That was a good read; thanks for the link.Quote:
Originally Posted by TinCow
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That was a good read; thanks for the link.Quote:
Originally Posted by TinCow
Editor is coming next month along with 3 confirmed DLCs.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/933/933617p1.html
Quote:
Fallout 3 DLC Revealed
Operation: Anchorage heads the pack in January for 360 and PC.
by Martin Robinson, IGN UK
UK, November 25, 2008 - Details of the first downloadable content for Bethesda's Fallout 3 have emerged from the vault, with Operation: Anchorage heading the batch for Xbox 360 and PC in January.
The PC will also be getting an official editor for the game in December, appropriately titled G.E.C.K (Garden of Eden Creation Kit). Fallout 3's game director Todd Howard said of the editor, "We've always seen the original world of Fallout 3 as a foundation for even more content. Some created by us, and a lot more created by users. It's fun to create your own character, but it can be equally fun to create your own adventures. We can't wait to see what the community does with the G.E.C.K."
Operation: Anchorage, a simulation of the liberation of the Alaskan city from Chinese communists, is the first of the downloadable episodes. Exclusive to Xbox 360 and PC, it will be followed by two further instalments; The Pitt, taking place in a raider town in Pittsburgh and due in February, followed in March by Broken Steel, which extends the main quest and takes up the story of the Brotherhood of Steel.
Price points have yet to be announced for any of the content.
Sounds pretty awesome. Looks like they are going to have some actual use for those two Chinese radio stations I found around the wasteland.Quote:
Originally Posted by TB666
That sounds interesting. A change of scenery with some snow would be nice. IIRC, this would happen just before the big nuclear war, so the Anchorage area should be more or less intact. Maybe war-ravaged, but not as bad as D.C. I hope they don't just take the D.C. area rubble and color it white. It would be fun to see some of those "1950's idea of the future" cars and buses running around.Quote:
Operation: Anchorage, a simulation of the liberation of the Alaskan city from Chinese communists, is the first of the downloadable episodes.
I assume the first one (Anchorage) would have the player start up a new character at level 1, since there's no continuity with the post-nuclear scenario. Or maybe they'll start you at level 10-15, since it probably won't be as long as the main quest. If you're a soldier running around in power armor, I guess you won't be starting at level 1.Quote:
Exclusive to Xbox 360 and PC, it will be followed by two further instalments; The Pitt, taking place in a raider town in Pittsburgh and due in February, followed in March by Broken Steel, which extends the main quest and takes up the story of the Brotherhood of Steel.
I wonder how they'll handle the other two DLC's though, especially the last one (Brotherhood of Steel) that continues the the main quest. Doesn't that imply that they'll extend the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. levels with more stats and perks, if the player can continue the quest with the same character? Or will there be some kind of reset, where the player starts again at zero or a lower level, to fit inside the current system?
Quote:
Operation: Anchorage, a simulation of the liberation of the Alaskan city from Chinese communists, is the first of the downloadable episodes.
Note the word "simulation."Quote:
Originally Posted by Zenicetus
More than likely, it will be just like the Tranquility Lane simulation in Vault 112 during the main quest.
Ah ha, I missed simulation. Yep, that would keep it in the timeline of the main game, if that's what they're shooting for.
really i thought it was fingers for evil... hmmmmm
Rented on XBOX, and my full thoughts.
Pros:
Making weapons is a cute aspect of the game.
Very pretty.
Humourous at times.
The ambiance fits the series.
Some good wow factor moments.
VATS wasn't as bad as I initially thought it was. But... (see below).
Cons:
The quests/storyline filled with filthy plot-holes, bugs and other nuisances.
Plus it's not very original at all, many quests had me thinking "I've done this before".
I literally had to force my self to play, the only thing keeping me playing was the fact I knew I had to give it back yesterday.
The dust and terrain isn't brown enough. Gah!
The voice-overs... LOL!
In total I found the game to be pretty easy/lacking. :shrug:
VATS is a bit dodgy, since even if you have low perception just boot it up to see if enemies are around...
All in all, not as bad as it's made out to be by hard-core "old-skool" fans. Yet, in all honesty I much prefer FO1 and 2. Rent don't buy.
cute but theres not really enough - there is a fully functioning but still Beta mod that lets you craft any weapon in the game and is going to include some more later on so the community will fix thisQuote:
Originally Posted by Rythmic
a flaw with most modern RPG's i find these days - gone are the days weh nquests were somewhat unique - theres only so many times you can do thingsQuote:
The quests/storyline filled with filthy plot-holes, bugs and other nuisances.
Plus it's not very original at all, many quests had me thinking "I've done this before".
must be an xbox flaw as in the PC VATS only works if your cross hair is in the general area of a creature within rangeQuote:
VATS is a bit dodgy, since even if you have low perception just boot it up to see if enemies are around...
Same on the 360. I can only pull up VATS if the enemy is within my sights. For long distance shooting, I almost have to line the crosshair up perfectly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Moody
Very minor spoilers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Moody
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Finished at last. 1 month of play, in the form of 54 hours. I did all of the named quests except for 2 (1 broke midway through, the other is evil), found all of the bobbleheads and super mutant behemoths, toured the wastes, reached level 20 and turned into an angel of uber death.
Now I'm looking at the game retrospectively it's easier to see why I didn't like it more. The reason is blindly simple and I feel stupid for not working it out earlier: it's outdated. The graphics, budget and presentation are very modern. The game itself isn't. So many aspects of this game have been done better by other games, and Bethesda themselves have made little effort to update some of the creakiest aspects of their template.
The plot based half of the game never won my kinder feelings. That includes the side quests. This is the game at its most archaic. The static conversations with barely animated talking heads spouting lines of limp dialogue, before you head out to pick up the greeblie from tunnel dungeon 24, only to slog back and hand it over in another talking head scene. Congratulations, here are some items you probably don't need and a dribble of XP. Please activate the next talking head scene and learn which tunnel dungeon you need to trawl through in order to find the mystic spreebong. If the game had a good plot and writing I could have suffered this with better cheer; it doesn't. I forgive the dungeon chase with crap plot and dialogue when I replay Icewind Dale because it's very old and was never billed as more than an AD&D dungeon crawl. I won't forgive it in Fallout 3; it should be so much more.
The other half of the game, the part where plot and chat played no part, was much more enjoyable. Wandering the wastes looking for bobbleheads, behemoths, locations and XP was much more pleasant. It was this aspect which allowed Bethesda's attention to detail to shine, and this part which supplied the bulk of the good plot. Stumbling across charred skeletons and being able to work out what that person was doing when the bomb fell, finding records which detail the struggle to survive, the cold chill that ran down the back of my neck as I realised that a certain brothel must have been for paedophiles ...
Oh, and stomping around as an unstoppable killing machine of shiny righteousness never hurts :gring: Uber armour, uber plasma rifle, maxed useful skills, level 20, and the grim reaper perk, mmmm.
