Fallout 3 impressions

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: pontifex
one thing i never did figure out is why everything is so 50's style when it's actually more modern times?

It's a story.

The story is that during the 50's, which is the height of the Art Deco period and the Cold War, instead of the world continuing it's normal route something else happened. Instead of a Cold War that lasted until the 80's we had a true nuclear war instead. It's a "what if" kind of atmosphere. Assuming that war like that happened, pretty much all social progression would stop from that point on. Not ALL scientific progression as some parts of humanity survived, but social progression as we have today wouldn't exist. So now jump forward from the point of the nuclear war 200 years and you have the current Fallout 3 time period. Also, Fallout 2 takes place later chronologically speaking that Fallout 3.

That's not entirely accurate. The nuclear holocaust didn't happen until partway through the 21st century, IIRC. But for some reason culture never progressed beyond the 50's view of things. It's called the retro-future style. In the 50's, with the advent of nuclear power, a new age had dawned. Americans were full of optimism and nationalism after winning WW2 and somehow that period never ended. And the "better red than dead" enemy during these times was not Russia, but China (which is eerily appropriate for modern times).

 

[matas]

Just finished the game. Only did few side missions. Finished at level 15.5.

 

[CrystalBay]

LOLzzz The Chuck Norris player Mod

 

[NYHoustonman]

Semi-major spoiler, question about main quest for those that have finished:






I'm just about to enter Vault 87 (or whatever number it is past Little Lamplight)... Am I about to pass the dreaded 'point of no return,' in other words can I still do side quests after this point... or should I turn back now and continue the main quest later? There is still more I'd like to do side quest - wise...

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
Semi-major spoiler, question about main quest for those that have finished:






I'm just about to enter Vault 87 (or whatever number it is past Little Lamplight)... Am I about to pass the dreaded 'point of no return,' in other words can I still do side quests after this point... or should I turn back now and continue the main quest later? There is still more I'd like to do side quest - wise...

You're fine. The point of no return is pretty obvious anyway. At least it was to me.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: pontifex
one thing i never did figure out is why everything is so 50's style when it's actually more modern times?

It's a story.

The story is that during the 50's, which is the height of the Art Deco period and the Cold War, instead of the world continuing it's normal route something else happened. Instead of a Cold War that lasted until the 80's we had a true nuclear war instead. It's a "what if" kind of atmosphere. Assuming that war like that happened, pretty much all social progression would stop from that point on. Not ALL scientific progression as some parts of humanity survived, but social progression as we have today wouldn't exist. So now jump forward from the point of the nuclear war 200 years and you have the current Fallout 3 time period. Also, Fallout 2 takes place later chronologically speaking that Fallout 3.

The war didn't happen until 2077. It's just that for some reason their culture got stuck in the 50's.

BTW, Fallout 2 takes place in the 2240's. Fallout 3 is 2277. (Fallout 1 is 2160's IIRC)

 

[CrystalBay]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
Semi-major spoiler, question about main quest for those that have finished:






I'm just about to enter Vault 87 (or whatever number it is past Little Lamplight)... Am I about to pass the dreaded 'point of no return,' in other words can I still do side quests after this point... or should I turn back now and continue the main quest later? There is still more I'd like to do side quest - wise...

Yeah, your fine, even if you finish the main quest...just load a prior save and see what DC is really all about...

 

[Zenoth]

Just out of curiosity, I'd like to know if anyone is playing with any modifications right now? And if so which one(s)? I currently play with:

- Increased Movement Speed (By 10%)

- Decreased Weapons Degradation (By 70%, although there's another version with 50% instead)

- Ultimate Fallout 3 Music V2 (Adds Fallout and Fallout 2 music without removing Fallout 3's score)

- Cross-Repair Weapons 1.1 (Allows repair of weapons with their similar counterparts, for example repairing a Chinese Assault Rifle with a regular one, or repairing a Fat-Man with a Missile Launcher)

That's it for now. What about you? By the way I get my mods from Fallout 3 Nexus, there: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/

 

[CrystalBay]

I'm using the level cap increase, set at 30. I'm also using the enhanced night sky (real star photos skybox) all available at fallout 3nexus.

 

[DangerAardvark]

I'm using slower leveling and amplified cripple effects which imposes a larger aim/movement penalty on crippled limbs. I wanna use decreased weapon degradation, because the default rate is completely ludicrous, but I don't want 70% or 50%. But what the weapon degradation mechanic really needs is overhauling. The damage should not scale linearly with the weapon quality. It should only drop off after it gets to, say... 75% or so.

