Bethesda says a remaster of Fallout 3 would have to improve the 'not good' gunplay

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
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"What did you see in Fallout 4? That will tell you what they felt was necessary to change from Fallout 3," designer Bruce Nesmith told VideoGamer. "I know in Fallout 4 there was a lot of work done on the gun combat, because Fallout 3 is the first time they ever tried to do a shooter-style game. And, well, I think the work that was done was amazing."

Nesmith is undeniably right that Fallout 3's gunplay never felt good, but necessity was also the mother of invention here. One of the game's standout features, and a little link to its isometric turn-based predecessors, was the VATS targeting system, which slowed the game to a crawl while you targeted enemy body parts: then unleashed the bullets and had body parts exploding all over the shop.

VATS was a solution to a game where the standard realtime gunplay was, as Nesmith puts it, "not good." Fallout 4 did vastly improve on this area, though I still don't think it hit a standard where I'd ever call Fallout 4 a decent shooter. A vault dweller following a dog through the wasteland

"[Fallout 3 combat] didn't hold up to shooters at the time," continues Nesmith. "Also, it's an RPG shooter, it's not a run-and-gun shooter. But a lot of work was done on that for Fallout 4. So I anticipate seeing a lot of that work go into it, assuming they're doing the same thing.
 
I personally didn't have a problem with it in FO3, although I can see the improvements in FO4.

Saying that, gunplay should be the only thing any potential FO3 remake takes from FO4. Besides that, FO3 was superior in every other way.

Anyway, please, just make it happen. I need a FO3 remake.
 
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If the only thing it changes is the graphics I'd be fine with that. The gunplay isn't a big issue for me, that's not what I play Fallout for.
 
I had a lot of fun with VATS.

But I guess it wouldn't work for most players who simply wanna shoot stuff.

Gunplay is absolutely unplayable, I agree. So hard to kill just a basic enemy without shooting an entire clip.
 
I mostly used the V.A.T.S., because of the gunplay.
But i don't even know if i would play the games more like a shooter, with a far better gunplay.
I didn't even play Fallout 4 like a shooter.
 
Nothing quite as satisfying as popping someone's head off in a shower of blood using V.A.T.S.

Jack Nicholson Yes GIF
 
Wasn't bothered by the gunplay but it feeling closer to F4s will be a welcomed change, also hoping for some creation club support.
 
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Saying that, gunplay should be the only thing any potential FO3 remake takes from FO4. Besides that, FO3 was superior in every other way.
Don't forget the power armor in FO4, that was also very improved compared to FO3. That's about it though.
 
Article:
One of the game's standout features, and a little link to its isometric turn-based predecessors, was the VATS targeting system, which slowed the game to a crawl while you targeted enemy body parts: then unleashed the bullets and had body parts exploding all over the shop
Wasn't slowing down time in VATS a Fallout 4 thing? Been a while since I played it, but I'm sure Fallout 3 stopped time completely in VATS, which was much better.

In Fallout 4 you could target an enemy and then find it had moved behind cover or the body part you'd selected was no longer in view. There was a mod called Classic VATS to restore the superior Fallout 3 method.
 
Yeah the non VATS combat in F3 was pretty bad. In F4 they nailed the combat, it was pretty damn good and almost never used VATS in it.
 
I quite enjoyed the gunplay in Starfield as it felt quite satisfying to me for an RPG

If they could bring that to a remaster then it would be satisfying.

Still those slowmo head pops never get old
 
I think the run down setting of the game pairs well with an antique gunplay.
Like Starfield had terrific gunplay, insane improvement from any bethesda game obviously yet it won't fit in the Fallout 3.
 
Remaster Fallout I and II, so more people will realize that that the original games are some of the best CRPG's with excellent writing and atmosphere that makes Bethesda's efforts pale in comparison.
 
VATS was fine for the game it, gave the game character. I personally thought the gun play was intentionally not good to push you towards VATS.
 
Kinda misleading title but the source is just the same. According to https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Bruce_Nesmith Bruce Nesmith was at Bethesda until 2021. Titel implies this is something Bethesda or one of its current devs said. Older news articles from last year also refer to him as a former Bethesda dev. Makes this news article less interesting. Hopefully a Fallout 3 Remaster on the level of Oblivion Remaster is in the works and won't take too long. Can't remember if the VATS in FO3 was bad, I only know I enjoyed the game a lot.
 
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Bethesda didn't say this, Bruce Nesmith did.

Bethesda hasn't officially acknowledged an FO3 remaster.
 
Starfield wasn't made a better RPG by removing VATS(or a VATS equivalent) in favour of the gunplay being vastly improved.

I'd prefer they make VATs more interesting, rather than make it redundant with real time combat improvements.

If you want Borderlands, go play that.
 
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Is that really a concern for them? it wasn't for the "not good" combat, and overall animation in Oblivion.
 
Use vats to shit crits left and right with finesse + luck and don't worry about gunplay.

Use real time aim to deliver that well placed explosive through a window

But yeah, after Starfield and 2077, FO3 feels archaic.
 
Out of curiosity, what did you think of Starfield in general?

Enjoyed the time ( 70hrs ) I spent with it but there were a lot of gripes - would say it was a 7.5 - 8 out of 10 for me.

Crimson fleet quest was by far the most enjoyable and the ones where you had malfunctioning gravity were standout.

Found the main quest dull and quite a few of the others.

Hated starship and base building and didn't do but can see that others love it so glad they got something out of it.

Space Combat was poor - Shooting mechanics I quite enjoyed for an RPG
 
The title of this thread is misleading as Bruce Nesmith is a former Bethesda dev, he retired in 2021. No one from Bethesda will say what Fallout 3 remaster should or would do as they're working on it, most likely with Virtuos. They're not gonna discuss something they haven't officially announced
 
The gunplay has never bothered me in Fallout 3, it's an rpg stat, if you don't get it up to 100, why would your character be good at it. I shot plenty of things in Fallout 3, and would love a remake of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, although i doubt NV would get one.
 
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I'm sure I come off as an asshole, but I never get excited for remakes that are the same game only with better graphics and a few tweaks to gameplay. It's just easy money for publishers based out of consumer nostalgia. How about putting those resources towards actually making a new game

Unless, the developers are rebuilding the game from the ground up, like in RE2, then it's a hard pass
 
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