No Mutants Allowed user Arden has translated some more interesting bits from the German PC Games magazine preview of Fallout: New Vegas:
Page 2: Mentions the char creation. Most of it was mentioned already in other threads here. You get shot in the head and buried in the Mojave. The Robot shown in the teaser digs you out and brings you to Goodsprings. The interface for appearance selection seems to be unchanged apart from a slide to set your age.
There are some speculations about rumours on this page too: The Origin-like Backgrounds for Characters remain unconfirmed. Chinese Agent Faction and/or Origin remain unconfirmed. Ghouls are present in FONV but PCGamer thinks it unlikely that you can play a ghoul (don’t know what leads them to that assumption). Vehicles remain unconfirmed but they think it possible, since the terrain isn’t as urban as the Wastelands of the capital. Caesar's Legion is in Control of NV or at least a part of it (Vegas Strip). This leads to some speculation about Arena-fights and betting.
Page3: Char creation again. FONV will have about the same size as FO3. Your first Goal is to find out why you were killed. Your adventures will have a significant impact on the development of Vegas. Weapon modifications. Most of this was mentioned already. You can put an extended clip and a scope on pistols. Pistols are only effective at close range because of a big spread at long range. Rifles can be further upgraded by a mod that increases RoF. There’s a mention of the fact that in FO1+2 weapons could be modified but FO3 achieved this only through Fan-made Mods.
Page4: Mentions Pipboy and the hardcore-mode. Some aspects of hardcore are: stimpaks heal over time. You can die of dehydration (there was some speculation on NMA if dehydration would lead to death or only to stats-losses. So don’t forget taking some water with you)
Ammo has weight and crippled limbs need to be treated by a doctor.
Some places like goodsprings, hooverdam and McCarran Airport are mentioned. Area 51 remains unconfirmed. The solar-array can be used as weapon or powersupply, a choice to be made by the player.
Some Graphics comparsions. As mentioned by buxbaum666 the animations and faces seem to be slightly worse than FO3 but they mention that there’s ample time for Obsidian to improve this.
Page5: History of Obsidian, Games they made and the fact that a lot of the people that made FO2 are working at Obsidian now.
In Goodspring you get to do the tutorial. The tutorial can be skipped (thank god).
Page6: Combat System. VATS remains unchanged so far. Except that each melee-weapon now has a special attack. You can side with the powder gang or assist the people of Goodsprings to beat the gang off. The stuff about the companion-wheel was already mentioned.
Page 7: Mentions that the dialog-system has been reworked. Apparently each and every possible answer is shown even if your skills are too low. The way the options are written should give the player an idea if they are likely to succeed on a skilltest. If an answer contains a lot of stuttering or insecurity the player should choose another option. You don’t get punished for failing a test directly. You can also retry the speechoption again later when you have increased the relevant skill. The NPC’s respond believable to your insecurity by low skills.
Page 8: Combat again and weapon-mods again. Then some info on the reputation-system (with a mention that Players of FO1+2 will recognize this). Instead of karma you get reputation for different locations and factions. There are 3 factions: NCR is based at the McCarren Airport and is allied to BOS. Ceasers Legion is based in Vegas-Strip. And then there are the people of Vegas, based in… well, Vegas.
Page9: confusing bit: barter is not used solely for trading but represents your ability to persuade (don’t know what happens to speech). Mention of Black Mountain and supermuties, nothing really new. Some are smart some are stupid and you can take advantage of this and sow some dissent. And some, of course, are night-kin.
Page10. You get a companion in Black Mountain. Some stuff about companion-management.
First Impression of Weber: I liked Fo1 and 2. I was excited when Bethesda announced Fo3 and made that excellent game (quote of Weber, don’t burn me). The chap was disappointed at first when he heard about FONV because he hoped for the next evolution of FO after FO3 (don’t know what that would be exactly in his opinion, something like FO3:BOS 1st Person with IMMERSION-Engine™). But after an hour of FONV he lost the bad feeling and cant wait now to know how the story goes on and how Obsidians changes will feel.
The interview with Chris Avellone:
- PG: Why Vegas?
- CA: We wanted to take the player away from D.C. and far to the west. So that the feeling was more of the wild west instead of the feeling of “rebirth” of FO3.
- PG: some of you worked on the old titles, how do you feel about being able to work on FONV?
- CA: Very happy. Loved FO1, was happy to work on 2 and was happy too when Bethesda came around the corner asking him to do FONV.
- PG: So Bethesda asked you? You didn’t go to beth?
- CA. yes, they approached us. But with our background this wasn’t surprising. We showed that we can do good games based on existing material. And many of us have worked on Fallout.
- PG: Whats the biggest difference between FO3 and FONV?
- CA: The focus in NV will be on interaction with the factions. There will be lots of ways to piss those off or get on their good side. Moddable Weapons, Companion-Management and new dialog-system.
- PG: (intelligence) So I can ruin my reputation easily in NV?
- CA: Well, its like real life: different people react differently to your actions. Sometimes the player will realise immediately that he fucked up, sometimes consequences will show hours later. Same with the dialog: some npc’s will react different to different skills and they respond accordingly.
- PG: Will we be able to correct our decisions?
- CA: Absolutely. If you later got the skills or stats then you can certainly try to get things straight.
- PG: How is the progress on the Game?
- CA: Good. Right now we work on dialog and places. The rest looks pretty good.”