Fallout 3 - Your hopes and worries

[Puni/Void]

In a few other threads, there has been some talk about the Fallout series of games, and of course the upcoming Fallout 3. As many of you probably are aware, Bethesda, the company behind Oblivion, is in charge of producing this game. Many fans and general players are worried that Fallout 3 might not live up to the expectations.

What do you hope Fallout 3 we'll be like? What are you biggest worries about Fallout 3?

[Harrison]

The biggest worry for most fans is that it will just be a Fallout themed Oblivion with everything just re-skinned. The enemies just physically altered to look like mutants, the towns and towns folk visually changed and they conversation paths replaced.

But equally if they are just using the Oblivion gaming engine to build the game then it could end up being much better than anyone hoped. If they just use the engine and build the actual game from the ground up then this could be good. They would definitely need to rebuild the conversation structure for the game though as I always felt this was the biggest let down of Oblivion.

[Demon Cleaner]

I hope it will stay a bit old school, I like the 3D isometric perspective. I don't want it to look like Oblivion. I think that strategy games like Fallout, will get unplayable that way. It should perhaps look like The Fall, which was 3D enough for me.

The opposite of this is my biggest worry though.

[Ghost]

Hello

This is not meant against you personally Harrison but I think it would be one of the worst development decisions ever if Fallout went First Person because then it would only be one step away from being simply a shooter in a Fallout setting and Fallout is not such a game.

There is a lot of talk about on other boards that people feel that Fallout's Turn Based gameplay is too 'old fashioned' and that it should become some Real Time or Continuous Turn Based game.
While I liked Fallout Tactics one of the biggest benefits of the Turn Based system is that players could take the time to make decisions and could better oversee the battle, that will be lost if it becomes Real Time and First Person based.

[Submeg]

Yea, Fallout is good in turn based. I like the fact that you can see your enemies move, and then decide where you should go, who you should fire at, etc....otherwise like Ghost said, it would just be a FPS

[Harrison]

Not so sure about that. I also personally prefer turn based combat as you have as much time as you like to make each decision, but equally real-time combat does really get the adrenaline pumping in a big battle, although you can equally feel out of complete control.

This is not meant against you personally Harrison but I think it would be one of the worst development decisions ever if Fallout went First Person because then it would only be one step away from being simply a shooter in a Fallout setting and Fallout is not such a game.

I think the problem is that you haven't actually played Oblivion. It is definitely not a FPS like Quake or Doom. You do really need to play it to understand. I do see your side of the argument, but without experiencing the game first hand it is hard to know what to expect.

The problem with a First Person perspective is that it doesn't lend itself well to RPGs where a group of adventurers are together under the control of the player, for this a game definitely needs to be third person perspective, and even more so for turn-based combat.

I personally could see a Fallout game working well in a first person perspective style, but equally this would distance itself from the previous games in the series and it would end up feeling and playing nothing like the previous games which we definitely don't want to happen.

Don't forget however that it is easily possible to make a third person perspective game using the game engine originally used for a first person game. Look at the HL2 engine for proof of this.