous to mana, used to fire off special abilities somehow? I have no idea – I’m just trying to think of ways real-time FPS can co-exist with action points…

So, when do they drop the bomb that it’s Vista-only?

(I kid, I kid)

(hopefully)

I don’t understand the value of this question. What’s wrong with declaring a release date and then shutting up until a couple of months before that date? We’re talking about a product that’s at least a year and a half from completion. It seems like most games have a press cycle more in line with the idea that you should market your game when you have a game to sell.

And before you mention pre-orders, it’s Fallout 3. And Bethesda’s making it. People who pre-order will pre-order this game.

Edit: Vista-only would be awful, but it’ll hurt a lot less in 2009.

Okay I swear I’m finally gonna get through Fallout 1&2 before this ships.

Pausing an FPS game sounds like an horrible idea.