The game's power curve was quite badly out of skew. I was pretty unstoppable until I reached level 8. I then struggled until around level 11, felt combat was balanced until around level 15, then steadily got more and more uber. I don't mind the latter portion of that curve; the front part isn't right. I did reach level 20 very early on; there was a lot left for me to do. Level 25 would have been a better choice for the cap IMO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
so in sense, the game is pretty much Oblivion with guns? What do you think?
with a pinch of fallout humour in places but otherwise yup that sums it upQuote:
Originally Posted by Pontius Pilate
No. You can tell they are made by the same developers, but they don't feel like the same game. Fallout 3 is a quest based game; Oblivion is a sandbox with quests.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pontius Pilate
Fallout 3 feels to me like a game which arrived too late. The graphics, budget and detail are 2008 at its best. Other aspects, mainly those relating to the quest portions of the game, feel like they come from the start of the decade. Once upon a time I'd have found the static talking heads amazing because they have lip movement, not cared too much about trawling umpteen tunnel dungeons, and accepted that the vast majority of games have rubbish plots. Nowadays I expect much more.
I could see a game like Fallout 3 working on Bioware's ancient Infinity Engine. You just strip away the 3D and the gloss and there you go. I can't imagine Mass Effect or some of the other recent high profile RPGs being made on that engine. You'd manage to get parts of the game working on the Infinity Engine, yet you'd never manage to get the whole.
Im not so sure you know - Oblivion really wasnt a sand box eitherQuote:
Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
Oblivions gameplay was exactly the same as fallout 3's - wander around until you find a quest or a landmark and complete/explore it then continue with the wandering
you can argue there were more quests/locations but the gameplay is totally the same - the only really sandbox item in Oblivion was the skill system...
I don't agree at all. The term 'sandbox game' generally refers to non-linear gameplay that allows a person to take or turn down quests as they wish and move in any direction they wish to go, regardless of the main storyline. Oblivion seems about as perfect a fit for the designation sandbox game as anything else. I also don't understand how the nature of the skill system even applies to it being classified as sandbox or not sandbox. Surely it is the open nature of the world that makes something a sandbox game, not a person's ability to choose various skills as they please, as the latter is present in plenty of extremely linear games.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Moody
This.Quote:
Originally Posted by TinCow
Sandbox was the whole idea behind Morrowind and Oblivion. Make whatever kind of character you like and go forth into the world to do whatever catches your fancy.
I think Morrowind was the perfect sandbox game, you could go out into the world with no idea what the main plot was. I played for six months without realizing there was a main plot. Playing Oblivion and Fallout 3 without following the main plot doesn't feel right.
Demons are taking over the world!! OK I'm gonna spend a few days looking for nirnroot.
I've just ostracised myself from my lifelong home to follow my father. I know, I won't bother actually looking for him, instead I'll help some nutter write a book.
That is why I could never really get into Oblivion or Fallout 3, it just felt wrong.
Which is also true with fallout - however theres a finite number of character types and a finite amount of things to do as with Oblivion and as with MorrowindQuote:
Sandbox was the whole idea behind Morrowind and Oblivion. Make whatever kind of character you like and go forth into the world to do whatever catches your fancy.
a sand box game in my opinion is a game which provides the system and the rule set and then lets you do as you please - D&D in its table top form is a sand box - theres no limmit to what the DM can let the players do - Star wars Galaxies (pre-NGE) and the classic Ultima Online were Sand box's (more or less)
my definition of a sand box game would be "heres the game world - heres the combat system - go and do as you please - your imagination is the limmit" - Mount and Blade is the perfect example of this (or it was last time i played which was a while back)
by your definition Fallout 3 is a Sand box, just a smaller one then Oblivion which was a smaller one again than Morrowind
Sand box simulators is a better description :laugh4:
Also, Morrowing just seemed so vast compared to Oblivion. You had way more than just 3 guilds, you had the 3 houses, over half a dozen guilds, three vampire clans. I easily played the game for 100 hours+ on just one character and didn't finish everything or even get that close to. Only thing I hated about it is that I couldn't find anything, especially crucial quest palces, and everyone gave horrible directions.....Quote:
Originally Posted by johnhughthom
You know there is one quest place I can't find to this day, one of the Morag Tong contracts. It's somewhere on that island to the north.Quote:
Originally Posted by TevashSzat
I'm a bit surprised I didn't love this game more.
Somehow they've managed to remove the magic from Fallout 1 and 2. Those two games are favorites of mine even though they crashed all the time. This one got put on the shelf after a couple of weeks.
Sad really. Let's hope some of the downloadable content gets it running again. We really need a bigger world and less of a railroad plot.
Silly that you have to be very far in the storyline before you can use powerarmor too. There should be an alternative way to get acces to that (maybe from the outcasts).
More info on the FO3 DLCs:
http://au.xboxlive.ign.com/articles/937/937202p1.html
Of particular note is that they will include new perks, and the third one will increase the level cap.
Power Armour here isn't really that powerful, so you're not missing out much. I've found Reilly's Rangers armour good enough for the entire game. Light, good protection, raises your skills, can be repaired with ordinary combat armour... No need for bulky PA...Quote:
Originally Posted by Magraev
The GECK (Fallout 3 modding kit) has been released.
http://geck.bethsoft.com/
Not to hijack the thread (just a F.Y.I.), but the updated downloadable versions of Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics from Good Old Games are stable under XP and Vista. They're also very affordable at $5.99 US each.Quote:
Originally Posted by Magraev
DISCLAIMER: I'm not affiliated in any way with GOG.com, nor do I obtain any benefit from recommending them - just a satisfied customer. Their catalog started out pretty small, but is now getting larger. :yes:
~:shrug: It's the common definition and I'm not the only one who finds that Fallout 3 doesn't fit it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Moody
A small sandbox isn't much of a sandbox because you don't have space to play. Fallout 3's level cap is much too low, it's far too easy to max out your character, it doesn't take long comparatively speaking to make a character who is good at everything, and there aren't many non-plot quests. Above all you have limited scope for playing with the world, or doing incredibly random and silly things. Putting a grenade in someone's pocket is one. I can't think of many other examples. Where's the equivalent of breaking into Vivec's temple and killing him without doing the main quest? Where's the equivalent to murdering the master assassin with one of the poison apples he gives you?
In my opinion, while Fallout 3 has fewer quests and is more limited than Oblivion is (which in turn is supposed to be more limited then Morrowind), it has more variety in it's quests.....and the world is certainly more interesting. I tried Morrowind, after I had finished with Oblivion and the plugins, truth be told, I got bored quickly, there is much more err....quantity....but lesser quality.
I mean it's kind of what GTA 4 and GTA SA are different in. San Andreas was huge, but GTA 4 has more to do, I think.
