Fallout 3 Interview

Next Generation had the opportunity to sit down with Bethesda's Emil Pagliarulo and quiz the Fallout 3 lead designer about the game's story, 30,000 lines of dialogue, and more.
Not everyone's happy, though. Particularly the hardcore Fallout fans who lament the (consolization) of a franchise that originated on PC. They expect Bethesda to (dumb down) the game for the masses on multiple levels, whether it be through gameplay or even story.

Writing for a franchise that has such an outspoken core fanbase puts writers in a precarious position: how much do you listen to that core fanbase, and how much do you ignore them?

(.That's always the toughest question,) says Pagliarulo. (You listen to the fans and respect their ideas, but once you start designing a game that they want to make specifically, then you can get yourself into trouble. One of the things that I love about Bethesda, and that we all love about working here, is we're all pretty hardcore gamers and we know what we want, we know what's fun, we know what we like and so we design for each other. We're our own best audience.

"There just comes a point where you just can't worry what the hardcore fanbase is going to scream at you about on the forums."(So with Fallout in particular, we're comfortable that the game is coming out this year we can finally say that. The game is coming out this year, fall 2008. Knowing where we are in the project and all the work that is finished and all the work we still have to do, I think we're all so wrapped up in the game that we're creating, that there just comes a point where you just can't worry what the hardcore fanbase is going to scream at you about on the forums, you know? You have to make the game that you're making and know that it's a good one and continue with that.)