Fallout 3
After the release of Fallout 2, luck ran out for the Fallout fans. Of course, Interplay could have pushed out a new sequel every year or two using the same engine with slight updates and the same graphics, just adding constantly to the latter. The fans would have been happy, and Interplay's accounting department should have been happy, for this kind of development isn't all that expensive.
Ten or fifteen years earlier, this is probably exactly what they would have done. It's how Ultima and Wizardry started out. But the nineties were all about graphics, not about content, and no self-respecting developer could do this kind of thing any more. Having one sequel of this kind had already raised enough eyebrows with the critics.
So a new sequel with a new engine and everything was announced. But somehow developing Baldur's Gate was more important. Traditional RPGs in a fantasy setting sell better, they said. Then they decided they would make a new Fallout, but it would be a tactical RPG, since that is easier to do. So in 2001 Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel came out, with one of the highest numbers of pre-orders in history, but finally disappointing everyone. Since an editor was later released, it still has a modest popularity with modders.
In 2003, it looked as if Fallout 3 was finally coming out. The codename of the project was Van Buren, an internal demo was created and three screenshots published. Then Interplay decided to go console, released Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (known as FoPoS by fans) and soon afterwards closed its doors. The dream seemed once again crushed.
On 2004-07-12, it was announced that Bethesda (of Daggerfall fame) had bought the Fallout license and is going to develop Fallout 3, so the dream most Fallout fans had given up to ever see fulfilled.
After four weeks hype, Bethesda released a teaser on 2007-06-05. Being a teaser, and the game due out only in fall 2008, it doesn't show too much, but it does show to what lengths Bethesda is willing to go to make this a genuine Fallout experience. They even secured the rights for I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire, which had been Interplay's first choice for a title song!
A scientifically clean and preserved habitat is soon torn away to reveal a ravaged wasteland where bridges are destroyed, water is radiated, and the only human survivors are either marauding raiders, deformed mutants, or civilians banding together to form some semblance of a community. It's hard not to just stare at the world and take it all in, letting the hopelessness wash over you and invade your persona. It doesn't matter if it's your first step or one of your countless ones many hours later, there is always a new view to behold, a hidden away place you've never seen before, or one more little intimate area off the beaten path that will surprise and dazzle you.
Rockstar would have given you some Lukewarm Coffee, pulling you out of the scene to serenade you with smutty pillow talk and the ululations of the orgasming avatars. The God of War developers would have done a close up of a bedside lamp and presented you with a rhythm mini-game. There's the Fable series, which has the participants heads' off-screen, where they emit naughty noises indicative of mildly unpleasant British sex. And then there's Black Isle, the previous Fallout developers, would have given you a dialogue tree, full of options: pillow talk, romantic seduction or simply a humanizing conversation with a woman of the wastelands forced to sell herself night after night to feed herself.
There's an easy solution, of course: Don't finish the game. There's so much more to do anyway before you chamber yourself like a bullet and pull the trigger on the epically anticlimactic and frankly bewildering finale. So don't do it. That ending will wait, and your appreciation for all the lovely things this game gets right will be better for it.
linear?):
While the events which propel the main story of Fallout 3 are universally awkward, the backbone of great characters and good writing remains throughout. The main storyline may be only average, but the side-quests range from pretty good to quite stunning, and though there is some repetition in the indoors level design, it isn't enough to be distracting. What this all means is that while Fallout 3 has an inferior story in comparison to the first two games, the actual setting is the best of any game in the franchise.
I remember GTA IV being hyped up beyond belief. Then when I played it, I realized, like the Halo series, it was the most overrated game in the past 20 years. That isn't the case with Fallout 3. This might not be for everyone but, its at least worth renting. It's a long game. The strategy guide is 464 pages long so, that'll give you an idea of the wealth of shit to do in this game.
Some forum threads and other comments from back in 2004, when it was announced that Bethesda had bought the Fallout rights.
It is the home of the most pompous, arrogant, opinionated jerks in computer gaming. It is also the home of many Fallout fanatics. – A poster on the Elder Scrolls Board
The Fallout 3 thread on Qt3 is so much fun, we need one here too. Go nuts! Let the wailing begin!
I wrote the text below back in July 2004, in the wrath of the moment about the reaction of many Fallout fans to the takeover of the franchise by Bethesda. There is a lot I would write different now, but for the moment I'm just leaving it up as it is.
But are they happy now?
Mostly not. To my astonishment, I read that Morrowind completely lacks depth when compared to the Fallout games, that a Fallout games absolutely must have turn-based combat and the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system and that in general Bethesda is just not up to the task.
Sheesh.
Anyway it's interesting to see how people can like one and the same game for totally different reasons. For me, the character system and the combat system were always the weakest spot of the Fallout games, and I consider PnP emulation in CRPGs a very, very bad idea.
And some of the statements made and repeated on these boards are downright amusing:
Let it be forever recorded that Fallout fans run neck and neck with Trekkies in the marathon race of insanity.
What is it?
