Thanks to Emil, Todd and Pete for the demo and answering all these questions and thanks to fellow gaffers for your input!
Demoed on 360.
Warning: Possible spoilers within.
ANSWERS:
Separate PC / Console UI?
Yes, they learned their lesson from Oblivion and are making sure that the PC GUI will be suitable for keyboard+mouse users
PC/360/PS3 simultaneous release?
Yes.
Mod support on PC or Console?
Hasn't been decided yet.
More celebrity voice overs?
Besides Ron Perlman, they aren't ready to make any further announcements at this stage. No Jean-Luc
Any returning characters?
Not saying at this moment.
How dialogue works?
Branching dialogue tree, different choices/chances of success based on charisma and speaking skill.
Poor INT will NOT affect your dialogue choices.
Weather system?
Yes.
Fanbois?
They understand they're passionate about the brand and want to live up to their expectations but they are definitely making a game that they themselves want to play
How far can camera zoom out?
Pretty much full control over camera and can get into an iso/top-down view.
VATS?
Pauses game and lets you queue up actions, according to how many Action Points you have.
Action Points regenerate in real time based on Agility.
AP cost is dependant on weapon, skill.
Can queue up actions on multiple enemies.
My impression.. the combat looks like alot of fun!
Game areas?
Game areas are not scaled such as in Oblivion although there will be some minor scaling of creatures withing a predefined range of levels to maintain a fair bit of challenge.
Because XP and Levels are used, they are able to determine PC level/power better and be able to tailor quests/direct players to zones appropriate for their levels.
Random encounters/easter eggs such as Alien ship?
Maybe.
FYI, on the Energy Weapons skill info pane, it affects these types of weapons:
Children?
In the game, killable (directly)? Not yet decided.
Groin/Eye shots?
They figure that a crit on the eye will gib the head anwyays so probably leaving that out. Groin shot is a maybe.
NPCs? Dogmeat?
Animal companions.. maybe. NPC followers are recruitable based on karma (good/evil/neutral) and controlled through dialogue.
Bloody mess perk?
Yes
Does the game end? Is there a level cap?
Yes to both questions.
How much it ties into the previous games?
You'll find out!
OTHER TIDBITS:
Weapons have decay. They are repaired using the repair skill which requires weapons of the same type to get parts from. Weapons decay has many effects such as Rate of Fire, Cone, Damage
Water is an important theme in Fallout, it's one way you can heal.
The Super Mutant Behemoth... looked like something out of GeOW, but in GeOW you don't actually get to fight the big monsters.
The Fat Man nuke effect is really cool.
Hacking minigame... hack into the BIOS for passwords to terminals. There will be alot of terminals.
XP mostly comes from quests.
Towns and Buildings are zoned like in Oblivion (load times between each, etc).
Other factions: one of the radio stations mentioned by in game dialogue is apparently run by
.
The faces are much better, especially the female ones.
Your in-game father (Liam Neeson) will physically reflect the choices you make on your own character's appearance.
Overall... I want to play this game!
My preview will probably go up on http://gamedeveloper.digitalmedianet.com/
but it will be way more general than this post, probably mostly a description of the demo level/missions that have been covered on other sites.
SONY booth impressions:
Also dropped by Sony for a bit...
Little Big Planet looks awesome.
Lair was actually pretty fun to play and looks great in motion(tm).
NBA 08 looked good.
Framerate was disappointing on pretty much all the big games there (dont know how old the demo builds were though) except for Ratchet and Clank (which looked great).
Demoed on 360.
Warning: Possible spoilers within.
ANSWERS:
Separate PC / Console UI?
Yes, they learned their lesson from Oblivion and are making sure that the PC GUI will be suitable for keyboard+mouse users
PC/360/PS3 simultaneous release?
Yes.
Mod support on PC or Console?
Hasn't been decided yet.
More celebrity voice overs?
Besides Ron Perlman, they aren't ready to make any further announcements at this stage. No Jean-Luc
Any returning characters?
Not saying at this moment.
How dialogue works?
Branching dialogue tree, different choices/chances of success based on charisma and speaking skill.
Poor INT will NOT affect your dialogue choices.
Weather system?
Yes.
Fanbois?
They understand they're passionate about the brand and want to live up to their expectations but they are definitely making a game that they themselves want to play
How far can camera zoom out?
Pretty much full control over camera and can get into an iso/top-down view.
VATS?
Pauses game and lets you queue up actions, according to how many Action Points you have.
Action Points regenerate in real time based on Agility.
AP cost is dependant on weapon, skill.
Can queue up actions on multiple enemies.
My impression.. the combat looks like alot of fun!
Game areas?
Game areas are not scaled such as in Oblivion although there will be some minor scaling of creatures withing a predefined range of levels to maintain a fair bit of challenge.
Because XP and Levels are used, they are able to determine PC level/power better and be able to tailor quests/direct players to zones appropriate for their levels.
Random encounters/easter eggs such as Alien ship?
Maybe.
FYI, on the Energy Weapons skill info pane, it affects these types of weapons:
Alien, Cyro, Laser, Plasma and one other I think I missed.
Children?
In the game, killable (directly)? Not yet decided.
Groin/Eye shots?
They figure that a crit on the eye will gib the head anwyays so probably leaving that out. Groin shot is a maybe.
NPCs? Dogmeat?
Animal companions.. maybe. NPC followers are recruitable based on karma (good/evil/neutral) and controlled through dialogue.
Bloody mess perk?
Yes
Does the game end? Is there a level cap?
Yes to both questions.
How much it ties into the previous games?
You'll find out!
OTHER TIDBITS:
Weapons have decay. They are repaired using the repair skill which requires weapons of the same type to get parts from. Weapons decay has many effects such as Rate of Fire, Cone, Damage
Water is an important theme in Fallout, it's one way you can heal.
The Super Mutant Behemoth... looked like something out of GeOW, but in GeOW you don't actually get to fight the big monsters.
The Fat Man nuke effect is really cool.
Hacking minigame... hack into the BIOS for passwords to terminals. There will be alot of terminals.
XP mostly comes from quests.
Towns and Buildings are zoned like in Oblivion (load times between each, etc).
Other factions: one of the radio stations mentioned by in game dialogue is apparently run by
The Enclave
The faces are much better, especially the female ones.
Your in-game father (Liam Neeson) will physically reflect the choices you make on your own character's appearance.
Overall... I want to play this game!
My preview will probably go up on http://gamedeveloper.digitalmedianet.com/
but it will be way more general than this post, probably mostly a description of the demo level/missions that have been covered on other sites.
SONY booth impressions:
Also dropped by Sony for a bit...
Little Big Planet looks awesome.
Lair was actually pretty fun to play and looks great in motion(tm).
NBA 08 looked good.
Framerate was disappointing on pretty much all the big games there (dont know how old the demo builds were though) except for Ratchet and Clank (which looked great).