Really? Can you show me an example coz I'm really interested in finding this crap writing a few vocal people really seem to believe. I ask this because I'm very well versed in scriptwriting, and I can see clear distinctions between those that know how to write a screenplay, and those that can't, and the divide is never more so obvious than in games. Well, I thought I could at least, because apparently Fallout 3 is really bad :P.
I'm not interested in finishing Fallout 3, have only ever completed Bethesda's Morrowind, and generally seem to prefer the Black Isle legacy RPGs. I haven't played New Vegas yet (nor does it look like I will), but from watching gameplay videos, the writing doesn't look too dissimilar to Fallout 3. And that's fine, because it's at an acceptable standard from what I can tell.
The only real difference I see between Bethesda and the Black Isle developers is that Bethesda like doing the grand monomyth thing, and Black Isle like to do kooky unique stuff.
FrozenLiquid
Yes, the first hours. I'm afraid i cannot give exact examples because, honestly, my memory is piss poor concerning minute details. But i do cleary remember the impression and bad taste the writting left in my mouth. But, i will give you a example from the intros, and let you decide for your self.
Firstly, the Fallout 3 intro:
War. War never changes. Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything, from God to justice to simple, psychotic rage. In the year 2077, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world - but war, war never changes. In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them - all except those in Vault 101. For on the fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 101 slid closed... and never reopened. It was here you were born. It is here you will die. Because, in Vault 101: no one ever enters, and no one ever leaves.
Now, the New Vegas intro:
War. War never changes. When atomic fire consumed the earth, those who survived did so in great, underground vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across ruins of the old world to build new societies, establish new villages, form new tribes. As decades passed, what had been the American southwest united beneath the flag of the New California Republic, dedicated to old world values of democracy and the rule of law.
As the Republic grew, so did its needs. Scouts spread east, seeking territory and wealth, in the dry and merciless expanse of the Mojave Desert. They returned with tales of a city untouched by the warheads that had scorched the rest of the world and a great wall spanning the Colorado River. The NCR mobilized its army and set it east to occupy the Hoover Dam and restore it to working condition. But across the Colorado, another society had arisen under a different flag. A vast army of slaves, forged in the conquest of 86 tribes: Caesar's Legion. Four years have passed since the Republic held the Dam, just barely, against the Legion's onslaught. The Legion did not retreat. Across the River, they gathered strength. Campfires burned, training drums beat. Through it all, the New Vegas Strip has stayed open for business under the control of its mysterious overseer, Mr. House and his army of rehabilitated Tribals and police robots.
You are a courier, hired by the Mojave Express, to deliver a package to the New Vegas Strip. What seemed like a simple delivery job has taken a turn…for the worst.
In my honest opinion, the writting in New Vegas ... is much much more appropriate for the Fallout universe, much more beautifully written, i get completely immersed into the writting. And that is something that Fallout 3 never did to me. What do you say, sir?
The writting in Morrowind was great. Not particulary praise worthy (due to certain wikipedia st yles of informations given to the player - not all), but good, it left a pozitive impression, and i really liked reading the well written books in that game (which added so much 'flesh' to the lore). I also remember those greatly written sequences after you wake up from a dream, added to the depth of the story itself, i believe.
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