Adventures After The Bombs Fell (Fallout Thread)

[psyanojim]

It is based on GZDoom, which is an open source project, so I'm guessing they can do as they please if they have the skillset and time.

There are already various RPG elements visible in the HUD - hit percentages, combat/world log, item interactions etc

I'd forgotten that the Necropolis level is the first time you encounter a Cathedral member as well. Fallout 1 is still the only game that genuinely convinced me to join a cult

And wow, those death animations look brutal, they really nail the visceral feeling of Fallout 1 and 2.

Especially the SMG and Plasma Gun, absolutely nasty. Sprite-based 'gibs' and gore. Way better than the 'AAA' ragdoll nonsense in Fallout 3 and even Fallout 4.

[Jubal]

Yes, I have some fondness for a certain sort of ragdoll graphics but it definitely doesn't feel brutal in the way that old games' death animations often did. I think it's definitely an advantage of something slightly stylised: the higher the nominal level of the graphics, I think maybe the harder to make visceral graphical work that really sells itself successfuly?

[psyanojim]

Yeah there's a bit of 'uncanny valley' going on I think, plus the fact that ragdoll physics always feels more like a clever tech demo than an immersive experience to me.

Compare that with the sheer love that the 2D artists put into the 'gibs' in both Fallout and Doom. The brutal death animations for characters like Gizmo and the Overseer in Fallout 1, and the joy that artist Adrian Carmack put into every flying chunk of flesh in Doom. Such as taking scans of their own scabs and blood to use in game

In fact, come to think of it, that is the unifying feature of both Fallout 1/2 and Doom - the emphasis on the 'gibs' and gore. Maybe this is a reason why the combination works?

That was one of John Romeros core design principles wasn't it? In in doubt, add more gibs!

[Jubal]

I have played Fallout 3! Not all of it, but main plot and two DLCs.

I enjoyed FO3 more than I expected, but that's partly because several friends of mine talked it down so much. I think it was interesting to see some bridging features between 2 and 3 - the wasteland in 3 still e.g. has centaurs which 4 lacks - but also how 3 develops a lot of stuff visually that just hadn't been possible in 1/2, especially the retrofuturistic vibe and the frozen-in-time thing about the wastelands. There are far more standing ruined buildings in Bethesda fallout, whereas 1/2 despite being much earlier in the timeline feel like far more stuff has already been salvaged and reincorporated into settlements etc.

I think Fallout 3's other main problem for me was that there were too many segments that either a) were a knock-off of something that happened in 1 or 2 or b) were very much "war is in this game's tagline quote let's get the player to do Army Stuff". Operation Anchorage was particularly painful in this regard in that it basically felt like doing Call of Duty in the Fallout 3 engine, but also the end mission of Broken Steel was a grind and I didn't enjoy it much either.

I started on The Pitt but I'm not sure I'll bother finishing it, it's one of those misery railroad choice things apparently (which I think are often annoying in games, but are at their most annoying when they clearly make no sense: by post-game Fallout 3 I 100 percent should be able to fix the problems of the Pitt by personally hiring a merc contingent, equipping them with plasma weapons, and then turning up and pointing a Tesla Cannon at everybody until they let all the slaves go. I obviously get that that'd be game breaking and I totally accept the game not giving me that option... but I should at least have more options than "which of these two terrible leaders will you accept".

On the other hand, there's lots of good FO3 bits too. The settlements with weird problems and themes are fun - Megaton, Rivet City, Canterbury Commons, Arefu, Lamplight and Big Town I found enjoyable and wish I could have given more help to. I think the overarching themes are fine, Project Purity actually was a really good call as a central premise, though I think the FO3 Enclave feel slightly stale villains and some characters' actions in the plot make wildly little sense. I guess maybe we can chalk certain things down to the world going mad. And that probably happens in the game world, too.

[psyanojim]

I'm not sure if I count among the people 'talking it down', but I'll clarify my opinion

Fallout is probably my favourite game franchise of all time. If not outright, then definitely up there in the top 2 or 3.

So saying that Fallout 3 is my least favourite Fallout is like saying that its my least favourite thing out of my absolute most favourite things ever. So not really negative