First Person Perspective
Bethesda E3 2015 recap
As opposed to posting a ten page response to the E3 recap I have decided to recap each of the press conferences individually to give each their own time to […]
As opposed to posting a ten page response to the E3 recap I have decided to recap each of the press conferences individually to give each their own time to shine. Bethesda was the first event of E3 with an even mix of reviving classics and introducing new games. Though I am not closely familiar with all of their games I did a little research to give each property it’s fair shake.
Dishonored 2 (2016)
Dishonored was originally released in the year 2012. The adventure takes place in a city called Dunwall where technology and supernatural powers are both present. The hero is a former bodyguard of the Empress whom has been framed for the assassination of the Empress. Your mission is to clear your name and expose the corruption of the government and the elite of the city. There are multiple endings to the choices you make throughout the game. Dishonored 2 takes place 15 years after the events of the first game. Three are now two playable characters both with supernatural abilities and technology at their disposal. The country is once again thrown in to chaos as an otherworldly entity takes control manipulating those in power, and once again releasing the plague that infected the city before. I am very intrigued by this game to see how it is received by the fans of the series, and if one day I should look into playing it.
Elder Scrolls Online (2015)
A new expansion was released and promoted. I have never played this series past a week of Morrowind due to Warcraft, but now I just don’t have time. Graphically the game looks great, yet not something on my radar.
Elder Scrolls Legends (TBD)
Finally someone throws their game into the ring to challenge Blizzard’s Hearthstone. And we as gamers are the ones who should benefit. Not enough was shown in the announcement trailer other than that Legends was coming, but I am excited to see how this turns out.
Battlecry (TBD)
A new Player v. Player team based action game which draws similarities to Team Fortress. Matches can be played with up to 32 total players that battle for factions as opposed to full scale wars. The added twist is that in this world there is no gunpowder so there are no guns, cannons or explosive devices. Artistically the blood design is interesting, but I’ve grown up and it doesn’t really matter to me at all. I am not very good in PVP, so I will probably pass on this one as well.
Fallout Shelter (2015)
A new mobile game in the vain of the Fallout series. You now play as the Overseer of a vault assigning tasks. I downloaded it and played it for a week, but could never really commit to it due to interest. It gave me a sense of Tamagotchi, and constantly needing to be taken care of. I don’t have time for a game that is constantly needing to be maintained, and will probably be deleting this from my phone soon.
Doom (2016)
Now for the two heavy hitters of the conference the first of which is the Doom series a game that was originally released in 1993. You play as a space marine named Doomguy who fights his way through hordes of demons on the moons of Mars. The hero then travels to Hell itself to defeat the invasion. The sequel Doom II was released a year later in 1994. Doomguy continues his mission to defeat legions of demons this time on Earth where the demons have invaded. He must help the survivors of Earth escape by defeating waves of demons to allow the survivors of Earth to escape the planet. Ten years later Doom 3 was released taking place before the events of Doom and Doom II. You are a new marine on Mars before the portal is opened and the moons of Mars are affected. You fight through the events that lead to the game play of Doom. Twelve years later a game that has been stuck in development since 2008 when it was originally announced as Doom 4 will finally be released re-titled Doom. After numerous rewrites and changes to the story not much is known of what the story may be. Only that blood, gore and demons are back on the menu. Not exactly a game I would consider fun, but I will definitely read the story when it is released.
Fallout 4 (11/10/15)
Finally we come to the game everyone has been waiting for form Bethesda, Fallout 4. The series originally began with a game named Wasteland developed by Electronic Arts, EA, in 1987 and is considered the spiritual successor to the Fallout series. Nuclear attacks began in 2087, and it was your mission to survive in the barren wasteland of the southwestern United States against other survivors, an AI computer system, androids, cyborgs and mutant creations of the nuclear fallout. With this being a PC game space was saved by making areas progressive, and having the player save to the games computer discs. The manual was used to tell the story in a choose your own adventure style of book. There were also false leads in the manual to keep gamers from trying to skip ahead by reading pages not directed to, and would cause game changing scenarios to occur.
In 1997 Interplay introduced Fallout a game the featured an alternate timeline where after World War II culture stayed similar to the 1950s and technology continued to advanced. A petroleum shortage caused a war between China and the U.S. which ended in a nuclear war in the year 2077. The game takes place in the year 2161 in Southern California where you chose from three premade characters with diplomacy, stealth and combat being their attribute choices. Creating a custom character was also an option. Three companions can be chosen to accompany you as well throughout the game as you chose to help or turn against certain factions. The outset of the game your character is tasked with retrieving a water chip to help restore their vaults water supply, and eventually leads to putting a stop to the super mutants threatening your vault of survivors. The game featured multiple endings due to your choices and timed limitations to complete the game affected by your choices as well.
The sequel, Fallout 2, was released in 1998 as a continuation of the first set in the year 2241. The descendents of the first game’s protagonist are searching for GECK to help provide natural resources for their group of survivors in the Wastelands. The GECK was to be found at Vault 13, the original vault of the game, but when the hero arrives no one is there. Eventually the character must fight the Enclave which is the remnant of the US government who is testing mutations on the former inhabitants of Vault 13. This game also had multiple endings depending on the choices you made and how you are perceived by others.
In 2008 Fallout 3 was finally released. A continuation of the second game set in the year 2277 in Washington D.C., Northern Virginia, Maryland and Vault 101. The game tells a slightly different story from the previous two where the new character is chased from the vault after their father disappears, and they are accused of being the reason for the disappearance. Enclave once again rears its ugly head to deter the hero from their mission to help the vault group survive. Companions are once again back including a dog named Dogmeat, but the party can only have three in it even though there are many optional companions to choose from. Once again multiple endings encourage replay of the game to see the different results you can end with.
Fallout New Vegas was released by Interplay in2010. The next continuation of the story takes place after the third game in the year 2281 in Nevada, California and Arizona. This new twist on the series is you are now a courier in the wasteland delivering a package to one of four factions in the Mojave desert. Once it is stolen from you in the introduction of the game your mission is to get it back, and deliver it to the faction you side with. The multiple endings in this game depend on which of the four parties you decide to side with, or if you decide that you want to take control of the area yourself.
Fallout 4 is set to release in 2015. From the trailer it appears to flash between 2077 and 2277 in the city of Boston, MA. Where you play a survivor before the nuclear attacks and how they survived in the vault thereafter. A dog companion is once again featured and we can probably expect to have multiple endings depending on our choices throughout the game. The scenes depicted in the trailer look very beautiful, and customization to characters and items looks a lot of fun too. Of the games Bethesda announced at E3 this is the one I am most looking forward to learning more about.
As for a grade on the products released by Bethesda I would give it a 7/10. They are bringing out some things that are interesting to me, but I will not be dabbling into all of them. Though as never being a Fallout player before I may have been convinced to take a harder look at this series.
GamerFeed Radio 