I very distinctly remember Ian trapping me in a bathroom in Vault 15 the first time I ever played. It really can't be overstated just how much that push command improves the user experience in Fallout 2.
He moves away at random after a short while. So you are only "trapped" during that time. Having said that he push command from f2 should also have been in f1.
Funny enough, this problem is in Fallout 3 as well. If you sleep in your bedroom in Megaton, Fawkes can accidentally trap you inside there (his super mutant model blocks the bedroom door and I don't remember any push options).
@@fredrik3880 Oh yeah, I know he's supposed to walk around on his own. If I'm remembering right he stopped a few tiles from where I was, then random wandered to right in front of me. Either way, I waited for him to get out of the way for longer than I reasonably should have, then reloaded a save to get out of it. Even if I'm wrong, having to stop gameplay for an AI companion to get out the way is a pretty bad sign, and I remember being *so happy* when I saw the push command in F2.
REALLL when I was imprisoned in mariposa last month, I had to reload a save because while I probably could have escaped, tycho and ian bodyblocked me into the bed and I couldn't leave :( I found out you can just tell them to keep their distance tho and they usually back off
Joshua Sawyer had his JSawyer mod for Fallout New Vegas which I always thought was really really cool, but it was only really changes that he could make himself. If devs could be given the resources to have an extra 6 months to a year to add all the stuff which they wish they did, and fix all the stuff that they weren't able to then it would make for very very interesting games especially if it was for a few years after initial release
I guess engine limitations could be a block on modding. I know with Skyrim there are tend of thousands of mods that work with the original code but for really significant changes SKSE was created to work as a third party program that could add features outside of that. Unfortunately Microsoft don't allow third party programs so they aren't available on Xbox. Mind you Sony don't allow any outside assets at all which really affects modding on Playstation.
@@stuartmorley6894 That's the first time I hear of this, I didn't play Skyrim in over a year. If that's true, what will become of the Script Extender team? Do they still put out a version of their own that's just "not a hard requirement anymore", or did things not change much for them?
One thing that always drives me crazy are multiple dead people on one tile, or a dropped weapon and a dead person on the same tile. Picking what I want requires pixel hunting. Would be great if looting picked up all items on the tile.
eh, deliberateness, awareness, logic you can pick up one item at a time and it lets you know all that you're picking up - maybe I don't want to pick up everything - it seems people don't relaize how much hand-holding and do-it-for-me people have become dependent upon that truly makes no sense yes, if you're picking up the same item, allow to pick it up in one swoop or with the #### counter, but, there really are too many people not interested in playing the game but being played by the game, these days
It says a lot about how good and necessary those ideas are, because many of them were implemented later in Fallout 2 pretty much word-to-word with how you've said them.
People buying combat armor understand the caps 3 digit problem instantly. Ammo types not working comes to mind also. On the Outdoorsman skill I think the way in 2, it asks you if you want to have the encounter if your skill is at the level needed. Enemy turns all at once is so big brain.
also the crashed nuka cola truck... 0_0 when I found it I had high luck so it ended up having like 10k caps so moving it all to my inventory was a pain
I would actually love to hear his general opinion of the modding community. Curious if he thinks it has changed the way Bethesda develops the Fallout games.
When i first played Fallout (at a friend's house) neither of us knew you could type the number of bottlecaps you wanted to transfer. he would sometimes have me come over and click the mouse for him hundreds of times to buy something from a vendor (i could click really fast). Good times...
@@marvdaniels5603 _Pressure sensitive?_ I've never heard of a mouse with pressure sensitive buttons, nor have I heard of a game that supports such a thing.
@@bricaaron3978 The original Fallout was released on Mac, and early Macs had pressure-sensitive mouse buttons - they just got rid of them in later versions because nobody was using them. It was supposed to be for artists, the idea being you could use this to control line thickness like you would press a pen down.
@@thatonebritishidiot3037 *"...clicking and holding a button is technically pressure sensitive"* O.K., then _all_ buttons and keys are pressure sensitive --- _technically_ --- making the original usage superfluous. But that's not what 'pressure sensitive' means or has ever meant, _actually._ Come on! Are you _really_ doing this, lol?
The longer i think about it, the more impressed I am that you guys managed to get the talking heads you did - for moving clay models, and those voice actors! You managed to get Mcguyver, Winnie the Pooh, Sgt Zim, Dr. Facilier, Hellboy, Monk, Dot, Penny, and the Supreme Being all in one game, that takes up only half a gig and came out in 1997. And dialog tracks for characters with low cha and int. So while some quality of life changes might be appreciated, I'm still glad we got what we did. If Fallout does ever get remastered, I hope they keep those, and maybe even get new lines from those voice actors (most of them are still around and nerdy!); but I hope they *don't* try to make the models 3d cgi, like the guys at Cyan did with the new Myst remaster - it lost some of its charm and unique aesthetic when they dropped the old fmv characters.
In another one of the videos Tim's done he talks about the voice acting and how lucky they were in the voice director they hired. Apparently he knew all those actors and was able to just call them up and ask if they wanted to do a few hours work for an easy pay cheque.
Oh god, those Myst models were so awful. It's like they actually made them with 90's Maya. So glad they listened to feedback and patched the FMVs back in. Remember, kids: embrace your limitations. If you don't have the resources to make good-looking animation, _don't use animation._ Find another way around and people will praise your creativity.
@@TheSkullPanda They weren't clay models right? I think thats what hes trying to say in an asshole way. I could be wrong but I thought they talked about them being 3d models when he spoke to the main artist at black isle/troika (forgiveme cant remember his name)
Hi, Tim. Big fan of the original trimetric games! Just wanted to let you know that there is a great mod for Fallout 2, which is called "Fallout Et Tu". The mod recreates Fallout 1 on the engine of the 2nd game almost completely, and naturally implements most of the features that you had talked about. There are also a couple of optional features, which make the gameplay a lot smoother without ruining the balancing and feel of the game. Have a great day!
Old comment, I know, but around when you wrote that comment, I replayed Fallout with that mod. Makes the game feel less clunky to play compared to the original. But what struck me the most was how small the game actually is. Fallout 2 is much bigger.
I never played Fallout, but seeing this much passion after decades of making it, I will have to play it. Thank you for showing us the person behind it.
Fallout is great. Fallout 2 is the best Fallout game, and one of the legendary games ever made. In 2023 it might be somewhat clunky, even with mods though.
@@txdmsk Fallout 2 used to be one of my fav games, but I played fo1 recently for the first time and completed it like 3 times in a month. Then came back to fo2 and... Idk, it just didn't hit the same. I don't think fallout 2 is really better than fallout 1 honestly. It has so many flaws that fallout 1 didn't have, which really sucks because it also fixed a lot of issues I had with the first game.
Your videos are awesome. I could listen to them for hours. There just isn’t many game designers/developers, let alone legendary ones, talking about their work in a relaxed long format like this. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and amazing experience!
@@theincrediblefella7984 Haha true. It's not exactly long. But in a time where 30secs "stories" rule in digital platforms, this 10mins-little-editing-and-no-background-music type of video is a blessing.
Basically all of these issues were addressed in Fallout 2. In the countries of the former USSR, most players (including me) started from Fallout 2, and I remember how unusual it was to encounter things like the 3-digit limit or the inability to change the armor of a partner in Fallout 1, when you finally found this game on the local pirate CD market :)
Sometimes I think these tiny imperfections actually add to a game. Like items adding to the end of inventory vs beginning or caps only being 999. It’s like something about these arbitrary limits adds something to the game instead of if everything was perfect and completely streamlined. It’s almost as if it sucks you in deeper mentally into the game because it’s a que telling you “this is a game” and you have to think “game” mentality instead of “real world” mentality.
Love this video. All of your changes sound reasonable and I appreciate that you’d want to be light handed with fixes/changes as to not change what made Fallout so unique and memorable
I think I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I really liked Hardcore Mode in Fallout: New Vegas. It added a survival feel to the game that seemed appropriate for a post-nuclear wasteland. If I were able to add something to the original Fallout and its sequel, it would probably be something like that, where you actually have to take stock of your water and your rations and so forth before going on long treks between towns. That would have also given the Outdoorsman skill a chance to flourish; right now, it's almost completely worthless in the original game.
