MoviePage

I had over 100 hours in the game before I even went to Galaxy News Radio, which is the second step of the main quest after you leave the Vault I believe. In hindsight, I would have gone back and forth more to even things out.

foxdvd

Fallout 3 truly is THE game of this generation of consoles. Fallout 3 has really stuck with me since it came out. I gobble up each DLC like a heroin addict, and Fallout Vegas is going to be in my hands even if it cost 100 bucks DAY ONE. The atmosphere, story and action all take you away into another world more then any other game. EPIC

chess

I'm not quite this "over the top" for the game, but I totally agree with the sentiment. It's a really compelling and immersive experience thus far. Mario Galaxy is my favorite game this gen though.

I didn't have long to play last night, as I was committed to a movie rental (Cloverfield sucked BTW). I did get the dartgun though, and it's simply awesome...almost too powerful. I went and pimpslapped a few deathclaws, and I can't wait to use it on some Mirelurks. I hate those damn things.

PopcornTreeCt

I agree. I'm pretty addicted to the game and it is my favorite game of this generation.

GoVegan

I initially had a ton of complaints about the game, due to things that had been changed from Fallout 1 and 2, but I still can't stop playing. It's fun despite its flaws.

That said, I'd like to see them fix some of the more obvious issues before releasing Fallout: Vegas. Fallout 3 seems way too focused on skill points, and most of the stats have very little actual effect on the game. Playing the game as a character with stats of 1 in everything should be drastically different from a character with maxed-out stats, but it isn't. I'd like to see the Tag Skills restored to the way they were before, rather than a one-time bonus.

I still really enjoy the game - I'm sure I've spent more than 100 hours on it so far, but I think there's quite a lot of room for improvement.

chess

You know, it's funny, because the fact that they toned down some of the RPG-ish requirements made the game a lot more appealing for me. I don't mind repairing weapons and getting perks, but I don't want to depend on them, and I want to spend as little time as possible in menus.

lordwow

I have to agree about the tag skills, you should get a real bonus on those skills and simply not be as good in the other skills. My #1 complaint was my character was simply too powerful by the time I had maxed out my levels.

Raul3

Same here. I'm not an RPG gamer. I don't find them interesting. But right now Fallout 3 is my favorite game this generation. Maybe ever.

Tracer Bullet

And this right here is why I cringe.

Fallout Vegas better get it right.

GoVegan

I guess I wouldn't mind if they offered two different styles of play, but the current system clearly isn't quite right. Lordwow mentioned being too powerful - my current character had maxed out every single skill before hitting level 20. The previous games you had to choose weapon specialties, gameplay styles, etc. In this game, I started out as a sneaking, hand-to-hand fighter, but now my character is a master of every weapon available. Why put a fork in the yellow brick road if every path leads to Oz?

PopcornTreeCt

I didn't take that path in regards to leveling up. I've maxed out only a few skills and I'm at 25. I supposed I could've taken certain perks to bring up some skills but I chose some of the sillier perks.

I'm so obsessed with this game that I bought The Road Warrior because of it. Pretty good movie. The narration was nearly word for word.

foxdvd

I am a RPG nut, and I do agree that customizing your character in Fallout 3boils down to Perk choices and not leveling up. I hope with Vegas you will be able to make a more customized character. Alpha Protocol seems to be getting this part right. You should not be perfect at everything by then end of the game.

The old D&D nut in me though loves finding flaws in the system, in an effort to make the most powerful character. Fallout 3 does have some of that. The RPG elements in Fallout 3 are not near what the first two games or a great many other games have. Even the Elder Scrolls games have more of this. Still, what Fallout 3 does well, it does REALLY FUCKING well. Even a young Cindy Crawford had a mole on her ass or a stretch mark if you looked close enough.

chess

Or what?

I kid. I feel for you that they "dumbed down" a franchise you love to make it more appealing to the masses...but speaking for the masses, I think the game is f'ing AWESOME.

I'm hoping to get it finished and sold so I can buy the GOTY Edition in a few months.

MoviePage

Why not? What if I want to be?

It should at least be an option.

tonyc3742

What's an RPG?

Stat management, menus, minmaxing? Fallout 3 had just enough of that to not be overwhelming. (And ironically, some of the most popular RPGs had very little "role playing"--FFVII for instance. You're a participant being carried along a predetermined story path. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, I like that style of game play as well.)

Customizing your character? (and not just "He has red hair and a wacky haircut!") Yep. Much more so than many of the 'classic' RPGs. (I'm thinking the turnbased JRPGs here, but even some of the so-called "American" RPGs).

Creating a world in which the player actually feels involved and cares what happens to the denizens thereof? Fallout 3 knocks this one out of the park.

Don't get me wrong, I like stat management and equipping and menus etc (I put hundreds of hours into Final Fantasy Tactics), but Fallout 3 is a different breed of action/RPG/FPS. I Don't even like calling it that because using those words limits it. IMHO, it takes some of the best aspects of RPGs, action, and FPSes and mixes them just right, in a very complete, alive and 'real' world.

