Fallout 3

[Noelio]

I sooooooo loved this game but it's over fast if you stick to the main missions.

 

The key to VATS is upping your luck when you can and taking on the appropriate skills. My VATS improved early in the game as I upped the levels for luck and the other prerequisites for VATS accuracy.

 

LOVE this game but now I'm going to go exploring the sandbox. There has to be MUCH more that I missed while sticking to the main plot. I like the idea of going through it an evil bastard and seeing what happens or completing the less important quests to see what they might lead me to.

 

I'm wondering if there's some sort of hidden "hot coffee" aspect in the game since the prostitute will "hang out" with you over night if you should choose to rent a room in megaton.

 

Apocalyptic & post apocalyptic themes are my fave all the way. Any more titles you can think of with WMD carnage?

 

 

Edit for failing that damn pre easter 1982 spelling test.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Noelio

[PressureCooker2600]

After playing some quality Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer last night, I went back to playing Fallout 3 and continued my new persona as a "good" guy.....and lemme tell you. It's hard!!! As much as I wanna blow these chumps away like in my last game.......I have to sit there and mend their ways with my kindness and goodwill. Plus........usually I wouldnt get hard up on ammo and caps but DAMN!!!!!! You don't get nothing by being good....except maybe the better NPCs. All the NPCs I had as an evil guy, other than Dogmeat, got wasted within an hour or so of travelling. Jericho.....RIP.........Clover.......RIP.......Charon......RIP.

 

One odd bit of "magic" I ran into last night kinda ticked me off.......I loaded my "evil" persona's game which is like 68 hours in. I decided I would test my new Railway gun in a great little town, the Republic of Dave. I go into Dave's Capitol Building and tell him I'm going to take his Republic. I go into VATS....kill him....and then get ready to kill one of his wives and the game freezes. I'm like "OK...the game just hit a kink.....I'll just reload the last save and do it over." Loaded the game.....went up to Dave....VATTED him......got ready to VAT his wife and BAM!!! it freezes again just like last time. Anybody else have this type of similar problem with the game freezing in a particular spot for no particular reason over and over again?

 

I'm already tired of being the good guy....LOL LOL LOL....I'm ready to go back to being evil. That's the TRUE Fallout way!!!! After I helped that junkie dude in Megaton realize the err of his ways...I was like 'Forget this. I don't need those achievements that bad.' LOL LOL LOL

 

Junkie: Thank you sir. I guess it took a stranger to show me the err of my ways.

Me: I'm done with this good guy shit.....hand over the mentats or I'm gonna blow you and your family away. And don't skimp on me either.

[PressureCooker2600]

I sooooooo loved this game but it's over fast if you stick to the main missions.

 

If you just stuck to the main quest.............you missed 90% of the game. There's a whole wasteland out there....foaming at the mouth for you to go and explore.

[Artlover]

Wasn't as bad as the time I got stuck on a shelf. Seriously in Rivetown I jumped on a shelf and couldn't get back down. I tried and tried to get down off the damn SHELF!! I eventually got down....via reload again.

Boy, you just have some bad luck. Can't say I've had "many" problems like this. I've gotten stuck, but most of the time am able to get unstuck by ducking & moving, or else jumping in the opposite direction trying to get myself more stuck then back again. One of the two usually works most of the time. (Ducking helps alot in Mass Effect too, where you seem to get stuck everywhere at the drop of a hat even in the open where there is nothing to get stuck on).

 

Luckily, there has only been one time I got stuck in Fallout where I had to reload so far. I think it was the Dunwich Building. There is a floor with a big hole in the middle, and the outer edge of the floor all around is there and transversible but is broken up so you need to watch your step. Well, I was walking along, and fell in a small hole where a chunk of floor was missing. The problem was the hole was so small my body didn't fall all the way down. I only went in to my knees. So my feet wern't touching anything anymore. Couldn't jump, couldn't duck, all I could do was spin in a circle. What a pisser that was.

[Artlover]

After playing some quality Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer last night, I went back to playing Fallout 3 and continued my new persona as a "good" guy.....and lemme tell you. It's hard!!! As much as I wanna blow these chumps away like in my last game.......I have to sit there and mend their ways with my kindness and goodwill. Plus........usually I wouldnt get hard up on ammo and caps but DAMN!!!!!! You don't get nothing by being good....except maybe the better NPCs.

