Welcome to the Nukapedia News Digest, brought to you by The Gun Runners; the more caps you spend, the more caps you can pop.
In your edition this week.
Around the wiki[]
Replacement for the Van Buren and Fallout Online portals[]
I've been working on an idea to overhaul the game portals, starting with replacing the Van Buren and Project V13 portals (and front page place) with a "Cancelled games portal".
You can see the proposed portal in action or have your say here.
- Did you know
- Fallout Tactics 2 would have had the players track down the source of some strange mutations in Florida... Much like the game that was supposed to be the sequel to Wasteland, Fountain of Dreams.
- In Fallout Extreme, not only would you lead a rag-tag bunch of rebels to conquer the Brotherhood of Steel (now holed up in Alaska), but you'd then move on to China to destroy a Doomsday missile?
- We have the complete design document for Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2?
- John Carmack wanted to bring Fallout to the iPhone.
If people like the design, I'm looking at potentially seeing if we can do other games in a similar style.
Attention Nukapedia Shoppers[]
There's a new store opening up soon, and by that I am not referring to the Apprentice entries (more on that later), but a Bethesda Swag store. Pete Hines teased the world with the following image...
Meanwhile, if you're in the US you can get Skyrim for the 360 or PS3 on Groupon for $34.99 for the next day or so.
Pimp out your userpage[]
Wikia have offered this guide on how to improve your userpage... After reading that why not check out the New user reference library which contains a user page guide written by our very own Old World Relics.]
Josh-U-a[]
Check out Mr Sawyer's new office here, whilst reading these snips from his form spring.
- How do you feel about games that go out of their way to fulfill male power fantasies (crush your enemies, hear the lamentation of their women etc.)?
- I think there's room for games to fulfill a lot of different fantasies. I "get" the Conan-style fantasy but it doesn't have a ton of appeal for me, personally. Ultimately, I'd rather expand options available to gamers rather than suggest someone else's fantasy is a bad one. A single game's style isn't going to appeal to everyone, so I just try to find something that I and the target players are all going to appreciate.
- How often are you bothered by the kinds of opinions or questions you see or hear out of the gaming community, especially in regards to your projects (eg, FNV:HH) & things you feel strongly about in the industry (eg, the primacy of bigoted points of view)?
- Not really. The work I do is the most compelling medium I have to make any argument. If someone doesn't like it, I have to decide if I didn't make my argument well, if my position was flawed, or if the person is beyond convincing. There's always a way to respond based on those three conclusions.
- As far as the opinions of people or gamers at large, I'm not usually bothered much by them because we're all (people) mostly terrible on any given day.
- Did you intend for Joshua Graham fit with the classical Greek 'tragic hero' archetype? I was arguing with someone about Graham today and I realized how much his ending in HH is tied to you choosing whether he experiences anagnorisis & catharsis or not.
- Subconsciously, yes, but I didn't sit down and think "gonna make this dude a Greek tragic hero".
- I knew that Joshua had to be in an unresolved state, moved on from his life with the Legion but in a state of denial about his current motives. Joshua's struggle is about what burns inside him -- light that illuminates or fire that consumes.
Generation Next[]
Our continuing coverage of the major headlines as the new consoles come close to launch.
Xbox 360[]
A bit easy to forget about the other major console maker this week, however, a company called Eventscore, who have worked with Microsoft in the past have just this week registered "xboxevent.com". Don't bother checking it out
At the moment no site is registered to the address, but most media outlets seem to be expecting an E3 announcement.
PS4[]
The week in review[]
- Just a recap of what we know about the PS4, it will be launching by Christmas... Somewhere.
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- What we didn't see
No sign of the patented "EyePad". Is it just a red herring, or something they don't want to announce just yet as they fear a drop in Vita sales?.
Pete Hines on Gametrailers[]
Pete Hines spoke to Gametrailers following the announcement
- No big Bethesda announcement.
- Says, Not the same kind of change from PS2-3 (as in the focus on graphics), instead focused on connectivity and putting tools in the hands of the player, sharing content, etc.
- Seems very excited about Gaikai (Game streaming)
- Likes the memory amount, says have made smart decisions to make it an easy console to program for; he says they are early in the progress of in working on the hardware with their current projects but its been a "pleasure" and "Pretty easy move to work on their stuff" (this contrasts with Cell which was notorious for its difficulty)
- On a question on making games for PS3 and 4, it "depends" on the game. In general they want to put out their games on as many platforms as humanly possible.
- He "loves" the Touchpad, and there are "More cool things they (Sony) can go into depth on" at E3.
- Says launching a game for a new console is the hardest thing, as things change on the hardware/OS during development, "its like hitting a moving target until late in the dev cycle". (this explains the lack of specifics on the hardware by Sony).
