Fallout 3 impressions

[skace]

Originally posted by: newb111
Cheap? Sounds like a sound strategy to me. In a life or death situation, "fairness" shouldn't ever come into play =)

Cheap as in, once you are aware of it, you could apply it to any battle and win just by distancing yourself from the target.

I've found it's pretty hard to wound the limbs on a Deathclaw using normal weaponry, especially the legs.

 

[9mak9]

I have faced 2 deathclaws and really didnt have an issue with them...1 was right outside the Super Duper Mart and he was occupied with a few raiders so I just used the hunting rifle to injured and finish him off but he seem to not care about me alot but he went down rather quick. The other is where I found the schematics for the gauntlet and he was already badly injured a 2-3 well placed shots dropped him...

 

[HumblePie]

Originally posted by: PhatoseAlpha

Anybody else noticed Megatonners falling to their deaths for no reason? The sheriff bought it that way in my first game, and the mechanic in my second.

Found this as a bug.

If you do the disarm the bomb quest, then go to Burke and get the blow up megaton quest, and finally go to Lucas to turn in Burke, Lucas will off to the saloon to "arrest" Burke.

However, if at ANY POINT in the conversation you try to interrupt them and talk to either of them, they stop their long winded discussion and stand up and start walking outside. If you let them talk however, Lucas will let Burke stand up, turn around and take 2 steps. Burke will then pull out his gun and shoot lucas in the back of the head. Interrupting them during their conversation screws this little script of Burke shooting Lucas in the back of the head up.

If you keep talking to them as they head to the door then Burke never gets a chance to shoot Lucas and they will walk outside. The game script technically has Lucas dead from Burke at this point on after they exit the saloon, but since a shot wasn't fired Lucas is still walking. Once outside if you talk to either Burke or Lucas then Lucas will fall over dead without Burke ever firing a shot off at him and Burke will run off after trying to talk to either of them.

However, if you do NOT talk to either of them, then Burke will walk off in one direction and Lucas will go on his merry way about town. Lucas is technically considered killed at the point in time although he is walking around. If at any point from here on out, if you or another NPC stops to talk to Lucas, he will drop dead right on that spot.

It's funny and easy to replicate this bug.

 

[9mak9]

one thing i was thinking about that would be really cool if Bethesda in their patch/updates added more schematics to make weapons. There are so many items to combine for a weapon I think it would be a waste not to make up more....

if they can't I'm sure some fans will do it pretty soon

 

[Magusigne]

Originally posted by: 9mak9
one thing i was thinking about that would be really cool if Bethesda in their patch/updates added more schematics to make weapons. There are so many items to combine for a weapon I think it would be a waste not to make up more....

if they can't I'm sure some fans will do it pretty soon

I'm hoping some of the Oblivion Modders team up with the Fallout modders to create some awesome content.

Personally I'd like to see V.A.T.S targetting work with Unarmed or Melee, I'd also like more dramatic effects from crippling limbs.

Those are my top gripes.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Powernick50
I'm hoping some of the Oblivion Modders team up with the Fallout modders to create some awesome content.

Personally I'd like to see V.A.T.S targetting work with Unarmed or Melee, I'd also like more dramatic effects from crippling limbs.

Those are my top gripes.

I would love if taking off someone's legs makes them fall to a prone position like in Aliens vs. Predator 2; you blow the legs of aliens off and they start crawling. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a 'prone' animation/position in the Oblivion engine. Best case scenario, they put them into a crawl and reduce movement speed by 95%. This would rock since I've been VATSing Raider legs. They never stay long...

 

[Cellulose]

I was about 5-10 hours in and am planning to restart.

I would like to go for a Monk-style character, a 'pure' good who only uses unarmed (and maybe mines etc. if needed).

Will probably specialize in Unarmed and two of the following:

1. Speech (some posts in this thread say this is necessary for some missions etc. Especially considering my character...)

2. Sneak (I don't really want to sneak up on every character if possible and I obviously won't be stealing - but is the fun/damage factor worth it? Flying heads etc.?)

3. Medicine (Melee seems to be at the cost of massive amounts of health...)

Thanks a lot!

 

[pontifex]

i don't get how you can play a melee or unarmed character effectively in a game where most of the enemies have ranged weapons.

 

[imported_Imp]

It's funny that melee and unarmed really work well. You take a lot more damage, have to spend a lot more on repairs, but the damage that you do toe to toe is amazing. The only annoyance is that you occasionally have an enemy run off or strafe around you, which results in a lot of missed swings. Oh, and guns in this game suck at ranges beyong 20ft, there's why.

 

[Molondo]

I'm having trouble finding the patch list on the official web site. I may be doing it wrong, could you link me to one? I haven't patched yet.