Anyhow, we do have a nice group of people working on Tamrial Rebuilt, making modules for TES3 engine..........if enough people try, we might soon have a Wasteland Rebuilt too. :beam:
Yeah I ended up going that way too. But In the other games power armor was so much better that the other types that I wanted to use on in this game too. As it turned out I only wore it for a few missions before swapping back to Reillys superior gear.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarmatian
The only problems I see with power armor is that is comes too late in the game to wear (unless you powergame through the main quest up to that point), and that it gives minuses to AGI (not really a bad thing if you are a melee character). For a Energy Weapons character, power armor is VITAL, at least the Tesla Armor is. Otherwise, you can get a 50 DR, +1 CHA power armor with no minuses to AGI by doing the Shoot Them In The Head quest and using the keys yourself instead of turning them in. Because said armor cannot be repaired with other armors, it's best to give it to a companion (companion weapons and armor don't degrade).
nah, i got bored of oblivion, but i'm still thoroughly hooked on F3.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pontius Pilate
It was probably a mistake to include power armor training in the main quest line. They could have done it as a side quest tied to character level (i.e. you have to be strong enough to survive a mid-level enemy encounter to get the training), or just make it a perk you can select somewhere around level 10 or 12. I ended up using the Ranger armor until the last part of the game, when I switched to Tesla (when I had access) and finally the Shoot-em-in-the-head armor at the endgame. I wore that myself because by that time I was taking very little damage, and didn't need repairs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae
It was a little disappointing that all the weapon and armor "styles" weren't that strongly differentiated. By the endgame, you have enough character advancement points (with the right perk selection) to max out two weapon types, and you can wear any armor. You're not forced to specialize as a "tank" (power armor with heavy weapons), "rogue" (sneak attack with lighter armor and small arms), or "wizard" (energy weapon specialist?). I know that games shouldn't all have to conform to holy trinity types like that, but I was expecting at least some ability to specialize, with hard choices between styles, and significant rewards for choosing a specific combat style. Instead, you can basically choose the best of everything for your character, which feels too much like powergaming. If you pay attention to the better perks and skills, you unavoidably become an invincible, uber death machine in the entire second half of the game.
All that aside, and agreeing with Froggie's points about the weak writing and quest design....
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
... I still enjoyed playing the game. I think it was mainly the environment. Too many dungeon crawls, yeah, but Bethesda did a good job with downtown D.C. and the Wasteland. I was continually amazed at how many unique static models were in the game. I was always stumbling across things I hadn't seen before. It was fun just running around in that world.
recently got this game for the 360 and can some one tell me who also has the 360 version if they found it incredibly unstable at time?
Normally 360's aren't renowned for build quality and I occasionally get the odd disk read error or system freeze but this has been amplified by Fallout. My 360 just doesn't sound healthy when running it sometimes, especially for a much longer duration.
I don't own a 360 myself, but my cousin does, and while someone else suggests something, I can tell you this, that according to him, his 360 always makes a noise like an old motorbike trying to go up a steep hill........but it's working fine. Just noisy.
Possibly one of the best games I have played...
It crashed a couple of times on me, hung up, and had some nasty glitches. I didn't have a single disc error, and the console sounded the same as it always does while playing.Quote:
Originally Posted by tibilicus
If you have a hard drive and the NXE update I suggest you install it. That will remove the strain on your disc drive and make the machine quieter, if nothing else. It could make it more stable if the disc or disc drive are involved in your problems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
Think I'll probably try that. I guess if that doesn't work I will have to face the impending truth that my 360 could be nearing that tunnel of light ~:(
Edit: That seems to of maybe done the trick.
FO3 is not a bad game, but it could have been much-much better. For one thing, too few quests. In Oblivion you'd be tripping all over quests at every location. Not so in FO3 and it shows. Then there's a lack of the evil path thru the main quest. Good or bad, one still has to work for the good guys to finish the game. That's a minus as well. Also, I wish the map was a bit bigger with a few more cities and some equivalent of Oblivion's guilds.
Of course, there are good things: there's nothing quite like running around in a full suit of power armor frying mutants with the flamer while listening to "Butcher Pete" on GNR.
Regarding moriarty and his accent: yes there was immigration from overseas by wealthy europeans who viewed the american wasteland as a new frontier, although not sure if he came with Tenpenny or not.
I love the game and I hate it. I feel its a little too easy and linear in the main quest, but then again I'm a bit obsessive in exploring and collecting:
- I'm level 15, with 5 maxed skills and all the others over 70 thanks to the comprehension perk, 42 books and lots of bobbles.
-I have a tendency to hang on to temporary party members to use as mules and backup fighters (by never actually completing the quest)...theres sydney, who offers to help you find the Declaration of Independence, you can heal her but not gear her......theres Red and the other guy from Bigtown who you rescue from supermutants, you cant heal them but you can equip them....theres the hooker from Dukovs, you cant heal or equip her but she is fun to look at (she eventually called me a **** for not taking her to rivet and left, i covertly followed her and watched her wander into a supermutant camp)....theres the guy you find outside of Little Lamplight who is getting kicked out for becoming an adult, you can equip him but not heal him...and of course theres dogmeat and the regular party members....I've had Mr Gutsy, RIP via Deathclaws at old olmey, by far the hardest fight I've had yet....and now I have Jericho who is by far the best vocal and conversationalist yet. I'm a bad, bad person and I know of the the ghoul in the underworld who I can hire and also the hot little slave girl in Paradise Falls, but I'm saving them for when Jericho dies, which doesnt appear to be anytime soon since he autoheals after combat, had unlimited ammo and is currently wearing Power Armor..
But even without all these people (I usually have them hanging in my house at TenPenny, its like a little party) I think its too easy with Vats and a little run and gun. Blasted my way out of the enclave with nary a scratch and I wasnt wearing armor (just my trade suit and the wig from the silly bot in the archives) because I started that quest after a break from the game and forgot to re-equip.
there have been a lot of entertaining, if not surreal, moments in the game:
-wandering out of some sewers I found a group of 8 raiders circled around a 9th raider wearing just his underwear, punching him and asking him if he wanted his mommy. they all attacked me, including mr underwear.
-came around the corner of a house in the cannibal town with my sniper scope up, only to find myself zoomed in on a little girl sitting very unlady like with her panties showing, to which her father told me "she's only 13 you know"
-offered to have a threesome with the guy who has the hots for the nuka-cola addict chic, at which point he yelled "hell yeah, I know where to get some nuka-cola" and ran into a mob of radscorpions and died
That being said, I dont like the fast travel system and how it relates to the spawn bubble. You see, AI characters that would normally travel their path unabated (because if you arent there, they arent figthing) will in fact run into trouble if you, say, try to escort them. So if you invest in the merchants and decide to protect your investment so you get to see a little return, your escorting them will actually get them into more fights because they are in your spawn bubble. On my good character, 4 of the merchants have been killed by Talon mercenaries who were, I assume, coming for me. I do have to admit though it's quite funny to be walking along and hear gunshots in the distance, turn around and watch a merchant, his guard and the pack mule blown sky high by some exploding cars. FYI the pack horses are kinda buggy so if a merchant does die, you can try to run down his pack and kill it and loot it but they do have a tendency to run into walls and disappear, so you gotta be quick about it.
So far my favorite weapon is the kneecapper sawed off shotgun. I think I have the special versions of all the weapons except the 10mm SMG, which sydney carries and i will get when i kill her and eat her, and the scoped 44 and the assault rifles.
Oh yeah, the exploding cars are a bit over the top as well.
