Fallout 3 Impressions and Opinions

[Ohma]

EDIT: Nevermind. I've figured it out. I have to hold down Tab.

So that's how you get that to work. for some reason I couldn't find any mention of it in the manual.

[charlemagne]

So that's how you get that to work. for some reason I couldn't find any mention of it in the manual.

Dito, I've searched the controls settings for the pip-boy light button and never found anything.

[KrauserKrauser]

From what I remember, they mention it during the inital in-Vault tutorial right after you get your Pipboy.

[Ubiquitous]

From what I remember, they mention it during the inital in-Vault tutorial right after you get your Pipboy.

Yep that's correct, alas I have forgotten what button it is on my PS3.

[Crazy_Vasey]

The light is switched on and off by holding the inventory button in both 360 and PC. I would assume it's the same on PS3.

[Chardok]

So...Little Lamplight....they've been there for 200+ years. No, really. Those kids were on a field trip with their class the day the bombs fell, according to the story. The grownups went out, never came back, and they killed the ones who stayed and abused them. Those kids....are 200 years old.

HOW?!


Because Bethsoft screwed the pooch on that one. That - makes me angry.

Also: How in the HELL do I get into Vault 87?

[Vympel]

Dude. Two words: Big Town.

200 year old children, are you mad?

[charlemagne]

200 year old children, are you mad?

Yeah, but still, since everyone is thrown out once they turn 16 IIRC, where do the new kids come from? Either there'd need to be many pregnant 12 - 16 years old girls, or they're sending kids back from Big Town, but it's not mentioned how exactly they keep the population up.

Getting in Vault 87 is simple, just ask the Lamplight mayor about it, and he'll tell Princess to open the door to the Murder's Pass.

[Stark]

Dude. Two words: Big Town.

200 year old children, are you mad?

Yeah it's way more plausible that a bunch of snot-nosed little cuntrags have been sitting on a strategic resource for so long unmolested like all the other settlements for 200 years with a giant lamp array out front. There are several quests and situations that suggest Beth didn't communicate the 200-year thingo to it's quest designers very well; some of them expressly mention it (particularly on the main quest line) but some really seem to be better set 40ish years after the war instead.

The whole 'two guys could conquer lamplight and make infinite money with their fungus' thing is just the most amusing, because if they hadn't made kids invincible it'd be even MORE jarring. Amusingly, in 87 a guy could even hear the kids (unsurprising given that they're fucking connected, great vault-sealing there guys). The only saving grace is 80% of the kids they turf out doubtless immediately die or get sold into slavery; indeed, even WITH invincible kids, you'd think there'd be a raider camp in the area just to pick up strays. Remember, a base of 20-30 raiders only needs three or four slaves to be turning a profit... apparently.

[TC Pilot]

There's a guy at Lamplight who asks you to escort him to Bigtown, and I think the kids kept saying he was 18. Plenty of time for kids of get pregnant to replenish the population.

I figured the anti-radiation fungus wasn't exactly well known, which is why no one really bothered to move in, although Lamplight's really one of the more inexplicable settlements out there.

[Ohma]

Yeah it's way more plausible that a bunch of snot-nosed little cuntrags have been sitting on a strategic resource for so long unmolested like all the other settlements for 200 years with a giant lamp array out front. There are several quests and situations that suggest Beth didn't communicate the 200-year thingo to it's quest designers very well; some of them expressly mention it (particularly on the main quest line) but some really seem to be better set 40ish years after the war instead.

A lot of the game would've really worked better if it were only supposed to be like 30-80 years after the war. In fact, the only things that jump out at me that would have to have been changed would be the super mutants and the BoS, and those would've required very little alteration (the super mutants could just be explained away as having originated from a second test facility for FEV somewhere on the east coast, and you could very easily replace the BoS with any other group of military remnants opposed to the Enclave).

[White Haven]

Yeah it's way more plausible that a bunch of snot-nosed little cuntrags have been sitting on a strategic resource for so long unmolested like all the other settlements for 200 years with a giant lamp array out front. There are several quests and situations that suggest Beth didn't communicate the 200-year thingo to it's quest designers very well; some of them expressly mention it (particularly on the main quest line) but some really seem to be better set 40ish years after the war instead.

