Todd Howard on Fallout 3

Mr. Teatime writes "I've interviewed Todd Howard from Bethesda about Fallout 3. It includes an editorial from DarkUnderlord, another staff member on the site. Todd mentions a number of new things, including the fact that they plan to use SPECIAL in Fallout 3." From the interview: "Fallout really set the standard for me on believable people, good dialogue, and character choice and consequence. With Elder Scrolls, we do aim for something enormous, and we simply can't focus on say - 20 to 40 really deep strong characters and just do them."

Comments

Re:That's great, that's wonderful...one question

[Dehumanizer]

SPECIAL stands for:

Strength
Perception
Endurance
Charisma
Intel ligence
Agility
Luck

and is the RPG character system used in Fallout 1, Fallout 2 and Lionheart. (I think Fallout Tactics, too.) It's a lot like GURPS - that is, skill-based, with selectable advantages / disadvantages (why would you pick disadvantages? Because they have a negative cost, so you get more points for advantages, skill points and stats).

Re:Great.

[Gorelab]

Doubting their ability to actually pull it off is one thing, but that statement sounded like they did get it. They didn't say they wanted to make thousands of "unique" charecters for Fallout 3. He was comparing and constrating Elder Scrolls and Fallout, and at least to me seems to be expressing the fact that he does understand that Fallout is at a much more personal scale and had a small number of charecters that actually try to be somewhat realistic, unlike their previous games.

I'm still a bit cautious about Bethsuda having Fallout 3, but there's no reason to scream about how horrible it's going to be before it comes out, especally when they are trying to go down the path the fans want rather than the one they used for their other games.

Rated T?

[Sir_Brysonic]

One of my bigger concerns is what the game will be rated. Bethesda hasn't put out anything with a rating higher than Teen (to the best of my knowledge). Will they follow suit with FO3? I just don't think it would be the same without the foul-mouthed NPC's and the glorious critical hit kills that blew your enemies, quite literally, to pieces. Oh and lets not forget the prostitutes and porn stars!

Re:Deus Ex

[cephyn]

Anyone who thinks it was hard to keep up with the main plotline in Morrowind didn't play Daggerfall.

They better aim for at least a "M" rating...

[cnelzie]

...otherwise they may as well not even bother with crafting a Fallout game. Fallout is so much more then just a vague place in space and time.

The gore, the profanity, the illicit substances, the very mild pornographic elements are all that solidified the series into what it is.

Fallout without all of that would be like watching 'The Terminator' where the Cyborgs did nothing but help the humans and give them hugs when they feel sad, instead of being hell-bent on destroying humanity. (When I say that, I am talking about ALL the cyborgs being friendly to humans...)

Shame

[Jormundgandr]

It's so sad to see a fan base become this bitter. In the article and in the posts here, all you see is complaining about Bethseda and even bashing Morrowind (wtf? awesome game)

Come on guys, remember where Fallout 3 was BEFORE this press release? Nowhere. You have a beloved franchise owned by a failing company who are NEVER going to be able to do anything with. Then, lo and behold, it's swooped up by a respectable, wealthy company that - gasp - specializes in roll playing games! What is your response? Jubilation? Praise? or... whining. Yeah.

Bethseda software, winners of a bajillion awards for Morrowind, swimming in cash, with another hit game due to come out soon, picks it up - and all you can do is bitch about camera angles?