Fallout 3 - Codex Opinions Thread

[Twinfalls]

As a matter of fact, go to Andale and look at the GOD AWFUL lines after we checked the shack (I doubt the basement lines would be much better) and compare then to the Arefu quest.

The 'town with a dark secret' is the same shit they had in Oblivion with that one town in the middle of the woods. They really need to move on from this trope, especially since they seem incapable of doing it other than in a ham-fisted and immature way, with omg 'dark' cannibal or cultist villagers who always seem to fetishize hanging bodies.

 

[Shannow]

Is Vault 112 supposed to appear on the map after you read the holodiscs? Nothing appeared on mine.

it isn't listed as a vault on the map

Yes I know. I quadruple checked all locations and nothing new appeared.

Probably found it by now but it is under a garage.

Anyway. I'm in 40 hours now and it's getting fucking boring. The more I play the less it even reminds me of a FO game. I've discovered 97 locations and judging from the map there are at least 70 more waiting for me. But I've reached max level (20) because Beth decided not to expontially increase the xp cost for next level. Thus I went from lvl 18 to 19 in two hours without solving a quest. That feels just much too fast. It's getting pretty boring too. 97 locations... if they had put the content of those locations into 30 then that might have made them interesting enough to explore. Now I'm just plowing through the main quest as fast as possible to get it over with.
The nice scarcity of ammo and stimpaks is also a thing of the past.
To me it was fun for the first 20 hours, ok for 30, meh for 35 and boring for 40. The sad thing is that simple balancing would have repaired much of that. A closer adherance at least to the original FO equipment and SPECIAL mechanics would have improved it even more. It has quite a lot of potential... *shrug*

 

[Texas Red]

Is Vault 112 supposed to appear on the map after you read the holodiscs? Nothing appeared on mine.

it isn't listed as a vault on the map

Yes I know. I quadruple checked all locations and nothing new appeared.

Probably found it by now but it is under a garage.

Anyway. I'm in 40 hours now and it's getting fucking boring. The more I play the less it even reminds me of a FO game. I've discovered 97 locations and judging from the map there are at least 70 more waiting for me. But I've reached max level (20) because Beth decided not to expontially increase the xp cost for next level. Thus I went from lvl 18 to 19 in two hours without solving a quest. That feels just much too fast. It's getting pretty boring too. 97 locations... if they had put the content of those locations into 30 then that might have made them interesting enough to explore. Now I'm just plowing through the main quest as fast as possible to get it over with.
The nice scarcity of ammo and stimpaks is also a thing of the past.
To me it was fun for the first 20 hours, ok for 30, meh for 35 and boring for 40. The sad thing is that simple balancing would have repaired much of that. A closer adherance at least to the original FO equipment and SPECIAL mechanics would have improved it even more. It has quite a lot of potential... *shrug*

The garage didn't appear on the map either. I had to use cheats to discover where the garage is. I think I'm the only one with this problem.

 

[Drakron]

The 'town with a dark secret' is the same shit they had in Oblivion with that one town in the middle of the woods. They really need to move on from this trope, especially since they seem incapable of doing it other than in a ham-fisted and immature way, with omg 'dark' cannibal or cultist villagers who always seem to fetishize hanging bodies.

Actually ... no, that village in Oblivion was a homage to "The Shadow over Innmouth" as Andale is not, at least I cannot recognize it from any of Lovecraft works.

Fallout 3 does have a Lovecraft homage in Dunwich Building, just the name is a reference to "The Dunwich Horror".

 

[DefJam101]

i'd rather play call of cathoolooo dark corners of the earth tbh

 

[Pegultagol]

I am about eight hours into the game, trying to explore the areas around a bit after having scoped the Megaton region a bit. Many of the previous comments about dialogues I agree with, sort of generic augmented by the same voices for multiple characters and eyebrows for emotion. The interface that lumps everything during barter is quite maddening also. Gunplay is quite weak, with stilted gliding movements but I appreciate the effect of being hit, momentarily losing focus with splatters appearing on screen.

I have thoroughly enjoyed some early moments where I was constantly running out of ammo and caps, but find that the difficulty ramps quite a bit high trying to cross the river in the centre to get to GNR, especially as the Talons show up. Any idea how to deal with these guys, or am I rushing myself at level 5 into advanced level locked hostiles? Any advice is appreciated...

 

[Heresiarch]

or am I rushing myself at level 5 into advanced level locked hostiles

This. You ain't playing Ob-levelscaled-ion, pal. Dangerous places and super mutants can and will rip you apart merciless if you are going there underlevelled.

 

[Solomon Doone]

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE OUTDOORSMAN SKILL?