The medical room in Vault 15, was infamous for forcing you to load your campaign. If Ian followed you to the wall locker, he would stand there forever, until you killed him.
All right lets break this down. Timothy Cain is more than capable of doing this. The man is Fallout. It's his IP that Interplay essentially fucked him out of. He was Fallout 1. Tried to save Fallout 2. The next 2 were shit because no Tim. Bethesda gets it, makes 3 it's a hit. Timothy IS Obsidian Entertainment. You guys know this. Timothy IS Fallout. And that's why New Vegas is the greatest Fallout game ever made. Prove me wrong. Because New Vegas was so good it's hard to argue that he should HD remaster 4 Trimetric games that he's going to heavily edit. We all know it would be fucking glorious. And after seeing Diablo 2 hd remaster and graphics swap I really want that. But I also really want him to remake them in the creation engine like New Vegas. Because New Vegas was so fucking good. Imagine going to Junktown in 3d and going down into the Dr.'s place finding that complete moron in the basement with body parts for the iguana on a stick. Or imagine fighting Gizmo or Decker. The deathclaw could actually be 20 ft tall like the tales say! The problem you have presented sir. Is now I want both and I'm about to beg the modding community who's making Fallout London to ask Obsidian to help them remake Fallout 1 and 2.
Great video as always! Be awesome to see The Cain Cut of Fallout. I know it would take a ton of work and time that would take time away from your modern game work but it would be amazing to see you make a patch now that addresses all of the things you mentioned in the video. I know that there are fan patches that address some of the issues you mentioned but a directors patch would be incredible, a boy can dream!
This is so cool! When I was engrossed in Fallout for the first time in middle school, I didn't think that one day I will listen to one of the game's developers talk about things they would change in it.
Yo Tim, don't know if you read the comments but your work means so much to me. Your one of the few people I consider to be my personal celebrities. Instant subscribe Thank you so much for everything. You, Avvelone, Lovecraft and Asimov are my greatest influences in my writing, thank you so so much
I've recently played Fallout, and an interesting tidbit is you can play the game almost perfectly and rather intuitively right out of the box with the Steam Controller. You can edit some settings if you need to, but almost everything is mapped from the start. Also really fun to play on Steam Deck. I set up a touch menu for the Skill Dex and it was wonderful!
I agree with these, but I’d also love to see some of the major changes you’d make to Fallout. I think it would be nice to see what the original creator would do with the IP today
@@lrinfi man I didn’t even know Lucas had three more movies thought up! I’d have loved to see that, too, but you’re correct that we aren’t gonna get to see either. Tim said that he’ll know when he sees elements of his “hidden” fallout in other games, but we unfortunately wont ever know which features exactly…
having good endings for the followers of the apocalypse and the hub would've been nice, that was my only major annoyance I recall from when I played fallout a few years ago. getting banished by the overseer felt like a powerful statement on how cruel the world of fallout could be but seeing the settlements and NPCs I interacted get killed despite me blowing up both the mutant strongholds within the time limit felt unfair. I understand those were cut content however and the game that was released under the constraints you were under is still my second favourite fallout story (played NV at 13 years old and it was my first rpg so nothing will ever surpass that experience). also increase the highest chance of hitting things to more than 95% because I still always miss lol
@@TheMasterUnityis it the Iguana Bob one by any chance? Always bothered me how you couldn’t solve that and the hub police go nuts on you even if you provoke him into attacking you first and you don’t have any weapons drawn. I had to settle for taking out the butcher and his cronies in Junktown and just assume that Bob’s supply would dry up.
@@TheMasterUnity I’ll need to give fan patches a try sometime. Farthest I’ve gotten with that is playing the Steam version which does seem to have some changes, namely with some of the settings to allow higher resolution and such that I was not previously familiar with. Not sure when this stuff was introduced but I don’t recall it on my original copy of FO1 or the Fallout Trilogy disc bundle I got on Amazon that was a European UK version of the 3 games.
I recently just bought Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics on sale and your vid just popped up! Thanks for making such an interesting, in-depth and engaging game, Tim!
You are pretty well spot on with all these, they are exactly the things you hear people say they would like to see improved. If we ever got a Remaster, i would love to see all these changes and then done on a 3D engine but still isometric, like how Pillars is. Being able to pan and zoom would be lifechanging.
What I would change apart of what you said? Higher res graphics and customizable render resolution. More concurrent sounds (there is 4 max). Optional 44khz sample rate sound. Better sound mastering, especially on the soundtrack - it sounds so dry even from cd audio. More content and locations. More meaningful random encounters - not the type of encounter and forget. Something like meeting someone that could be also met in a town or whatever. Not sure about that, but bandits/raiders or whomever shouldn't attack you in let's say random encounters unless they are pretty sure they can win. Otherwise what's the point? There should be almost none fanatical enemies that will hunt you until they are dead, unless heavily on drugs. Most enemies should run if just wounded or at least retreat back. I can't see a bandit that will continue to assault/rob someone if shot by a gun. One would gain XP for also not killing enemies, but repelling them. Npc's should behave in game like they would do in real life. Moving a lot, living their own life and striving to fulfill their own goals. Random encounters in towns. Whatever could be randomized, it should be randomized. Shuffled like cards, so every game is very different, yet the same in the core. Wounds would need a lot more time to heal. Big wounds/hp loss would require one to see the doctor, or high doctor skill. Because one can take shots and shots and just stimpack himself almost indefinetely. That is not exactly how rpg should roll. Hp loss would hurt performance of combat significantly, minor on other skills. Range of weapons and range of npcs sight would need to be increased dramatically. Optional fog of war for some ingame bonus, like hardcore mode in diablo gives you better item drop etc. Something, just not very significant.
I thought about making a large list and emailing it to Tim about this kind of stuff and trying to get a video call with him, funnily enough he answered most of the questions I had. Thanks for reading my mind Tim!
Personally, I don't think I would appreciate if the newly picked up items appeared in FRONT of the inventory. I like them being in order; last picked last place. And if I manage my inventory in some fashion; it getting "out of order" for every new item, would suck big time. Agree with everything else.
Thank you, and your team, for your contributions to the video game industry and so many precious teenage memories of playing Fallout 1. My best friend and I would just play the game in our respective characters and talk on the phone while we played and talked about what we saw and went over strategies and give each other play by play of major battles. Good. Times. ♥
While it would seem the well of this enthusiasm and t-shits is bottomless, I've got to express my appreciation for this burst of productivity. It's really special to me getting new Cain thoughts basically everyday for this period while it lasts.
I think its really cool that you talk about the development of Fallout 1 and what you would change. I don't think theres many developers so transparent about it! Anyway Tim, thanks for making my most favorite franchise of all time!
Just wanted to say that your content is very interesting, informative, and wholesome. I’ve grown up with the games that you’ve helped to create and it’s just so cool being able to listen to you casually share your insights and experiences. Thanks for the great content Tim👍
It's funny how much I'm reminded of the moment to moment gameplay of a game I haven't played in a while just talking about inventory menus and number dials. The texture of the game is so memorable. I remember the fwoop plop of picking up and dropping items in inventory, cycling through to try to get the new stuff... and these changes would be small but great. I still wonder if an official mod would be possible
Thank you, Tim, for video and, of course, for the game I think Restoration project make many of this ideas in life I want to set it, finally, and play it again, but with another, fresh(or old) game experience ❤
It's funny, because some of these changes you mention have already been done by some users in some modifications, such as "ddraw", "Sfall" (Sfall allows you to use the mouse wheel to scroll down and up in the game inventory) and the High Resolution Patch, to be able to play Fallout in resolutions even 1080p, although the hud looks small. But certainly the ideas you propose are very interesting, Tim, because you would keep the original design of the game, and that's great for me. Maybe some users will see this video and in the future make all these changes!
