FALLOUT - Ready to put it in the ground?

I think we've reached the end on this one... any parting thoughts?
Are we stopping too early? What's working on this forum and what's not?
Ideas for the next game?

My suggestions for next game to tackle:

Star Control 2
Mother 3 (what with the translation just out)
Peggle
Cave Story

We can run a poll, but I'd like to get all submissions in here first.

i think i just re-did star control 2... but i might be willing to go back.

this one kinda fizzled, huh? why do you think that is?

and are you serious about peggle?

My only problem with SC2 is that I apparently SUCK at it now.

this one kinda fizzled, huh? why do you think that is?

it's hard to get people to schedule playtime. I don't really think it fizzled, though, you guys spilled a ton of ink on it right from the beginning. Then either everybody beat the game and didn't wait up or just couldn't keep up with the folks who already beat it.

(TL;DR Warning IN EFFECT) It really did fizzle... I was pretty disappointed that so many people who started at the beginning didn't really return. There were even people who bothered to write really long self-introductions in the "getting to know you thread" and didn't play the game! Baffling.

But I agree, it's tough to get people to play at the same rate, due to real world stuff getting in the way. I haven't played in a week or so, and was waiting for newcomers to start talking Junktown, the Hub, etc. The main problem is that there just weren't enough people playing, and hence talking, in general. (And, well, Forks and Mordy disappearing really didn't help...) But if this board is open now, maybe that will change. I still want to beat the game again and talk about the ending and more general thoughts about the whole shebang, but I guess I'll save it for the spoiler thread if we're going to cut the legs off here.

Forks, I think you went a little overboard on the thread creation at the beginning - they were just kind of out there and frankly, intimidating. For the next game, maybe dole them out slowly, and start with some discussion rather than just "Have at you!"

Regarding new picks... Star Control 2 is another of my favorite games of all time, but I see it being a little problematic, since it's so non-linear, it'll be even worse than Fallout with people trying to keep up at the same pace. Not mention it's a very long game, as I remember, with the huge star map and time devoted to mining - it would probably take most people longer than a month. But I am 100% down for it if you want to go for it.

Cave Story is a good pick, since it's freeware and available on most OSs. But the "remixed" version is coming out on WiiWare next year, it might be worth delaying for a while. (OTOH, the charm of this game's single-auteur vision might be lost, and we'd end up playing the original version anyway.) Alternative picks: Super Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

I'm actually interested in Peggle, I've only played the web version and liked it. It's on my list of "I should shell out and play/buy these modern PC games already" including another suggestion: Orange Box. We could have several discussions on HL2/Ep1/2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Also: Bioshock, Mass Effect.

Adventure games seem perfect for this kind of thing. That circle of game blogs already did Grim Fandango recently, but it's a good one. Similarly Secret of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle are quality and probably easy to discuss. If we really want to go nuts, we could do Monkey Island 2, probably the most insane of the Lucasarts games. The Sierra ones are probably too brutal and unfun by modern standards. The Last Express? Something even older?

I'm going to play Mother 3 anyway, probably soon, but having played Earthbound, I'm worried it will be too inaccessible for most - even in the mid '90s it had pretty dated gameplay.

Another set of recommendations: Capcom's primarily GameCube output from a few years ago - Viewtiful Joe, PN03 and the magnificent Killer7.

i have ALWAYS wanted to play grim fandango. would be down for that. also i'd suggest we don't start 27 threads about the next game, don't think we need "Sharp Dressed Man: A Thread for NPC Fashion Commentary" and the like... maybe the whole thing needs to be less structured

never really did the monkey island games, would be soooo down for that too

i have ALWAYS wanted to play grim fandango. would be down for that. also i'd suggest we don't start 27 threads about the next game, don't think we need "Sharp Dressed Man: A Thread for NPC Fashion Commentary" and the like... maybe the whole thing needs to be less structured

― s1ocki, Saturday, October 18, 2008 2:19 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

lolol, agreed on both points. i've never really played any of those old lucasarts/sierra adventure games and i've been meaning to try them for years now - this would be a great excuse to do so imo.

the thing is, i beat fallout way too fast, but then i moved onto fallout 2 which is pretty much the exact same game - i have some stuff to say that would apply to both games but it would be weird to try and start a fallout 2 discussion so idk.

also, the non-linear aspect of fallout makes it difficult to do a structured discussion on, moreso in fallout 2 because there's not even a SUGGESTED progression - right after klamath you basically have the option to go in 5 different directions. games where you basically progress from area to area the same way each time will prob make this easier.

