Would "Van Buren" really have sucked?

TelemachusSneezed · Post by **TelemachusSneezed** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:25 pm

I keep running across random comments that say "Van Buren would have sucked" without any justification at all. Since there's nothing very interesting happening in this part of the forum, I wanted to bring up this topic to figure out why people feel that way.

The impressions I had of Van Buren was that it would have been awesome, an excellent continuation of the Fallout series which both upgraded technologies while keeping the style of the series intact. The screenshots I saw were great, the storyline (now that we know it) sounded great... what the hell are / were people complaining about?

It seems that nobody was actually criticizing the game at the time it was being developed, but only after the fact. Justify thyselves!

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:28 pm

i thought that it sounded pretty dope, a lot of the sidequests and npcs and whatnot sounded quite interesting and fleshed out from reading the town descriptions, and the game mechanics seemed greatly improved (new unarmed moves and whatnot, plus more uses for science/speech boy type characters, if i'm not mistaken) the main story was pretty planescape: torment-esque though, but to be fair i'm not really sure where it was destined to go.

overall, a lot more inspired than fallout 2.

rosh & the naysayers are swell guy. what were the major reasons for bashing it again?

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:29 pm

atoga wrote:rosh & the naysayers are swell guy. what were the major reasons for bashing it again?

They were angry nobody asked fortheir help.

Superhaze · Post by **Superhaze** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:14 am

Still... it would have sucked!

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:53 am

The plot that I heard sounded pretty retarded. Wake up in jail ZOMG ROBOT BREAKOUT LOLZ insert robots chasing you to move you along the plotline.

Also the graphics were so 1993.

Regardless. I have no feelings either way. It doesn't exist. Never made it anywhere even vaguely within reach of release, so whatev mang.

Superhaze = Doc Hill.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:31 pm

The game mechanic sounded pretty good, but yeah the story's beginning sounded retarded, and the graphics were blend. I liked the good ol' gritty graphics of 2D Fallout.

Urizen · Post by **Urizen** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:37 pm

cartoony graphics, talking raccoons... i don't know. but the mechanics looked good, like susan said.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:02 pm

Ya wohl

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:14 pm

Zu Behfel, Mein Herren.

TelemachusSneezed · Post by **TelemachusSneezed** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:27 pm

jetbaby wrote:The plot that I heard sounded pretty retarded. Wake up in jail ZOMG ROBOT BREAKOUT LOLZ insert robots chasing you to move you along the plotline.

Any more retarded than to force one along a plotline, say, by trying to find a waterchip before your fellow Vault-dwellers died? Or trying to find a GECK?

I didn't have any problem with the whole robot thing as it was already made clear in the first two FO that technology hadn't completely decayed in the wasteland. Are some Fallout fans obsessed with the idea of seeing continual decline in the wasteland? Hardly interesting. Much more interesting to see a cyclical rise and fall of various communities.

Altogether, the settings and the storyline sounded very cool. I liked the idea of traveling in a different part of the USA, dealing with a Mormon commune, a Boulder scientific center, a decaying Denver. I'm from Wyoming, so all of this doesn't sound all that far-fetched to me. The writers did their homework.

S4ur0n27 wrote:The game mechanic sounded pretty good...

I'm not sure what you mean by "game mechanics." That could mean any number of things.

S4ur0n27 wrote:the graphics were blend. I liked the good ol' gritty graphics of 2D Fallout.

jetbaby wrote:Also the graphics were so 1993.

This is funny: I see two folks totally digging on each others comments while saying completely different things. So, the graphics looked "old," or the graphics were too "new"? Hmmm...

The graphics of the game looked like a nice update without going overboard. If one were to keep 3rd-person isometric view, then I'm not sure you could do better.

Long live the un-born successor! I'll always have a warm place in my heart for the FO3 that could have been. :wax nostalgic:

Urizen · Post by **Urizen** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:41 pm

TelemachusSneezed wrote: "game mechanics." That could mean any number of things.

http://www.falloutvault.com/index.php?t ... en_SPECIAL

So, the graphics looked "old," or the graphics were too "new"? Hmmm...

"gritty" is used to describe the graphics theme used. "so 1993" is used to describe outdated graphics. get with the program.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:54 pm

The VB graphic looked like early 3D, which was total crap; no detail at all, blend and repetitive textures.

A lot of older 2D games have a super detailed scenery. Fallout, while having some repetitive tiles, still had a great level of detail. Close Combat games had a very detailed landscape compared to early 3D strategy games.

Final Fantasy 7 made a very good use of 2D drawn backgrounds, too.

DarkPhilly · Post by **DarkPhilly** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:38 pm

Keep in Mind that VB was not fully finished, so they probably didnt add all the OMG GRAFIX ENHCNXEMENTS!!!!11

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:01 am

There's a large difference between your friends and family dying of mutant rape or water loss and robots coming at you in the night.

Also, the whole NCR-takes-over-california-andgoes-to-war-with-the-BOS thing was kind of dumb.

johnnygothisgun · Post by **johnnygothisgun** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:23 am

jetbaby wrote:Also, the whole NCR-takes-over-california-andgoes-to-war-with-the-BOS thing was kind of dumb.

i actually think it well continues that feeling of development and progress that the NCR was absolutely dripping with in fallout 2. the war with the BOS im not sure, i havent read anything about van buren in a long time

Slaughter_Manslaught · Fri Feb 16, 2007 5:36 am

I've read a lot of design docs, and I can surely tell you guys that Van Vauren IS Fallout3. I like it. I like how NCR is the New, but falling, civilization. Science Chars and other types of chars had A LOT MORE USEFULNESS!!
The game was going to have the goold o' pillar of Fallout (Choses and consequences), the history was excellent, and I loved the cities. A shame that Herve favored POS.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:42 am

NCR wants tech, BOS says no, war ensues, general stalemate held by BOS technology and NCR numbers, eventually BOS begins to lose due to said lack of numbers, turn to stealthboy-equipped warriors who go insane, project cancelled, crazed warriors steal stealthboys and leave, form own sect, yadda yadda.

Wolfman Walt · Post by **Wolfman Walt** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:14 am

I'd have probably enjoyed Van Buren although I get the feeling if it WERE released, everyone would have been like "it's worse then fallout 2" which ofcourse is "worse then Fallout." Dunno, it's hard to say without an actual product if it was good or bad. It looked ok and while I'm not crazy about the whole plot line and super dimensional space weapon that destroys the world or whatever was planned for the finale, but I'd have still enjoyed playing it.

Broken Xeno · Post by **Broken Xeno** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:23 am

I'd have liked it. I remember when it was announced and I kinda got excited about it. But of course, there was BOS, and I hadn't been overly thrilled with Tactics. I dunno. I wish they'd been given a chance, the screens I've seen of it were pretty cool, and what I've read of the story sounded like I would have enjoyed it a lot.

Also, I liked F2, a lot. It was really camp in certain spots, but still, it was a really fun game.

Cimmerian Nights · Post by **Cimmerian Nights** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:00 pm

It's impossible to speculate, but it gave me a better vibe than the thought of a Bethesda sequel. Wasn't Sawyer the lead on VB? Instills more confidence than Todd and the OB crew.