Bethesda Conference Catch Up

Preamble:

Bethesda kicks things off this year. The newcomer has a lot to prove, and they certainly seem to be heading that way. They’re coming in on three main prongs.

Starting early and surprising pretty much everyone, they unveiled Fallout 4 earlier this month, showing off a teaser that will probably lead to a gameplay reveal during the conference. Secondly, the DOOM reboot has been teased, and gameplay is all but certain, lest we riot.

Thirdly, and most recently, an open mic leak on a twitch test stream on Saturday accidentally revealed Dishonoured 2. Not that shocking as a sequel goes, but that’s a welcome addition. So three games at least, hopefully all showing gameplay, to get things started.

As for other stuff, I’d assume Elder Scrolls online will be due for some sort of gameplay expansion, especially as the console versions only launched a while ago. As for anything else, not a clue. Wolfenstein making an appearance maybe?

Live Stream Commentary:

So here we Go, Bethesda Starts E3 proper (Nintendo’s weird events notwithstanding).

Pre show starts with the Fallout please stand by screen, and some lovely music. Delightfully relaxing for quarter to three in the morning. PLEASE STAND BY for the Ink Spots.

Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb take us through the setup for everything stage wise, lots of numbers and talk of resolution and screens. All very fascinating. Then time for some crowd interviews, see what people want. Fallout Cosplayers, unsurprisingly, want to see more fallout. I’m shocked.

And we’re showing the announcement trailer for fallout 4 again. They are going hard here. I guess we’re starting with Fallout and moving elsewhere then.
Oh yeah, battlecry is a thing. Team based shooter based around multiplayer.

Starting with a lovely montage of Bethesda employees, very sweet.

And now a montage of all of Bethesda’s games for the last few years, recapping where we’ve come from.

Pete Hines takes the stage to the Skyrim theme. Lots of thank yous and welcomes. All very straightforward and supportive of the fans.

DOOM is our lead. IdTech6 Engine for the new DOOM. Badass Demons, Big Effin Guns, and Moving fast

Straight into gameplay, Put the helmet on for the hud. Very pretty, lovely lighting effects in an industrial factory setting.

Melee Finishers. ripping hearts, snapping necks and squashing skulls, plus jaw ripping. Demons getting literally torn in half I suspect someone has been paying attention to the brutal doom mod

Gibbing, blood, gore everywhere from hits

Super Shotgun makes chunks of demons

Weapon Selection wheel might have taken cues from wolfenstein, pauses game to select

Holographic audio log style messages show recordings from story

And chainsaw gets whoops from the crowd, and is BRUTAL, death animations on every enemy it meets, might get tedious
Final shot is a revenant killing the marine, ripping his arm off, beating him and then punching through the helmet

Doom multiplayer

Fast vertical movement, Powerups, arena based combat. Multiplayer has ability to play as demons

Talking about mods now, and showcasing player created game modes that can be shared

Doom: SnapMap. Shared maps and campaigns from the community with tools built in.

Tools that looks surprisingly like the Timesplitters design tools. Like really surprisingly close.
Works regardless of platform apparently for sharing.

Footage of Hell now, bodies everywhere, esoteric landscapes, the average heavy metal design.

One of my only concerns is that i think i’ve seen five or six enemy types and am very worried that there aren’t going to be more.  Also it seemed oddly slow.

Ends on the BFG. Nice. Spring 2016 release on PC,PS4 XBONE

Bethesda.net

Community site Supporting all Bethesda games, seemingly looking like a place to find mods maybe? I’m gonna need another login i suspect

Time for Battecry,

Global Beta applications are now open, WW1/2 style aesthetic, team based action game
Launching Fall

Arkane Systems are here, thanking the players of Dishonoured, showcasing a colonial looking CG trailer. Dishonoured 2, PC, XBONE, PS4
Robot steampunk coolness, 2 protagonists, One being Emily Caldwell. Other’s a dude Different skillsets so different ways to play. Sounds solid. Make it so killing doesn’t screw my game up, and we’re grand.
Dishonoured Definitive Edition on Next gen, HD and DLC. Available Fall.

Elder Scrolls Online, More content coming, Sneak peek at some siege stuff and also a look at Orsinium, home of the orcs. Okay, last shot was of ORCS ON BEARS. That’s a hook.

The Elder Scrolls Legends, Strategy card game based around elder scrolls mythos.

CG trailer, lots of lovely artwork. F2P PC, IPad. Literally no other details. I assume they want some of that Hearthstone money.

Fake out about the end of the showcase, crowd starts yelling Fallout.
Time for Todd Howard to do a Demo for us.

Obsession to detail. Small details come together for larger while.

Gorgeous concept art montage.

Game starts before bombs fall. That’s where we open. Sculpting style face manipulation. Much better than the clunky system before. Quite straightforward, no sliders. And of course you can play as a female. Choice is all yours. Character seems voiced almost fully. Commenting on random stuff in the game. Third person interactions show your characters movement, but dialog is not a state you are locked into, you can move and act.
Vault Tec salesman is how you get your Special skills sorted.
Running to the Vault as gameplay sequence.
Sole Survivor of Vault 111, emerge 200 years later.

Dynamic lighting looks gorgeous, individual blocking the sun.

You find your Mr Handy, Godsward, who seems to be there to bring you up to speed.

Dog gets commands, point and execute command. Far simpler than the wheel from the last games.

Vats lets you execute critical hits at your choice, slows time, doesn’t stop it.

Wide array of locations, inner city and surrounding area. Confirmed Boston

Pip Boy is now animated,

Game tapes for pip boy, mini games like donkey kong and missile command,

Layered armour system

Collectors Edition comes with pip boy, fits an iphone, has an app on iOS and android, second screen experience for game.
Fully acknowledged to be a stupid gimmick. I must have one.

YOU GET TO REBUILD. You can scrap items in game and rebuild things. Survival game style.
Base building. This is what the garage was in the trailer. Called it. You build a settlement that will support traders. Includes a full power system, with stuff like lights and defence systems. Raiders will attack settlements. You can then run caravans between them.

Item crafting runs off item sets, not specific crafting recipes. Customise all your weapons. Modify them how you want.
INCLUDING POWER ARMOUR. YES.

Combat feels great apparently. Designed to work in First, Third and Vats.

Iron sights survived from New Vegas

Power armour gives you a new HUD, step inside like an iron man suit. INCLUDING A JET PACK.

And air vehicles seem to be destructible and controllable, alongside something that looked like a satellite laser.

November 10th 2015 for Release Date

Totally new game for phones and tablets

Fallout Shelter. Make your own Vault, be the overseer. Looks kinda like a cutesy version of This War of Mine.

Simulation management game, look after your vault dwellers, make them happy survivors, build a Vault that survives. Free game, no paywalls, some microtransactions for loot
Launches Immediately after conference

And there we go. Highlights are clearly Fallout 4, and Dishonoured looks great. Doom I think i need a hands on to judge, the card game i don’t care for, same for Battlecry or Elder Scrolls. Bethesda.net I am very wary of, what value does it serve? The fallout mobile game I may look into.

Good Start. No major balls up. I have hopes for you Bethesda, Keep it up.