BS. I've done many variations. Good, Very Evil, Very Good, etc... So far, Being Very Good has absolutly paid off the best. Over 11300 caps, not a single piece of ammo below 2000 (Ok, so I only have 16 mininukes and 3xx missiles - everything else is over 2000 tho), over 300 Stimpaks, people in Megaton just run up to me and give me shit for free. Finishing those side quests that people want you to do for them is what really pays off. Caps, ammo, weapons, schematics. Playing Very Evil only helps at first, but makes things harder later. It limits your NPC's and it makes you hated by everyone. It only "helps" you in one place. Also, it sucks when you run out of people who can fix your shit for you because you killed them all.

 

There are plenty of ways to make a lot of caps even early on, use them to buy ammo when needed early on. Once you level up a bit, it becomes insanely easy. Only NPC worth having is Fawkes. Go for him as early as you are physically possible, and the rest of the game becomes a cake walk. Explore everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. You'll find ammo boxes (and other things) in the damnedest places you wouldn't even expect.

 

In my latest incarnation of being Very Good, I'm walking across the Wasteland like I own the place. Ain't nothing killing me anymore. Not even Super Mutant Behemoth's. What's that.... Oh, it's just a Deathclaw. Pishaw!

 

I've never leveled up so fast or had so much stuff as I have playing ultra super Very Good.

[Artlover]

Mission handling is bugged sometimes.

 

Just completed Big Trouble in Big Town. And it's all messed up.

 

I got Red, and took him back to Big Town. Didn't bother getting Shorty. Here is the thing tho. When the mission completed, it said I had completed the optional quest of rescuing Shorty (the check box is solid, not outlined). For shits and grins, I went back to the HQ, killed the last of the mutans, and found Shorty. Still tied up. When I try to talk to him, only thing he says is either how we beat those mutants or that everything is ok there now and the only dialogue option I have is "I have to leave now". Can't untie him or get him to follow me or anything. I guess this is because for some reason the game thinks I already saved him, and that's all he would say/do if he was back at Big Town?

 

Checking online, I see there are quite a few missions that will bug out. Like the "You gota shoot 'em in the head" mission. Where it can bug out in like half a dozen different ways ending with everything from completed without having to do everything, to never completed despite having done everything.

 

I've had problems myself with the Tenpenny Tower quest too. Killed everyone in the tower and all the gouls. Game is stuck on telling me to speak to people who are already dead instead of cancelling it like it normaly does on quests that become incompletable.

 

Shame things like this got by them.

[moycon]

Boy, you just have some bad luck. Can't say I've had "many" problems like this.

 

Really it wasn't so bad. I can only think of those couple times and I played the game for around 60-70 hours.

I got stuck about the same in Oblivion on the rocks and whatnot. I remember one time in particular, you had to gather some glass tears or frozen tears or something, and they were scattered around a rocky area, I had gathered all but one and after jumping around the rocks looking for the last one...got stuck!!! Yeah maybe I do have bad luck.

[Artlover]

Ok, a question.

 

Amung the 100's of bugs the 360 version has that I've read about (quite a few of which I've experienced myself), there is one that invovles the Capitol building on the Seward Square side. Where if you can get to that area to the NE (low texture buildings in the distance and open plain), that you can just keep walking NE forever on a flat plain past map boundries and everything.

 

My question is, how in the hell do you actually manage to do this? I've spent hours, can't do it. There is a wall and a fence stopping your movement. I tried climbing up the rubble pile next to the fence and jumping over, but you hit an invisible wall. I looked all over inside the capitol building for a secret place/alternate exit that would put me on that side - no such luck. Tried walking across the ledge of the building outside, except there is a piece of rubble there too. Short of a rare clipping bug that only happens sometimes with some characters under certain circumstances, I can't figure how it's possible.

 

 

Anywho....

 

With that, now that the awesomeness has faded some what, and with like over 350 hours in the game, I want to rant about how unrealistic the game actually is.

 

You still can't exactly go where you want as there is still forced direction. They tried to do it somewhat well, but it still doesn't cut it. DC area, where piles of rubble block every f'in street so you have to use the tunnels and metros. Sorry. In the real world, I would beable to just climb those piles (especially the kinds of piles shown in the game). Not very hard at all in the real world. As a matter of fact, even in the game, with enough persistance, you can get to the tops of many of these piles - and STILL not be able to go across because of the dreaded "invisible wall". If you really don't want me to go that way, then make it lethally radioactive or something, like you did with the Vault 87 entrance. Atleast that would be a realistic approach.

 

No ropes in the future it seems. No clue why that is. I'm pretty sure in the real future after a real nuclear war, ropes will still remain in some form. They sure would be helpfull for climbing over piles of rubble, getting up to bridges where both ends are missing, getting into train cars on elevated sections of track and other things. You know, exploring. Why can't it let me improvise. There are plenty of belts all over the place. Need a rope, just chain a bunch of belts together. Grappling hook, plenty of scrap metal to whip one of those up with too. Tho someone should just beable to fine/make the real thing. I mean come on, with everything else one can build/fix/do, no one can make a damned rope or grapple?