A lot of the game would've really worked better if it were only supposed to be like 30-80 years after the war. In fact, the only things that jump out at me that would have to have been changed would be the super mutants and the BoS, and those would've required very little alteration (the super mutants could just be explained away as having originated from a second test facility for FEV somewhere on the east coast, and you could very easily replace the BoS with any other group of military remnants opposed to the Enclave).

You mean like the facility in one of the Vaults that was experimenting with exposing residents to FEV to produce combat troops in FO3?

[Stark]

Yeah the sealed facility where the experimentation started 200 years ago and the super-mutant results are still alive despite the vault being fucked. They're still eating gorebags, somehow!

[Enigma]

I have a few questions before I buy FO3. Has it been patched? Are there multiple endings like the first two? If so, how many?

[haard]

Mostly worthless patch for PC has been released, no patch for real issues.
Multiple endings yes; don't know how many, trying to stay somewhat unspoilerized.

[charlemagne]

Mostly worthless patch for PC has been released, no patch for real issues.
Multiple endings yes; don't know how many, trying to stay somewhat unspoilerized.

There's no big gamebreaking bugs, so it's no issue if it's been patched or not. It's flaws lie in game mechanics, and this isn't something Bethesda will ever try to fix in a patch, you have to wait for user-made mods for that.

There's endings for you being a good or a bad character, but they don't really account for everyhing you did or didn't do. The ending is a big let-down overall, to be honest.

[Vympel]

Well, Andale was fucked up. I just knew I was in the twilight zone.

[Vendetta]

I haven't found out what makes the Andale plot go. I've tooled around and talked to everyone, and I know there's going to be frontier justice in the offing for them, but haven't managed to push the right button to start it yet.

Still, I did kill a tree last night.

[White Haven]

Y'know the old guy who says to look in the basement and the shed? Maybe you should, just going out on a limb here, look in the basement.

Or the shed.

[Thunderfire]

There's no big gamebreaking bugs, so it's no issue if it's been patched or not.

Well this is a nasty gamebraking bug.

[Hotfoot]

I haven't found out what makes the Andale plot go. I've tooled around and talked to everyone, and I know there's going to be frontier justice in the offing for them, but haven't managed to push the right button to start it yet.

Still, I did kill a tree last night.

I walked into that place in the dead of night, ended up talking to the old guy first by chance, then I snuck into the houses, talked to the kids, stole one of the keys from the sleeping parents, and went from there.

[charlemagne]

Well this is a nasty gamebraking bug.

Alright, I'm wrong, there is a gamebreaking bug.

Btw, Andale doesn't have a "real" quest with quest log and quest updates.

[Vendetta]

Y'know the old guy who says to look in the basement and the shed? Maybe you should, just going out on a limb here, look in the basement.

Or the shed.

Ahh, he kept telling me to run for my life, I recall no sheds being mentioned. I shall get nosy again later on then.

[Vendetta]

Btw, Andale doesn't have a "real" quest with quest log and quest updates.

A lot of things in FO3 don't. As far as I can tell, the Dunwich building doesn't, despite having unique Stuff happening (on encountering a Glowing One ghoul, you get a short Eternal Darkness style flash of what he and the building looked like before the bombs, but you stay in control of your character through it), and a deepy buried obelisk with eldrich glow and infernal whispering.

[Vympel]

I still get bizarre graphical glitches (even after setting prefs to read-only).

Usually the first time I load up the game, everything will look fine (usual 1900 x 1200 resolution, anti-aliasing cranked, full texture detail etc) for just a moment, then on the loading screen shit will get all sort of vague and wishy washy and the mouse pointer will lose its definition. That's when I know things are fucked - if I load the game and it's in an outdoor area, then the game will crash back to desktop. If indoors, everything will look like anus. When I next start it, the graphics will be cranked like they're supposed to be and I can play as normal - until the usual crash after say 40 minutes to 1.5 hours or so.

Sometimes however I'll start the game up and everything will be fine - until I go outside and everything will seem fine - except the grass will look like total ass. And then alt-tabbing out and going back in will fix it. It's fucking weird.