This game fails to hold my interest, I find myself wandering around the wasteland shooting at the ground with an assault rifle whilst I work for fucking Fed-Ex. The fuck? I am bored, walking around at level 15 just killing things, I've not even bothered to get past the water purifying bullshit. Also, SUPERMEWTAAANTS are everywhere and more prevalent than fucking oxygen.

 

[Drakron]

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE OUTDOORSMAN SKILL?

Removed because it was a shitty skill, one of the instances were Bethsoft knife did a good thing.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE OUTDOORSMAN SKILL?

Removed because it was a shitty skill, one of the instances were Bethsoft knife did a good thing.

Outdoorsman could have been made more useful fairly easily, though. Of course, Outdoorsman mainly affected random encounters in Fallout, and helped with finding water as well(which was removed in Fallout 2). But in Fallout 3, Outdoorsman could have allowed you to be a location radar, for example. It could have given you an advantage in combat outdoors and augmented sneak. It could have allowed you to find more goods laying around the wasteland. It could have given more information on the compass, even though the compass is just fairly God-like now. It could have allowed you to find tracks of critters to know what's going on around you. It could have let you find sources of cleaner water.

 

[Texas Red]

or am I rushing myself at level 5 into advanced level locked hostiles

This. You ain't playing Ob-levelscaled-ion, pal. Dangerous places and super mutants can and will rip you apart merciless if you are going there underlevelled.

I haven't been in a position where I had to run away and come back after leveling up. Super Mutants have been the basic enemy since level 3 and they die pretty easily everywhere.

 

[Drakron]

It does not change the fact that in F1 and F2 Outdoorsman affected two things, special encounters and random encounters and so it was useless (yes, there was the water flasks in F1 but besides its cap value they served no actual purpose).

Sure that Bethsoft could do something with Outdoorsman but does not change the fact the skill was previous useless, also if they did then people would complain about Bethsoft having changed the skill instead.

 

[xuerebx]

Went to buy FO3 today, and the shopkeeper told me he had one last CE game left, so I bought it. Love the boblehead and the lunchbox, but I think I'll sell them later on, the whole package cost me around 100USD (according to the currency convertor).

Haven't started the game up yet though, been installed for 4 hours yet I've been doing some other stuff. Downloaded the nocompass mod and the UI overhaul - definitely needed for the PC version of the game.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Arefu`s quest is actually one of the best of the game. Let me explain, the village folk of Arefu wants you to find out where the hiding place of their attackers "The family" is. After a long debate at the Bethesda HQ they decided not to include a quest compass in this particular quest. Even though it was a huge financial risk they agreed. This quest shall from now on be called as "Quest compass disabler quest".

Now let`s take a closer look at the design.

-You know it`s good design when it doesn`t matter if you sleep 1 hour or 8 hours to get insta-healed.

-You know it`s good design when you shoot someones head off and then loot his sunglasses.

-You know it`s good design when you shoot somebodys arm off and he dies.

-You know it`s good design when your lockpicking skill is 99 but a popup tells you that you need a skill of 100 to activate a minigame to open a lock.

-You know it`s good design when you can`t sleep on a owned bed even if you have killed the bed owner.

One more game hint: To disarm landmines, just walk ducked to the landmine and button smash the "use", in this case "defuse" - button on your keyboard constantly to disarm it with a 100 % chance.

 

[Drakron]

One more game hint: To disarm landmines, just walk ducked to the landmine and button smash the "use", in this case "defuse" - button on your keyboard constantly to disarm it with a 100 % chance.

You have two choices on that.

One is making the skill affect how far/long does it to detect the player and go off.
Two is making the skill affect how to disable it.

Yes, its possible to mix the two but then the result is the player simply ignore the defusing phase since he is damned if he does and damned if he does not, it simply more effective to just prevent detection.

In previous Fallout games they were hidden so "Traps" affected the disarm of them and the detection of then, they would not go off unless you step on then.

With the engine change they are impossible to hide, the player can see then now so things changed ... as they can be "easy" be found the only way is to make the player understand he cannot avoid then, he have to deal with then.

And there is a more effective way for then to be disarmed, shoot then (also worked in the previous Fallout games).

Also if you want to talk about "stupidity" ... how about fucking up the timer of plastic explosives ... you know, THE SAME ONES THAT ANYONE THAT CAN SET A DIGITAL CLOCK CAN PROPER SET?

Happened in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 were they could accidentally "go off" because the skill is too low ... my character can use any computer terminal, he can even setup the Pip-Boy Alarm but damn it, those digital timers of Plastic Explosives sure are dificult to use ...

 

[Solomon Doone]

I too am at a loss to explain why the fuck I can kill a giant ass ant by shooting the legs, or kill a supermutant (That are supposed to have superhuman constitutions) by shooting them repeatedly in the SAME ARM. Argh.

