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[Son of Godzilla]

I probably should have learned by now. I hated Morrowind. I liked Oblivion but abandoned it without getting anything but the first mission completed. I have nothing but complete and utter apathy for Fallout 3.

I think the biggest sinker for me is how little the good/bad shit comes into play. Some chick gives me utter trash for being good and a few underlings will or won't roll with me. That's fucking it? And there's no actual rating system, just above a certain amount of good or bad? I was a mother fucking saint and nobody recognizes that unless I gain a damn level?

 

[Boss Man]

I'm in the same boat. I really want to like Fallout 3, but I just can't get into it. Played the hell out of Oblivion...

 

[Diablohead]

They should have made action points fill slower, it's too easy to use v.a.t.s so I avoid using it unless I know that i'm going to waste ammo spraying something.

 

[MMaRsu]

Perhaps its just the V.A.T.S. system. I haven't been using it all that much.

Well wtf there you go! This game isn't a shooter, and if you play it as such, it sucks.

VATS or bust.

 

[Skiptastic]

Sorry bout ya, man. Combat shottie and headshots on super mutants to blast their fucking heads off is the simplified combat I love in my WRPGs. I play WRPGs mostly for the dialogue options (which is why I pimp out my speech options at every chance) and Fallout 3 is fucking fun in the different ways I can convince people to do the right thing (I always play good guy lolz).

In other words, McDonalds slogan.

 

[RiverBed]

I keep forgetting there is even a VATS system. maybe because the first few times I used it it missed the head by a mile even though I was 6 feet away from the guy...

I'll wait till I get the first chance to blow up Megaton. if I ain't hooked by then, I am out for good.

 

[Ferrio]

I keep forgetting there is even a VATS system. maybe because the first few times I used it it missed the head by a mile even though I was 6 feet away from the guy...

I'll wait till I get the first chance to blow up Megaton. if I ain't hooked by then, I am out for good.

Ducking improves your hit chances in VATs. Range does too of course. In the beggining i was doing some pretty point blank shots to the head.

 

[boutrosinit]

I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to get into Fallout 3. I find the combat to be clunky and frustrating, and the world itself to be unisnpiring and not all that interesting to explore. For the life of me, I just don't understand the praise this game gets. Now, I loved Oblivion (Bethesda's previous offering), and countless other western RPG's (Deus Ex 1&2, Mass Effect, Fable 1&2, Jade Empire, etc), but I just can't seem to grasp Fallout 3.

I'm really trying to like this game GAF. I really want to enjoy the game just as you all do...

It does lack a soul.

But give it a few hours. When you start seeing the scope of how many different ways you can skin a cat, it gets fun.

 

[ConsumerSquare]

I'm at level 7, I think. So far the highlight of the game was when I found a corpse and a toaster in a bathtub. After 10 hours or so of exploring cookie cutter ruins, that's been about the only payoff. The game is littered with locked doors that can neither be picked nor bombed, so I don't buy into the idea that this is a do anything videogame experience. The restrictions are obvious, and rather than rework the formula they just threw in tedium and empty space to give the illusion of freedom. And the hookers don't even fuck!

What bugs me more than the weak mechanics is that it doesn't really have anything to say. I bought into the hype that its subtext is a criticism of the American dream, but I haven't seen anything that makes me think the developers have anything at all to say. I keep saying I'm going to fire it up again one of these days and explore more of the city, but most likely I'll just let it sit on my shelf for 8 months and sell it after all the value has depreciated.

 

[Lilsnubby]

The character modelling and animation is so bad in those Bethesda games I have a hard time playin em. Somehow year after year they get away with it though.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

It does lack a soul.

It's like I'm reading Bizarro World comparisons about Oblivion and Fallout here.

Oblivion is the game with no personality! Oblivion is the game with shitty combat! Come on! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

I bought into the hype that its subtext is a criticism of the American dream, but I haven't seen anything that makes me think the developers have anything at all to say.

Ask Moira about her reason for writing the Survival Guide. I'm not saying it's Nobel material, but it's pretty good for a game.

 

[Gunmonkey36]

I had the same problem when I played it at a friends house, but I figured out what to do.