Combining all of the NPC turns into a single sequence would have been a great change. Basically you just calculate all of their moves and actions, giving priority to those earlier in the queue so they don't contradict each other, and then play back the visualization of all of those actions as one sequence. Then it would also make more sense when the player character is overwhelmed by enemies and dies, because you can see all of them attacking the character basically at the same time.
Hey Tim Cain! I've been writing an analysis of FALLOUT 1, and I am just now getting to resources and popular opinions on the topic. I have to say that it is incredibly refreshing to straight up listen to a developer about what they would change for modern approachability, including how you felt at the time, on a product they worked on. I love open discussions from devs about the shortcomings or benefits of the works in which they spent so much effort. I do have one question about one change you did make, though. How do you feel about how the main quest being timed detracting from the experience you intended? And would you consider implementing a more strict time limit if the intended experience was more about experiencing the narrative themes conveyed through the various mechanical pressures rather than freedom of choice and it's narrative and mechanical implementations? Personally, I think a more strict time limit, at least for the Water Chip, would have contributed to the immense pressures found in the early game in a way that both mechanically and thematically serves the narrative. Or, at least, the narrative I experienced.
My problem with the time limit is that it’s opposed to the game’s open world design. The open world design encourages exploration, but the time limit discourages it. It forms a tension, which can be good, but it also tends to confuse players. Are they supposed to explore or not?
@@CainOnGames I think I understand. Please, correct me if I am wrong. It was an onboarding issue specifically because FALLOUT was designed mechanically, and to an extent narratively, for the freedom that the open world design affords? I cannot thank you enough for your response. It all sounds so simple the way you put it! I've been watching well spent hours of your interviews and speech(es?) regarding the design process and inspiration for FALLOUT. I am so much more than happy to get a confirmation on your perspective, especially from you personally. Thank you, Mr. Cain. Do you prefer to be referenced in any particular fashion regarding citations of your work or verbiage on the topic? And may I use or reference this interaction, and your input by proxy, within my analysis?
Glad to see you do this retrospective. I'm not a game developer but I am a UI/UX developer. Didn't play Fallout when it came out but I love older games and just played it recently. Very fun game, cool setting and all, but yes your UI decisions were atrocious! I think I spent more time managing inventory than actually adventuring. You have to switch between so many menus to find out what items weigh, what they're worth, what their stats are. Should have had a party inventory screen where you can easily move stuff around in a grid, see what it does and what it weighs and what it's worth. In retrospect I'm using stuff like WoW and BG3 as references, but even contemporary games like Diablo did it better. Still love the game Tim.
I love your videos so, so much. Your upbeat presentation is incredible. The history of major game franchises being recorded is a treasure. Chef's kiss!
grid inventory, inventory categories, map drag instead of edge drift i think are essential sight lines for weapons would be nice to have (like what's in cover, what's targetable) as an optional toggle.
I actually like that Gifted is there as a kind of optional Easy mode. In a single player game, balance only bothers me if I can radically change the difficulty without realising it, like if Guns were utterly useless all game and you were handed a Turbo Plasma Rifle immediately in Shady Sands. Even for a new player, it's pretty clear how strong Gifted is.
I’m currently playing fallout 1 for the first time and loving in! Impressed for the time. Still is a blast now, the beginning is hard but once you get through it’s great.
One thing I always wanted when giving or taking items is to type in using numbers how much I want. Also an option that instantly ups it to max for either action would have been nice too. Because yeah, dealing with caps, especially after you dupe them, is grueling.
Fallout 2 had many of those quality of life improvements you speak of. Looks like someone was paying attention after you left. Fallout on Steam has resolution options as well. Since I played those games in my childhood, many of those little things don't bother me because its just the way the game was and added to its charm. I am ashamed to admit it, but I never played Arcanum when it came out. Honestly, I had never heard of it until I started following the channel. I wish I had because it seems like the sort of game I had been missing for years after Fallout 1 and 2. So I purchased it on Steam to give it a go... and I am sad to say that the struggle is real. She desperately needs some modern attention. But I haven't given up yet :) Sorry for the long post but here is my question... finally: If you were to "remake" or "remaster" FO1, FO2 (hypothetically), and Arcanum, would you keep the isometric 2D with quality of life updates or would you jump straight into 3D (like Wasteland 3 and not an FPS. The only reason I put up with that from Bethesda was because I love the environment and dark humor, which was lacking after FO1, and I was jonesing hard for a Fallout fix) and redo everything? Or would you combine and do a 2.5D with a fixed perspective? Thanks again!
Would be fun to watch you do Let's Plays of games you worked on, see how much you remember. Playing them might bring more memories. With quality of mods of course. Especially ones that mirror what you mentioned here. Thank you again for this.
I'd suggest expanding the inventory bar's width to twice or thrice what it was, and make the hand boxes and armor display more compact, with armor stats being toggled by a menu button. Or perhaps toggling between the default inventory screen, and just your items in a grid of sorts, with using right click to equip to your character.
i’d love to see you do a let’s play of a fallout game, preferably the first fallout. it would be really interesting to watch a dev play it and explain things as you go through as to how or why it was done. or vice versa; explaining what you liked or maybe would have done differently in a later fallout game.
I thought you might mention getting rid of the Here And Now and Swift Learner perks ^^ Because of how superficially attractive yet utterly worthless those two perks were -- and I picked them every playthrough!
i think rather than making it easier to trade more caps, i prefer increasing the value of the cap so guns that are 5000 are only 500, maybe not that drastic but i feel like i never pick up 1/2 caps and everything i buy is at least 2 digits . i play new vegas and 3 with a mod that does something similar, i like the caps feeling more valuable, also less math, also less clicking in inventories / barter menus also new vegas’s other currencies did a good job of that too, with inherit world building as well
Critical hit or miss where so fun I recall having an experience just the one Tim mentioned, going out early game, came across some raiders, shot, critical-miss left me blinded 😂. Another good one was in fallout 2 in the Den I think, theres a child with molotovs, threw one at me, critical hit, instant dead, "the chosen one" killled by a child with a molotov was hilarious to me.
That's really nice to hear, all these years later. Thank you! I find that a lot of modern games, esp. Early Access on Steam seem to be terrified of disagreeing with players - and by all means, open communication and some modesty when listening to feedback is good! Accessibility is important! But also a lot of things - or, well, maybe at least a good chunk of appeal of many memorable games _is_ in their quirkyness. I mean the kind of "level 1 does 10 damage, level 2 does 22 damage, level 3 does 130 damage" kind of things. Many game developers treat their game as a spreadsheet, and sure, that can be a useful abstraction or tool to a game designer, but ironing out all irregularities and making everything flatly predictable makes for a very bland experience. Having Ian as a companion WAS so engaging because you had an emotional connection to him, but you also could see how he's not keeping up, and had to balance your emotional comfort (with a NPC you know and cherish) versus his own safety versus your combat efficiency. Maybe, just maybe, if there was a hastily designed NPC companion auto-leveling system, maybe players would explore other companions a lot less. Maybe it would all turn to mush. Maybe.
Interestingly Tactics had the option to pass on an encounter, it was still annoying in a ways lol because you would get spammed with messages every couple seconds to avoid an encounter until you failed the outdoorsmen check and were roped into one anyway.
Hey Tim. I love your videos and this one gave me a wild idea for you (even if you MAYBE thought about it before). Now when you are working with devs (i know, "only" as a consultant), whos "big mother" now owns Fallout, you can say a word or two, how could be great to implement some changes to original from original creator and release it again to make good few bucks. Even way wilder things were realized, but i think, you could talk about it way more than i ever could ;)
two things I wish were different are distance penalty and encounter map size. Reducing per meter distance penalty from 4% to 2% and quadrupling the encounter map size would be great.
a solution to the transferring of items (mostly caps/money) would be to add arrows on all the numbers. So you could click an arrow on the hundredth number and select how many hundreds of that item you would want to transfer, a much faster and reliable way to the one arrow to make the amount go up or down. I've spent too much time doing math with the select max button, and then taking away enough caps to meet the required price.