This game is way, way better than oblivion and honestly better than most games I've played, I just don't like the mechanics of questing and how the game ends when you beat it. long post, I'll stop now.
The exploding vehicles are no fun if you happen to forget and try to use them as cover while being fired at. Conversely they come in pretty handy if you can entice your adversaries to be in close proximity to them when they explode. This tactic has saved my bacon more than once when I was trying to take on Enclave roadblocks while being pretty much outmatched in armor and weapons.Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Robert Dump
A lot of people have complained about the ending, and in a recent interview, one of the lead designers of the game has admitted that they misjudged how people would react to the game mechanic associated with the end of the main quest, and that they plan on correcting that aspect in future installments.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Cheers
P.S.
If you want a real exercise in escorting, try protecting Hannibal and his runaway slave group as they head to the Lincoln Memorial in the Head of State side quest. I think the developers did not intend the player to actually escort them, but instead simply meet them there. I didn't know this and spent the better part of 8 or 9 real time hours trying to complete the quest by physically escorting them.
If you do escort them, Hannibal and his group wander all over the map instead of heading directly for the Lincoln Memorial and it probably take 3 or 4 game days to do this because they walk at a snail's pace. They get to the first station north of the mall area, but then turn west-- wading across the Potomac towards Megaton. At Megaton they turn south and walk all the way to the Brotherhood of Steel camp. Then they cross a bridge at the Jefferson Memorial to head back north. Unfortunately I tried to escort them at a point in the game, just after the Enclave had taken over the Jefferson memorial in the main quest. After this event in the main quest the Enclave erects a force field around the memorial and sets up roadblocks all around the wasteland.
Consequently besides numerous animal attacks, and plenty of raider shoot-outs, I had to fight my way through no less than 4 Enclave road blocks. Fortunately, you can tell Hannibal to stop while you scout ahead. He will give you 6 hours to do this and you use can use the time to take out all the nasties in their path. They could not survive otherwise. It was an absolute epic journey, and quite a challenge---requiring many saves and re-loads, but it was kind of fun too.
The problem was that we came to a dead end when Hannibal's group could not get through the Enclave force field around the Jefferson memorial. By that time I had read on the Bethesda forums that the correct way to complete the quest was not to escort them at all, but simply fast travel to the memorial and wait for them to show up at one of the metro stations in the vicinity of the memorial.
I need to try escorting him with my good character. Escorting is actually one of the more fun aspects of the game if you know what to expect. I noticed that freed slaves, like the one at the raider stronghold with the bohemoth mutant, will pick up weapons and ammo that you don't get first. This makes for entertaining gameplay when you travel back there and get ambushed by raiders and end up being helped by halfwit freed slaves in their underwear with assault rifles.
Adding in link to the topic with thoughts on the operation anchorage DLC. I'm leaving it seperate as it will make it easier for people to find information specifically on it; this topic is big and covers plenty already. A link here should hopefully keep the two tied loosely together.
There's a pretty decent preview of DLC 2 - The Pitt up on The Escapist:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...nds-On-at-DICE
I just read that Escapist preview. WARNING: it has a few spoilers about the plot line. Don't read it if you want a completely fresh start on the expansion. Although frankly, the plot developments are fairly predictable once you know the basic "post-apocalypse city run by slavers" premise. We've all seen this movie before.
On the one hand, it's good that it's a more story-driven episode, and not another linear shoot-'em-up like the Anchorage DLC. That was very disappointing. What I'm wondering about though, is how much fun it will be to play with a capped level 20 character? That almost didn't matter in Anchorage, except for making easy combat even easier. There wasn't enough time or tactical potential in that short episode to make much use of the fancier skills and abilities. With the new DLC though, I don't know if that will work. One of the main things that keeps players motivated in RPG's is the continual increase in skills and abilities. When that's capped off, the game has to offer a very compelling story, or very challenging new enemies (which this might do, based on the preview), or gear and weapons you haven't seen before. One or two new weapons are mentioned in the preview, but I'm not a melee specialist that would be interested. If they have something for a sniper, maybe.
This time I'm going to wait for some user feedback before jumping on it.
You sir have just made my day. ~:)Quote:
Originally Posted by TinCow
I heard a rumor the pit was just released, but my internet isn't working... still, about the only website i can seem to get on is this and my brothers website. can someone confirm?
The PC version was released and is available AFAIK.
The xbox version was released, discovered to be a huge, buggy mess and was pulled down. It's got giant red placeholder markers instead of new art assets, floating trees and rocks, crashes, and all sorts of other issues. Glad I didn't buy it.
Yes it is, but I personally wouldn't get to excited about it..Quote:
Originally Posted by Veho Nex
So far I'm actually finding it less enjoyable than Operation Anchorage. Also if your a high level character you probably wont get much out of it unless you crank your difficulty right up.
Bought it but as I was installing it computer froze up and died. That was on wensdat right after I read FBE's post. Anyways, I think I killed the HD where FO3 was on, when it was only a IDE cable death. So I have to start anew. I'll give a review when I am done.
I can actually say towards the end the Pitt was really quite good if not a bit short.
With out spoiling to much I'll just say the moral choice you have to make is really quite challenging and a taxing one, much harder than any decisions made within the main campaign..
I waited a month before buying The Pit. Now it's fully fixed and the game's level cap has been raised I downloaded it, along with Broken Steel.
The Pit is hard to recommend. It's better than Operation Anchorage, in that it's not pure run and gun. It's underwhelming in that the new area is cramped and dull, the main quest is short and dull, the new NPCs are dull and dull, and it features the mother of all Fallout collection quests ... which is annoying and dull. Collecting 100 steel ingots took me over an hour with a printed guide, and would have been intolerable without one.
The only good is that while the two sides may look obviously good and evil, they're not. Don't get too excited though; the truth is simultaneously obvious a mile away and poorly telegraphed. It revolves around a child born with a unique resistance to mutation.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Broken Steel is ... meh. Quests which take you through yet more tunnel dungeons, followed by an assault on a huge base where your options get stripped away. Got 100 points in stealth? Tough, these enemies can still spot you most of the time. Want to hack and use something other than brute force? Tough, all you do is release more enemies or turn off a couple of turrets. The base is filled with tedious enemies who take and give a lot of damage, and behave exactly the same as the last 640 humanoids you killed. Yawn.
Broken Steel has killed the game's stability. I'm playing the xbox version and it's locked the console up multiple times. It has severe frame rate issues in that huge base. I'm seeing quite a few glitches I never encountered before, such as shots from weapons getting stuck and hanging in mid air forever.
(At this point I feel obliged to add that the first version of Broken Steel had problems registering achievements on the xbox, and was broken on the PC. The xbox version now has that fixed, and I haven't heard the same about the PC version. I would also add that the xbox fix was not as good as promised, and has broken some people's gamertags and achievements for Fallout 3 entirely. This after the debacle of The Pit, where it took 4 or 5 attempts before the xbox recieved a fully functional version of the DLC. A lot of people lost their game saves in that mess, primarily those with high level characters and many hours invested in the game. Completely and utterly pitiful.)