Okay so at birth/ intro just stack everything into Melee Weapons. Then pick up your baseball bat. Chase everyone in the Vault and beat their brains out while screaming obscenities. Then when you leave the Vault and level up put it all into Melee Weapons again. Kill more things while screaming obscenities. Rinse and repeat. Also may be better while Intoxicated in game and out of game.

I ended up killing just about everything in the game.

 

[cultofweaver]

That's sad to hear, if it hooks you Fallout 3 is a wonderful game.

I suppose it is entirely arbitrary whether you'll love this game or think it's a dull brown mess. Some of my friends just can't get on with it, even people who loved Oblivion, while others, even those who hate RPGs, are still sucked in after 30 or 40 hours.

I can see the faults from a mile away. The central gameplay mechanics are repetitive, the size of the world and the variety of locations mean you'll spend a whole chunk of the game doing nothing or repeating the same objectives over and over, the game is also extremely non-linear and wickedly easy to get lost in, but despite this I can't help getting that rush of excitement when a new location pops up, crouching my way through the dark hallways of an abandoned factory still makes me nervous and a little scared as to what is waiting for me. Hell I can spend over an hour trawling the same dungeon opening every container, picking every lock, hacking every terminal. It's a timesink like nothing I've played since Mass Effect.

But by the same token I can imagine if that doesn't happen, if you don't find the hair on the back of your neck standing up when you stalk those corridors or feel your heart skip a beat when you see a Mirelurk King or a Deathclaw coming over a hill then you'd be bored as hell playing it.

Give it some time to sink in, try getting into playing your character and building your own narrative in your head as you play and if it still doesn't grab you then just accept that it isn't for you.

 

[Ledsen]

It's like I'm reading Bizarro World comparisons about Oblivion and Fallout here.

Oblivion is the game with no personality! Oblivion is the game with shitty combat! Come on! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

You're not crazy. You're factually and objectively correct, my good man, so stand proud! *salutes*

 

[Like the hat?]

i am astounded at the number of people in different gaming communities that don't like this game. it's just so satisfyingly fun.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

Love the game and am taking my time with it. It did take a few hours for it to click for me, but once I came across some of the cooler side missions (like stealing the declaration of independence) and finding that old run down comic book company, I was hooked.

It's a game I like playing every few days for a fuckton of hours, completing one long sidequest at a time while then opening up about 3 more. It's fucking huge!

Train stations and subways suck balls, though. That is universally understood.

 

[Diablohead]

I had the same problem when I played it at a friends house, but I figured out what to do.

Okay so at birth/ intro just stack everything into Melee Weapons. Then pick up your baseball bat. Chase everyone in the Vault and beat their brains out while screaming obscenities. Then when you leave the Vault and level up put it all into Melee Weapons again. Kill more things while screaming obscenities. Rinse and repeat. Also may be better while Intoxicated in game and out of game.

I ended up killing just about everything in the game.

I will be doing this for my evil replay, sounds fun :lol

 

[T Ghost]

At first I didn't jump into the bandwagon. I said "this is just oblivion with fckng guns". So I didn't get it on release day and put it further down on my gamefly Q. When came it's time on my gamefly Q, I got the game in the mail and started to play focused on finding the reasons why I would hate the overhyped POS from Bethesda.

To cut the long story short, a week after getting the game from gamefly I had bought the collector's edition of the game and the collector's edition of the guide. Fallout 3 was the game that I played on 99% of the time I was playing for the next 6 weeks. I gave it a pause this last week but I'm definetelly going back to it. I can't explain but I lose myself in that world. I start to play and when somebody call me thinking "this people don't let me play not even for 10 minutes straight" but when I look at the clock 2, 3 hours already went by.

What I can say is that in games, for me, the most important is the ambientation that the game brings to me. Soundtrack, V.O., characters, etc. Then the story and at last gameplay. And I can't stand at all any type of japanese anime style of art, people with long legs and short body or big eyes, childlooking characters, teen heroes that save the world, that kind of crap makes me vomit inside my mouth involuntarily.

Maybe that's why, I don't know. I know that for some reason I fell in love with Fallout 3. I even started to watch the original twilight zone series again because it reminds me of the fallout 3 world (late 50's style).

