Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines Comments by Christian Donlan

/wants

if they can improve from oblivion the dungeons that all look the same and fix the auto-leveling issues, they've got a winner.

When's this out over here? I've looked at a few sites and they're giving different dates in October.

Bethesda shits on Fallout franchise SHOCK!

Oblivion was tedious beyond all reason and it's combat was just plain broken, I knew they'd screw this up.

One of the things we really tried to avoid is surprising the player with whether they've been good or bad. We wanted to be clear to you that you're making a conscious choice to be one or the other. I've played games where I made a choice and I thought I was being the nice guy, and then it's, "Wait, wait, why is he upset?" We didn't want it to be a surprise.

Oh damn, that's a shame. That was one of the best features of The Witcher, that it wasn't quite clear how things would end up if you decided this or that. Much better than Bioware's heavy-handed devil himself/Mother Teresa alternatives.

I love the front page header. Hines looks like barely able to hold down a tear.

After reading the interview, I am optimistic about this. One cannot just do another Fallout 2 - it is imperative to go with the gut feeling and try to create something new. Hopefully it turns out fun.

Nice screenshots... after a couple of negative EG previews, I'm still really looking forward to this game because it's the kind of thing that could keep me playing it for weeks if not months. That Fallout 3 is smaller than Oblivion might be a blessing if the story and gameplay are better quality (not that I had any complaints about Oblivion's quality mind!). Whatever, 50-70 hours sounds plenty to me and I'm sure I'll get more life out of it than that. Really all I want is this and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts this year, nothing else comes close on my Must-Have meter.

I'm still looking forward to this game but I have a nagging feeling of doubt in my mind. It could so easily go either way at the moment.

Bethesda shits on Fallout franchise SHOCK!

Oblivion was tedious beyond all reason and it's combat was just plain broken, I knew they'd screw this up.

How do you know, have you played it?

IGN gave it some quite glittering previews.

Hmpf... this reads more like an Oblivion clone.

just different story, smaller world, less content. new VATS system

I'll wait and see what happens, I could be wrong.

I wanted to know about the DLC...

I think this might be a fun game. The worst part of Oblivion was the auto-levelling of everything around you. They seem to have fixed that so I have my hopes up for this. I am not expecting a Fallout-like experience though. I am expecting a good game, nothing more.

@Ainudil

'One cannot just do another Fallout 2 - it is imperative to go with the gut feeling and try to create something new. Hopefully it turns out fun.'

Your sentence makes me wonder if executives at sony felt the same way when they took star wars galaxies and turned it into another everquest/wow clone with NGE.
The problem is not in creating something new, since anyone can do it, but creating something new within the limits of existing game.
Van buren (which was original fallout 3), if it got completed would add new things to fallout while still being fallout. That's positive example. Negative one is bethesda take on 'innovation'.
What they did with fallout was to take out the name, postapocalyptic setting, and then transplant that into oblivion with couple of quirks to keep it from being stale, like vats. It's not a fallout game, despite the name. If you liked oblivion you might like this one.
If you didn't like oblivion, save yourself the cash.

Van buren (which was original fallout 3), if it got completed would add new things to fallout while still being fallout. That's positive example. Negative one is bethesda take on 'innovation'.
What they did with fallout was to take out the name, postapocalyptic setting, and then transplant that into oblivion with couple of quirks to keep it from being stale, like vats. It's not a fallout game, despite the name.

From the countless of information we've seen on this game, I can say Amen to that.

why is this guy such a fucking twat?

Oh damn, that's a shame. That was one of the best features of The Witcher, that it wasn't quite clear how things would end up if you decided this or that. Much better than Bioware's heavy-handed devil himself/Mother Teresa alternatives.
Agreed. What's with this obsession with predictable consequences in games nowadays, anyway?

And the word of the day is... "stuff"

some people would be excited about Fallout 3 though if the preview was just a picture of a greyhound squeezing a turd out

/honest mode on/

^ yay! that's me...

The interview didn't do a lot to, well... do anything for the game either good or bad. I'll buy it... but I'm not holding out much hope.

I'm taking the approach that if I expect nothing of it and it turns out to be half decent, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Rather than hoping for a true sequel and having my hopes shattered by the clumsy hands of Beth.

Why are they scared of "surprising" the player?

I think I know what he's on about - not wanting the player to feel cheated - but I hope there is surprises, a big plus from the earlier Fallout games was not being 100% certain what your actions would do to the post-apocalypse wasteland. If they are just going to have big flashing neon signs pointing out the "choices" then I'm not sure they've really understood the spirit of Fallout.

I'm still hesitant about this game. Still, the SINGLE dialogue screenshot there is slightly reassuring. Up until now we've seen nothing but guns and combat.