Fallout 3 Impressions

[Jow]

finally got around to buying this due to the steam sale. Got about an hour in, just as things were starting to heat up, and the game started crashing at exactly the same spot (after a guard says something). I've been searching online for the past couple of hours trying to find a solution only to discover that Bethesda's forums are FILLED with similar complaints, both current and dating back to a year and a half ago.

...

Outside the anger bubble, with all the issues I've had downloading titles via Steam in the past year, I wonder how much more $ I need to blow on PC games I either have to fight to get working or can't play at all before I wash my hands of all of it.

[Semaj]

Our game occasionally locks up and freezes during random points (Like loading a new enemy, entering vats, etc.). It doesn't happen a ton, but enough for us to remember to save every now and again just in case. It's pretty much my one complaint in an otherwise solid game.

[LawBeefaroni]

finally got around to buying this due to the steam sale. Got about an hour in, just as things were starting to heat up, and the game started crashing at exactly the same spot (after a guard says something). I've been searching online for the past couple of hours trying to find a solution only to discover that Bethesda's forums are FILLED with similar complaints, both current and dating back to a year and a half ago.

I don't remember if that starts a cutscene or not. If it does, it's probably the FFDshow conflict.

[Jow]

i read about the ffdshow bit and unfortunately, I don't have it or any other unusual codecs on my system.

[Frost]

I was having crashes every few minutes after one or two hours of good play. I used Game Booster to shut down most unnecessary background apps, and now i have no problem. It's possibly a conflict with antivirus apps.

[Lordnine]

I picked up the $7 Broken steel/point lookout pack from Newegg a few weeks ago and have been replaying the game. Tonight I finally made it to the new content and can't believe how much harder Point Lookout is than everything else in the game. Giant super mutants? No problem. Tribal's and rednecks? Run away! I entered the area at level 16 and everything has been kicking my ass. I think i entered the area with 70 stimpacks and less than an hour later I'm down to 40. That's not including all the healing chems I've found in the area.

Overall the area is pretty impressive, a lot more engaging than many of the locations in the main game. I was expecting more of the same but so far it's exceeded my expectations. I've read the area is pretty large, does anyone know how it compares to the main game?

[Sudy]

Does your CPU have more than two cores? You've probably already come across this fix. But it did the trick for me. Otherwise, I was getting frequent video lockups during which the audio continued, but I'd have to close the game via the task manager.

I'm amused at all the references to the original games. Found a good less-gore mod. Definitely suffers from the Bethesda effect, which makes me want to stop playing. (Just so much to do--not very much guidance.) When that happens I just need to remind myself to change the pace, and switch from fighting to exploring to roleplaying, etc. After playing a lot of other post-apocalyptic games recently (Stalker, Borderlands), I'm a little annoyed by the less engaging combat. But I'm also glad the game isn't an all-out FPS. Not finding VATS particularly enjoyable yet, but I'm thankful it's something, at least. I wish you could crouch in Bethesda RPGs without going into stealth mode. I'm thrilled that the game tells you which containers are empty before you search them. Neat way to make everything searchable, and have tons of objects to search, but not waste the player's time.

[Lordnine]

I'm surprised when people complain about the gore in a Fallout game. The originals allowed you to melt people in meaty puddles, laser targets in half and punch giant chunks out of people's torsos. Not to mention the whole last area of Fallout1 featured a Vault that was coated in flesh and body parts.

If anything I was disappointed in the lack of variety in death animations. In the originals almost every weapon type had a different death animation.

[Sudy]

Well, like I said in another post, the originals were sprite-based, isometric-perspective RPGs. (With options to adjust the levels of gore and bad language, no less.) As far as the gore is concerned, Fallout 3 is basically a modern FPS. Yes, your point is taken. Fallout has always been an over-the-top game with mature themes. But adult games ten years ago weren't capable of the level of detail you find today.

