Fallout 3

So, has anyone talked to mr burke in megaton and completed his mission? Incredily beautiful view from the tower :D
But I wonder how it affects the game afterwards... it's well worth a try though :)

Spoiler:
You nuke the town of megaton and get to watch from afar...

Can anyone explain to me what the 3 TAG skills actually are? Do they improve more than the other skills? The manual or game actually didn't explain xD

I'm worried I messed up my character 2hours into the game

Tag skills are skills that you choose for your character to be naturally gifted at at the start of the game. They shouldn't change anything (except perhaps which perks you can access, maybe) except those skills but they give you a bonus (20 percent IIRC) to that skill. For example, if I chose Science, Small Guns and Unarmed as tags then I would get a 20% bonus at the start of the game in those skills. You should use them in skills you plan to use a lot in the start of the game so you don't have to spend as long developing them. Small Guns is always a good choice, as is Doctor.

Originally Posted by Veles
You can finish X3?

In X3 the game finishes you :) If space sims are your thing check out Evochron Renegades for a truly inertial experience.

I could use a change of pace though. Shops open, check. Coffee almost finished, check. Ventured into the war zone that is the official beth. forum, check. Giggled self silly watching Red Alert 3 trailers, check. Wait a minuet, wrong game. Ahhhh.

I'm off to get my DRM inoculation booster jab, see ya.

Originally Posted by Henk
So, has anyone talked to mr burke in megaton and completed his mission? Incredily beautiful view from the tower :D
But I wonder how it affects the game afterwards... it's well worth a try though :)

Spoiler:
You nuke the town of megaton and get to watch from afar...

For some other info on that quest, which includes spoilers:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Power_of_the_Atom

I was also reading that if you detonate the bomb you get some sort of suit from Burke. That web site has a lot of other useful info about Fallout 3 if you do not mind the spoilers.

Originally Posted by Haramzadeh
Question:

Never ever played any of the Fallout games and know very little of the storyline or setting. Will I be fine starting out with Fallout 3 or will I end up feeling like I'm missing huge chunks of the story?

no, but you may miss some historical references. nothing terribly important.

i must confess, after the failure of far cry 2 was reluctant to pick this up and i did and boy am i glad i did, everyone i know is playing it differently its awesome to sit in irc and listen to things people have done that are so radically different from the wya youve gone.

its brilliant. and yeah i keep list of stuff that i can scavange that sells well.

I think people who complain about VATS think of Fallout as an FPS, when in fact it's an RPG. I for one think this is one of the best games ever. I never finished Morrowind because it was boring, empty and pointless. Fallout 3 is just about perfect in every aspect. If you're an adventure/RPG fan, this is it; if you're a twitch FPS fan, you may be (slightly) disappointed.

FO3 isn't perfect by any stretch. I'm trying to navigate across downtown (without using the metro) but I can't because of the invisible walls. I think downtown is too grey (yes, concrete is grey, but they could break it up a bit). The metro is a bit repetitive (just like the dungeons in Oblivion). And you can't move and shoot in VATS. Like Oblivion it suffers somewhat at the hands of consolification, but it doesn't break it.

But it is a damn good FP-RPG. The best game I've played this year, and it puts Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, STALKER:CS, and especially Far Cry 2 to shame.

I wonder how many people are going to be sufficiently impressed to go back an try FO/FO2 - and get the shock of their lives. FO3 is the best so far; it is faithful to the story and ethos of FO but has dragged the series into the 21st century.

Well, i am playing FO3 for some time now and I have one thing to say:
IT IS OBLIVION WITH GUNS!!!!

I really can't say how disapointed i am when i first venture out of the vault. The animation is awfull and the plastic like graphics are too... plastic.

The oblivion engine is clearly showing it's age and needs another version or at least some HUGE tweaking!

The look and feel of the interface, aside for the pipboy character (the smiling guy) has no resemblance with the other FOs. Not a problem there. The real problem was the lack of creativity to make it nice.

Remember when Bethesda used to say that you'll could choose if you want to play first person or ISOMETRIC-like third person? I've found funny that early in the development they stopped saying that. Because the change of the view, is good only to show you how poorly the animation goes with the main char.

It's not a turn based and it's not a real time. What it is? It's the ridiculous VATS system. The biggest (bad) joke I ever saw in a RPG. You need to hit the V key every time in middle combat. If they did something like the system in NWN 2 they would do a better job. There u could choose if u want real time or turn based.

I know FO3 outsold all the previous games. But thats because mainly of the HYPE arround it, and i can bet that the majority of these people didn't played the previous ones. God! Even the music is a turn off compared the the previous ones! This is a game aimed for teens and non hardcore RPG gamers for sure.

I normally agree with BT review in games, like Far Cry 2 (repetitive, but a great game), but frankly, this game a hit a 9 score? It is a 7 at most! And if they fix the vats system to something better it gets a 8 and THATS ALL!!!

The should change its name to "OBLIVION: WASTELANDS"!

