Fallout 3 Impressions and Opinions

[Vympel]

Megaton. Talk to Lucy West.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

First time I blew up Megaton, everyone there was dead when I got back, so I decided against it and reloaded my game from before I blew the place sky-high. Then after doing some more missions for Moira, I finally got sick of the place and blew it up again. Then, when I come back to the ruins, I'm greeted by Ghoul-Moira, and I was like "Oh shit, why the fuck aren't you dead?"

The ending was kinda disappointing and something of a let-down, even. Liberty Prime is fucking awesome, though. If you just rush through the main quest, the game is way too short. Longer than TFU, but that's not saying much.

While I do love this game, I do have some minor gripes with it. The goddamn hacking minigames? Those irritate me. The lockpicking minigame is easy as hell, though, so I'm not really bothered by that. The "oh hey, you can't even TRY to pick this lock or hack this console because you haven't reached some arbitrary level of skill" thing irritates me a little too. And everything feels really SMALL. And the fact that even if no one is around, you still lose Karma for stealing shit. Man, they don't know I stole that shit. Leave my karma alone. But even taking all that into account, I still really enjoyed this game.

And Fawkes rocks.

EDIT: Oh, and I also LOATHE the inability to kill children. I mean yeah, you'd have to be some sort of sick bastard to want to kill kids. I thought the same thing. Until I came across an underground town full of the little fuckers threatening me with guns and trash-talking. Curse you, invincible children! Curse you and your trash talk!

[Nephtys]

Where do you get this "Vampire" misssion everyone loves?

I never knew White Wolf books survived the apocalypse.

Well. I guess Survived isn't accurate anymore.... (Whistles, puts away the flamethrower...)

[Stark]

Anyone playing this on a 360 is probably in tears already, but holy shit - it looks like pigshit compared to PC. Terrible stuff, absolutely appalling... but then the console controls suck shit too, so bad port all round.

VATS wouldn't be nearly as much an 'I win' button if Bethesda had simply applied target speed modifiers. As it is, it's trivial to kill pretty much anything in the first part of the game using VATS at point blank even if it's what should be a 'difficult' shot (like some small target jumping right into your face, nah 99% lol). The failure of LOS checking is even more amusing, considering how laughably easy it is to check and let the player know. WHOOPS A SHELF LOL.

Perfect game, 10/10.

[CaptHawkeye]

The only cool things VATS does is give you uber camera angles on easy slow-mo kills. Which is not a legit reason to have it breaking the game. I've gotten good enough at the game's controls to spend most of my time AWAY from it. Though i've noticed the shotgun is magically WAAAAY more accurate in VATS than in real time. While the rifle is way more inaccurate in VATS than real-time. Entrust Bethesda with a new mechanic and you can gaurantee they'll break it.

[charlemagne]

Entrust Bethesda with a new mechanic and you can gaurantee they'll break it.

Muhaha, ok, go Beth The LOS thing is annoying, yes, but I haven't payed attention to accuracy yet. The speed modifier sounds like a good (and obvious!) idea, though. But I'm still quite forgiving for those flaws, because FO3 is still fun to play. Also, I trust modders to iron that out before VATS will be really good in the next game Beth releases

BTW, fallout.ini looks pretty much like oblivion.ini, so that's just a matter of Beth releasing the construction set - and considering that it's basically the same engine, modders who come from Oblivion can propably start modding FO3 using all the expertise from Oblivion modding. There's the "bEnableBorderRegion=1", too, switch that to 0 and the invisible "you can't go there" walls will go away. I have no idea how big the map actually is, but I guess there's plenty of empty room to expand into in the future...

Yeah, I'm just a fanwhore when it comes to big open ended sandboxes. I trust Fallout 3 to stay on my harddrive for the next 1 1/2 - 2 years, provided there'll be enough ambitious modders out there.

[SylasGaunt]

Okay I finished the game.. uhm.. was my giant stompy friend's voice who I think it was?

[Temjin]

Fire ants can just fuck off and die. I'd rather be facing raiders than these damn things. At least when I kill raiders, I can get some ammunition back. But with these things, I get my ass burnt with their pyro breath, and the only thing I get for my troubles is Ant Meat.

