Fallout 3 - Codex Opinions Thread

[Claw]

But you need to ignore some things:
(...)
- That it is supposed to be 200 years after the bombs.

That should be easy to ignore. I haven't seen anything in the game that would remind me of it.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Answer this stupid question for me: Ghouls are, like, 200 years old right? Man, that seems kinda dumb.

 

[A user named cat]

Hey guys, I'm looking for my dad. Middle-aged man, seen him?

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Hey guys, I'm looking for my dad. Middle-aged man, seen him?

No, but really. 200 year old ghouls, think about it. I think this is really my only problem with FO3.

Besides that, it's prolly the best game ever made. Period. Full Stop. :wink:

 

[A user named cat]

The game has plenty of logical flaws and bugs for that matter. I mean, why are there so many packs and cartons of smokes just laying around untouched? And why is there so much booze that hasn't been drank either, even in populated areas? I'm sure super mutants would enjoy some alcohol and a smoke. Why can't cars be rummaged for goods? I mean, they just leave shit lying around in thousands of toolboxes, cabinets and such, yet we're to believe every single car has been scavenged? Why do so many ruined towns happen to have city limit walls built out of concrete rubble that you obviously could climb over, but for the sake of linearity cannot? That's not open ended.

I have a funny ongoing bug in my game though. Basically every other time I sleep in my home in Megaton, I wake up to find Paladin Hoss (from the Falls Church area) standing next to my bed. This guy and his crew are supposed to protect me only when I go through that area, so why does he keep sneaking into my home while I'm sleeping and standing next to my bed? Bethesda perverts.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Did you get the Massive Man Love Perk? It's kind of like the Stranger perk. It ensures you have a Man Lover at hand at all times. No pun intended.

 

[Drakron]

The game has plenty of logical flaws and bugs for that matter.

Some can easy be explained.

I mean, why are there so many packs and cartons of smokes just laying around untouched?

Why not? there was nuclear holocaust and most of population died ... Washington D.C. is just a ruin now.

And why is there so much booze that hasn't been drank either, even in populated areas? I'm sure super mutants would enjoy some alcohol and a smoke.

Again why not? also its not really hard to produce either.

If you really want to complain, talk about the iguana bits and other food you can find in fridges that really should not be there.

Why can't cars be rummaged for goods? I mean, they just leave shit lying around in thousands of toolboxes, cabinets and such, yet we're to believe every single car has been scavenged?

Of what?

The car argument you are trying to pull is bad, first most cars used petrol as fuel and seen many fuel depots around?

The only ones worthy of salvage was the ones with a fusion engine but those were a minority.

So why would anyone try to salvage then? their parts are useless because those cars are useless ...

Why do so many ruined towns happen to have city limit walls built out of concrete rubble that you obviously could climb over, but for the sake of linearity cannot? That's not open ended.

Maybe because they did not wanted to reproduce the entire of Washington D.C. and granted there is no real reason for then to do that.

They are props to hide the fact there is nothing there, also they are only used in Washington D.C. and that area have no relevance to the "linearity" since none of the mandatory main quest takes place there (and of the non-mandatory, its just the GNR quest)

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Me thinks Drakron is really buying into it...Don't get me wrong, I've clocked 40 hours in this thing. But I can't bring myself to overlook some really silly stuff that happens. Instead of littering the place with junk, why not spend more time writing cool dialogs or implementing more flavour (Readable Books, Newspapers, Video Logs).

 

[Drakron]

Buying it?

No, I realize that cigarettes are just high tier loot (low weight, expensive) and so is alcohol but there is no reason why should they should be rare either, in fact it was easy to find booze in previous Fallout titles (as I said, not exactly hard to manufacture).

I already said once they are "carrot-on-a-stick" ... if in order to find a toy car one would have to search desks and 3 safes NOBODY would bother after a while.

Besides were I am wrong? after a nuclear war cities are going to be graveyards ... they are a prime target and after the attack they are nothing but irradiated ruins of death, people are going to leave then and so they will remain relative undisturbed.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Hmmm you're kinda making a point. But there's a thing about RPG's that have huge buckets of shit everyone that really bothers me. Bethesduh really seem to love to sculpt thousands of items of crap no one really cares about. Do I really need to open a closet a find a mop, detergent, bucket, show curtain? Unless it plays a role in the game it's useless. Sure, thrown them around the room to decorate it, but why the fuck would I want to pick it up and play with it?

 

[poocolator]

I agree with everything Monocause has said!

Hear, hear!

PS: I, too, removed copy from inventory ^_^

 

[Barrow_Bug]

I agree with everything Monocause has said!

Hear, hear!

PS: I, too, removed copy from inventory ^_^

It's okay if you are too poor to buy video games. You can tell us.

 

[Ausir]

Deathclaws in the East are silly.

According to Matt Norton, FO2's lead designer, deathclaws were created by the military before the Great War, not a natural mutation. It might not be the best idea ever, but Bethesda considers it canon.

