Gaming Fallout 3

[Metalcore501]

I got it and well I dont want to come off as an addict, but ive had it for 5 days and have put down 42 hours of gameplay. The game is absolutly addicting! I've noticed a glitch on the 360, whenever I get into immense combat the game will unexpectedly freeze up. I'm not sure if its the game or my system anyone else have this happen to them?

[Drizzt Do'urden]

You aren't the only one having those problems. I attributed them to renting the game using a copy that somebody else had. So I buckled and bought a new copy, and still had the same results. There seem to be a few others, I picked up the rail gun and everytime I fired it my xbox would freeze.

[Drizzt Do'urden]

Once you start leveling up to at least level 10 head to the square on your map in the far upper right hand corner. You'll find some interesting beasties up that way.

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]OK so a few more hours of play and I, like everyone else am getting seriously addicted to this game. I'm not sure how many hours I've clocked so far as generally I snatch about an hour or two of play during a sitting.

Still haven't gotten used to the inventory completely yet, honestly I just don't like the PipBoy in general. It's a good concept but when you actually get down to using it, it's just very finicky and annoying to move between all the different menus. Oblivion's inventory system wasn't perfect either but I can't help feel that F3's is a backward step slightly.

One of the most glaring things that annoys me is the lack of an open environment in the east/south-east districts. I don't like being herded through a dozen underground stations just to get to one area a few hundred meters away when I'm blocked by what looks to be fairly surmountable debris. It's not even that I don't like moving through the stations (I mean who doesn't love killing ghouls), it's just that I want it to be my choice how I get to somewhere.

That's pretty much it though for my complaints, the rest of the game is smashing, thanks to coming upon a pair of Brotherhood of Steel Paladins in combat I now sport a minigun for my own amusement though having completely Reilly's Rangers yesterday I can't help but wish I had Eugene.[/SIZE]

[Carbon Series]

I dont know if any of you have completed the main quest but my friend recently completed the main quest a couple of days ago and the game just ends. Nothing else happens, the game ends and you have no choice but to start again/from your last save. So just a little warning, if you think you're ending the main quest i'd save before you finish it otherwise thats it boys n girls :/

[Metalcore501]

Yeah man it sucked! I was like :o you gotta be kidding, ive gotta say though it was a good play. I souldnt have rushed through the main quests...:animecry:

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Guys can you remember to use spoiler tags when talking about stuff like the ending, for people who haven't finished it you don't want to give stuff away.

Anyway I beat the game last night and I have to admit it really didn't live up to my expectations after Elder Scrolls Oblivion. There plenty to like about this game, the majority of it is solidly designed and implemented, the graphics are top-notch and the story is well-written and engaging.

Unfortunately there's quite a bit about Fallout 3 that isn't well done, or perhaps more accurately feels like it could have been done a lot better. The game felt like Oblivion-Lite to me, a lot of the things that made Oblivion such an awesome game but with some of the utterly crucial stuff condensed or out-right cut, a couple of examples being:

[spoiler][b]Length[/b] - The main quests is both game are roughly the same length, truth be told I'd say Fallout's might be slightly longer. But compare their side-quests on offer and it becomes painfully obvious that Oblivion is the much longer game. Fallout has pitifully few side-quests, maybe ten or eleven in all to be done which in reality stretch the game out by only a few hours when Oblivions multitude of side-quests kept you going for days.

[b]Factions[/b] - This really annoyed me because I felt it to be one of the most important aspects of Oblivion that was cut. You have the absolutely kick-*** Brotherhood of the Steel, a member of whom make up the fricking cover of the game and the best you ever get to do is become an honorary member.

I don't know about anyone else, but joining factions in Oblivion was one of my favourite aspects to the game and there should've been plenty of opportunity to do the same here, between the BoS, the Outcasts and Raiders etc. Heck after learning of the strife between the BoS and the Outcasts I was expecting to get a mission helping to reconcile the two groups and then nothing.

[b]Repairing[/b] - This really needs to be addressed in a patch or mod or whatever because repairing in the game is so badly handled. Sure it shouldn't really be as simple as the "all purpose repair hammer" of Oblivion but the need to have the exact same weapon again is going a bit far, I'd rather have the ability to break stuff down into say universal "components" like KOTOR2 and work from there, maybe have repair cutting down the number of components you need to repair a piece of tech.

