Some thoughts on the 5 gameplay videos and a surprise
I'll begin with a little introduction. My first name is Robert and i was born , raised and currently reside in Poland, Warsaw( though spent many years in various countries, which may be unimportant but getting to know other cultures, societies and points of view helps

and widens one's horizons a bit or maybe a lot

) This is my first post on this well known and respectable forum ( although one game developer starting with the letter B. would possible disagree, right

) and i was and I'm following NMA very closely for years now and regard it as my no.1 source of Fallout news. I am and always be a passionate admirer ( not fan, which some of u know derive from the word fanatic

Fallout universe. Although my passion is limitless , i still welcome any critique or discussion on the subject

. During all that time i prefered to remain a neutral bystander, observer if u will (i never felt that sharing my opinions with u all was necessary or needed

. U all did very well without my humble soul

. And now finally after all time passed , i decided to share some of thoughts on the upcoming Fallout 3( or better Fallout 3,5 or even 4, Van Buren will always remain the one and only successor imo) . Let's write some Fallout

than. U wonder how ii all started? Well, u might have read it many times b4. Back in 1998 i listened to my friends intriguing tales of playing a mysterious game in which he wandered through endless wastes ,visited desolated towns( he played on his old Pentium60 and 8 MB of Ram

) , how sluggish the game run during combat and how he in the end bravely fought some mutants and finally blew sky high a strange creature named the Master

. It wasn't until some years later when i finally got a copy of Fallout 2 and instantly fell in "love"

. The story, the "no-hope" feeling, the bloody combat, the dialogues , the deep immersion phenomenon from the start and last but not least the music by Mark Morgan, my favorite score "Vats of Goo", the most "falloutish" of them all . One could write stories all day. After playing through as the "Guardian of the Wastes"( i have a tendency of playing as the good guy though sometimes couldn't resist the urge to exterminate Vault City , New Reno or San Francisco

) , i also got acquainted with Fallout 1 and to be frank , was little disappointed to finish it so "quickly". Taking a break from both games for a while, i returned to Fallout after Killap's Restoration mod

was available and enjoyed it immensly. Thanks Killap and all the others for your contribution.
After the lengthy and much needed introduction( though some of u might think otherwise

) i will share with u my impressions of the gameplay videos.
1. The vault interior and the first few moments are fine( but as a person who by nature loves perfection, i will stay very critical and "picky" to say the least) . Furthermore one must ignore the fact that such vault would have never been built so close to a populated area!! and the cave, hole ? is too close to the surface!, ( also the "tunnel" is too short and too shallow). Considering the fact that some people in the area were still alive after the bombs fell( hard to imagine if u ask me), the vault itself could have been very easily found by anyone(I repeat, just anyone, especially by all the evil or not so evil factions of Fallout universe which as u know possessed prewar knowledge on many vaults locations, although some info must have been lost) , i find it disturbing and completely out of touch with realism that Bethesda wants us to believe such nonsense. I imagine that every vault builders ( in our or any alternative reality) would want to keep its location secret and well hidden but Bethesda defies any logic

and common sense which of course saddens me deeply.
2. What stopped others to try to get in during a 200 years after its closure ? I hope to find a good answer to that mystery... but don't expect me to have my thumbs up to be honest

.
3. Thirdly the "looks", the graphics , the feel is ok, better than oblivion but as many of u pointed out i couldn't see any dynamic shadows, strange but true. Terrain is good, some level of immersion is achieved but other aspects ruin the experience...
4. Exploding cars after a few gunshots ? In what reality

? Complete nonsense again.Try that in home, it won't happen. Any fuel left after 200 years

? No. Shooting gasoline doesn't lead to explosions or any fireworks like Bethesda wants us to believe. Very sad again. Feels like a slap in the face, doesn't it? Flying sky high cars after a "explosion"

? Again, it must have been packed to the roof with explosives and equipped with a detonator but who really cares

? Cars will fly sky high 300 years from now

,just by shooting with a 9 mm gun.
5. Megaton is just around the corner, doesn't it disturb u

? . Will somebody explain to me how the hell the protagonist, no matter how evil and twisted he or she is , would agree to arm and detonate a A-bomb in such great proximity to his home

? The only place he knew all his life . U also have to ask yourself why does he or she so willingly agree to take part in such a risky and mindless enterprise so quickly( to blow up Megaton) without acquiring any background knowledge. It's all rubbish and totally unrealistic. One could easily expose Burke's intentions

and that's it. No cause and effect explained, nothing. And the radiation afterwards, how could one travel back to that area and revisit the protagonist's home, i know, powerarmor and a pack of RadX, very safe, yes

. No trial quests b4 Burke's "big" job? Nonsense again. How could one trust his life with a complete stranger? . Where is the good old Fallout formula? Prove yourself worthy, gain some trust( vide New Reno families, Broken Hills by Marcus , Vault City quests and so on ) and then get the tricky ones.
6. The dialogues? I imagine most of the people being alive in such reality would be on "edge" so the language is acceptable, though i would advise more caution when dealing with non-hostile strangers and wouldn't dismiss everyone just by "looks". Too little info to comment further.
7. Animations? Without doubt there are really, really bad by the most part. Most characters just "slide" and movement is far from being natural. They appear to be stiff and wooden. But that's not the worst part. They ALL have been deprived of the selfpreservation instinct and lack any intelligence. Get a closer look the at Super Duper Mart "massacre". Charging when firing a long range rifle. Not hiding and just waiting to be slaughtered. No tactics, just taking space, nothing more. Look at the lady coming down the stairs in the Tenpenny tower in the upper left corner .No comments on that i' m afraid. Games ten years ago managed better.
8. The V.A.T.S ...Looks nice but the death animations can be dismissed again as unrealistic. Getting a deadly head shot seems easy, too easy

. Want to shoot off ones arm, leg, go on, easy again. I wonder what was the difficulty setting, maybe very low

, one has to have hope

. What about getting shot many times and still being able to shoot, move? Again, no further comment needed!!
9. Combat training. Where the hell would the vault dweller, (someone who comes from a community which lived underground for generations ) , would acquire combat experience? Ok, reading books, shooting static targets, practising in the gym , going to classes won't make u a killing machine, does it? No study on that by Bethesda, no explanation so far again, no realism, not a bit. Sad once again and the list of improbabilities goes longer and longer.
10. No comment on the Crab "people" . U can guess what i think

. The FEV virus, radiation combined caused to mutate

. What a lovely story.
11. And finally, what feeling comes to your mind when u see all those frenzy , bloodthirsty ??

enemies shooting straight away? Did it happen in FO 1 or FO2? Rarely( though it depended on the area), mostly in random encounters but never in the cities. One had to get under someone's skin to provoke aggression. Remember the raider camp in FO1? Or slaver camp in Killapp's expansion? There was almost no blind aggression. I imagine that being a evil character isn't as Bethesda sees it a simple matter of white and black , it's rather much more complex. I for instance would from to time time, depending on the circumstances, try to meet "the stranger", get to know him, even try to ally with him and if that fails then surround him or her and only then go for the kill

. Being evil requires a lot of wits

, most of the time . Of course one can't exclude the possibility that shooting first and asking questions later is only and right way to deal with strangers in eastern wastes...
That's all folks and i hope to see some good responses. Be well and never stop loving , playing Fallout.
Yes, i will buy the game , i already pre-ordered it

.
Remember, War might never change, but games do

and yes the formula that goes with it...