No Mutants Allowed - A History of Fallout Fandom

Olli:
"The title is Drakensang: The Dark Eye, but in Non-German-speaking territories we will focus communication much more on "Drakensang" than on "TDE" because it's not such a strong license as it is in German-speaking territories."

You forgot to add "pwned". Oh wait. No, you didn't. When did "focus... much more on" become synonymous with a title change or with dropping the 'The Dark Eye' label? Bethesda might have focused on marketing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as merely 'Oblivion' but the full title is still The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Same with Drakensang because the official (English) forums still refer to it as Drakensang: The Dark Eye and no title change has been officially announced.

Maybe for those who didn't pay attention, like you. Those that did pay attention know the developers made no false promises that this would be like Realms of Arkania

Was I doubting that anywhere? All I said was that for the fans of the original series this is DSA 4 all the way. How can that be wrong if even the official site says "DSA ist zurück!" (in English: DSA is back!)? Or why do they (Radon Labs) keep emphasizing at the (German) forums that they are all huge fans of DSA P&P and the CRPGs? Oh, right. Because they absolutely want to avoid that people think of Drakensang as a sequel to previous DSA games. Ho-hummm....

BTW, since you are so anal with names (are you a lawyer in RL or something... jeez ;) ), I'm intentionally avoiding "Realms of Arkania" now because I'm slowly getting the impression that you do not know that "Realms of Arkania" does not exist in Germany. At all. In Germany it's just DSA - Das Schwarze Auge. We know of no "Realms of Arkania". I was just using RoA earlier so outside people know which game(s) we are talking about. Trust me. Any fan of the original German DSA CRPGs will immediately think 'Yay, DSA 4 is being made' when they hear of Drakensang.

You seem to be arguing that this is the same as making a Fallout 3 that has nothing to do with the original two. How does that work, exactly?

There are many sequels that had absolutely nothing to do with the previous games in a series. If you want a rather drastic example I'd mention Quake 3 which all of a sudden was MP only as opposed to Quake 1 + 2 which had a (by some FPS fans even considered as strong) single player mode. Just because the game's name is Fallout 3 doesn't mean it has to have the feature set of the previous two games. Not even close. Is that really that hard to understand? *sigh*

Yes it does, because they're being honest. They're not lying. They're not pretending their game is something it's not.

Oh, so you have inside info on Fallout 3's feature set? You already know that Bethesda is not honest and that they are lying and pretending that Fallout 3 is something else than it really is? Interesting.

Also, I think you're not reading the same German DSA forum as I'm reading. The one I'm reading had a very harsh and flame-filled argument around the firebreathing Tatzelworm.

Ummm... are you German and if so are you sure your reading comprehension is fully in order? :)
I just went the extra mile and actually checked out that thread (must be this one here right?) and the worst "flames" that I could find were from someone calling the Tatzelwurm a "sausage with legs" :biggrin: and another guy said that it looks like a little kid drew a sketch of a dinosaur. OMG! How offensive! Especially in comparison to those constructive, troll- and flame-free threads one can read on the Codex forums. Holy shit, man! Someone call the German police and shut down the Anaconda forums ASAP!!!

Don't pretend things aren't so when they are. What's next, are you going to say Star Trek fans are all happy with Bethesda's published Legacy and only Fallout fans are unreasonable?

What does that have to do with anything I said? I actually said that you can bitch and moan as much as you like if the game should really turn out to be crap. But until then, yeah, I will keep calling everyone a hysterical little school girl who has their panties up in a bunch over... over... ummm... what?... right... NOTHING. Because just about nothing is known about Fallout 3 yet.

Ignoring what someone says and then just making the same argument is a form of weakness. If you don't actually have any foundation in reality as to our being "unreasonable, obsessed haters", then just admit you're wrong, but don't just keep repeating it when you know it's false. Did you read NMA's article? Did you click the refs to see what Fallout fans were saying? Did you see the interest in Van Buren? Did you see the excitement around Fallout Tactics?

I did read the article. Yes. The existence of the article alone speaks volumes of the self-importance that the Fallout community is for some weird reason giving itself. But we've been through all that on page 1 or 2 of this thread already so I'm not going to repeat it. Otherwise, I don't care enough about the Fallout franchise to do a lot of reading on it. Who cares? Doesn't change the fact that the hating and the hystery is plain retarded. No other gaming community behaves like that. At least not with this level of persistence. Single, isolated issues sometimes drive some gaming communities up the tree. But you're up on the tree all the time.
 
