Fallout 3 podcast and subway

[Per]

The AVault podcast with a Pete 'n' Emil Q&A is available. If you want to know what they have to say you'll just have to check it out yourselves, that is the harsh reality.

The only other tidbit I have to offer is this Game Culture Journal blog entry on the D.C. Metro from the perspective of a game player, game designer and D.C. resident.<blockquote>However, as technology has improved we have seen the dungeon grow into a more geographic space. This puts the Metro of Fallout 3 in a unique position: it can serve the traditional role of the dungeon while also traversing distances. Often cited as an easy example of what topological space is, the London tube map collapses representations of space into utility. Walking into a Metro station in Fallout 3, players can often find a map of the train routes. And yet, these maps are nearly worthless from a game perspective. The player is traveling along actual space with distances that correspond to the surface world, though they can become directionally disoriented.</blockquote>

 

[Per]

Is the Fallout 3 underground actually a 1:1 overlay with respect to the aboveground? Location and relative distance of exits?

 

[Brother None]

I don't know. All I know is I hate boring dungeon crawls, and that's exactly what the metro tunnels are.

Also, wow that article is a lot of tripe. I love intelligent game analysis, I hate pseudo-intellectual nonsense. This one falls solidly in the latter category.

 

[Sytxferryman]

Is the Fallout 3 underground actually a 1:1 overlay with respect to the aboveground? Location and relative distance of exits?

I don't think it is. The ones in DC itself might be but I believe the others (outside DC and going into DC) are not. That is probably why it is so damn disorienting.

I prefer NOT to fast travel, but its either that or blow my brains out with boredom of traversing these things again and again so I just get out of them and map the above ground area's asap.

 

[Bodybag]

I visited D.C when I was twelve, and it was magical. Understand that since about age 5 I wanted to be either a Pilot, an astronaut, or a WWF wrestler - and D.C. hosts physical exhibits that represent 2/3 of those dreams in living history. On my visits to these exhibits I rode the D.C Metro, which was my first subway ride. In adition to the existance of an honest-to-God- underground railroad, one of the things that stood out about this trip was the abundance of "fallout shelter" signs I spotted in the area. It was my first exposure to such a thing. Learning what a Fallout shelter was marked a dot on the measuring stick of my transition to adulthood.

So naturally my memory of D.C figures heavily into any personal approximation of a (post) nuclear apocolypse, and as such, my opinon of the "dungeons" in F3 might be a bit skewed, but goddamn do I think they are brilliant in their practical application.

I agree that they could be populated by things more varied and interesting than just ghouls and Raiders, but they work just fine for me as-is.

 

[oihrebwe]

Is the Fallout 3 underground actually a 1:1 overlay with respect to the aboveground? Location and relative distance of exits?

definitely not, the anacostia metro station's two aboveground exits are very far from each other

 

[Paul_cz]

Regarding avault podcast - it kinda sucked. They of course excluded all the interesting questions (usually from uncannygarlic) : /

EDIT - oh, regarding the construction set - Pete said they are gonna make some announcement soon and they sounded pretty positive - I think its done deal, and personally can not wait. I hope that in half a year there will be some "True Fallout Overhaul" mod that will combine all the awesome mods to make it true Fallout...adding description, rebalancing VATS and SPECIAL, making levelling slower, including new interface (like the revelation one),removing skill bonuses on clothes and bobbleheads...et cetera et cetera..

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Regarding avault podcast - it kinda sucked. They of course excluded all the interesting questions (usually from uncannygarlic) : /

Can't say I'm surprised. I figured that they'd neuter the hard hitting questions and I've found that most video and audio gaming news/reviews/podcasts/whatever are pretty bad. Podcasts in particular tend to be a douchebag magnet from what I've seen (the rest tend to have a lot more nerdy folks) so I avoid them whenever possible.

I didn't think of it until Thursday or I'd have asked something more specifically about the buggy state it was released, probably would have asked about the lack of a zero day patch given the problems and the fact that they have been working on DLC for some time now. All in all, I was trying to get substantive questions with substantive answers to facts about the game, particularly when they contradict earlier statements or simply fall short. It was nice to other people with the same idea in mind as I saw a fair number of good questions there.

The podcasters lose points for making uninformed statements about what the Fallout fan community wants. Pete or Emil have blinders on as one of them said they hadn't heard any complaints about level scaling. After one of the interviews talking about the "do anything" stuff with the game, Pete or Emil spews crap about random actions actually having reactions but, of course, don't have any examples. They brag about how cool all of their manuals are, I disagree that they even touch Fallout 1&2's. He also talks about how explicit the game is and how it has the answer to every question anyone could have, I entirely disagree as my first question was, "Where the fuck are the formulas for how skill points are created?" Pete doesn't believe that anyone could give quality feedback without playing the game and that feedback from consumers is hardly worth notice (he whined about there being so many different opinions at Bethesda "so get in line"). Pete mentioned the game being in different regions and languages adding a significant workload and to that I call BS, from what I understand, the localizations are being done by third-parties. Emil didn't think that anyone else had ever killed the player at the end of the game, obviously he hasn't played many games. They claim that they aren't worried about making a game a certain rating for sales which I do believe contradicts an earlier statement but it's BS regardless. They wouldn't have removed content to sell it in some other countries if they truly believed that but they could really be ultra uptight. They (believe it was Pete though it could have been Emil) insult those who criticize Bethesda for their censorship and suggest that those complaining are young'uns who don't know how the world works. The questions were all the most softball and standard interview questions posted. All in all, at least the Fallout 3 segment was just a bloody promo and free ad for Bethesda.

All in all, not worth a listen.

 

[Per]

Pete doesn't believe that anyone could give quality feedback without playing the game and that feedback from consumers is hardly worth notice (he whined about there being so many different opinions at Bethesda "so get in line").

"Most of us don't like it either!"

Emil didn't think that anyone else had ever killed the player at the end of the game, obviously he hasn't played many games.

I don't think any game has killed the player either. As for player character, there is probably a "List of Video Games that Kill the Player Character at the End" over at Wikipedia.

They claim that they aren't worried about making a game a certain rating for sales which I do believe contradicts an earlier statement but it's BS regardless.

At least it's a common argument in their defence, so they get to have their cake and eat it too.

 

[Nim82]

Is the Fallout 3 underground actually a 1:1 overlay with respect to the aboveground? Location and relative distance of exits?

Nah, the underground routes are far shorter, you can travel a few yards underground and think you will exit fairly close to where you first entered - only to pop out at the other end of the city, miles away. Dr Who would be well impressed.

 

[Ausir]

EDIT - oh, regarding the construction set - Pete said they are gonna make some announcement soon and they sounded pretty positive - I think its done deal, and personally can not wait. I hope that in half a year there will be some "True Fallout Overhaul" mod that will combine all the awesome mods to make it true Fallout...adding description, rebalancing VATS and SPECIAL, making levelling slower, including new interface (like the revelation one),removing skill bonuses on clothes and bobbleheads...et cetera et cetera..

I expect some Oblivion fans to add more skill bonuses to clothes and bobbleheads that give you perks.