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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
| Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion - Interview @ C&VG |
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UK mag Computer & Video Games has an <a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/interviews/interviews_story.php?id=134191" target="_blank">interview</a> with Bethesda's Pete Hines on Oblivion, although the last question is on Fallout 3. The Oblivion questions tread familiar ground but here's a bit on the Radiant AI:<blockquote><em><b>So how smart is the AI? Will they envy your sentience, or at least, pretend to be envious?</b>
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<br>Pete Hines: We try not to go too overboard, and we've had to scale things back simply because we don't want things going on that the player doesn't understand. For instance, we don't let AI characters steal items from you - it sounds like something that would be cool and fun, having to lock your house and stuff, but the problem is that when you come back to your house and there are items missing, it doesn't feel like somebody's stolen them, more like the game's broken. We try to make sure that happenings in the game are understandable and are something that you can see and control.</em></blockquote>Here's the Fallout 3 question:<blockquote><em><b>And finally - how's Fallout 3 coming along?</b>
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<br>Pete Hines: We've got a lot of folks working on that game now, and what I've seen of it so far is looking really good and has me very excited - I'm a big fan. We're approaching Fallout 3 as if we developed the first and second games - we're developing it just like we developed Oblivion. Fallout 3 is our baby, we want to stay true to what it is and we want to deliver something that all the fans think is worthwhile. We're trying to move the series forward, keeping it fresh and cool while staying true to its roots. When we're ready we'll let people know, and hopefully people will be excited about some of the ideas we have and some of the stuff we're up to.</em></blockquote> |
Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:50 am |
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abbaon
Head Merchant
Joined: 05 Feb 2006
Posts: 64
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quote:
Fallout 3 is our baby, we want to stay true to what it is and we want to deliver something that all the fans think is worthwhile.
Ahaha. Oh my. Isn't he in for a surprise? |
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Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:54 am |
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r3dshift
Head Merchant
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Joined: 25 Aug 2005
Posts: 68
Location: Hungary |
That's a helluva weak excuse for leaving out the feature of being robbed. They should have simply implemented a pop-up text like "Your purse feels lighter", "You notice that someone has entered your home while you were away" or such whenever theft has happened. No-one would think that the game is broken, then.
But anyway, it's not a key feature, although it would have been fun indeed.
_________________
Don't work too much; it could interfere with your drinking. |
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Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:38 am |
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bjon045
Fearless Paladin
Joined: 02 Jun 2003
Posts: 234
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quote:
Originally posted by abbaon
Ahaha. Oh my. Isn't he in for a surprise?
I'm suprised because of the fact that you are making this statement when very little information about the game has been released. |
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Tue Feb 14, 2006 2:18 pm |
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abbaon
Head Merchant
Joined: 05 Feb 2006
Posts: 64
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I meant it as a comment on the fans. No matter what game you put in front of them, Fallout fans will actually play a metagame, a contest to make the most noise while thrashing, screeching and spitting bile. |
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Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:14 pm |
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Guest
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I think they made the right decision regarding the stealing, which was only meant as an example anyway. How much fun is it going to be if the stylish unique ancient dwemer armor (or whatever) you had in a safe in the locked basement room disappears overnight because a NPC thief got lucky with his radiant AI, and there is no clue whatsoever (the deed being unplanned, emergent behaviour) who might be the culprit? A polite "you notice something is missing from this room that was here a few hours ago" ingame message will not lower the frustration much, probably.
Now, flying is a wholly different story, but this belongs in another discussion thread  |
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Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:50 pm |
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bjon045
Fearless Paladin
Joined: 02 Jun 2003
Posts: 234
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I agree with stealing not being in the game, and if it was it should have been implemented as a quest, i.e. someone steals a specfic item from your house and you get clues as to who took it and you have to track them down.
Let me get this straight, YOU CANNOT FLY?!?!? What kind of elder scrolls game doesn't have flight?!?!? If it is not included I would be highly concerned. |
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Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:22 am |
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Guest
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From a fan interview at http://www.waiting4oblivion.com/fan_interview3.html
quote:
28. Is levitate in as a spell?
No
I think that this is as bad a design decision as can possibly be made and put a serious (and I do not use the word lightly) damper on my expectations. Even if they had to drastically reduce the usability of flight, e.g. make it impossible to use spells and weapons accurately - or at all - while hovering around, give it an insane mana cost, reduce the horizontal speed drastically and do not allow the enchantment of items with levitate, it seems wrong not to have some form of flight in this newest elderscrolls game, as it is one of the elements that make the previous games stand out among others. Also, most importantly, the third dimension was just great fun to have, if only to get another perspective.
Well, maybe there is still hope that they still put flight in somehow. |
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Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:04 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
The problem with flight isn't spells or combat balance - it's issues like cities being separate zones. They can't have you trying to levitate over the city walls only to find the city isn't really there.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:25 pm |
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GhanBuriGhan
Noble Knight
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 208
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I don't think the cities are the reason, that could have easily been handled with a New York style no-fly zone. I think the reason for them was "level design" and combat AI - it's much easier to plan obstacles and difficulties in the players path if he cant just zoom over them, and flying PC's and NPC's adds a whole new level to combat AI navigation. |
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Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:09 pm |
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El Patito
Head Merchant
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 59
Location: Sweden |
quote:
Originally posted by r3dshift
That's a helluva weak excuse for leaving out the feature of being robbed. They should have simply implemented a pop-up text like "Your purse feels lighter", "You notice that someone has entered your home while you were away" or such whenever theft has happened. No-one would think that the game is broken, then.
I could see that working, but I would be seriously annoyed if someone stole from me from my home in the game. I'm glad the they left the feature out.
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Patito |
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Wed Feb 15, 2006 3:51 pm |
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Guest
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If the cities are the main problem, they are quite limited in designing them and the areas around them, as any elevation above the city's walls outside or structures towering over the walls inside could pose a problem. The common way around this are placeholder areas with a lower polygon count for the other zone respectively. It seems strange that they would not implement something like this, but if they did not do this, I guess a quick fix is out of the question.
In case combat is the problem, however, a high mana cost and an inability to fight while flying (you have to concentrate on the spell, etc.) should easily circumvent the issue.
Should they be concerned about circumventing traps and other obstacles using levitation, extremely slow or zero horizontal speed and/or a limited flying time (like breathing under water) should do the trick. The spell would still be fun to use just for the coolness factor and to get a nice view of the area. I for one would prefer a low efficiency levitation over not being able to fly at all. |
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Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:59 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
They do use a "placeholder" image for the city but I believe entry to the zone is limited to the gateways. Anyway, I defer to GhanBuriGhan - he follows TES stuff much closer than I do, so perhaps I just misunderstood a comment from MSFD.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Thu Feb 16, 2006 12:06 am |
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