I'm facing these things because I'm doing the quest "Those!" For those of you who have completed this quest, is it actually worth my while?

[Pulp Hero]

Yes, this scientist gives you a genetic boost of your choice.

And as has been mentioned, if you shoot the antenna, the ants will attack each other.

Hey, I'm doing a little side quest for Rivet City. Anyone know where ant pheromones are? I already checked the Ant Scientist, but he didn't have any clues for me.

[Spyder]

Amata doesn't like when you cripple her Dad with a bat...and then beat him to death

[Anarchist Bunny]

Still roaming about Megaton. Waiting til I can pick into Mr. Burke and Moira's place before nuking the place high.

Had to set the graphics to low, else I crash ever 10-15 minutes when outside(especially if I go into VATS). However runs just fine one High when I'm inside buildings.

Ran into Vault 106 on the way to Arefu, very creepy. Then it turned out to just be schizo armed with melee weapons. Luckily I pilfered a combat shotgun off a raider, and it cleared the place out just nicely.

[Pulp Hero]

Going to Vault 112 isn't the last main story quest, is it?

[Mr Bean]

Going to Vault 112 isn't the last main story quest, is it?

Should not be.

Last quest is back to Jefferson I think, since from what I've accidentally read there's about twelve steps to the main quest

[The Grim Squeaker]

Going to Vault 112 isn't the last main story quest, is it?

Should not be.

Last quest is back to Jefferson I think, since from what I've accidentally read there's about twelve steps to the main quest

No, third time back to Jefferson is the finale and you'll know about it, believe me.

[SylasGaunt]

COMMUNISM EQUALS DEATH!

Sorry it had to be said.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Hey, I'm doing a little side quest for Rivet City. Anyone know where ant pheromones are? I already checked the Ant Scientist, but he didn't have any clues for me.

The lady at the drug store in the Market in Rivet City sells Ant Pheromones.

[Aeolus]

Yes, this scientist gives you a genetic boost of your choice.

And as has been mentioned, if you shoot the antenna, the ants will attack each other.

Hey, I'm doing a little side quest for Rivet City. Anyone know where ant pheromones are? I already checked the Ant Scientist, but he didn't have any clues for me.

Pheromones are on ant queens. Find an ant colony there are a few outh there including 1 in a car factory. Kill the queen and loot her.

[Ryan Thunder]

I accidentally got into the armoury, and the entire fucking town of Megaton tried to kill me for it. No chances to explain that "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't allowed in here, I have a key and figured that after saving all you folks from getting your asses fried nuclear-style you might not mind me looking around a bit."

Just "Today is a good day to die for your country, you commie bastard!" and PEW PEW lasers or whatever they are, and bullets, fists and knives...

Is it at all possible to get out of the Vault without killing the Overseer? Actually, scratch that, is it at all possible to knock somebody out instead of taking their head off with a baseball bat? He may be a dick, but he is supposed to be my friend's father and all...

[Stark]

It's easy to negotiate with him instead of killing him. Just don't hit him when you kill the cop who's having a great deal of trouble hitting Amata (it's hilariuos that the OS says 'HIT HER AGAIN BWAHAHAHAHAAH' and the cop raises his arm and wiggles his baton).

Does anyone know how persistent the world is? If I leave shit on the ground, how long will it stay there? How long in a container?

[Rightous Fist Of Heaven]

Tried to find a way to get to the Galaxy News Radio station for four hours yesterday. It seemed as if there was no way around the junk filling the streets leading to GNR. I ended up going as far south as Rivet City to try and find a way to the station. After that, roaming through sewer's filled with Ghoul's ("Hissing at me fuckface? Oh, ok how about some .12 cauge to the head." ), Super Muties (Getting screwed up the ass by a minigun smarts) and Raider's (.44 to the back of the head for you pal), I got tired of it and got back to just roaming around. Eventually I wandered to the Pentagon, or Citadel as the Brotherhood now calls it and tried to get in. The shining knight's of the wasteland told me to fuck off. Great.

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how to find out what the hell is going on in Andale and how to get more side quests dangit and how the name of Great Zombie Jesus do I get to GNR.