One of the new enemy types, the ghoul reaver, is either a glitchy mess or completely ill-conceived. It spasms around like the animation is fighting with the ragdoll effects, and soaks up so much damage it's nearly impossible to kill. I'm talking hundreds of bullets from a fully repaired top end weapon here. In a fight with 2 of them my combat shotgun went from fully repaired to completely broken before I killed them, and I used a unique laser and a unique Chinese assault rifle for lots of shots too. It's an understatement to say that a single one of these ghouls has more health than an entire dungeon worth of high level enemies. Meanwhile they do around 100HP of damage to my level 24 character with ultra amazing armour; she has just over 500HP. Spamming stimpacks is a tedious must. They're faster than you so running away is no good, and you can't sneak around them even with 100 points. The other new enemies are not nearly as tough; they feel as though they are operating on the same scale as the original enemies, so they represent the same kind of step up as a super mutant master did to a brute etc.
The new content does do a good job of sorting out the abysmal original ending. This is how it should have been. Being able to get to level 30 is very nice. The new perks are mostly complete rubbish.
All in all I can't recommend any of the DLC to the general player. Broken Steel is worth a purchase if the raised level cap is really important to you.
I hope that's truly it for DLC. No more please! I don't know why I keep doing this; I wasn't that fond of the original game in the first place. I guess it is because I keep hoping to find the wow-awesome game so many others did; got to be better than the tunnel dungeon trudge with awful writing and dire plot I played ...
Note: this is about the PC/Windows Live version of The Pitt and Broken Steel.
I did the Pitt shortly after it came out, and concur with Froggie's review; she really nailed it. I won't say it was a complete waste of time, because I still enjoy running around in the post-apocalypse world as a change of pace from the other games I've been playing recently. The hot and steamy color palette of the Pitt was a nice contrast to the cool blues of Anchorage. Art-wise and environment design-wise I thought it was pretty good, although it did feel very cramped. I thought I'd be wandering around a city similar to the scale of D.C. like the main campaign, but it was more like being confined in a small neighborhood section. I understand the constraints, for a low-cost, minor DLC release like this, but it was still disappointing once I realized how small an area I was going to be moving around in. It conflicts with the big, open-ended feel of the main campaign (more on that below).
One nice thing I enjoyed was more use of the vertical in the environment. You can get up on rooftops in one area, and there are lots of catwalks. At least it was a little different than the corridor crawls.
I didn't have the patience to do the full steel ingot run, I only did the part that advanced the plot. I agree about the "big moral choice" too. That was very badly handled, with not enough information for the player.
Depending on what difficulty and character type you're playing you'll probably want to do the Pitt at somewhere around level 15-17. I did it with my character post-Anchorage at level 20. Other than a few surprises from scripted attacks, it was pretty easy.
Due to the aggravating way Microsoft forces you to buy points in blocks instead of just enough for the current game you want, I had some leftover points after The Pitt. Fallout 3 is the only reason I have that execrable Windows Live thing installed (I don't own an XBox), and since with the leftover points it only cost me $6.25 USD to buy Broken Steel, I did that. At that price I figured it couldn't be too terrible.
I'm about halfway through Broken Steel, trying to stretch it out a little, and my reaction so far is... meh. It's okay, I guess, although like the previous two DLC's I'm still feeling railroaded through the plot. These "mini" DLC's are not a good match for a game like Fallout 3, where the main campaign takes place in a very large environment where you can do a lot of exploration, and pursue dozens of side quests. I love wandering around the wasteland and discovering stuff.
For me, the three DLC's haven't been total failures, because they don't cost that much. On the other hand, they don't deliver that much either. They're just little stabs at expanding the original game world. Frankly, I would rather have paid another $30-$40 for a single "real" Fallout 3 expansion pack that extended the main campaign, with new character levels, and made the explorable world larger, with dozens more quests and not just one major, railroaded plot line that I'm forced to follow. On the other hand, major expansions like that are larger risks for the game developer. I guess it makes economic sense to do it this way, but I'll definitely be more wary of this approach. Ladling out fresh content in little dribs and drabs isn't a substitute for traditional, major expansion packs.
I did some digging on various forums. Turns out that the ghoul reavers are broken; if their animation is spasming about they are effectively invulnerable. When they are not spasming they are only a little harder than a Glowing One. The lock ups and other issues I have encountered are being experienced by quite a few others too. I should have waited a bit longer before buying - all of the fuss last week was focused on the broken achievements, with little attention paid to the gameplay issues.
I forgot to mention that I had trouble with The Pit too. A certain speech cut off halfway through, leaving me stuck. I had to reload. Later on another event failed to trigger, once again leaving me trapped with nothing to do except reload. I'm playing the fixed version, and have never downloaded any of the faulty ones so it can't be blamed on residual bad files at my end.
Colour me highly unimpressed. Putting out DLC for a closed environment like a console should be relatively easy to get right on a technical level. Most companies manage it; I can't think of any besides Bethesda which have managed to make such a mess.
That's the part of Fallout 3 I do like. It's still nice to wander the wastes and find the last few locations I have missed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zenicetus
The DLC is like a capsule containing everything I dislike about the game, Broken Steel's main plot line being the worst offender of all. Inane dialogue -> tunnel dungeon -> pick up object -> return for more inane dialogue -> tunnel dungeon -> repeat until it's finally over. They even throw in some plot objects which don't make sense. Minor spoilers for the final plot mission:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Any PC user tried to play a heavy modded Fallout3? I recently installed FOOK, a mod that adds most of the classical F1 and F2 weapons (.223 pistol hehehe) and many other stuff to it. Then there is also Marts Mutant Mod that's supposed to make ghouls more like zombies. They attack in larger groups, are tougher and so on. Also adds Floaters and Geckos to the game.
It all seems to be expand the fun with a better feeling of the old Fallouts, allthough I have only played them for a short time.
:sigh: I finally dragged my way through the rest of Broken Steel this afternoon and breathed a big sigh of relief as I deleted the whole lot off my console's hard drive. Guess what? Bethesda instantly announce two more lots of DLC! Gah! Please. Just. Make. It. Stop!Quote:
Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
:wall:
I've finished this game 3 times now! 3! And every single time they release more content so my game ends up returning to unfinished status! 3 times I have deleted the content off my xbox, 3 times I have breathed a sigh of relief that I don't have any reason to ever, ever go back! 130 hours! I have played nearly 130 hours between two characters! I worked hard to get 100% on the commercial game and they keep on taking that away. I don't like the game much even though I am an RPG fanatic, and they keep on giving me a reason to try it yet again just in case it's not as boring as I thought.
Please let me sling the game on my completed pile and never need to touch it again. Please. It's not too much to ask for, is it? Let me keep my completed status and leave me alone. Please?
That announcement mentions DLC coming for PS3, I was under the impression Microft paid a fortune to make it 360 only a la GTA 4. I guess they only put up for a limited period of exclusivity.
I enjoyed Fallout 3. The DLC's eh i guess i just hate glitchy console games, you know i understand laggy games on my computer, cause computers are all built to different standards. But come on all Xbox 360s are the same how the hell can you make a game that doesnt work on a standardized operating system. If its too much then just tone it down a little.
