So, according to a preview of Fallout 3, the world is 50%-80% the size of Oblivion's. So, it's certainly going to be a large game.

The exact quote is “We’ve never bothered to walk across the world,” says Hines “but it’s between 50 to 80 per cent of the size of Oblivion. It’s designed to feel like what the capital’s wasteland should feel like – a post-apocalyptic world where people scratch out an existence in these settlements"

Sounds like the world will be pretty empty... What do you guys think of this? Personally, I hate Oblivion, and one of the biggest reasons I hate it is it was just so huge and empty. The more Bethesda compares this to Oblivion the less I want to play the game. What do you guys think? Is a huge world with less content a good thing, or do you prefer a smaller world with the content in closer proximity?

Well to be fare, they did just say it's smaller. So perhaps thats something that they agreed with. And this is a Fallout game. It should be a giant waste land. It should also have tons'o towns, content and hillarity.

Pleasedontscrewthisup, Betheseda...
Pleasedontscrewthisup, Betheseda...
Pleasedontscrewthisup, Betheseda...
Pleasedontscrewthisup, Betheseda...

I loved Oblivion because it was so huge and so much to explore, so I am liking what I hear about this so far.

Tell me about it. All I did in Oblivion was walk around. The side quests weren't that interesting and the combat sucked as well as the experience and level up system. Once I did the main quest, the game was immediately uninstalled. So if Fallout 3 is anything like Oblivion, I won't be buying it. If the world is smaller, then perhaps they'll focus on developing it more. Fable was a little bit better than Oblivion in that except it wasn't that great of an improvement.

I suppose, but it's certainly possible to handle post-apocalyptic worlds without making them empty... I know it's not an open world, but look at Half-Life 2.  There were certainly times when you would feel alone, and see the world in ruin, but you always had something to do.  I'm worried that this game will not.  

I have the feeling that Bethesda is going to take one of my top five franchises of all time and Oblivion-ize it, killing all its charm.

Wandering around is fine... Size of environment is fine...Don't really care about those parts. What scares the shit out of me is Bethesda's admittal that "we're not really into humor in games"... Well, THEN WHY DID YOU BUY THE FALLOUT FRANCHISE?

Fallout's main draw is its rich environment, hilarious NPCs, and the ability to do some crazy shit as the main character (killing entire towns, contracting STDs, prostitution, etc). But amidst it all, there was a real story underneath all the Fallout games. More than I've gotten from any Bethesda game, anyway.

I hope I'm wrong but I don't think Bethesda has it in them. I think they're going to create a beautiful game that will be an empty shell of Fallout's former greatness. New gamers will probably love it, old Fallout gamers will probably burn Bethesda to the ground for ruining one of the greatest WRPGs ever created.

I really wish someone like BioWare had snatched up this franchise while it was available. 

Oh, and if there are vampires in Fallout and your character can contract vampirism in-game, I'm driving straight to Bethesda HQ and kicking somebody square in the nuts.

I completely agree with your other fears, but I also really don't want Fallout to feel empty and soul-less like Oblivion did. Yeah, there was a huge world in Oblvion. 90% of it was just trees and rocks with nothing interesting to discover. I don't mind a huge world in Fallout, but there should be lots of ruins and things to search through and discover stuff in.

Also, if there are vampires, I'll pick you up and take you to Bethesda myself.

Why does everyone here hate the vampires? All I had to do was go on this several-hours quest and boom, I was cured. No problems at all.