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zakhal
"Would you like to write dialogue for every NPC in Daggerfall?"
Are you inviting me to the team to be lead witer? Weeee! ;)

"TES is not RPG in the traditional sense. Its more like fantasy FPS with RPG elements."
Not that I am disagreeing but wouldn't bethseda disagree, wasn't/isn't TES marketed as an RPG?
So since RPGs are based on Dialogue either they are lying or they make bad RPGs, right? ;)
 
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zakhal
"Would you like to write dialogue for every NPC in Daggerfall?"
Are you inviting me to the team to be lead witer? Weeee! ;)

Well theres tens of thousands of NPCs and you have to write dialogue for every one of them, make cross referances (event A changes person B,C,D,E,G,H dialogue to state 3A) and full testing. ;)
"TES is not RPG in the traditional sense. Its more like fantasy FPS with RPG elements."
Not that I am disagreeing but wouldn't bethseda disagree, wasn't/isn't TES marketed as an RPG?
So since RPGs are based on Dialogue either they are lying or they make bad RPGs, right? ;)

I dont understand the question? Are you saying that TES doesnt have dialogue?
 
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You forgot to add "pwned". Oh wait. No, you didn't. When did "focus... much more on" become synonymous with a title change or with dropping the 'The Dark Eye' label? Bethesda might have focused on marketing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as merely 'Oblivion' but the full title is still The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Same with Drakensang because the official (English) forums still refer to it as Drakensang: The Dark Eye and no title change has been officially announced.

I had forgotten they'll still call it DSA, even if not promote it as such. My bad on that count.

That said, you do realise DSA/The Dark Eye as an intellectual bit of RPG property is not the same as being a part of a gaming franchise like Realms of Arkania/NLT/"the old DSA gameS"? Or do you refer to NWN 2 as BG 3? Do you think all D&D games are part of one big line of sequels? If another D&D cRPG game is announced with "D&D is back" do you call it NWN 3? No? Then why apply that rule to DSA?

Also, stop saying "the fans are thinking". That's not relevant to the question of how honest the developers are. Its not up to the developer or publisher to determine fan perspective, if people want to delude themselves into thinking this is another NLT-esque game...well...so be it.


Just because the game's name is Fallout 3 doesn't mean it has to have the feature set of the previous two games.

"Does not" in what sense? A legalist sense? Of course not. The sense in which using a name entitles people to expect certain features in a game? Duh. To use a comparison SOON FEATURED IN AN EXCITING ARTICLE, if I order a burder McDonalds, I don't expect to get chicken, not even if KFC bought the franchise.

Oh, so you have inside info on Fallout 3's feature set? You already know that Bethesda is not honest and that they are lying and pretending that Fallout 3 is something else than it really is? Interesting.

Was I talking about Bethesda? Nice mouthstuffing. We were talking about a hypothetical Fallout 3, something you started with "it's only a name". Don't try to dodge in another direction now.

OMG! How offensive!

So instead that thread is your idea of "They are keeping an open mind and are waiting patiently for Radon Labs and dtp/Anaconda to publish more details."?

Ok then.

But until then, yeah, I will keep calling everyone a hysterical little school girl who has their panties up in a bunch over... over... ummm... what?... right... NOTHING. Because just about nothing is known about Fallout 3 yet.

Ok. Does that mean you give me explicit information to rag on Bethesda once Fallout 3 reveals not to have a number of key Fallout features and do you hereby relinquish your right to comment on said ragging?

The existence of the article alone speaks volumes of the self-importance that the Fallout community is for some weird reason giving itself.

And the attention you're giving us works very self-confirming, thank you for caring.

Doesn't change the fact that the hating and the hystery is plain retarded. No other gaming community behaves like that. At least not with this level of persistence. Single, isolated issues sometimes drive some gaming communities up the tree. But you're up on the tree all the time.

*sighs* Frith give me patience.

I quote myself for a second time:
" Ours is hating? Please point out where this has a foundation in reality, considering our history with Tactics, Van Buren and the Fallout Bibles"

Your reply every time is to repeat that we're hateful and hysterical. Not a single time have you backed this up with facts. I have yet to see you explain why the reaction to Bethesda is a big exception in the way the Fallout fans usually interact with the fans. Where's the "up on the tree all the time" with Tactics? Van Buren? Fallout Bibles?

But please do reply by just saying we're hysterical again. I'm sure *this time* it'll prove you right.
 
