dude.. Come on. The game isn't even out yet. We don't even know anything about it really.xsubtownerx
Actually, we know quite a bit.
They've removed dialogue trees, the ability to kill whomever you like, they've made it impossible to play the game without using twitch format (VATS' use is limited and token), you're unable to beat the game without firing a gun, they've absolutely raped the previous storyline rationalizing the presence of every single element from the original games on the East Coast, they're using modern weapons instead of Fallout brand weapons*, etc..
*(This is actually pretty crucial. In breaking away from the fantastical weapon designs of the previous games, they're playing against the previous franchise's biggest signature strengths. Modern weapons are too industrial to fit the Fallout decor. When you think of a post-apocalyptic wasteland ala Mad Max, what comes to mind in an environment of "broken-ness" and ruin. Because of this, everything has to be scavenged and thrown together--Especially the weapons. The ones you find and use are more esoteric and customized--Sometimes in an amateurish fashion. The M-16 and the Kalashnikov have too much of an assembly line feel maintained by mental images of guards and soldiers working for corporations and/or governments. That would only create a juxtaposition for the ramshackle atmosphere provided by Fallout's run down and thrown together civilization. And before anybody brings up the Enclave, please to note that even they were little more than a shanty organization simply held together by an enduring ideal.)
Even if you do encounter those uniform-types in the game anyway, they're using bigger weapons to scale themselves to the dangers of the wasteland. M-16's and Kalashnikovs would be obsolete in that setting.
The turn-based isometric format was one of the essential elements that the Fallout atmoshpere is composed of. It was designed that way, not only to maintain the PnP RPG format, but also so the player could get a better feel for the game's vision of a post-apocalyptic world. There were dozens of other elements that were consequent of that format as well; incorpated more strategy in a fire-fight, complemented the subtle ambiance provided by the HUD screen, gave you more incentive to budget your leveling points and perks, enhanced the soundtrack's effect on the mood, you were given a broader view of the world to maintain the post-apocalyptic art (in fact, Fallout's art was based on the 86' RPG's "Wasteland" art direction so they could capture that game's feel)--It has a purpose. It's not something that can simply be advanced since it's not actually a flawed or primitive system; it's just a system that was designed specifically for the franchise. When you break away from it as a format, you're breaking away from the franchise altogether.
More thoroughly:
Bethesda detractors aren't mad about graphics. Isometric is a ty pe of the RPG genre, not something graphically consequent. Something so crucial and prevalent as the movement/combat system and evironment your character operates in would certainly add to the overall feel of the game--Even if the feeling is gradual, it's still apart of the game's overall sum.
I mean, why isn't the vision's medium just as important as the vision itself? Especially when one is consequent of the other?
It's not as if Black Isle couldn't have accomplished a similar or identical format as Beth's. There's nothing to suggest that the original game's are inferior or simply less advanced. In fact, even if they could have accomplished a third/first person view of the world's they created, that doesn't tell us for sure that they would have used it--Especially since, from the very beginning, they were always aiming for a PnP RPG. You just can't do that with Bethesda's third/first person vision. What's more, a TB game could never be achieved without Fallout's isometric sty le; TB was something Tim Cain was always going for from the get go.
Beyond that, it's highly debatable whether or not one would consider isometric view to be a "limitation." Despite popular belief, it's not even archaic so much as it is just consolidated into one genre followed by a specific audience. Hell, by the time Fallout 2 came out, devs were able to use 3D engines innovatively enough so they could accomplish Oblivion perspective. I don't see why the popular phrase "pushing the boundaries" as spoken by Bethsda proponents would automatically mean changing perspective, rearranging atmospheric freedom (see also: Can't kill everyone you want to), changing canon, removing dialogue trees, removing world maps, removing attack options, or adding a Suck-O-Tron to your arsenel.
But if I were to ignore all that for a moment, I'd still be able to argue that because the game was made in that time-frame, said time-frame's sty le would also become signature to the franchise. Not unlike Tarantino's frequent use of pre-90s cultural elements to make his movies. This isn't to say that the system must stay identical to every other game in the franchise; it can be optimized over time without changing its core structure.
Both games had specific designs that fit the decor being aimed for. The decor is kept by every single element, big and small, that adds to the overall sum of the game. The isometric system effects the environment. The environment effects the attack system. The attack system is influenced by the weapons. The specific weapons are consequent of the atmosphere trying to be captured by the game. The perfecting of atmosphere is crucial for the sense of immersion. In the case of Fallout, the sense of immersion is retained by giving a bird's eye view of the entire post apocolyptic civilizations. And all of these things revolve around SPECIAL. All of these elements work together to make the overall game.
This just isn't Fallout. They know it and we know it but they're trying to deny it all the same. Trying to pull the "afraid of change" card out of your butt isn't going to reverse the fact that everything about Fallout has been taken out of the franchise in this game. It would be far more appropriate to simply rename it and call, "Bethesda's post-apocolyptic world idea."
To quote myself:
Try to imagine making Chess into an FPS. You can do it, but will you still be able to call it Chess?
Unique individuality is a franchise's entire claim to quality. Fallout loses its unique individuality when its premise and history (such as it is after Beth put is through the wringer) are forced into an alien genre. Thus it loses that quality.
Log in to comment