Durandir: Let me just say this first. I loved the two first Fallouts. In my eyes, they are the best games ever.
I loved Morrowind. Bethesda did that right. It's not a RPG, like Fallout though. It is an ARPG.
I hated Oblivion. The only way to play that game is with mods. Countless of mods.
So when I heard Bethesda was to make Fallout 3, I got really sad. These guys butchered one of their most known franchises, making it a dumbed down shell (a beautiful shell yes) of the last game. And now they where to make a sequel to the best RPGs ever? Not well.
Through development I thought I should forget what they did before, and instead hope they would make a fun game.
Well, that worked out well. Every news about the game, every preview only confirmed what I had thought initially. This might be an OK game, but it is not Fallout. I am still buying it, but that is just because of the awesome things they put in the collectors edition. I want that bobble-head and the lunchbox :P
Let me tell you why I think this will suck as the sequel to Fallout:
1. Mutants. OK. There might have survived a few mutants, who then got themselves over to the east coast. And yes. there might even be another kind of VAT there. I am interested to see how they explain that, if they are at all. But what irks me is the fact that all the mutants are enemies. You have no way to communicate with them, according to Bethesda. Why? This is not supposed to be a mindless shooter, where everything looking like an enemy is. In both Fallout games you could talk to mutants. You could even have a mutant tag along!
2. Ghouls. The same thing. According to them, these are merely cannon fodder. And guess what. You have a glowing kind as well. That's fine, they where in the first games as well. Only these seem to spit on you. That's right. Radioactive spit. Wonder how that will look like. Probably like a small ball of flame.
3. The Enclave. Yeah. For any fan of the first two games, you know this is messed up. Why are they still there? You blew up their main base, taking out most of them and all of their leaders. I vaguely recall them needing the Navarro base for refueling, which means their Vertibirds cannot fly over very large distances. So why are they on the East Coast? If they have a good explanation, I can let that go, but it still irks me.
4. Brotherhood of Steel. Way to go ruining them.
5. Nuclear explosions. How could Bethesda do this? During one hour of gameplay you can theoretically see at least a dozen nuclear explosions. Why? In Fallout the world is ruined by nuclear war. The only nukes you can set of in those games are the ones who ironically save the world. That has been one of the best things about Fallout. And now you can lob small nukes yourself? Every car can blow up into a nice mushroom if you shoot at it with a handgun? WHY ARE YOU RUINING FALLOUT!
I have a lot more where that came from, but I think I'll end this by saying this:
Some people respond to every negative view on this game with "haven't you seen the gameplay videos? This game will rock!"
I have seen all of them, downloaded all to my Xbox 360. So I have seen them in proper HD, and I have one thing to say to them. Thank you Bethesda for making those videos. That was the best way to prove this game is not going to be good at all. It might be fun, if I manage to forget that it is supposed to be Fallout, but that might be hard. After all, you have thrown in a lot of things from the first games to please the fans.
I had flashbacks from Oblivion at least three times for each video. Familiar faces, familiar voices. Just the way everything is set up seems familiar. And don't get me started on the "over the top" gore, the VATS system (which looks totally idiotic. You cannot aim at bodyparts for some weapons it seems), the way you made the powerfist look more primitive (why would it revert from a futuristic looking weapon to a primitive looking weapon?), the mudcrabs... oh sorry! The mutated giant crabs... Bah.
The only good thing coming out of this game is the lunchbox and the Bobble-head. Oh, and the fact that more people might play the first games. Guess that is something.
I'd just like to point out your mis-information about the game.
Mutants - It's part of the plot, are they remnants of the Old Master's army, or are they new... something you must discover through the game.
Ghouls - YOu're completely wrong. There are two types of ghouls in FO3. Feral Ghouls, and NPC ghouls you can speak to. Beth confirmed there is an entire town of ghouls
Brotherhood of Steel - How are the ruined? Have you read how the BoS are in FO3?
THe Brotherhood of Steel in FO3 are a completely independent contigent of the Original BoS. THe BoS homebase on the West Coast cut off direct support of the Eastern Outpost for disobeying orders. However, the technology the BoS discovered on the east coast is so valuable to the Brotherhood, they aren't cutting of affiliation. IN fact, there are Displeased members in the East Coast brotherhood because the Elder in charge there has derelicted his duty for protecting the wastelanders, instead of investigating the super mutants and technology.