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"Does not" in what sense? A legalist sense? Of course not. The sense in which using a name entitles people to expect certain features in a game? Duh. To use a comparison SOON FEATURED IN AN EXCITING ARTICLE, if I order a burder McDonalds, I don't expect to get chicken, not even if KFC bought the franchise.
The Fallout setting isn't the Forgotten Realms. It's entirely appropriate of Bethsoft to name the setting in the title, as Radon's done, as SSI did with the Ravenloft and Dark Sun games, and BIS did with Torment, and so on. And the Fallout setting and Fallout series share a name, so Bethsoft couldn't have called it anything else. The only argument is over the subtitle: whether "Fallout 3" or "Fallout: Oblivion with Guns" would be most appropriate. And I can imagine how that might animate an NMA regular, but can you see how someone else might shrug over the difference?
 
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The Fallout setting isn't the Forgotten Realms. It's entirely appropriate of Bethsoft to name the setting in the title

(...)

And I can imagine how that might animate an NMA regular, but can you see how someone else might shrug over the difference?

I think you're kind of missing the point here, because "Fallout" isn't a setting at all, it's a franchise. This isn't about "approriate" or "rights", this is about creating expectancies. If they call it Fallout: Oblivion with Guns, I'd applaud their honesty (if that was then what people would get), but the truth remains that using the name "Fallout" creates a set of expectations than are anemic of Oblivion with Guns.
 
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zakhal
"Well theres tens of thousands of NPCs and you have to write dialogue for every one of them,"
Yeah but I would be working for besthseda so I could get 1 voice actor and wirte the same lines for all 10k NPCs, since well written dialogue and quality voice acting doesn't matter, could wirte half-assed and Ooooh I just though of something I could do the voice and save even more money. ;)

" Are you saying that TES doesnt have dialogue?"
Well sort of, this little topic started as a discussion about the quality of dialogue with Redguard veruses TES and I thought it looped around nicely to the starting premise.
So my conclusion was since they didn't care about dialogue, either they are lying (about oblivion being an RPG) or they make bad RPGs. ;)

They can't have it both ways right, since afaik RPGs are based on dialogue?

So basicly even if Redguard was a good story and dialogue, the people are still at bethseda cappable of writing a good RPG after 10 years, how or why would they not care about their own franise to give it a good story (remember they marketed it as an RPG) but all of a sudden care about someone else's franchise more/enough to give it a good story,

I mean have they come out and said we are making a Fallout RPG and if so how do we as gamers distinguish between the so called RPG (oblivion) and your selection Redguard RPG?

Of course I could have misunderstood. :)
 
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I think you're kind of missing the point here, because "Fallout" isn't a setting at all, it's a franchise. This isn't about "approriate" or "rights", this is about creating expectancies. If they call it Fallout: Oblivion with Guns, I'd applaud their honesty (if that was then what people would get), but the truth remains that using the name "Fallout" creates a set of expectations than are anemic of Oblivion with Guns.
Expectations which you're defining exactly as broadly as your argument requires. Yes, the Fallout name carries several connotations, like a setting, mood, perspective, genre, and game flow system. But while I can think of counterexamples like the Wizardry and Might & Magic franchises, which broke with previous fiction repeatedly, the most common convention for CRPG franchises is that the broader collective title refers to the setting. It's certainly true of the Fallout franchise. The only thing the Fallout games to date have in common is that they all employ the Fallout setting. Bethsoft's following that tradition, so we're left to quibble over FO3 v FO:OwG.
 
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Well sort of, this little topic started as a discussion about the quality of dialogue with Redguard veruses TES and I thought it looped around nicely to the starting premise.
So my conclusion was since they didn't care about dialogue, either they are lying (about oblivion being an RPG) or they make bad RPGs. ;)

They can't have it both ways right, since afaik RPGs are based on dialogue?

You dont seem to understand the difference between static (full scripted) and dynamic (minimal scripting) dialogue. Bethesda has always pushed for dynamic dialogue in TES so that every NPC has somthing to say.

So in essence TES does have dialogue. Its just not fully handwritten like in normal RPGs.

So basicly even if Redguard was a good story and dialogue, the people are still at bethseda cappable of writing a good RPG after 10 years, how or why would they not care about their own franise to give it a good story (remember they marketed it as an RPG) but all of a sudden care about someone else's franchise more/enough to give it a good story,

Because fallout is not part of the TES series.

P.S It spelled Bethesda not bethseda. Redguard is an adventure game not RPG and it was released 8 years ago not 10.

Of course I could have misunderstood. :)

Or then you are just wasting my time with trolling.
 
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I would start complaining once they start actually releasing screenshots or revealing the inner workings of the game, before then you just sound like a pack of rabid dogs that should be put out of their misery.
 
