Fallout 3: Your thoughts

[baby arm]

Nice work there. The greaser/Asian pop star one is pretty good too.

[Frater Perdurabo]

First impressions:
Now first off, I haven't played the game that much yet, so these are very early impressions, however it seems to me that the key here is to compare this game to Oblivion and not Fallout. Oblivion could have been a good game if they got their shit right, except that of course they didn't. So far, it seems to me that I'm playing an Oblivion expansion pack and not Fallout.
Basically the Vault was a series of scripted events. That's fine, it's the introduction. As long as the rest of the game is not like that, I won't hold it against it.

Mind you, the entire beginning sequence was basically a copy / paste of the Oblivion intro, in a post apocalyptic setting.

Once you get outside, it felt to me a lot like Oblivion as well. A couple of things that I really don't like:
-abundance of supplies. Too much shit to loot, every container seems to contain something. Takes away the feeling of destitution. I mean, in FO2 I knew every fucking location for early-game Psycho, here they had it out more than you could ask for. Which leads onto the next point:
-vast open areas of... what? Ruined buildings with endless containers of random loot...? Seems like as soon as you get exploring, you want to get the fuck out. Like Oblivion, every area seems to really feel the same, and there seems to be very little key area design, very little indication of what is worth visiting and what isn't. You just end up running around and picking up useless bullshit.
-stolen tagged items. Always was a shit idea. If I want to sell your fucking stolen items back to you, I should be able to do so. There's no fucking way that you could possibly tell which Stimpak is yours and which isn't, especially since there are so many of them lying around.
-difficulty setting, no comprendo. I don't know if it's for combat difficulty, or for skill penalties (originals ofc had 2 separate sliders). Anyway, I started playing on Hard and combat seemed piss easy. I didn't tag any combat skills, have picked a fight wherever I could and have not even come close to losing, or loaded once.

Mind you, it plays like shit on my laptop, I am basically playing on the absolute minimum settings. Have to get my desktop fixed sooner. Will update when I play some more.

[[HpA]SniperPotato]

I don't remember exactly, but skills you tag don't gain double the amount of skill points you put in them do they? They baby the fuck out of you in this game. If you're dumb enough to not realize the stuff your telling a person is a lie, they have <lie> at the end of the sentence. What is that shit!

[Manoil]

So far, I agree-- it's been very Obvlivionesque in the gameplay. I also agree with Frater in that there's always too much shit to loot. Not that there are too many full containers of usefull shit-- many with one or two, and many empty.

The real problem is that I'm not getting enough caps to be able to buy jack shit other than a couple stims, whereas being able to take every single fallen enemy's armor is taking up way too much weight. I wanna pawn it, but I can't carry enough shit back to be able to make it efficient.

Other than my issues with carrying constraints, I've had plenty of fun blasting on mole rats, raiders, and super mutants (which, depending on the amount of nades or explosives you have, can be a serious threat).

I should also note that I was drunk off my ass for the first couple hours of gameplay, after getting back from my sister's party and setting up Fallout.

But like I said, it's hard as fuck to come up with enough cash for anything tasty, which includes the expensive fucking plans for building custom weapons as well as the home furnishings that provide bonuses and free shit when at your Megaton-based hovel.

All the same, I'm happy with how things work (especially after discovering the fast travel option) as well as the little random passings-by with merchants, BOS, and the like.

I should note, however, the couple bugs I've been faced with; one being a random glitch that was causing me to continuously bounce, spawn random dead rad-ants that stretched into infinitely-tall pillars, and waste several-hundred rounds of ammunition on a single mutated horsefly that JUST WOULDN'T DIE. No damage taken whatsoever.
This was all solved with a save and reset, but the second problem... uooooooh. I spoke politely to this guy, leader of 'the family' (can't recall his name) who carried around a Shishkebab(sp?), the name of the gasoline sword that has many of us hard. After finishing a quest and speaking with him, it said he gave me a shishkebab as a reward-- I eagerly checked my inventory, but IT DIDN'T GET ADDED.

FUCK.

All the same, I've enjoyed what I've done so far. But this whole... karma system... it's ridiculously difficult to get away with stealing anymore. I steal three fucking things from someone's house, and the next thing I know, everyone in Megaton is rushing me like I'm the last crackrocks in Harlem.