 

[Frodolives]

Not all of the odd remote explosions are mine related. There are also the old car explosions...

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Molondo
I'm having trouble finding the patch list on the official web site. I may be doing it wrong, could you link me to one? I haven't patched yet.

One hasn't come out yet as far as I know.

 

[Molondo]

Originally posted by: Imp

Originally posted by: Molondo
I'm having trouble finding the patch list on the official web site. I may be doing it wrong, could you link me to one? I haven't patched yet.

One hasn't come out yet as far as I know.

ew

 

[Slappy00]

Originally posted by: Azn
Finally fished the game. Ending was easy. Pretty short if you cut to the chase. I did a lot of side missions though and I got sick of getting more treasures. It became repetitive after few days of extensive play. Pretty good story though.

Im really excited for the mods that will be popping up THATS where the action is at. I can't wait to see what the mod community will do with this game.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: PhatoseAlpha

Anybody else noticed Megatonners falling to their deaths for no reason? The sheriff bought it that way in my first game, and the mechanic in my second.

Found this as a bug.

If you do the disarm the bomb quest, then go to Burke and get the blow up megaton quest, and finally go to Lucas to turn in Burke, Lucas will off to the saloon to "arrest" Burke.

However, if at ANY POINT in the conversation you try to interrupt them and talk to either of them, they stop their long winded discussion and stand up and start walking outside. If you let them talk however, Lucas will let Burke stand up, turn around and take 2 steps. Burke will then pull out his gun and shoot lucas in the back of the head. Interrupting them during their conversation screws this little script of Burke shooting Lucas in the back of the head up.

If you keep talking to them as they head to the door then Burke never gets a chance to shoot Lucas and they will walk outside. The game script technically has Lucas dead from Burke at this point on after they exit the saloon, but since a shot wasn't fired Lucas is still walking. Once outside if you talk to either Burke or Lucas then Lucas will fall over dead without Burke ever firing a shot off at him and Burke will run off after trying to talk to either of them.

However, if you do NOT talk to either of them, then Burke will walk off in one direction and Lucas will go on his merry way about town. Lucas is technically considered killed at the point in time although he is walking around. If at any point from here on out, if you or another NPC stops to talk to Lucas, he will drop dead right on that spot.

It's funny and easy to replicate this bug.

Interesting bug, but not the one I experienced. I was long past this scene, and Burke's unfortunate decision to try to shoot the sheriff bought him a shotgun slug to the head. The sheriff had thanked me for saving him, so I know the script played out properly.

 

[Slappy00]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Juddog

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: Slappy00
well it happened to me and probably some of you more avid explorers too:

I was in the wasteland, came across a place, entered, and about a 1/2 hour later I accidentally the whole thing!

And had to reload a way earlier game

never saw it coming

Accidentally what the whole thing?

It's a 4chan / Joe Rogan thing. Internet meme is internet meme.

i don't think so in this context. i think he just missed the word.

i could be wrong though.

you are both right...

I accidentally beat the game by random chance (well not "beat" as in credits scrolling but it pretty much cut out a huge part of the main storyline) when I was ignoring the storyline and just wandering around. It is very easy to do and if you are an explorer like myself it could happen to you too.

Threw the meme thing in for fun.

 

[AzN]

Why does this game try to slender propaganda especially at the end? I could see the little parts of it flying through out the game like slavery, bigotry, but it was you who decided how you want to play the game by choosing. The giant robot rambling about the Chinese and communism doesn't fit into the game and very near sighted at best.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Upon playing a bit more, I've noticed 2 main problems with the game:

1. The skills aren't useful enough. In FO 1/2, you could take down a door with explosives, lockpicking, or a hit from a melee weapon. Now you absolutely have to pick that lock. Grenades are actually useful in FO3, though. I also wish tagging a skill really meant something, like the way you could raise them by 2 points per skill point in FO 1/2.

2. The game just seems too easy. I was killing super mutants without too much difficulty at level 5 or so with a hunting rifle and grenades. Now that I have a laser rifle, plenty of ammo/grenades and decent armor, I can take down Enclave soldiers without breaking a sweat.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
2. The game just seems too easy. I was killing super mutants without too much difficulty at level 5 or so with a hunting rifle and grenades. Now that I have a laser rifle, plenty of ammo/grenades and decent armor, I can take down Enclave soldiers without breaking a sweat.

Very common Bethesda problem. They have trouble balancing combat, it's like they do OK making games, but nobody at their studio is any good at playing games so they scale the difficulty to the worst gamers ever and what you get is a combat system that is basically constantly in favor of the player. However, they have improved on their formula for this game in comparison to Oblivion.

