History of open-world games

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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It's a slow newstime, so I thought I'd give a node to Todd Howard PCZone's history of open-world games.<blockquote> Todd howard, game director at Bethesda reckons gamers love freedom. "They feel more like the character they're playing." he explains.

"They're doing what they want to do and not what you, the designer, wants them to do. The more open, the more reactive you can make it, the better the player experience."

Rather than preenting us with a thrilling, scripted rollercoaster ride, titles such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the forthcoming Fallout 3 present us with vast worlds that we can inhabit, and decide what kind of character we want to be - whether it's a Redguard bard with penchant for alchemy or a lone Jet addict and his dog battling mutants in a post-nuclear wasteland.</blockquote>Link: The complete history of open-world games (part 1) on PCZone.
 
For a west coast drug engineered by one man who gets stabbed, jet sure does travel far.
 
Yeah, it's too bad they didn't create their own drug for the game, so we could then liken it to some overt fantasy analogue. Like a curse.

Now we're stuck with something that already explicitly existed in the universe (BUMMER).
 
Bodybag said:
Now we're stuck with something that already explicitly existed in the universe.
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Uh...ok...please explain to me how it'd make sense for Jet to be on the West Coast 30 years after Fallout 2 ended. No please, go ahead. What, the BoS took it with 'em? The supermutants did?

Give me something that even remotely makes sense. Because trolling, as much as you may love to think so, isn't actually a good counter-argument.
 
I heard from one ending of F2 that jets popularity faded. How the fuck does it end up on the east coast? Considering even meth hasn't fully propagated to the east coast, why would jet?
 
Uh, also, before we go overboard here, even though the discussion of "could Jet be on the east" is fascinating, realise one thing: that is PCZone speaking, not anyone from Bethesda. They could be talking Fallout as a setting, not specifically Fallout 3.

DO NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS
 
Brother None said:
Uh, also, before we go overboard here, even though the discussion of "could Jet be on the east" is fascinating, realise one thing: that is PCZone speaking, not anyone from Bethesda. They could be talking Fallout as a setting, not specifically Fallout 3.

DO NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS
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forthcoming Fallout 3 present us with vast worlds that we can inhabit, and decide what kind of character we want to be - whether it's a Redguard bard with penchant for alchemy or a lone Jet addict and his dog battling mutants in a post-nuclear wasteland.
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I think it's just a foul-up on PCZone's part. Nothing to see here, move along.
 
Wooz said:
Don't troll, vomitbag.
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I am so reporting you.

Brother None said:
Uh...ok...please explain to me how it'd make sense for Jet to be on the West Coast 30 years after Fallout 2 ended. No please, go ahead.
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F2 took place on the West Coast, right? Or did you mean East? :?

What, the BoS took it with 'em? The supermutants did? Give me something that even remotely makes sense.
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Let's just go ahead and assume that it wasn't just some anal ventriloquism on PCZon'es part and that Jet IS on the East Coast. In 30 years the population would increase, which would logically increase potential demand for the drug. It wouldn't necessarily be one guy's basement operation any more, it'd be like any other expanding trade. People migrate from settlement to settlement, and their habits make the journey with them.

I also see no reason why there wouldn't be enough settlements between NCR and DC for caravans to not be able to form a loosely-knit supply chain between the coasts in that ammount of time - hell, America did it once before, and that was before the railroads fully connected the coasts.

Speaking of railroads - I haven't seen it specifically mentioned in any Fallout canon stuff about the railroads being rendered useless, and for all we know they were rendered obsolete by current technology and were not deemed strategically sound enough to be directly targeted, so there's the possibility that some crude but effective rail network could still be in place and reused in this time frame.

So you have enough people to create a demand, and reasonable means to supply it, and maybe even a direct rail line from point A to point B. In the interests of full disclosure, I don't really get wrapped up in canon nitpicks, but I still don't get any dealbreakers out of this scenario. Then again, I didn't finish Fallout 2 - did someone say the Jet creator guy got killed?

Well, check this out: Someone else got the recipe! Damn, that was easy.
 