The original game i loved, even though i sorta missed my character after killing him off cause my D bag of a super mutant companion wouldn't just walk into the damn room. Also about fawkes, uh hes a littleeeeee overpowered. In other words he broke my game. I just sat back and let him do my killin. So i got rid of him and took back my trusty companions, Jericho and my pet doggy. Plus i get to fit out Jericho in BA armor and make him a total BAMF but fawkes cant wear nothing (hint give the super armor you find in that quest to jericho and give him the best weapon you cant reapir. Because he doesnt use up the stuff and at least someone gets some use out of it). Also jericho said way better stuff.
While im ranting about companions i just want to say that they are totally an awesome feature. There isn't anything like having a little backup for a teamwork freak like myself (like seriously i preserve my marines in Halo 3, and if they die i give them a 21 gun salute. Do you have any idea how hard it is to preserve a 4 man squad on legendary in Halo, yeah a little hint here,... its hard)
So overall i give bethesda a thumbs up.
(sorry for my excessive use of parentheses and also my ranting)
The technical problems are frustrating, at this late date in the game's development cycle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Centurion1
On the PC at least, it seems to be mostly related to the "Windows Live" thing, which has nothing to do with the original game and just complicates things (like having to stay online while you play the DLC content). Frame rates and overall performance are still fine, but ever since the Pitt DLC it makes the game do a hard lockup of the computer on exit, requiring a reboot. It's been a year or two since I've played a game that actually locked up the entire Windows (XP) OS like this and required a cold restart, instead of just a crash to desktop.
On the positive side, I've revised my opinion of Broken Steel a little. The raised level cap does encourage exploration outside the main plot line. I usually don't look at online game forums or Wiki's unless I get stuck on something, but with the raised level cap there was an incentive to keep exploring the game world, and find a few of the unique weapons I had missed. BS beefs up the random encounters with the new higher-level baddies like supermutant Overlords, so it was fun finding these things. When I was capped at level 20, I just didn't have the motivation to finish this game content, and there weren't enough dangerous enemies to make it challenging. So, kudos to the game devs for providing incentive to continue exploring the world they created.
I haven't tried re-playing the game from scratch (and won't), but I suspect that the higher-level enemies added by the BS DLC throughout the Wasteland might reduce that uber-powered feeling you get around level 15 in the original campaign.
I'm still not sure I'll buy either of the two announced DLC's. The alien one is interesting thematically, so I might go for that one. The "horror swamp" one doesn't sound that enticing... just more killing stuff, over and over? I dunno.
I play a small arms and energy weapons specialist, going for sneak and sniper skills. I like to scout the terrain before advancing, take out perimeter guards with a sniper rifle, etc. For that style, when I use a companion at all, Charon (contract ghoul) is a good one. He'll go into sneak mode when I do, which keeps him out of trouble most of the time, and he doesn't feel overpowered.Quote:
The original game i loved, even though i sorta missed my character after killing him off cause my D bag of a super mutant companion wouldn't just walk into the damn room. Also about fawkes, uh hes a littleeeeee overpowered. In other words he broke my game. I just sat back and let him do my killin. So i got rid of him and took back my trusty companions, Jericho and my pet doggy. Plus i get to fit out Jericho in BA armor and make him a total BAMF but fawkes cant wear nothing (hint give the super armor you find in that quest to jericho and give him the best weapon you cant reapir. Because he doesnt use up the stuff and at least someone gets some use out of it). Also jericho said way better stuff.
The main problem with companions is the way they'll take off on their own if they spot nearby enemies before you can engage them yourself. It's usually related to pathfinding; especially in complex vertical 3D environments where they're spotting enemies above or below you. So I'll often tell Charon to just wait somewhere while I scout ahead, or when I go into buildings with complex vertical levels. I like the way he grumbles under his breath, and complains about areas not being safe.
Unfortunately not. I'd planned my second character around the 3 DLC episodes, so I had plenty left to do after completing the plot and DLC missions. I found that with the metal blaster and 100 points in energy weapons the overloard and albino radscorpion were going down in 5-8 shots. One's a strictly melee enemy and seldom got to hit me, the other was just another gun user who did more than average damage. Unbugged ghoul reavers I could kill in a single stealth critical or in 2 normal shots.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zenicetus
The enclave troops were the toughest IMO. That new flamethrower is nasty and the ones with hellfire armour take a tonne of shots to drop. I didn't encounter any outside of the Broken Steel plot line.
I've run into a few of the new Enclave guys outside the main plot in the wasteland, at those small encampments with the portable satellite dish. They're easy to spot at a distance from the blue glow. Usually it's something like one guy in the new Hellfire armor, with two in Tesla armor and maybe one scientist.Quote:
Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
I also ran into one lone guy in Hellfire armor right outside the door to the Citadel, with no Brotherhood guards around. I had just teleported in to that location, so it was probably one of those random threats the game generates for teleport arrivals.
Yeah i havent really run into many of the new enclave. So how much better is the hellfire armor at full strength
Hellfire armor has the same 50 damage reduction as T51b armor (highest in the game), slightly less rad resistance at +15, and it adds +30 fire resistance and +1 strength. Like the T51b there's no agility penalty. Unlike the T51b which costs money to repair (and can't be repaired completely past 88% I think?), you can repair Hellfire armor with other Hellfire armor taken from Enclave soldiers. Together with the strength bonus, that makes it the best armor in the game, I think, if you're into wearing power armor. I gave my T51b armor to my companion as soon as I figured out how easy Hellfire armor was to repair.
It's mainly the toughness of the guys wearing the armor, and their heavy weapon, that make them hard to kill. It's not so much the armor itself. These are the stats from the Fallout 3 Wiki page on the Hellfire Trooper:
Statistics
* Level: 24
* Health: 250
* SPECIAL: 6ST, 6PE, 6EN, 3CH, 4IN, 4AG, 4LK
Skills
* Big Guns: 100
* Energy Weapons: 100
Yeah i ran into some yesterday so now i have a fully powered up set of armor. Yeah it looks nice and the guys are a pain in the @$$ to kill. I also give the t51b armor to my companion i mean otherwise its useless in like five minutes
I just bought the game, having played it briefly in a cybercafe a while back.
Are there any suggestions for the new player? Like, what skills/perks/items to avoid, etc? In Oblivion I was most comfortable with a archer/poisoner/thief type. In particular, is it worth investing on speech or charisma or whatever it's called? The speech mechanic looks different than that of Oblivion. An interesting skill, 'Black Widow', intrigued me when I played it briefly, I wonder if it's possible to play a femme fatale throughout the game.
EDIT: Wow, guys, nothing? Ah well.
Oblivion with Guns...
...I am now at lvl 14 and this certainly is not Fallout. All the dirty risquee elements are out and attempts towards humour are very sub par. Dialogues and voices are the usual Bethesda stuff (make you want to be deaf and illiterate). The funny elements have been killed off (you cannot shoot someone in the groin...) The atmosphere is Oblivion, the trading is Oblivion (who on Earth liked that?) and it even has a...
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
...Oh and am I just unlucky or they kicked out special encounters too??!