Dude I think you shouldn't change anymuch of fallout at all. The game you created back then has become a worldwide phenomenon. Like seriously, there is no chance that fallout would ever become that much of a thing it is nowadays without your excellent groundwork. I have no idea how much days and weeks I have WASTED in this incredible World you have created for us. I can't thank you enough man. Your a hero. Please keep on going. The world needs you. maybe nowadays more than ever.
Greetings Tim, 1st of all Fallout 1 is my favorite game of all time for some specific reasons and as of today, I would think that nothing would change the global experience. game is rough around the edges, resorted to guides on specific places on my 1st playtrough. but the alchemy is so perfect, its minimalistic, not that many quests and dialogues, but it hits right on the bullseye all the time. atmosphere, game design, writing, combat, theme, music. discovered the series with the 2nd in 1997 and Fallout 1 about a decade later when it came out on Gog. Maybe it's personnal and mileage may vary for many individuals but thanks, its a real masterpiece and it's flaws may be part of it's charm because it worked, it was a work of pure passion and as players we felt that.
All good points, but to me the greatest oversight was that Killian Darkwater didn't have a Swiss Army Knife, an empty bubblegum wrapper and a paperclip in his inventory...
I played Fallout for the first time in... 2008. Definitely motivated by the release of Fallout 3. That said, I've never really thought much about things I'd want to change in the original. Instead, my mind returns to that the game had a lot of cool ideas I'd want to see more of in other games. The look and feel of the world map, for example, wasn't really replicated in Wateland 2, despite the mechanical similarities. In fact... I just started thinking about how a similar map systern and aesthetic could be used in an adventure game a couple of days ago.
Been a while since I've played it now, but if I remember correctly I missed some kind of inventory sorting and/or filter categories. Also, the slow battles especially in cities. Maybe having active combatants (friend or foe) going turnbased as per usual, and bystanders/neutrals in one simultaneous round. Other than that I just want more FO1/2 (or Arcanum) kind of games. :)
I recently played FO1 for the first time. I can certainly say it's pretty janky; I cut it a lot of slack because it does come from a time when developers were still figuring UX out, but gosh, did it ever take me a while to figure out. It wasn't until some point in FO2 (which I played right after) that things finally clicked and felt natural. That being said, it's still an awesome game designed with a ton of obvious enthusiasm. I greatly enjoyed my time with it. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to play such an awesome passion project. In so many ways, it still holds up great now. But it's really interesting to hear what you'd have done differently if you could've gone back in time to do just a little more.
re: Energy Weapons Skill and Big Guns skill I had an idea for a Wattz-Boy laser pistol that replaces the BB Gun and does laser damage, just a civilian based one with a significant amount of ammo, only does 5-10 damage. In fallout 2 I dropped it off in Klamath Falls in one of the back lots. If I was going to pop a Big Gun in the game somewhere it probably would have been a Super Shotgun, what makes it a big gun is because it uses special shells (two 10 gauge shells at a time). Bad penetration but good damage. In fallout 1 id put it in junktown somewhere and in fallout 2 probably in the den, in the slavers place or the church.
The funny thing is I'm... 80/20 on the changes you suggested. Some of them I think are obvious, the 80%, and they've been done in some fan mods, especially the one that just ports the first game into the second's upgraded engine. The other 20%, like the critical misses, feels... not very important to the game, but like a nice element that isn't in other stuff that I'd be sad to miss. Ian shooting me in the back of the head with a burst will never not be funny after so long, if still frustrating back in the day. I think this just goes to show that once art is out there, everyone is going to have their own interpretation of what they think is the "proper" expression of it, and it's super interesting to hear what you think about your project.
Question Tim, in Arcanum you can craft what feels like pretty much every consumable in the game but Potions. I always found it kind of odd, that a magic user had to buy them or loot them there was no way for the play(atleast that I am aware of) to make their own health and mana potions. I always thought a magic school that was like Transfusion, which the player could combine some plants with a bottle to make different potions, maybe enchant your own items, would have been pretty cool option for a magic character.
Personally there are a few skills in Arcanum that I would have made neutral (ie they wouldn't contribute to the character's magic/technology affinity). Medicine making and blacksmithing for example. That way you could have made magic potions and weapons that could be either technological or magical but how effective you were with them would still depend on your affinity.
I just started replaying the original Fallout in part due to your videos on the game, it has really got me interested in going back in. Doing a different play through than I have done before, focusing on being a sharpshooter from long range so I got high per, int, and agi. Also got higher luck, finesse and more criticals to get a high rate of critical hits which is very satisfying. I dunno if you made a video about the companion ai but I’m very curious about it because I noticed that Ian has a very strange proclivity to doing melee or unarmed attacks on my newest playthrough. I’m playing on my Steam deck just because I can, kind of annoying to play with it but it works better than I anticipated. Oh forgot to mention i took several points away from charisma which has forced me into some encounters I usually avoided, and lower endurance has made me squishier so several reloads from death 😂
I very distinctly remember Ian trapping me in a bathroom in Vault 15 the first time I ever played. It really can't be overstated just how much that push command improves the user experience in Fallout 2.
#metoo moment
He moves away at random after a short while. So you are only "trapped" during that time. Having said that he push command from f2 should also have been in f1.
Funny enough, this problem is in Fallout 3 as well. If you sleep in your bedroom in Megaton, Fawkes can accidentally trap you inside there (his super mutant model blocks the bedroom door and I don't remember any push options).
@@fredrik3880 Oh yeah, I know he's supposed to walk around on his own. If I'm remembering right he stopped a few tiles from where I was, then random wandered to right in front of me. Either way, I waited for him to get out of the way for longer than I reasonably should have, then reloaded a save to get out of it. Even if I'm wrong, having to stop gameplay for an AI companion to get out the way is a pretty bad sign, and I remember being *so happy* when I saw the push command in F2.
REALLL when I was imprisoned in mariposa last month, I had to reload a save because while I probably could have escaped, tycho and ian bodyblocked me into the bed and I couldn't leave :( I found out you can just tell them to keep their distance tho and they usually back off
Joshua Sawyer had his JSawyer mod for Fallout New Vegas which I always thought was really really cool, but it was only really changes that he could make himself. If devs could be given the resources to have an extra 6 months to a year to add all the stuff which they wish they did, and fix all the stuff that they weren't able to then it would make for very very interesting games
especially if it was for a few years after initial release
I guess engine limitations could be a block on modding. I know with Skyrim there are tend of thousands of mods that work with the original code but for really significant changes SKSE was created to work as a third party program that could add features outside of that. Unfortunately Microsoft don't allow third party programs so they aren't available on Xbox. Mind you Sony don't allow any outside assets at all which really affects modding on Playstation.
@@stuartmorley6894SKSE is no longer necessary for many mods after a change made like a year ago
@@aniquinstark4347 are you meaning for PC? I've been out of playing for about six months so I didn't actually know that.
JS IS A PERSON WHO DOES
NOT JUST TALK WHAT HE WOULD DO
@@stuartmorley6894 That's the first time I hear of this, I didn't play Skyrim in over a year. If that's true, what will become of the Script Extender team? Do they still put out a version of their own that's just "not a hard requirement anymore", or did things not change much for them?
One thing that always drives me crazy are multiple dead people on one tile, or a dropped weapon and a dead person on the same tile. Picking what I want requires pixel hunting. Would be great if looting picked up all items on the tile.
You're right, that would be a good addition. We did that in Arcanum. Multiple dead in one tile coalesced into a loot pile.
eh, deliberateness, awareness, logic
you can pick up one item at a time and it lets you know all that you're picking up - maybe I don't want to pick up everything - it seems people don't relaize how much hand-holding and do-it-for-me people have become dependent upon that truly makes no sense
yes, if you're picking up the same item, allow to pick it up in one swoop or with the #### counter, but, there really are too many people not interested in playing the game but being played by the game, these days
@@zerpblerd5966 "Those pesky, entitled gamers not wanting to waste time on pixel perfect mouse placements, grrrrr"
@@zurcus7224 that's not what I said means at all
@@zerpblerd5966Yes it is.
It says a lot about how good and necessary those ideas are, because many of them were implemented later in Fallout 2 pretty much word-to-word with how you've said them.
