Two Games, same franchise, two developers, same publisher. Can Obsidian fix the mistakes and improve the elements that made Fallout 3 good? Or will it all turn out to be Alpha Protocol all over again, high anticipation and expectations, little to no execution?
I first got Fallout 3 for my birthday, of this year, which is May 1st. Well even though I've only had the game for two months, with almost a month of that spent far away from the game (a state away to be exact), I've studied every aspect of Fallout 3, the enemies, the NPCs, the weapons, I've seen just about everything Fallout 3 has to offer, no DLC though. So this October, I'm going to have to make the transition from Capital Wasteland to New Vegas, from karma to reputation, from Bethesda Game Studios to Obsidian Entertainment.
Now I'm still somewhat paranoid after seeing Obsidian make Alpha Protocol, which got mixed reviews at best, and that's all it deserves. However I think I now why Alpha Protocol failed so badly, Sega was the publisher. Now I'm not going on and dissing Sega here, well I kind of am, but Sega has been putting all their money into Dimps and Sonic Team to make a good Sonic game, which as of Sonic Unleashed, they provided 25% of a good game, and now that they've come to their senses and made Sonic 4, the first 2D Sonic in ages, and keeping the new 3D Sonic, Sonic Colors, speed and nothing but, they might make a really good Sonic game. However this couldn't help them make a good game out of Alpha Protocol, why? I don't know but it was probably money issues considering they canceled two games that Obsidian was working on for them. There must be a serious problem here, probably with Obsidian, because Platinum Games, their first three games having Sega as the publisher, have received really good reception from game critics, with their final game with Sega, Vanquish, releasing later this year to high anticipation. So was it just Sega not supervising them well enough or giving them enough time, or Obsidian not putting enough effort into the game? I think Bethesda will turn them around and make them acclaimed RPG developers again.
Well that was behind the scenes for the game, but what about the game itself? Well remember what I said in the beginning, about Obsidian fixing Fallout 3's problems and improving it's good elements, well that means they follow the same framework as Fallout 3 did, just improve it. Despite what I said, I don't think they get rid of the karma system, but they do put in the reputation system, which is the way people treat you, good or bad, not usually on karma, but on what faction (team) you're on. Also, your weapons will be more in-depth, with new weapons, a modification system, and using the iron sight to help aim better, I wonder if this will affect armor as well. You can also command any companions you have with better control using the new companion wheel, so you can tell your companion what to do more specifically. What I think is the biggest change of them all is the addition of the new Hardcore mode, which is much more different from what it sounds like. Hardcore mode gives the game a more realistic feel, like delayed healing with medication or food, medical items and high medicine skill to heal crippled limbs, constant water to avoid death by dehydration, weighted ammunition, and food and sleep to avoid death by hunger and sleep deprevation, which all adds up to a somewhat hectic experience from someone that's played Fallout 3 and thinks "no more stimpaks, I'll die before the day ends.".
Well I still look at Fallout 3, and think that Obsidian has to put a LOT of effort into Fallout New Vegas if they want to be better than this masterpiece, like having a better story than trying to find daddy. I'm not the game developer, so I'll just leave all of the heavy details to them, but I really hope that they make this a good sequel to the revival of the Fallout franchise, but Bethesda is probably going to take my money either way with RAGE come next year.
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