 

Vehiculars. They are all over the place, many still have their nuclear engines. Why hasn't anyone in the wasteland tried fixing one up. Strip down a Sentry Bot, Protectron or RoboBrain or something for parts if need be. With everything else that people have, and with everything else that still works, you can't tell me this wouldn't be possible. Hell, forget even scrapping a bot for parts - just modify one instead. Remove all the AI and electronics. You have an energy source and you have an electric drive train. Install a few switches so you can manually connect the two together and there you go. Mount a chair on it and you got a way to get around, or something to carry shit around for you. The Enclave have their Vertibirds. So vehiculars are possible it seems. Why can't I fix/scavenge a wrecked one. Why can't I just steal one (there are a few places this "should" be possible.

 

Electricity. Ok, how are radio broadcast towers working? Are those transformers with the switches on them some sort of self contained plasma generator or something. If not, then are they trying to claim that mainline electricity still exists? Why can't I just short out the wiring on Enclave force fields? I'm standing right in front of the power xformer/generator thingy. Big wires sticking out of insulators off the top of the thing right there in the open, on my side of the force field. All I should need to do is chuck a piece of scrap metal up in there - then down goes the field.

 

Can't kill children. A trend of cames lately. Yes, you have a moral choice, but only so much. We're not going to let you do everything you want or could really do. Yeah because I guess if I kill a kid in a game it will make me want to run out a kill a kid in real life or something. If anything, not being able to kill kids in the game makes my want to in real life since my urge isn't being satisfied in a safe controlled artificial enviroment.

 

It's getting better, mostly, but it's still a far cry from real-world.

[Artlover]

Ok, a question.

 

Amung the 100's of bugs the 360 version has that I've read about (quite a few of which I've experienced myself), there is one that invovles the Capitol building on the Seward Square side. Where if you can get to that area to the NE (low texture buildings in the distance and open plain), that you can just keep walking NE forever on a flat plain past map boundries and everything.

 

My question is, how in the hell do you actually manage to do this? I've spent hours, can't do it. There is a wall and a fence stopping your movement. I tried climbing up the rubble pile next to the fence and jumping over, but you hit an invisible wall. I looked all over inside the capitol building for a secret place/alternate exit that would put me on that side - no such luck. Tried walking across the ledge of the building outside, except there is a piece of rubble there too. Short of a rare clipping bug that only happens sometimes with some characters under certain circumstances, I can't figure how it's possible.

Ok, finally found this bug.

 

Here's how....

 

You can't do it at the Capitol building section. You actually have to go SE a bit to that area where you can go E under those two broken overpasses. You have to go to the second one (the one most East), then go north till you reach the rubble pile. On the West side of the overpass, next to the unnamed destroyed building that you cant enter, you can climb up the pile, and Walk west on top of it (you'll actually be walking above it by some degree) and keep going till you reach the first overpass, then climb down on the North side. You'll now be stuck in no mans land. Fully rendered/textured buildings around the main area are still solid, and some textures are mostly invisible so you can see through them from behind. But once you walk out a few paces to the purely background graphics area, everything is a hollow texture you can walk through. Past that, it's just open flat land with a repeating ground texture forever. You can even cross over existing map areas where you have been before, and there is nothing there now. Apparently, it works like many games of this type and different areas are in different plains of existance, and it just so happens in the Capitol Building/Seward Square plain, you can escape. Then you can walk clear outside the world boundry. BTW, you're not actually stuck. While you can't get back in to the game area the same way you got in, what you can do is walk up onto the Capitol building from the that side, then walk across the ledge that goes around, and drop down on the normal game area again with no ill effects.

 

Here are some pics.

 

- Floating Buildings

- Nothing around The Capitol

- Off the Map (Pip boy)

- Infinite flats of the Wasteland

Edited December 2, 2008 by Artlover

[PressureCooker2600]

I wish I had that much time to put into video games (especially Fallout 3)....but DAMN....how do some of you guys manage all that play time? I can barely get by with 2-3 hours a day on my work schedule.

[Albert]

Still playing, and still not reading through this entire thread until I finish. Started to read, then saw things I hadn't run into yet, so I stopped. I am now at level 20 and disappointed that you can't level up further. Had I known 20 was the cap, I would have taken the perk that lets you go up another level, and then perhaps taken the one that shows everything on the map. Ahh, well. This game I am playing as "Good", if I play again I'll go the exact opposite and be a ruthless, evil bastard.

