Fallout 4 — Boston Makes Me Feel Good

[Gatazhk]

Looks like it will have absolutely no problem running on current gen consoles.

[eot]

I thought that was rather underwhelming. For instance (not that it matters one bit for the actual game) the dog wasn't all that well animated. You'd think after what, seven years(?), and tons of anticipation they'd invest a bit more in their reveal. I'm not the target audience though.

 

 

Looks like it will have absolutely no problem running on current gen consoles.

That too.

[mikemariano]

Look at all those non-brown colors!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Keep it coming!

 

The only reason I'm sick of the constant reinforcement of pre-War stuff is that it's now buried 250+ years in Fallout's past.  It's like if our only reference for American history was the revolution and we all still felt that the "proper" way to walk around was in wigs and tri-corner hats.

 

I haven't played Skyrim, but I appreciated that they apparently made some drastic changes to the worlds of Morrowind and Cyrodiil—you can't go home to those old games again!  Fallout 2 tried to do that, but the sequel mostly ignored that the world changes over the course of two or three generations.

[Cordeos]

Keep it coming!

 

The only reason I'm sick of the constant reinforcement of pre-War stuff is that it's now buried 250+ years in Fallout's past.  It's like if our only reference for American history was the revolution and we all still felt that the "proper" way to walk around was in wigs and tri-corner hats.

 

I haven't played Skyrim, but I appreciated that they apparently made some drastic changes to the worlds of Morrowind and Cyrodiil—you can't go home to those old games again!  Fallout 2 tried to do that, but the sequel mostly ignored that the world changes over the course of two or three generations.

 

They do reference actions taken in the previous fallout games, but only those that the player had to take. It gets messy quickly including a broad range of choices and incorporating those into the next game. For example I assume the canonical ending of fallout 3 is the player purifying the water of the capitol wasteland and not using the canister that president Eden gave you. Unless Bethesda does another Warp in the West.

[Badfinger]

I am stoked. Consider me teased and trailed, in opposition to the rest of the page. This is all I expected from an announce trailer, and all I need. "Hey, person that played Fallout 3 and doesn't realize Fallout is actually 20 years old. Remember Fallout 3? Remember that bomb-ass theme music? Remember a dog? We thought so, Fallout 4 in your face."

 

I can't believe it was 7 years ago.

[aprettycooldude]

I saw a Paul Revere looking statue in there which I assume is real?

 

It sure is. But I swear, I'm the biggest dunce about all of it. "Oh look a timeless boat, an iconic statue, a unique monument, a gold do- YO THE STATEHOUSE THIS IS MY STATE BAYBAYYY"

 

Contrast all of that to The Last of Us, where I realized the game was set in Boston based on the bird call of the black-capped chickadee. Guess Boston is the new post-apocalypse hotspot.

[Cordeos]

It sure is. But I swear, I'm the biggest dunce about all of it. "Oh look a timeless boat, an iconic statue, a unique monument, a gold do- YO THE STATEHOUSE THIS IS MY STATE BAYBAYYY"

 

Contrast all of that to The Last of Us, where I realized the game was set in Boston based on the bird call of the black-capped chickadee. Guess Boston is the new post-apocalypse hotspot.

 

Any open world game not in New York, Metropolis, Empire City, Liberty City etc gets points in my book.

[Zeusthecat]

The trailer seemed fine. Good enough to get me excited for Fallout 4 at least. But man, those character models and animations were really fucking weak. They looked super robotic and janky, especially noticeable in the flashback part where civilians are running away.

[Twig]

I can't believe it was 7 years ago.

I can because this looks seven years old.

 

ZING!

 

Yeah I just zinged my own joke. So what!

[Badfinger]

Boom, roasted.

 

I thought it looked fine. I will say that currently in my brain when it comes to graphical fidelity there are two distinctions. It's either Witcher 3 or not that.

[Salacious Snake]

I don't think it's a good trailer; it's way too long for something that reveals so little. A 3 minute announcement trailer shouldn't feel that padded out. I like the dog, though.

[Gamebeast23456]

The animation looks about as stilted and weird as Bethesda animation always does. There are elements of their games that look great from launch (just the general vistas and look of the land), things that may get modded to look slightly better (textures, edit: flora), and things that will always kinda just look shitty (character models). I just hope this isn't all built on the same hitchy tech that has been running these games forever, because it's rough. 

[Vulpes Absurda]

I'm really glad that it looks like Fallout 4 will have a color palette of more then just Pip-Boy green, wasteland grey, and gun metal grey, but yeah those animations are still pretty rough. They look like they were pulled straight from Skyrim.

[JonCole]

I just can't summon any pre-release criticism/skepticism for a game that I will almost certainly play for like 500 hours. I also think it's kind of odd to criticize the graphics, because I just feel grateful that we didn't get a cinematic, prerendered trailer or a 1 minute voiceover with a mostly static Vault door image/animation. The lighting and (probably stable, granted they've been working on this game forever) framerate is enough for me to not really get too fussed about the models and textures, particularly since the latter will be the first things that modders work on. Taking a free shot at Bethesda's game engine is the flavor of the day, but until other devs manage to do what Bethesda does in TES/FO with better graphics I don't think that it's incredibly worthy of putting down so hard.