He worked on 2 a little bit right? I wonder if he's the one who implemented that stuff
@@SamEmilio2doubtful. He had little to do with 2if anything.
@@trompell0 if anything? dude he literally mentioned a contribution to Fallout 2 in this video
@@Anim0sityy I know. I tiny one. I listened to his talk with Leonard. They didn't seem to have much to do with it if I judging what I heard correctly.
@@trompell0 I'm not implying he did major work on it but your wording is a bit disrespectful don't you think?
People buying combat armor understand the caps 3 digit problem instantly.
Ammo types not working comes to mind also.
On the Outdoorsman skill I think the way in 2, it asks you if you want to have the encounter if your skill is at the level needed.
Enemy turns all at once is so big brain.
That's right! The ammo types in Fallout 1 didn't work. I think there is a mod that fixes this.
also the crashed nuka cola truck... 0_0 when I found it I had high luck so it ended up having like 10k caps so moving it all to my inventory was a pain
It's kinda cool that modders have had similar ideas and implemented many of them. Have you played any of your games with mods, Tim?
This is something i would love to know about
Just checked the mod - it has 166 talking heads and 40 are voiced!
Maybe he's secretly one of the modders
I would actually love to hear his general opinion of the modding community. Curious if he thinks it has changed the way Bethesda develops the Fallout games.
Tim Cain pls do lets play of Fallout Nevada
When i first played Fallout (at a friend's house) neither of us knew you could type the number of bottlecaps you wanted to transfer. he would sometimes have me come over and click the mouse for him hundreds of times to buy something from a vendor (i could click really fast). Good times...
You can either type in the number of bottlecaps or click+hold the button [pressure sensitive] and the numbers would accelerate quicker. 💡
@@marvdaniels5603 _Pressure sensitive?_ I've never heard of a mouse with pressure sensitive buttons, nor have I heard of a game that supports such a thing.
@@bricaaron3978 The original Fallout was released on Mac, and early Macs had pressure-sensitive mouse buttons - they just got rid of them in later versions because nobody was using them. It was supposed to be for artists, the idea being you could use this to control line thickness like you would press a pen down.
@@bricaaron3978 they're not wrong, clicking and holding a button is technically pressure sensitive
@@thatonebritishidiot3037 *"...clicking and holding a button is technically pressure sensitive"*
O.K., then _all_ buttons and keys are pressure sensitive --- _technically_ --- making the original usage superfluous. But that's not what 'pressure sensitive' means or has ever meant, _actually._
Come on! Are you _really_ doing this, lol?
The longer i think about it, the more impressed I am that you guys managed to get the talking heads you did - for moving clay models, and those voice actors! You managed to get Mcguyver, Winnie the Pooh, Sgt Zim, Dr. Facilier, Hellboy, Monk, Dot, Penny, and the Supreme Being all in one game, that takes up only half a gig and came out in 1997. And dialog tracks for characters with low cha and int. So while some quality of life changes might be appreciated, I'm still glad we got what we did. If Fallout does ever get remastered, I hope they keep those, and maybe even get new lines from those voice actors (most of them are still around and nerdy!); but I hope they *don't* try to make the models 3d cgi, like the guys at Cyan did with the new Myst remaster - it lost some of its charm and unique aesthetic when they dropped the old fmv characters.
no
In another one of the videos Tim's done he talks about the voice acting and how lucky they were in the voice director they hired. Apparently he knew all those actors and was able to just call them up and ask if they wanted to do a few hours work for an easy pay cheque.
Oh god, those Myst models were so awful. It's like they actually made them with 90's Maya. So glad they listened to feedback and patched the FMVs back in.
Remember, kids: embrace your limitations. If you don't have the resources to make good-looking animation, _don't use animation._ Find another way around and people will praise your creativity.
@@zerpblerd5966 no?
@@TheSkullPanda They weren't clay models right? I think thats what hes trying to say in an asshole way. I could be wrong but I thought they talked about them being 3d models when he spoke to the main artist at black isle/troika (forgiveme cant remember his name)
Hi, Tim. Big fan of the original trimetric games! Just wanted to let you know that there is a great mod for Fallout 2, which is called "Fallout Et Tu". The mod recreates Fallout 1 on the engine of the 2nd game almost completely, and naturally implements most of the features that you had talked about. There are also a couple of optional features, which make the gameplay a lot smoother without ruining the balancing and feel of the game. Have a great day!
I'll have to look for this. It's still a game I play every 2 or 3 years, but some QOL improvements are certainly welcome.
Old comment, I know, but around when you wrote that comment, I replayed Fallout with that mod. Makes the game feel less clunky to play compared to the original. But what struck me the most was how small the game actually is. Fallout 2 is much bigger.
@@AnotherDuckoh fs
I think you might be interested in FO2tweaks and ECCO mod - they implement dope things and it's pretty much all about simple mechanics
Man how is this channel not massive, this is the father of fallout who revolutionized western RPG games
I never played Fallout, but seeing this much passion after decades of making it, I will have to play it. Thank you for showing us the person behind it.
Fallout is great. Fallout 2 is the best Fallout game, and one of the legendary games ever made. In 2023 it might be somewhat clunky, even with mods though.
@@txdmsk Fallout 2 used to be one of my fav games, but I played fo1 recently for the first time and completed it like 3 times in a month. Then came back to fo2 and... Idk, it just didn't hit the same. I don't think fallout 2 is really better than fallout 1 honestly. It has so many flaws that fallout 1 didn't have, which really sucks because it also fixed a lot of issues I had with the first game.
Your videos are awesome. I could listen to them for hours. There just isn’t many game designers/developers, let alone legendary ones, talking about their work in a relaxed long format like this. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and amazing experience!
11 minutes is a long format?
@@theincrediblefella7984 Haha true. It's not exactly long. But in a time where 30secs "stories" rule in digital platforms, this 10mins-little-editing-and-no-background-music type of video is a blessing.
Basically all of these issues were addressed in Fallout 2.
In the countries of the former USSR, most players (including me) started from Fallout 2, and I remember how unusual it was to encounter things like the 3-digit limit or the inability to change the armor of a partner in Fallout 1, when you finally found this game on the local pirate CD market :)
Sometimes I think these tiny imperfections actually add to a game. Like items adding to the end of inventory vs beginning or caps only being 999. It’s like something about these arbitrary limits adds something to the game instead of if everything was perfect and completely streamlined. It’s almost as if it sucks you in deeper mentally into the game because it’s a que telling you “this is a game” and you have to think “game” mentality instead of “real world” mentality.
Love this video. All of your changes sound reasonable and I appreciate that you’d want to be light handed with fixes/changes as to not change what made Fallout so unique and memorable
Watching these as I’m playing through NV 💖 thank you for the uploads Tim. Thank you for making my favorite game series of all time and space
I think I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I really liked Hardcore Mode in Fallout: New Vegas. It added a survival feel to the game that seemed appropriate for a post-nuclear wasteland.
If I were able to add something to the original Fallout and its sequel, it would probably be something like that, where you actually have to take stock of your water and your rations and so forth before going on long treks between towns. That would have also given the Outdoorsman skill a chance to flourish; right now, it's almost completely worthless in the original game.
The medical room in Vault 15, was infamous for forcing you to load your campaign. If Ian followed you to the wall locker, he would stand there forever, until you killed him.
Kinda makes me glad that I always ransacked Vault 15 before I recruited Ian.
Hello MICROSOFT, are you watching this? Please let this man remaster the classic Fallout games. That's all.
All right lets break this down.
Timothy Cain is more than capable of doing this. The man is Fallout. It's his IP that Interplay essentially fucked him out of. He was Fallout 1. Tried to save Fallout 2. The next 2 were shit because no Tim. Bethesda gets it, makes 3 it's a hit. Timothy IS Obsidian Entertainment. You guys know this. Timothy IS Fallout. And that's why New Vegas is the greatest Fallout game ever made. Prove me wrong.
