Fallout 3

[Lupinedreams]

So Bethsoft's next game is looming on the horizon. Not really sure how I feel about this. A bit more optomistic than the ravenous duck and cover fanboys perhaps...but nowhere near the level of enthusiasm all the reviewers will be giving. The development trend of dumbing down games for the Madden and Halo crowd irritates me, they did it with Thief, System shock, and now they're raping Fallout and Shadowrun. It's not that I don't understand their plan: roughly 43095873045602642 people play madden and halo, so let's make dumbed down games for the tardmarket! It's like printing money! Hey, we could slap the name from this other game that's actually good and has some story and depth to it, perhaps it'll trick some people into buying the game!

I am at least a bit optomistic; At least someone has picked up the rights to fallout and another game will be made. There's always a *chance* it could be good. A slim one. Maybe.

Thoughts?

[Warder]

I am not the least bit optimistic. From what I've heard, they're looking to make it Oblivion in the Fallout universe, and Oblivion was a very dumbed down and mediocre game.

[Lupinedreams]

Well, yes, realisticly I'm sure they'll have random nameless NPCs wandering around the wasteland asking each other about the mudcrabs they saw yesterday.

I just really want to believe that won't be the case.

[Deadnature]

Rest assured that sex, drugs, slavery and the ability to role-play in any depth will be missing from fallout 3. That being said, its the best we can hope for....*sigh*

[McTaff]

Rest assured that sex, drugs, slavery and the ability to role-play in any depth will be missing from fallout 3. That being said, its the best we can hope for....*sigh*

Surprisingly, I found that although the role-playing element wasn't quite as deep as I'd hoped (I was really hoping for much more depth to each NPC, allowing reactions over time and so on) the sheer ability to choose evil, good or a blurry combination was quite good. For each problem there was at least two solutions, even if one of those was to simply fill the NPC with lead. But some of those options had knock-on effects, which made the game that much more engaging.

Slavery was in, however I was playing 'good' and never tried it. However I would have preferred a better way to make a profit.

The game, as a whole, was great. The downloadable content is the next big-ticket item... this is what separates it from most mainstream boxed single-player games for PC these days. I look forward to seeing some post-release support which is a great thing for games; so many of them these days are shipped out and not supported - a patch or two, followed by tumbleweeds.

I gotta give thumbs up for this one, guys.

[Lucern]

I was hesitant about Fallout 3 mainly because of Oblivion, but it and I will have to get married if I keep playing it this much. I've been playing it for weeks. I played through it, modded it, and I'm on my 5th playthrough. It's not quite as hardcore as previous fallouts in ways that no modern game can seem to get away with, but it's fun, it's an RPG with a nice implementation of player skill vs character skill (even with guns), and unlike every single Bethesda release I can remember, this one isn't a simplification of their previous entry. They learned from Oblivion in many ways and corrected some particularly egregious errors, and that was a game I only started to enjoy with dozens and dozens of mods active. I could go on for pages, but I enjoy this game aesthetically, it's (now) got a great pace, it's (now) a great challenge, and I genuinely find the feel of it - the control, the voice acting, the explosions, the character development, the weapons - gratifying to play and rewarding of a diversity of play styles. I can't really see an RPG gamer skipping this one in good conscience. It's a whole new situation from the previous two (which I also love), but it's still Fallout to me. And by the way, with mods, the sex, drugs, and rock and roll are all here in their shameless glory.

In any case, we're now talking about a game with 30+ mods released for it daily. There's something to be said for a living, breathing entity that can be shaped in many ways into the game you want to play. I'm currently playing with XFO, a mod that makes the game much, much harder and better balanced. It's got severe radiation from water and food (and the option to need water and food), fewer skillpoints per level to force you to develop your character intelligently, higher explosives and big-guns damage, new perks, and a whole lot of other things, all of which you can choose which parts to add. I'm also using Martigan's Mutant Mod, which lets all sentient characters loot and carry around stuff from their wasteland adventures, adds the number of spawned enemies (or allies), and changes the variety in every given encounter. It does this by making enemies slightly different sizes with different textures and, most importantly, different stats and AI behaviors. The raider with a missile launcher may or may not know what he's doing with it Oh, and ghouls? If you remember a hallway or two with 5-6 ghouls, imagine the same hallway with, I kid you not, 30-50 ghouls. It's like a wasteland zombie invasion. Bring a shot-gun or a mini-nuke. Another mod I feel like I should mention is one that lets you construct your own robot guards and travel the wasteland with them. Finally, a mad-scientist simulator...lol. I'm also considering incorporating part of a mod called FOOK, which adds dozens and dozens of weaponry and armor from the community and puts them into the same leveled lists, as well as a 'roleplayer's alternate start' mod that lets you start as members of other groups than the Vault, such as the raiders, the slavers, the wastelanders, the brotherhood of steel, etc, with severe consequences on how you play the game.

[Nehan]

I played it when it was published. Was fun, but definetely too short and, well, let's say "unpolished". As with oblivon, which was unplayable without the mods, it looks like they can improve things f3 lacked (quests, weapon&difficulty balancing, quests, decadentic atmosphere, quests).

and unlike every single Bethesda release I can remember, this one isn't a simplification of their previous entry.

it'd be hard to simplify oblivion

[Lucern]

and unlike every single Bethesda release I can remember, this one isn't a simplification of their previous entry.

it'd be hard to simplify oblivion

Fair enough - I started in January rather than November.

And as for Oblivion being made simpler? lol...well there's always a way. Morrowind had, for weapon skills, polearms, missile weapons (including thrown and crossbows), short blades, large blades, blunt weapons and axes. Oblivion had blades, blunt weapons, and missile weapons (bows only). The Elder Scrolls 5 can just have "Weapon skill" lol. I mean, fighting with a dagger is the same as using a 2-handed axe, right?

[Nehan]

I spent a couple of hours browsing & downloading mods, but I'm a bit disappointed. most of them are either equipment (which is good to an extent, PPSH rocks!), companion or some other low-priority jingos. I've searched and I've searched and found TWO sensible quest mods.
there is hope, however, a slim hope, that few know of . The GTS system can make creating new areas much easier, as there won't be any problems with them occupying the same spot on the map. still, it could take months before anything more complex is made. slaughtering is fun, especially with tweaked AI (no more suicidal critters), but it's (or at least should be) a goddamn rpg .
that ceases my rambling. back to dc.