Fallout - SPECIAL @ Twenty Sided

Dhruin

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Shamus Young's Twenty Sided blog (home of the recent three or four part Eschalon review) takes a look at Fallout's SPECIAL system:
The discussion on Eschalon’s character system was pretty interesting. Several people mentioned other game systems, some with numerous attributes that define your character, and some with very few. Opinions ranged from “you should only need mind / body / spirit” to “let’s track every possible aspect of your being using linked stats and floating-point numbers”.
Of all the (computer) RPG’s I’ve played over the years, my favorite character progression system is still the one found in the 1997 classic Fallout. Why I love this system [...]
More information.
 
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I always get a "403 forbidden" error on that site - I can't view any page.
 
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You guys probably don't like proxies, but specifically for 403 errors it can help to try and load the page through a proxy
 
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Thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort :)
 
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(no problem loading site with my non-proxy sys') :D

Shamus makes a good account of 'attributes' ideals of the fallout system - but as he rightly infers, these are 'turn based' ideals. It would be extremely hard (eg: what would be the point?) to try and transpose these attributes into a non turn based system.

I'm not sure if an over-attributed game is a good thing, certainly diversity within a fairly 'preset' class and skills system is good for replay factor and to entice contemporary gamers...which is surely what Bethesda seek with their new Fallout 3.

Yes, even Eschalon Book-1 had enough class choice to warrant game-start replay (retry).

Will Fallout 3 be turn based?
 
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Will Fallout 3 be turn based?
From what I've heard, and as the guy mentions near the end of his article, Fallout 3 be real-time shooter action with an optional pause feature much like that in Baldur's Gate (except with a fancy name to make it seem new and different).

And I agree that Fallout has the best character creation system of all time. I love the SPECIAL scores, love the skill selection, and most of all really love the perks. One of the most enjoyable things about the game was looking at all the crazy perks that become available. If Bethesda had the good judgment to combine all that with their admittedly pretty cool face-maker from Oblivion, it'd be awesome.
 
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It'll be like Oblivion, but using their Smart aiming system (forgot what its called) you can tactically pre-aim and link your shots for deadly combos, if the enemies can do the same, this game is going to be deadly fun, and it has all the gore... I hope it can live up to the first game.
 
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It'll be like Oblivion, but using their Smart aiming system (forgot what its called) you can tactically pre-aim and link your shots for deadly combos, if the enemies can do the same, this game is going to be deadly fun, and it has all the gore... I hope it can live up to the first game.
Enemies can't do the same. The VATS feature (that's what it's called) is only available to those with a PIPboy3000, so, no, it's a super power only for the player. Besides, it wouldn't really matter. VATS is an interface, not a rule. Enemies can aim at your head or legs and stuff. That's what's FATS's for: to aim and shoot, only in slow mo.
 
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It’s not their (Bethesda's) fault my favorite gameplay mechanics are unpopular.
Actually, it is their fault. As long as no major developer takes a gamble and makes a quality turn-based game (or until an indy company has a run-away success, more likely IMO), turn-based games will remain "unpopular", read: unavailable.
 
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Oh, come on. The SPECIAL system has nothing to do with Lionheart's failure - especially since Reflexive used a bastardised realtime version and didn't design the campaign to actually use the system in any meaningful way.
 
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Oh, come on. The SPECIAL system has nothing to do with Lionheart's failure

OK, Dhruin, time to admit it - it had nothing to do with the last 3/4 of the game being a weaksauce dungeon crawler with lousy combat for that game type ... it was all about the SPECIAL system. Time to drop the denial.
 
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