Fallout 3 GOTY Impressions (Xbox 360)

[Aaron]

I imagine most of the G&C regulars will already have played through FO3 and the DLC, I however waited till the DLC came out on disk so this is all new to me. I also had it on PS3 and got rid of it when I ditched that console.

First off, the DLC is far more interesting then the main quest, probably longer as well once you add them all up. I played them totally out of order, doing Point Lookout first and then The Pitt, Operation Anchorage, Mothership Zeta and completing Broken Steel after I did the main Quest. Playing as an Energy Weapons centric character I found they had fixed the original release problem of there being little to no ammo for them. Unfortunately, it basically turned me into a demi-god. My PC was unstoppable except on Very Hard and only with certain opponents (Deathclaws and a few of the Enclave Trooper types).

The game was also very buggy, random lockups were common and the game would occasionally freeze going through doors (especially in The Pitt). Bethesda also never bothered to fix the occasional problem with the ground detail becoming pixilated or just plain grey while wandering the wastes. The game was far more stable on the PS3.

So to sum up because I'm losing focus:

Pros

Scarce energy ammo fixed
Better stories (The Pitt especially)

Cons

High level Perks can be game breaking (Almost Perfect?)
Random crashes and freezing
Numerous graphics glitches

[General Zod]

It's kind of hilarious to see someone getting into this months after the fact, but yeah, FO3 has a lot of problems. One of the more hilarious bugs is when you'd see enemies stuck in the floor or walls. A lot of the skills are also downright useless, and you only really need 4 or 5 to finish the game. The Karma system is also laughably easy to exploit, to the point of making you wonder why they bothered with it at all. Then there's the half-assed companions who usually wind up being more of a hindrance than an asset, especially when they got thrown in at the last minute.

[Ryan Thunder]

The Pitt was exceedingly lame at the beginning, IMHO.

Apparently three guys with police batons > Tesla armour and a plasma rifle.

Then my curiosity eventually got the better of me and I played through it in spite of stupid stuff. It was pretty good after that.

[charlemagne]

Then there's the half-assed companions who usually wind up being more of a hindrance than an asset, especially when they got thrown in at the last minute.

I honestly think they just tried to adapt what modders did in Oblivion, some people made incredibly sophisticated companions for that game (that was just as unsuited for companions as FO3, being the same engine and all), and some modders really worked wonders. The Devs of course should've done a way better job, it is their own game after all.

Like with every Bethesda game: getting it on X-Box isn't a good idea, since Bethesda releases halfassed games only, and if you're the type of gamer that can be bothered - mods fix a lot of things on PC.

[Aaron]

It's kind of hilarious to see someone getting into this months after the fact, but yeah, FO3 has a lot of problems. One of the more hilarious bugs is when you'd see enemies stuck in the floor or walls. A lot of the skills are also downright useless, and you only really need 4 or 5 to finish the game. The Karma system is also laughably easy to exploit, to the point of making you wonder why they bothered with it at all. Then there's the half-assed companions who usually wind up being more of a hindrance than an asset, especially when they got thrown in at the last minute.

Re-reading my post, I realize I was less then clear. I had the CE for PS3 when it was released and got rid of it when I decided I didn't care for the PS3, so I played the original version.

The companions are just a complete pain in the ass, Fawkes is at least passable though. Mainly because of the Gatling laser but the BoS troops in Broken Steel just rush ahead of you, get in your line of fire and block the doors.

I suspect the karma system was just thrown in to appease the fanboys, it doesn't seem to serve any purpose other then to give Three Dog something to yap about. In fact you would think the Brotherhood would refuse to deal with you at all if you were evil, especially with Lyons log entry complaining that he hadn't accomplished any good. But he'll work with the guy who blew up Megaton?

With the boost to level 30 you can also max out just about all your skills (you can probably max them all out if you work it out before hand), so they may as well just fold things like the weapons skills, lock-pick/science and medicine/repair into single skills.

The Pitt was exceedingly lame at the beginning, IMHO.

Apparently three guys with police batons > Tesla armour and a plasma rifle.

Then my curiosity eventually got the better of me and I played through it in spite of stupid stuff. It was pretty good after that.

It was pretty stupid for them not to have the game adjust for that when you show up. It was a WTF? moment when I showed up and got my ass kicked when I was already a one man tank.

I honestly think they just tried to adapt what modders did in Oblivion, some people made incredibly sophisticated companions for that game (that was just as unsuited for companions as FO3, being the same engine and all), and some modders really worked wonders. The Devs of course should've done a way better job, it is their game after all.

Like with every Bethesda game: getting it on X-Box isn't a good idea, since Bethesda releases halfassed games only, and if you're the type of gamer that can be bothered - mods fix a lot of things on PC.

