miffy495

Fallout 3

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The whole film is cheesy as hell, but it's also a classic :) Some of the best one-liners in cinema history.

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Alright, fuckers. I've bought this on Steam, but I'm delaying starting to play it because I've yet to decide how I'll be doing it: should I be good like I used to before KOTOR, or evil like ever since? I loved the KOTORs' evil gameplay, but for some reason it seems a lot of other games are all "OMG YOU CAN BE GOOD OR EVIL YOUR CHOICE!" but then playing evil makes me feel like I'm getting the, uh, where's a good metaphor when I need it... you know, it's like they really expect you to play good and spend most of their time making the good stuff, and then the evil stuff is... not so good. You know. For example, if I had to start Fable II over again (I'd kill myself), I'd definitely play good, because nothing fucking makes sense when playing an evil dude who has to do a load of nice quests, only with horns and huge veins.

Sooo, is Fallout 3 best played as a good guy, or can I be evil and still get all the good dialogue choices and quests and not just have to fight all the time?

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I know what you mean Toblix; most game writers have a hard time writing evil protagonists - like you say it rarely makes sense and most of the time comes across more like a brainless school-yard bully than actually evil. The only previous RPG I've played where the 'dark side' path made sense is Mass Effect.

I intended to play Fallout 3 as neutral, but winded up having lots of good karma. However the impression I got is that the negative karma pathway is pretty well done. The whole setting is amoral anyway, with survival being placed above everything else.

There's some nice little roleplay perks hidden in there too - I took "child at heart" which gives you extra dialogue with children... and it turned out that more often than not that extra dialogue is geared towards theft and finding out things you shouldn't.

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There's some nice little roleplay perks hidden in there too - I took "child at heart" which gives you extra dialogue with children... and it turned out that more often than not that extra dialogue is geared towards theft and finding out things you shouldn't.

I really enjoyed that perk. It seems a bit like it's sort of a throwaway, since it doesn't boost any stats in the way most do, but it ends up being hugely enjoyable, and it opens up all sorts of other paths to solve problems without needing combat or test-based convincing.

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What made Fallout for me was that it was a setting in which everything was relative . You weren't good, you weren't bad, you decided what you were. The Karma system was the first sign that this wasn't going to happen but I figured it simplified it rather than completely undercut it. I was still hoping that in the end you could see the results of your actions.

Lets look at Megaton, I had genuinely deliberated over the consequences of defusing the bomb. If I did, would the cult leave ? Would Megaton die as a result ? If I didn't , what would happen ? I unfortunately measured my actions based on what I THOUGHT would happen. In the end I didn't get so much as a "By the way, megaton didn't blow up, thanks".

I don't want to be told I'm good, I don't want to be told I'm bad. I want to be told what happens and decide for myself. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, I wanted a Fallout where you defuse the bomb in Megaton and the town dies off because the cult leave. I wanted a Fallout where helping a town makes them more vulnerable to future attack because they can't defend themselves.

I wanted a Fallout where I was a force for change, not the deciding factor.

So, tell me Bethesda, what happens after I decided not to kill Harold ?

What FO3 lacks is verisimilitude. There is no coherent socio-economic balance or a sense of this being a logical place. This is enhanced by a lack of depth on the part of the designers as well as the desire to create a world populated with points of interest (gimmicks). My actions have no consequence, the storyline is FO1+FO2 redux and dumbed down.

Its a fun game, but thats all it is : a game. Fallout 1&2 (especially 1) , were something far greater.

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I just finished Fallout 3 and I'm with Karimi. Wow, the ending to Fallout 3 is a huge letdown. I was expecting location-based epilogue's, because everything else involving story choices felt a LOT like fallout 1 and 2. However, Bethesda totally dropped the ball on everything past the robot escort (which was pretty awesome).

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I just finished Fallout 3 and I'm with Karimi. Wow, the ending to Fallout 3 is a huge letdown. I was expecting location-based epilogue's, because everything else involving story choices felt a LOT like fallout 1 and 2. However, Bethesda totally dropped the ball on everything past the robot escort (which was pretty awesome).

I'd say up to the point of finding your father I would have given the game a rating between 8.4-9.2, but after that its just absolutely terrible terrible stuff. It went from that 8.7 or so to 5.4.

The GECK is a rehash of FO2, the whole giant robot scene was just ludicrous, it was a joke ! The ending was idiotic, plain and simple. Why did the game force an ending on you ?

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I'd say up to the point of finding your father I would have given the game a rating between 8.4-9.2, but after that its just absolutely terrible terrible stuff. It went from that 8.7 or so to 5.4.

The GECK is a rehash of FO2, the whole giant robot scene was just ludicrous, it was a joke ! The ending was idiotic, plain and simple. Why did the game force an ending on you ?

Karimi!!

Also:

"Saving the world", or even the Capitol Wasteland, by way of project purity seems such a futile gesture in the Fallout Universe. The whole point of the post-apocalyptic genre is that the world can't be saved. It is too far gone already. Attempting the usual save-the-world schtick in such a setting makes it look like Besthesda don't really understand their source material.

