The game is Kind of difficult

[shadyhasankhan]

Maybe Fallout 3 is a bit hard in the beginning but as soon as you got the knack of it and reached a higher level it is, at least in my opinion, a lot easier than Oblivion. The reason? No level scaling!

 

The stupid level scaling totally killed Oblivion for me. I mean, getting spanked by a strong enemy, level up, come back and beat the crap out of this guy is part of the fun, right? In Oblivion you can spend hours fighting some stupid goblin shaman with a bazillion healthpoints, self healing powers and completely resistant against elemental damage. I thought this was kind of ridiculous.

 

In Fallout 3 I got beaten up a few times by raiders, deathclaws or yao guai. Then I leveled up, got myself decent weaponry and a power armor and came back for my terrible revenge. Much fairer than Oblivion was.

 

Oh man this, this, a thousand times this. I spent most of my time playing Oblivion desperately trying not to get into fights. When I did they ended up taking ten minutes of my time even for lowly roadside thieves because they were just that much stronger than me (and I had to run away while taking cheap potshots with wimpy fireballs to kill them, all the while aggro-ing three other enemies). It took me till 3/4's of the way through the Main Quest before I finally found myself able to take on most enemies. By that time I had gotten an invisibility spell and I walked through all the necessary dungeons and avoided most unecessary ones. It really. REALLY. Ruined the experience for me (the leveling did, not the spell. The spell made the Oblivion gates bearable, specially the timed one.)

 

Fallout 3 I see a war between super mutants and Enclave and I walk right into the middle of it and kill everyone without a sweat. Maybe Fallout makes it too easy, but I prefer that over living in fear of exploring the game.

 

 

 

I don't know man. if you tweak oblivion its load of fun. There are several mods to fix the problem you had.(even though Fallout is fun but for me Oblivion was more enjoyble) That's just my opinion

[Xenobuzz]

Hey,

 

I know EXACTLY how you feel! A good friend of mine bought the game for me as a gift, and at first I HATED it!! I hadn't even left the Vault before I'd begun to get frustrated. Once I left the Vault I only played a few more times before I deleted the game in disgust. The complexity of so many interface options and the massive scale of the environment overwhelmed me . FO3 can definitely come across as so big and unwieldy that you'll feel like you'll never get the hang of it. Thankfully, that only occurred in my initial attempt.

 

After speaking to my friend about my difficulties he encouraged me to try it again. After reading a bit about the game and its style online, I resolved to try again. This time, having a little experience with the game and having read many of the articles at the wikia (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3), I had a complete turnaround of my attitude. I LOVED IT. The manual that comes with the game is a very light scratch on the surface of what the game has in store, so the wikia was invaluable to me, as was browsing the articles on this site.

 

Initially, I didn't have the patience to really read through all the dialogue options and I missed important things. I also didn't figure out how to use the "Z" key to pick up stuff in order to move it or to find more stuff underneath that stuff (miss ya, George!). LOTS of details, many of which will only reveal themselves on your second or third trip. If this is your first time through, I'd recommend several things:

 

- Get your Explosives skill to 25 as soon as feasible to get your house for storing stuff.

 

- If you're playing as a sneaker/sniper, then head to the extreme northwest corner of the map (very carefully, of course) to find the Dart Gun Schematics ASAP. This is one of the best silent weapons, especially when traversing the sewers filled with Ghouls and Raiders.

 

- Again, if you're playing as a sneaker/sniper, download or purchase Operation: Anchorage and finish it to get the Chinese Stealth Suit. It's the best for this type of PC. As long as you're always crouching when you Fast Travel, this suit will save you a lot of abuse from surprise attacks, especially from a certain organization.

 

- Regardless of your playing style, head to Rivet City ASAP to get the A3-21 plasma rifle, one of the best weapons in the game and obtainable very early.

 

- If you want to make all the customizable weapons in the game, only sell unused ammo, extra weapons (i.e. I hardly ever use Frag Grenades & Mines), Chems (the addiction thing is annoying to me), and certain armors can be repaired up to a nice profit. There's a fairly significant amount of items in the Wasteland that have no more use than being sold for a few caps, which is not worthwhile given what else you'll find. I keep everything for weapon-making in the closet just to the left of the door to your Megaton house. That way, you won't have to put with being overburdened to make what you want on the Worktable you'll soon be able to purchase.