One of the reasons the West Coast was the way it was is because West Tek was nuked and the FEV was irradiated and released in to the air. It doesn't make much sense at all that the East Coast is about the same as the West Coast.

Wasn't the final conclusion that all the animal mutations are due to radiation, keeping with the 50s pulp sci-fi, and not the mutated FEV anyway? Well, Chris Taylor says FEV, Tim Cain says radiation, Avellone first went with Taylor then switched to Cain and Bethesda goes with Cain's version as well.

I don't see where the 200 years after the bombs is a problem

Too much stuff from before the war left intact for it to be 200 years afer the war (even billboards and posters).

but the fact it's 20 years after Fallout 2

35.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Biggest problems -

Quests follow a simple 'go here do this' pattern. Persuade options usually only get you more bottlecaps or a bit more info about where you're supposed to be going. Lockpicking and hacking opens doors and means you don't have to kill as many supermutants. But you still need to kill a lot.

Perks every level. Would have preferred it to be every 3-4 levels. In the Fallout games, perks actually meant something. Here they just throw in 'do more damage' and 'get more SPECIAL points'. If you take all the SPECIAL perks, you can boost those stats right up by the time you are level 20, taking all the challenge out of the game even on the hardest difficulty. Trust me, if your agility, endurance, perception and luck are all 10, you'll find combat a breeze. Aim for the head, shoot and get a critical hit every time. Take a little damage, take a stimpack and heal right up.

Traits have gone.

Very cluttered wasteland. You would think Washington D.C., being the centre of the U.S. government, would be a primary target on Judgement Day. Yet so much is still intact, 200 years after the bombs hit. Plus, there are lots of monsters, and lots of raiders. How do they all survive? Maybe they're just getting by on all the 200-year old food.

Poor animations and weapon sounds. This actually matters in an FPS.

Lots of food and items still work 200 years on.

Ghouls still around. You'd think they would have died from leukemia or something by now.

Supermutants are now orcs.

Poor MQ, and not many side-quests. Moira is a moron, and not in an entertaining, "awww look how stupid" kind of way. An incredibly annoying kind of way.

They put a fucktard DJ on the only radio station that has good 40s songs. There's only so much 'OWWWWWWWWW THIS IS THE ALL POWERFUL THREE DOG BOW WOW WOW HOPE YOU'RE LISTENING CHILLLLLLLLDREN' you can take before you want to punch the walls.

Having said all that, it is still a fun game and I've really enjoyed playing it.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Three Dog is fucking grating I agree. The music is very cool tho, anything with a lot of Billie Holiday is alright by me. The only thing that makes you want to scour the wasteland is finding moar shit. That's it. It's not the characters, the plot lines, the concept. I just want my power armour and gatling laser. What a fucking shame.

 

[Absalom]

Wasn't the FEV released into the jet stream by the West-Tek explosion, thus causing the rampant, worldwide mutations? It is a opportunity squandered to develop a new and different region of the wasteland however. Seeing the ruins of D.C's landmarks is pretty cool if you're from the U.S tho.

The orc/supermutant transformation is the one thing that pissed me off to no end. Weren't those fuckers grey?
Behemoths, while probably not canon in the least, were still damn cool gameplay wise.

The retarded perks such as contract killer and lawgiver, which assumes you can tell karma affiliation by someones ear or finger, is pretty ridiculous. The perk system is incredibly cheapened. Solar powered (Gain Hp while in sunlight)? What the fuck?

Still fun tho.

 

[Hazelnut]

The orc/supermutant transformation is the one thing that pissed me off to no end. Weren't those fuckers grey?

Green rather than yellow I always thought.

Behemoths, while probably not canon in the least, were still damn cool gameplay wise.

Huh? In what respect, exactly?

 

[aron searle]

I agree with everything Monocause has said!

Hear, hear!

PS: I, too, removed copy from inventory ^_^

It's okay if you are too poor to buy video games. You can tell us.

When I was young my parents always bought me cheap trainers. I remember the school kids would always take the piss and call me poor, because I had shoes from ASDA. One year I saved up and bought some Nikes, and all the kids took the piss because they said I was too poor and must have stole them. Now every time someone calls me poor, it just makes me break down and cry uncontrollably, I don't think you understand how hurtfull your comment is.

 

[Ausir]

Wasn't the FEV released into the jet stream by the West-Tek explosion, thus causing the rampant, worldwide mutations? It is a opportunity squandered to develop a new and different region of the wasteland however.

Yes, according to Chris Taylor, no according to Tim Cain. According to Cain, all the mutations except super mutants, centaurs, floaters etc. were caused by radiation, keeping with the 50s vibe of things like "Them!".

Avellone first went with Taylor's version, then with Cain's version after being convinced by some fans that it's the only canon one (because they didn't know that Taylor, another important FO1 dev also supports the version Avellone used in Fallout Bible and thought that it was made up by MCA). Bethesda also goes with Cain's version, keeping with the last version in the Fallout Bible.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Wasn't the final conclusion that all the animal mutations are due to radiation, keeping with the 50s pulp sci-fi, and not the mutated FEV anyway? Well, Chris Taylor says FEV, Tim Cain says radiation, Avellone first went with Taylor then switched to Cain and Bethesda goes with Cain's version as well.