The other thing that amazes me is the massively soporific nature of some of the quests, the seeming lack of options for some encounters (A group of Ghouls standing around a memorial, but I can't lead them to Underworld) and the fact that I couldn't find Todd Howard's ugly ass corpse in the Bethesda ruins. I am also puzzled by how this world survives with no trees and no oxygen, but that's kinda moot since the first two games never answered it either.

I have to admit that it's a remarkably atmospheric game though and that the environment does indeed look like it's been crafted with loving care and consideration. I like the implementation of radiation as well, the VATS system and the dialogue, to an extent. There has to be at least 20 voice actors this time! Fucking madness.

It's good, it feels somewhat shallow, but it's good, definitely an entertaining game (Although not LOLZOMGZORZ GEETAR HIRO failburger entertaining, but relatively stimulating) with good atmosphere and solid design. Certainly worth the money I paid for it, even if all I really do is shoot the ground and kill people for fun.

 

[xuerebx]

I've been playing for 3 hours, just got into Megaton. I'm having quite a bit of fun with the game actually, quite happy with my purchase [first impressions and all that]. Already got a UI mod installed, and waiting for other mods to come out which will enhance the experience hopefully.

 

[Drakron]

I too am at a loss to explain why the fuck I can kill a giant ass ant by shooting the legs, or kill a supermutant (That are supposed to have superhuman constitutions) by shooting them repeatedly in the SAME ARM. Argh.

Well ... in the end its a game, it also worked like that in previous games.

In the end its just a game and as localized damage might seem realistic it creates too many problems on the long run.

I am also puzzled by how this world survives with no trees and no oxygen, but that's kinda moot since the first two games never answered it either.

Two things to keep in mind.

1) The nuclear exchange was just China/USA (and annexed countries) ... the rest of the world was not evolved.
2) Oxygen is not exclusive produced by trees, also it just composes 21% of air and its in fact a very common element on the universe.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

I too am at a loss to explain why the fuck I can kill a giant ass ant by shooting the legs, or kill a supermutant (That are supposed to have superhuman constitutions) by shooting them repeatedly in the SAME ARM. Argh.

Well. For some reason, I noticed this as well, and it did bother me slightly - probably a result of the VATS and limb crippling systems making you pay more attention - but really, how many FPSs (or RPGs, or games in general) has this not been the case in?

 

[Topher]

I am level 8, playing on very hard, using no stimpacks, still wearing armored vault suit / Hunting Rifle and went straight into DC at level 1. I'm not having too difficult of a time, people just need to learn what fights they can and can't get involved in. I sneak everywhere I go and frequently have to run from a bad situation (just like it should be in my opinion)

It's true that the game feels inconsistent. Downtown DC and traveling through the subways, roaming the wasteland (especially the school), the battle through the streets to GNR and the museum of Tech; all of those things feel pretty right on, but the cities feel all wrong (Megaton in particular), it seems that Raiders take more damage then regular Super Muties at my current level (Brutes are damn tough though), grenades feel weak very weak, dialog's is a mess and in general it's poorly written (demanding to be made the king of Big Town comes to mind, who the fuck wrote that), and the fact that most the time NPC's don't react to your action/specific path through a quest in any way is very disappointing.

Sometimes the world feels so damn generic, towns again come to mind, and sometimes you can really tell someone took their time and got creative when designing the level (finding a cherry bomb in a broken toilet or a table inside a toilet stall covered in chems). Loot is hit or miss (I never found a single .44 round until after I got a gun that could use it) and I was at first disappointed with finding several laser pistols very early on, they were and still are in terrible condition and are expensive to repair so it wasn't as bad as I first thought. On the other hand much of the loot is hand-placed and makes me more likely to really explore an area by checking under tables and in crates or sinks because I am often rewarded for my more then cursory search of the area. It's too bad ammo isn't even close to scarce and items are fairly inexpensive making caps abundant. I had hoped most of my caps would have to be spent on ammo/repairs but sadly that is not the case at all.

I would also like to point out that all my healing comes from either food (potato crisps, mirelurk cakes, and the like) or drinking from radiated water sources ( which I do quite frequently, never used a single stimpack or paid for a doc but after 12 hours I just got to 600 rads. To top it off my Endurance is 1 so I have no natural resistance to it whatsoever and have yet to use any Rad-X/Rad-Away. Also, does charisma do anything? With a charisma of "8" the Megaton Sheriff likes me but he doesn't know why... he feels the exact same about my charisma "1" character?!?

Sure the game is inconsistent with it's setting and has crap dialog but I'm still having fun playing it. I like Vats, not the fact that enemies rush you when you can't move or that your immune to damage when it's being all cinematic and shit, but because it plays like a FPS fallout should, it just feels like they handled it well (not perfect but well). It would play a lot better if the old 200% made a return, or if I had any idea how many AP it actually took to fire a weapon or how many AP I even have in the first place, and crippling an enemies head actually did something I could notice (does it do anything at all)? When my characters head got crippled the screen would blur up every few seconds, it should have affected my chance to hit but it didn't and that should always happen to your character if you take a perception of 1 unless your wearing glasses but that's just way to wishful thinking.