 

[Ferrio]

You can cause people to explode with Teddy Bears.

What's not to love?

 

[Shake Appeal]

The game simply isn't very good. I don't know why decent games like GTAIV get shat on from a great height but this Emperor's New Walk-In Closet Plus Accessories gets a free ride.

 

[wolfmat]

The game simply isn't very good. I don't know why decent games like GTAIV get shat on from a great height but this Emperor's New Walk-In Closet Plus Accessories gets a free ride.

Although I love Fallout 3, I'm with you on that one, GTAIV is WAY WAY better than Fallout 3, hands down.

 

[Kydd BlaZe]

Fallout 3 seems to be a hit or miss within the gaming community. Like someone previously stated, you're either going to love it or hate it. Seems like there's no room for in between. On the other hand, I've seen quite a few sites award it as their GOTY. So of course, I really want to get into it and see what the fuss is about. I had the same issue with Resident Evil 4 a while ago; absolutely HATED it a first, couldn't see what all the praise was for, and sold it back to Gamestop...only to return to it later on in the year and absolutely LOVE it. To this day RE4 is one of my favorite games of all time. I guess i'm hoping for similar results with Fallout 3.

I had recently sold my copy back to Gamestop. The new DLC actually looks pretty cool, so naturally, a part of me wants to try it out (not before I work up the nerve to finish the main campaign, though). I may just rent it again, just to see If i'm able to get back into the flow of things. This time around, i'll make sure I use V.A.T.S. almost exclusively for the combat.

I don't know why decent games like GTAIV get shat on from a great height but this Emperor's New Walk-In Closet Plus Accessories gets a free ride.

My thoughts exactly. Loved the hell out of GTA IV. Don't quite understand the severe backlash this game has garnered. Really looking forward to The Lost and the Damned as well.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

Does anyone know how DLC will work? Is it going to be like Mass Effect, where I have to have a save from a previous state to play it? Or even if I finished the game on all my save files, will I still somehow be able to access it (unlike Mass Effect).

 

[DevelopmentArrested]

I hated the combat. Also disliked the empty feel of the world. Personal taste but whatever. I still feel the combat was atricious. And I loved Oblivion. Go figure. K.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Well, I managed to finish GTA IV for one thing.

As someone who has pounded through most of the long, large, sprawling WRPGs of the past decade (and more), this is probably the first I'm just going to plain give up on. Because it's too boring, and too easy, to bother finishing. Every day I go to play a game I think "Will this be the day I give Fallout 3 another few hours of my life?", but I just can't bring myself to fire it up. Hour 34, Level 14... I've given it plenty of chances. I don't feel it deserves any more. It's dull, and soulless, and downright broken in many ways, and I can't even bring myself to reel out the pages (and pages, and pages) I could write about how insipid and uninspired it is, and how sad it is that this is what this series has come to (and that people are finally buying it, in droves, and praising it to the roof!)... because I don't even care enough to do that.

 

[Skiptastic]

The game simply isn't very good.

 

[EmSeta]

I liked some parts of the game. It was a bit too short and barren (in terms of gameplay), and the low level cap was a bad idea IMO. I wanted to play around for longer and grow my character.

 

[djtiesto]

Give it a chance, I wasn't immediately hooked by it, in fact I was rather frustrated by the open-endedness and the challenge at the beginning (lack of caps, some confusing gameplay systems).. but once I got the hang of it I grew to really like it, probably the first American RPG I really got into since the classic Ultima games.

 

[RSTEIN]

Fallout 3 didn't click with me at first, either. I can only say: stick with it. Just explore the Wastes. Don't put any pressure on yourself to find people, missions, or landmarks. It will slowly suck you in, trust me.

It's really a monumental game. My GOTY, and one of the best games I've ever played.

 

[vellex]

I really hated Oblivion, and started it 3 times and never broke 4 hours of game time without becoming bored.

So I was really hesitant about buying fallout- luckily my friend has lent it to me, and so far i'm not that impressed. None of the quests are explained very well, and the dialouge is just as bad as Oblivion (I can't stand to watch them just stand there expressionless). What I don't get is how much shit some of them can talk. There is so much dialogue that doesn't progress the story, doesn't help me, is boring and doesn't affect the game in any way, so what's the point?

