Fallout 3 Impressions and Opinions

[Nephtys]

We know a few things. There are only 3 aliens in FO

1. The Alien Blaster(s)
2. The 'Aliens' you encounter in FO2.
2. The crashed spaceship in FO3

We can explain 1 as being another Pulse pistol nobody's seen before. It behaves like a pulse pistol in all respects. Easy. We can explain 2 as them being Mutants. That's what Wannamingos are after all, and they're definately the same.

3's a bit harder. I'd say that craft was something else, like a manned chinese/american/belgian/whatever plane/spacecraft/bomber. Done.

[neoolong]

What about the alien pilot? Odd that they'd use a clear mutant looking guy to be the pilot.

[Steel]

Do you really need to explain the random encounters? I mean theres a crashed federation shuttle, surely the aliens could have come through the same wormhole/plothole that crashed them, and so they're the only ones on the planet.

[Zixinus]

Or here's another interesting thing: The Chinese. What the hell happened to them? Would they still want to invade the USA?

As for the aliens, why couldn't they be some sort of mutant humans from another region of the world?

[Vympel]

I think it's a safe bet that the PRC was thoroughly nuked, just like the rest of the world appears to have been.

Heh- Alistair Tenpenny is actually described as a British immigrant. Fuck, imagine crossing the ocean in a post-apocalyptic future.

[Enigma]

What about the alien pilot? Odd that they'd use a clear mutant looking guy to be the pilot.

Where's the spaceship located? I read about it in a terminal but I didn't think it existed.

[Darth Onasi]

I think it's a safe bet that the PRC was thoroughly nuked, just like the rest of the world appears to have been.

Heh- Alistair Tenpenny is actually described as a British immigrant. Fuck, imagine crossing the ocean in a post-apocalyptic future.

I have to wonder why somebody would sail from old Blighty which would've been nuked, to Washington D.C. which as a superpower's capital would get nuked worse.

Where's the spaceship located? I read about it in a terminal but I didn't think it existed.

It's directly south west of Vault 92, when you're close you'll pick up a "Recon Craft Theta" radio signal.

[Lonestar]

I have to wonder why somebody would sail from old Blighty which would've been nuked, to Washington D.C. which as a superpower's capital would get nuked worse.

I have a strong suspicion that very few Fusion bombs actually found their way to the DC area(DC proper being relatively intact). I have this image of the Chinese using a Doomsday Device that put a lot of radiation into the air....enough for it to be persistent after 200 years.

[Ohma]

We know a few things. There are only 3 aliens in FO

1. The Alien Blaster(s)
2. The 'Aliens' you encounter in FO2.
2. The crashed spaceship in FO3

We can explain 1 as being another Pulse pistol nobody's seen before. It behaves like a pulse pistol in all respects. Easy. We can explain 2 as them being Mutants. That's what Wannamingos are after all, and they're definately the same.

3's a bit harder. I'd say that craft was something else, like a manned chinese/american/belgian/whatever plane/spacecraft/bomber. Done.

I agree with Steel, there really is no need to explain the easter egg, just toss it into the non-cannon pile along with talking brahmin, the crashed whale, Guardian of Forever, TARDIS, dino footprint, and Cafe of Broken Dreams.

The Wannamingo thing is fine though, I never did understand why they were labeled two different things in game (as in, when you look at them the game calls them aliens if you encounter them in the desert, but Wannamingos when you fight them under Redding) because the box in the corner has been wrong before, for example, until I installed one of the unofficial patches, one of the Junktown fighters was called a desk.

[Darth Onasi]

I have to wonder why somebody would sail from old Blighty which would've been nuked, to Washington D.C. which as a superpower's capital would get nuked worse.

I have a strong suspicion that very few Fusion bombs actually found their way to the DC area(DC proper being relatively intact). I have this image of the Chinese using a Doomsday Device that put a lot of radiation into the air....enough for it to be persistent after 200 years.

Well regardless of it's current state, I'd think a foreigner would assume that D.C. would be a glowing crater.
Then again perhaps he arrived there in another Poseidon automated tanker that somehow ended up in Europe
It's a shame it was only a throwaway loading screen line, I'd like to see the state of Europe.

The Wannamingo thing is fine though, I never did understand why they were labeled two different things in game (as in, when you look at them the game calls them aliens if you encounter them in the desert, but Wannamingos when you fight them under Redding) because the box in the corner has been wrong before, for example, until I installed one of the unofficial patches, one of the Junktown fighters was called a desk.

Well given that they deliberately resemble the "Alien" aliens, I suppose the desert encounters were meant to make you think "what the HELL are those?" hence the alien tag, whereas in Redding you learn a little more about them.

[Vendetta]

I think it's a safe bet that the PRC was thoroughly nuked, just like the rest of the world appears to have been.

Heh- Alistair Tenpenny is actually described as a British immigrant. Fuck, imagine crossing the ocean in a post-apocalyptic future.

I have to wonder why somebody would sail from old Blighty which would've been nuked, to Washington D.C. which as a superpower's capital would get nuked worse.

For Adventure! Which I believe he got up to a bit of before clearing out Tenpenny Tower to settle down.

[Ryan Thunder]

We know a few things. There are only 3 aliens in FO

1. The Alien Blaster(s)
2. The 'Aliens' you encounter in FO2.
2. The crashed spaceship in FO3

We can explain 1 as being another Pulse pistol nobody's seen before. It behaves like a pulse pistol in all respects. Easy. We can explain 2 as them being Mutants. That's what Wannamingos are after all, and they're definately the same.

3's a bit harder. I'd say that craft was something else, like a manned chinese/american/belgian/whatever plane/spacecraft/bomber. Done.