People generally seem to enjoy ridiculous amounts of gore. I don't get that, but I accept it. I don't like horror movies, either. I'm not a total prude, though. I admit I get satisfaction out of a moderate level of violence in the games I play. And I thought it was silly when the soldiers mowed down by a machine gun in A Fistful of Dollars didn't bleed. But the gore in Fallout 3 is ridiculous and unrealistic. Yeah, I know it's supposed to be. But that doesn't mean I have to like it, right? I mean, if that's one of the reasons you enjoy Fallout, I'm happy for you. But there's plenty else to like about Fallout, and I don't feel bad for wanting to change/ignore one tiny element of its nature. It's not like I want a mod to remove the guns and replace them with water balloons. Though even if I did, so what?

(Just to clarify, I'm not offended and mean for my tone to be light. I'm just surprised you're surprised. I mean, there had to be one Fallout fan out there who isn't in it for the gore. I have to say I really didn't have as big a problem with the gore in the originals, though. But neither would you see me taking the Bloody Mess perk.)

[MonkeyFinger]

I picked up the $7 Broken steel/point lookout pack from Newegg a few weeks ago and have been replaying the game. Tonight I finally made it to the new content and can't believe how much harder Point Lookout is than everything else in the game. Giant super mutants? No problem. Tribal's and rednecks? Run away! I entered the area at level 16 and everything has been kicking my ass. I think i entered the area with 70 stimpacks and less than an hour later I'm down to 40. That's not including all the healing chems I've found in the area.

Overall the area is pretty impressive, a lot more engaging than many of the locations in the main game. I was expecting more of the same but so far it's exceeded my expectations. I've read the area is pretty large, does anyone know how it compares to the main game?

From the wiki, it's about a fifth the size of the full game, real estate wise. And from what I recall Bethesda saying at release, they suggested your level be in the low 20's before heading there.

[Daehawk]

Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout 3
Fallout Tactics

That's my order of Fallout love ....Already have my pre order in for the collector's of New Vegas. Gotta have those poker chips and the platinum one

[Lordnine]

Curse you! I didn't know there was a collector's edition planned. My big hold up with most is that I now much prefer to buy all my games on Steam so I don't need to deal with CD's but this just sold me.

Yes, you will have to install Steam when you install Fallout: New Vegas if you don;t already have it. And yes, you will have to be online at the time of that initial install. However you can install the game on as many systems as you want (with no restrictions!), and you do not have to be online to play the game after your initial activation. Not only that, but once the game has activated on Steam, you can throw out the game DVD entirely and just download the game over Steam. If you don't even have a DVD drive, you can just take the CD-Key from the box, enter it into Steam, and download it without ever using the disc at all.

Steam

[Jow]

nope, i've only got a dual core and when it crashes it actually gives an error and the game ends abruptly. No sound continuing, etc.

[Sudy]

Anyone know of any mods that add binoculars to the game? I found this one, but I'm hesitant to add a mod that changes so much on my first playthrough. (It adds removable sniper rifle scopes as well, etc.)

[Jow]

Turns out my issue was in my savegame... somehow. I completely restarted the game, flying through all the prelim stuff as quickly as I could just to get to the crash spot... and played right through it. I'm gonna verify the install files before I try again but otherwise I'll be starting yet another character. Whee!

[JayDeath]

I finally finished the game yesterday. I had to stop playing for about a year because of the stuttering issue with ATI vid cards. I was able to fix te problem last week. Yeah the ending was cool but I'm surprised a patch wasn't released to allow you to play after the ending. Yeah, I can load up a save game I guess but this seems like something that could have been fixed.

I'm excited for New Vegas! WooT!

[Doomboy]

I finally finished the game yesterday. I had to stop playing for about a year because of the stuttering issue with ATI vid cards. I was able to fix te problem last week. Yeah the ending was cool but I'm surprised a patch wasn't released to allow you to play after the ending. Yeah, I can load up a save game I guess but this seems like something that could have been fixed.

I'm excited for New Vegas! WooT!

