[zapranoth]

Fallout 3 (in truth, the xbox version, although it's out for Windows too I believe).

No spoilers of any gross nature.

Thus far, I'm pleased. I think that they've captured the visuals, the world, and the humor/tone very well so far. There's a lot that just can't be compared well, given the gross game mechanic changes, but I think the graphics are awesome, and the storyline thus far is well done. I haven't gotten too far yet so I don't know the major plot much at all, so that qualifies my opinion quite a bit.

The little side stuff I've been doing has been well put together and fun. The opening scene was true to tradition, with a slow panorama of a ruined world set to an Ink Spots song that contains the words "set the world on fire."

The ghouls look one hell of a lot nastier in this game than in F1 and F2.

Super mutants are imposingly large and frightening, and the first one I encountered had a minigun. (I was fifth level. Aaaugh!) He stepped out into the daylight and his gun started to spin up, so I had a second or so to panic and run for it before the lead hose was fully open. Robots are sinister in appearance and have a delightfully unpredictable seeming to them.

There is a pervasive sadness, a sort of malaise I feel while moving around in the world they've made for this game. Broken tidbits of the world are everywhere... rusty, future-anachronistic style cars and wrecked shopping carts, disturbingly faux-50's adverts in varying stages of decay. There isn't such a clean division between irradiated and not in this world they've made -- radiation is everywhere, you can step in old bomb holes and get a few crackles on your meter, and much of the food gives you a few rads too. Most of the water is contaminated. Fortunately you can tolerate a fair bit of radiation before it bothers you much, and I haven't had trouble finding Rad-Away yet.

The ability to forge new weapons is fun. I never played Oblivion, so I don't know if this was in that game or not, but once I found out what a "shishkebab" was, I must admit, I was happily impressed. =)

The combat system works pretty well. The ability to pause and target specific areas using APs seems a reasonably well thought out transition from turn-based to RTS, and it preserves the flavor of the originals pretty well. There are some spectacularly gory moments that stand up well to the enjoyable over-the-top bloodiness of some of the battles in F1 and F2. Thus far, the combat shotgun has been my mid-distance standby, and in one battle (indoors), I faced multiple soldiers who were better-armed than I. The last one rounded the corner to attack me (with a flamer), my health was low, and I targeted his head with the shotgun. Got a gloriously slow-mo decapitation with a critical, and the full slumping down, spurting blood from the neck death animation, which is I think up to par with how the first two games would have wanted it.

Overall game mechanics, including the perk system as it now stands, work well and seems consistent with the prior mythology of the game.
Sound is outstanding.
Graphics, excellent.

I'm gonna say, so far, 9/10, with the caveat that I have a lot of game left to do yet. I will revisit the thread after I've finished the first playthrough.

[QuantaCat]

So what about the ammo conservation, and loner and survival kind of gameplay that I liked from F1 & 2? Is it all there? Or has it been dumbed down into "fantasy OMG IF YOU FIND A WEAPON YOU CAN USE IT" kind of gameplay?

[zapranoth]

QuantaCat, on November 3rd 2008, 04:40 AM, said:

So what about the ammo conservation, and loner and survival kind of gameplay that I liked from F1 & 2? Is it all there? Or has it been dumbed down into "fantasy OMG IF YOU FIND A WEAPON YOU CAN USE IT" kind of gameplay?

I'm not 100% sure what you are asking. Could you rephrase the question?

[Quicksilver]

I'd give Fallout 3 a 5/10. The graphics are below average (the Oblivion engine was never one of my favorites), the sound is below average (the voice acting is pretty abhorrent), the AI is non-existent, and the story . . . well, the story is Fallout 2 all over again, but worse. The ending is abrupt and contrived. Core shooting mechanics are pretty mediocre--due to the VATS system, this isn't a great shooter, and it isn't a great RPG.

Oh, and what's up with the weapon degradation fad (STALKER, Far Cry 2, and Fallout 3)? All it does is force the player to constantly spend time and money repairing weaponry. There's no strategic benefit to the concept.

Anyway, in summary, Fallout 3 is a mediocre game whose a poorly-written, slow-as-molasses story that doesn't compensate for the blasé action. The best part in the game is the beginning of the Brotherhood of Steel section, but it's tacked on to the extreme end of the game, and it ends far too quickly.

The best thing about the game is the chance that it'll drive players to experience the greatness that is Fallout and Fallout 2 (I just blew through them both in the last couple of weeks).

[QuantaCat]

By the way, the only weapon degradation scheme that worked well was System Shock 2. It really added to the atmosphere.


And what I meant before was: is it still like Mad Max, where conserving every little bit of everything is a necessesity, or is there more "established civilisation" like in oblivion?