 

[Solomon Doone]

I too am at a loss to explain why the fuck I can kill a giant ass ant by shooting the legs, or kill a supermutant (That are supposed to have superhuman constitutions) by shooting them repeatedly in the SAME ARM. Argh.

Well ... in the end its a game, it also worked like that in previous games.

In the end its just a game and as localized damage might seem realistic it creates too many problems on the long run.

I am also puzzled by how this world survives with no trees and no oxygen, but that's kinda moot since the first two games never answered it either.

Two things to keep in mind.

1) The nuclear exchange was just China/USA (and annexed countries) ... the rest of the world was not evolved.
2) Oxygen is not exclusive produced by trees, also it just composes 21% of air and its in fact a very common element on the universe.

In Fallout 2 the president basically says that the rest of the world is in the same shape as America anyways, a nuclear war isn't exactly a local thing, either, since it produces fallout that kills living organisms (Both macro and micro) that produce oxygen. There is only finite oxygen on earth, once it's down to about 15% or so the planet is totally unlivable. I am also curious as to why the Capital Wasteland is a desert and not a frozen wasteland in it's own right, given that nuclear war produces a ton of particulates; the point is moot though, since it's in the previous games as well.

Why would localized damage cause too many problems? I could blow an arm off a raider and have him run away bleeding to death and unable to use a two handed weapon (or severely restricted in it's use). How is this an issue?

I am also mystified by how many bodies are everywhere, I don't think this society would last very long at the rate people are being killed. Not that I'm helping it with a slew of hundreds killed in my bloody wake of death.

 

[Solomon Doone]

With a charisma of "8" the Megaton Sheriff likes me but he doesn't know why... he feels the exact same about my charisma "1" character?!?

Because you have positive karma.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Two is making the skill affect how to disable it.

In previous Fallout games they were hidden so "Traps" affected the disarm of them and the detection of then, they would not go off unless you step on then.

With the engine change they are impossible to hide, the player can see then now so things changed ... as they can be "easy" be found the only way is to make the player understand he cannot avoid then, he have to deal with then.

And there is a more effective way for then to be disarmed, shoot then (also worked in the previous Fallout games).

Also if you want to talk about "stupidity" ... how about fucking up the timer of plastic explosives ... you know, THE SAME ONES THAT ANYONE THAT CAN SET A DIGITAL CLOCK CAN PROPER SET?

Happened in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 were they could accidentally "go off" because the skill is too low ... my character can use any computer terminal, he can even setup the Pip-Boy Alarm but damn it, those digital timers of Plastic Explosives sure are dificult to use ...

The second suggestion would be my solution as well, it would perfectly fit to the "Explosion" - skill. (/though i´m too lazy to check if there`s really an explosion skill in FO3) Of course Bethesda wouldn`t forget to add a popup which tells you *Sad Vaultboy* "The mine exploded because your explosive skill is under 50"

Hehe yes Fallout, not perfect but it certainly added a certain charm to it. At least they tried to connect those skills to something. You could see there was some effort.

THEY TOTALLY COPY`N PASTED DEAD SPACE, YUO HAVE TO SHOOT OF TEH LIMBS!!11

 

[Barrow_Bug]

THEY TOTALLY COPY`N PASTED DEAD SPACE, YUO HAVE TO SHOOT OF TEH LIMBS!!11

 

[jaylittle]

I finished it at about 68 hours. I explored nearly everything. I used a level uncapper and made it to level 28. It is an interesting game worth a second play-through as somebody with less moral fiber. However that is a pretty good example of C&C that I ran into, that nobody has really mentioned:

When leaving Vault 101 originally, you can choose to kill the current overseer. This is what I did. Later on in the game, this apparently has some real adverse consequences as the newly selected overseer drives the vault into total chaos splitting people into two factions. You end up receiving a distress signal from Amata later on asking you to come back and help them (later on you return to Megaton and pick up the signal). Upon my return I ended up killing the new overseer as well in an effort to support Amata's "rebel" group that wanted to open the Vault to the world. Upon completion of the quest, she becomes the new overseer and declares that since you have now killed two overseers in a row, you are to be banned from the Vault forever.

I would be interested to see if this quest even comes up if you choose to allow Amata's father to survive at the beginning. If it does come up, I would be interested in seeing how different it is. Has anybody been through the other side of the quest line?

EDIT: I also used a mod to replace the entire soundtrack with tracks from Fallout 1 and 2. Best mod ever.