I enjoyed playing Fallout 1 and 2 and they definitely had the atmosphere right (it's been quite a while since I've played them so they're not fresh in my mind), and I know it's a sign of hardcore cred to hate "the masses" getting into gaming, but I recommend Fallout 3 to every person with a console I know. It doesn't "dumb down" RPGs, it does them right. (It might have "dumbed down" the franchise, again, I'm not familiar enough with it to make that call.) The only complaints I have offhand are the level cap (it did seem like I leveled up pretty quickly for those first 20 levels), and I wouldn't have minded a larger variety of nonhuman/nonrobot monster enemies, there were what, only 12 or so families. Also, it needed a warning at the beginning: "Stick with it! The first hour is slow but important!" (I finished the game a while ago, so any other constructive criticism I might have had, must not have been strong enough for me to remember.)

I'm going to buy the GOTY, assuming it includes all the DLC. I guess I should go ahead and sell copy if the selling price is decent.

chess

I finished the game this morning and checked out the 4 alternative endings that were available to me.

Overall, one of my best videogame experiences ever and an amazingly coherent story given how wide-open the world feels. Every location in the world had such unique personality, and the only areas that felt repetitive were the subway tunnels. The people in the game were interesting, and despite my usual distaste for RPG conventions like dialogue trees and inventory management, I actually enjoyed both in this game. I was also impressed with the little lockpicking and hacking minigames...and the fact that a lot of them were skippable later in the game.

It was definitely one of the buggier games I've played, and I'm not sure how PS3 specific that is, but the experience was well worth the occasional freeze. I'm unloading my copy for $30 in anticipation of the GOTY edition now that I've finished. If anybody's interested in giving it a try, it's on the trade forum.

chess

I downloaded an old 1upYours podcast with Fallout 3 discussion to listen to while mowing the lawn, and I'm taken aback with their stories about the game. It seems that their experiences were much different from mine on a bunch of the sidequests, which confirms my suspicions that any time I kill a "named" character, I'm opening or closing a bunch of sidequests.

The endless possibilities for variation is something that I've never really even considered a real possibility in a game. I'm really excited to run through this again in a few months and see some of the DLC. I'm totally going to sell a bunch of people into slavery and live in Tenpenny tower next time!

foxdvd

Chess I am so jealous of you not having played the DLC yet. Obviously you will want to get Broken Steel first, so you can raise the level cap. Taken as a whole, all 4 DLC that are already out total 12-20 more hours of gameplay, and I think another 5 hours will be here by the end of this month. When does the DLC become available for the PS3?

chess

Not sure, but I think the GOTY Edition is out in August. So I'll probably get it at the first $40ish sale. I'm guessing around the holidays...or maybe for my birthday in November.

Last night, I went back to my save when I first left the vault just so I could and see how that turned out. Then I wiped out the ghouls for Tenpenny and came back to wipe out everyone in the Tower. My karma is a bit on the evil side.

...just a bit of fun before I sell it...which I think I have on Craigslist.

dino88

Is it confirmed that the GOTY edition (PS3) will include all the DLC? And I'll be able to jump right into my saved game with the new edition right?

chess

I believe "yes" to the former and "not sure" to the latter...but I'll probably start over either way.

MoviePage

Yes and yes. And it's out in October if nothing changes.

MoviePage

I'm pretty sure I posted this a few pages back, but here's the official word:

Tracer Bullet

Some problems I have with Fallout 3 as compared to the first two Fallout games:

#The sense of sardonic humor is completely missing
#The writing is Bethesda-generic. The dialog is, for the most part, completely interchangeable among character
#There are story and world elements which make no sense (but I know that only fans of Fallout 1/2 will care about this)
#Lack of the location-specific endings of the first two games
#Lack of any depth to the gameplay (a stupid character doesn't have a fundamentally different playing experience)

Some problems I have with Fallout 3 as an RPG:

#There is almost no sense of actual role-playing- creating a character with limitations that reacts to the world in a certain way. All characters can do pretty much everything
#The VATS system is a terrible compromise between the twitchy FPS combat that seems necessary to sell any game nowadays and a more traditional turn-based battle system
#The levelling up system is almost completely broken- at level 24 I have max skills in small guns, energy weapons, medicine, lockpicking, science, repair... I'm sure a couple others, but I can't remember them
#There is no party system, but then again, who needs to spend the time finding and creating a balanced party when your character can do everything?

That said, I enjoy playing the game, but it's like eating potato chips as opposed to a satisfying meal. The game doesn't stick with me in any way, and I doubt I'll ever play through it a second time. I'm glad that non-RPG fans are getting into the genre, but I hate the attitude that people that have well-thought out objections to the game that is being heralded as the best RPG of this generation are old bitter fans that can't appreciate this "new" RPG.

My kingdom for an isometric turn-based or pausable combat RPG. I hope Dragon Age is as good as everyone says it is.

dino88

Thanks for the info...I may trade in my copy now and rebuy in October. I won't be playing any games for a few months anyways, so it would be nice to get as much credit as I can now. Thank you