13pm
Water Chip? Been There, Done That
The site with a long name XBox360achievements.org has an interview with J.E. Sawyer on New Vegas. Some interesting bits there:<blockquote>Are there any nods to Fallout 3 in New Vegas, crossovers maybe where fans will go “holy crap, I remember that from Fallout 3!?”
There are a few small references here and there, but New Vegas is its own story.
The weapon customisation system is new as well we assume, can you tell us a little about that and what sort of advantages players will be able to take from this? Can we expect to be making a number of wacky contraptions?
We've tried to avoid wacky contraptions for the most part. In the Fallout universe, the western portion of the United States is a lot more industrialized and generally "with it" than the east. As a result, most of the mods are of the traditional variety.
We have a large number of traditional firearms in the game and there are a lot of mods for those weapons: extended magazines for pistols, larger ammunition drums for submachine guns, custom high-speed actions for lever action rifles, silencers, suppressors, and so on. We also have mods for energy weapons and explosives, like focus optics for the laser rifle (increases damage), and the "Little Boy" kit for the Fat Man, which drastically reduces its weight.</blockquote>Nice to see our old good friend Fatman back. Oh, wait...
<blockquote>You’ve also spiced up the melee system with the alternate attacks, an example of which is the “Fore!” move for the golf club. Can we expect to see some artistic license taken with these? If you had to pick one, what would be your favourite?
The special melee attacks are all meant to be a bit exaggerated and fantastic in nature to set them apart from the standard moves. My favorite move is probably Mauler, used by sledges and super sledges. It's a really tremendous swing and does a lot of damage.
What else have you added to New Vegas gameplay wise that will add to the experience, other than the reputation system and the weapon customisation?
A ton of stuff, honestly. We've changed the SPECIAL system so the ability scores have more impact on your character. As an example, weapons now have Strength requirements. If you don't meet the weapon's requirements, your aim will suffer (for firearms) or it will attack more slowly (if a melee or unarmed weapon). Strength also affects how far you can throw weapons like grenades. On the more "cerebral" side of things, Charisma affects a statistic called Nerve that is applied to companions as a combat bonus.
We created a new crafting interface for the game that is quite extensive. Initially it was only going to apply to the Survival skill, but we expanded it to use a variety of skills at different locations. Crafting ranges from cooking raw meat into steak at a campfire to hand loading custom ammunition from spent shell casings at a reloading bench. I think people will really enjoy it.
We understand that a few of the guys at the studio also worked on Van Buren – the could have been Fallout 3 game – what came of that in the end? Have you taken anything across from that development in to this one?
Like most cancelled projects, the assets and documents went on a drive somewhere and collected dust in the "could have been" vault. We have carried some of the ideas from Van Buren into New Vegas. Primarily, the use of Caesar's Legion as a looming threat in the region, though it is much more present in New Vegas than it was in Van Buren. Most of the other similarities lie in bringing back regional power players from previous games: the New California Republic, Gun Runners, Crimson Caravan, Followers of the Apocalypse, and so on.</blockquote>Link: Interview with J.E. Sawyer at XBox360Achievements
Thanks to incognito.
There are a few small references here and there, but New Vegas is its own story.
The weapon customisation system is new as well we assume, can you tell us a little about that and what sort of advantages players will be able to take from this? Can we expect to be making a number of wacky contraptions?
We've tried to avoid wacky contraptions for the most part. In the Fallout universe, the western portion of the United States is a lot more industrialized and generally "with it" than the east. As a result, most of the mods are of the traditional variety.
We have a large number of traditional firearms in the game and there are a lot of mods for those weapons: extended magazines for pistols, larger ammunition drums for submachine guns, custom high-speed actions for lever action rifles, silencers, suppressors, and so on. We also have mods for energy weapons and explosives, like focus optics for the laser rifle (increases damage), and the "Little Boy" kit for the Fat Man, which drastically reduces its weight.</blockquote>Nice to see our old good friend Fatman back. Oh, wait...
<blockquote>You’ve also spiced up the melee system with the alternate attacks, an example of which is the “Fore!” move for the golf club. Can we expect to see some artistic license taken with these? If you had to pick one, what would be your favourite?
The special melee attacks are all meant to be a bit exaggerated and fantastic in nature to set them apart from the standard moves. My favorite move is probably Mauler, used by sledges and super sledges. It's a really tremendous swing and does a lot of damage.
What else have you added to New Vegas gameplay wise that will add to the experience, other than the reputation system and the weapon customisation?
A ton of stuff, honestly. We've changed the SPECIAL system so the ability scores have more impact on your character. As an example, weapons now have Strength requirements. If you don't meet the weapon's requirements, your aim will suffer (for firearms) or it will attack more slowly (if a melee or unarmed weapon). Strength also affects how far you can throw weapons like grenades. On the more "cerebral" side of things, Charisma affects a statistic called Nerve that is applied to companions as a combat bonus.
We created a new crafting interface for the game that is quite extensive. Initially it was only going to apply to the Survival skill, but we expanded it to use a variety of skills at different locations. Crafting ranges from cooking raw meat into steak at a campfire to hand loading custom ammunition from spent shell casings at a reloading bench. I think people will really enjoy it.
We understand that a few of the guys at the studio also worked on Van Buren – the could have been Fallout 3 game – what came of that in the end? Have you taken anything across from that development in to this one?
Like most cancelled projects, the assets and documents went on a drive somewhere and collected dust in the "could have been" vault. We have carried some of the ideas from Van Buren into New Vegas. Primarily, the use of Caesar's Legion as a looming threat in the region, though it is much more present in New Vegas than it was in Van Buren. Most of the other similarities lie in bringing back regional power players from previous games: the New California Republic, Gun Runners, Crimson Caravan, Followers of the Apocalypse, and so on.</blockquote>Link: Interview with J.E. Sawyer at XBox360Achievements
Thanks to incognito.