[Quicksilver]

I never played Mad Max, but things are more settled in Fallout 3 than the earlier titles. You've gotta constantly loot every box and body for anything of value to keep your weapons and armor in good repair (ammunition, medical supplies, and cigarettes carry the most value per unit weight), but other than that, there's really no shortage of anything . . . except perhaps for sniper rifle ammunition.

This is a neutered version of Fallout--"specialty" supplies that used to be essential, like Pulse Grenades, Rad-X, and the like are fairly useless.

By the way, I finished the game in about 15-20 hours. As it turns out, I missed about a third of the side-quests, but in a rare departure (I'm normally pretty crazy about finding every little nook and cranny), I don't miss them. They just aren't that interesting. If I ever come back to play this game again (unlikely), I see no reason to go searching for them.

[Janichsan]

Quicksilver, on November 3rd 2008, 07:42 PM, said:

I never played Mad Max, ...

I seriously hope you are kidding.

[bobbob]

Janichsan, on November 3rd 2008, 12:54 PM, said:

I seriously hope you are kidding

Does he look like Mel Gibson to you?

[Quicksilver]

Janichsan, on November 3rd 2008, 12:54 PM, said:

I seriously hope you are kidding.

Sadly, no--I didn't get my hands on a NES until SNES was out. My parents were pretty serious about the whole "read to your children and avoid TV/videogames" until I was eight or nine years old. That's why my gaming experience pretty much begins with the SNES (Secret of Mana FTW!), Spectre, Cyclone, Myst, The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain, and so on.

[teflon]

I get the feeling that they're talking about the film, not the game, with Janichsan possibly not having heard of there being a NES game.
The visual style and post-apocalyptic setting of the Mad Max films is a huge of what has inspired Fallout in the first place. Not to mention that you can quite happily dress yourself up all in leather a la Mad Max.

[Janichsan]

teflon, on November 4th 2008, 12:28 AM, said:

I get the feeling that they're talking about the film, not the game, with Janichsan possibly not having heard of there being a NES game.
The visual style and post-apocalyptic setting of the Mad Max films is a huge of what has inspired Fallout in the first place. Not to mention that you can quite happily dress yourself up all in leather a la Mad Max.

Spot on. And considering that the game appears to be utter crap, it's hardly surpring of anyone with a sane mind of thinking first of the iconic movies than a miserable game.

[QuantaCat]

Well, it's quicksilver, what did you expect.

But anyhow, I still remember the first week of F2, playing with just a sawn-off shotgun. winnest.


Also, stalker on Veteran difficulty, can be hard as hell.

[Atticus]

What is this, the thread of Cranky Old Men? You yell at kids to get off your lawn, too?

Don't knock Fallout 3 until you *actually play it*. It's a great game.

Perfect? No. But no game is without its flaws. Not even ZOMGGGG MARATHON.

Atticus

[the Battle Cat]

That is heresy!

[Malt-Pipefishes]

Atticus, on November 4th 2008, 04:49 PM, said:

Don't knock Fallout 3 until you *actually play it*. It's a great game.

People on an internet forum are criticizing games they haven't played? GASP!

[Tesseract]

Why would I want to play a game that sucks?

[Atticus]

Tesseract, on November 5th 2008, 01:16 AM, said:

Why would I want to play a game that sucks?

Because you might actually--gasp--enjoy it? God forbid! But, you know what? You're right--you're better off listening to all the other haters who haven't played it, either. That way, you have one less game to enjoy AND you don't have to form your own opinion or think for yourself. That's waaaaaaay too much work. Phew.

Atticus
The Heretic (hairy tick?)

[zapranoth]

Atticus, on November 5th 2008, 12:39 AM, said:

Because you might actually--gasp--enjoy it? God forbid! But, you know what? You're right--you're better off listening to all the other haters who haven't played it, either. That way, you have one less game to enjoy AND you don't have to form your own opinion or think for yourself. That's waaaaaaay too much work. Phew.

Atticus
The Heretic (hairy tick?)

People who pan F3 are in the minority. Read the reviews -- most of them give it high marks. If you're curious, play it; if you aren't, don't. This thread is taking an essentially silly direction.

[QuantaCat]

Well, we could ask for some pruning, but at the highest difficulty level, is it "difficult" or "cartoony crazy easy"?

Does the diff level change the amount of stuff available?

[Quicksilver]

Atticus, on November 4th 2008, 03:49 PM, said:

Don't knock Fallout 3 until you *actually play it*. It's a great game.

I've played it alllll the way through.

zapranoth, on November 5th 2008, 09:14 AM, said:

People who pan F3 are in the minority. Read the reviews -- most of them give it high marks. If you're curious, play it; if you aren't, don't. This thread is taking an essentially silly direction.

Most reviewers are idiots. If you're plugged into the industry--just grab a couple of podcasts, for starters--you'll find that good reviews of triple-A titles are hard to find.