I'd say a lot of their difficulty problems also come from poor AI.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
2. The game just seems too easy. I was killing super mutants without too much difficulty at level 5 or so with a hunting rifle and grenades. Now that I have a laser rifle, plenty of ammo/grenades and decent armor, I can take down Enclave soldiers without breaking a sweat.

Very common Bethesda problem. They have trouble balancing combat, it's like they do OK making games, but nobody at their studio is any good at playing games so they scale the difficulty to the worst gamers ever and what you get is a combat system that is basically constantly in favor of the player. However, they have improved on their formula for this game in comparison to Oblivion.

I'd say a lot of their difficulty problems also come from poor AI.

Yep, this happened to me in Morrowind too. I ended up turning Fallout 3 up to hard, but I still gib most things with a couple shotgun blasts to the head. And the stupid thing is that you get more xp on hard.

Also, I was reading the IGN guide, and it went on and on about the importance of conserving ammo, and here I am with 1300 5.56 rounds wondering what game they were playing when they wrote that.

 

[Magusigne]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
2. The game just seems too easy. I was killing super mutants without too much difficulty at level 5 or so with a hunting rifle and grenades. Now that I have a laser rifle, plenty of ammo/grenades and decent armor, I can take down Enclave soldiers without breaking a sweat.

Very common Bethesda problem. They have trouble balancing combat, it's like they do OK making games, but nobody at their studio is any good at playing games so they scale the difficulty to the worst gamers ever and what you get is a combat system that is basically constantly in favor of the player. However, they have improved on their formula for this game in comparison to Oblivion.

I'd say a lot of their difficulty problems also come from poor AI.

Yep, this happened to me in Morrowind too. I ended up turning Fallout 3 up to hard, but I still gib most things with a couple shotgun blasts to the head. And the stupid thing is that you get more xp on hard.

Also, I was reading the IGN guide, and it went on and on about the importance of conserving ammo, and here I am with 1300 5.56 rounds wondering what game they were playing when they wrote that.

Ditto. Ammo was hard to find in the begining marginally..now..well Alien blaster FTW.

I'm still have a blast despite all these problems! I've purposely ignored the main quest line to do all the side quests which are alot of fun. At present rate it looks like I'm going to sink 40-50 hours into one character. I of course want to make another totally different character. So Its going to be one of the few games worth my money at least.

I've also found some interesting places on the map..sat com stations etc in the far left quadrant of map..seems like a lot of neat places to explore.

 

[HumblePie]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
2. The game just seems too easy. I was killing super mutants without too much difficulty at level 5 or so with a hunting rifle and grenades. Now that I have a laser rifle, plenty of ammo/grenades and decent armor, I can take down Enclave soldiers without breaking a sweat.

Very common Bethesda problem. They have trouble balancing combat, it's like they do OK making games, but nobody at their studio is any good at playing games so they scale the difficulty to the worst gamers ever and what you get is a combat system that is basically constantly in favor of the player. However, they have improved on their formula for this game in comparison to Oblivion.

I'd say a lot of their difficulty problems also come from poor AI.

Yep, this happened to me in Morrowind too. I ended up turning Fallout 3 up to hard, but I still gib most things with a couple shotgun blasts to the head. And the stupid thing is that you get more xp on hard.

Also, I was reading the IGN guide, and it went on and on about the importance of conserving ammo, and here I am with 1300 5.56 rounds wondering what game they were playing when they wrote that.

That's the kicker. If you do ONLY the main quest and a couple of side quests at most you will run into that ammo crunch quite often. If you do side quests for gear and caps, you'll soon be rolling in everything you could possibly want. Unless of course you steal from every NPC and area you come across in the main story line. Of course, if you raid a few raider compounds, oh the irony, you don't need to a steal a dang thing from any good character in this game.

Remember kids, when comparing this game to previous fallouts do keep in mind that in both FO1 and 2 you could rush to the very end of the game and beat it in under 30 minutes if you knew what to do.

The purpose of the fallout series is to do all the little things. The humor is in exploring the waste land and helping or not helping others. The endings for the previous fallouts were also, meh. You got either a good, neutral, or bad ending to each major side quest you could possibly do. without patches, some endings weren't possible because bugs prevented completion of a sidequest, but most of those had been patched out.

I haven't beaten FO3 yet, so I haven't a clue as to how the game ends and if side quest completions are factored into the ending or not. It would be nice, but it's no big deal really.


There are some gripes I do agree with here. I miss having multiple ways to accomplish things like opening doors. Lockpicking, or finding the key, or hacking a terminal to open doors are the only ways currently in the game to open something locked.

Also, speech doesn't really open up more quests that much. Usually using speech allows you to just get a bigger reward if you want it. Of course, if you are just picking up everything from exploring, rewards after a bit aren't a big deal. So usually I don't use it anymore and just turn in items for nothing so I can get the karma since I'm playing a good'ol boy.


