Opinion on Fallout 3

[Aerosmith]

Hi everyone!

I've been lurking on this forum for a very looooooong time, so I decided to register. People seem nice and polite, and moderators do their job for those not so nice people... I like it here...

So, I don't see many people on Fallout 3 section of the forum... Seems it's quite disliked... Or am I wrong? Anyway, I like the game very much. In fact, I decided to buy myself a new computer just to be able to play it. Now it's an old Celeron 2000 with 1 Gb of rambus memory and ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. I cannot even hope to run the game on this old, but faithful bucket... It's just that the game thrills me to the core... There are some new nice gameplay videos on Bethseda's web page, in fact five of them, but they have some spoilers there. I've played Fallout, Fallout 2 even Tactics. I didn't like Tactics so much. Fallout and Fallout 2 are my favourite RPGs and I hope 3rd installment will be too. I enjoy postapocaliptic (like Fallout) or futuristic (like KOTOR) RPGs more than classical, although I played both Baldur's Gates, Neverwinter Nights, Planescape torment, a bit of Might And Magic, Elder Scrolls Morrowind and so on.

I've even played the Van Buren tech demo and I can say that I like Bethseda's verion of Fallout 3 much more. Somehow Van Buren made me feel: been there done that. Too much like "old" Fallout's without much change. I just hope Bethseda implements everything like it was in old Fallouts like rich dialogue and dialogue choices, story and everything. To tell you the truth my biggest fear is that it will be a mindless shooter / rpg and that it will be a dumbed down Fallout. But reading interviews and watching gameplay videos seems it will have some nice dialogue so that brings me hope.

So what do you think? Will it turn out crappy or great? Is anyone interested in this game, cause I must admit that no game had this much of mine in a long time...

PS. Sorry about the lenghtness of my post and my english which is not so good as it used to be...

[socross]

I've been having fun with it - it's taken my time away from Warhammer Online so that's a pretty big compliment.

I'm more of an FPS guy, so it's action elements appeal to me. It seems like there's a ton of exploration and sandbox style gameplay.

On the down side, I don't like talking to villagers that much, and there's a whole lot of searching and looting. Those are nitpicks though, the game's a blast!

[Toastmeister]

Does anyone have an opinion on whether Fallout 3 is just Oblivion warmed over with some interesting color from the Fallout franchise slapped on?

The critics have been clearly stating 'no F3 is totally different and better'. However, from watching the gameplay vidoes F3 really does look and feel like Oblivion. Seems to be the same graphics engine, the same character design (same skeletal models and the main character even has the same walking cycle for that matter), almost the same combat system with the Fallout targeting system slapped on (do enemies level with the player as well - as in Oblivion?).

I just checked out Mass Effect and Far Cry 3 - both were amazing.
So I ask myself as a Fallout fan, would I really enjoy Fallout 3 given that I found Oblivion to be a complete waste of time? Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

[Claudius]

I don't know I've read people very excited playing this game and others who thought it was like a FPS. There are reviews on amazon. I tend to trust consumers more than professional critics (who I imagine are influenced by sales rep type people?)

[Toastmeister]

Thanks! Amazon should be a good lead.
(I agree with your criticism of professional reviewers.)

[Bloodstalker]

So far, I've found reviews on Amazon to be useless for this game. Basically it's either the greatest game ever or the worst. The bad part is, anything that isn't a glowing rexiew of the game seem to just be countless people giving the game a 1 star rating because it comes with Securom. Wouldn't mind so much, but out of four pages of 1 start reviews, only two reviewers apparently even played the game. Amazon reviews for PC games are becoming worthless since the only thing you ever read is about Securom, and not the actual gameplay.

[dragon wench]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloodstalker So far, I've found reviews on Amazon to be useless for this game. Basically it's either the greatest game ever or the worst. The bad part is, anything that isn't a glowing rexiew of the game seem to just be countless people giving the game a 1 star rating because it comes with Securom. Wouldn't mind so much, but out of four pages of 1 start reviews, only two reviewers apparently even played the game. Amazon reviews for PC games are becoming worthless since the only thing you ever read is about Securom, and not the actual gameplay.

I'd suggest waiting for the GB review, which I imagine is in the works...
In general I find the reviews here to be well balanced with plenty of critical analysis.
Plus, waiting means more time for the bugs to be ironed out

[Gauda]

Well. Fallout 3 is not without flaws. But it completely shattered my scepticism to it, when I first heard that betheasda made the game. It's a vast, VAST improvement over oblivion in nearly every field, and also lives up to its legacy (though one may certainly argue, that it's trying a little too hard), I think that only the most narrow-minded hardcore fallout fan (e.g "If it's not isometric, then it's automatically bad) would refuse to call this a worthy addition to the fallout universe.

[Toastmeister]

The GiantBomb review is out and it's pretty credible - probably worth reading if you are considering F3.