I feel a bit bad that the fallout discussion tailed off not long after I posted my big "bah, this sucks, I'm not playing any more" sulk-o-rant. Hope I didn't ruin it.

If we play Peggle nest, I'd be happy to be the DM (or whatever we're calling the discussion leader). I've played that thing inside out for months on end.

I'm probably going to have a crack at SC2 soon, whether we do it here or not. If it's going to be too long, then it probably makes sense to avoid it. Same argument would definitely apply to the Orange Box though...

Oh, please don't pick a gamecube game, I gave my cube away 2 days ago!

i'd prefer we continue the theme of games-that-can-be-had-for-free, ruling out newer generation console games

I don't think this fizzled exactly; more like sagged a bit under its own weight. Quite frankly, the fact that this got cankles so revved up that he played through both games is enough of a success to me that I feel it's worth continuing. I don't think anyone "ruined it"; it's the first try! If we continue to let the board grow a bit more organically, I think it can really get a head of steam.

I definitely overplanned the whole enterprise; no argument there. It's in my nature to put this kind of rigor into new ideas, but it doesn't always come out user friendly. For the next game, I'm good trying a somewhat less structured attack. I still believe a weekly check in is a good idea but I don't want to stifle people's discussion or ideas so maybe in tandem with weekly check-ins, we try for more freedom in the style of posting and more encouragement of user generated posts?

I think there's no reason why discussion on this game can't continue; I've only put in an hour and would like to return. Further Fallout talk hopefully still to come.

I agree that less linear games are difficult to pace, but that shouldn't prevent us from picking them up. Maybe it's a matter of just keeping discussion spoilerfree in general except in a designated thread?

I would also like to keep game choices to ones that are generally available to everyone who can post; maybe we can do a side quest for xbox 360/wii/etc once we get the ball rolling better. For the moment, I'd like to keep it to games that are either easily accessible via emu or readily available for ten dollars or less and that the vast majority of folks would have a system to play it on... say, PC and Playstation? Does everybody have those? Who's not got a wii/gamecube? I was NOT kidding on Peggle; I think a puzzle game is worth looking at closely as well!

Actually though, here's a possibility: Game Developer's Monthly (yes, I subscribe) just posted a list of what it called the top ten indie freeware downloadable games of 08. As a group, do you collectively wanna take on all ten for the next week or two and we can just talk about them in a jumble? It's chaotic good to the original board's tenor of lawful neutral; maybe some change we can believe in?

Let me know if that sounds like a go; I would VERY much like to go back to the old LucasArts world in the near future and maybe a popcap game or two as well.

all ten of them? forks, you're getting too ambitious again!!

They're super short. I just played and beat one in like ten minutes.
Yea? Nay?

Yea!

For systems: sounds like we should stick to PC/DOS/Windows and emulating systems prior to the PS2 era (with the exception of GBA). I actually don't own any current-gen console systems myself, or even a PS2, but I do a have a semi-current PC (actually, a Mac with Boot Camp). I've also got a Dreamcast and GameCube shelved.

Yep, I like this GDM Top Ten idea. So what's in there?

I'll launch a new thread shortly.

hi everyone

i just started today ... for some reason i didn't realize this had started.

anyway i played one game and got killed by cave rats.

i would be sorry to see this board fizzle out so soon.

anyway i'm impressed by the amount of structure on this board already -- though i haven't had time to look through this much.

if people have seriously already beat this and are going to move on to something else, can i suggest ULTIMA VI?

I'm one of those folks who left a message on the introduce yourself thread and who then disappeared. I had a lot of things to do this month and so didnt really find the time to leave messages on the forum, even though I did play quite a bit of Fallout (though nowhere near finishing it). I really want to see this continue though.

I was one who failed to understand how this worked, but didn't seem to get an invite anyway. i only just realised it was a hidden board. probably a wise move to change that.

It also didn't help that i found Fallout a little horrible to play - i gave up after forty minutes of waiting for the computer to calculate several rat movements. also my copy seemed a bit buggy with the display becoming cluttered at times.

yeah the hexagonal battlefield is something that took getting used to, normally you only expect that kind of thing with hardcore wargames that come w/500 page manuals.

I'd do Mother 3, if I had played Earthbound already. As such I recommend Earthbound.

i'd do your mother!!

ICE BURN

MY MOTHER IS A SAINT

i have, by coincidence, just started playing fallout. i'd like to point out that you're all insane.

i'd like to point out that EAT SHIT TOM

jk how u doin my dude

well right now i'm stuck in a cell i got taken to from necropolis by some mutant dude, so i'm thinking i'm probably shafted and should reload.