I believe the patch to play past the ending is called "Broken Steel". Unless that also prevents you from playing past the ending. I haven't gotten that far yet.

[dbt1949]

The first time I played thru it everything went fine. I bought the GotY edition and have had video problems ever since.(crash or freeze up) I have the latest drivers and a video card that can handle it and more.
Still, I've managed to do all the addons at least once. Wasn't to fond of the alien space ship one tho.

[MonkeyFinger]

I finally finished the game yesterday. I had to stop playing for about a year because of the stuttering issue with ATI vid cards. I was able to fix te problem last week. Yeah the ending was cool but I'm surprised a patch wasn't released to allow you to play after the ending. Yeah, I can load up a save game I guess but this seems like something that could have been fixed.

I'm excited for New Vegas! WooT!

I believe the patch to play past the ending is called "Broken Steel". Unless that also prevents you from playing past the ending. I haven't gotten that far yet.

Right, no patch but yes - 'Broken Steel', one of the five DLC released. Allows things to continue on and new quests come online after the point where the original story ended so abruptly. Makes it pretty much an 'open world sandbox play as long as you can stand' game.

[JayDeath]

That's pretty cool. If New Vegas wasn't so close, I would probably buy it but why bother, right?

[Lordnine]

I would say its worth it at $8.

Comes with Broken Steel and Point-lookout.

I found the original ending of Fallout 3 a bit disappointing so anything thats corrects that is worth it in my book.

[dbt1949]

I've taken the good route and the neutral route. Has anybody gone thru as pure evil?

[Sudy]

I've taken the good route and the neutral route. Has anybody gone thru as pure evil?

I had the thought to write a post on taking the evil path in RPGs. I've never been able to do it. I try, but I just find it repugnant. I see my character as an extension of myself.

It's odd, considering all the things you have to do in these games that you would never do in real life. But I think it's about situations in which you have different options. If I could complete a quest by not killing someone, it seems wrong not to take that option. That said, I don't feel bad for killing people in a gun game. I mean, come on--it's a gun game. But it does feel wrong to take a shot at someone who isn't trying to harm me.

I tried to re-roll an Eastwoodesque "Man With No Name", but I'm too big of a wuss to play even like that. I asked Jonas why he didn't get me a real gun instead of a BB gun for my birthday. Liam Neeson asked what'd gotten into me, his voice tinged with disappointment. I cried on the inside.

[dbt1949]

I was playing neutral to bad in my latest game but I couldn't do it any more. For one thing every time I'd do a quest I got positive karma and the same thing for shoot raiders and Talon Cos. I was getting tired to shooting people just to get bad karma.
So I went to Rivet City I bought myself up to very good messiah.
Turns out you can buy your way into heaven.

[Hipolito]

A couple of minor warnings about the Broken Steel DLC:
- If you're still playing through the main story of the original game, Broken Steel sometimes causes GNR to report on events that haven't happened yet.
- It adds some tough enemies that you're not meant to fight until you've finished the original game. You might run into them before that happens, though, and become overwhelmed.

Having experienced both problems myself, they are not a big deal. (The latter is a plus in my opinion!) But if you want to stay on the safe side and experience Broken Steel as was intended, you should avoid installing it until you are about to tackle the quest "Take it Back!"

[Sudy]

Oops. Can I uncheck it in the mod manager without imploding my current game? I don't care about running into the tough enemies. Don't really want to hear spoilers on the radio, though.

Does leveling slow down as you progress through the game? Yeah, I know I could look up a leveling chart, but I don't know how much experience later enemies/challenges give. I have XP gain at 75% right now, and am between levels four and five. I've spend hours on the game, but not progressed far. But for the amount of combat I've done, I feel like I'm leveling really quickly. On the other hand, I don't want to level too slowly and not be able to lockpick stuff etc. as I come across it for a lack of skill points.

