Todd Howard: Being that we are Bethesda…everything gets a bit big. So as of last week we’re over 200 endings. That is not an exaggeration, but it deserves some description. 200 endings…that’s a lot. So originally when we started, we had various iterations of the ending. The ending is kind of cinematic, that’s dynamic based on the things you’ve done.
When we started, it was kind of fuzzy, it was like “well there’s like 9 maybe 12″ and we started adding things to it. So if you had done this or not this, you’d get this other tweak to the ending. And we kept doing that. And you know even just two weeks ago someone had this idea, “Oh we should add this idea to the ending” (sorry I’m not going to spoil what that is). And I said, “oh that’s a genius idea, we have to do that.” But then it became, “oh, but there’s four versions of that.” So i was like, “okay there’s like four different versions of that part,” and that multiplies by, at the time we were at about 60 endings…so now there’s four versions of that, so now there are around 240 versions.”
The games on paper when we get started…they’re alot smaller, and then as we go they get bigger…we can’t stop ourselves. We’re have tons of people with good ideas here, and if they’re good and fit the tone, we’re going to try to jam as much into the game as possible. Fallout is probably twice the size of what we originally had on paper…it’s pretty big, so that’s what’s happened with the endings.
So some of that stuff is the big things of what you do very late in the game, some of those are things like your karma — how you’ve lived your life from the beginning of the game — you get certain scenes based on your karma. But we kind of like the ending as much as like the game itself at the beginning is you tailoring your character and then you play throughout this game, and unlike Elder Scrolls, where it’s a game where you can keep playing, Fallout 3 has a definite ending. So we wanted to go to efforts to make sure that the actual ending you get when you finish and get the ending, and make that ending reflect and make it individual to the user’s experience. We’ve definitely gone a little overboard.
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damn that is alot of ending the idea of the math involved is making my head spin
Yeah, I didn't think 200 endings was particularly realistic. Jesus, I thought Blade Runner had a lot and it only had seven.
I guess there trying to break crono triggers 12 endings record
I'm still quite excited about this. Simply for the reason that you could play through this game so many different ways and get something different in the end. Now how drastic is that difference? We will have to see, but if they are bold enough to make a statement that there will be 200 different unique experiences, then I am all for that.
Play through fallout 3, mess around and do your own thing after you beat it. Months pass and you start downloading custom addons for the game (like oblivion / morrowind has) and you eventually stumble upon more endings while going through the experience. Then a couple of years pass and you miss the experience of fallout 3. Now perhaps you will get something different from the first time you played through. \
Like I said they havent really described how different the endings are from eachother, they could be very very small differences, but if they are large, then by george I'll take it!
Permutations or not, completionists need to steer clear of this game unless they want it to be the last thing they do. ;)
This is just like the first two games. Hopefully they get Ron Perlman to do voiceover for the endings, that would kick ass.
Par Example: Ending options.
Good/Bad (2) * Male/Female(2) * Rich/Poor(2) * SavedNPCBob/Didn't(2) * ReachedLevel:2,5,10,20(4) = 64 endings.
Not to sound like a dick, but I thought that was exactly what it was when I first read it.
The great thing about Bethesda is the mods. The community will step up and fix everything wrong with Fallout 3. Like they did with Oblivion. And Morrowind.
Bethesda: We make games, you fix them, but we keep the cash.
seemed obvious from the beginning really - and it's not a new idea so i don't know why anyone was even surprised.
considering the different ending combinations you could get in fallout 2 for example 200 endings doesn't sound ridiculous at all. i never replayed it to get every possible ending, but it's nice to see something different each playthrough.
As long as it's something akin to the ending for Marvel: UA where the story told at the end reflected your actions, although to a much more in-depth degree, that's cool with me. But 200 totally different endings would piss me off. It's not like I'd replay it that many times. Permutations are acceptable.
@ RJG
Yeah same here. There is just no way you have 200 completely unique, from the ground up endings in a game.
Doesn't seem much different than the original fallouts. As for whether I think it is a good idea? I sure do. Having an ending that is tailored around choices I actually made is not a bad thing in any way.
Thanks for clearing that up. There were wayyyy too many people taking this news the wrong way. It was incredibly annoying.
Works just like the original fallouts which is fine by me.
THINK OF A.D.D. PEOPLES' FEELINGS! SO CRUEL!
thanks shepherd for SAVING THE UNIVERSE despite YOUR TROUBLED PAST. As a reward you will get LOTS OF PIZZA ROLLS, and several FEMALE love slaves!
It feels good to be validated:
"HarassmentPanda says:
03/24/2008 18:12
Yeah, I imagine Fallout 3 will have a lot of variables that produce different results in the conclusion. So, the "200 hundred endings" will be combinations of the different possible results."
I remember hearing the 200 endings thing and thinking that it would jsut be permutations, but fuck it, this is EXACTLY what I want out of game endings. I want it to be similar to what my friends got, but not the same, so when we talk about it in the future, there will be differences in how it went down so we can talk about the little differences. I hope nobody tries to get all 200, but I certainly hope I get to see at least one or two, and my friends all see one or two so we can chat about them. THAT'S what I call social gaming.
As a MEGA fan of Fallout 1/2, and a total non-fan of Oblivion, I'm still excited! I hope Bethesda can do this as well as I hope!
Thanks for clearing that up.
If you don't know how the Fallout games dealt with the end game ask someone who does, you'll see it's a very similar aproach.