 

[9mak9]

i can't even get onto fallout 3 nexus...I don't know whats going on

 

[9mak9]

Originally posted by: 9mak9
i can't even get onto fallout 3 nexus...I don't know whats going on

ok forget that...time to dl some mods

 

[9mak9]

just as a cool little thing if you havent seen...sneak up to a Brahmin and then press your action button and watch the cow tip

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: 9mak9
just as a cool little thing if you havent seen...sneak up to a Brahmin and then press your action button and watch the cow tip

lol

Gotta try that.

Well, I'm almost level 20 and still haven't started the main quest. I got the SW corner of the map explored though.

 

[9mak9]

Originally posted by: Imp

Originally posted by: 9mak9
just as a cool little thing if you havent seen...sneak up to a Brahmin and then press your action button and watch the cow tip

lol

Gotta try that.

Well, I'm almost level 20 and still haven't started the main quest. I got the SW corner of the map explored though.

I'm at 17 now and only have done the 1st part of the main quest. Trying to explore everything I can first w/o doing the main quest...I might increase my level cap and then increase the difficulty

 

[fallout man]

Originally posted by: 9mak9
just as a cool little thing if you havent seen...sneak up to a Brahmin and then press your action button and watch the cow tip

must try.

i've put up the lvl 30 mod, and assorted "making life harder" mods from f3 nexus. so far, it's going pretty great. i'm finding myself leveling up, and i haven't really even gone outside of the megaton area...

*spoilers*








surprisingly, I've gained lots of xp just by going back and forth around the Megaton area. the most far-reaching quests I've done so far have been the Big Town captives rescue, Lucy West's message (through Arefu and all), and the crazy shopkeeper's book quest over at the mine-town with the crazy old sniper guy.







****

I'm frankly, overwhelmed at the amount of content that's been packed into this game. There are random encounters and all, and the huge map seems small if you don't account for the hours of underground/indoor exploration.

The modding community seems to have briskly picked up to fix basic reality/gameplay flaws. I'm really hoping for expansions to make the map twice as big.

I've been enjoying more randomness and curiosity with this game than I've enjoyed with WoW in my first 20 hours. I apologize to the NMA folks, but this game kicks ass.




*spoilers*










Because I tend to restart from the last save quite a bit, I've been encountering completely random "encounters" going over the same 100 meters of map over the hill from the save point.

One instance--some raiders are passing by and try to kick my ass.

Another instance--PipBoy picks up a Chinese beacon radio signal... I trace down the source by going after signal intensity... and I find a dead Chinaman officer with his loot.

And again, I find a corpse with a personal note giving a back-story of family conflict and directions/key to a stash in an area I haven't explored yet.

This level of variety has happened at other save points. I LOVE THE RANDOM.

 

[imported_Imp]

That Chinese Officer is suppose to have a radio signal? Both times that I found his random corpse, I didn't hear anything. Once, he even just spawned 10 ft infront of me.

I completely forgot this game was moddable... So does the level 30 mod add new Perks or does it make you super overpowered by just letting you level up 10 more times? I have the potential to max out practically every skill except for barter right now. Only 3 others are below 70. The pisser is that I still haven't found any small arms skill books so its been stuck at 84 since level 5-ish.

 

[Keeper]

WAIT... I never chrono'ed the time line of the war, never really paid attention to the details.
The first nuclear war didnt happen till 2077?
MAN, that takes a HUGE hunk of atmosphere out of it for me.

I really am confused now. Just last night, I was watching my Tivoed "Sons of Anarchy", a Fallout 3 commercial came on. It is zoomed in on a Hula Dancer, pulls back, and you see a 1950 type push button radio, a bus circa 1950 and playing the World On fire (or something like that) a 1950 type song.

No, we are missing something.. We didnt go back to those push button radios, HELL I see the old vaccum type TV tubes on some screen shots. No, this is not some culture retro fad.
The world did stop in the 1950's, I am sure of it.

Who here is the lore expert? We have a mission for you!!!!

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Keeper
WAIT... I never chrono'ed the time line of the war, never really paid attention to the details.
The first nuclear war didnt happen till 2077?
MAN, that takes a HUGE hunk of atmosphere out of it for me.

