van HellSing on 31/12/2008 at 05:03
Quote Posted by Aja
Listening to these Mark Morgan tracks on Youtube, I don't think they'd fit especially well in Fallout 3. The game has a kind of wild-west style, which the soundtrack accentuates... almost Copeland-esque, but for the occasional synthesizer parts that subtly remind you of the time period you're in.
As for the original soundtracks -- if American culture somehow froze in a 1950s aesthetic, why would the music evolve into (somewhat generic) 90s electro/ambient (or is this aphex twin)? Some of it's good, I guess, but apart from nostalgia I don't think it's really appropriate for the atmosphere of F3. I suppose it depends on what you're used to, but so far the F3 soundtrack has fitted it perfectly -- makes me feel like a gunslinger. Kinda sad that so many of you are dismissing it as mediocre, when it's easily some of the best composed game music in recent memory. To claim that it "has no class" is just an elegant way of whining that it isn't what you expected.
Now you just completely lost me. Are you saying something like the Explore_07.mp3 track (find it in your Fallout 3 data files) sounds more "western" than stuff like (
http://www.duckandcover.cx/fallout2/music/Fallout%202%20music/06%20-%20Redding%20(Fallout%202)%20-%20Mark%20Morgan.mp3) Redding from Fallout 2?
The first one literally made me cringe, it was so Morrowind/Oblivionesque. One of the tracks that offended me most. Just fire up one of th Elder Scrolls games with this playing with the background and see if you can notice the game feels different. Now, do the same with Redding. Doesn't quite fit a fantasy world, does it? Does that slide guitar invoke images of frolicking elves? DOES IT?
Explore_07 certainly does.
snauty on 31/12/2008 at 08:49
Quote Posted by Aja
Out of curiosity, what do you consider a
good score? Because what I've heard of F3's so far (I'm about five hours in), has been superb -- atmospheric and still melodic, without ever intruding. Abysmal is about the last word I'd use to describe it.
Like van Hellsing I find it to be too Oblivionesque. It just doesn't fit. Same with the characters and dialogues. It's all so neat and clean and streamlined and therefore irrelevant and forgettable, still it tries too hard by being quite intense. I miss the raw edges, the moody subtleties, the striking chord, the dynamics, the grasp for attention I get from gamescores like Shadow of the Colossus or Stalker. Or Silent Hill for that matter. Can't compare it to the first two Fallouts for not having played them.
So it's nice to hear there's a mod. A custom soundtrack option would be even better.
van HellSing on 31/12/2008 at 09:52
Actually, there is. It's very easy to add your own music to the game, just put your own mp3's in the data corresponding data folders, and that's it - pretty much like Morrowind and Oblivion again. Very, very convenient.
You can also add your own radio stations, but that does require using the GECK, unless you just want to replace songs on the existing radios.
Aja on 31/12/2008 at 22:59
So - music quibbles aside, first impressions:
Amazing landscape, fairly interesting characters (though I get the impression of a voice-acting director constantly telling his actors to slooow dooown, takes 30 seconds for a sentence that Mass Effect could pull off in ten), realtime combat is absolutely terrible, especially since there's no look-acceleration on Xbox, but VATS combat is so much fun that it more than makes up for it. The game could forgo realtime fighting altogether and wouldn't be much worse for it.
Had a few great moments so far, including my first encounter with the behemoth mutant, in which I blew him up at the cost of my own arm. Definitely feels like a Bethesda game, but not a Morrowind/Oblivion clone (mostly because of the combat, I guess). The perks and skill points are difficult to assign -- unlike most RPGs, nearly everything is desirable here, and though I'd like to experience as much of it as I can, it's pretty clear that I won't be able to without at least a second playthrough (which is kind of a mixed bag, since the excitement of exploration will be mostly gone the second time).
snauty on 2/1/2009 at 10:02
Quote Posted by van HellSing
Actually, there is. It's
very easy to add your own music to the game, just put your own mp3's in the data corresponding data folders, and that's it - pretty much like Morrowind and Oblivion again. Very, very convenient.
You can also add your own radio stations, but that does require using the GECK, unless you just want to replace songs on the existing radios.
Woah! Though I don't think I need the radio thing but if I can change the ambient music stuff that easily, this game just got saved for me. :eek:
I'm terribly sensitive to a game's music, more than to any visual treats.
Rogue Keeper on 2/1/2009 at 15:19
Again, it's a pity that we can't assign one music theme to a specific major location (Vault 8 theme would fit for Rivet City, Redding theme would fit for Megaton, Moddoc theme would fit for Little Lampfire... perhaps with GECK it will be possible?) but if you dedicate some time to listening to the Morgan's Fallout compositions, then you can easily divide them among Exploration/Public/Dungeon/Base folders and they fit the environment.
Regarding Inon Zhur's music... with exception of the main theme it is weaker than Morgan's, but it is also weaker than Oblivion/Morrowind music. It is basically uplifiting orchestra but I would'nt exactly call it Oblivionesque...
Aja on 2/1/2009 at 20:29
You guys, there's a difference between uplifting music and music that evokes feelings of wistfulness or nostalgia.
For having such sensitive ears you sure paint your criticism with a broad brush.
Firefreak on 4/1/2009 at 09:03
Since I haven't played the first two (oh, well) I can safely say that I'm amazed with FO3. I was able to step out that vault as if I really was living in a dream world. It will take some while to pick it up again though, now that I completed the main storyline - of which end I as well have some mixed feelings.
[spoiler]
It was indeed weird that I couldn't send in Fawkes - but the thrill was to step in with the thought hammering in my mind 'But I don't know that friggin' code!'; Not until I stood at that console, high with some Rad-X and focusing... (Only in hindsight I realized what Dad meant what he said)
In sum it does make sense to have it end that way; Compared to Morrowind for example, I soon found it annoying to have all dialogs go this way: 'Oh my, I'm talking to the chosen one, savior of the world, I don't know--', 'Yeah, cut it out, where is that tree your cat got stuck on?'
Liberty Prime was fun... It also got stuck once and I had to reload ;)
And those tranquility pods: In the back of my head I had a huge flashlight going on: Don't step in there! :p
[/spoiler]
There's still so much to discover on the map...
van HellSing on 4/1/2009 at 10:26
I read an interview (i think it was with Emil) which somewhat explained the whole "Why won't Fawkes go in there?" debacle.
Apparently, they had the general plot, including the endings, finalised before the decision to actually allow followers other than Dogmeat. Also, Fawkes is not the only follower who could do that unharmed - there's also the robotic Sergeant RL-3 and the ghoul Charon.
That helps understand them a bit, though it's still rather silly, and shows that the game was indeed rushed.
Oh well, the DLC's look pretty fun (gone are the days of horse armor), so I guess I'll just have to wait until Broken Steel to get a proper ending.