- Pete Hines doesn't know what the console looks like, they get drips and drabs.
- "Things are in the works, hopefully wont be too long".
Brian Fargo talks to the BBC[]
See Brian and other big names talk to the Beeb here.
Sony recognised early on the power of connecting their users to each other to make the gaming experience more meaningful.
Nothing beats the personal nature of joining your friends in a game either cooperatively or competitively. And this functionality does not come without a lot of effort and planning.
There are a number of systems and tools that need to be created in order to trigger people to jump in with their friends.
The basics start with the simplistic leader boards to stoke the vanity and competitive aspects of gaming. From there you need to make it simple to find your friends and be alerted when they come online.
Throw in the ability to chat online and you suddenly have your community of real life friends around you at all times.
I would expect Sony to greatly expand upon these systems to bring social connectivity to another level. A greater ability to jump in and out of multiplayer games would turn up the social aspects.
In addition, we have also seen the power of the crowd as is relates to content creation and this is another area that could be area to be exploited.
It used to be that the console wars were won by who had the most powerful hardware but now it comes down to all of the systems that support a connected and greater experience.
News from the Wastes[]
InXile have released another update talking about the recent gameplay video and other game mechanics... But I thought the bit on how dialogue is going to work is most interesting...
- The foundation of the keyword system is the player building up a keyword library through interaction with NPCs and the world. The keyword list starts out empty, and as you speak with NPCs they will reveal new keywords to you. If the revealed keyword is only of interest to that NPC, it will go into a local list. You can click on words in the keyword list to navigate through the conversation. If the revealed keyword has importance beyond that particular conversation, it is put into the regional keyword list. These keywords are of interest to most of the NPCs you encounter that region. A third option, which is never required, is to type something in – a nod to Wasteland 1’s system.
- Keywords are also added to the keyword list through perception skill use and environmental description text. For example, if you use perception to examine an object in the world, your observations might reveal a new keyword. Or, if you explored the level and triggered the descriptor text of some object or feature, it too might unlock a keyword.
- The NPC’s reaction to any given keyword can be affected by a number of factors including: the party composition, previous gameplay choices, previously used keywords, previous player responses to NPC questions, character skills, character attributes, item inventory, equipped weapons and armor, prior party actions, and CNPCs in the party. In other words, there isn't a one-to-one correlation between keywords and the NPC’s response.
- It is important that the player listens to (reads) what the NPCs are saying, because often you can judge by their tone the right way to approach the conversation. For instance, in some cases using a keyword at a particular point of the conversation changes the NPC’s answer to other keywords, or even ends the conversation all together.
- One of the suggestions from the fans was that the Ranger party should deliver a line of dialog instead of just barking a keyword. We really love this idea. Having full sentences creates a natural conversation flow. Additionally, this approach allows us to remove the ambiguity of keywords – holding your mouse over a keyword will show you a preview of the sentence your Rangers will say.
- A working example:
- NPC Bob, who is guarding some guns, has intro text that reveals two keywords he has more to say about. Clicking on Bob starts the dialog:
>NPC Bob – “Hey strangers, we don’t normally see people out so far into the wasteland. Be careful, it is really dangerous out here unless you are heavily armed.”
- This introduces two keywords to the player that they can use to converse with NPC Bob, dangerous and armed. Using the keyword dangerous will prompt NPC Bob give you more information about what is up ahead.
>Ranger Party (keyword = dangerous) –“What is so dangerous about these canyons?”
>NPC Bob – “These canyons are crawling with the outcasts of every crappy society in the wasteland. You had better watch your step.”
Using the armed keyword will have NPC Bob tell you about a possible mission.
>Ranger Party (keyword = armed) –“How do you think we should be armed?”
>NPC Bob – “It is best to have a lot of hollow point ammo out here for all the mutant creatures wandering around. I just came from a cave at the end of that canyon where I found a half destroyed case of ammo. You are welcome to help yourself if you find them. You are going to need all the help you can get out here.”
- It sounds promising enough, but if the party heads for that cave they will find themselves in an ambush from the Red Skorpion Militia.
- If you had used perception on Bob before talking to him, and you passed the perception skill check, the examine text would have revealed that Bob has the insignia of the Red Skorpion militia tattooed on his neck under his collar. This would put Red Skorpion into your local keywords for your conversation with NPC Bob. Holding your mouse over Red Skorpion, shows the sentence, “I see you are a member of the Red Skorpions.” The Rangers already know that the Red Skorpions are out to get them so calling out Bob as being one can have several effects on the conversation.