I got tired of upgrading my PC and the Xbox controller is a lot easier on my wrists then a keyboard mouse but I see what you mean. It's the same with Oblivion, I had a bunch of mods for it on the PC.

[Stark]

The basic game perks are game-breaking already. Are the DLC ones worse?

[Aaron]

The basic game perks are game-breaking already. Are the DLC ones worse?

Lets see:

Almost Perfect (all stats raised to 9. Lvl 30)
Party Boy/Party Girl (can no longer get addicted to booze)
Nuclear Anomaly (sets off a nuke if you drop below 20HP. Lvl 30)
Quantum Chemist (every 10 Nuka-Cola becomes 1 Quantum)

The last is pretty iffy but it lets you complete the quest for that scatterbrain pop addict in Girdershade just by picking up cola.

Edit: Upping the level cap effectively breaks the game even without the added perks. I think I maxed out every skill but Melee, Barter, Unarmed and Small Guns.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

The basic game perks are game-breaking already. Are the DLC ones worse?

Short: Yes

Long: BS adds, of course, 10 levels worth of perks. The primary of which are Almost perfect (All stats to 9), and a lesser version earlier on that raises everything to 6.

There're also the token ABSOLUTELY worthless skills, there're three that reset your karma meter, once, to whatever extreme you want.

Then there're the lesser, but situational skills, like "Puppies!" which replaces dogmeat if he gets himself killed. Or one that lets you convert 10 Nuka into 1 Quantum.

[General Zod]

There're also the token ABSOLUTELY worthless skills, there're three that reset your karma meter, once, to whatever extreme you want.

Man, that perk basically made the karma achievements a piece of cake to get. Just save the game right before you level up, reset twice while taking the perk each time for different morality levels, and bam. I used it twice and then got to take a completely different perk again. That way you're not stuck with a perk that does nothing after you take it, I'm convinced making it easier to gain achievements is the only reason it was put in.

[Aaron]

While not a perk, finding all 100 hundred steel ingots in the steelyard gives you a bunch of decent kit, like power armour granting you LK +1, ST +1, AG -1, AP +15, Melee Weapons +5. Which is pretty decent if you do that expansion early.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

I'm convinced making it easier to gain achievements is the only reason it was put in.

While true: It's BethSoft, I don't really want to attribute to planning anything I could equally conceive of being a laziness decision.

(Also, on an evil character, you could just hoard clean water, save shortly before a level, and hydrate the hobos for the achievements...)

[Ford Prefect]

Mothership Zeta is the shit. Probably the coolest looking environment in the entire game.

[Vendetta]

Edit: Upping the level cap effectively breaks the game even without the added perks. I think I maxed out every skill but Melee, Barter, Unarmed and Small Guns.

If you're diligent about skill books, you can max all skills by level 20 with a starting int of 3.

Though the true max path is starting int 4, max your skills, take Almost Perfect, and then collect the stat bobbleheads, giving you 10 in all stats and 100 across the board in skills.

Broken? Not at all.

(Also, most of those skills are a bit shit anyway)

[Stark]

Who cares? You only need to max 3 skills and that's done by level 13 or something. By 20 you'll have all the pew pew skills at a level where combat is laughably stupid anyway.

[Ghost Rider]

The basic game perks are game-breaking already. Are the DLC ones worse?

No, level 20 gives you the supreme perk on top of an already very broken character. The ability to refuel all your AP as long as you kill a target is better then anything the game could give except an "IWINBUTTON". Almost Perfect sounds cool (All SPECIAL that were not 9 are now 9)...but c'mon, if you survived to get there, your weapons, exploits, and equipment is what is carrying you, not whether or not you have 9 Charisma.

Some are neat as one gives all the schematics, another allows you to get another extreme Karma rating and a few other bits, but nothing as nearly as broken as Grim Reaper's Sprint.

[Steel]

I actually liked losing all my stuff in The Pitt in a sense. When I was going through the steel mill with just a .38 and every shot counted it actually felt like a 'survive in the wasteland' type deal rather than perpetual gooification with each plasma gun shot. Of course they kind of screw it up by dumping an assault rifle on you straight away when you enter the mill, but its still kind of there.

[Vympel]

Quantum Chemist (every 10 Nuka-Cola becomes 1 Quantum)

The last is pretty iffy but it lets you complete the quest for that scatterbrain pop addict in Girdershade just by picking up cola.

That's not what it's important for - it means a virtually limitless supply of Nuka Grenades (as long as you have the V3 schematics, and you should), which is the most insane grenade in the game.

[PeZook]

Funny...I still can't play the game on PC without it crashing every five minutes.

On my wife's laptop, though, it runs just fine.

