A falling out
Mar 24, 2009 21:16:21
Submitted by Brent on Mar 24, 2009 21:16:21 CST (comments: 2)
Mar 24, 2009 21:16:21
| By Julie Whitefeather I started out playing video games on systems with names like Sega, 3DO and Playstation before it had a number after the name. (I could ride the nostalgia train back to the 1970s when "videogames" only had text and a friend showed off a brand new game called "pong" but that is another story). By the time Playstation rolled around I spent hours on end in my free time playing role playing games (RPG) and racing games like Gran Turismo - in fact one of the races in Gran Turismo even took four hours to complete. Back then Richard Garriott was still with Origin Systems and busy producing Ultima Online (UO); Everquest didn't have a numeral after it and wasn't even on the market. I still remember first setting virtual foot on the streets of Britannia (the main city in UO). It was then that something strange happened - I had entered the world of the MMO and kicked the console games to the curb. Since then I moved on to games like World of Warcraft, Everquest I and II, Eve Online, Lord of the Rings Online and Voyage Century. Oh I occasionally dabbled in other single player pc games like Half Life series and The Witcher but it was not long before even those games were kicked to the curb as well. Just recently I fired up the laptop and logged on to a game that was like meeting an old friend in the street that I hadn't seen in years - Fallout 3. I was leery about playing it at first. After all, no matter how much a reviewer, a columnist or podcaster may scream the accolades of a game, when you or I play a game we may still think it stinks out loud, or at least has an unpleasant odor; such was the case with "the witcher". I soon found myself playing fallout 3 even to the exclusion of mmos - surprising considering how much I had grown to dislike single player games. It was like coming home again after a long trip. Even the siren call of the 800 pound Activision/Blizzard gorilla couldn't match Fallout 3. (That's a mixed metaphor with an odd image isn't it?) It has the certain "je ne sais qua" that the first 20 levels of Age of Conan had, only better. Part of it is the incredible voice acting of people like Leam Neeson and Ron Perlman. Another aspect is the non-linearity of the game; it's nice to have a choice instead of having a goal set before me and having my nose rubbed in it like an errant puppy. But the "piece de resistance" is the GECK modding system that Bethesda has gifted the players with. It may take me a while to master it but when I do it will be like having a Sims 2 with attitude - a really nasty attitude. See you online (eventually) - Julie Whitefeather |
Submitted by Brent on Mar 24, 2009 21:16:21 CST (comments: 2)
Comments:
'Not letting go' by madwilliamflint
Submitted on 2009-03-25 03:57:58 CST
It's even replayable!
My excitement caused me to burn through it in a weekend the first time. Undaunted I then hit the patch/mod community and started over. This time I'm going through everything. I'm just shy of the finishing sequence on the main line, but I'm not going near it until I'm sick to DEATH of everything else.
Every time I expect to hit that point, I round another corner. I don't expect it any time soon.
Why couldn't Oblivion have grabbed me like this? Or at all?
'Playing in the Sandbox' by Julie
Submitted on 2009-03-26 11:03:06 CST
The sandbox approach that Bethesda has taken to the game coupled with the ease with which the game can be modded makes the game infinitely replayable.
There are indeed a great deal of active modding communities out there - the two most active that come immediately to mind are "Modding four fun" and "Fallout 3 Nexus".
I have spent a great deal of time the last few weeks learning to mod the game and I am writting a few articles about it. In fact last night when I put my mod online for the first time I ventured in and found the game itself had filled the vault with supermutants. A bit of a shock considering I had never put them there in the first place and was not expecting to encounter them.
Julie
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