[Zurai]

I had the thought to write a post on taking the evil path in RPGs. I've never been able to do it. I try, but I just find it repugnant. I see my character as an extension of myself.

Yeah, me too. I have a problem even playing pragmatic-neutral. I almost always play somewhere between Paladin and "nice guy".

[Tscott]

IIRC, the fallout 3 unofficial patch fixes the radio spoilers when Broken Steel is installed.

[Lordnine]

Probably my favorite thing about Broken Steel is it fixes my biggest annoyance about the original ending.

Don't expand if you don't want BIG ENDGAME SPOILERS

Spoiler:

[JayDeath]

I would say its worth it at $8.

Comes with Broken Steel and Point-lookout.

I found the original ending of Fallout 3 a bit disappointing so anything thats corrects that is worth it in my book.

Thanks for the link! Yeah, the ending was kinda abrupt. I finished neutral.

[JayDeath]

A couple of minor warnings about the Broken Steel DLC:
- If you're still playing through the main story of the original game, Broken Steel sometimes causes GNR to report on events that haven't happened yet.
- It adds some tough enemies that you're not meant to fight until you've finished the original game. You might run into them before that happens, though, and become overwhelmed.

Having experienced both problems myself, they are not a big deal. (The latter is a plus in my opinion!) But if you want to stay on the safe side and experience Broken Steel as was intended, you should avoid installing it until you are about to tackle the quest "Take it Back!"

I did not know this. Thanks for the tip!

[JayDeath]

Probably my favorite thing about Broken Steel is it fixes my biggest annoyance about the original ending.

Don't expand if you don't want BIG ENDGAME SPOILERS

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Yeah but he wouldnt come with me to the citadel because I didn't have enough good karma. I guess I could have built up my karma but can you find hime again?

I didnt mind the ending that much but I hear ya.

[Bad Demographic]

Probably my favorite thing about Broken Steel is it fixes my biggest annoyance about the original ending.

Don't expand if you don't want BIG ENDGAME SPOILERS

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Yeah but he wouldnt come with me to the citadel because I didn't have enough good karma. I guess I could have built up my karma but can you find hime again?

I didnt mind the ending that much but I hear ya.

For that matter:

Spoiler:

And if you don't have Fawkes, Charon ought to be able to do the job since radiation heals ghouls -- but I don't know if that's in the alternate ending.

[Tscott]

For that matter:

Spoiler:

And if you don't have Fawkes, Charon ought to be able to do the job since radiation heals ghouls -- but I don't know if that's in the alternate ending.

Yes.

Spoiler:

Fawkes, Charon and Sergeant RL-3 are all options to send in when Broken Steel is installed.

[Hipolito]

Oops. Can I uncheck it in the mod manager without imploding my current game? I don't care about running into the tough enemies. Don't really want to hear spoilers on the radio, though.

Not knowing much about how mods work, I can't say for sure. Even if you can't fix it, the spoilers aren't mindblowing in my opinion.

Does leveling slow down as you progress through the game? Yeah, I know I could look up a leveling chart, but I don't know how much experience later enemies/challenges give. I have XP gain at 75% right now, and am between levels four and five. I've spend hours on the game, but not progressed far. But for the amount of combat I've done, I feel like I'm leveling really quickly. On the other hand, I don't want to level too slowly and not be able to lockpick stuff etc. as I come across it for a lack of skill points.

The leveling slows down a bit, but not much. I'm in my mid-20s and have finished the main story but not any of the DLCs. I think I'll hit level 30 (the max) well before seeing everything.

IIRC, the fallout 3 unofficial patch fixes the radio spoilers when Broken Steel is installed.

I don't see this mentioned in the unofficial patch's readme, but I may try it anyway. Seems like it fixes a lot of annoying bugs (like Sonora Cruz running to her likely death every time I visit her). I read here and there about possible compatibility problems with official patch 1.7, but if I follow these instructions, I should be OK.