[Atlantic]

That is a damn fine trailer. I'm excited to see if this means we're finally getting a technically competent Bethesda game. It should at least work better on consoles, I imagine, though I'll be playing on PC. Exciting to see Fallout back in action, it's been a while. 

 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! That's not the Bethesda way. If it wasn't wobbly and stiff in weird, equal measures it would be unrecognisable as one of their games.

[Salacious Snake]

I think part of my cold response is that I've been so conditioned by the increasingly codified art of trailering for maximum effect. I kept thinking it was building toward something dramatic, but it was just the same mishmash of dogs and people and robots and critters walkin' around and the camera tracking, and then it was over.

 

No *whump* sounds while it cuts to black and then shows a bunch of quick cuts of crazy shit and then silence and *BWAAAAAAMP*. I realize these cliches are horrible, but they totally work on me, and just showing off your cool game world for a minute used to be all I needed to get psyched!

 

On the other hand, I love their latest Doom thing: 

 

It's, like, a couple seconds of a revenant stomping around, and I'm like "oh shii-" 

[pabosher]

I think part of my cold response is that I've been so conditioned by the increasingly codified art of trailering for maximum effect. I kept thinking it was building toward something dramatic, but it was just the same mishmash of dogs and people and robots and critters walkin' around and the camera tracking, and then it was over.

 

No *whump* sounds while it cuts to black and then shows a bunch of quick cuts of crazy shit and then silence and *BWAAAAAAMP*. I realize these cliches are horrible, but they totally work on me, and just showing off your cool game world for a minute used to be all I needed to get psyched!

 

On the other hand, I love their latest Doom thing: 

 

It's, like, a couple seconds of a revenant stomping around, and I'm like "oh shii-" 

 

That Doom thing reminds me so much of this dumb shit:

 

[Erkki]

Playing as K9 would be interesting.

[Jutranjo]

Actual hot scoops:

 

Building a town.

Will be released in 2015.

CE will have a pipboy docking station(?)

[ihavefivehat]

I'm a sucker for Bethesda RPGs. Like, I've literally always had a character going in Morrowind since it was released. It's a problem. I'm pumped for Fallout 4 but I don't think I'll be able to run it (though maybe that's a good thing.)

 

Anyway, I really like the colors and the landscape they showed off in the trailer. I kind of wish the setting was more different from Fallout 3's, but it still looks fun to explore. It's interesting that the trailer included so many in-engine pre-war flashbacks. I wonder if that is an indication of something that will happen in the game.

 

Also, the dog: has Bethesda finally realized Molyneux's greatest dream? I love game dogs, so I hope there will be some fleshed out dog-systems ala Fable 2.

[JonCole]

I'm kind of wondering if the pre-war stuff will actually be included in a weird preservationist way. I think that some of the context for why much of Boston was spared from the total destruction of other cities is (mild FO3 spoilers)

 

because we learned via the Android quest that a highly advanced, technology-focused cult-like organization called The Institute is based in Boston and potentially shielded much of the city from damage using their tech. They are the ones who created the Android, which as you may remember was so convincingly human that it could basically not be told apart from one.

 

My wild guess here is that The Initiative is very scientifically forward but socially backward. In my dreamworld scenario of themes FO4 could deal with, what if they created Androids to replace the family and friends that they lost in the nuclear attack? If The Initiative was able to preserve much of the architecture of the city plus create convincing clones of the dead, I could see them creating a utopia/dystopia where there was seemingly never any loss.

 

Anyways, pure speculation but I'm really eager to see what The Initiative has been up to in Boston

[Smart Jason]

Total armchair developer here, but how much time does Bethesda actually need to take between games to create a new engine? It seems like people have been anticipating Fallout 4 for years now and I was optimistically assuming the wait was so that they could finally get off Gamebryo or whatever they have to do to make a game that actually has believable NPCs.

 

I guess they were just silent for so long so that they could announce and release within the same year. I appreciate that, but still, I'm not someone who normally complains about the uncanny valley or anything, but no games make me feel as unintentionally lonely as Bethesda's because everyone in them feels so hollow, automated, and unable to properly respond to my character's development. It's a difficult problem, to be sure, but I feel that it's one they're obligated to address for the type of games they're making.

[Mawd]

Well I'm excited to play this. But I'm kinda wary because I didn't enjoy Fallout 3 that much. I miss the old Infinity Engine games. 

 

But I'll still get it asap since I'm sure the modders will -as usual- make this Bethesda game amazing.

That's why I can't fuss over the graphics either. You just know some cool ENB will come out in a week or two of release. Heck aren't there heaps of custom animation mods for Skyrim? 

[mikemariano]

But I'll still get it asap since I'm sure the modders will -as usual- make this Bethesda game amazing.

 

Oh right; this is going to be the title where Bethesda announces Steam Workshop-only mods and tries to kill Nexus for good, as speculated when paid mods briefly came to Skyrim.

[Mawd]

Casually browsing through reddit today I stumbled upon this post made 11 months ago by someone claiming to be a former employee. It possibly spoils the main plot, game, size, and gameplay options, and even the release schedule (if indeed it's true) but it's interesting and (given reference to The Institute last page) prescient. 

 

I'm more interested to play this after reading that. The story sounds vaguely closer to the original games. But potentially gender locking the main character doesn't impress me at all.