If you’ll forgive me, I’m going to post a link to Something Awful, simply because it’s the easiest way to get my point across. You can find the article in question here.

What the hell is wrong with these people? Okay, Bethesda made Oblivion, which some see as a crime against humanity; but from what I’ve seen of Fallout 3, It looks to incorporate elements to please the old fans, while at the same time being shiny enough to appeal to new fans.

The community, I think, is being way, way too ****y. The way I look at it, they’d only be happy if Fallout 1 was re-released with a new storyline and quests, and even then they’d complain that it wasn’t true to the setting, or the game play was unrecognisable, or the graphics weren’t isometric enough.

I like Fallout. I also like Oblivion. So far, the only things Fallout 3 seems to take from Oblivion is the humongous open world and a revised version of the radiant AI.

In short, I really can’t see why the fans can’t just accept the game. It’s made by a different developer, yes, but in the blogs they’ve made clear that they really appreciate the games and the setting, and they’re trying their hardest to realise that in a game both old fans and newcomers can enjoy. Problem is, if you left the community alone with the developers at Bethesda, the result would be a orgy of violence that would put the ‘bloody mess’ trait to shame.

I may have just started a ****-storm, and I have no doubt someone is going to call me out, but nevertheless; discuss.

The negative reaction disgusts me.

Watched the trailer the other day and it has to be the best ****ing trailer I’ve seen for a while now

I’ve played Fallout 1 and 2 and I don’t see the third installment as being unfaithful to the series at all. It’s plain ridiculous…

People are ****ing idiots…

Doesn’t every big series have that happen?

What, you’re surprised?

Whining is what humans do best. We’ll whine about anything! Ever see a superhero movie (avoiding Batman here) that didn’t **** someone off? It wasn’t true to the comics, or he never worse red in the cartoon, he’s claws don’t come out like that. Yeah, nevermind the fact that Wolverine couldn’t bend his wrists with claws like those… that makes sense.

So, really, you’re always going to find someone whine about a game or movie just because they can. ****in’ fanboys ruin it for us.

I recognise some of those attitudes, if not the actual people. They’re still bitter about what happened to the Ultima series, and are just carrying it with them for the rest of their lives.

Pluvius Posted:

From that Wired article: “The key problem with the game though is in the writing. It really feels like someone wrote a fanfic based on the Fallout universe and somehow got the funding to create a game based on it.”

I find this really rich. Sit down with the game for 30 minutes and expect to get a reasonable approximation of the writing. if the game is as big as they say it is, 30 minutes is hardly enough time to explore the entirety of megaton, let alone delve into every line of conversation.

“Hello there!” “Hello? HELLO? No one would say hello in this dark, depressing world! There’s no place for friendliness in a post apocalyptic wasteland! Argh argh gnash **** Bethesda!”

I’m just saying that until you can sit down with the game for a nice, long period, you should avoid making statements about game elements you’ve barely seen.

I’m kinda sick of all the discussions about Bethesda and Fallout 3, we have done that way to often at the Codex. But if you are really interested why many old Fallout fans don’t trust Bethesda to deliver a proper sequel read this article at Twenty Sided, one of the best independent gaming blogs out there.

While there are indeed some rabid and irrational Fallout fans out there you should be more cautious with such generalisations. Something Awful isn’t exactly a very impartial source to judge the fanbase. Have you read NMAs Fallout 3 preview? Very critical but certainly not written in blind fanaticism.

The hatred of the Fallout fans has interestingly developed a life of its own, there is a monstrous thread at Quarter To Three which is basically a NMA bashing for over 100 pages. Quite fascinating phenomenon.

I guess there are two main reasons for this:

1.) Roshambo. Roshambo was a former editor of NMA and the most impressive flamer I’ve ever had the pleasure to read on the internet. He offended lot’s of people and I guess these folks remember.

2.) The old Fallout fans aren’t Bethesdas target audience. Off course I’m only talking about the hardcore fans, many people who liked Fallout will also like Fallout 3, but Bethesda isn’t even denying any more that they develop more or less Oblivion with guns because that’s exactly what many people want and that’s what they are good at. The Fallouts and the Elder Scrolls series are quite different kinds of RPGs and Bethesdas games haven’t shown much of what made Fallout great: dark humor, excellent writing and choices with consequences. (The Dark Brotherhood questline in Oblivion was an exception and pretty good, but even there you normally don’t had choices that made any difference)

Games like Fallout – isometric with turnbased combat – are a dying breed, only a handful of Indie developers still make them and fans of this kind of gameplay are naturally disappointed when one of the greatest RPG series is now realtime/RTwP. Maybe Bethesda makes a great postapocalyptic RPG but a worthy successor of Fallout/F2? I really doubt it. There would be much less criticism if they wouldn’t call the game Fallout 3 but Fallout: XYZ.

All I can say is don’t fall for the hype. Bethesdas PR is often, like Shamus wrote, an outrageous lie. Oblivions Radiant AI – ha! I’m still laughing. Unfortunately there’ll be no demo to check the game out before buying it and there also aren’t many gaming journalists I trust nowadays.

It’s still a gritty post apocalyptic game with depressing yet inappropriately hilarious humor. What’s to complain about, really?

All the fallout fans I personally know are looking forward to it. I just bumume people posting in forums are lying out of their bumes about 50% of the time (at least) and discount everything anyone says when they don’t have solid reasons and examples to back it up.