Definately wouldn't be anywhere near a GOTY for me. But i'm gonna keep going, maybe somthing will click and i'll start enjoying it.

 

[Amory]

I wouldn't sweat it. I've recently come to terms with the fact that Bethesda is pretty much just terrible at what they do. And their rip-off DLC strategies are icing on the cake of crap.

Blasphemy!!

 

[Shake Appeal]

Also disliked the empty feel of the world.

Funny, I hated the opposite. The 'wasteland' feels crowded. Crowded with endlessly-respawning, aimlessly-wandering raiders. Crowded with robots having random duels. Crowded with weapons, and ammo, and money, and drugs, and every kind of contrivance and device you can imagine, because apparently nobody has bothered to scavenge for anything before you arrived. The world feels tiny, like you could stroll across it in an hour, and yet is blotted everywhere with boring, repetitive dungeons (filled with the same raiders, and robots, and zzzzzzzz ad infinitum, ad nauseum, ad fucking I blow my own brains out) and fetch quests from characters whose names I can't remember, who all sound and look the same, and who generate no pity or interest or even the semblance of some other emotion in me. Aghsdhfsahd. It's like RPG hell. And you fuckers lap it up and pad their pockets so they make more of the same. Congratz.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I guess it might just be a love it or hate it game. I think it's brilliant (aside from the ending). Probably my favorite aspect of the game is something that some recent games (especially Mass Effect) have done terribly wrong: Exploration is actually fun and rewarding! You travel the wastes and find all kinds of interesting items and encounters, which is much better then Mass Effect where you traverse all those interesting planets only to come across minerals and random loot (which for me always seemed to be that fucking piece of shit phoenix armor.) I've played through Fallout 3 twice already, and on my second runthrough I came across stuff that I missed my first time through like

Spoiler

the cannibal family.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Funny, I hated the opposite. The 'wasteland' feels crowded. Crowded with endlessly-respawning, aimlessly-wandering raiders. Crowded with robots having random duels. Crowded with weapons, and ammo, and money, and drugs, and every kind of contrivance and device you can imagine, because apparently nobody has bothered to scavenge for anything before you arrived. The world feels tiny, like you could stroll across it in an hour, and yet is blotted everywhere with boring, repetitive dungeons (filled with the same raiders, and robots, and zzzzzzzz ad infinitum, ad nauseum, ad fucking I blow my own brains out) and fetch quests from characters whose names I can't remember, who all sound and look the same, and who generate no pity or interest or even the semblance of some other emotion in me. Aghsdhfsahd. It's like RPG hell. And you fuckers lap it up and pad their pockets so they make more of the same. Congratz.

Jesus Christ.

 

[Future PhaZe]

Oh Blaze. Why do u fail.

Nah, honestly though I just enjoy it by putting myself into the character. I think there are a lot of interesting aspects of Fallout 3 that would lend well to a much better setting. The combat was clunky and I found ammo to be somewhat hard to manage, but difficulty wasn't a problem for me. I liked moving about the wasteland, killing whomever and taking whatever would bring me to my goal. Overall the story was interesting enough to pull me through to the end, and combat was JUST satisfying enough for me to enjoy the game when you take into account the roleplaying aspects.

It's top 5 or so for my GotY list, but not my GotY. There are still a lot of problems in general with the game. First and foremost, the world IS fairly uninspired and I had absolutely no will to explore it at all. Maybe it's because I've been all around Virginia, but I just had zero interest in exploring these ruins. Also even though I know that the enemies found in the game are pretty reasonable given the circumstances, I found all of them to basically be absurd and not much fun to fight.

One thing I'm starting to find it hard to enjoy in general about Bethesdas last few games is that I feel absolutely no connection to the characters of the world which makes a lifeless setting even more lifeless. Characters in Fallout also don't seem as unique as in Oblivion. In Oblivion I can make my elf ranger, or my pure mage, or perhaps an assassin night elf and etc which all feel different and give longevity to the experience. In Fallout, you are basically the same character each time other than a few skill changes which don't come across as obvious in gameplay.