If you do know the classic Fallout games then you just need to know that there will be less permutations (at this point) and karma will have a central role on how they will occur. But as I said before in the end it is very similar, on this issue there will be some continuity, and that's good.
Dyslexic pretty much said it all for me. This sounds like a game I'm going to put a lot of hours into
200 permutations was what I assumed from the original article. 200 unique endings... that's preposterous! It can't be done! IT CAN'T BE DONE!
That's cool. Now bring out the game.
Who would've thought!
Seemed pretty obvious from the first press release, really.
And I think this is totally in keeping with the previous Fallouts (1 and 2 at least) in that, no matter how many times I play through the damn game (and it's upwards of 5 or so each at this point) I feel like I'm seeing new stuff every time.
Well done, chaps. Well done.
It's pretty crazy that anybody would care even if it was 200 completely different endings.
But then again, I also think it's crazy people get obsessed over dumb things like Gamerscores and Achievements...so I'm obviously baffled by "hardcore gamers" in general?
That is horrible.
Whoever gets them all is a god.
Complaining about too much content? Whut? I don't really see this as being much different than a technologically more advanced version of the fallout 1/2 ending system. I just don't get why people would feel the need to play every single tiny portion of a game in order to not be pissed off.
Complaining about too much content = STFU.
I love this idea! The personal experience being different for virtually every gamer is brilliant!
then we can compare "your" ending with that of fellow-gamers and see where the differences lie... I think its a great idea, plus I kinda needed that kind of engine anyway for the fakegame I posted on my blog last week :-)
DOGMEAT!!!
Also, 200 permutations!
Sounds exactly like the other Fallouts, with a few more options maybe, no big deal. What I do wanna know though, is if they are gonna have the ending FEEL so segmented and transparent. I remember the first 2 basically going through each city and saying "you did this - this happened, you did that - some other thing happened". I would like some combined endings based on doing things in areas A, B, and C, as well as an overall ending that was also variable. Though, I guess an overall ending that isn't variable to push forth the original "life sucks, war never changes" type of message would be fine too, if not preferred.
Well that's not exactly a directquote. I took a stab at transcribing the main point there. At any rate, if people are confused, I definitely think listening to the podcast helps.
Although I like the idea of the endings being altered by the way certain events go down, there better be like 4-12 concrete ending categories. Like theres still the ending where you save the world, and one where you've dommed it, but they have all these little differences in them depending on what you've done throughout the game.
I kind of guessed this was the case anyways.
Bethseda does not make games for completionists, which is why I love them. Oblivion/Morrowind were the same way. Its really up to you to forge your own storyline for your character. I always felt if you didn't role play your in game character a little bit you didn't get as much enjoyment out of it. Me, I had about 10 different characters for Oblivion, each with their own look, style of fighting, sidequests I did or didn't do and factions I did and didn't join. (Yes, I nerded out on that game BIG TIME)
To me it seems they are taking that concept to the next level with endings to reward those choices, which is AMAZING! No matter how you played your game in Oblivion, the quests pretty much end the same without any really impact on the world itself, expansions being the only real exception. I can't wait for Fallout 3. Its going to fantastic.
They should have just said how many real endings.
http://snagwiremedia.com/consolepatrol/2008/03/fallout-3-has-a-ton-of-endings.html
when are we going to get to see some actual gameplay!?????
200 endings isn't even that much, considering it doubles with each simple yes/no toggle switch. They'll be up to 800 endings if they just add two more "Did you do this? y/n?" checks to the game.
The good thing about having this many endings is that now the actions of what you did or didn't do in the game will stay true with the ending. If so-and-so gets killed during the final showdown, I doubt they'll be there to congratulate your heroism as soon as the fight is over. It keeps everything within the game consistant.
uch that makes the mind reel. so how do i know which ending i actually get? will it say at the end of the... ending or whatever?
psst... this was ending #144. only 199 left to go!
Huh? You mean someone thought that's what they really meant?
Death is an ending. What's the other 199 permutations. :)
this game wasn't even on my radar until a few days ago now its right behind GTA4 as my most anticipated games of the year
Soooooooo.... it's basically like Fallout 1 and 2 then? That's what I would have expected anyway.
I'm sure someone has already said this, which basically makes this here comment pointless. Yeah, due to lack of time at the moment, I haven't read the preceding comments of this article and I missed the last article entirely until now.
Duh?
"and unlike Elder Scrolls, where it’s a game where you can keep playing, Fallout 3 has a definite ending."
Thank you Jesus!
ending # 36 - You find daddy and have 4 children, happily ever after!
ending # 37 - You find daddy and have 5 children, happily ever after!
@therob92: Actually fallout 1 & 2 had more possible permutations, because it had more endings for each town.
Extracted from NMA
"Fo1 has 19 different endings, with 360 possible permutations. Fo2 has 47 endings with 1,105,920 permutations. If 200 is the number of permutations for Fo3, they are seriously behind. That would correspond to maybe 10-20 endings. But I'm assuming they'd have to be talking about permutations since you should know when designing a game whether you'll have ~12 or ~200 endings. You don't accidentally hop from 12 to 200 endings late in the development process and send in an order for 188 additional voiceovers from Ron Perlman (because he will KILL YOU). With permutations it would be thinkable, at least."
It was fun reading about how he explains it. The whole time I was like "Um, ok, wtf?"