It's a new take on Fallout, yeah, but I would say in the end, they are retaining the spirit, feeling, and unlike past abominations, the continuity. Even more, they very well might be doing it credit.

[cazsim83]

my impressions are I was so excited to get it, I preordered it three months or so in advance (maybe 4) and just now picked it up...about 27 hours after release time....



I'll let you know later.

[SenisterDenister]

I bought it this afternoon and I think Manoil pretty much hit the nail on the head. Being used to STALKER has definitely made looting and trading in this game frustrating.

My two cents though, its an alright game, but it's not a good Fallout game.

[Haris]

So played it now, best game in a long time. This is the "fallout rpg" of new gen games that i waited for. So it just depends in what mood you are or what you prefer, 90s 2d graphics or newest graphics in 3d.

If you hate all new gen games that are in 3d you will hate fallout 3 to.

Gameplay is pretty much the same. Vats works much like turnbased and feels like turnbased.

Controlls are eazy and learning to play the game and vats system take 5 minutes unless you are a retard.

And there are no big deal bugs or glitches with the game. None that i seen after 12 hours playing.

Its been a long time since a game could tie me up 12 hours just because its fun. Last two game that had that effect where Ultima Online and Fallout 2.

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I think the game is okay except for combat and exploring so far. Combat is pretty bad since most of the time its just you running backwards while shooting an melee enemy in the face multiple times.

Exploring is literally just going from point A to B shooting minor enemies. I was atleast expecting to find some hidden loot and stuff but I didn't. It could have been because i was traveling during the night and couldn't see shit.

Also the compass is pretty bad, has lots of crap on it and doesn't help you too much. Often times you will see any enemy on it right in front of you then suddenly it dissapears and comes up behind you.

[Dogmeatlives]

I cant believe some of you guys actually bought the game? Money talks motherfuckers! and when you laid down that sixty bucks, you waved your flag of complacency. Can't believe you guys.

Oh and to the people who bought it, is the third person view any good? I can't play first person RPGs, I feel too closed in.

and if you actually pirated the game, then I salute you.

[Manoil]

I didn't use third other than to see how I looked. I stayed in first most of the time. (also DML, I have hook ups at Gamestop. I didn't ever intend on paying full retail price.)

Pooperscooper, I do agree-- though I did find a nice bunch of shit in a few of the tattered ruins of homes; lots of random shit, plus, a ton of the important drugs (Mentats, Buffout, Psycho) in a mailbox or something similar near the beginning. The trick is that you always keep your eyes open for manmade objects-- buildings, vehicles, small structures like playgrounds-- and generally, there's a chance you'll encounter something you can break into and steal.

I've found two of the cloaking devices, but I haven't used them yet; otherwise, I'd say sneaking has little use in the game, as most enemies, even when in the dark, can see you coming from a ways off-- depending, of course, on how much clutter is around.

I dunno, though... I found running into Dogmeat during my random walkabout to be pleasing in itself.

[entertainer]

Gameplay is pretty much the same. Vats works much like turnbased and feels like turnbased.

And there are no big deal bugs or glitches with the game. None that i seen after 12 hours playing.

[Haris]

I cant believe some of you guys actually bought the game? Money talks motherfuckers! and when you laid down that sixty bucks, you waved your flag of complacency. Can't believe you guys.

Its not even released in sweden. So no i have not bought it. But i will.

[Wolfman Walt]

I think the game is okay except for combat and exploring so far. Combat is pretty bad since most of the time its just you running backwards while shooting an melee enemy in the face multiple times.

While you're waiting for your AP to recharge. I think that's kind of important. It makes you feel like you're waiting for your ability to do your special move than actually being in a gun fight.

It feels nothing like turned based combat.

[[HpA]SniperPotato]

I cant believe some of you guys actually bought the game? Money talks motherfuckers! and when you laid down that sixty bucks, you waved your flag of complacency. Can't believe you guys.

Oh and to the people who bought it, is the third person view any good? I can't play first person RPGs, I feel too closed in.

and if you actually pirated the game, then I salute you.

[Kashluk]

It feels nothing like turned based combat.