I still HEAVILY anticipate the next Elder Scrolls game though which I felt lacked many of the issues I had with Fallout. As copy pasta as Oblivion was, I enjoyed exploring the caves, ruins, and various towns. I enjoyed running through the large forests and mountains if only because of the scenery.

I'm not surprised if no one enjoyed Fallout 3. It looks bland, the action mechanics are bland, and when the setting and story are weak it's hard to really get into the spirit of your character/roleplaying in general.

My thoughts exactly. Loved the hell out of GTA IV. Don't quite understand the severe backlash this game has garnered. Really looking forward to The Lost and the Damned as well.

Because it's a worst game than SA in damn near every way but that's a tale for a different day.

 

[djtiesto]

What I can say is that in games, for me, the most important is the ambientation that the game brings to me. Soundtrack, V.O., characters, etc. Then the story and at last gameplay. And I can't stand at all any type of japanese anime style of art, people with long legs and short body or big eyes, childlooking characters, teen heroes that save the world, that kind of crap makes me vomit inside my mouth involuntarily.

I really can't stand this attitude, why limit yourself? You're missing out on some great fucking games.

BTW I haven't played much of Oblivion, borrowed it from a friend, played it for about an afternoon, but recently bought my own copy. What makes Oblivion so inferior to Fallout 3?

 

[M°°nblade]

I really can't stand this attitude, why limit yourself? You're missing out on some great fucking games.

BTW I haven't played much of Oblivion, borrowed it from a friend, played it for about an afternoon, but recently bought my own copy. What makes Oblivion so inferior to Fallout 3?

The combat system, dialog options and the character building stuff are very basic. And the sidequests don't give the same satifaction or rewards.

 

[KTallguy]

Fallout 3 was pretty fun for the first few hours when I was exploring things, and the combat is so much better than Oblivion. Got to the Kingdom of Dave or whatever, and the limitations in interaction really started to bother me. Went back to Megaton and fucked around a bit but just got bored. Writing and characters were pretty boring.

The older games drove me forward a bit more. I feel like games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 don't really give me enough incentive to push forward. I dick around and forget what I was doing, why I'm doing it, and then as I slog through a sewer or abandoned vault without discovering anything interesting (the one 'mysterious' vault that I discovered had no story? really?) I just have no motivation to continue.

People bash JRPGs for a lack of freedom, but at least as I continue through the story some kind of real narrative assembles. Bethesda's games are just dick around games for me, I can never get motivated enough to finish them, and this has been the case since Daggerfall and Morrowind.

Make a slightly more focused game, with sidequests that are fewer in number but much more engaging, and a very engaging main quest, and maybe I'd be interested. Fable 2 and Mass Effect have the right idea, at least, they're just lacking interesting mechanics.

 

[Compass]

Shake Appeal is one of the few voices of reason in this thread. Hilarious, too.

 

[SaggyMonkey]

My advise is to sell it before other people catch on to it not being very fun and still has some value.

 

[Mdk7]

I've had the same problem as you...
I tried it for a couple of hours but couldn't really get into it, i did not feel it AT ALL.

Spoiler

And i truly hated the beginning, i found it pretty meh to play.
/runs

I'm not saying it's a piece of shit, it's probably just not my thing.
Now go on and bash me, i'm ready.

 

[BakedPigeon]

I would recommend you start doing the main quest at least part way so you can level up and also find guns, ammo, stimpacks, all that jazz.

The world is quite bland most of the time but I try to look past it, exploring inside buildings is what I usually do the most. Also if you are not using V.A.T.S that is probably a huge reason why you are not liking the game. Although you can free aim, the game is sorta meant to be used combat wise in V.A.T.S.

If you can get to like the 6 or 7 hour mark you would probably be hooked.

 

[T Ghost]

I really can't stand this attitude, why limit yourself? You're missing out on some great fucking games.

BTW I haven't played much of Oblivion, borrowed it from a friend, played it for about an afternoon, but recently bought my own copy. What makes Oblivion so inferior to Fallout 3?

So you can't stand personal taste...

I think you didn't register the part where gameplay and story come last for me and ambientation is the most important.

For me the gameplay is the least important part in a game. That my PERSONAL taste. It is NOT a rule for all humans beings to live by and it's ok to go different on this same subject.