Sorry about the rant, but i am really disapointed with the game...

Originally Posted by Yemerich
hate for Fallout 3

I think you're looking at this through rose tinted glasses here from playing FO1+ 2. Yes, it uses the same engine as oblivion, and the character animations are a little clunky, but it's still a fantastic game on its won.

The combat is a whole lot different to the originals admittedly, thanks mostly to that fancy new 3D Engine, and the use of VATS is there to placate the turn based fan boys, as well as making combat all that enjoyable. Would you rather have fully turn based in a 3d engine? Not sure that'd work tbh, as well as alienate a great deal of the modern audience. Games, and RPGs, have moved on since the 1990's you know.

Having explored the wasteland for many hours now, I think it's very unfair to just call this oblivion in a new setting. The characters, attention to detail, setting, dialogue, quests, all have that unique Fall Out feel, and the immersion and atmosphere is, in my opinion, unrivalled - no other game world has ever so convincingly and entertainingly portrayed an environment. Walk in any direction and there's always something new and exciting to see, shoot, rescue or loot.

Calling this a bad game really makes me question whether people can even tell a good game if it fell on their head. While RPGs might not be everyone, it strikes the line between FPS, RPG, real time and turn based extremely well, although obviously some turn based fanatics just can't be pleased no matter what Bethesda do.

For me, Fall Out 3 is the best game I've played in the last 5 years. Really.

Originally Posted by Yemerich

IT IS OBLIVION WITH GUNS!!!!

While it is clearly a game from the Bethesda stable, it is certainly no Oblivion with guns. Perhaps you can explain the parallels. What key Oblivion features are present in FO3?

Remember when Bethesda used to say that you'll could choose if you want to play first person or ISOMETRIC-like third person?

It's not a turn based and it's not a real time. What it is? It's the ridiculous VATS system.

You mean because it isn't turn-based with an isometric view you don't like it? Fair enough - but that doesn't turn it into Oblivion-with-Guns.

Quite a few people feared O-w-G, but the general consensus is that it is; in fact it is a very good game.

Originally Posted by Baz
The characters, attention to detail, setting, dialogue, quests, all have that unique Fallout feel

I'll question you on that one, Baz. You've not even played the first two games and I, as someone who has, don't see it as being totally there.

It's close, I'll grant you, but Bethesda has gone for much more of a realistic, ruined and bleak feel to that of the original games. Just compare the main cities of Rivet City or Megaton or DC to the equivalents in Fallout 1 or 2 - which are NCR, Vault City and New Reno. The design and feel is a lot cleaner, less ruined and optimistic than in FO3.

I don't fault FO3 for that myself, but the feel is definitely altered on that front, though the writing is still very similar.

F1/F2 required you to strategise and think about what to do next. Action packed Chess if you will :) That's one thing I miss. I don't think there are many thinker type games out there anymore.

I do agree it IS a good game, don't get me wrong.

The problem with vats is NOT because i was hoping for a turn based approach, but because it's not a real time NOR a turn based. They tried to mix them and spolied the two. You can compare it with "the witcher: Enhanced" (btw Joe, thanks for the indication): It has some kind of a real time combat. When you need to focus on something u just hit the space key and pause the game. That's all.

Even the openning in past FO had a better text! There's a lot of boring pointless conversation in this game!

In some previous post i said I really don't care that much for the graphics. But the lack of some nice ligting, the washed out textures just reminds me of Oblivion. And TES4 is a game from 2006!

What about the sarcasm that made me laugh on side quests wich past FOs used so nicely? What did Beth made with them?

God! Even the music feels it's misplaced!

At least beth had some good sense and kept the gore from FO 1 & 2.

When I first played FO 1 it was all a game could be back them: amazing graphic, story and gameplay. Not what i see in FO3.

IT IS A GOOD GAME! Lots of fun, lots of things to do, some nice graphics... But only a person who played FO1 and FO2 when it was first launched can understand what I mean.

Originally Posted by Yemerich

In some previous post i said I really don't care that much for the graphics. But the lack of some nice ligting, the washed out textures just reminds me of Oblivion. And TES4 is a game from 2006!

When I first played FO 1 it was all a game could be back them: amazing graphic, story and gameplay.

IT IS A GOOD GAME! Lots of fun, lots of things to do, some nice graphics... But only a person who played FO1 and FO2 when it was first launched can understand what I mean.

I played FO2 on launch and it was good - but certainly not because of the graphics - the graphics were poor-average even back then. The control system sucked... in fact much of the mechanics were poor. But what made the game good was the premise & the backstory, the attitude and the black humour and the originality of the franchise.

FO3 has great graphics courtesy of the enhanced Oblivion engine - it's not Crysis, nor does it try to be. The gameplay is great - at least as good as FO2, and the styling and background are still there, albeit in in widescreen DX10 rather than 16-colour 640x480 VGA.

IMHO, it is a worthy 2008 successor to the previous games.

