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Fallout - BoS Welcomed By Some, Not Others
Thanks to GameSpot for their hands-on impressions of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, the PS2/Xbox action RPG that's set in the world of the seminal PC RPG series. The article comments: "Though we're still in mourning over the passing of Black Isle [and cancellation of Fallout 3 for PC], we're comforted by this new game that's playing as expected thus far." This more action-orientated console title "has the simple and basically entertaining mechanics of Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance", since it "uses the same [game] engine", but Fallout fansite No Mutants Allowed are less forgiving about the cancellation of Fallout 3, ranting to GameSpot: "So you're comforted by the title that got a lot of good people sacked and a very promising title canned?", as they continue to present leaked pictures and team farewells from Fallout 3, as well at looks at obviously-influenced German PC RPG title The Fall: Last Days Of Gaia.
from the gamespot preview:
At any rate, the combat is the main attraction. The game runs smoothly from an isometric perspective, and you can readily switch between several weapons in real time, such as between the pistol and the iron gloves you start out with. Ranged weapons obviously have an advantage in some respects, but have limited ammo. Random critical hits are possible, sending their victims flying backwards....
quite honestly i think that first sentence sums it up for me: get rid of all the things that made the first 2 fallouts classics, throw in some twitching action and hope the fuckin thing sells.
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don't welcome our new Brotherhood overlords.
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance was a decent game, but no replacement for any other BG series game, and I expect the same from this one. I'll probably wait until it drops to $20 and then convince a friend to buy it (hope it has multiplayer, like BGDA did).
--- "Yeah, I'm a bit stressed out. I have a research paper due tomorrow and it has to be +5, Insightful."
but two that I've purchased, even after downloading them off the net, are Fallout and Fallout 2. I've even gladly purchased them two times: First under Windows, the second time under MacOS 9. I'll probably repurchase them under MacOS X as well. I purchased Fallout Tactics and frankly wish I would've pirated it. I played it for an hour or two and tossed it in my drawer never to be played again.
Both of these games were dated concepts at their time of release. First person shooters were already out so to a lot of people isometric 3D looked like something you'd expect out of a shareware title. Anybody who feels that way is missing out though. The graphics were excellent for what the game was about. They created a richly detailed world which was compelling and consistent. The game itself was unique in the combination of humour, storyline and almost tongue in cheek violence and situations. So it wasn't really about the gore and focusing on it and bragging about twitching bodies in something that's been watered down to a team shooter just shows that somebody didn't get it.
The two cardinal games were almost like good B movies and I think had a B-movie cult-like following to them. Sort of like Army of Darkness. It appeals strongly to a certain group of people. If I showed it to a lot of people I know they'd hate it.
Chris Kuivenhoven is a thief, beware
Hence why developers tend to take anything fans says with a grain of salt. I just thought I'd like to point out that fact since fanboys of certain games/series/movies tend to be move vocal than they should be.
From what I have read they seemed to have already had devolved and produced a sequel to BoS before they got caned.
Everyone please take note of (and sign) the petition for Fallout 3.
Blatant self-promotion: Jerek.net
I have been following Interplay and BlackIsle for a long time.. They are not doing well financially right now, and haven't been doing well some time. This is illustrated by BlackIsle being cut back almost to the point of completely disbanding. The company is just trying to stay alive and current trends show that console games sell much better than PC games, like it or not it is the truth. With console games, they are guaranteed to sell thousands to Movie/Video Game rental comanies. This is not including anyone who buys it on their own. What it comes down to is, with times being tight they need to find the most profitable path. This might be it.
I remember a game, similar to Fallout years ago that too had its sequal cancelled: Wasteland. It had the same kind of cult following (although the following was pre-Internet, so they were less organized and vocal). I really missed that game, but another game came out that made my heart skip, Fallout. Folks, another game will come out with the same Post-Apoc RPG Strategy theme and we will all be happy. Or, the sale of Fallout:Brotherhood of Steel will warrant the revival of "Van Buren" (Fallout3). I will miss it, but it is just a game.
http://www.tomandemily.com
well yours is certainly the most boring post, I know that.
Here are a bunch of Fallout 3 screenshots that the BIS guys leaked to the fans.
Site's getting hammered now, but will be back eventually.
Perhaps you could clarify for us what fans are and are not allowed to say.
Let's face it, with all the dumbing down of games, I don't think I could face a fallout 3. Let's not forget Lionheart..
I'm afraid Interplay sunk their fangs to far into Black Isle and it's just unlikely that fallout 3 would be of the same caliber if it ever comes out. It'd be to painful to see the fallout line ruined.. (ya ya FO:Tactics sucked, but it wasn't meant to be a fallout game at first)
At least UFO: Aftermath didn't have the X-Com name and Lionheart was it's own brand too... but they ruin my faith in these developers.
Wasteland was one of the best games every made, I originally burned out my floppy driver for my Commodore64 with this game (ran off 4 5 1/4" floppy disks, lots of swapping) and played through it at least 5 separate times. I even got it in Interplays 10 year anniversary pack for the PC, and played it another 3 or 4 times through, still play it on occasion. Fountain of Dreams was never Wasteland 2...the only similarities was that it used the same game engine.
Wasteland 2 was never made because of licensing issues between Interplay and Electronic Arts (EA was the biggest and meanest game company in the '80s).
Fallout was what got me away from playing Wasteland again (was halfway through the game again when I found Fallout) and was very impressed with the story, even though it was not Wasteland by far it was a great story. Fallout 2, for some reason, never hooked me as much. I still have yet to pass the game.
I think I am one of the very few people that liked Fallout Tactics...maybe because I was still disappointed with Fallout 2 and was not expecting it to be Fallout 3 (it never was). The default settings did suck, but changing it to turn based combat made the feel of Fallout come out and the interface enhancements made it much easier to play (I would like to play the first 2 Fallout games on the FT:BOS engine). I was looking forward to Fallout 3 hopping that they have kept the openness of the RPG element in Fallout 1 & 2 with and even more enhanced engine then FT:BOS.
Being a big fan of Post-Apocalyptic games/stories and think that the Fallout version is a solid and diverse world, I look forward to playing Brotherhood of Steel on the PS2...not expecting to play an RPG and knowing that the story world has been changed slightly, I don't think it will be terrible and will be giving it a fair chance that it deserves.
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
Bunch of Shit?
I would really like to see another developer buy the rights to and finish Fallout 3, hopefully hiring the same developers.
Any word from the devs or any other companies as to this possibility? If done in the same vein as the first 2 Fallout games it could be big enough to -make- a new company.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.