Or... They're just aliens.

Why so much effort to not take things at face value?

By the way, anybody know what that wierd "temple" thing was in the southwestern corner of the map was? Its in a cave at the bottom of some building...

[Joviwan]

I explored there, but I'll be damned if I can tell you any more about it than what's in those tapes that are littered around the building.
Spoiler

Poor what's his face didn't make it. The really weird part was that I got karma for killing him, and I don't know why.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

The 'Temple', the Dunwich Building, was just a big Lovecraft reference, which Bethesda seem to enjoy doing (See: Hackdirt).

[Vendetta]

Or... They're just aliens.

Why so much effort to not take things at face value?

By the way, anybody know what that wierd "temple" thing was in the southwestern corner of the map was? Its in a cave at the bottom of some building...

Aliens aren't Serious enough Business.

[Covenant]

Charisma is a worthless dump stat.

I've checked around a large amount and find nothing redeemable about Charisma. A small bonus to barter and speech and rare high charsma dialogue options are useless. It's easier and more fruitful to pull 4 points from charisma and put them into a 9 intelligence and use those points to buff up speech than it is to have charisma. Even though Charisma does influence dialogue options heavily, speech can be raised to an effective level very quickly and those stat points are more useful providing a tangible benefit for all the rest of the game.

The most damning faint praise of Charisma is that you get Charisma-based special dialogue options once in a blue moon, which certain players use to justify this pointless stat. However, I've gotten special dialogue options for endurance, unarmed, intelligence and science as well. Someone who favors charisma and poo-poos the value of these other stats aren't going to get those dialogue options, so it's basically six of one, half dozen of another. And as I found the game astoundingly easy to do as a beloved hero of the wastes while only having 4 charisma, losing the other 3 points seems like jokingly easy to do for a less-than-beloved character. Most criticially, the Impartial Mediator perk basically obsoletes Charisma entirely, since it gives you an obscene bonus to your speech skills and also requires that you say a few mean, uncharismatic things--or just steal every single thing you can find.

This is generally normal though, it's like playing D&D and making a fighter with a Charisma of 1 and a Strength of 18. However, I just wanted to provoke any charisma-loving fanboys to defend their stat if they think it's not garbage on the balance. Strength is also nearly worthless, but I can see more value for +10 carry weight than I can for tiny tiny boost to my already high speech success rates.

[Darth Onasi]

I know there is at least one charisma based dialogue I've had access to with a charisma of 1..

[Andrew_Fireborn]

Heh, I got into the min-maxing in the thread a while back... and yeah, there's a LOT of worthless stuff due to the way the systems are layed out. (Once a skills at 100, there's no point in anything more. Same with a 10 in a stat, you can do away with mentats if you've got a 10 Int and Per, as it doesn't add anything to the skill.)

That rendered almost every Perk moot, since the vast majority just add points to skills. And with comprehension, you only need 40 in most skills to max them, thanks to the +10 from the bobble head and the 25 skill books. (There're a couple skills with books that are hard to get, or impossible to get without going a specific route.)

It could be argued that Perception is in the same boat, since it boosts two skills and increase the semi-circle radar. I find it mildly useful... but not terribly so.

Endurance is also close to it. Since it only affects -initial- HP, and doesn't increase it if gained afterward.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

Well, since edit has disappeared for me on this sub-forum:

Someone's managed to make a mod that allows you to repair robots into a small army of doom!

They've even got a vid of it in the description.

[Darth Onasi]

I grabbed that one, haven't had a chance to try it yet. Seems like fun.
Especially as I love Protectrons and Brainbots, Mr. Gutsys not so much.

[Ryan Thunder]

Charisma is a worthless dump stat.

And if somebody wants to pour their resources into that useless dump stat, that's their decision to make. Not sure why you'd want to provoke anybody over it...

Is it just for the lulz?

[Joviwan]

Charisma is a worthless dump stat.

And if somebody wants to pour their resources into that useless dump stat, that's their decision to make. Not sure why you'd want to provoke anybody over it...

Is it just for the lulz?

He's provoking the people who are trying to defend Charisma as being a legitimate and game-winning mechanic, not the people who put it into charisma because they like putting things into charisma.

[charlemagne]

That rendered almost every Perk moot, since the vast majority just add points to skills. And with comprehension, you only need 40 in most skills to max them, thanks to the +10 from the bobble head and the 25 skill books. (There're a couple skills with books that are hard to get, or impossible to get without going a specific route.)

This is what I've been saying waaaay back in this thread

Seriously, Beth fucked up more than they did with Oblivion, stat- und skillwise. In Oblivion you had to pump up e.g. your blade skill if you wanted to deal serious damage, in FO3 you just take the right perks and you're a headshotting killer with a low gun skill. Ridiculous "balance" on this part.

I'm still curious at what modders will put into the wastelandes, though.

[Darth Onasi]

Like I've said before the problem with Bethesda is they have great ideas but never implement them well.
Survival for instance, ammo is too plentiful, stimpaks are all over the place, food is pointless, radiation is a joke.
There are a few mods that fix all that already, but it's a shame that this always has to be the case.

Still, CS out this month. Better be sooner than later, or... er... I guess I'll complain some more.

[Ohma]

Charisma is a worthless dump stat.
*snip rest because I don't have that much to add*

To be perfectly fair to Fo3, that's always been the case with charisma in Fallout. Granted, in 2 it allowed you to have more party members, but that was (at least in my opinion) a very artificial way to make the stat matter. Of course it's much more obvious in 3 since you get perks every level, and most of them boost your skills, and your basic stats don't have nearly as big an impact to them as they did in the other games...so...yup...