 

I just finished the bit where you are taken hostage by the Enclave, and got the computer to destroy itself. Now I am just roaming around in the upper-left corner of the map exploring, with that super mutant as a follower for now. Since XP doesn't seem to matter any more, I don't care if he cleans up anyone we run into.

 

Bethesda did a great job with the game world. It really does feel like the aftermath of nuclear apocalypse. I didn't even recognize that the Citadel was the shell of the Pentagon until an NPC mentioned it, then I looked at it more carefully and sure enough you can make out the three rings of the building pretty easily. The persistence is also really well done--it's nice to come back to an area and see that everything is just as you left it.

 

I didn't disarm the bomb in Megaton until pretty recently, so I only now have my own shack. With that, I saw the bobblehead stand, and had no idea those were "valuable" (and how). I only have three at the moment (of 20, I think), and who knows how many I missed during my earlier travels. :/

 

I may have to finally play Oblivion when I'm done with this.

 

..Al

[moycon]

I may have to finally play Oblivion when I'm done with this.

 

..Al

 

As great (and I mean really great) as Fallout 3 is, I still liked Oblivion more, so I'd say hell yeah finally play it!!

[PressureCooker2600]

As great (and I mean really great) as Fallout 3 is, I still liked Oblivion more, so I'd say hell yeah finally play it!!

 

 

[Albert]

Well, I finished the game this evening. Didn't realize I was so close to the ending. And I have to say: The ending really sucks. I don't want to spoil the endgame for those who haven't gotten there yet. The bit with Liberty Prime was pretty damn cool, even though I didn't have to do much but stay back while he plowed through the Enclave's forces. But once I got into Project Purity, *yawn*. And then the endgame sequence itself (the narration that follows) is pretty weak, although I understand there's a fair bit of variety in this depending on how you played the game. Still, not satisfying at all and now the game is over.

 

Of course, I have a million saves so I can go back before I commit to the ending and do all sorts of side quests and additional exploration. Not really feeling like it, though, since I can't go up beyond level 20. There really would be no more challenges except for collecting stuff (bobbleheads, building all the weapons I didn't (I didn't build a single one, even though I have lots of schematics), etc.) and further building up my character's stats (by finding books and bobbleheads, for instance). I would like to see all the locations I missed, as I didn't explore most of the northern part of the map.

 

Ahh, well, I think I'll play Oblivion next. I hope it has a more satisfying conclusion.

 

..Al

[PressureCooker2600]

Like I said before...if you just mainly did the story....you missed 95% of the game.

[Albert]

Like I said before...if you just mainly did the story....you missed 95% of the game.

I didn't do it mainly for the (main) story, but was a bit surprised when the game ended so abruptly. I really wonder how many people are going to miss 90% of the game since the main story line completely bypasses nearly everything on the map, especially outside the downtown DC area.

 

The final "boss" was much easier than many firefights I've been in during the game, and I see no reason why the game had to end where it did. I will go back to an earlier save and play the (at least) 50% of the game I know I bypassed. I found several locations, such as the Tenpenny Tower, but didn't explore them since I was busy on some other quest at the time. After reading a rather long thread about the crappy ending over on another forum, I know there's quite a bit I never did see. Either I'll start another game with the goal of seeing everything in the game, or I'll just explore with my existing character.

 

However, I may play Oblivion first.

 

..Al

[moycon]

I agree the main story is pretty dang short and to be honest I didn't even really "get" the ending until Artlover explained it.

That said, the game is way more about the side missions I think. Some of my favorite areas didn't even have proper misssions, or at least not nots that counted towards any side mission achievement.

Like the strange town full of fat healthy people. (Just don't look in the shed)

I like Albert wish there was no or a crazy high level cap. Sure when they do that by the end of the game you can kill anything or anyone with a couple blows, but damnit, if I invested 100 hours in the game I've earned that right!!

 

Still even with flaws, I think Fallout 3 is one of the greatest games EVER!!

[PressureCooker2600]

Like the strange town full of fat healthy people. (Just don't look in the shed)

 

You mean Andale.............? They weren't fat. Unless there's some other town that had a "shed" and "basement", too.

[Artlover]

I like Albert wish there was no or a crazy high level cap. Sure when they do that by the end of the game you can kill anything or anyone with a couple blows, but damnit, if I invested 100 hours in the game I've earned that right!!

Well there some issues here...