[b]Map Size vs Activity[/b] - Yes, yes, it's a nuclear wasteland I get it, I'm not expecting you know piles of activity but Fallout feels really devoid of people. Most of the so called settlements have only a dozen over so people inhabiting it, even Rivet City the bastion of civilisation now had only 30 or 40 people there.

I hate to keep saying "Compare that to Oblivion" but it's justified because I can't be expected to believe there's that few people existing still, or heck if they're only going to have a few settlements, there's needs to be a lot more people there.

Dealing with the map size vs activity part more specifically, trudging through the wasteland on foot is a real ****ing pain. Have these guys seen Mad Max or any other post-apocalyptic film ? There's always cars or bikes to be salvaged and brought back to working order, settlements always have petrol stations to get some gas for your ride. That really needs to be fixed along with the settlements.

[B]Replay Value[/b] - This fits in with the ending because I actually agree it was handled badly. Mass Effect had a somewhat similar ending but at least you got to keep all your skills and stuff when you played on with the same character again. In Fallout 3 you make the ultimate sacrifice like you dad did...or you don't depending on your nature and get diddly-squat for it. (Worse for me was that Fawkes the miserable bastard wouldn't do it, despite there being no risk to him at all.)

Kinda linked to it is really there's not a whole pile of replay value because character are quite similar, you're going to take science and lock-picking as skills and after that it's just pick a weapon-style and keep going. Maybe if there were more missions, or more join-able factions this would be different, but there just aren't. Again at least Oblivion let you keep playing after saving the whole god-damned world.[/spoiler]

Now those are my only real gripes with the game, beyond that everything is excellently done. As I said, after Oblivion I was just expecting more from Bethesda with this.[/SIZE]

[Claire]

[FONT="Arial"]I started playing this at my friends' dad's house about a month ago and now I am crazy addicted to it. I hardly ever get a chance to play it, though.

Today I acted on impulse and bought it, despite all the signs pointing to no (turns out you have to be 18 to trade in used games at Gamestop, so I ended up paying the full price for it, ugh). Of course my computer's graphics card is incompatible. So now I'm trying to install it on a family laptop (I will probably lock it up in a password protected folder, haha) that will probably either have the same video card problem or will just run it super slow.

If all else fails, hopefully I can wait five months to get a new laptop as a graduation present. :([/FONT]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Clurr'][FONT="Arial"]Today I acted on impulse and bought it, despite all the signs pointing to no (turns out you have to be 18 to trade in used games at Gamestop, so I ended up paying the full price for it, ugh). Of course my computer's graphics card is incompatible. So now I'm trying to install it on a family laptop (I will probably lock it up in a password protected folder, haha) that will probably either have the same video card problem or will just run it super slow.

If all else fails, hopefully I can wait five months to get a new laptop as a graduation present. :([/FONT][/QUOTE][SIZE="1"]

One thing I'll warn you about running Fallout 3 on a laptop Clurr is that it is an absolute system beast. I bought a fairly high-spec laptop a few weeks ago and I couldn't get it running beyond minimal graphics with some lag. [/SIZE]

[Claire]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]

One thing I'll warn you about running Fallout 3 on a laptop Clurr is that it is an absolute system beast. I bought a fairly high-spec laptop a few weeks ago and I couldn't get it running beyond minimal graphics with some lag. [/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial"]It wouldn't work on the laptop either, so I'm basically out $50. Bawww.

I'm going to try to get a better graphics card, but that will probably not happen before I graduate high school in five months, unless I get a job.

EDIT - Maybe someone can help me with this.

Will [URL="http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd3400/specs.html"][U]this particular[/U][/URL] video card work with the game? Bethesda's website says that the ATI HD 3400 series will work, but I am terrified that I am misreading something. It's also only $37 at Walmart, which seems a bit too good to be true.[/FONT]

[James]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Yes, I'm very [i]very[/i] late to the party, but I just bought Fallout 3 and I need somewhere to rave about it. I played it as much as I could over the weekend (I've just reached Galaxy News Radio HQ, after doing a few side quests) and I'm really loving every second of it.