Silent storm engine, modified to accept larger maps and more "seamless" travel between areas, would've been the ultimate fallout experience

[mcdonis]

Just spent my day off playing and I have to say I am surprised. I like many other fallout fans felt there was little chance for it be a great game. Yet so far I have to say they have met my requirements of what I would call a great game.



The few complaints I have so far would center around issues with NPC's stuck in objects or unable to move due to obstructed paths. Also they cheated a lot with faces in that most characters are only varried by like 3-5 different faces. (per each sex) So you see women in the wastes who look exactly like women you met in the vault. But Fallout did this too so I cant really get too angry at them for that.

One nice surprise is in how big the game is. I was playing all day and night and dont feel like I even scratched the surface of this game. Reminds of me of fallout 2 in that way.


Perhaps my thoughts will change as I continue playing but so far I got to say its been a great ride so far.

[Dreadnought]

Remain silent, noob.

Fallout had UNIQUE talking heads. And otherwise people were 'faceless' and if there was something remarkable about their faces, it was described in an almost poetic manner, so one's imagination (something kids nowadays have lost completely) did a pretty good job in the end.

Don't you dogs fucking dare making up excuses by smearing your half-knowledge all over the place!

[popscythe]

I played through megaton.

I must say, I'm not terribly distraught about how fallout 3 turned out. As a friend of mine put it, "Why spend 30 minutes bitching about dog shit you find in your yard when you fully expected it to be there."

This travesty of a reskinned oblivion might have been a little easier to swallow had oblivion itself not been such a flaming piece of crap.

The AI (of course, it's a bethesda game) is utterly terrible, and the puppet show "towns" only seem to be a vehicle intended to kick you in the face over and over with the knowledge that life in the wasteland is a fucking errand boy's paradise of "oblivion" quests. You know, those type of quests that are so poorly written that you neither know nor care why someone would be trying to send a letter to their parents who live a five fucking minutes "overburdened" stroll from where the letter was written. Or, you could help someone write a book by going to check out the supposedly 200 year old wal*mart, which, as well as every other little "hey, we remember the 50's so we're going to put fucking 50's bullshit EVERYWHERE throughout the wasteland" has decayed only enough for you to notice that it's decayed, but not enough for you to miss how fucking clever todd howard was when he noticed people noticing the 50's and decided to mention it. You know, like in the original Fallout, where there were 90% legible billboards everywhere with a bright, shiny picture of CAPTAIN PROTON that has it's lower left corner looking a little crumpled.

Besides the fact that the wasteland is a insulting puppet show of random encounters from STALKER filled with signs and portents that bethesda really wanted to be let into the "we talked to someone about what fallout was about and tried our best to fit in" club, the skills have been dumbed down to a bioshock level of crudesence. That's right, Crudesence. Medical, which replaces first aid and doctor has thus far yielded absolutely zero role playing application. Nor has repair (only used for fixing/creating weapons) or science (only used for hacking terminals). But wait! If you have Explosives (now combined with throwing, because throwing a football and using a land mine are the same skill when you're designing games for xbox fans) you can do the quest regarding the bomb in megaton!

Hey! Now we're talking! Forget the unkillable npcs that are already littered throughout the game (Andy the fucking robot?) and the fact that exactly like oblivion, the weapons certain people are holding are level scaled out of the game if you manage to shoot them the three times it takes to kill them (I'm talking about you, sheriff of megaton, you tutorial npc piece of garbage who's dialog options let me inquire about things it is literally impossible for me to have heard about yet). Forget all those "features", you can use your explosives skill on the bomb! Now we're talking!



Oh, so you've clicked on the bomb, gotten the ridiculously belief- suspension shattering popup WAARGK! ERROR! WARRRGK! ERROR! MYSTICAL INTERFACE SPEAKING TO YOU ERROR! YOU, PLAYER CHARACTER! YES YOU! YES I'M TALKING TO YOU! YOU MUST HAVE EXACTLY 25 SKILL POINTS IN EXPLOSIVE TO QUOTE UNQUOTE INTERACT WITH THE BOMB. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.