[charlemagne]

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how to find out what the hell is going on in Andale and how to get more side quests dangit and how the name of Great Zombie Jesus do I get to GNR.

Hehe, I've been wandering around DC searching my ass off, too. Just get into the subway where the arrow on the map points at, and follow the arrow... it's a bit misleading if you get out of the subway too early. If you're confused in the subway about which way to follow, just open the local map and see which exit the arrow really points at.

Does anyone know how persistent the world is? If I leave shit on the ground, how long will it stay there? How long in a container?

So far it seems to me like there is no respawn. At least enemies won't reappear after you killed them (although there are "random" encounters when you're just wandering around the wasteland). BTW, if it's the same basic mechanic as in Oblivion, stuff left on the ground won't disappear even if there is cell respawn).

[The Grim Squeaker]

Tried to find a way to get to the Galaxy News Radio station for four hours yesterday. It seemed as if there was no way around the junk filling the streets leading to GNR. I ended up going as far south as Rivet City to try and find a way to the station. After that, roaming through sewer's filled with Ghoul's ("Hissing at me fuckface? Oh, ok how about some .12 cauge to the head." ), Super Muties (Getting screwed up the ass by a minigun smarts) and Raider's (.44 to the back of the head for you pal), I got tired of it and got back to just roaming around. Eventually I wandered to the Pentagon, or Citadel as the Brotherhood now calls it and tried to get in. The shining knight's of the wasteland told me to fuck off. Great.

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how to find out what the hell is going on in Andale and how to get more side quests dangit and how the name of Great Zombie Jesus do I get to GNR.

I had trouble there as well, back track to a bit north of it (there's a small ramp and subway station), go up the ramp and deeper into the city, and come in from the inner side of the city, not the dock/edge.
It's easy to do if you look at the map and the avenues.

Oh, and there's some awesomeness awaiting you there. Living proof that supermutants are Orks

[Stark]

So far it seems to me like there is no respawn. At least enemies won't reappear after you killed them (although there are "random" encounters when you're just wandering around the wasteland). BTW, if it's the same basic mechanic as in Oblivion, stuff left on the ground won't disappear even if there is cell respawn).

Ironically I just ported back to the police station and it's been restocked with super mutants. They just don't learn.

[Ryan Thunder]

It's easy to negotiate with him instead of killing him. Just don't hit him when you kill the cop who's having a great deal of trouble hitting Amata (it's hilariuos that the OS says 'HIT HER AGAIN BWAHAHAHAHAAH' and the cop raises his arm and wiggles his baton).

I guess I must be a shitty negotiator, then, because he pretty much told me he'd die before he'd help me out, and then produced a baton and proceeded to go medieval on my ass.

That part, actually, I quite liked. I killed him because I was in my default "FPS KILL ALL ENEMIES LOL!" mode, because I'm used to playing stuff like Battlefield and CoD4. And then there were repercussions with other characters for killing him! Quite liked that. Made me want to undo it, but I hadn't saved.

Minor aside; seeing the Sheriff go down to two shots in the back, and then having to nearly empty my 10 mm into Mr. Burke's cranium to kill him was a little... frustrating, to say the least.

Ryan to corpse: "Exactly what part of 'BOOM! HEADSHOT!' do you not understand, motherfucker?!"

On another note, I've played for maybe three hours or so without bugs, on a 2 GHz dual core laptop with some 256 MB Radeon graphics card in it. It cries at odd times, and VATS is painfully slow at times, but it really isn't all that bad. Only trouble is that when I'm pretty much forced to use VATS for close combat, especially against multiple enemies, because of the lag.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

Does anyone know how persistent the world is? If I leave shit on the ground, how long will it stay there? How long in a container?

I dumped a few dozen rifles into a filing cabinet in a building and several hours and a few quests later I returned to find everything in its place. The corpses of the enemies were still there, too.

The only time I've ever seen anything disappear so far is Simms's and Burke's corpses in the saloon.

Also, I despise the maze-like qualities of downtown Washington in this game. Sure, it shouldn't be pristine, but dividing the whole place into discrete sections joined by subways makes any sort of manual travel there annoying.