Because New Vegas was so good it's hard to argue that he should HD remaster 4 Trimetric games that he's going to heavily edit. We all know it would be fucking glorious. And after seeing Diablo 2 hd remaster and graphics swap I really want that. But I also really want him to remake them in the creation engine like New Vegas. Because New Vegas was so fucking good. Imagine going to Junktown in 3d and going down into the Dr.'s place finding that complete moron in the basement with body parts for the iguana on a stick. Or imagine fighting Gizmo or Decker. The deathclaw could actually be 20 ft tall like the tales say!
The problem you have presented sir. Is now I want both and I'm about to beg the modding community who's making Fallout London to ask Obsidian to help them remake Fallout 1 and 2.
@@Zanenoth Tim Cain didn't work on New Vegas at all
@@Zanenoth fuck no. Fallout is not a 3d shooter or skyrim with guns.
@@jedenzet new vegas is good though? plus franchises do this magical thing called evolve
@@Zanenoth ...tim had nothing to do with new vegas, also this is fallout tactics slander, and I will not stand for it
I watch these after I get out of class on the long drive home. it’s honestly a super hype part of my day. Thanks for the vids man.
I love listening to these when I cook every morning. Very insightful and fun, thanks Tim!
My teenage brain would have exploded if I had known way back that I'd someday have access to a video like this. This is so cool.
this is a great list, and it’s all totally true. someone should make a “cain cut” mod implementing as many of these changes as are feasible!
Great video as always!
Be awesome to see The Cain Cut of Fallout.
I know it would take a ton of work and time that would take time away from your modern game work but it would be amazing to see you make a patch now that addresses all of the things you mentioned in the video. I know that there are fan patches that address some of the issues you mentioned but a directors patch would be incredible, a boy can dream!
This is so cool. All of these changes sound great!
This is so cool! When I was engrossed in Fallout for the first time in middle school, I didn't think that one day I will listen to one of the game's developers talk about things they would change in it.
Yo Tim, don't know if you read the comments but your work means so much to me. Your one of the few people I consider to be my personal celebrities.
Instant subscribe
Thank you so much for everything. You, Avvelone, Lovecraft and Asimov are my greatest influences in my writing, thank you so so much
I've recently played Fallout, and an interesting tidbit is you can play the game almost perfectly and rather intuitively right out of the box with the Steam Controller. You can edit some settings if you need to, but almost everything is mapped from the start.
Also really fun to play on Steam Deck. I set up a touch menu for the Skill Dex and it was wonderful!
I agree with these, but I’d also love to see some of the major changes you’d make to Fallout. I think it would be nice to see what the original creator would do with the IP today
@@lrinfi man I didn’t even know Lucas had three more movies thought up! I’d have loved to see that, too, but you’re correct that we aren’t gonna get to see either. Tim said that he’ll know when he sees elements of his “hidden” fallout in other games, but we unfortunately wont ever know which features exactly…
having good endings for the followers of the apocalypse and the hub would've been nice, that was my only major annoyance I recall from when I played fallout a few years ago. getting banished by the overseer felt like a powerful statement on how cruel the world of fallout could be but seeing the settlements and NPCs I interacted get killed despite me blowing up both the mutant strongholds within the time limit felt unfair. I understand those were cut content however and the game that was released under the constraints you were under is still my second favourite fallout story (played NV at 13 years old and it was my first rpg so nothing will ever surpass that experience). also increase the highest chance of hitting things to more than 95% because I still always miss lol
The Boneyard ending is bugged, but there is a good ending for the Hub. Theres pre-requisite quests, and I think you have to kill Decker.
@@Kaiserhawk Hub ending was bugged too, as it required the completion of a quest absent from the game. Same deal with the Followers.
@@TheMasterUnityis it the Iguana Bob one by any chance? Always bothered me how you couldn’t solve that and the hub police go nuts on you even if you provoke him into attacking you first and you don’t have any weapons drawn. I had to settle for taking out the butcher and his cronies in Junktown and just assume that Bob’s supply would dry up.
@@TheLastLineLive Sure is, Killap's patch fixes this though.
@@TheMasterUnity I’ll need to give fan patches a try sometime. Farthest I’ve gotten with that is playing the Steam version which does seem to have some changes, namely with some of the settings to allow higher resolution and such that I was not previously familiar with. Not sure when this stuff was introduced but I don’t recall it on my original copy of FO1 or the Fallout Trilogy disc bundle I got on Amazon that was a European UK version of the 3 games.
I recently just bought Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics on sale and your vid just popped up! Thanks for making such an interesting, in-depth and engaging game, Tim!
I would love to hear your experience of seeing Fallout 3 for the first time
You are pretty well spot on with all these, they are exactly the things you hear people say they would like to see improved. If we ever got a Remaster, i would love to see all these changes and then done on a 3D engine but still isometric, like how Pillars is. Being able to pan and zoom would be lifechanging.
What I would change apart of what you said?
Higher res graphics and customizable render resolution. More concurrent sounds (there is 4 max). Optional 44khz sample rate sound. Better sound mastering, especially on the soundtrack - it sounds so dry even from cd audio.
More content and locations. More meaningful random encounters - not the type of encounter and forget. Something like meeting someone that could be also met in a town or whatever. Not sure about that, but bandits/raiders or whomever shouldn't attack you in let's say random encounters unless they are pretty sure they can win. Otherwise what's the point? There should be almost none fanatical enemies that will hunt you until they are dead, unless heavily on drugs. Most enemies should run if just wounded or at least retreat back. I can't see a bandit that will continue to assault/rob someone if shot by a gun. One would gain XP for also not killing enemies, but repelling them.
Npc's should behave in game like they would do in real life. Moving a lot, living their own life and striving to fulfill their own goals. Random encounters in towns. Whatever could be randomized, it should be randomized. Shuffled like cards, so every game is very different, yet the same in the core.
Wounds would need a lot more time to heal. Big wounds/hp loss would require one to see the doctor, or high doctor skill. Because one can take shots and shots and just stimpack himself almost indefinetely. That is not exactly how rpg should roll. Hp loss would hurt performance of combat significantly, minor on other skills.
Range of weapons and range of npcs sight would need to be increased dramatically.
Optional fog of war for some ingame bonus, like hardcore mode in diablo gives you better item drop etc. Something, just not very significant.
I thought about making a large list and emailing it to Tim about this kind of stuff and trying to get a video call with him, funnily enough he answered most of the questions I had. Thanks for reading my mind Tim!
Thanks for this discussion and look back on Fallout! It's very cool to hear your perspective.
Thanks for the video, was having a hard time actually starting today but gamedev stories from you are always very motivating.
Personally, I don't think I would appreciate if the newly picked up items appeared in FRONT of the inventory. I like them being in order; last picked last place. And if I manage my inventory in some fashion; it getting "out of order" for every new item, would suck big time. Agree with everything else.
Maybe it could be an option, because MANY people do want the recent items first.
@@CainOnGames Fair enough. Options are always nice :-P
Thank you, and your team, for your contributions to the video game industry and so many precious teenage memories of playing Fallout 1. My best friend and I would just play the game in our respective characters and talk on the phone while we played and talked about what we saw and went over strategies and give each other play by play of major battles.
Good. Times. ♥
While it would seem the well of this enthusiasm and t-shits is bottomless, I've got to express my appreciation for this burst of productivity. It's really special to me getting new Cain thoughts basically everyday for this period while it lasts.
Its really nice to listen to these perspectives thank you for making them!
I think its really cool that you talk about the development of Fallout 1 and what you would change. I don't think theres many developers so transparent about it! Anyway Tim, thanks for making my most favorite franchise of all time!
Just wanted to say that your content is very interesting, informative, and wholesome. I’ve grown up with the games that you’ve helped to create and it’s just so cool being able to listen to you casually share your insights and experiences.