I really am confused now. Just last night, I was watching my Tivoed "Sons of Anarchy", a Fallout 3 commercial came on. It is zoomed in on a Hula Dancer, pulls back, and you see a 1950 type push button radio, a bus circa 1950 and playing the World On fire (or something like that) a 1950 type song.

No, we are missing something.. We didnt go back to those push button radios, HELL I see the old vaccum type TV tubes on some screen shots. No, this is not some culture retro fad.
The world did stop in the 1950's, I am sure of it.

Who here is the lore expert? We have a mission for you!!!!

It's just an alternate timeline, that remained the prevailing style in the US from the 50s until the bombs dropped in 2077.

 

[Keeper]

LOL So in my world, I can play as if the bombs dropped in 1957? :beer:

 

[Specop 007]

Bought the game yesterday and played a few hours.

Freakin AWESOME. I was really disappointed to find out FA 3 was FPS but suprisingly its a very nice change over the previous 2.

 

[HumblePie]

Originally posted by: Keeper
LOL So in my world, I can play as if the bombs dropped in 1957? :beer:

That's how I like to think of it. For some reason I thought it was the way I posted above.

Also, are you sure about the time lines of 1, 2, and 3? I know 1 used nuke caps and 2 later used creds because they "advanced" and caps were no longer the main commodity anymore. In fact, there was an ingame joke for that where you help out a goulie and he'll give you so much money he left down a well that you would be set for life on money. When you send down a "treasure hunter" you agree to split the money with, you get a bag of 10,000 nuka cola caps that are worthless in fallout 2 except as a joke.

That's one the reasons I thought Fallout 3 came sometime before Fallout 2. That and various comments made by brotherhood of the steel and the outcasts in the game.

Another reason, at least to me was the explanation for power armor being so sucky. In Fallout 2, it's the best thing to aim for. In fallout 3 it's completely junk as the ranger combat armor is the best armor in the game without mods. I figured that the timeline between 3 and 2 had progessed enough that power armor was developed by the enclave and brotherhood to be better for each of their on going struggles.

 

[StinkyPinky]

100% sure that Fallout 2 is 30 years before Fallout 3.

This is not our Earth obviously. It's a parrallal Earth with different technology as seen by robots. andriods, and plasma weapons. It seems things were pretty similar to our own timeline and technology until about the 1950's, but then the USA and I presume other nations harnassed nuclear techology for everyday use which obviously branched off the technology tree from our own by quite a bit.

As for the culture...it's retro 1950's. That doesn't mean to say it was always like that from 1950. They may have followed a similar cultural trend as us, and by the 2060's had gone back to the 1950s as that was fashionable at the time. THey may have had gangster rap in the 1990's just like us

 

[Elcs]

It was fun....

1) Waaaay too easy. Deathclaws were the "scariest" opponent but they were easy to kill. Sneak (100 skill), Sniper Rifle, 1 clear headshot and dead. I also had the Sniper and Finesse Perks (higher headshot % in VATS and most crits). When I first saw a Super Mutant Brute with a minigun, I thought I'd be vaporised... level 2 just out of Vault, heavily injured due to some Octopus-like Military Robot and all it took was a couple of shots with the Assault Rifle and one dead Mutie.

2) Finished the game at level 14. No schematics. Enclave were fun but weak and inaccurate. The President is really cool though.

3) I was evil. I generally got bored with walking 15 minutes to a location taking out the odd indigenous lifeform that I killed people randomly for kicks. I killed quite a few in one place and when I went back for there due to a quest, everyone loved me again.

4) VATS is wonderfully cinematic at times. Id love to see some slo-mo VATS kills movies.

5) At one point of the story, there is a part which has something so overpowered, I was left thinking it was pointless playing any longer... but I did so for kicks and more peons to kill.

6) Skills are reasonably underutilised beyond Science/Repair/Lockpick to hack things, fix things and pick locks.

7) Picking locks is frustrating and hacking terminals too easy.

8) 1920x1080 AA, AF, all options high..... looks amazing on a 42" Plasma and a 47" LCD.

Worth my cash and time. Ill do side quests now

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: Keeper
LOL So in my world, I can play as if the bombs dropped in 1957? :beer:

Well, except their technology isn't stuck in the 1950's. It's more like Fallout 3 is the 1950's vision of the future. Rocket cars and everything.