As an example, the Conan game recently released. I got it used at GameStop for $8 or so. I played it thru the last weekend and I fckng LOVED IT! I saw the horrible graphics, the repetitive gameplay, the lack of originality in the gameplay, the ultra bland game and level design, BUT... It was CONAN. when I was at college I was nuts about Conan's comics. And besides the game being bland at best in any other aspect, that character that I was playing and watching at the horrible PS2-like cutscenes WAS CONAN. It acted, looked like and fought like Conan and that got me. I couldn't stop playing that mediocre game because of that. And I LOVED it. Maybe I'm weird but that's how I see games. And that's why and can't enjoy playing any JRPG. Even when gameplay, gamedesign is perfect, if ambientation displeases me, I simply do not enjoy it. Go figure...

 

[me Jojo]

I love Fallout 3.

 

[Jswanko]

It's like I'm reading Bizarro World comparisons about Oblivion and Fallout here.

Oblivion is the game with no personality! Oblivion is the game with shitty combat! Come on! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
.

Exactly! I never liked Oblivion, but i love Fallout 3. Just hit 50 hours and i still have barley explored the world.

Wandering through Arlington Cemetery, stumbling across the Republic of Dave, even little sight gags make me interested in exploring.

 

[HK-47]

I dont get how one can dislike Fallout 3 yet like Oblivion. Thats just crazy talk

 

[Compass]

So you can't stand personal taste...

I think you didn't register the part where gameplay and story come last for me and ambientation is the most important.

For me the gameplay is the least important part in a game. That my PERSONAL taste. It is NOT a rule for all humans beings to live by and it's ok to go different on this same subject.

I let it slide the first time, but now you've used that "word" twice. What's going on with you.

 

[neverknowsbest]

I really enjoyed the Vault 101 intro, and arriving at Megaton was awesome! A city full of people surviving in the wasteland. Moira's quests were fun and her cavalier attitude towards injuring me was funny. Then I got to Rivet city, which was kind of confusing, but wow, look at all these people to talk to! Oh wait they all say the same thing... basically nothing. Oh, you mean I'm going to fight raiders, talon mercs and super mutants all game? Oh, there's an arbitrarily low level cap? Oh, using weapons is annoying as fuck because of repair costs? Oh, I spend 25% of my time repairing shit because of the weight limit? I'm playing on PC so VATS crashes the game 50% of the time I use it so I can't even use it to alleviate the boring and repetitive real-time combat? I understand it's not an action game, but if you're going to make the combat so boring at least give me an auto-combat option that doesn't crash all the time.

I clear out dungeons to find... nothing special? I don't understand the point of having a massive dungeon filled with completely boring, ordinary loot. Where's the incentive? I want some sort of special weapon or armor to make it worth my time. Give me blueprints for a weapon I can make with things only found in that dungeon at least. Do SOMETHING to differentiate dungeons from each other, or from roaming the wasteland.

As much as JRPGs are repetitive and cliched, at least they try to engage you with an emotional story and characters, even if they go too far with the melodrama most of the time. Fallout 3's quests and characters are all wooden and completely uninspired. Give me some emotion.

 

[djtiesto]

For me the gameplay is the least important part in a game. That my PERSONAL taste. It is NOT a rule for all humans beings to live by and it's ok to go different on this same subject.

Hmm, to me that makes no sense whatsoever. They're video games, after all, gameplay should be #1 above everything, but then again I'm an old fart out of touch with what the kiddies like nowadays. If you want ambiance, hell just watch a movie or something.

 

[Nameless]

Lacks soul? I'm starting to wonder how many people rushed through the main quest once or twice and sat it aside. I get bored with games a lot quicker than ever before, so it says alot that I was 40+ hours in to Fallout before doing anything towards the main quest.

I'm hard pressed to think of a game this generation that matches Fallout 3 in terms of atmosphere and visual narrative. Soaking in the imagery of the game world is utterly breathtaking at times. When a game can disturb and depress people to the point of not even wanting to play it, IMO it's special because that's not something that games often get credit for having the abilty to do compared to other mediums.

On a sidenote, people need to stop acting like the game is intended to be played in the 3rd person perspective. Its there as a glorified 3D look-cam and so you can view your character when you want to, nothing more.