Thanks for the great content Tim👍
It's funny how much I'm reminded of the moment to moment gameplay of a game I haven't played in a while just talking about inventory menus and number dials. The texture of the game is so memorable. I remember the fwoop plop of picking up and dropping items in inventory, cycling through to try to get the new stuff... and these changes would be small but great. I still wonder if an official mod would be possible
As someone who played fallout for the first time recently I agree with all these changes and was happy to see most of them in fallout 2
Thank you, Tim, for video and, of course, for the game
I think Restoration project make many of this ideas in life
I want to set it, finally, and play it again, but with another, fresh(or old) game experience ❤
It's funny, because some of these changes you mention have already been done by some users in some modifications, such as "ddraw", "Sfall" (Sfall allows you to use the mouse wheel to scroll down and up in the game inventory) and the High Resolution Patch, to be able to play Fallout in resolutions even 1080p, although the hud looks small.
But certainly the ideas you propose are very interesting, Tim, because you would keep the original design of the game, and that's great for me. Maybe some users will see this video and in the future make all these changes!
Combining all of the NPC turns into a single sequence would have been a great change. Basically you just calculate all of their moves and actions, giving priority to those earlier in the queue so they don't contradict each other, and then play back the visualization of all of those actions as one sequence. Then it would also make more sense when the player character is overwhelmed by enemies and dies, because you can see all of them attacking the character basically at the same time.
Tim, thanks for doin these vids. Esp the fallout ones. I love getting to hear your dev experiences.
Hey Tim Cain! I've been writing an analysis of FALLOUT 1, and I am just now getting to resources and popular opinions on the topic. I have to say that it is incredibly refreshing to straight up listen to a developer about what they would change for modern approachability, including how you felt at the time, on a product they worked on. I love open discussions from devs about the shortcomings or benefits of the works in which they spent so much effort.
I do have one question about one change you did make, though. How do you feel about how the main quest being timed detracting from the experience you intended? And would you consider implementing a more strict time limit if the intended experience was more about experiencing the narrative themes conveyed through the various mechanical pressures rather than freedom of choice and it's narrative and mechanical implementations?
Personally, I think a more strict time limit, at least for the Water Chip, would have contributed to the immense pressures found in the early game in a way that both mechanically and thematically serves the narrative. Or, at least, the narrative I experienced.
My problem with the time limit is that it’s opposed to the game’s open world design. The open world design encourages exploration, but the time limit discourages it. It forms a tension, which can be good, but it also tends to confuse players. Are they supposed to explore or not?
@@CainOnGames I think I understand. Please, correct me if I am wrong. It was an onboarding issue specifically because FALLOUT was designed mechanically, and to an extent narratively, for the freedom that the open world design affords?
I cannot thank you enough for your response. It all sounds so simple the way you put it! I've been watching well spent hours of your interviews and speech(es?) regarding the design process and inspiration for FALLOUT. I am so much more than happy to get a confirmation on your perspective, especially from you personally. Thank you, Mr. Cain.
Do you prefer to be referenced in any particular fashion regarding citations of your work or verbiage on the topic? And may I use or reference this interaction, and your input by proxy, within my analysis?
Glad to see you do this retrospective. I'm not a game developer but I am a UI/UX developer.
Didn't play Fallout when it came out but I love older games and just played it recently. Very fun game, cool setting and all, but yes your UI decisions were atrocious! I think I spent more time managing inventory than actually adventuring. You have to switch between so many menus to find out what items weigh, what they're worth, what their stats are.
Should have had a party inventory screen where you can easily move stuff around in a grid, see what it does and what it weighs and what it's worth. In retrospect I'm using stuff like WoW and BG3 as references, but even contemporary games like Diablo did it better. Still love the game Tim.
I love your videos so, so much. Your upbeat presentation is incredible. The history of major game franchises being recorded is a treasure. Chef's kiss!
grid inventory, inventory categories, map drag instead of edge drift i think are essential
sight lines for weapons would be nice to have (like what's in cover, what's targetable) as an optional toggle.
I actually like that Gifted is there as a kind of optional Easy mode. In a single player game, balance only bothers me if I can radically change the difficulty without realising it, like if Guns were utterly useless all game and you were handed a Turbo Plasma Rifle immediately in Shady Sands. Even for a new player, it's pretty clear how strong Gifted is.
I’m currently playing fallout 1 for the first time and loving in! Impressed for the time. Still is a blast now, the beginning is hard but once you get through it’s great.
One thing I always wanted when giving or taking items is to type in using numbers how much I want. Also an option that instantly ups it to max for either action would have been nice too. Because yeah, dealing with caps, especially after you dupe them, is grueling.
8:51 I loved that about fallout though. Especially with burst firing while targeting an NPC behind a bunch of other NPCs
I would buy a remaster of Fallout 1 in a heartbeat.
Same!
These kind of retrospective-videos from game creators are really useful, thanks for sharing!!
Fallout 2 had many of those quality of life improvements you speak of. Looks like someone was paying attention after you left. Fallout on Steam has resolution options as well. Since I played those games in my childhood, many of those little things don't bother me because its just the way the game was and added to its charm.
I am ashamed to admit it, but I never played Arcanum when it came out. Honestly, I had never heard of it until I started following the channel. I wish I had because it seems like the sort of game I had been missing for years after Fallout 1 and 2. So I purchased it on Steam to give it a go... and I am sad to say that the struggle is real. She desperately needs some modern attention. But I haven't given up yet :)
Sorry for the long post but here is my question... finally: If you were to "remake" or "remaster" FO1, FO2 (hypothetically), and Arcanum, would you keep the isometric 2D with quality of life updates or would you jump straight into 3D (like Wasteland 3 and not an FPS. The only reason I put up with that from Bethesda was because I love the environment and dark humor, which was lacking after FO1, and I was jonesing hard for a Fallout fix) and redo everything? Or would you combine and do a 2.5D with a fixed perspective?
Thanks again!
Drog black tooth does a great arcanum patch
Lots of people who enjoy turn-based or FPS style games tend to dislike the other, I'm glad I just like both :D
Hi, good to know, i making now FALLOUT 2 Remake maybe i use your ideas :) as 3D action FPS
I saw your project a few months ago. You‘re a legend!
@@smartlp4782 Hello, happy to read that. legend is Tim, he create all mechanics and core of game
@@jonaszIGD will you get cease n desist letter 💌💌💌💌💌💌💌
@@Lbf5677i have greenlight from Bethesda
Just stopping by to say - thanks for your work on this franchise.
Would be fun to watch you do Let's Plays of games you worked on, see how much you remember. Playing them might bring more memories. With quality of mods of course. Especially ones that mirror what you mentioned here. Thank you again for this.
I'd suggest expanding the inventory bar's width to twice or thrice what it was, and make the hand boxes and armor display more compact, with armor stats being toggled by a menu button. Or perhaps toggling between the default inventory screen, and just your items in a grid of sorts, with using right click to equip to your character.
Dude, the pressure of those right-click menus when you have an active bomb in your pocket is one of my favorite moments in the game :))
i’d love to see you do a let’s play of a fallout game, preferably the first fallout. it would be really interesting to watch a dev play it and explain things as you go through as to how or why it was done. or vice versa; explaining what you liked or maybe would have done differently in a later fallout game.
I thought you might mention getting rid of the Here And Now and Swift Learner perks ^^ Because of how superficially attractive yet utterly worthless those two perks were -- and I picked them every playthrough!
i think rather than making it easier to trade more caps, i prefer increasing the value of the cap so guns that are 5000 are only 500, maybe not that drastic but i feel like i never pick up 1/2 caps and everything i buy is at least 2 digits . i play new vegas and 3 with a mod that does something similar, i like the caps feeling more valuable, also less math, also less clicking in inventories / barter menus
also new vegas’s other currencies did a good job of that too, with inherit world building as well
Critical hit or miss where so fun I recall having an experience just the one Tim mentioned, going out early game, came across some raiders, shot, critical-miss left me blinded 😂. Another good one was in fallout 2 in the Den I think, theres a child with molotovs, threw one at me, critical hit, instant dead, "the chosen one" killled by a child with a molotov was hilarious to me.
Thanks for the video. interesting talk Cain. Looking forward to the next.
The idea of bethesda hiring Tim to remake fallout as a new action game is something i dream of
Great topic! Thanks, TIm, love your videos and insights!
I would like a turn camera clockwise or counterclockwise button. I would also like direct control of party members in combat.