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So instead that thread is your idea of "They are keeping an open mind and are waiting patiently for Radon Labs and dtp/Anaconda to publish more details."?

Ok then.

Yes. That thread went "off-topic" very quickly as hardcore P&Pers began to discuss the role of the Tatzelwurm in the P&P setting. As you will know, no two P&P game masters are ever the same and everyone will have their own views and definitions etc.
Besides, it's just one tiny little gameplay detail. It was discussed and out of three pages and a few dozen posts 3 or 4 people expressed some minor concerns mostly over the visual representation of the Tatzelwurm. No big deal.

Ok. Does that mean you give me explicit information to rag on Bethesda once Fallout 3 reveals not to have a number of key Fallout features and do you hereby relinquish your right to comment on said ragging?

Yes, please do. For my entertainment :biggrin: . Seriously, after all of this, I'm at the same point as that other guy who posted earlier that he was gonna have a little celebration when Bethesda reveals things that will royally piss of the Fallout community. I'm right there with him. If they announce it for every single console including the Wii and that it has real-time combat and that enemy encounters plus loot is going to be scaled according to the player's level and that the dialogue mini game from Oblivion will be transferred over etc, you can rest assured that I will not just grab some popcorn and beer but more like pop some of the finest Veuve Clicquot champagne plus caviar and then I'm going to have a major rolling on the floor laughing my ass off session as I watch the drama unfold... should be fun :biggrin: .

And the attention you're giving us works very self-confirming, thank you for caring.

No prob. I'll PM you my PayPal details :) .

*sighs* Frith give me patience.

I quote myself for a second time:
" Ours is hating? Please point out where this has a foundation in reality, considering our history with Tactics, Van Buren and the Fallout Bibles"

Your reply every time is to repeat that we're hateful and hysterical. Not a single time have you backed this up with facts. I have yet to see you explain why the reaction to Bethesda is a big exception in the way the Fallout fans usually interact with the fans. Where's the "up on the tree all the time" with Tactics? Van Buren? Fallout Bibles?

Where that has a foundation in reality? Back it up with facts? Where's the "up on the tree all the time"? Are you kidding? I don't know what the character limit is for posts on this forum here but I'm sure I could quite easily bust it if I were to waste my time and dig up all the hate talk threads from the Codex and NMA forums. Gallons of spit must have been wiped off monitors worldwide during the course of the anti-Bethesda/anti-FO3 crusade. Well, and to hold contests who can get banned from the ESF forums quicker than someone else is about as retarded and childish as it gets. You can't deny that this is happening.

But please do reply by just saying we're hysterical again. I'm sure *this time* it'll prove you right.

You're hysterical. I win teh intahnet!!11 :biggrin:
 
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I don't know what the character limit is for posts on this forum here but I'm sure I could quite easily bust it if I were to waste my time and dig up all the hate talk threads from the Codex and NMA forums. Gallons of spit must have been wiped off monitors worldwide during the course of the anti-Bethesda/anti-FO3 crusade. Well, and to hold contests who can get banned from the ESF forums quicker than someone else is about as retarded and childish as it gets. You can't deny that this is happening.

Yes, the reaction to Bethesda was pretty intense.

To Bethesda. Not to Fallout 2. Not to Tactics. Not to Van Buren. So where is the "up the tree all the time", the drivel and irrationality? We've supported every game in the series so far, we made Tactics a smash hit in pre-orders before it was released and sucked. Brotherhood of Steel was the first exception in which we did *not* support a game beforehand, and that was simulanteous with us supporting Van Buren heavily, though with criticism.

Bethesda is the second exception. Not the rule. If the modus operandus of the Fallout fanbase is to be critical, but heavily interested in a game, as has *always* been the case, but this is not so in this case...why do you blame the fanbase? With all things equal, Occam's Razor dictates that if the developer is the only thing that changed it is the developer's fault that the attitude changed.

QED.

Well said.

Are you people paying attention? The article is not about being angry with Bethesda, it's about the way the fans are treated, the way fans treat others and what choices are open to Bethesda and what consequences said choices will have.

Abbaon: your point is an awkwardly good one, damn you. That's a matter of perspective, though, and I don't think Tactics, which was clearly presented as a spinoff, and Brotherhood of Steel, which was a failure, deconstructed the franchise so much that only the setting remains as a key element. Fallout is still an RPG franchise, especially if you present a point in the series as such...I'll assume Bethesda will call it an RPG, I hope you guys won't shout "wait and see!" at that
 
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I would start complaining once they start actually releasing screenshots or revealing the inner workings of the game, before then you just sound like a pack of rabid dogs that should be put out of their misery.

