Fallout3, review for someone who's addicted to the serie

[grumbler]

so all in all it is a good game I have to admit... but after fallout 1 and 2, this game is not that great, it does not have depth... Feels a bit shallow...

 

That’s because it was made for console gamers too, the games been dumbbed down for console gamers, they have the attention span of a gold fish.

Also, the NPCs require a lot more time to set up speech with, because their ;lips are actually synced to words, not just moving. The easiness is probably a console thing, though Morrowind (like FO2) got easy at the higher levels.

 

I also miss the town-by-town endings from the previous FO games, and cannot for the life of me understand why BethSoft left those out. They aren't that expensive to do: you are just paying Ron Perlman a coupla extra bucks and an artist a few more.

 

What I most miss from the earlier games is the way early decisions about your character made such a huge difference in gameplay. Traits were things you really had to think about. Perks were rare, and tagging the right skills was important to how you wanted to play the game. In FO3 there are no traits, perks are common and so selection isn't very key (just wait a half-hour until you level again and get the perk you wanted), and tagging the wrong skill can be corrected in a single level-up.

 

What I don't miss at all from the earlier games was the horrible interface. FO3 is a lot more fun to just play; you are fighting the bad guys, not the interface. Things are intuitive.

 

The good news is that BethSoft makes such easily-modded games that pretty much everything that is unsat about FO3 is being modded as we write (for the PC version, that is; anyone who buys a BethSoft game on a console deserves what they get).

 

So, I would say that there were definitely some things I was disappointed with in this game, but I am far more hopeful that it will turn out to be a long-lasting game on my HD than I was about FO or FO2.

[coaster765]

The game has definitely been dumbed down for the console application of it, and that is truly sad for Fallout III.

I thought the ending is pretty much a brain fart, it makes no logical sense, and why would a young teenager with a lot of life left to live even want to commit suicide just to get everybody else some clean pure water.

A great thing I liked about Oblivion was the capability to keep on playing, in Fallout III you feel nothng but cheated with the ending.

If Bethesda doesn't fix this with an upcoming expansion, then they have pretty much "screwed the pooch" with Fallout III.

And I don't understand why some of the gamer mags said such good things about Fallout III when they just are not true.

From now on I'll believe about ten percent of what those folks say.

As it stands now straight off the disc, FO III is very hollow and very shallow. With as much time as Bethesda had and knowing the quality and quantity of Morrowind and then Oblivion, I would have expected a LOT better than what we got with FO III.

If I was the folks at Bethesda right now, I'd be worried about straightening up FO III with some very good expansion work before I even attempted to start work on a FO IV.

I can say personally, if Beth doesn't make some good filled out expansion content for FO III, I won't even consider purchasing a FO IV.

Like the saying goes, cheat me once, shame on you, cheat me twice, shame on me.

 

 

Boserman

[grumbler]

The game has definitely been dumbed down for the console application of it, and that is truly sad for Fallout III.

I thought the ending is pretty much a brain fart, it makes no logical sense, and why would a young teenager with a lot of life left to live even want to commit suicide just to get everybody else some clean pure water.

If you actually play the game, you discover that Project Purity was an effort for which both the PC's parents gave their lives, thus giving the PC some motivation to do the same. I will grant that if you just read some review, you won't understand what would motivate the PC's self-sacrifice, but the problem there is with your lack of knowledge, not BethSoft's lack of logic.

 

A great thing I liked about Oblivion was the capability to keep on playing, in Fallout III you feel nothng but cheated with the ending.

If Bethesda doesn't fix this with an upcoming expansion, then they have pretty much "screwed the pooch" with Fallout III.

The problem with using the pronouns "you" and "I" interchangeably are clearly demonstrated here. You meant to say "I feel nothng but cheated with the ending" because that is simply your own reaction. I felt that the ending was fine.

 

And I don't understand why some of the gamer mags said such good things about Fallout III when they just are not true.

From now on I'll believe about ten percent of what those folks say.

As it stands now straight off the disc, FO III is very hollow and very shallow. With as much time as Bethesda had and knowing the quality and quantity of Morrowind and then Oblivion, I would have expected a LOT better than what we got with FO III.

If I was the folks at Bethesda right now, I'd be worried about straightening up FO III with some very good expansion work before I even attempted to start work on a FO IV.

I can say personally, if Beth doesn't make some good filled out expansion content for FO III, I won't even consider purchasing a FO IV.

Like the saying goes, cheat me once, shame on you, cheat me twice, shame on me.

My general response to such overblown sentiments is "don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out." Sure, the game is imperfect. What it isn't is "very hollow" and "very shallow." It is deeper than Oblivion, and maybe as deep as Morrowind. It isn't as deep as Fallouts 1 and 2, because it couldn't be (they were very simplistic compared to Fallout 3 and adding depth was cheap in those games).

 

People who get over-hysterical about the supposed flaws of Fallout 3, and go so far as to call people who do like the game liars, aren't really the kinds of fans a company can keep anyway. I think they also add little to the community, so I generally just let them vent and am glad when they stomp off in disgust.

 

I made an exception for you because sometimes I want to vent, as well.

[roadbum]

After I started playing Fallout 3 I started seeing a lot of references to the previous fallout games, so I downloaded Fallout 2 on my comp. I can't really get into it, maybe it's the outdated graphics. I've been playing Fallout 3 pretty heavy since it came out right after Thanksgiving. I've done the MQ several times but as many characters as I've played I'm always discovering something new in the game. (yesterday it was Uncle Leo) Since I've played Morrowind and Oblivion to death I had high hopes for Fallout 3. Unfortunatly Bethesda dropped the ball in a lot of ways on this one too, it still is one of the best games out there. Belive me, after coming off a long bout with Guild Wars I was ready for this one lol! Now, having said all that let me further state that overall I find many aspects of the game pretty silly and making no sense. The game has a LOT of problems both tech and story, that's why I only play in full God mode, for me, there's no other way to play it. Anyway, there's my two cents worth! :wallbash:

[frankc]

, so I downloaded Fallout 2 on my comp. I can't really get into it, maybe it's the outdated graphics.

 

It's the interface. It was bad by the standards of the time, but today it qualifies as unplayable. Much as I hate "pip-diving" for anything beyond my 8 hotkeys in Fallout 3, I have to admit the interface is a major improvement. Hopefully FOSE will fix the limited keybinds.

 

(If you want an old game from that time period that lives up to the hype find a copy of planescape: torment, that game is still awesome - and I think a couple of the fallout writers and designers worked on it)