The fun in this game comes from the interaction story with the other npcs. I almost can't wait to beat the game on good boy mode and go into evil mode. Heck, just before work today, I decided to run around megaton and blow everyone's head off with the combat shotgun. I didn't save the game of course because I want to complete it on the good side for now. But it was just soooooooo much fun doing that though!

 

[Magusigne]

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
2. The game just seems too easy. I was killing super mutants without too much difficulty at level 5 or so with a hunting rifle and grenades. Now that I have a laser rifle, plenty of ammo/grenades and decent armor, I can take down Enclave soldiers without breaking a sweat.

Very common Bethesda problem. They have trouble balancing combat, it's like they do OK making games, but nobody at their studio is any good at playing games so they scale the difficulty to the worst gamers ever and what you get is a combat system that is basically constantly in favor of the player. However, they have improved on their formula for this game in comparison to Oblivion.

I'd say a lot of their difficulty problems also come from poor AI.

Yep, this happened to me in Morrowind too. I ended up turning Fallout 3 up to hard, but I still gib most things with a couple shotgun blasts to the head. And the stupid thing is that you get more xp on hard.

Also, I was reading the IGN guide, and it went on and on about the importance of conserving ammo, and here I am with 1300 5.56 rounds wondering what game they were playing when they wrote that.

That's the kicker. If you do ONLY the main quest and a couple of side quests at most you will run into that ammo crunch quite often. If you do side quests for gear and caps, you'll soon be rolling in everything you could possibly want. Unless of course you steal from every NPC and area you come across in the main story line. Of course, if you raid a few raider compounds, oh the irony, you don't need to a steal a dang thing from any good character in this game.

Remember kids, when comparing this game to previous fallouts do keep in mind that in both FO1 and 2 you could rush to the very end of the game and beat it in under 30 minutes if you knew what to do.

The purpose of the fallout series is to do all the little things. The humor is in exploring the waste land and helping or not helping others. The endings for the previous fallouts were also, meh. You got either a good, neutral, or bad ending to each major side quest you could possibly do. without patches, some endings weren't possible because bugs prevented completion of a sidequest, but most of those had been patched out.

I haven't beaten FO3 yet, so I haven't a clue as to how the game ends and if side quest completions are factored into the ending or not. It would be nice, but it's no big deal really.


There are some gripes I do agree with here. I miss having multiple ways to accomplish things like opening doors. Lockpicking, or finding the key, or hacking a terminal to open doors are the only ways currently in the game to open something locked.

Also, speech doesn't really open up more quests that much. Usually using speech allows you to just get a bigger reward if you want it. Of course, if you are just picking up everything from exploring, rewards after a bit aren't a big deal. So usually I don't use it anymore and just turn in items for nothing so I can get the karma since I'm playing a good'ol boy.


The fun in this game comes from the interaction story with the other npcs. I almost can't wait to beat the game on good boy mode and go into evil mode. Heck, just before work today, I decided to run around megaton and blow everyone's head off with the combat shotgun. I didn't save the game of course because I want to complete it on the good side for now. But it was just soooooooo much fun doing that though!

You have no idea how many time's I've done that. In fact I've already stopped my level 14 character to begin working on my evil ninja character. I'm debating if I want to work on unarmed or melee...but yes..evil will be cool. Especially eating corpses!

The game has a ton of endings possible

The ending sequence is made of a handful in individual clips, each appended to the main choices you made throughout the game.

There are 3 major endings based on the main quest.
There are 3 clips based on a specific event
There are 3 clips based on karma.
There are 6 "flashbacks" to people, places, or events you may have encountered

This is excluding 1 "global " clip played at the beginning of each ending, 2 gender-specific "global" clips in between, and 8 gender and race-specific "global" clip played at the end (1 for each of the 4 races, for both genders).

 

[Gunslinger08]

Any places have a deal on this game, or is it pretty much $50 everywhere?

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Slappy00

you are both right...

I accidentally beat the game by random chance (well not "beat" as in credits scrolling but it pretty much cut out a huge part of the main storyline) when I was ignoring the storyline and just wandering around. It is very easy to do and if you are an explorer like myself it could happen to you too.

Threw the meme thing in for fun.

Unfortunately, I did that last night and was slow sleep deprived, I didn't think to reload my game.

Spoiler
I haven't touched the main storyline since leaving the vault yet managed to complete the first quest by exploring Rivet City. At first, I was 'oh well, whatever'. Then I thought about how much I would miss by accidentally finishing an entire quest line (it really is a lot according to online walkthroughs), so now I gotta dump 1 hour of play/exploration time I put into Rivet City to avoid this issue. Boo-urns.