It is still an enjoyable game,although boring at times, but Fallout it ain't.
Whilst it is not a Total Failure, I would be glad if Bethesda sells it's rights to a developer that has the guts to create a proper Fallout game.
Even more frustrating is the total disregard Bethesda and Microsoft have for my sweet sweet money. Games for Windows does not support my country so no DLC for me. An option to pay by credit card to download it does not exist. Of course there was no such information available when I bought the game so in essence I bought a compromised product.
Black widow gives you a tiny number of special dialogues throughout the game. It’s not worth taking for that. It is worth taking for the bonus damage against men in combat – many of the human enemies you encounter will be male.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quirinus
Drop charisma down and put the points into something useful. Charisma is totally useless.
Intelligence is probably the most powerful stat. The more points you put in it the more skill points you gain on levelling up. With 10INT and a particular perk you can gain 23 points per level. You'll be a powerhouse after a few levels if you put the points into a selection of key skills (a weapon, repair, sneak, speech once the others reach 75) and by the time you reach level 20 you will have maxed out pretty much every skill you would ever want to use.
Endurance is either awesome or not. Depends on how much you expect to get hurt. If you're going sneaky stealth then you won't need as much health as a toe to toe bruiser.
Strength is likewise. If you plan on big guns and the like then it's good. Otherwise drop it to 4 and add the point to something useful like INT. There's an easy way to gain +1 to STR early on in the game, so you can soon bump it back up to 5. Loot isn't important after the first few levels; it's possible to become stupidly wealthy with very little effort. I had more caps than I could ever spend by the time I was level 8.
Luck should either be pumped or ignored. You gain extra chance at critical hits and +1 to all of your skills.
Perception is quite important. If you get it to 7 you can get some very good perks. Shouldn't need more than that.
Agility should be pumped. More action points = more time in VATS = easier combat.
Pick a single primary weapon and get it to 75 ASAP. Work on a secondary weapon type later. Small guns are the best type to start with as they are common, have plenty of ammo, and don't have the drawbacks of the other types. Big weapons are heavy and a bit rare. Energy weapons take a while before they start to drop in loot but do good damage and have a low AP cost in VATS, so they're great for mid to high level characters. Explosives are more of a support than a main. Hand to hand and unarmed are quite specialist; if you take them then you need to build your character around the idea with lots of health, high STR, high medicine etc.
Explosives of 25 is needed if you want to solve a quest you can find early on in a certain way. The quest will sit there and wait for as long as you need so there's no huge rush, however the reward is very nice.
Barter is totally useless. Don't put points into it. After a few levels money is not a problem.
Repair is vital. Better condition means more damage from your weapons and more protection from your armour. Guns in poor condition can jam when you reload. It's also a good way to handle loot; repair items so you are carrying less weight but higher quality. Items in good condition sell for more caps than broken ones.
There are bobble heads and books which raise stats and SPECIAL scores. That's why you don't want to start out with a 10 in anything, or take a skill to 100 early on.
Some perks are awesome, many are poor. Try to plan ahead.
IIRC my last character (smart, stealthy small guns talker) was something like:
S:4
P:6
E:4
C:4
I:9
A:9
L:7
TAG: small guns, repair, speech.
On level up I put points into repair and small guns until they reached 75. Then stealth to 75 while doing locking and science to 25. Once stealth was 75, I got science and lock picking to 50 because at that point you can open most locks and computers. Then I worked on speech, energy weapons, medicine.
NB: That's from rough memory; I don't know if the points add up to the correct total or not. There may actually be more points to use than that; if so bump END to 5. Use it as a guideline not a rule.
Heard about Fallout Vegas? Obsidian has some of the original Fallout 1/2 team.Quote:
Originally Posted by rasoforos
No I havent.Quote:
Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
You 've made me a very happy misanthrope :2thumbsup:
Let's hope for the best.
I'm at Lvl 14 now, roleplaying a goody-two-shoes stealth gunner. I've been enjoying the game immensely. It's certainly "Oblivion-with-guns", but as I enjoyed Oblivion very much, this is a plus rather than a minus for me.
The world is very immersive, and, though from the map I could see that the world is not that big, it feels big when exploring it. The quests are pretty good, except for the Wasteland Survival Guide quests... Moira is very annoying. I'm role-playing a good character so I can't kill her. I can't wait for when I replay as an evil character.
VATS is a godsend for someone with a retarded trigger finger like me, but even without VATS combat was ver satisfying. I do hate the interface though. I get that they're trying to build on a post-apocalyptic theme, but I hate the PipBoy's monochromatic display. I think there's a way to bind weapons to the number buttons, but I haven't figured out how. The repair system doesn't bother me as I pumped skill points into repair early. But I wish they had implemented something like Hellgate: London instead (break down unused loot to scrap metal).
I haven't played the first two Fallouts, so I don't know if they were in them, but I don't like the Super Mutants. They just seem too much like a fantasy orc to me, and- who are they supposed to be anyway? How come some swing nail boards but some can operate missile launchers and miniguns? I love the Ghouls as a race though, and the Ghoul Mask is awesome. I keep wearing it around when killing even if I don't happen to be killing feral ghouls. It just looks so darn cool.
Apparel-wise, the choice seems pretty scanty so far. I don't think I've encountered a new piece of apparel for ages. The modding community is no help here. It's because it's a new game I'm sure, but the FO3 modding community is small compared to Oblivion's. My favourite weapons so far are the scoped .44 Magnum and the hunting rifle. Nothing like sneaking up to a raider and blowing up his head over an iron sight. It's not as cool with the sniper rifle because it kicks and you can't really see the target go down. And the scoped .44 Magnum... well it's the world's most powerful handgun... with a scope. =o
A pretty entertaining game so far, all considered.
I think there's a way to bind weapons to the number buttons, but I haven't figured out how.
In the pip boy screen, just hold down the number key and click the weapon you want to bind to it.
Super Mutants were the bad guys in Fallout 1 and have featured in every other game in the series. It's only in Fallout 3 that they became braindead Orc-things, however. Initially they were intelligent megalomaniacs that thought themselves superior to all other creatures but at the same time were cursed with infertility and - as a result - inevitable extinction.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quirinus
The trailer for the Lookout Point DLC is out (release date is June 23):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5uSZ7REcWg
I was assuming this would just be a basic shoot-em-up, and was more interested in the last DLC, with the aliens. But 'ya know.... the Zombie horror movie vibe in the trailer looks like it could be fun.
OTOH... I can't quite see this working with my level 26 uber warrior with Hellfire armor and a Tesla cannon. It just doesn't fit the vibe in the trailer. I'd rather be that guy in the trailer with just light armor, a baseball bat and a shotgun.... maybe a level 10 character, with enemies scaled appropriately. Otherwise, if it's scaled for players who completed Broken Steel, the ghouls (or whatever they're showing) will have to be even tougher than the Feral Ghoul Reavers in BS.
