chaobreaker
Member
A week before the trailer reveal of Fallout 4, I decided I wanted to give Fallout 3 a proper shot. Disclaimer: I tried out F3 a couple of years before this playthrough. After completing a handful of side quests and making it to Rivet City, I prematurely ended that playthrough due to a frustrating amount of CTDs.
Anyway, after 64 hours of gradual play over these 3 weeks, I managed to complete the main story quest line, all the side quests in the Capital Wasteland (that dont require you to be an evil prick) and all the DLC add-ons quest lines.
Im a huge fan of the Fallout series. Played the first 2 Fallout games to death and have played a lot of New Vegas (havent beaten that particular game yet, though.) So the things I heard about how Bethesda handled their contribution to the Fallout lore worried me to say the least. After giving this game a fair shot, I can honestly say that their effort wasn't half-bad at all. Granted the main quest took some suspension-disbelieving turns, I thought the world they crafted on the East Coast was pretty well done.
Im not really good at elucidating my thoughts on stuff in paragraphs, so Ill just list out all my feelings on my experience in bullet points.
The Good:
- The world was well thought out, as expected from a Bethesda open world RPG. The Capital Wasteland was a more derelict and grim setting compared to the somewhat more structured and lively settings seen in the West Coast Fallout games. Bethesda did a good job in justifying why their world is a such a super mutant infested, uncivilized shithole.
- Transition from isometric 2D turn-based strategy RPG to 3D FPS/Action-Adventure hybrid was handled pretty well. Still captured the feel that youre playing a Fallout game. Ill cover my views on VATS later.
- Great amount of content to find on the vanilla game. Although it was a much lighter experience compared to previous Bethesda open-world RPGs, most of the side quests and unique locales were unique enough to make the game feel fresh.
- The soundtrack is the best. I would argue that Inon Zurs melodic and orchestrated approach to a Fallout games soundtrack is the best fit for the series compared to Mark Morgans more metallic(?) and ambient OST seen in the 2D games. Here are some of my favorite tracks:
- The radio station songs are pretty nice too, I guess. Civilization (aka Bingo Bango Bango) is my jam even though its pretty racist lol.
- Some really stand-out quests in this game. I already covered Tranquility Lane last week but I want to give special shout outs to quests like Stealing Independence, Blood Ties, The Replicated Man, The Superhuman Gambit, Trouble on the Homefront, and You Gotta Shoot Em in the Head.
- Quick comments on the DLC add-ons:
- Operation Anchorage was great. A quick and simple diversion from the main game that was executed well. Lots of fun toys to play with at the end of that DLC. Chinese Stealth Armor the GOAT.
- I enjoyed the Pitt. That twist at the climax of the quest line was pretty cool. The steelyard area is one of the most beautiful and well designed areas I've ever seen from a Bethesda developed game.
- Broken Steel was OK. Not too many special stuff compared to the other add-ons but the extension to that main game was much appreciated. I pity anyone who had to deal with the vanilla games ending and having companions like Fawkes send you to your death for reasons.
- Point Lookout is the best. The only expansion that gave you a huge world to explore and secrets to find. Thats what I wanted from these add-ons the most. It's kind of weird how those mutated inbred hicks can take so many plasma shots to the face before going down, though.
- Mothership Zeta was brief but great experience. Some of the best visuals Ive ever seen for a game. Im almost flabbergasted how nice it looks compared to the rest of the game. Its unfortunate how much of the DLC is locked out as you progress in it. Special mention to that final battle with the UFO-on-UFO combat.
- Operation Anchorage was great. A quick and simple diversion from the main game that was executed well. Lots of fun toys to play with at the end of that DLC. Chinese Stealth Armor the GOAT.
The Bad:
- VATS was an ambitious attempt of adding some of that turn-based RPG gameplay into a real-time action game, but it was implemented pretty terribly IMO. For one, it pretty much trivializes most risk in combat since all damage towards you during VATs is significantly reduced. You can pretty much cheese most encounters with the right weapons. I also dont like how accuracy completely drops at long ranges or how VATs accuracy doesnt consider high elevations in its calculation. Good luck trying to use VATS with sniper rifles in this game.
- The loot game is pretty weak. There are at least a hundred different trash items that you can get in the thousands of containers scattered throughout the world but only a handful of them have any value even then its just so you can give it to a specific NPC and get a handful of caps, karma, or stimpacks for your trouble. The majority of rewards for most quests and the end of dungeons are pretty insignificant in the long run. I stopped scouring containers halfway into my playthough.
- I really loathed exploring downtown DC and being forced to navigate through the copypasted subway systems and invisible walls to get where I want. I pretty much never willingly explored the downtown area as a result.
- Besides Tranquility Lane and the last two quests, the main quest is the worst. Special mention to the guided action segments like when you have to go through like three dozen Super Mutants with the Brotherhood of Steel on the way to GNR station, and youre subtly nudged into using a carefully Fatman against the Behemoth in the end of the segment. I really dont enjoy my open-world games railroading me for that long, like during that long prologue sequence of your PC growing up.
- The game suffers from that weird scaled leveling BS that was seen in TES: Oblivion. End-game enemies are scaled to always be bullet sponges long after you maxed your character and have the best gear. Some enemies were dishing and talking way too many damage for my tastes. Power armor is pretty much trash in this game because of this and how Bethesda implemented damage resistance and that super lame equipment condition system.
- I dont quite like how the player character is depicted as being this all-powerful savior/destroyer of the wastes. I know the other Fallout games went to this direction with their player character, but it just feels really weird to have all this praising/admonishing from Three-Dog and Ron Perlman being directed at this teenager.
- I made the mistake of playing Fallout 3 after sinking my teeth into New Vegas, so I noticed all of the unrefined gameplay elements that Obsidian Entertainment fixed. Stuff like the more valuable perks, weapon repairing, VATS, crafting, the improved skill system, weapon mods, and hardcore mode.
- Fuck the karma system.
Thats pretty much all I wanted to say. I have mixed feelings about the entirety of the game but I appreciated the attempt Bethesda made to revive this dead series. I hope they improve on the mistakes they made for Fallout 4 and at the same time takes note on how Obsidian handled New Vegas.
What do you think about Fallout 3, GAF?
