Fallout 3 - Codex Opinions Thread

[Saint_Proverbius]

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.

Well, the problem with the FEV spreading all over the world would be that viruses typically need hosts to live in. Plagues tend to die out after the people die out, and there wouldn't be a heck of a lot of living hosts roaming around after the global nuclear war. I'm not even talking human hosts, most animals would be wiped out in the bomb blasts. So, the FEV would have some big issues actually getting very far.

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

Okay, I was just skimming the dialogue, but I thought they left right after the enclave was defeated. Either way, it seems kind of strange that the dying Brotherhood of Steel managed to scrape themselves back up to a fully functional force and send a huge chunk of their people across the country.

And the name of the president is Richardson.

Yup, that's what I happens when I'm scrambling to type things before work while downing as much coffee as possible.

 

[A user named cat]

I think I found an easter egg.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

And it doesn't even mean anything.

 

[A user named cat]

Oh this was mentioned already? I took the shot a few days ago and forgot about it. I'm really getting bored with this game, and I'm not even to Rivet city yet. Fucking tiresome metro stations and endless swarms of super mutants. Argh, the entire eastern portion of the map is a complete bore and I've uncovered over 50 locations that are almost all identitical.

 

[A user named cat]

What's with the broken/unfinished Seward bomber encounter? You kill the psycho and the wastelander that was hiding in the alley still cowers in fear, though gives a reply as if to be relieved.

HOW ABOUT A THANK YOU!

 

[Drakron]

What's with the broken/unfinished Seward bomber encounter? You kill the psycho and the wastelander that was hiding in the alley still cowers in fear, though gives a reply as if to be relieved.

Its not, you can convince him to go talk with the bomber and ... they die.

Its just a mini encounter, not everything needs to be a Quest! with rewards.

Edit:

Also you do not need to travel into Washington D.C. to reach Rivet City, just follow the river and you will get there and if you are stuck on the subway simply look at what station you are and what line you are one of the subway maps.

 

[Ausir]

Well, the problem with the FEV spreading all over the world would be that viruses typically need hosts to live in. Plagues tend to die out after the people die out, and there wouldn't be a heck of a lot of living hosts roaming around after the global nuclear war. I'm not even talking human hosts, most animals would be wiped out in the bomb blasts. So, the FEV would have some big issues actually getting very far.

Well, it's SCIENCE!, not science, so I don't have much of a problem with it. And it was in the original timeline back when the game was called Vault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure (although interestingly, Chris Avellone did not include it in his version of the timeline).

 

[Drakron]

Well, the problem with the FEV spreading all over the world would be that viruses typically need hosts to live in. Plagues tend to die out after the people die out, and there wouldn't be a heck of a lot of living hosts roaming around after the global nuclear war. I'm not even talking human hosts, most animals would be wiped out in the bomb blasts. So, the FEV would have some big issues actually getting very far.

The FEV in West Tek mutated and became airborne also it seems to be completely harmless (until in contact with FEV, then it will prevent FEV from working as expected) and we have no idea of how long can it survive without a host or even if it needs a host, some comments seem to indicate it entered the food and water supply and everything and everyone now have it (unless they were living on a Vault).

Besides ... complaing about FEV being "unrealistic" makes as much sense as complaining about giant ants created by exposure to radiation.

 

[A user named cat]

Its not, you can convince him to go talk with the bomber and ... they die.

Its just a mini encounter, not everything needs to be a Quest! with rewards.

I tried both ways just to see what happens. The fact remains, it's either broken or an unfinished script. The wastelander asks you to shut the guy up and wants to leave the alley saying he couldn't stand it anymore or some such. So you kill the bomber, but the guy doesn't do anything different except say he's relieved. He doesn't stand up, doesn't leave the alley or anything. That is called broken or unfinished.

Edit:

Also you do not need to travel into Washington D.C. to reach Rivet City, just follow the river and you will get there and if you are stuck on the subway simply look at what station you are and what line you are one of the subway maps.

You have to travel into the D.C. area anyway, as there are numerous quests around there. Even part of the main quest (galaxy radio station) requires you to head into the area. They shouldn't have been so damn lazy with map design, they basically showed they didn't improve much of anything in that regard from Oblivion. So many areas and dungeons are copy-paste jobs, it's just lazy really. If you're going to make a big open world, at least flesh it out with some variation so people will want to explore all of it. I'm uncovering all that stuff so I don't miss out on quests, equipment and experience. I shouldn't be punished with boredom due to scenery repetition.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Just took out all the Slavers in Paradise Falls. Once I had grinded enough to care about the main quest I finally got fucking power armour. Gatling Laser FTW.

 

[Drakron]

You have to travel into the D.C. area anyway, as there are numerous quests around there. Even part of the main quest (galaxy radio station) requires you to head into the area. They shouldn't have been so damn lazy with map design, they basically showed they didn't improve much of anything in that regard from Oblivion. So many areas and dungeons are copy-paste jobs, it's just lazy really. If you're going to make a big open world, at least flesh it out with some variation so people will want to explore all of it. I'm uncovering all that stuff so I don't miss out on quests, equipment and experience. I shouldn't be punished with boredom due to scenery repetition.

Still you DONT need to go there, even the GNR quest puts you in The Mall that is pretty much the more central area of D.C. and you could go to Rivet City from the Mall easy easy enough by simply checking WERE the tunnels lead.

I never got lost there as long I had a map and a active quest since its nice enough to point were the exit are, I know some people do not use the map but I like maps ... they show me were I am and were the exits are.