 

- Put extra points in Luck at the very beginning, as it increases your CTH and many other things which will save you ammo and reduce fight time.

 

Dave

[Macromicro]

yea, i ended up just like that for the first couple games, just get used to the game. but heer ar teh typz:::

 

I always end up with about 200 stimpaks by lvl 10.. you know why? i go to the alien crash site and get all of the ammo and blaster. then i go to the outcasts and give it to em..you end up with about 200 stimpaks, but of course.. the journey is umm.. hard dont try it till level 10! plus, for easy weapons, i compelete operation anchorage, and then take the loot at the end. after OA is completed, you'll be in good shape with ammo. at least for a while, but if youve got power armor. you're simply MORE of a walking tank.

 

heres my skill recomendations: small guns, energy weapons, and medicine.

 

my build recomendations: first of all, NEVER PICK UP BOBBLEHEADS UNTILL YOUVE GOT THE ALMOST PERFECT PERK!!. on the contoarary to much belif, raising your intelligence to 9 then traveling to rivet city is plain dumb after you get broken steel, just max out the intelligence attribute, and watch your skills master up!

at level 30, (if you've got broken steel, that is) you HAVE to get the almost perfect perk!

 

P.s. look for the locations of the outcasts and stuff on the wiki, i'm sorry, just too tired right now!

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!please explain to him what the value of the int attirbute and the stuff i'm saying is, plz!

also, i'll be making a post of my build strategy soon.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Macromicro

[Nagaoka]

yea, i ended up just like that for the first couple games, just get used to the game. but heer ar teh typz:::

 

I always end up with about 200 stimpaks by lvl 10.. you know why? i go to the alien crash site and get all of the ammo and blaster. then i go to the outcasts and give it to em..you end up with about 200 stimpaks, but of course.. the journey is umm.. hard dont try it till level 10! plus, for easy weapons, i compelete operation anchorage, and then take the loot at the end. after OA is completed, you'll be in good shape with ammo. at least for a while, but if youve got power armor. you're simply MORE of a walking tank.

 

heres my skill recomendations: small guns, energy weapons, and medicine.

 

my build recomendations: first of all, NEVER PICK UP BOBBLEHEADS UNTILL YOUVE GOT THE ALMOST PERFECT PERK!!. on the contoarary to much belif, raising your intelligence to 9 then traveling to rivet city is plain dumb after you get broken steel, just max out the intelligence attribute, and watch your skills master up!

at level 30, (if you've got broken steel, that is) you HAVE to get the almost perfect perk!

 

P.s. look for the locations of the outcasts and stuff on the wiki, i'm sorry, just too tired right now!

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!please explain to him what the value of the int attirbute and the stuff i'm saying is, plz!

also, i'll be making a post of my build strategy soon.

 

 

 

I don't know about this. For someone new to the game, it's kind of silly to have them not pick up the stat bobbleheads. Why go through the ENTIRE GAME without them just so you can be perfect 10s at the end, when it's pretty much useless anyways. That's something more for a second run through of the game. Int is a good stat to have high as early as possible, but again, by the end of the game you'll have more than enough skill points for whatever you want.

 

I say pick up the bobbleheads. It's worth it, and some of them you'll lose forever if you don't pick them up when you see them.

 

I also don't know about the journey being too hard before level 10. It shouldn't be, unless you're going right through the fairfax ruins instead of going around.

[csb]

First, regarding bobbleheads: there are mods that fix the 9s issue. So I concur with Nagaoka, get the fix mod of choice and collect the bobbleheads.

 

Second, there is no "perfect" build strategy, because everyone's play style differs. What works for uber-soldier types doesn't work for stealthy, sneaky types (like me :D ). So where one build would focus on Strength and Endurance as SPECIALs, the other would focus on Agility and Perception. As for Luck, it's a nice all-around attribute, but not to the exclusion of the more important ones to your style of play.

 

To answer the "Normal" vs. "Hard" question, I'd say the first time (or two or three) through, try it on "Normal" -- just to give yourself time to explore the Wastelands and get used to the game. Remember, there are also realism mods that add to difficulty (XFO, Arwen's) and mods that add Hunger/Fatigue/Thirst; plenty of mods around that add to spawns (MMM's increased spawns, More Raiders Interior and Exterior, etc.). Add in No-VATS, No Fast Travel, and an Auto-Aim fix -- and now Fallout3 gets even harder, even at "Normal." Add in a deleveled list mod (where the spawns are not coupled to your level), and you'll learn to tread carefully. Strategy then becomes a very, very important aspect of the game.

