Comments on Hit Self-Destruct: Escape From Vault 101

As to the references to Fallout 1's crit text, man...

2008-11-14T05:31:00.000+13:00

As to the references to Fallout 1's crit text, many of THOSE were lifted directly from Wasteland, a game which had to rely almost entirely on text to depict combat, and pushed the gory descriptions to comical extremes. The continuum from the fidelity of Wasteland's gory combat to Fallout 3's seems pretty linear.

I agree that the game needs no comparisons to Fall...

2008-11-13T11:09:00.000+13:00

I agree that the game needs no comparisons to Fallouts 1 and 2 to stand on its own merits, and the constant questions are tiresome, but the last paragraph didn't strongly suggest that sentiment to me, perhaps because of how otherwise straight-laced the preceding article was. Anyway, it's a minor complaint!

Hey Chris,

Fair enough, you have accurately...

2008-11-13T10:23:00.000+13:00

Hey Chris,

Fair enough, you have accurately flagged my weakness for a stylistic flourish.

Short answer:

I felt that ending by basically saying "yes" or "no" would have been anti-climactic. Because I'd written earlier about the song "Maybe" being so strongly identified with Fallout 1, answering "is it Fallout" with "maybe" was really code for "yes". It was an attempt at subverting the indecision of the song into a somewhat definitive statement.

Long, bitter answer:

The question of whether it's "really Fallout" or whether it has proved itself worthy of the name is not something that has ever mattered to me. Certainly it had little to no bearing on what I thought about this game.

You might suggest then that it was a poorly-chosen question to frame an article around. If the answer "maybe" is unsatisfying or a cop-out, it's at least a little bit on purpose. I'm tired of "is it Fallout?", I think it's a smokescreen and only has any value as an easy preview/review lede. The last line is facetious and half-hearted because I wanted to deflate the importance of that question. If I'm saying anything in the conclusion, I hope it's that the issues raised in the first and last paragraphs of my article are ultimately irrelevant. It's what people think they're suppoed so be concerned about. The rest of the article is what the game means to me.

Is it Fallout? As if the answer to that question is supposed to validate the existence of this game? Even if it isn't, so what? I loved this game and what it was called mattered to me very little. Should Bethesda have called it something else out of respect to Black Isle or whatever? I don't know, and at a point I don't care very much.

Sorry to rant off, Chris, I really appreciate the feedback. Maybe all this should have been the ending? Maybe. (oh I'm an asshole.)

Great piece! But I can't help but feeling your clo...

2008-11-13T08:32:00.000+13:00

Great piece! But I can't help but feeling your closing line was more structurally clever than it was an actual fitting end to your piece. You clearly have strong opinions about Fallout 3, and directly contrast and compare it to its predecessors, and you do point out the all-encompassing theme of decision, so wouldn't it be appropriate for you to answer your own question than waffle out of it?

Anyway, again, a wonderful read!

Having played for just a few hours now, I already ...

2008-11-12T01:59:00.000+13:00

Having played for just a few hours now, I already agree with your point about the VATS camera. It's definitely something that feels quite forced and mechanical, whereas the interstitial first-person zooms - for conversations and the like - feel natural and "right" to me.

Also the point about gore and humour, as discussed here in comments, makes me think that maybe (sorry) Bethesda have pitched it right with the VATS's effects. Black Isle certainly didn't hold back with their descriptive combat texts in the earlier games, and I agree that they likely would've tried to get closer to realising their descriptions visually if they'd had the resources available to them.

Great writing by the way--you've cemented my resolve to play the game more thoroughly now, rather than snack on it here and there as I have been.

I should actually quote the whole thing to do it j...

2008-11-12T00:56:00.000+13:00

I should actually quote the whole thing to do it justice, those are some amazing lyrics, especially in connection to the game ofcourse.

You're right, how much of the older Fallout games is a stylistic choice, how much is it what could be done at the time. But then they still made a design choice based on technical limitations - it only makes me wonder more about Bethesda's choice, seeing as they don't have those limitations. Would they've gone for a gory VATS system if it wasn't part of the lauded Fallout-series? I mean, they bought the IP which would mean a resounding "yes", but I mean could they've come up with a different, new system, more suited to their vision of Fallout-America.

As to whether it is "really Fallout" seems like a nonrelevant question to me - as long as the game works on its own terms, it's a success. And that it seems to do. And be.

I wonder though how much of that gore/cartoon bala...

2008-11-11T12:28:00.000+13:00

I wonder though how much of that gore/cartoon balance was stylistic choice and how much was graphical limitation. Fallout 1 did try to compensate its for low fidelity visuals with those descriptions: "CRITICAL HIT: Ian massively punches Raider in his fat head and his brains blow out on the sidewalk in a bloody splatter" or whatever the hell. I feel like they would have gone for Fallout 3-level gore if they could. Even so, I don't think the bleakness of Fallout 3 would be particularly well-served by cartoon violence.

Also, how can you quote that song but leave out the most pertinent lyrics: Don't know why I left the homestead/I really must confess/I'm a weary exile/Singing my song of loneliness.

A lot of good, interesting thoughts here. As to "i...

