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Fallout 3 to Have a Whopping 500 Endings

Apr. 10 9:45 PM by Mark Burnham


1UP.com recently did an interview with Bethesda's Pete Hines up in SF, reporting that the game developer/mad scientists behind Oblivion have done something kind of insane. The upcoming Fallout 3 will have a staggering 500 different endings, each dependent upon the actions you take throughout the course of the game. The gigantic, sprawling-in-the-Oblivion-sense game. 70 hours, reportedly. The game is so long it actually begins with you exiting your mother's womb, dumps you into the desolate post-apocalyptic world of Fallout, whence begins the RPG tutorial: learning about the game's features via crawling around, examining toddler reading material, etc. And will all of those decisions add up in some sense to one the 500 endings, perhaps? Given that these guys are responsible for The Elder Scrolls games, it's possible. Anyway, well keep our eyes on this one, as it's shaping up to be something dark and devastating.

Comments

I have to admit I'm actually a bit worried by this news - exactly how distinct and fulfilling can 500 different endings actually be?

"In ending 372, you save the world wearing a red shirt, while in ending 373 you save the world wearing a blue shirt..."

As much as I love Bethesda for their previous Elder Scrolls titles, they have a habit of vastly over extending themselves. Sure, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion had hundreds of NPCs you can interact with, but having only about 16 or so different voice actors caused dialog to quickly feel the same. Lets hope 500 different endings doesn't lead to that same kind of cheapened feeling.

 

I'm reminded of one of my favorite movies, Sliding Doors, where something as simple as missing the subway train versus getting on it created two completely separate timelines. Small decisions can lead to totally disparate conclusions, and I for one am excited that there is a game out there that looks to be exploring this idea. It might look like there are a lot of endings, but really, aren't the endings technically different in all RPGs? Aren't the skills you choose, the weapons you equip, the path you took with your character potentially variant from anything else you could have done? Why shouldn't those choices affect what happens at the end of the game?

 

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