I could see the final Alien encounter DLC working that way. You should need to be near level 30 with the highest-tech weapons to fight an alien, but how much do you need to off zombies in a swamp? That's baseball bat and shotgun territory, if we're going to stick to the classic horror cliches. It will be interesting to see how they balance this one. Maybe it would be worth starting a new game and running up to level 10, if it's actually scaled that way.
Eh, they'll probably have some sort of special zombies that take more punishment for the higher level players.
Whew! Finally finished the Main Quest at level 19. I still like it, though perhaps a bit less than I did at level 13.
One main gripe for me is the limited scope of the game. For a freeform game, FO3 is awfully short on quests. The major city in the game, Megaton, has one short quest and a long series of errands (Moira's quests). The other settlements are pretty much the same. Coming from Oblivion, where a town can hold tons of quests, this is something of a disappointment. I was expecting being able to join a caravans' guild, or a merc organisation, or something.
I don't know, it seems to me that a lot of extra missions could have been tacked onto the sides of the existing missions without much additional work. For example, considering that raiders/slavers are such a big problem, there could have been a quest to raid a raider den. Or if you choose to listen to Mister Burke, there could be have been a line of 'dirty work' missions-- kill this NPC, threaten that NPC. Or: convince the Rivet City citizens to take Pinkerton back. Etcetera.
Throughout the game, I never really felt that I was scratching a living out of a barren wasteland-- caps and ammo were relatively abundant, and radiation wasn't such a problem. Of course, while it detracts from the apocalyptic setting, imo it does make the game more playable. In this respect it's similar to Left 4 Dead.
The perks are somewhat unbalanced-- some perks are clearly better than others. Come on, "Computer Whiz" at level 18? Really?
Gripes aside, however, I still enjoyed it while it lasted. The world of the Capital Wasteland is interesting to explore, and I was hooked into the game. I think I'll play through it another time with an evil character before I uninstall it.
Looking forward to blowing up a certain blight on the landscape of the Wasteland. ;)
Best video on the subject ever.
The Point Lookout DLC for Fallout 3 is out. I'm such a sucker... I had to see what it looks like, so I bought it on the execrable MS Live thing for the PC. Still downloading, won't be able to play until later tonight or tomorrow. Is anyone else here trying it?
If I use my main character that went through all three of the other DLC's (Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel), he's at level 25 and can kill anything. From the look of the trailer, Point Lookout is more of an atmospheric storyline (hopefully) instead of just wasting large numbers of teched-up soldiers like Broken Steel. So I'm planning to drop off my Hellfire armor and most of the uber energy weapons at my shack in Megaton... just hop on the steamship with light armor, a rifle and shotgun, and see how it goes.
After running through the main campaign and the three DLC's so far, one thing I *dont* have to worry about, is having enough ammunition. :beam:
Funny thing is....I didn't drop off most of my gear for Point Lookout....:brood: Ended up over weight most of the time.....it was nice but....(My guy is pretty much unkillable...I basically have over a thousand skims....I can drink just about anything...because my guy absorbs rads over time...and all my stats were at a hundred....) Point Lookout is more based for a up and coming character....not one who has "Seen it all and laughs at your petty attempts to harm him":smash:
It was nice to kill a couple of hours with.....but I wouldn't really think it worth much more then that...:bow:
I played a little bit of Point Lookout last night, just enough to get oriented to the area and the general vibe. Not very far into the plot yet... just looking around. The environment design and atmosphere is well-done, I think. It feels a little less "plot on rails" than the other DLC's, but we'll see how that goes.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
I agree it's probably better as a side-quest for medium level characters, but I think it still works if you're willing to roleplay it at a higher level, and go very light on armor and weapons. Light armor makes you more vulnerable even at level 25.
I'm having fun fooling around with melee weapons too, which I never really did in the main campaign or other DLC's. Staying simple there too, with either a shovel, baseball bat, or that fancy sword from the Chinese general at the end of the Anchorage DLC. The sword looks good with my leather armor and confederate cap. Yee haw!
Still no idea if it's a good bang for buck. I'm trying to stretch it out and play in small doses instead of just running through it, so it may take a few days to finish.
Thanks for the first impressions, Zenicetus. Will be very interested to hear what you (and any others) have to say about Point Lookout. The only DLC i've gotten thus far for FO3 is Broken Steel and that was solely to get to a more satisfying ending.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zenicetus
A follow-up on Point Lookout. I finished it recently, or at least the main quest and almost all the side quests. I think there's one more minor quest that I need to find, but the area is 90% explored.
For me, this was the most enjoyable of the DLC's, mainly because it has a more open, relaxed feel than the first three. There is a main plot, but you can take it at your own pace. It doesn't dominate the area or keep pushing you forward in a linear path, the way the three previous DLC's did. There are 5 other side quests, 3 mini-quests (ones that don't trigger info on your quest log), and lots of little easter eggs and hidden loot in the area. This DLC rewards exploration in a way the other three DLC's didn't. It feels like a miniature version of the original game.
After fighting Enclave guys in power armor in the last DLC, it was nice to get into a low-tech area like this. To fit the theme, I used only Ranger armor, and only small arms and explosives. No heavy weapons or energy weapons. Ranger armor works well in PL, because it can be repaired with combat armor, and you can find that on smuggler bands that respawn in the area. Combat armor is also sold by one of the vendors. If you choose any of the lighter armor types, you should be able to repair easily. There is no power armor except maybe one or two sets in trunks or boxes, so self-repair of that type can't be done as easily as in Broken Steel. There is plenty of ammo to be found for heavy and energy weapons, but you'll run into a similar difficulty finding weapon spares for repairing. Aside from a few smugglers with rocket launchers, and a few robots here and there using lasers, I saw no higher-tech weapons.
I have to revise my earlier comment about it being for mid-level characters. It might feel that way if you go in with power armor, the best unique weapons and a post-20's character, but there are some very tough enemies in Point Lookout. A few have attacks that bypass damage reduction stats, and they have very high hitpoints. That's actually about my only complaint with Point Lookout. It's not that the enemies are tough, but there's a disconnect between what they look like -- wearing normal clothing, un-armored, no headgear -- and how much damage they can take. It just doesn't look right for a "tribal" human to take three or four shotgun blasts direct to the head, and keep coming at you. I suppose people would complain it was too easy otherwise, But it does break the immersion a little. Maybe it's just all my guns going rusty and the ammo getting wet and ineffective, from walking around in the swamp water? In contrast, there is a new monster type......that was always easy to kill. It should have been a lot scarier. Someone screwed up the balance there.Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Anyway, for me it was a good DLC. Easily the best bang for the buck. In retrospect I would have passed on Anchorage and The Pitt, and would only have done Broken Steel for the higher level cap.
Speaking of that... maybe they were trying too hard to avoid making the player too powerful, but I just can't get very excited about the perks past level 20. Nothing is all that interesting or useful. I think I ended up putting points mostly into the early part of the list that I had bypassed. Also I think it would have been better to increase the cap on weapon skill past 100, so you could still have some sense of specializing in one type or another. When you get up into about level 27 or so (where I am now), you'll probably have most of the weapon types maxed to 100, and you have to use "house rules" like I'm doing with Point Lookout (no heavies, no energy weapons) to play a more interesting game.