2008-11-11T05:11:00.000+13:00

A lot of good, interesting thoughts here. As to "is it Fallout," I can't imagine how one wold rationalize saying it isn't. Bethesda nailed it so well that now the original game seems like it was always a sketch just waiting to be fully realized by Fallout 3.

I don't mind VATS mechanically, I use it a lot, ev...

2008-11-11T04:57:00.000+13:00

I don't mind VATS mechanically, I use it a lot, eventhough by now my Small Guns is high enough so that I can pretty much play the game as an FPS (which it's not, ofcourse), but it seems to still yield the best results.

I just think that in the older games the combat was cartoony first, then gory, here it's the other way round.

The songs in the game are fantastic, some people have been complaining about there not being enough and it getting a bit boring, I don't have that problem myself. Basically I'm just waiting for Bob Crosby's Way back home to come around again..

the grass is the springiest/the bees are the stingiest/the birds are the wingiest/the bells are the ringiest/the hearts, the hearts the singiest/the arms, the arms the clingiest/way back home

To elaborate on VATS a bit more, I am actually a l...

2008-11-10T20:36:00.000+13:00

To elaborate on VATS a bit more, I am actually a little torn on it. I like the mechanics fine and I have no problem with the slow motion stuff in and of itself, but it's a stylistic contradiction with the rest of the game. Except for the intro/outro slideshows, Bethesda never wrest control of the camera from you EXCEPT for in VATS where they do it continuously. It honestly doesn't bother me on anything other than a purely theoretical level but I find it a little weird.

qrter: For the most part the comedy of Fallout 3 d...

2008-11-10T20:20:00.000+13:00

qrter: For the most part the comedy of Fallout 3 definitely feels like something Bethesda inherited but I find it pretty non-intrusive. The superhero quest I mentioned was the one time it felt absolutely out of place but even that resolved itself gracefully. Generally Bethesda have been pretty smart about when to use humour. I don't mind the VATS stuff either although I decided pretty early on I wasn't going to need the Bloody Mess perk.

Spencer: All the songs are really well chosen, actually. You could probably draw some parallel to the in-game action with most of the songs.

Also, 7.3.

Honestly, though, I think it's astonishing. Probably the best game I've played all year.

Good article, lots to agree with. I especially sha...

2008-11-10T10:38:00.000+13:00

Good article, lots to agree with. I especially share your faciantion with what makes a post-apocalyptic wasteland such a compelling canvas for a (game) story. It means that every little action become non-trivial. There is no 'saving the world', so saving anyone at all, even just yourself, becomes that much more poignant.

What I absolutely love about Fallout 3 is w...

2008-11-10T06:58:00.000+13:00

What I absolutely love about Fallout 3 is what you talk about - how depressing the gameworld is. It does make me feel extremely sad, finding empty houses, blasted skeletons, all these scorched little remnants of human life you find all over the place, sometimes coming across a harrowing story from someone who was actually there during the war, or hearing heartbreaking holotapes from children who were there when the world blew up or even just the placards right outside your own Vault 101 saying things like "LET US IN YOU FUCKERS".

The consequence of such a harsh realistic depiction of the wasteland is that the bits of comedy that are there, mostly don't really work. The original Fallout games were much more laconic and cartoony - this is what happened, we did it ourselves, let's get on with the story. Same goes for the gory VATS stuff - it feels a bit out of place, in a way (which doesn't mean I didn't pick the Bloody Mess perk as soon as I could, ofcourse).

Something else that has impressed me is that the game made me feel how a radiostation like Galaxy would actually make a difference in such a world - whenever I'm trudging through the irradiated wastes, it really helps to lift my mood now and then to switch on Galaxy radio.

Maybe, indeed...

2008-11-09T22:40:00.000+13:00

Maybe, indeed...

I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of t...

2008-11-09T22:15:00.000+13:00

I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of the game yet, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading this piece.

The quality of your writing here is really, really top notch.

I feel as though the setting of Fallout 3 has been...

2008-11-09T20:56:00.000+13:00

I feel as though the setting of Fallout 3 has been downplayed. Maybe that's because the majority of reviews I've read have focussed on discussing the VATS system.

I forget who said it, but I was reading the work of someone a few days ago who was analysing another song in Fallout 3. They noted how appropriate the selection of "I don't want to set the world on fire" was as a lyric. Fallout 3 isn't about playing the inevitable pilgrim.

I'm tempted to undermine your work here by demanding you award the game a score.

Comments on Hit Self-Destruct: Escape From Vault 101

As to the references to Fallout 1's crit text, man...

I agree that the game needs no comparisons to Fall...

Hey Chris,Fair enough, you have accurately...

Great piece! But I can't help but feeling your clo...

Having played for just a few hours now, I already ...

I should actually quote the whole thing to do it j...

I wonder though how much of that gore/cartoon bala...

A lot of good, interesting thoughts here. As to "i...

I don't mind VATS mechanically, I use it a lot, ev...

To elaborate on VATS a bit more, I am actually a l...

qrter: For the most part the comedy of Fallout 3 d...

Good article, lots to agree with. I especially sha...

What I absolutely love about Fallout 3 is w...

Maybe, indeed...

I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of t...

I feel as though the setting of Fallout 3 has been...

Hey Chris,

Fair enough, you have accurately...