I liken Bethesda taking on Fallout to a kid in high school art class admiring Leonardo Da Vinci's work and making his own piss-poor quality Mona Lisa. He thinks it's a good work of art and he thinks that what he's doing is paying homage but really, it's just a piece of piss-poor shit by a kid who can't paint. It's like playing with your Transformer toys and going "Wow. Cool. BANG" as you create your own story where everyone dies, while completely missing the real beauty that is Transformers.Splatterpope wrote:For a start, they're taking a gaming series with quite possibly.. No, THE most fanatical fan base to date, and developing a sequel. And this isn't some normal established franchise where you can make a sequel, and it will be carried on the success of it's predecessors shoulders by default. Oh no. In this case if the formula doesn't gel perfectly, it will be an absolute failure in every sense of the word.
Point is, everything that's great about Fallout, Bethesda suck at. Now that goes right across the board from the often touted story and setting to the little things like death animations. Ever seen a 3d FPS where you get to blow the bad guys into itty bitty chunks? Quake did a good job at that but most games just make the bad guys fall over dead these days. Something about getting that Teen rating I guess. Ever had a quest in Morrowind or Bethesda that wasn't railed schlock, holding your hand all along the way? Fallout was all about messing up but still being able to succeed. Hell, you can pick the Jinxed trait and still get through if you persist enough. The fact that there even is such a trait goes to Fallout's design. Compare that all to things like Oblivion's writing "I SAW A MUDCRAB YESTERDAY!" Simply amazing.
Make no mistake, Fallout 3 will come out and it will sell. The same people that buy Fallout 3 also bought and loved Oblivion. Light entertainment without much thinking required.Splatterpope wrote:Next, they're completely changing aforementioned formula. Though it seems hazy at the moment, the details we can see on the horizon are.. Well, a completely different game. Sure, it's post apocalyptic. I'm sure they'll even try to integrate the story, setting, humor and all that. But all signs point to first person, real time action. Whilst opening many doors in terms of settings and gameplay, they're changing game dynamics in such a way that the consequences will only be seen when they put the final cut to market.
If you can even argue that Bethesda have a perfect track record, you're admitting that Fallout 3 won't make a dent in their perception. FO3 will be the same empty world that Oblivion is and people will love it. We'll all hate it like we hate Oblivion but we'll be outnumbered.Splatterpope wrote:I guess the final thing I'd have to say about them putting their necks on the line, is that they really are putting their necks on the line, in more ways than one. Of course as a company, for if they release something sub-par, not only will they spoil their (arguably) perfect track record
Chuck Cuevas had to turn off his phone or something because Fallout fans were ringing Interplay and making death threats after the release of FO:BOS (the console one, not the Tactics one). Though I can't say I'd ever care enough to do anything other than write a long-winded article myself.Splatterpope wrote:But the danger that I'd be most concerned about, is the very real threat of physical retribution. It may sound laughable(To most of you.. maybe..),
but when I say the fans of this game are fanatical.. Well, I know this one guy from back in my year 9 class. He lodged a pen in our classmates eye for spilling coke on his fallout survival manual.
If Fallout 3 does by some miracle fail, we'll get the blame. "Nutty fans", "bad franchise", "shouldn't have made that game", "fans killed it". There'll also be blame put on the setting. "D00d Post-Apocalyptic games don't sell, you need more elves". In short, if Fallout 3 succeeds it's going to lead to more light, thoughtless and empty first-person gameworlds and if it fails it's going to lead to more light, thoughtless and empty first-person gameworlds, just with more elves. It's a lose-lose situation.Splatterpope wrote:So, introductory blather aside, what do you feel that the market and real world consequences are of Bethesda's taking up our beloved?
Now, I enjoy my empty time-passing crap as much as the next guy but I haven't had a decent dose of a game like Fallout since Fallout 2 was released. Don't you think it's time someone tried to do something about that, rather than turning a franchise known for it's deep setting and interesting choices into meaningless RPG-light schlock?