 

When these things are used in conjunction, the Wastelands become an adrenaline-rush adventure for survival. Eventually, I'll try the same, but on "Hard." :D

 

But that's my style of play. Others like uber characters that charge pell-mell into battle, dealing death and destruction with devastating weapons while remaining unscathed in their uber armor. There is no right or wrong in either approach -- you paid your money for the game and are entitled to play it like you want. The beauty of Fallout3 (and Oblivion) is that because of an awesome community, we can tailor the games the way we like to play.

[xaechireon]

I personally never bother with more than one gun skill, and I avoid using weapons outside of that school. I keep 3 guns at most and sell off the rest. Plenty of caps, lots of space for finding more junk to sell. I keep a light melee weapon and a few grenades in case, but I never really use them.

 

Easy ways to get caps and some equipment early in the game(without mods) include:

 

•Talking to Silver, you'll get at least a hundred caps, if I'm not wrong.

•Emptying Springvale school of raiders, and selling everything remotely valuable.

•Going to GNR plaza and letting the Brotherhood of Steel kill everything.

•Going straight to Arlington Library, collecting pre-war books on the way.

 

[csb]

Oops ... overlooked the Int question. More Int = more skill points, just like more End = more hit points. Like everything else in character building, it comes down to trade-offs -- you only get x amount of points to distribute (without a cheat). For my sneaky types, I reduce strength to 4, increase Agility/Perception to at least 7, and Int to 6. I TAG lockpicking, small guns and stealth. My first perk (when leaving 101 or otherwise getting to level 2) is a matter of how I "see" my character's persona. But I tend toward increasing small guns and repair or the boost to XP first.

 

I have one that is a doctor sort, there the build was entirely different, lowering Str, End and increasing Perception, Int, Agility.

 

But really, it all depends on your style of play -- there is no absolute right build that fits everyone.

[Macromicro]

oops, sorry! i actually put a little into the endurance and agility in my first! but that last one was my perfect build!

about teh bobbleheads, only the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ones. not he skill ones. the skill ones are invaluable!

[3rdtryguy]

Here's a tip that a new player can probably use:

 

get your repair skill up a bit each level, and use it.

 

To repair something, you need to have two of the same thing in your inventory, or in some cases, two things which are repair-compatible. Highlight one of them with your mouse, but don't click on it, and hit the "r" key. That will pop up a little menu if the items which can be stripped for parts to fix the highlighted one. Click on THOSE to fix the first thing.

 

This is very useful for three reasons:

 

1- it keeps your equipment functional! ( very very important )

2- it helps you get rid of the weight of a lot of extra things you're lugging around but don't really need, and

3- it makes the things you've fixed worth more caps when you sell them.

 

The higher your repair skill, the more repair use you get out of donor parts, which means you can effectively fix something up to full with fewer donor items. You can also fix them better, of course.

 

You'll find this very handy for not only staying alive, but for maximizing your profits. NOTE: with some items you can actually make more money by selling several broken units instead of a few good ones, but then again you have to haul them around the wasteland until you can find a buyer. I say travel light and just fix everything anyway. You'll eventually be rolling in caps either way, so you might as well enjoy your best possible running and jumping ability without the needless encumberance.

 

Oh, and as for one of your original questions, The "hunters" are freindly, and in fact you might find them very useful later for a certain mini-quest when you need to find some of the strange meat they sell.

The "raiders" are always hostile unless you are very evil. I think you might have confused the two, which is easy to do since they look a lot alike.

 

If you are good, you're going to have some problems with some jerks in black armor who like to ambush you when you come outdoors. Just always expect trouble at these times, and be ready. While irksome, the yahoos are at least a handy source of good loot. Conversely, if you are evil, some meddling good guys will take their place and do the same thing.

 

Oh, one more thing... stay out of Point Lookout until you have some good armor, hitpoints, and weapons. Things are really tough out there.

[devdrago12]

Yeah, this game gets way too easy really fast. Savor the feeling of living in fear.

 

Here's my #1 tip: save a lot. You may think you save frequently, but you probably don't save frequently enough. And use a lot of save game files.

Thank you- I had over 1000 saves on 1 lone character. Yeah, that's an extreme case (lol, I'm talking 3 times more than natural) but, you get the point.