This situation confuses me

[Gramzamber]

I've yet to try Mothership Zeta, though I hear that while the enviroment is impressive the gameplay is yet more dull shoot em up fodder like Operation Anchorage as opposed to something with more substance like The Pitt. Not that The Pitt was the greatest either. No I wasn't impressed with the fact that my power-armored demigod gets knocked out by a bunch of thugs with lead pipes due to the ALMIGHTY POWER OF SCRIPTED EVENTS. But still.

Alas, my PC can no longer play Fallout 3 reliably due to a graphics card failure and I wouln't play a Bethesda game on a console if you paid me.

[Aaron]

That's not what it's important for - it means a virtually limitless supply of Nuka Grenades (as long as you have the V3 schematics, and you should), which is the most insane grenade in the game.

Damn, I forgot all about that.

I've yet to try Mothership Zeta, though I hear that while the enviroment is impressive the gameplay is yet more dull shoot em up fodder like Operation Anchorage as opposed to something with more substance like The Pitt. Not that The Pitt was the greatest either. No I wasn't impressed with the fact that my power-armored demigod gets knocked out by a bunch of thugs with lead pipes due to the ALMIGHTY POWER OF SCRIPTED EVENTS. But still.

Alas, my PC can no longer play Fallout 3 reliably due to a graphics card failure and I wouln't play a Bethesda game on a console if you paid me.

The environment is very well done, at the least it is a welcome change from the constant sea of brown and grey. And while the game play is just combat, you can come out of it with a shit load of alien pistols and rifles and a tonne of ammo, the rifle being one of the more effective weapons (even if it does seem to have a tendency to just pass through the target).

[Lagmonster]

I found that life after the Anchorage sim and whichever gives you the AP replenishing perk was just too easy, because I had built myself around stealthing and high criticals so as to sneak up, shoot someone in the head, have them explode, and then move around the room splattering the strangely oblivious creatures on the wall.

Once I had the infinite stealth armour in hand and a decent supply of silenced pistol rounds, the game devolved to stealth, stealth critical in head, AP is replenished, stealth critical in head next target, etc. All but the toughest robots and mutants went down like porridge, and the toughest enemies only needed me to switch to the gauss rifle or Lincoln's Repeater.

The real breakthrough came when I realized I no longer needed to kill anyone at all thanks to the stealth armour, and just crouch-walked at liberty through the universe.

[Serafina]

I found that life after the Anchorage sim and whichever gives you the AP replenishing perk was just too easy, because I had built myself around stealthing and high criticals so as to sneak up, shoot someone in the head, have them explode, and then move around the room splattering the strangely oblivious creatures on the wall.

Once I had the infinite stealth armour in hand and a decent supply of silenced pistol rounds, the game devolved to stealth, stealth critical in head, AP is replenished, stealth critical in head next target, etc. All but the toughest robots and mutants went down like porridge, and the toughest enemies only needed me to switch to the gauss rifle or Lincoln's Repeater.

The real breakthrough came when I realized I no longer needed to kill anyone at all thanks to the stealth armour, and just crouch-walked at liberty through the universe.

Yes, they did not learn from Oblivion here, where you had nearly the same problem - or rather, it was even worse.
When you had 100% Camouflage, the AI was completely unable to target you, even if you attacked them. You did not even have to sneak.
Oh, and you could easily enchant 5 items with 20% Camo, giving it it you permanently.

It's a bit better in Fallout (at least the AI does not break down completely), but a cloak is still insanely powerfull.

[Vympel]

The best thing about Mothership Zeta is the Alien Epoxy. You can pick up nearly 100 of them if not more, and can probably go back and get more from the US Army veteran you unfreeze, who stays on the ship.

Each one completely repairs your equipped weapon, so you don't need to carry around spare copies of weapons anymore.

As for the Chinese Stealth Armor, it's not that powerful on its own. With 100 Sneak and it on, you are guaranteed a stealth kill on the first target in a room. However, after that every other enemy in the room will see you, unless you use the silent weapons, which for the most part not lethal enough to kill the high end enemies in the game quickly (the Perforator, a Steel Ingot reward from the Pitt, is the best silenced weapon, and can be repaired by standard Assault Rifles).

[Gramzamber]

Well it seems it's worth a go whenever my PC is up to it again.
I personally hate "god mode" Perks and items; the only thing I use the stealth suit for is dressing up mannequins in my home.
Yeah my character is pretty much god like anyway though, but at least the mods I use make the process harder, I at least like working for my strength. The problem with the vanilla game is that you level up too easily and too fast. I suppose some people like it that way, but not I.

Besides the PC version allows things like this:



Clunky, but idiotically fun.

[Ryan Thunder]

That's... ridiculous.