Don't expand if you don't want BIG ENDGAME SPOILERS

Spoiler:

Yeah but he wouldnt come with me to the citadel because I didn't have enough good karma. I guess I could have built up my karma but can you find hime again?

You might try:

Spoiler:

looking for him in Underworld. That's where he hangs out when you dismiss him. (Although I think of him as more of a Rivet City renaissance man).

I didnt mind the ending that much but I hear ya.

I finished the main story with all the DLCs installed. When I got the ending cutscene, I thought "That was weird. Maybe that was just to mark the halfway point in the story. I've got a ways to go." So I kept playing and finished a few more quests, then found out that really was the ending and I was now playing Broken Steel! Good gosh.

[MonkeyFinger]

I 'finished' the main story quest well before Broken Steel came out. I'd heard about the ending but still wasn't really prepared for the abrupt ending - bang, you done! Thanks for playing. Thought it was funny that you ended up needing to go back to a save near the end just before the whole thing kicks into auto-pilot and then... walk away. Park everyone there waiting for me and go do something else. Wander the wastelands. Do the other DLC that came out first and then finally when Broken Steel was released, go back, apologize for keeping everyone waiting for so long and finish the quest, for reals this time.

[Hipolito]

IIRC, the fallout 3 unofficial patch fixes the radio spoilers when Broken Steel is installed.

I don't see this mentioned in the unofficial patch's readme, but I may try it anyway. Seems like it fixes a lot of annoying bugs (like Sonora Cruz running to her likely death every time I visit her). I read here and there about possible compatibility problems with official patch 1.7, but if I follow these instructions, I should be OK.

I've tried the unofficial patch. It makes my game crash whenever I enter another location. It also insists on removing the Ink Container from my inventory for some reason. The only other mod I've installed is More Where That Came From, so I don't know what went wrong. Disabling the unofficial patch made these problems go away.

Also, there is a Broken Steel GNR Broadcast fix that's supposed to cancel the premature spoilers, but it might not work judging from people's comments.

[Jow]

interestingly, I've been working with Bethesda tech support after phoning them about a week ago to try to resolve my crashing issues. As of yet nothing has fixed the issue and they seem baffled. I started a new game just before phoning them and that crashed at exactly the same spot as my original savegame did back in June. Blows my mind.

[Hipolito]

I've recently finished Fallout ... let me check ... 3! In 197 hours, I've done the main story and expansions, visited all the world map icons (except for the practically unreachable one in the Capital Wasteland), and completed just about all the quests available to a high-karma character.

First, a boring paragraph about the ridiculous technical problems I had while installing the game. The Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition requires Games for Windows Live to be installed despite coming with all the DLC packs. The game installer has a version of GFWL that is outdated and the game will not work properly with it. (I got the error message "The ordinal 5360 could not be located in the dynamic link library xlive.dll.") I found an updated version of GFWL online, which requires (and comes with) Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. However, attempts to install Framework 3.5 led to error message and failure. I had to uninstall the older versions of .NET Framework already on the computer (via the Add/Remove Programs icon) and clean the Registry of .NET Framework entries (using the .NET Framework cleanup tool) before installing version 3.5. Only then could I install the darn game.

As for the game, to quote Yahtzee, "...yeah, it's pretty good." Like many, I found the early part of the game to be the most enjoyable. There was a time when I was lurking in the subway, trying to progress along the main quest, when I stumbled into a side quest. And while investigating that side quest, I stumbled into a freeform quest! And all the while, I was running low on ammunition, usable weapons, and stimpaks. I was down to hitting critters with whatever rods and sticks I could find, dancing around pillars to avoid their attacks. The game was firmly in the survival horror genre at the time and was exhilarating.

The pace flattened as combat became easier and quests became less layered. But I was still drawn to the "beautiful devastation" (as I believe one article put it) of the landscape, the Fallout atmosphere so brilliantly portrayed from the first-person perspective.

