No, VATS is half turn-based and half FPS, and it does neither particularly well.

I am debating on how to continue. i am almost done with the main, and I have a handful of misc. quests left, and I don't know how many side quests.

I am not sure if i want to "complete" the game with this character, almost lvl 20, and about 40 hours in. I kind of want to do it all, go collect bobble heads and finish up some achievements.

The other half of me wants to start again, new character (evil, heavy weapons), harder difficulty, and just do a bunch of the side stuff. However, it seems the VATS system rewards those with high sneak and small guns.

My current character seems pretty much unstoppable, and have nearly 100 in energy weapons, sneak, small guns, lockpick, science and medicine.

I enjoyed this much more than Oblivion, but after a slow exciting start, it feels like after level 10 or so, things wrapped up too fast.

That and I think many of the perks after level 16 are kind of lame, not counting level 20. I ended up taking "mysterious stranger" at 19, because there didn't seem like much else useful, although I don't really need the help.

No, VATS is great fun. Without it, the game would be alot less entertaining to me. The slow motion is great, and it's nice to see like a 2% chance to hit the head, with low ammo. Then you take the shot, and not only hit, but tear the head off.

I finished with about 95 hours or so. You guys that are finishing with like 40-50 or so must not be exploring much.

Well, I'm glad we got that settled. All the rest of you with opinions can go home...

Oh, I forgot. This the Fallout 3 circle-jerk thread. Carry on.

That reminds me, what happened to taffer?

Bethesda deserves it, they made a great game. I am not sure about my fellow DVD talkers.....I am not circle-jerking any of these yahoos...

I guess I am not actively exploring. If I get a quest, I walk to that location, checking things out along the way.

You know you can still shoot, without VATS, while your AP points recharge. Sometimes that works better than VATS.

I'm at 50 hours. Level 13 I think. Only 14 missions completed. I've explored a lot. But still need to find more places. I've avoided DC mostly, just a couple of missions there. Exploring, I found Oasis and last night The Republic of Dave.

I don't mind VATS, but it's definitely a bit off. Even the fact that you can't take damage in VATS mode is strange - and that weapons degrade significantly faster. My main beef with VATS, though, is that you can't aim at body parts if you're using unarmed combat.

That's mine too, and it seems like an easy patchable fix.

Alright guys, I can't take it anymore. I rolled through BioShock and Resistance2 this past long weekend so now I have time for FH3.

Can't wait to start it tonight

Random House is sending me a replacement copy of the entire hardcover book. I should be getting it in 2 to 3 weeks. Merry Christmas to me!

I'm back.... but maybe not for long....

From a lot of my previous postings, you can safely guess that I am not too happy with modern gaming. I don't know if I am "growing up" or what exactly, but over the last few years I have noticed that I have enjoyed gaming less and less. I actually decided to get rid of my 360 a few months ago. It was my only console this generation, and I haven't played any games since then. I honestly don't even miss it. That's another sign that I no longer care about gaming. Ten years ago, I would have withdrawal symptoms if I went five days without playing a game. Now, I haven't played a game in months, and I don't miss it at all.

I haven't played Fallout 3. I may play it sometime in a few years once I get a PC that can handle it. (I don't upgrade my PC often anymore, and my current PC does not meet the minimum requirements). Ten years ago, I was dying for Fallout 3.... now I am saying I can wait a few more years.... and I may not even play it at all.

Anyway, sorry for the thread derailment. (I am good at derailing threads, aren't I?) I just wanted to tell you why I haven't been posting since you asked why I had disappeared.

I still casually check the video game forum once in awhile, but I probably won't be posting much anymore to the chagrin of everyone who will miss my constant complaining about modern gaming and history lessons about why gaming was so much better in the old days.

Good to see you again, play Fallout 3 asap.

Oh and Invisible War rocks!

You take damage in VATS. It's just that time is significantly slowed down in VATS in an attempt to emulate the player taking his turn. I guess in that respect it works, inasmuch as you use your APs for your "turn", then your opponent takes their "turn" while your APs recharge, but it's still not a fully-fleshed out system.

I was wrong - you don't take zero damage in VATS, it's actually 10% damage. This experiment should work: try removing your armor, then toss a grenade at your feet and enter VATS mode. If there's anyone nearby they'll be blown to bits and you'll be relatively fine. Then heal and try the same thing out of VATS.

There has to be someone nearby. You can't enter VATS without targeting something. Or are you saying just toss a grenade down in front of you, and then target something random real fast?

I love VATS mode. I wouldn't play the game as much if it didn't exist.

Ok, I just tried it with Nuka-Grenades. I stripped down to my skivvies, and tossed a grenade at my feet, then entered VATS and threw another one at a Brotherhood Knight. Both grenades exploded during VATS, obliterating the Brotherhood guy and leaving me down roughly 50 hit points. They normally do something like 400 damage each.

Not sure about environmental or splash damage but any shots fired at you while you're in VATS will still do full damage when you're done with VATS and they hit you - least that's how I've experienced it. I think my original mistake for most of the game until recently was not knowing I could cue attacks to use up all my AP - I thought I had to take one shot, and then re-enter VATS. Cueing them up now to take care of multiple enemies in a single set of APs works a lot better.

I had my first crash last night. I was killing somebody, and the camera stayed focused on the puddle of green goo afterwards. I was hoping it would recover, since I was using a HD stored game, but no luck.

It always seems that when I save often, I don't need them, but if I wander through the wastelands for an hour, I forget to save, and have to do it again.

Yeah, that's why I try to save a lot.

Does anyone else has the "animal friendly" perk? (or something like that)
I have really enjoyed that while wandering through the wastelands, one less thing to worry about.