Ok, then the x-ray engine (powering Stalker) provides better lighting, full lights and shadows applied to every mesh, like you can see here:







What a huge difference this makes. But maybe the conversion from the console version of Fallout to PC is the reason for this.
A projection shadow shader would do the job for all the geometry, no matter how many polygons. It is calculated per pixel and needs a depth map for the right projection. There is no pc from the year 2012 needed for that.

Not really as the PC version and Xbox360 version just happen to have less graphical issues.

You've made a good point with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky game engine, but I guess the Fallout team had to meet their deadlines or something and decided full realtime stencil shadows was not an option. I agree with you though.

Cheers

@Michael_Schwarz, I think the main problem with games nowadays is that every single one of them is a multi-million dollar investment so it's hard to not take themselves seriously and do silly stuff like for example a special encounter in fallout2 where you run across Sir Robin from monty Python's Holy Grail while he was fleeing from the three headed monster. Or when Mike Tyson bites your ear off in a boxing game and as a result you get -1 in Charisma (plus, you get to carry your ear around in your inventory). And all this, special groin attacks and getting raped by a super mutant are signs of a game that isn't afraid to not take itself too seriously and as a result you get a really hilarious game.

But nevertheless, I think Black Isle today would somehow still be able to come through to the fans and build a better game, even if that meant having to face lawsuits from soccer moms

Off topic I guess, but:



True, but I do fear those 'soccer moms' and 'concerned parent groups' ultimately make it incredibly difficult even if developers are willing to go through the hassle of lawsuits and what more.. when WallMart or other important stores decide, based upon the always non-professional and incredibly biased opinions of these parent groups, to not to carry certain games because of their apparently 'offensive' content.

It's stupid, as there are 'normal' movies out there with more porn content than GTA that can be seen by 13 year olds... but currently there's little "we" can do about it. Same goes for sex, but it's even more true for drugs in movies vs. drugs in games.

I don't think investors would like to see their money go up in smoke just because a developer is kinda stubborn on the choice of content either,

Cheers

I have played Fallout for 3 hours now (not a lot, but to get an impression)

It is basically 80% Oblivion and 20% Fallout.

No question, there are a lot of Fallout elements used
in this game, but they seem to be somehow "stuck into"
the Oblivion Idea.

The VATS system is nice.
But a real roundbased combat would be my favorite still.
(Knowing that the younger gamers would not like such complicated things)

These things I miss from fallout:

-Pictures of the items you have
-descriptions of the inventory items
(the items feel like made by a "mass production" template system, there is nothing funny about them anymore)

-The nice background tone (the fallout 2 music is way better)

-text descriptions of ambient items you select (they are great in fallout 1+2)

-the SPECIAL + Perks interface.
If they would have been "brave" they would have kept this original Menu-page 1:1
But the Menu with the new Pipboy is annoying, unhandy to controll and does not look nice. Its clearly a decision to make it work better on the game-console versions.

-The "vault feeling".
I think the beginning of fallout 3 is crap, and very staged.
The vault feels like a small, scripted Oblivion dungeon,
not lieke a huge underground society.
There is no "attachment" with the vault, as in Fallout 1,
where the vault dweller had to save the vault.
In fallout 3, the vault is composed of boring or annoying people, that
want to bore or kill the player. I would not mind to press a button to blow up
this thing, and leave it behind, there is nothing of any interest in this vault.
Fallout 1 and 2 made these areas feel much more like an "island of savety"

-random encounters with dialogs.
I was running around a bit, just meeting raiders and dogs that attack righ away,
not this cool thing when enountering a caravan and trading with them.

anyway, I dont think its a bad game.
But it is not a sequel of Fallout 1 + 2
(its much better than Fallout tactics and this BOS though!)
Its a good Oblivion based roleplaying game in an endtime setting.
(with some Fallout assets)

Yes, i have thought the same after the first hours. But play i a bit more, dont concentrate too much on the main quest and do the side quests, you will find many surprises that will put a big fat smile on your face

They do have thought of many many detail, you just have to find it in that huge world.

when i went to the games store some days ago, i saw two piles of fresh pc games, one was far cry 2, the other fallout 3. after a short thinking (and having a look at the system reqs :P ) i went with fallout 3 (the fact that i waited for this game almost 7 years and far cry wasn't exactly a game that i'd take with me on a lonely island played a minor role in this war inside my head). now you make it sound like it was a mistake.

does anyone have those 2 games and can compare them?

You bought a german version , heheh poor you


I got me an uncut english one in Check yesterday

-> for the game: its my first view, I will see if I get a better
feeling when playing tonight.
The graphics are quite slow though in fallout3
Bethesda does not have a good 3d Engine.

Both games are very much worth their money, both games really give you good value for money.

There are only about two negative things I can say about both games;

FarCry 2 has enemies respawning at places you've been before. So... this means if you visit one place twice, you'll have to defeat the same guys twice. Quite annoying, but it makes sense as it would become boring otherwise.

Fallout3 isn't open ended even though it sort of gives you the impression it is. It lacks a bit of the good old Fallout humor and isn't that over-the-top at times where it should have been. It's kind of a shame, but it's nitpicking. Times have changed and I guess a lot of the old 'joke' stuff would only mean adding difficulties to getting the game published.

Both games have their quite memorable moments and are really fun to play. I bought Fallout3 first because I expected it to have more depth, but Farcry 2 followed (very) soon.

In general it's quite noticeable that developers seem to 'care' more and more about casual players though, so don't expect hugely challenging games here, especially early on,

Cheers

I don't think anyone is saying Fallout 3 is a bad game here. Even the reviews about it are raving to say the least. I think it's one of these games where if you haven't played the prequels then you'll like it. I mean, to all the people praising Fallout 3 in this thread, how many of you have honestly finished both Fallout 1 and 2? Because I find it hard to believe that after you've experienced the true freedom and uninhibited humor of the first two titles you can still appreciate this one. It's like that tv show "Joey". As stand alone, it's an okey series, but whenever I catch it on tv it just makes me wanna see Friends again.

On the bright side, when crappy sequels like this come up leave it to modders to make things right again.. I'm sure it won't be long until an awesome Fallout1-2 mod comes up.. This fact alone is a reason for me to get this game..