I actually waited to buy this game in part because I wasn't really a fan of Oblivion. This isn't so much because there was much wrong with Oblivion - it's just not my type of game. Fallout 3 seems a lot more streamlined and it works well for someone like me, who may want to jump in for a few minutes at a time and then a few long sessions here and there.

I'm playing it on PS3 and I'm now wondering how worthwhile the expansions are. Does anyone here have any of the Fallout 3 expansions and, if so, are they any good? Do you have a favourite? [/font]

[CaNz]

[quote name='James' date='24 October 2010 - 08:24 PM' timestamp='1287977099' post='701286'][font="Palatino Linotype"]
I'm playing it on PS3 and I'm now wondering how worthwhile the expansions are. Does anyone here have any of the Fallout 3 expansions and, if so, are they any good? Do you have a favourite? [/font]
[/quote]
I loved this game as well... spending hundreds of hours on it may be an understatement... however I really dont think the expansions were that good, and they certainly didnt add anything to the game.I found the quests were more of the same and they didn't add anything worth 10$ a pop... after the first two I decided to just replay the game if I got bored.

[Boo]

I would recommend the brotherhood of steel expansion for this overrated game. I'm pretty sure it's the only one that actually expands the game apart from just giving you some short side mission like the others. Normally the game would end after the Main quests are finished, but now you can continue. Yay!

New Vegas is poopie so far.

[James]

[quote name='Lady Shy' date='26 October 2010 - 06:59 AM' timestamp='1288040362' post='701302']
I would recommend the brotherhood of steel expansion for this overrated game. I'm pretty sure it's the only one that actually expands the game apart from just giving you some short side mission like the others. Normally the game would end after the Main quests are finished, but now you can continue. Yay!

New Vegas is poopie so far.
[/quote]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]Yeah I would like the ability to keep playing after I've finished - I'm assuming you can go back and complete quests that you had left behind?

I was really excited about New Vegas (actually, I was excited before even having played Fallout 3 itself), but after reading some reviews... I'm really feeling disappointed. I just keep hearing how horribly buggy the game is and that's really disappointing.

So far in Fallout 3 I really haven't come across many bugs (at least, nothing glaring that I've noticed) - except perhaps for some occasional path-finding issues (which haven't been major at all). I imagine serious bugs could ruin New Vegas.

I also don't like the idea of the factions in New Vegas, in the sense that you can randomly anger people without being fully aware of it. That would bother me a lot.[/font]

[Boo]

[quote name='James' date='26 October 2010 - 02:15 AM' timestamp='1288052112' post='701305']
[font="Palatino Linotype"]Yeah I would like the ability to keep playing after I've finished - I'm assuming you can go back and complete quests that you had left behind?[/font]
[/quote]
Well, that's kind of the point. You can, but only by loading a save file from before finishing the game. Unless you get the expansion, because then you can just continue without even noticing the game would've stopped without it. Plus, you get a bunch of neat extra quests. I have to add that when you get the ehm... Anchorage content it'll also be worth your while game wise and it's a nice change. But the Alien Space Ship, the Pitt and the island thing felt completely lame to me.

And yeah well, New Vegas just also feels a lot less epic than Fallout 3 right from the start. The opening video isn't as cool, explaining too much about the situation, and generally it's just a lot of "blah" and less "Whoo!" It's a little prettier, but mostly it just looks the same, except with sand instead of dirt. Which is stupid enough since Fallout 3 was already had enough things looking the same.

[James]

[quote name='Lady Shy' date='27 October 2010 - 01:40 AM' timestamp='1288107628' post='701317']
Well, that's kind of the point. You can, but only by loading a save file from before finishing the game. Unless you get the expansion, because then you can just continue without even noticing the game would've stopped without it. Plus, you get a bunch of neat extra quests. I have to add that when you get the ehm... Anchorage content it'll also be worth your while game wise and it's a nice change. But the Alien Space Ship, the Pitt and the island thing felt completely lame to me. [/quote]

[font=palatino linotype]Yeah, that's what I meant - continue playing with the expansion. Hm...that might be good, although I'm probably so far from the end anyway that it's not something to consider just yet. At the rate I play this thing, I'll be here for months yet! I've just [spoiler]completed the quest where you put the dish on the Washington Monument[/spoiler] and I know that's still pretty early in.