At this point I just sat with my head in my hands going "Wow, so you people didn't play fallout, did you? You just didn't actually play the game, huh? You saw the game. You heard about why people loved it... or more to the point, what game magazine reviewers have written about why people loved Fallout, because you refused to listen to what the fans of the series were saying. We loved the game because of many reasons, so many that many fans might even choke up a little and be unable to describe exactly where those feelings came from. But one thing that's really, really damned easy to mention is the immersion. The fact that when you tried to do anything, the game addresses your character in the dialog box as "You." "You attempt to pick the lock on the door, but fail." It's this indication that like in real life, your character can attempt and fail things without having some red goddamn hologram pop up and say ACCESS DENIED. THIS DOOR REQUIRES 100 LOCK PICK SKILL. YOU CAN TELL. IT'S CLEAR FROM THIS RED GODDAMN HOLOGRAM."

Where the hell did you go so far wrong that you decided that between wrist radios that function after 200 years, but look about like they just came out of a goddamn plastic molding factory (like everything on the oblivion engine) and teddy bears being fired from a spring decapitating raiders that you'd prefer to Set A Course for Shitville, heading 102.285, Warp 8 rather than play the original games and see what made them special?

You can take the 50's feeling into the wasteland, plaster our beloved icons all over the place, do up your own really "endearingly clever" (in your own opinion) recreations of the original art and plaster it on immortal billboards and install process slides, but if you miss the fact that being railroaded through a clearly fable-esque childhood tutorial that only exists because you "fine folks" got a chortle out of thinking up the "You're SPECIAL" book, and needed, by any means necessary and excuse to include it in the game, despite the damage it did to the entire credibility of survival in the wasteland experience, especially in sight of the fact that the entire introduction sequence is clearly a teary eyed "heheheheheeheheh!111" on the part of bethsoft, managing to work their little garbage "we do this every time" elder scrolls prison sequence into the game, you are and to put it lightly "responsible for a terrible game." Oh, it's a metaphorical prison though. Nobody will notice that like in our ACCLAIMED SERIES FOR XBOX AND XBOX360 THE ELDER SCROLLS we've forced the character to start in a prison where he can create his character, do a tutorial, then escape, do a combat tutorial and then receive the insulting "Are you sure this is what you want the character that you are playing in this video entertainment game Fallout 3 by Bethesda Softworks Copyright 2008 Bethesda Softworks to be like? Feel free, despite the fact that you're already responsible for several things that have happened and have probably killed something and been injured already to click NO on this dialog and recreate your character starting with appearance. Copyright 2008 Bethesda Softworks" dialog before exiting into the wide, wide, wide, smaller than the last game we made on this engine, society and world of the wasteland.

Well.

I seem to have unfortunately spent the 30 minutes complaining that I mentioned I was going to try to avoid doing, and I really haven't even scratched the surface of the things which stood out to me as blatantly shiesty about the game. I guess if you want to pick up where I left off, just take a look at the things that sucked about oblivion, sucked about morrowind and have always sucked about Bethesda games and tack those on the list, tear that page off, start a new page and include the fact that fallout 3 plays exactly as poorly as every other carnival ride 60 bucks at the door xbox360 game, then take the entire list and bury it, as no matter how many times people say this exact same thing over and over again, nobody will read it because it's not economically viable to make games that arn't garbage.

Or at least, that's the way things appear. Prove me wrong next time guys. Prove me wrong.

[mcdonis]

Remain silent, noob.

Fallout had UNIQUE talking heads. And otherwise people were 'faceless' and if there was something remarkable about their faces, it was described in an almost poetic manner, so one's imagination (something kids nowadays have lost completely) did a pretty good job in the end.

Don't you dogs fucking dare making up excuses by smearing your half-knowledge all over the place!

I agree Fallout 1 and 2 were very deep games that in my opinion are still the best two games ever made for the PC hands down. The point I was trying to make was considering the format of Fallout 3 they did cheat and reuse the same faces over and over. The first two games did something smiliar with the overall view of people. (not the talking heads) But in the overall view of things I can live with it.

I know I am asking for it, but frankly I think (for what I have seen so far) this game isnt that bad. Actually I have really enjoyed it.

[MadBill]

I like how 20 points in explosives lets you kill anything without effort. If the game were difficult I might become afraid and leave.