Bodybag said:
(snip)
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Ok, so let me get this straight, at the end of Fallout 2 there is one (1) production point of Jet, from one (1) crime family that may or may not have been the one alive at the end (no canon there), Jet is known to take a large production facility (Jet is distilled from Brahmin dung in large vats), the creator of Jet is most likely dead (that's more or less canon since it's the only ending for Myron) and it is unclear who else knows the exact secrets there.

Also, there is no canon on the "cure for Jet" possibility, but it's distinctly possible the addiction to Jet has been "cured" by the doc in VC. Moreover, Fallout 2 clearly indicated the Mordinos could hardly produce enough Jet to supply their own locals, let alone go cross-continent.

Moreover, Jet is distributed only by one (1) family in New Reno and is not known to be a part of major caravan routes in Fallout - being forbidden in the most important points of civilization (NCR, Vault City).

And then, 30 years later, suddenly Fallout's setting:
- Knows widespread migration
- Has people travelling cross-continent (something that is most likely impossible due to the impossibility of keeping caravans supplied over such long distances, as well as the known radioactive sandstorms and other dangers)
- Trade has spread cross-continent, and is apparently not in the hands of major powers (BoS, NCR), but in the hands of those that would spread Jet.

...

...?

...!

I'll admit, technically (technically) it's not impossible, even though we already know enough about Fallout 3 canon to know there were no west-east trade routes and no migration right after Fallout 2 and there is conspicuously no mention of it in the BoS dev diary. Presumably, the BoS are the only west coast people that travelled to the east, and the BoS have no known contact with Jet whatsoever.

It's a good thing this is all theoretical. Because the rest of Fallout's drugs are pre-war fabs, it makes sense to have 'em on the east coast too. Of all the pile of drugs, Jet might well be the only one that has absolutely no business whatsoever on the east.
 
I guess theoretically it'd have been possible for one of the Brotherhood members to bring the knowledge of how to make Jet along with him/her. And, then, when they finally get to the East Coast, they remember how much of a killing Jet made out west before production went under - so they break off, form their own operation, and start kicking out Jet. This would also explain the lack of any kind of a cure being distributed on the East Coast: The only guy who knows how to make it, isn't.

Unfortunately, this idea has its own problems. Namely, it would mean that no one else who came along with the Brotherhood knows enough about Jet/has the knowledge they'd need to whip up the Jet cure, even though the Brotherhood is supposedly a haven for tech and science knowledge - and, even though, if my understanding is correct, the East Coast Brotherhood is in contact with the West Coast Brotherhood (which should at least know ABOUT the cure, even if they don't know how to make it) via radio.

It's always possible to explain this stuff away, but, yes, in this case, I think it would be much better if Jet stayed away from the East Coast. Here's to hoping this was just PCZone, and not an indication that Jet will actually be in the game.
 
The jet comment sounded like the PCZone guy was simply making a quick comment while being contextual with the fallout world.

But since we're talking about hypotheticals, all it takes is a decent enough explanation in the game to say "Okay, this is canon."

Jet trader: "Well, a few years back a guy walks into town wearin' a beat up set of power armor and a sack full of jet over his shoulder. Tells us we should try it, and just like that we were hooked and wanted more! Didn't take much convincin' from the town folk to help him transform the old brewing plant into a jet production facility. They say he comes from far out west, learned the recipe from some one or another out there."

Talk to the guy that brought it and he tells you he learned if from a jet addicted prostitute bragging that she got the recipe by putting a knife to Myron's balls. the BOS wannabie got there via developed trade routes across the US with a dream to make a killing selling addicting substances.

It doesn't take much to say "This is it." It just depends on if it's believable or not. Not everything has to be fileld in, much like how Harold appeared outside of tjhe military base after being knocked out.
 
Ausir said:
Maybe the BOS took it with them? :)
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in fallout tactics, jet didn't exist and was replaced by voodoo iirc... but then again, no one calls that canon. also, didn't beth say that drugs would be out (or at least the ill effects of them)...
 
Okay, can somebody help cleath things up for me, with the definition of open-world, Howard and the article might use?
I somewhat got confused about the fact, that Howards seem to draw a line between reactive-world and open-world, as i allways thought of it as being linked together? (Open to reactive).

Jet at the east-coast? Everythings possible with BOS and Supermutants on the east-coast....
And open-world means everything possible, no? ;)
 
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