FO1 is 11 years today. And back them the graphic of the dying super mutant (the last one) was comented in the magazines as being superb.

If you played Far Cry 2 (wich isn't a crysis - BTW I don't like crysis) an than played FO3 and STILL think FO3 graphics are great, than there's nothing left to discuss.

albeit in in widescreen DX10 rather than 16-colour 640x480 VGA.

You gotta be kidding...

It is a worthy sucessor of Oblivion. It's in the same level. Wich isn't bad... They are GREAT games! But fallout was stupendous!

I really cant fault this game for being oblivion-with-guns. That would be like calling a suzuki bike a car-with-two-wheels.

Bethesda have chosen to make fallout 3 something else then an isometric turn-based game. From reading the above it looks like you were hoping for a FO2-mod-with-better-graphics. You are faulting the game for not being something that it is not trying to be.

Personally i just love how out-of-place the music is. Usually i replace any game music with a winamp stream in the background anyway. The black humor is still there, albeit a bit more polished. I really actually LOLed when i was told "thanks, the view is much better now" with a mushroom cloud still in the background.

I agree on some points though: VATS is overpowered (and why the hell is it under the V button? i keep missing it ffs!), the character animation is rediculously flawed and it is not as earthshattering as FO 1 & 2 were.

I think the above reasons justify dropping the game down from 10 to 9, but they are all minor issues, and the game as a whole stands alone in a landscape of uninspired FPS, RTS and POS (hurhur) games. A 9 is a very appropriate grade, and I cannot fault BT one bit for reccommending this game to it's readers.

On a slightly different topic: am i the only one that was overjoyed on finding out you can detonate the nuke in the first village? It always annoys me in games that the most spectacular of scenarios is what you are fighting against. When the guy asked me to blow it up and handed me a detonator, i hardly believed it would really be possible, so i sprinted all the way to the tower and hit the switch. Made of pure win!

Originally Posted by Xtrafresh

On a slightly different topic: am i the only one that was overjoyed on finding out you can detonate the nuke in the first village? It always annoys me in games that the most spectacular of scenarios is what you are fighting against. When the guy asked me to blow it up and handed me a detonator, i hardly believed it would really be possible, so i sprinted all the way to the tower and hit the switch. Made of pure win!

I refused the job and grassed him up - and then killed him. And I've been a complete goody-f*cking-two-shoes since. When I got to Paradise falls, I didn't bother waiting to find out what quests were within; once I found out from the guy on the gate that they were slavers, I slaughtered the whole lot of them. I think that was the 'good' thing to do.

Next time around I'm planning to be a bit of a *******... I might murder all the residents of Megatron by hand before I blow it up. I'm going to grass up the escaped slaves and hunt the 'droid who escaped from Rivet City, and shoot any fluffy bunnies I see.

Originally Posted by cjmUK
I refused the job and grassed him up - and then killed him. And I've been a complete goody-f*cking-two-shoes since. When I got to Paradise falls, I didn't bother waiting to find out what quests were within; once I found out from the guy on the gate that they were slavers, I slaughtered the whole lot of them. I think that was the 'good' thing to do.

Next time around I'm planning to be a bit of a *******... I might murder all the residents of Megatron by hand before I blow it up. I'm going to grass up the escaped slaves and hunt the 'droid who escaped from Rivet City, and shoot any fluffy bunnies I see.

Lol, i usually do the same in games. I was actually planning on playing the goody-two-shoes (g2s) character first, but i simply couldn't resist the prospect of blowing the nuke

I am playing FO3 for almost two weeks now. And I am enjoying it.

To tell you the truth i was hoping for something more like the previous FOs. I REALLY miss the turn based thing. The VATS system was clearly something Beth done to attract old FO fans to the new look of FO. And failed miserably IMO. I still don't understand why sometimes you shoot the enemy in the arms and his head goes flying. The flying of heads is a constant in the game. The bloody mess perk is just stupid. You don't need it. But all that wasn't put in a mature like thinking... It's just there.

Anyway. Summing my disapoint: The game was clearly made to be "T-rated", while past FOs was done for more mature audience.

And the black humor in FO3 is just ridiculous... That girl in cratter supply in megatown makes me want to vomit! I WILL bring a shotgun and shoot her in the head! Stupid "miss perfect" girl. No offense...

On a different topic, i just found Harold, the ghoul wich was the mayor for the ghoul town in FO2 - or was FO1?. He was one of the talking heads wich had a plant growing from his head. It was a fun character in FO2... Sad end for him in FO3. It almost bring a tear to my eye. I am not EMO, you see?

VATS ftw!!

I wish I could get this game to work for me. After I installed it was the only time it worked.

I get a black screen after hitting play and I cant get into the game any other way.

system specs

Windows vista ultimate
E8400 at 3.4
xfx 9800 GTX Black edition with latest driver
4GB RAM

Right now I can only play on a AMD 3800 with a nvidia 6700. I only get between 4 - 15 fps on the lowest resolution.

The game is good I just wish I could get it to work on the better system.