Having said that I enjoyed the game a lot.

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Karimi!!

Also:

"Saving the world", or even the Capitol Wasteland, by way of project purity seems such a futile gesture in the Fallout Universe. The whole point of the post-apocalyptic genre is that the world can't be saved. It is too far gone already. Attempting the usual save-the-world schtick in such a setting makes it look like Besthesda don't really understand their source material.

Having said that I enjoyed the game a lot.

DANJW ! I have returned from the wasteland that is the internets jaded and disillusioned. I return to you, my well-read friends. Its suprisingly difficult to find intelligent conversation out there, especially on the subject of gaming.

I actually thought it an interesting dichotomy, that all the side quests in the end were shown to be futile , they did not really affect anything more than your karma. Your only real impact was through the main quest, which I guess from the point of the narrative is interesting in that this was in fact the only siginifact difference you made. I wouldn't say that the source material is such that you can't make a change, but I will agree that in the Fallout universe you are one of many currents of change. You're a force of change, but not the sole determinant of how these people's lives will continue.

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Just started playing this today. I think I didn't play the beginning the way it was meant to be played, as I..

pretty much rushed through the escape part, as if I was in a real hurry, without ever even encountering the Overseer. After killing two guards (I really thought they wouldn't catch me if I ran like hell) and hacking the computer I ended up at the vault door with pretty much no idea what I had just done.

Amanda appeared there as well and seemed pretty pissed off for some reason. I didn't pay much attention to her remarks about domestic violence or something like that and was quick to wave her goodbye. It was pretty much her own fault anyway. I mean what did she expect explaining a plot that complex to a guy that obviously has ADHD*.

So I just left her and the vault behind for more interesting things.

After that I started systematically opening other people's mailboxes.

*What a disaster that birthday party was.

Anyway. Did I miss anything important? I got the tape from my father, the jacket from Fonzie and I read the things on the computer, but not much else. There probably were loads of crap to be collected there but was there anything that "can't be replaced"?

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No no, you're good. That section is pretty well done and can be negotiated in several different ways, with no particular Right Way.

She was probably pissed off because her father had her interrogated as to your whereabouts and you didn't come to her rescue. You can feel guilty about that if you want to.

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You missed a bobblehead, but otherwise no. It's in your 16 year old phase, sitting on your dad's desk. Permanent boost to two skills, but I forget which two at this point.

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Can you? I figured as it was in a flashback (or whatever) it was a one-time thing. Ok then, cool. You're good.

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Can you? I figured as it was in a flashback (or whatever) it was a one-time thing. Ok then, cool. You're good.

You get a radio distress signal from that girl saying the overseer has gone mad and they need your help. So you can go back and convince the overseer to open up the vault and what-not.

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Thanks guys!

I guess I'll collect it later since I have done quite a bit of mailbox opening since then.

She was probably pissed off because her father had her interrogated as to your whereabouts and you didn't come to her rescue. You can feel guilty about that if you want to.

Nah. I barely even knew her. I'll consider it if she ends up becoming a prostitute because of me or something like that but right now I have better things to worry about.

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Holy shit. I might have completely underestimated this game.

Minor spoilers, maybe.

I was heading from Megaton to Arefu when I came across this abandoned suburb. Having opened five or so mailboxes, I noticed it was actually barricaded and people were defending the place. When I got this weird quest to ask around what had happened I realized that it would probably just trigger some kind of attack and as I wasn't prepared for that, I decided to continue heading for Arefu. However, having walked for a minute or so I spotted these two super mutants I thought I had no chances of killing with my pistol wielding level 3 character. And as they obviously spotted me as well I quickly run back to the guarded area, dodging rockers, thinking there might be a chance of the guys there joining the fight if the super mutants were to follow me. Surely none of them would die as they obviously have their purpose on one of the later mission.

The super mutants did follow me, the people there did join the fight, and three of them died. I felt pretty bad scavenging their body parts for stuff afterwards especially with one survivor staring at me constantly.

I don't know why exactly this had such an impact on me. Maybe because I was half expecting the game to somehow break or something.

BTW. Completely unrelated, but do enemies respawn in Fallout 3? If I for example clear a cave of enemies, will it stay that way?

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BTW. Completely unrelated, but do enemies respawn in Fallout 3? If I for example clear a cave of enemies, will it stay that way?

Caves will probably remain clear (not 100% sure), but in the wasteland the random monsters will respawn.

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That's good to hear. I'm not that keen on clearing them again when my lock picking or hacking skills have improved.

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Minor bump for helpful thing :shifty:

PC owners of Fallout 3 can use this mod to get rid of the unrelenting green filters. It's great.

267211231593692qv1.jpg

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267211231593692qv1.jpg

While I imagine the right one is less depressing to spend hours looking at, the left one seems more Fallouty. This also reminds me I haven't started playing this yet.

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I didn't feel as though it detracted from the atmosphere, it just makes it a lot more tolerable to look at. 30 hours of green, brown, and greenish-brown really wore me down and this has honestly refreshed the experience for me.

An no problem ThunderPeel :tup:

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