Fallout: New Vegas Interviews and Preview

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Written by BuckGB on May 6th, 2010

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Harkening Back

Josh Sawyer: We're trying to build on [the franchise's fictional history] a lot. One thing I do admit is kinda tricky is sometimes we take for granted [knowledge of past characters and events].

Pete Hines: That's all part of the Fallout canon, and going back there is just building on that canon but ultimately acknowledging that you are in part of the U.S. where other games did take place and there are places and things that, if you played those games, you should see and recognize. If you don't, if you don't what the NCR is, it doesn't take away from your enjoyment of the game. You still get what it's all about.

Josh Sawyer: When you go to Black Mountain, we wanted to include the chimes from the cathedral in Fallout 1. Sometimes [the references are] really overt, like, "Hey, look it's that character." Sometimes it can be as subtle as an instrument you heard in a theme that comes back.

Has it been a bizarre journey for you -- to have worked on the original iteration of Fallout 3 and now to be creating New Vegas, the sequel to the Fallout 3 you didn't work on -- or is it just "business as usual"?

I don't know if it's necessarily business as usual. You know, I've had a few high profile games be canceled, and so when I start working on a game at this point I'm kind of like, "I'm not confident that a game is going to ship until the manual is printed." Although, I have heard of examples where even then games have been canceled.

So, I mean, I'm really glad to be working on Fallout again. But like I said, until we get really close to the finish, I don't think I'm really going to have the same level of excitement that I had back in the early 2000s, because when I came to Black Isle, all I could think of was working on Fallout 3. So it has basically been 11 years coming to this, so I don't want to get ahead of myself until it's actually out the door.

Avellone proceeds to show us a pistol he's augmented with a scope, barrel and larger magazine, and it looks far meaner than its vanilla counterpart. This is preparation for the first main mission, which is to protect a weird guy called Ringo who lurks in the saloon toilets. A fellow called Joe Cobb is causing trouble in the town with a gang of so-called 'powder gangers', so the bar's owner, Trudy, calls upon you to round up a gang to go tackle Cobb and his cronies. After a quick talk with Ringo, Sunny, Chet from the general store and Easy Pete (who also gives us a few sticks of dynamite thanks to a dialogue option unlocked due to our 25 point explosive skill), we're good and ready to tackle the gang. Along the way, our hero gets hold of the game's new 9-iron and enters the trusty VATs mode showing that a press of Y now initiates a specialised weapon specific move, designed to add (spice) to melee combat. This one is called 'Fore!' and is as you'd expect a swift, (dis)graceful golf swing to the plums of your targeted victim. Tiger Woods, eat your heart out.

Incidentally, Cobb's head went flying off in classic VATs style outside of VATs, demonstrating the dynamic kill cam which can now be triggered at any moment. Upon completing this mission for the people of Goodsprings and taking out Joe Cobb, we earn the acceptance and trust of the townsfolk. This is part of the new reputation system that has overarching consequences across all of New Vegas, so incurring the wrath of one faction will delight another and vice-versa. So when we betray the loyalty of the New California Republic by activating the Helios One plant's generator to reroute power to the Archimedes II orbital laser, only to rain florescent laser death upon the NCR troops below, they'll remember it and will potentially never trust you ever again. But then again, it is easy to slip past the facility's idiotic custodian, Fantastic (who has a (theoretical degree in physics)), and once you get to the generator, you're presented with a variety of options that have a range of consequences. Remember, just because there's a big space laser at your fingertips, you don't have to use it to kill everyone in the vicinity.

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