Also the Quests there are ... lets see ... "Reillys Rangers" and "You gotta shoot then in the head" they are the only ones that start in D.C. but they are in The Underworld (well its possible to stumble into "Reillys Rangers" without getting there) and so easy accessed by The Mall that you get there in the GNR quest, "Head of State" also take place in The Mall.

There is no reason to explore Washington D.C. for quests, some areas are useful (as Vault Tek HQ since you can get the hold of all Vault locations on the area by entering their mainframe) but others are so annoying (Takoma Industrial) the only reason to go there is to find skill books or small details (as Pennsylvania Avenue to see the crater were the White House used to stand).

 

[A user named cat]

The areas and quests you're talking about are ones I've already done, yet there's still a bunch more areas I've skipped. I haven't been through half of the metro stations, as even the ones you need to use to get to the mentioned quests are extremely tedious. I couldn't believe how much of a waste the Ranger fort was too, which required you to go all the way east to reach. I was expecting a great place to scavenge, what I came out with was less than what you'd find just exploring a subway dungeon.

The problem is and what I'm complaining about; all these areas should be designed to give the player the will to explore (even shitty Two Worlds managed this), yet you end up wanting to skip the majority of areas because of monotony. Lazy map design once again by Beth, who should study how Piranha Bytes or Rockstar handle/handled sandbox geography.

 

[Ausir]

You have to travel into the D.C. area anyway, as there are numerous quests around there. Even part of the main quest (galaxy radio station) requires you to head into the area.

You don't have to visit GNR to finish the main quest.

 

[xuerebx]

I never went there during the main quest, cause I headed straight to Rivet City. I went back to GNR later and found a surprise waiting for me :D

 

[A user named cat]

GNR was actually a highlight as far as that entire area is concerned, for the obvious reason I won't spoil. Three Dog was a dumbass though, I laughed pretty hard at his one single emotional line before leaving him. It was delivered so badly, it stuck out like a sore thumb. His quest he gives you has the absolute worst reward ever though. Thanks for giving me the location of a place I had already been through near the beginning of the game, asswipe!

Did anyone else kill that waitress for the barkeep down in the Underworld? Either my game was bugged or there was no way to do it without alerting everyone. I even tried using a stealth boy and knifed her as she slept while nobody was around. Soon as I left the room, everyone attacked me though they couldn't have known shit. Had to use the console to kill her. Bugs bugs bugs bugs.

 

[hiver]

Well, the problem with the FEV spreading all over the world would be that viruses typically need hosts to live in. Plagues tend to die out after the people die out, and there wouldn't be a heck of a lot of living hosts roaming around after the global nuclear war. I'm not even talking human hosts, most animals would be wiped out in the bomb blasts. So, the FEV would have some big issues actually getting very far.

Not really. After it became airborne and entered water too it could find billions of hosts, from bacteria to other microscopic and larger animals like insects and so on up to mamalls that managed to survive.
And to their offspring.

I would rather not see "the same" super mutants and all, but FEV was the only logical explanation.

 

[burgomeister]

Phantasmal is right, every underground looks the same. If they weren't going to put any effort in to making underground places unique why did they make so much of it, and force you to go down there so much? Building interiors are almost as bad, and it seems like every quest sends you in to a building or subway where you have to battle through hordes of zombies or mutants. So I stopped playing the game before I had discovered even half of the locations because I couldn't stand the thought of another dungeon crawl. I missed out on a lot of interesting stuff but repeated the same boring crap about 100 times instead.

 

[A user named cat]

I honestly think you spend more time in dungeons than you do anywhere else, or at least it feels that way. So the game is basically a dungeon crawler, with the same few dungeon designs repeated a thousand times over. The unique areas are nice (museum of history comes to mind) but the generic buildings and subway stations are basically the equivalent of Morrowind/Oblivion caves and ruins. Beth have terrible map designers, and have for years now. Someone find these fuckers and smack them around.

 

[Imbecile]

This is probably a really, really stupid question, but hey - I have to live up to my name.

Why does it never rain in a post apocalyptic world?

 

[Kingston]

This whole F3 debacle is really missing a ten-page Roshambo rant.

 

[Lim-Lim]

This game holds the number one place in the category "Time from install to unistall" in my books.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

This game holds the number one place in the category "Time from install to unistall" in my books.

Someone didn't install Far Cry 2.

 

[Tintin]

This game holds the number one place in the category "Time from install to unistall" in my books.

On my first playthrough it was like that too, I uninstalled it after the first Megaton quest, I just didn't feel compelled to play through.

However, since the great Saint Proverbius and Vault Dweller both seem to like it, I giving it another chance.

 

[NiM82]

Did anyone else kill that waitress for the barkeep down in the Underworld? Either my game was bugged or there was no way to do it without alerting everyone. I even tried using a stealth boy and knifed her as she slept while nobody was around. Soon as I left the room, everyone attacked me though they couldn't have known shit. Had to use the console to kill her. Bugs bugs bugs bugs.

Epic fail, if you wait around in the evening/night (I think it was around 9pm) she goes outside into the main entrance area of the museum for a smoke, you can cap her there any way you want. Or if you've got the sandman perk you can use that when she's sleeping.

 

[Rhalle]

Played it through once, not getting about half of the big sidequests-- what there are of them, anyway.

I planned out my second character for stat and item maxing, intending to do everything.

Running through the wasteland reminded me exactly how mind-numbingly boring my first playthrough was and why I had wrapped up the main quest on the first playthrough.