Great video Tim! From ya friend down under 😊
That's really nice to hear, all these years later. Thank you!
I find that a lot of modern games, esp. Early Access on Steam seem to be terrified of disagreeing with players - and by all means, open communication and some modesty when listening to feedback is good! Accessibility is important! But also a lot of things - or, well, maybe at least a good chunk of appeal of many memorable games _is_ in their quirkyness. I mean the kind of "level 1 does 10 damage, level 2 does 22 damage, level 3 does 130 damage" kind of things. Many game developers treat their game as a spreadsheet, and sure, that can be a useful abstraction or tool to a game designer, but ironing out all irregularities and making everything flatly predictable makes for a very bland experience.
Having Ian as a companion WAS so engaging because you had an emotional connection to him, but you also could see how he's not keeping up, and had to balance your emotional comfort (with a NPC you know and cherish) versus his own safety versus your combat efficiency. Maybe, just maybe, if there was a hastily designed NPC companion auto-leveling system, maybe players would explore other companions a lot less. Maybe it would all turn to mush. Maybe.
Interestingly Tactics had the option to pass on an encounter, it was still annoying in a ways lol because you would get spammed with messages every couple seconds to avoid an encounter until you failed the outdoorsmen check and were roped into one anyway.
Hey Tim. I love your videos and this one gave me a wild idea for you (even if you MAYBE thought about it before). Now when you are working with devs (i know, "only" as a consultant), whos "big mother" now owns Fallout, you can say a word or two, how could be great to implement some changes to original from original creator and release it again to make good few bucks. Even way wilder things were realized, but i think, you could talk about it way more than i ever could ;)
two things I wish were different are distance penalty and encounter map size. Reducing per meter distance penalty from 4% to 2% and quadrupling the encounter map size would be great.
"God If I had a little more time"
Waiting for Arcanum and Temple of Elemental Evil editions.
a solution to the transferring of items (mostly caps/money) would be to add arrows on all the numbers. So you could click an arrow on the hundredth number and select how many hundreds of that item you would want to transfer, a much faster and reliable way to the one arrow to make the amount go up or down. I've spent too much time doing math with the select max button, and then taking away enough caps to meet the required price.
Dude I think you shouldn't change anymuch of fallout at all. The game you created back then has become a worldwide phenomenon. Like seriously, there is no chance that fallout would ever become that much of a thing it is nowadays without your excellent groundwork. I have no idea how much days and weeks I have WASTED in this incredible World you have created for us. I can't thank you enough man. Your a hero. Please keep on going. The world needs you. maybe nowadays more than ever.
Greetings Tim, 1st of all Fallout 1 is my favorite game of all time for some specific reasons and as of today, I would think that nothing would change the global experience. game is rough around the edges, resorted to guides on specific places on my 1st playtrough. but the alchemy is so perfect, its minimalistic, not that many quests and dialogues, but it hits right on the bullseye all the time. atmosphere, game design, writing, combat, theme, music. discovered the series with the 2nd in 1997 and Fallout 1 about a decade later when it came out on Gog.
Maybe it's personnal and mileage may vary for many individuals but thanks, its a real masterpiece and it's flaws may be part of it's charm because it worked, it was a work of pure passion and as players we felt that.
Tim, I was wondering what happened to the original clay models used for the talking heads in fallout 1 & 2, and where are they now?
One got sold at auction recently, iirc. They're still floating around out there, but they're collector's items
All good points, but to me the greatest oversight was that Killian Darkwater didn't have a Swiss Army Knife, an empty bubblegum wrapper and a paperclip in his inventory...
I 100% support a Fallout 1&2 remaster and would pre-order it this very moment
I played Fallout for the first time in... 2008. Definitely motivated by the release of Fallout 3.
That said, I've never really thought much about things I'd want to change in the original. Instead, my mind returns to that the game had a lot of cool ideas I'd want to see more of in other games. The look and feel of the world map, for example, wasn't really replicated in Wateland 2, despite the mechanical similarities.
In fact... I just started thinking about how a similar map systern and aesthetic could be used in an adventure game a couple of days ago.
Been a while since I've played it now, but if I remember correctly I missed some kind of inventory sorting and/or filter categories.
Also, the slow battles especially in cities. Maybe having active combatants (friend or foe) going turnbased as per usual, and bystanders/neutrals in one simultaneous round.
Other than that I just want more FO1/2 (or Arcanum) kind of games. :)
You're awesome Tim!
I recently played FO1 for the first time. I can certainly say it's pretty janky; I cut it a lot of slack because it does come from a time when developers were still figuring UX out, but gosh, did it ever take me a while to figure out. It wasn't until some point in FO2 (which I played right after) that things finally clicked and felt natural.
That being said, it's still an awesome game designed with a ton of obvious enthusiasm. I greatly enjoyed my time with it. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to play such an awesome passion project. In so many ways, it still holds up great now. But it's really interesting to hear what you'd have done differently if you could've gone back in time to do just a little more.
Love to hear that stuff, love OG Fallout, big fan
I remember wanting to have access to energy weapons early back then, especially the plasma ones which I loved
re: Energy Weapons Skill and Big Guns skill
I had an idea for a Wattz-Boy laser pistol that replaces the BB Gun and does laser damage, just a civilian based one with a significant amount of ammo, only does 5-10 damage. In fallout 2 I dropped it off in Klamath Falls in one of the back lots.
If I was going to pop a Big Gun in the game somewhere it probably would have been a Super Shotgun, what makes it a big gun is because it uses special shells (two 10 gauge shells at a time). Bad penetration but good damage. In fallout 1 id put it in junktown somewhere and in fallout 2 probably in the den, in the slavers place or the church.
The funny thing is I'm... 80/20 on the changes you suggested. Some of them I think are obvious, the 80%, and they've been done in some fan mods, especially the one that just ports the first game into the second's upgraded engine. The other 20%, like the critical misses, feels... not very important to the game, but like a nice element that isn't in other stuff that I'd be sad to miss. Ian shooting me in the back of the head with a burst will never not be funny after so long, if still frustrating back in the day.
I think this just goes to show that once art is out there, everyone is going to have their own interpretation of what they think is the "proper" expression of it, and it's super interesting to hear what you think about your project.
Love your vids, Tim! Looking forward to more!
"I'd like more heads" - Tim Cain
Watched this expecting a bethesda slaughter, but got a nostalgia trip instead. Great work on those older games Tim!
Question Tim, in Arcanum you can craft what feels like pretty much every consumable in the game but Potions. I always found it kind of odd, that a magic user had to buy them or loot them there was no way for the play(atleast that I am aware of) to make their own health and mana potions.
I always thought a magic school that was like Transfusion, which the player could combine some plants with a bottle to make different potions, maybe enchant your own items, would have been pretty cool option for a magic character.
Personally there are a few skills in Arcanum that I would have made neutral (ie they wouldn't contribute to the character's magic/technology affinity). Medicine making and blacksmithing for example. That way you could have made magic potions and weapons that could be either technological or magical but how effective you were with them would still depend on your affinity.
This was some VERY cool insight
I just started replaying the original Fallout in part due to your videos on the game, it has really got me interested in going back in. Doing a different play through than I have done before, focusing on being a sharpshooter from long range so I got high per, int, and agi. Also got higher luck, finesse and more criticals to get a high rate of critical hits which is very satisfying. I dunno if you made a video about the companion ai but I’m very curious about it because I noticed that Ian has a very strange proclivity to doing melee or unarmed attacks on my newest playthrough. I’m playing on my Steam deck just because I can, kind of annoying to play with it but it works better than I anticipated. Oh forgot to mention i took several points away from charisma which has forced me into some encounters I usually avoided, and lower endurance has made me squishier so several reloads from death 😂
Just ask Ian to pull out his best weapon next fight. That should help. Unless he shoots you in the back ;)
@@janvermeulen1557 seems I gotta do this in between every fight for it to reliably come across lol. Tycho doesn’t remotely have that problem.
@@TheLastLineLive Sounds like a bug :(
We need a modern re-release! Would love you to make it Tim!