Idle Thumbs 236: Twenty-Year-Old Weird House

[elmuerte]

They grow up so fast.

 

 

 

 

 

OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

[Gormongous]

Chris' talk about zeroing in on an abandoned highway and finding a way on top of it reminded me so strongly of Eidolon, about which I think Danielle talked several dozen episodes ago. Like the Bethesda-style Fallout games, much of the player's traversal in Eidolon is motivated by distant landmarks, often so shrouded in mist as to be unrecognizable, but I like Eidolon better for its willingness to have the space between those landmarks be wide and often quite empty. It makes the discovery of something grand and decayed so much more moving when it's been preceded by half an hour of walking through trackless wilderness. Conversely, it often seems like the world design of the new Fallout games is deliberately tuned to make sure that the player is never surrounded by absolutely nothing, which makes for a more interesting but less memorable experience.

 

I remember the first time I found the rusted steel skeleton of a skyscraper in Eidolon, I almost lost my mind at the sudden presence of something so huge and artificial where had hitherto been all trees and streams. I instinctively followed the half-buried highway next to it for almost two hours, mostly because it was so novel to have an object in my world that actually expressed intent in the form of direction.

[namman siggins]

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/mJ0Hj

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/fXC4h

[unimural]

Fallout 4 does mention VATS during the tutorial/initial sequence, when you enter the evacuation tunnel and are attacked by a few radroaches.

Like all notifications the tutorial text is in the upper left corner, and will just go away after a short time. It is a bit inelegant: to activate VATS with just a keypress you have to have enemies in range. However, when you see enemies it's relatively natural to focus on the enemies, not something on the periphery. You can also activate VATS anytime by holding the same key (q) for a while.

I personally missed the notification for the sttlement being under attack. However, you can see the status of your settlements in the pipboy's workshops tabs, so now I just check that occasionally.

[SecretAsianMan]

I know what Chris means about appearing wealthy through travel.  When I was a kid my dad used to do a lot of business travel so he'd rack up the miles and had platinum cards with several airlines.  Most of the time the company would fly him business class and he'd sometimes bring home those magazines that try to sell you overly expensive things you don't need.  We also got a ton of them in the mail because of his presumed high status.

[atte]

Twenty-Year-Old Weird House:

[Lork]

The idea that npc's picking upp stuff that you drop does exist in the Stalker games. They'll pick up and equip weapons that are better than the stuff they already have.

I don't know if they took it out for Fallout 4, but NPCs in Bethesda games ever since Oblivion actually do pick up stuff they find on the ground. The only way to ensure that your stuff is truly safe is to put it in a container, but not one that refills itself - otherwise whatever you put in it might get overwritten when it respawns.

[elmuerte]

Also, not one that is in the lair of the Brotherhood.

[kurnster]

Anyone able to help me find a reference for the Chris Avellone quote?

[Jutranjo]

It might have been in the Designer Notes episode of him but probably also elsewhere, most interviews with him tend to repeat the same question/anecdotes.

[beardofzaius]

I'd like to thank this podcast for my current all-consuming World of Warships addiction. That game is good and interesting and thankfully for my wallet not entirely merciless in it's application of the micro-transactions.

 

Mind you, I've been casting an eye at Rule the Waves as not content with upgrading a dreadnought, I now want to build them from scratch, construct a fleet and be Admiral.

 

FML.