This is the second time someone advocates the physical extinction of Fallout fans in this topic. Who's rabid now?...

And have you noticed how many pages this topic has? I thought you Fallout haters didn't care? :)

The second article is out!
 
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They seem to be most fixated on the baser side of the game as well.
Yeah, they're totally fixated on those base aspects like dialogue and consequences, rather than appreciating the more sophisticated elements of gore and sexual humour. LOL prostitutes! Me laugh you long time!


All I said was that for the fans of the original series this is DSA 4 all the way.
As a fan of the original series, I find your comment interesting. Not true, but interesting that you'd go and make such an stupid assertion.

Trust me. Any fan of the original German DSA CRPGs will immediately think 'Yay, DSA 4 is being made' when they hear of Drakensang.
Admittedly, that IS what I thought when I first heard about it - until I read some developers' posts on the official forums.
 
Thanks for the link, I've posted it to the main news page!!
 
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And have you noticed how many pages this topic has? I thought you Fallout haters didn't care? :)
Five pages, with only the most tenuous connection to the topic. There's a reason why every other post from you guys has been, "Did you read the article? Why aren't you talking about the article? I worked on this dinner for hours and you've barely touched it! :'("
 
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The reason why we Fallout fans are so worry because this kinda thing can happen to any game. It's like id software's next Doom is an adventure game rather than a FPS...you get the idea.

"To me, clear it is, that NMA basically wants the same gameplay as in FO1 and FO2.
Maybe they will agree to updated graphics, and the use of a PhysX engine in the game, but they still want their turnbased combat and the other things in FO1 and FO2. However, this isn't a realistic approach in today's competetive market."

Civilization series... even the latest is a turn-based and it's a market success...So is Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators
 
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zakhal
"You don’t seem to understand the difference between static (full scripted) and dynamic (minimal scripting) dialogue"
Or I do understand the difference and don't have any reason to accept low quality of writing whether it's intended as static or dynamic in oblivion (tes) qualifies it as an RPG or this in anyway provides hope bethesda is qualified to write an RPG. :)
Plus an action or adventure game can have that level of dialogue which doesn't qualify them as an RPGs.

Your position afai can tell, assumes they have (still?) or intend to hire static dialogue scripters for a franchise, not of their own creation and sell it as an RPG which is exactly how they tried to market oblivion, remember Radiant AI?

The crappy quality of writing for the most part in oblivion (static or dynamic, not sure why this matters but I will go along) or the higher quality of many years ago in Redguard (in your words);
Yet you are basing this on their accomplishment many years ago and not to mention often times, at least in regards to oblivion was inane, repetitive and a very low quality, hence again my question.
How can we as gamers know which kind of RPG Fallout will be?

Personally I don't see how we can know since we clearly can't count on bethesda , afai can tell, if they are conscously choosing to have the lowest quality writing (for the most part) and then pretend it's an RPG.

"Its just not fully handwritten like in normal RPGs."
Cause it's not an RPG. :)

"Because fallout is not part of the TES series."
That doesn't answer the question, we all know fallout isn't part or tes (yet? :p ) which is why I asked what makes them care about fallout to enough to give it a real dialogue as in a RPG over their own series because as I mentioned tes was marketed as an RPG, remember Radiant AI?

"P.S It spelled Bethesda not bethseda"
Thank you.

"Redguard is an adventure game not RPG"
We were talking about the quality of writing for an RPG, but even if you bring up an adventure game it should still be given consideration, well imo anyway.

"it was released 8 years ago not 10."
Errrr ok, thanks.
I am not sure how this matters in our conversation or in RL as I have and quite likely never meet a situation where the exact time frame will be pertinent.
As a matter of fact I even hit the 80% range which normally would disqualify me from a firing squad. :)
Btw if your really care or are intrested, it was Nov 1998, which means it's 8 years till Nov 2007, so aren't you the one mistaken?
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/elder-scrolls-adventures-redguard

"Or then you are just wasting my time with trolling."
Right, suggesting I could be misunderstanding you or your position highly qualifies me as a troll or actively trolling. :p

I am getting the impression you don't feel the point is relevent any more. ;)
 
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This is the second time someone advocates the physical extinction of Fallout fans in this topic. Who's rabid now?...

No, I said Rabid dogs(ala wasteland) should be put out of their misery, if you are agreeing that you are a rabid dog then we have reached an agreement. :)

I am just as likely to be doing the same as you when in a few months Beth soft actually starts releasing design information etc. I will be absolutely gutted if I find it actually is "Oblivion with guns".
 
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