I have to say, my only real gripe so far, honestly, is that it seems necessary to travel via the subway system for much of the time within the city itself. That kind of sucks. The subways are okay, but I hope I don't have to use them too frequently. I like actually wandering around through the destroyed buildings in D.C.

Having said that, there's a huge amount of variety outside D.C. itself. I've discovered a few towns and each one has its own feel and specific dangers - so that's pretty cool. I think there's a lot more of the map to discover.

And thank god you can auto-travel between areas! If that was disabled, the game would be a nightmare.[/font]

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='James' date='24 October 2010 - 10:24 PM' timestamp='1287977099' post='701286']
[font="Palatino Linotype"] I'm playing it on PS3 and I'm now wondering how worthwhile the expansions are. Does anyone here have any of the Fallout 3 expansions and, if so, are they any good? Do you have a favourite? [/font]
[/quote]

[color=deeppink][b]Operation Anchorage[/b]: I hated this one. It essentially strips out the NPC interaction and becomes a run and gun. It's almost all action, and if you like the Fallout system, you'll probably like it, but I think VATS gets really boring after a while. You get a couple cool items from it, though one you can only get one if you find all the briefcases, which there are a lot of.

You [i]cannot[/i] re-access the area with the same character after you complete it, unless of course you load an earlier save.

[b]Point Lookout[/b]: This one was probably my favorite, because I like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe. The atmosphere and story are done well, and there's a really awesome hallucination sequence. No new interesting weapons though, and fighting those damn swamp people can get irritating.

[b]The Pitt[/b]: Blech, no. It's... fun enough, and I like it better than Anchorage, but it's just so ugly. I really didn't like the design, and a lot of the time I had no idea where I was going. Good enough story and there's even a collisium (though marred by the fact that you're constantly being irradiated in it), but meh.

[b]Mothership Zeta[/b]: Well... I like the idea, the characters introduced, and the story, but again I don't like the design. It does introduce an extremely awesome item called alien apoxy, that you can used to just flat out repair all of you equipped items at once, and some really powerful weapons. I enjoyed it a lot, but I felt it dragged on a bit near the end.

Again, you can't explore the ship after you finish the missions. You [i]can[/i] go to this cockpit thing, and get a good supply of items, but I had a serious glitch where it wouldn't let me leave.

[b]Broken Steel[/b]: Good. The missions in this were awesome and fun, and there are a couple of side missions that were really cool.

However! I think it was at this point the game's difficulty goes out of control. Before Broken Steel I thought it was too easy, and I guess the developers tried to fix that, but they went in the wrong direction. The difficulty comes from variants of existing enemies that have had their defense skyrocket. I seemed like most powerful ghoul and mutant variants have as much health as a behemeth.

They tend to get an appropriate increase in power, but with the exception of the ghouls (which can throw ******* radiation bombs at you **** them), this doesn't make them more [i]difficult[/i]... because you really don't need to change your strategy to fight them. It just takes longer. A lot longer.

Most of the perks aren't really interesting either. I found myself picking mostly perks that were for level 20 and below. Hrm.[/color] Edited October 29, 2010 by Nerdsy

[Boo]

[quote name='Nerdsy' date='29 October 2010 - 08:28 PM' timestamp='1288376897' post='701378']
[color="deeppink"][b]Mothership Zeta[/b]: Well... I like the idea, the characters introduced, and the story, but again I don't like the design. It does introduce an extremely awesome item called alien apoxy, that you can used to just flat out repair all of you equipped items at once, and some really powerful weapons. I enjoyed it a lot, but I felt it dragged on a bit near the end.

Again, you can't explore the ship after you finish the missions. You [i]can[/i] go to this cockpit thing, and get a good supply of items, but I had a serious glitch where it wouldn't let me leave. [/color]
[/quote]

Huh. I can explore quite a bunch still of the ship. Couldn't bother to see if it was everything, but it's more than just cockpit.

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Lady Shy' date='29 October 2010 - 01:54 PM' timestamp='1288378472' post='701380']
Huh. I can explore quite a bunch still of the ship. Couldn't bother to see if it was everything, but it's more than just cockpit.
[/quote]

[color=deeppink]I was exaggerating mildly, but I only recall two rooms. That might be because of the glitch, though; it tends to make teleporters useless.[/color]