My favorite location in the game is the Museum of Technology. It features a lot to interact with and read as well as some fun battles in hallways and balconies. I also love the surprises in store at Oasis and Casey's Garage. Raven Rock is a great little ordeal as well. Emerging from that place feels a lot like emerging from Vault 101 for the first time, with the same "Now what?" feeling.

I would have enjoyed the game more if all the locations had been as interesting as those places, even if it meant that the game would have fewer locations. Still, I respect the decision to dot the wasteland with quiet, frozen moments of time that leave the player to decide what happened. This is especially effective in the radio towers. I'd take in the tragic scene as the beeping radio beacon provided the only background noise, a 200-year-old dirge, and then turn off the radio signal and leave the scene in total silence.

One of the big problems of the game is the reduced "player agency," if that's the right term. In the first two Fallouts, there was some brainwork involved in completing quests. I had to decide not only which skills and inventory items to use in a given situation, but also where in the environment to use them. So there were real puzzles. In Fallout 3, all I have to do is press E while looking at the appropriate obstacle in the environment, and the game automatically applies the appropriate skill or inventory item. There are very few puzzles besides the lockpicking and hacking minigames. So quests feel less challenging and rewarding in Fallout 3 just because of the interface streamlining.

I was as disappointed as most in how the main story flatlined. Reflecting on it, I think the designers wanted to tell a poignant story about a son doomed to walk in his father's shoes. Father and son both try to prevent that from happening, but their own faults and the cruelties of the world conspire against them. The use of the Biblical quotation seems particularly appropriate and meaningful upon reflection. But I didn't sense any of this while playing the game. I blame the multitude of little flaws like the iffy voice acting and writing, awkward dialogue sequences, and lack of interesting characters.

As for the DLCs, they extend the game without doing much to improve it. They are all kind of average. The Pitt is my least favorite. It just feels sleazy and bad to me, and not because of the setting. Mothership Zeta is not much fun to play, but I'm really impressed by how much there is to see, do, and hear in it. I love the audio recordings, and how my team's base of operations gets more cluttered with scavenged goods every time I return from a mission. Point Lookout has a few interesting quests and I'd love to see Desmond in future Fallout games. He's so unabashedly rude and driven.

For me, Fallout 3 was like Fallout 2: enjoyable but disappointing. I love the first Fallout much more, and Wasteland more still.

I'd like to end this with my favorite screenshots, which may be considered spoilers.

Spoiler:

I was really psyched when I found this place, and really disappointed to find just a typical interior. Vault-Tec HQ should be a wonderland!


Arlington Cemetary


Is this a real intersection in Washington, D.C.?


From the top of the Pitt, the sight and smell of progress.


Where everybody knows your name, but they're not always glad you came.


The Pitt welcome sign. Since I'm armed, I must have been on my way out.


The Ark & Dove Cathedral against a moonlit backdrop. And inside the Cathedral ...


Going local with the natives! And looking for some refined punga, if you know what I mean.

[KillTrash]

I played FO3 when it was released but I only managed to put 25 hours into it and I got distracted by other shinier games then. I was always a fan of the originals, so I felt a little bit disappointed by it.

A few weeks ago I got myself Fallout New Vegas and I put 95 hours into it. I loved it! I think the setting, writing and the way they handled the factions reminds me a lot more of FO1 and 2 than 3 did. The way the main quest work and all the faction quests intertwine surprised me a lot and I can't wait to go back and replay the whole thing on a different path. If you like FO3, I recommend New Vegas.

Since last weekend, I got FO3 GOTY installed with a few cosmetic mods and I'm having a good time. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I did the first time around, just because I think I "get it" now and I'm more familiar with the mechanics and I don't feel as overwhelmed with the world as I did before. At this point though, it is clear to me that I like New Vegas better. Just Vault 11 in NV is worth the trip in my opinion.

Hipolito, I'm playing FO3 with the Fallout Mod Manager and FOSE, and it disables GFWL by default, so I never had that headache to get the game started. You should check it ou in case you plan on replaying it anytime soon.