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E3 Previews - Fable 2 and Fallout 3
While most of the games at the show are coming out this Holiday season, some are tantalizing glimpses of 2008. Two titles that are (most likely) coming out next year also happen to be highly anticipated follow-ups to RPGs. Bethesda's Fallout 3 has been getting the bulk of the press between the two, as the post-apocalyptic title recaptures the interest of veteran gamers looking for some nostalgia. Part Oblivion, part retro, part humor, and all Fallout , expectations still seem to be high despite the lack of hands-on experiences. Fable 2 has been an equally anticipated roleplaying title, as Peter Molyneux's promise to make us love NPCs stands as a challenge to the Lionhead team. After much discussion of other gameplay elements, the focus of presentations at this year's E3 appears to be on 'one button combat': "Imagine satisfying combat with just one button. Every movement of your weapon, every parry, thrust, and counter is controlled with a single button ... Swiping away at enemies was simple enough by just mashing away at the button, hearkening back to the simple sword combat of a game like Prince of Persia. There was far more depth to take advantage of, however. Holding down the button took a defensive stance, and parried incoming blows from all directions. That classic Hollywood swordfighting move, the behind the back parry was a piece of cake to pull off. More complex counter moves, ripostes and finishers are more difficult to pull off, requiring specific timing, but once again, it's all accomplished with a single button."
Odin Sphere implements what they speak of (though in a mostly-2d world), with button-presser-for-combos, and button-holds-for-defense approach for many of the characters. It doesn't really work that well at all. It's much better to be able to guard-cancel with another button, or just get out of the way, rather than risk being there when a guard-breaking attack can get you, just so you can be closer once the attack ends. Not that guarding itself is always bad, but the flow of having to wait with a button down for guards to 'kick in' just isn't that useful, and doesn't end up intuitive, even with practice.
Ryan Fenton
The original Fable received a lot of hype and was the major driving factor in getting me to purchase an Xbox, but after playing it I was horribly disappointed. It was an alright game on its own, but the massive amount of hype and the fact that for every cool thing you could do in the game there were at least two more that you thought you should be able to do, but couldn't, managed to leave a sour taste in my mouth.
I like second chances though and with more powerful hardware, the Xbox 360 might help bring some of the missing features in the first game to the sequel. The only problems I'm seeing so far is that Molyneux seems to be making grand claims again and I'm wondering if they'll pan out or I'll just be left disappointed again. It's nice to hear that the game is looking good, but with the hardware capabilities of the Xbox 360 any game can look good if it wants to look good. He really needs to worry less about the looks and more about making sure there's plenty of feature rich gameplay. You can always spend the last few months touching up the graphics, but it's a real pain in the ass to make sure last minute feataure additions work smoothly.
I'm a little leery after the last go-around, but I'm still hopeful that Fable 2 shapes up into an excellent game. Maybe it will be the game that motivates me to go out and buy an Xbox 360.
women were that easy to pleasure. i mean think about it, 1 repetitive motion on a little button.
Probably the best news on the Fallout 3 front is that the camera will enable you to play the game in the classic isometric view as well as in first person view. Too bad the turn based gameplay is gone.
Fable was an overhyped yawn of a game. It doesn't need another hyped follow up game.
Bethesda is a crappy developer who assuredly will turn Fallout 3 into a buggy framerate chugging snorefest like their other games.
I just recently played through Fable: The Lost Chapters on my PC and thought that it was a rather good game. I know it received a lot of bad press when it was released for failing to live up to the hype. There were really only a few big problems I had with it. These included levels that were too linear and lacked a real sense of exploration, your actions not having as big of an impact on the world as it seems it could have, and the super thick plot that takes over the quaint and entertaining story once you decided to go after the main villain toward the end. The sequel does seem to be addressing these gripes more or less.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
along with Duke Nukem and Spore!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
One of these things is not like the other...
Aren't these more teasers rather than previews? Sure I'm excited to see Fallout 3 footage but honestly, these things seem like scripted presentations that they want to use to show off something in the games instead of a close to finished product.
Perhaps I'm just being picky on nomenclature but I see previews as something in the beta tests or a version that's almost ready for consumption. Even almost ready to send off for reviewers. On the other hand, teasers are things like this where they show off some features in the game or provide insight into the game's story and concepts.
In short: Teasers create interest and build hype. Previews show off ready product (or almost) and let people know they are almost ready for you.
Without proper turn-based combat, who cares what the perspective is? Wizardry 8 had a very fun tactical turn-based combat engine based on a first-person perspective.
That's such a infinitesimal "concession" to fans of the original games that it's borderline offensive. Spending half an hour hacking the camera to kludge some lipstick on their pig doesn't impress me.
Does not compute :(
get modded up?
First-person RPGs predate isometric turn-based RPGs.
And if Fallout fans are so stuck in the dreary past and proper RPGs are obsolete then why are companies like Bioware developing games with engines like this? Why didn't they just use the Mass Effect engine? Go ahead and explain.
The real problem with Fallout 3 is that Bethesda is making it and they make crap RPGs by PC gaming standards.
"Imagine satisfying combat with just one button. Every movement of your weapon, every parry, thrust, and counter is controlled with a single button"
Wow, I thought I played this type of game 20 years ago.
You spin me right round, baby, right round, like a record baby!
Funny. Women have several different buttons, though, and they work differently on different women. The minor buttons such as the neck, the lips, the ears, behind the knees, and the elbows work similarly on most women. The major buttons work quite differently. Many like strong pressure on the clit, but just as many don't. It usually depends on how exposed it is. Women with a big clitoral hood have more sensitive clits than women with a large or exposed clit.
Same thing with the nipples: some like really hard, rough stimulus, some like a softer touch. And of course, the G-spot is the most mysterious button of all. It's inside the vagina about two to three inches back, on the front wall. It has a spongy texture different from the vaginal walls around it. To really work it correctly, you need damn strong fingers, as it always requires a lot of pressure. But quite a few women don't get much from it at all. Those that do, however, can really get off from it. Some women will even squirt if you work the G-spot long enough.
You'll have to experiment with each woman on an individual basis to find the best combos. Don't expect you will know what any given woman will like, no matter how many others you've pleased with your mad skillz, Make sure she's comfortable telling you what she likes, many women feel uncomfortable talking honestly about sex as they think the man will feel emasculated if they tell him what to do. Be sure to let her know that you aren't that way.
Just thought I'd pass that on, no insult intended, as the majority of Slashdotters probably need the tips. I'd give tips for pleasing men, too, but that is rather unnecessary. We're pretty simple by comparison.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
My biggest complaint with Fable was, being evil didn't really do anything. Sure, people hateed you and scowled in your general direction, but the quests themselves were virtually the same, so there were really no advantages/disadvantages to being a pure evil/good character.
I had fun for about two hours being evil to people, but after I realized it has no effect on the game at-large, I really didn't care anymore. If I'd wanted to just play a sandbox game, I'd have played The Sims.
Exactly. The red smoke and horns are nice and all, and people cowering in fear, but one should get more evil quests as a result.
Either that or a Tofu Raid.
Personally, I'm wondering if I can play an evil Sim in Wii Sims (the anime/manga Sims for the Wii they are creating). And what effect that will have.
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Why oh why can't I moderate this "Creepy", slashdot?