I think I am going to hold off on F3. I have found the Bethesda games too much of a grind to complete and the reviewer seems to confirm that this is another Bethesda grind - though more interesting than their past games.

[Cyro]

It's the first game since the original NWN to have me sit down at 6.00pm and next think I know it's 4am. It's making me nostalgic.

Don't get me wrong, I've played other games for that length of time, but I've not been lost in them. It's a huge compliment on my part. I could nitpick the game, I guess, but in truth it's the best immersive experience I've had in a long, looong time. It may not be as "fun" as Fable or "purist" as Far Cry, but it's an experience in its own right.

Sure, it has a few of the issues that Oblivion did, but to a lesser degree, and the overall atmosphere of the game is just immense.

I love it to bits, I'm only here, posting this, because of work.

[deadsanta]

I'm almost done with the game, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. I didn't have securom issues, so you won't find any of that here. Here are my gameplay-related pros and cons:

Pros:

-Starts of great, cool first areas, great art.
-Unlike first two games, there is actually stuff between locations, which is fun and immersive, you can leg it anywhere you can fast travel in this game.
-Combat is fast paced and fun. No more waiting for 20 ants to take their turns before you get to throw a rock at one. No more hunting down the one mob in the corner who keeps you in combat for forever.
-Great artwork, nice details, it does feel very apocalyptic out there, kudos to the art team.
-Physics is fun, blowing holes in stuff is fun too!

Cons

-Starting areas and main quest chain are only real finished areas in game, after 15 hours you realize there's nothing cooler coming than what you see initially, which sucks.
-The random encounters and things in between towns are pretty pointless, yielding only enemies and ammo. There's nothing unique to find or do, it feels like. Almost no one to interact with, either, I used to love picking sides in faction fights you find in the wasteland, nothing like that happens now.
-Stupid, stupid dialogue, no branching quests or NPCs interaction. Never more than one or two quests in a town, with never any follow-up jobs, interactions or whatever. I saved some girl's brother from a cannibal cult, all she said was "Thanks", and then never said more than that to me again.
- Good/Evil are your only two choices, and they rarely happen. There's just nothing to do but pointless combat and the linear quest chain. There are some fetch quests, but, meh, those always bore me.
-Terrible plot, poor quest design.
-Far fewer endings than promised. Like a handful, I have no idea where they come up with "200" that's a joke.
-FPS/VATS balance issues. VATS godly at pb-range, useless at mid-long range. FPS allows one-shot kills at looooong range with no skill checks. It's just weird.
-Lack of RPG elements: Most SPECIAL attributes and many skills are just useless. You can save/load speech checks, but you don't need them since there is always a dialogue choice to advance the plot, no matter what. I had 4-5 attribute checks and a handful of skill checks in the whole game. Skill isn't even checked for FPS mode, I can headshot something at 100 yards with 15 skill points in it in FPS mode.

I really enjoyed the game at first, but the more you play it, the more you realize that there's nothing much in it besides shoot and loot. The dialogue just...stopped. And the copy-paste feel of the two-dozen dungeon crawls I endured really wore me out. I know all the metro stations in DC kinda feel the same IRL, but I just dont think they needed to force you to travel and fight through a dozen of them. Walking into a ruined school and seeing the staircase on the right was filled with rubbish gave me a headache, as I always knew that this meant a tortuous, timewasting 3-d maze was coming up, all of which could be avoided if I had the presence of mind to travel with a rope and a collapsible ladder.

2/5 stars, 4/10, D+, 40%. That's what I give it, take your pick. Its a fun, dumb shooter with better art and story than most, but it isn't a Fallout game.

[sultanselim]

After 10 years of waiting, petitioning, following up the production stages...

I completely agree with deadsanta.
I am pretty disappointed. Monotonous I'd say.

An immense environment, good graphics. And that's all.
Empty in the shell. Spiritless body.

It is not Fallout 3... It is Oblivion with Fallout settings.

There are so few points about Fallout2 spirit. Spiced around at the beginning, but completely disappears after some time.

Where is the dark humor? Where is the free choice?
It is just Good-Bad karma.

I won't talk about the game engine, which has many flaws (disabling gore and shooting movies, inventory problem, skill problems, SPECIAL problems, VATS-FPS comparison, lack of individual Map-Quest buttons etc.), but might be acceptable. The atmosphere is there. All right.

But the spirit of Fallout 2... Completely gone.

Fallout 2 reacted to your actions, to your character.
Nearly everything you did had corresponding consequences....

When you played a dumb person, everybody treated to you as dumb...
That was a whole different experience. And a very successful one.

If you played a whore, people reacted. If you didn't want to fight, you'd talk through your way. Or you'd let your hencmen do the work.

If you were a boxing champion, people cheered you on the streets.
If you made a successul porn movie, NPC males whistled when you passed, NPC females insulted you.

