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Gameplay Videos Released For Fallout 3

Posted by Soulskill on from the pretty-pictures dept.

Today Bethesda released walkthrough videos for their upcoming action RPG, Fallout 3. Joystiq has posted the trailers, which contain gameplay footage from the starting area and the city "Megaton," as well as combat scenarios and other features. One fight showcases the targeting system, which they demonstrate by targeting and then shooting off an enemy's arm. Another shows off the ability to create and use improvised weapons. Also shown are the lock picking and computer hacking mini-games, pickpocketing (or depositing something nasty in somebody's pocket), and general nuclear mayhem. Further detail is available at Shacknews.

7 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I know this will get me modded off-topic, but.. by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 5, Interesting

    More seriously, Fallout was one of the truly great RPGs, particularly in the level of freedom it afforded you. I spent the better part of a summer break playing Fallout 2, over and over, in different permutations. I know I still missed maybe 5% of the missions, including an enormous conspiracy tying New Reno, NCR and Vault City together which my friend found and I only saw the edges of. I'm simultaneously excited about the release, while dreading the possibility that Bethesda screwed it up.

    --
    $_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
  2. An intelligent game is you! by Bragador · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They mostly want to show the graphics and the combat. They are reviewing that everywhere but I don't care. I'm awaiting this game for its intelligent side. You can actually play it without having to shoot first and ask questions later. This is rare nowadays...

    A game that also rewards intelligent actions? Count me in Bethesda! And I hope other games like that will follow.

    1. Re:An intelligent game is you! by grumbel · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A game that also rewards intelligent actions?

      Well, I am currently a few hours into Fallout1 and I am still waiting for that one to reward intelligent actions. So far each and every quest (all three of them or so, quest seem to be incredible sparse in that game) has got me spawned right in front of the enemy with exactly zero choice to an intelligent approach, since the shooting starts instantly. Half the people and creatures I am supposed to fight are not even reachable via the worldmap, instead they exist in magical places that you can only reach when an NPC guides you there (aka. instantly teleports you there and when you exist you get teleported back). Reading through a few FAQs also left me rather puzzles, since most of their "tips" are based on pure try&error and abuse of the save system (save before you steal and if it doesn't work, load and try again..). And given how many times I died just because I tried to talk to the wrong person or asked a wrong question makes it clear that a save before pretty much every action is required for survival.

      So far I am not exactly impressed by Fallout1 and quite close to ditching it, since the gameplay just doesn't make a hole lot of sense and the time limit and constant threat of death even on the tiniest misstep of course makes exploration a pain.

    2. Re:An intelligent game is you! by nomadic · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I've been playing Fallout 1 for the first time as well, and while I like it I have some complaints too. The thing that frustrates me is the character conversation trees didn't make too much sense; I kept getting dialogue options to ask about things I've never heard of. The combat is definitely hard in the beginning until you get decent equipment, and most of the hard fights involve several saves/restores. I won't spoil anything, but I will say the exploration gets a lot better not too far into the game.

      Last RPG I played was Planescape so maybe I was just spoiled by that.

      There also doesn't seem that much to the game questwise; I think I'm almost done and I haven't really been playing that long.

    3. Re:An intelligent game is you! by Das+Modell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, I am currently a few hours into Fallout1 and I am still waiting for that one to reward intelligent actions. So far each and every quest (all three of them or so, quest seem to be incredible sparse in that game) has got me spawned right in front of the enemy with exactly zero choice to an intelligent approach, since the shooting starts instantly.

      Not sure what this is about. One of the earliest quests you get is rescuing Tandi from the raiders, and it has the following solutions (taken from here):

      * Kill them all and break her out
      * Fight Garl in unarmed combat for her
      * Buy her from Garl
      * Intimidate Garl for her release
      * Quietly kill the two guards in back and pick the lock on Tandi's cell.
      * This one doesn't work 100% of the time, but if you enter the Raiders area wearing a Leather Jacket, have 10 ST and 10 EN and are male, the raiders will think you are Garl's father who Garl apparently killed to take control of the Khans. You can try and bluff Garl with this ruse and demand Tandi's release.

      Half the people and creatures I am supposed to fight are not even reachable via the worldmap, instead they exist in magical places that you can only reach when an NPC guides you there (aka. instantly teleports you there and when you exist you get teleported back).

      This isn't the norm.

      Reading through a few FAQs also left me rather puzzles, since most of their "tips" are based on pure try&error and abuse of the save system (save before you steal and if it doesn't work, load and try again..).

      You don't have to steal things, it's just one option. Obviously getting caught has to have some consequences, so reloading becomes an issue. However, the higher your steal skill is the more likely you are to succeed, and there are also perks that will make it easier to steal. Approaching your target from the side or the rear increases your odds, and the size of the object you're trying to steal is also a factor.

      And given how many times I died just because I tried to talk to the wrong person or asked a wrong question makes it clear that a save before pretty much every action is required for survival.

      So far I am not exactly impressed by Fallout1 and quite close to ditching it, since the gameplay just doesn't make a hole lot of sense and the time limit and constant threat of death even on the tiniest misstep of course makes exploration a pain.

      This is what happens when a game isn't dumbed down for the lowest common denominator. You have to be careful and think about what you're doing.

  3. Re:I know this will get me modded off-topic, but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sorry I don't have an account.. so AC.

    Anyhow I watched all the vids and the game looks like a nice bioshock/oblivion cross. Doesn't much look or feel much like fallout. Have to play it to see, but in fallout a fight with 3 equally armed and skilled people was hard... this looks like its just a FPS where you knock out thousands if not millions of enemies for no reason at all.

    Also not sure how you can do it all without killing people when its just mini dungeons linked all together (like oblivion) that you have to kill * in etc.. just like oblivion..

    In fact it looks like its a dumbed down version of oblivion.

    Sigh.. hate seing the best strategy games in the world turn into FPS nightmares. Even if it mkaes for a great FPS game.. its sure as shit no turn based strategy game anymore.
    (I would kill 5 children and eat 3 live skunks for one of those).

  4. FPS players by Caboosian · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think a lot of FPS players are going to be tricked into buying this ("Wow! Look at those graphics/setting/review score/whatever"), and be very distraught once they learn that it is not an FPS. Sure, there will be those who will like the fact that your shooting skills/power are based upon your stats, but I can see those who are used to guns doing a set amount of damage with a set amount of accuracy being very turned off by this game.

    Regardless, I think it looks fantastic, and moves a classic series in the right direction (the isometric viewpoint no longer feels right for this series, IMO). Hopefully it can shake off the "Oblivion with guns" moniker - and properly execute the setting. The new viewpoint/gameplay coupled with the classic Fallout setting/themes (very dark, lots of black humor) looks really promising. There's a lot of ways to mess this one up (especially with regards to the setting!), but it looks like Bethesda did their homework. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.