Wow, that screenshot looks like a rather dramatic improvement. I don’t know crap about how this process works but being that this game is coming out in like 20 days my uninformed spider senses are tingling.
I guess my question is is that an actual improvement or just a better touch up?
it’s probably just an area with really great lighting or something
Killzig
4323
Probably both, most of the faces we’ve seen are far improved from Oblivion. Wish we’d see more body types and such, maybe for their next game.
I’m still seeing that overall facial structure persisting (sort of a droopy, hangdog look), but they look good - so I’ll likely not even be thinking about it.
Have they shown any women? I know I’ve seen a few Vault screens with them, but can’t recall any in the head-on dialogue mode.
The quality seems sporadic. The first pic of the dad looks really good, up there with that guy, but then a lot look like shit, like the gameplay video of the sheriff (though, again, I seem to remember Burke looking good).
zengonzo: There’s a woman in the bar in the megaton gameplay video. I don’t remember what she looks like.
Excellent. Not a ghastly potato face.
Was reading Kotaku’s FO3 hands-on and the author had this gem to say:
“I’m glad they decided to make combat real time, because nothing screams “I’m afraid of evolving” like turn-based fights.”
To which I responded:
“Ummm, ooookay. Maybe once you’ve evolved you’ll understand the appeal of turn-based fights.”
And got silenced. WTF? Was I out of line?
One of my MAJOR peeves is people that say “such and such is archaic.” You hear it about side-scrollers. 2D (and heaven forbid TEXT!). Turn-based.
Yeah, many of those things pre-date open-world 3D real-time games. But just because they were used first (often due to technical constraints) does not mean they are no longer useful. Or even BETTER than more modern technology for the task at hand.
I’m not even saying FO3 should be turn-based. Real-time MAY work brilliantly for this game.
But turn-based, or real-time, or 3D, or 2D, or pre-rendered, or hand-drawn, etc. are all just tools in a game designer’s toolbox. And just because it is a tool that pre-dates another doesn’t mean it isn’t the right tool for the job. You always use the right tool.
And, yeah, maybe I hit below the belt saying they should evolve. But I’m sorry, they should! A person that authors pieces on games should have a fundamental understanding – and sensitivity to – the variety of tools available to the game designer and that none is inherently obsolete. If the author had just said “I’m glad they decided to make combat real time, because the wide-open 3D world lends itself to that rather than the previous entries’ turn-based fights.” I’d have had NO problem. And I should’ve qualified that I meant evolving professionally. Aw, well.
I like both real-time and turn-base gameplay. They both provide distinct gameplay experiences. Both are valid. Both are rewarding in different ways. Both have their own drawbacks.
Real-time just has that unbeatable mainstream appeal while turn-base reeks of niche.
Sarkus
4330
One of the sad realities about the 'net reactions to FO3 is that the radical purists (i.e. NMA, etc.) have effectively poisoned any discussion that involves questioning game play mechanics. Because the NMA crowd has so often taken such a fanatical position on turn-based combat, any comment that seems to support that leads to an immediate assumption on the part of everyone else that you are another fantatic who has come to reignite the arguments. You see that here in this thread, and you see it in a lot of other places.
Besides, at this point it is rather a waste of everyones time to argue about gameplay mechanics decisions made by Bethesda a long time ago. Fallout 3 is what it is.
I guess that’s why I got my hackles raised. I don’t see a statement like “After playing Fallout 3 I can say the real-time combat works” and get upset. FO3 isn’t FO1 or 2, for better or for worse, and as a result a combat system that worked in FO1 or 2 won’t necessarily be the best choice for FO3. I haven’t played FO3 but I can imagine real-time is going to work, or at least work better than turn-based. I appreciate the inclusion of action points and VATS as an alternative, should it appeal more to me.
It was this out-of-hand dismissal of turn-based as a tool that bugged me. And it is a shame that the mainstream views turn-based as niche, as there are many examples where modern games that use 2D, or turn-based, or what-not get critical – and commercial – acclaim.
So, I wasn’t arguing the gameplay mechanics of FO3 (and, to the author’s credit, neither were they), but rather defending turn-based as relevant even in modern times.
/rant. =)
Zylon
4332
My enjoyment of turn-based combat is inversely proportional to the number of combatants involved. So bring on the big fights where I don’t have to wait a minute between turns.
It’s looking more and more like this will be the game to finally push me into replacing my old warhorse gaming rig.
As an aside, my biggest fear coming in to this game was not that FO3 was going to deviate substantially from FO1 and FO2 but rather that it wasn’t going to deviate enough from Oblivion.
From the hands-on two of my three biggest concerns with Oblivion were addressed in FO3, and I am more excited about this game than any time before. Those two concerns were Oblivion’s leveling system and the level-scaling of monsters. My third concern was with the truly ugly character faces, and that was dicsussed earlier today and they made great progress on that.
Good news! Fallout 3 on PC should have the same (minimal DVD check) DRM as Oblivion.
Shack: Similar question in the sense that it’s an issue that can be overblown. What kind of copy protection will be included on the PC version of Fallout 3?
Pete Hines: Pretty similar to what we did for Oblivion, which was–we basically don’t do any–we do the mildest form possible. I actually don’t know if I even want to get into what it is that we exactly do, but we try to be really noninvasive when it comes to that stuff. [ed- Oblivion employed a simple DVD check.]
And it is a pain in the ass–it is a pain in the ass that we have to do it at all in the first place. But when you spend tens of millions of dollars, we don’t think it’s right to just put something out there and let everybody do whatever they want and pass it around.
And to have to support all of that–which is often the unspoken thing that nobody really wants to point to. You can argue all day whether or not somebody would have bought a copy of a game they pirated, but you can’t argue, and you will never win the argument that I’m not having to provide tech support for those folks. Because I know for a fact that we are. We catch those folks all the time, where we’re providing support for somebody who turns out didn’t actually pay for the game and just downloaded a copy.
liminal
4335
Then he says this:
Shack: I can’t recall what Oblivion did, but will there be any install limit on Fallout 3?
Pete Hines: That’s a good question. I don’t actually know.
Any sort of install limit means more DRM than a mimimal DVD check.
I think of turn-based RPGs like I think of boxy cars. Boxy still works great for homes but in a car it just looks like you haven’t kept up with the times. I think when the word evolution is thrown around in that context they’re just saying the system isn’t up to date with what the RPG genre has become. Anyone implying that the turn-based mechanic is archaic is ignoring several popular and current titles that are turn-based. Four out of the ten best-selling games listed on direct2drive right now are turn-based.
It’s not that it’s broken, it’s just that it’s not where RPGs are at right now. Get with the times gramps. Not that I’d mind a turn-based RPG, but I think it would feel old-school and that isn’t usually something you want for a big-budget title looking for a mainstream audience.
Do people really say this?
'Cause one of my favorite games of all time is a 2.5? side scroller called Hunter/Hunted.
If someone was to do a sequel to this today, I’d buy it on launch day.
Squee
4338
Ugh. If I hear Fallout 3 has limited activation bullshit like Warhead, Spore, Peggle Nights and Clear Sky, I’ll… I’ll… Be disappointed since a lot of games I was interested in I won’t buy. God damn.
Dhruin
4339
Yeah, well, other than Kotaku, Balsamic just said the same thing but all prettied up. “Boxy” car analogies, “get with the times gramps” and “not where RPGs are at” is the same thing as “archaic”, just with a sugar-coating.
Well, that wasn’t anything near what I was meaning to say, but if you’re so adverse to nuance perhaps you should look into becoming a fucking politician.