Well, I wasn't completely happy with the "FEV Explains It All" school of thought. I'm happier with the idea that giant ants and the like are rad mutants. However, things like ghouls and such need a bit more explanation than just radiation. After all, we're talking about rotting people who live for centuries. Something more than radiation has to keep them alive.

Too much stuff from before the war left intact for it to be 200 years afer the war (even billboards and posters).

FEV preserves paper. Just like ghouls. What's the problem?

but the fact it's 20 years after Fallout 2

35.

I'm pretty sure the Brotherhood elder says that President Richards was killed 20 years earlier. I haven't checked the dates on the games.

Lots of food and items still work 200 years on.

I actually have a refrigerator in my basement that's over 50 years old. It's never been serviced, and still runs like a champ. Sure, I have to defrost it often, and the freezer is the size of a breadbox, and it sucks down the electricity, but it works great. Modern refrigerator break down every few years, but the old ones don't.

The retarded perks such as contract killer and lawgiver, which assumes you can tell karma affiliation by someones ear or finger, is pretty ridiculous. The perk system is incredibly cheapened. Solar powered (Gain Hp while in sunlight)? What the fuck?

Oh yeah, there's a lot of perks that suck. I remember going through Fallout and Fallout 2 trying to pick perks thinking about how useful they were. In Fallout 3, it's kind of the opposite. Not to mention they removed the Slayer! perk, which is a personal favorite of mine. Typically I go with Swift Learner for my first few levels just because it's the only one that's really useful.

 

[Drakron]

Very cluttered wasteland. You would think Washington D.C., being the centre of the U.S. government, would be a primary target on Judgement Day. Yet so much is still intact, 200 years after the bombs hit.

Well ... I would agree but I know it does not work that way, concrete and steel buildings would stand up unless they were taking a direct hit as the ones that would suffer most damage would be the houses made of wood and they are plenty of then in the game that are obliterated ... people get the wrong idea that a nuclear detonation is like a black whole that annihilates everything in range but they are not that powerful.

And there are other factors, cities themselves are not high priority but the installations on the city and Washington D.C. does show selective attacks, the National Guard Depot suffered at least a near impact since most of the building is destroyed and the Pentagon shows signs of suffering extensive damage as the White House is a radioactive crater.

Also lets not forget they might be the center of the U.S. Government but in case of war they are made irrelevant since the C&C and key personal are moved to secure locations, it makes more sense to go after N.O.R.A.D. and Raven Rock that the Pentagon Building.

 

[Ausir]

Well, I wasn't completely happy with the "FEV Explains It All" school of thought. I'm happier with the idea that giant ants and the like are rad mutants. However, things like ghouls and such need a bit more explanation than just radiation. After all, we're talking about rotting people who live for centuries. Something more than radiation has to keep them alive.

From a Fallout 3 holodisk:

Specifically, the transmitters effected are those responsible for cardiac and respiratory function in a healthy human. According to my studies, these transmitters are continually regenerated after mutation, carrying sufficient oxygen to sustain the life of the subject while being insufficient to retain skin elasticity and avoid necrosis, the result of which is the corpse-like appearance of post-mutation humans. It should be noted that exposure to radiation typically result in sickness followed by death and the x-factor that will lead to mutation upon exposure in lieu of the typical outcome remains unknown to this researcher.

Also, according to even the very earlies Fallout design documents (from the time when it wasn't even called Fallout), the mutated FEV from West Tek spread across the world, contaminating nearly every source of water around the globe.

I'm pretty sure the Brotherhood elder says that President Richards was killed 20 years earlier. I haven't checked the dates on the games.

No, he says they arrived in Washington, DC over 20 years earlier (22, to be exact). Which was 13 years after the end FO2.

And the name of the president is Richardson.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

I agree with everything Monocause has said!

Hear, hear!

PS: I, too, removed copy from inventory ^_^

It's okay if you are too poor to buy video games. You can tell us.

When I was young my parents always bought me cheap trainers. I remember the school kids would always take the piss and call me poor, because I had shoes from ASDA. One year I saved up and bought some Nikes, and all the kids took the piss because they said I was too poor and must have stole them. Now every time someone calls me poor, it just makes me break down and cry uncontrollably, I don't think you understand how hurtfull your comment is.

My statement was a comment on theft, not socio-economics.

 

[burgomeister]

It's fun to play for a while, but in the end it leaves you feeling all dirty, just like with Oblivion.

The game degenerates so badly. When you're done with it and look back at the experience, it just looks like garbage and something you'd rather forget.

It's all cheap thrills with no substance. I don't know what the hell happened to this company because Morrowind had a really good story, and the Tribunal expansion was awesome too.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Has anyone else here found the writing for Underworld somewhat better than, I dunno, everywhere else? Evidently this isn't saying much, but characters like Carol talking about people going nuts was kinda good. Kinda.