- For example, if you start the conversation by using Red Skorpion, Bob’s response would be to admit to being a member. Now when you mention armed, which had Bob give you the Trap/Mission before, he no longer tries to bait you, but he doesn’t warn you about it either:
>Ranger Party (keyword = Red Skorpions) –“I see you are a member of the Red Skorpions.”
>NPC Bob – “So what if I am? What are you going to do, shoot me just for having a tattoo?
>Ranger Party (keyword = armed) – “How do you think we should be armed?”
>NPC Bob – “Now that I think about it, I could really care less. Leave me alone and go bother someone else.”
- Knowing that the Red Skorpions are your enemy, you might cleverly choose to hold off revealing to Bob that you know he is one. If you wait to use the Red Skorpion keyword until after you had used armed (in which Bob tries to lure you into the trap), Bob would cave and tell you everything:
>Ranger Party (keyword = armed) – “How do you think we should be armed?”
>NPC Bob – “It is best to have a lot of hollow point ammo out here for all the mutant creatures wandering around. I just came from a cave at the end of that canyon where I found a half destroyed case of ammo. You are welcome to help yourself if you find them. You are going to need all the help you can get out here.”
>Ranger Party (keyword = Red Skorpions) –“I see you are a member of the Red Skorpions.”
>NPC Bob – “Okay, okay, you caught me. Listen, don’t kill me, I am only following orders. There is a patrol of Skorpions on the rim of the canyon ahead and I was supposed to send you down there. Meow that I warned you please let me live!”
- If you had explored the entire canyon before you got to Bob and you had found some blood stains on the ground you could use "blood stains" as a keyword and get Bob to inadvertently tell you about the cave full of loot he was looking for at the end of the yellow canyon.
>Ranger Party (keyword = blood stains) – “What can you tell us about the blood stains on the trail?”
>NPC Bob – “Oh, that was me. I was looking for a weapons stash I had heard about in that canyon and I was jumped by a pissed-off Honey Badger.”
- This essentially gives you a hint to find an inconspicuous cave that you wouldn’t get from just the Bob’s original keywords.
- Extending the above example, if your party had Red Skorpion armor equipped when you started that same conversation, it would change Bob’s intro text, and instead of him offering you keywords about dangerous and armed, he would just give you a line about how you are late to the ambush and the rest of the Skorpions are up ahead in the canyon.
- If you also had Rick Baychowski, who is on good terms with the Red Skorpions, in your party as a CNPC, Bob would greet Rick in his intro line. He would also reveal the ambush up ahead, and tell the party they can find some ammo in a shed down the path to the right.
Looks like this is both back to old style gaming, and more advanced than current games to me.
TES:O[]
From the Elder Scrolls ask me anything.
- I've watched the videos and read the articles, but most of the details on classes have been mainly about how you can be a hybrid. I commonly play strictly healing roles. Will it be viable (or possible) to make a pure healer? – By Malik Brown
- Yes. You will definitely be able to play a healer. As the game has evolved, we’ve really downplayed classes quite a bit in the design, and we’ve really played up the skill lines and the choices you make. For instance, if you wanted to focus entirely on healing at first, you might choose Templar and the Restoration staff lines. Later, if you decided not to be a healer all the time, you could work on other lines.
- By choosing your weapon, passives, and buffs and filling your five active ability slots, you’ll really decide how you want to approach any given situation. The more you play, the broader your choices will be.
- The Elder Scrolls games have always included moral and ethical choices for players. With the release of The Elder Scrolls Online, how important are these choices to the overall game and how do these choices affect your relationship with your alliance? – By Andrew Zitnik
- You will have tough choices to make for your character. The choices are very important, but they won’t affect your standing in your alliance. Sometimes they will just aid the story, but in some cases they will have lasting consequences.
Wrap[]
Tim Cain and Chris Avellone on the set with Nuka Break[]
Relic of the war that wasn't[]
From the Smithsonian come these pics from a spooky 1950's article in Collier's magazine: Hiroshima U.S.A.
Apprentice entries[]
Congratulations to the following folk who managed to get entries in for the Qualifying round. Their entries are listed in no particular order.
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By Saintpain |
By Fussenpepper |
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By CommanderNuka |
By User:Stars and Stripes Forever |
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By User:Leafless |
By User:Lukovich |
By Jasper42 |
By GarouxBloodline |
By Ghoullover666 |
By OnionRings |
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By For NCR |
I'll be passing this on to the other judges and we'll be selecting 4 to join Dragonborn, Dead Gunner, Paladin, and Old World Relics in the main game. Look out for the winners, and first main game challenge on March 1.
Your next Nukapedia News Digest[]
Will be in a week from now. Agent c (talk) 00:55, February 24, 2013 (UTC)