 

1: It doesn't exactly work like that. It's the same old more hit points, more skill points,etc.. But there doesn't seem to be a damage point value that increases. The maximum amount of damage any weapon can dish out is the same at level 1 as it is at level 20. You have to use perks to gain any kind of damage increase and even then it's kinda small and limited to a specific number of ranks. I think this partialy explains the whole weapon's condition factor towards effecting damage.

 

Even at level 20 with high weapons skill, and my weapon at 100% condition, I'll still sometimes do virtualy no damage to an enemy at nearly blank range. There really is a level of complete randomness to fighting. So despite better skills and odds, it doesn't ensure you're going to kill anything any easier. It's just that it's harder for you to die thus you can be more brazen about your attacks.

 

Also, to a degree, it compensates for your leveling up with regards to the enemies you encounter. When wandering the wastes, the higher your Skill & HP, the more you run into harder enemies and the less you run into weaker ones. Shit, at level 20, I started encountering Deathclaws all over the wastes, even just outside Tenpenny Towers.

 

2: Not much respawns, so after a while, there isn't going to be anything left to kill. This seems to be even more true if you walk rather then fast travel. (Sometimes I think fast travel causes spawning.) So there isn't much left to earn skill from. What are you going to do, spend 3 days fast traveling back & fourth between megaton and the clifftop shacks to keep killing those 3 super mutants till you level up again.

 

3: Only so many locks to pick, so many computer terminals to hack. No more skill to be earned here either.

 

To this end, the same can be said about alot of things. Only so many anythings you can pick up. After you got it, you got it. Going back later isn't going to gain you anything more/new. So once you have everything, there is nothing more to be done. You don't need level 40 to get here.

 

 

 

So, I realisticly do not see one as being able to level up too much past 20 as it is, nor much point in needing to do so. By then you should already have the best armor and best weapons, a crap load of stimpaks. What more do you need. Besides, it creates more of a level of tactical complexity because it makes you have to think about what you want to do. What skills & stats do you want to inprove, what perks do you want now and in the future. This is really true with the perks since they are also based on karma & stats.

[Artlover]

Like the strange town full of fat healthy people. (Just don't look in the shed)

 

You mean Andale.............? They weren't fat. Unless there's some other town that had a "shed" and "basement", too.

No, not fat. But well fed, unlike everyone else in the game. That and disturbingly happy and content.

[PressureCooker2600]

I liked 'em. Too bad I had to slaughter them with extreme brutality.

[moycon]

You mean Andale.............? They weren't fat.

 

They ate well is what I ment.

 

nor much point in needing to do so.

 

The point would be it gives you incentive to keep going and keep gaining experience, keep tweaking your character. Without that, people grow bored regardless if they've only experienced 30% of the game. As a loooong time player of RPGs and MMORPGs low level caps isn't a good idea if you want more people to keep playing the game. Don't take my word for it though. Just visit some other forums, like say the Guild Wars forum (a game that also has a level 20 cap) You see many posts similar to this one

 

Not really feeling like it, though, since I can't go up beyond level 20.

 

..Al

 

Avoiding feeling like this...that would be the point.

I’m not saying a level 20 cap ruins the game for me, but I do wish they had made it with a higher, or no cap. Part of the appeal of these games is the ability to explore, evolve and be rewarded for your time and effort.

Edited December 9, 2008 by moycon

[Artlover]

nor much point in needing to do so.

 

The point would be it gives you incentive to keep going and keep gaining experience, keep tweaking your character.

Oh, I understand that part. I just don't understand how that fits in with this game which practically has a finite limit on experience gaining opportunity.

 

Endlessing wandering around a little patch of area to find radscorpions or fast traveling to the few places where a limited number of enemies respawn to build your skill up doesn't exactly sound like fun either.

 

Maybe the level limit could have been higher, since yeah, you can reach 20 without seeing everything. But how much higher. 30? 40? 50? Don't want it to be excessively higher then what would be possible if you did see everything, because then it will just become a pissing match of people who will do exactly the above just so they can claim a higher level even if they all already completed everything 100%.

 

Just saying I understand the limit, but yes, it's on the low side.

Edited December 9, 2008 by Artlover

[moycon]

In this game, yeah I'd say 50 would have done it.

 

BTW the screen-shots of the "unreachable waste-land are awesome.

Reminds me of the time in GTA 3 I jumped the gate to the stadium by making a "stairway" out of vehicles.

Sometimes it's cool going places you're not supposed to go!!!

I spent some time trying to get around some of the barriers by the capitol building but never could get around/over.

[PressureCooker2600]

i just need a simple yea or no....

 

the only mission it seems I have failed to complete is 'You Gotta Shoot Him in the Head'............i'm assuming that has to do with President Eden??

 

It must be on a different path that I missed or something.