FO2 had a spirit. It was like a living environment. You got immersed in it.

FO2 had many options. If you wanted, you'd rescue Sulik's sister. But if you didn't, you could sell Sulik to the traders. You could talk your way, lockpick your way, kill your way, trade your body, whatever.
There were many many options in everything you did.

FO3 is pretty much spiritless, without options and monotonous.
I am greatly disappointed.

[Curry]

I was actually positively surprised as I was expecting "Oblivion with guns". F3 turned out to be a good game, its only downside is that it's quite short

[Kipi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta - Good/Evil are your only two choices, and they rarely happen. There's just nothing to do but pointless combat and the linear quest chain. There are some fetch quests, but, meh, those always bore me.

Actually, Megaton contains quest which can be ended three different ways: good, neutral and evil. There are couple of others as well.

Quote:

-Far fewer endings than promised. Like a handful, I have no idea where they come up with "200" that's a joke.

That 200 endings meant that there is couple of different endings for each town, and if you count every possible combination then you get something like 200. Yeah, that was probably just marketing trick.

Quote:

-Lack of RPG elements: Most SPECIAL attributes and many skills are just useless. You can save/load speech checks, but you don't need them since there is always a dialogue choice to advance the plot, no matter what. I had 4-5 attribute checks and a handful of skill checks in the whole game. Skill isn't even checked for FPS mode, I can headshot something at 100 yards with 15 skill points in it in FPS mode.

Not true. First of all, I have noticed that there is skill check in FPS mode as well. Perhaps the effects aren't that big as in VATS, but the check is definately there. Skill checks I have noticed so far in game (outside of dialogies, bartering on personal uses): Lockpick, Science, Repair, Medical. Other checks are combinated to dialogue, bartering or other skill usage (weapon etc.). And about dialogue. Yes, you can save/load till you succeed in the skill check, if that's they you want to play. I don't. Also, not all Speech checks have workaround in dialogue, sometimes you must manually do something to get the same effect as with succeed skill check (virtual world in Vault 112 comes to my mind immediately).

So, basically all the checks are there, just that those aren't as visible as in older Fallouts. Yes, perhaps the weapon skills have too little affection in FPS, but they do affect.

[Gauda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta -The random encounters and things in between towns are pretty pointless, yielding only enemies and ammo. There's nothing unique to find or do, it feels like. Almost no one to interact with, either, I used to love picking sides in faction fights you find in the wasteland, nothing like that happens now.

Well, which game doesn't have boring moments? It's kind of weird to criticize a game for not being perfect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta -Stupid, stupid dialogue,

Disagree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta no branching quests or NPCs interaction. Never more than one or two quests in a town, with never any follow-up jobs, interactions or whatever. I saved some girl's brother from a cannibal cult, all she said was "Thanks", and then never said more than that to me again.

*mild spoilers*
Most claims here are dead wrong. The very quest you mentioned does branch: you can do several things after you head to the town on the destroyed bridge (the name escapes me at the moment). You can steal, lie, kill or be the vigilant hero. Almost every quest has follow-up jobs, the most obvious being the quest helping to write a survival guide in the wastes. The side quests are actually where fallout 3 really outshines fallout 1 and 2 in my opinion. While the side quests in fallout 2 (though especialy fallout 1) where extremely often boring, predictable, one dimensional and short, there is more to most of the side quests in fallout 3 than first meets the eye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta - Good/Evil are your only two choices, and they rarely happen. There's just nothing to do but pointless combat and the linear quest chain. There are some fetch quests, but, meh, those always bore me.

Did you even pay attention while you were playing the game, or were you just too busy finding things to criticize? I'm sorry, but it hardly seems like you've been playing the game for more than 2 hours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta -Terrible plot, poor quest design.

Care to explain?

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta -FPS/VATS balance issues. VATS godly at pb-range, useless at mid-long range. FPS allows one-shot kills at looooong range with no skill checks. It's just weird.

Working as intended, as far as I'm concerned. You were ment to play mostly in VATS; that's why the fps mode is really downplayed, and quite frankly sucks. I've never gotten a long range head shot with a standard weapon in FPS mode, so I think you must have some sort of super weapon I've never got my hands on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadsanta -Lack of RPG elements: Most SPECIAL attributes and many skills are just useless. You can save/load speech checks, but you don't need them since there is always a dialogue choice to advance the plot, no matter what. I had 4-5 attribute checks and a handful of skill checks in the whole game. Skill isn't even checked for FPS mode, I can headshot something at 100 yards with 15 skill points in it in FPS mode.

Which exactly of the SPECIAL attributes are useless? I can't think of a single one actually, that doesn't help your character in some significant way. 4-5 attributes checks in the game accounts for most of the 6 attributes, so I don't see how that is bad, and noone is forcing you to load/save your speech check, and besides those, nearly every skill (if not all) has some skill-check in the game.