Apollyon
It Wandered In From the Wastes

Dear readers,
Every now and then, roughly once a year, I get an unexplainable urge to play Fallout. Usually this starts and ends with me playing F:NV, however Fallout 3 is always there, begging to be played. Now, Fallout 3 has always had a special place in my heart, since it was the first Fallout game I ever played and when I was young I enjoyed the hell out of it.
A few weeks ago another such period as before hinted at arrived. After having a fair bit of fun with F:NV I was ultimately unsatisfied; another itch needed scratching. And thus, Fallout 3 was once again installed on my PC and I was determined to give it an honest try.
The first character I created was going to be an evil bastard. Naturally I ditched the main quest the second I found a credible excuse to do so. After following Dad's trail to Rivet City, I went my own way and basically roleplayed as a mercenary/slaver character, which was surprisingly fun. There are plenty of quests and quest-outcomes to facilitate such a character. Eventually I traveled to the Pitt and had a decent run there, too. Sadly, by this time, quests were starting to run out, and with it my motivation to keep playing the character.
While playing as the previously mentioned character, I already had a new idea pop into my mind, though. And this is where it gets good.
Really what I needed was a good (read: in-character) excuse to keep exploring every nook and cranny of the Wasteland. A scavenger-type, but with a bit more to it. The idea I came up with was to "miss" Megaton, by simply going right instead of left when leaving the vault. After some crawling around, I would inevitably come across Fort Independence, where I would encounter my first semblance of civilization and would be given a purpose. The Outcasts need spare parts, scrap and anything that resembles technology in exchange for sustenance and hopefully, eventually a spot in their exclusive little club. This would give me a short-term reason to start exploring, and some long-term prospects of fancy power armor, big guns and an Outcast follower (mod).
So there it was. I now had a reason to check nearly every single location in the game in search of glorious scrap. And to my surprise, I was (and am still having) a ton of fun with this. Exploring all the dark corners of Fallout 3 made me realize how absolutely huge this game is. Not only that, but there's also a great amount of work put into every location, always with a unique bit of environmental storytelling, worth-while loot and attention to detail.
Blindly following quest markers when playing in my youth, I had completely missed the fact that all over the metro tunnels there are directions leading you to GNR. In fact, the metro tunnels can be navigated entirely by using the direction boards. But why ever use this? It's much easier to get around using fast-travel; or so my younger self would have thought. Well, no longer. Clearly, if exploring the tunnels is your goal, fast-travel is not an option. But I also resolved to make sparing use of fast-travel if I could find a way through the tunnels that I had no previously explored. (For example, ever tried getting back to GNR after repairing the satellite dish, without using fast-travel?) Upon doing so, only then did I realize the size and interconnectedness of the tunnels. I uncovered places that I, in all my hours of Fallout, never knew existed. I realized that following the main and side quests left the majority of the game unexplored.
Mostly avoiding the more populated locations of Fallout 3, scrounging for scrap and generally getting by with the things I scavenged, provided the sort of experience I find most appealing in a post-apocalyptic scenario. It was only after putting restrictions on myself and avoiding the attempts of the developers to make me play the game their way, that I got there. And isn't that weird?
Nearing the end, here are some questions I'd like to ask you all;
- Have you ever taken a similar approach as I did, traveling directly into the Wasteland or D.C., avoiding the main quest altogether?
- What do you think of the design decision to railroad the player to civilization (Megaton) after leaving Vault 101?
- What is your opinion on fast-travel in the Fallout franchise?
Finally, a concluding topic of discussion;
In Fallout 3 we see countless marked and unmarked locations which will remain unexplored if the player doesn't choose to explore them. This runs the risk of players missing all of that content, but it also makes exploration more authentic. In F:NV we see the opposite. Almost every location has a marker and a quest linked to it, making free exploration unnecessary, but also in a way, discouraging it. Many times in F:NV have I stumbled upon a new area, and was immediately overcome with the dread feeling that I was not supposed to go there without the correct quest. In fact, many places are simply locked unless one has the accompanying quest, and often that quest is also the only reason one would want go there in the first place. In many ways, F:NV was not made with exploration in mind.
In my opinion, a compelling and believable story-arch and exploration are both indispensable facets of a Fallout game. Where F:NV shines in the department of storytelling, roleplaying and meaningful choice-making, F3's huge explorable world often goes unappreciated. It's something I really missed in F:NV and for that reason I am glad Fallout 3 exists.
So, without turning this into a F3 vs. F:NV discussion, which design philosophy do you prefer?
Thanks for reading,
Apollyon
Every now and then, roughly once a year, I get an unexplainable urge to play Fallout. Usually this starts and ends with me playing F:NV, however Fallout 3 is always there, begging to be played. Now, Fallout 3 has always had a special place in my heart, since it was the first Fallout game I ever played and when I was young I enjoyed the hell out of it.
A few weeks ago another such period as before hinted at arrived. After having a fair bit of fun with F:NV I was ultimately unsatisfied; another itch needed scratching. And thus, Fallout 3 was once again installed on my PC and I was determined to give it an honest try.
The first character I created was going to be an evil bastard. Naturally I ditched the main quest the second I found a credible excuse to do so. After following Dad's trail to Rivet City, I went my own way and basically roleplayed as a mercenary/slaver character, which was surprisingly fun. There are plenty of quests and quest-outcomes to facilitate such a character. Eventually I traveled to the Pitt and had a decent run there, too. Sadly, by this time, quests were starting to run out, and with it my motivation to keep playing the character.
While playing as the previously mentioned character, I already had a new idea pop into my mind, though. And this is where it gets good.
Really what I needed was a good (read: in-character) excuse to keep exploring every nook and cranny of the Wasteland. A scavenger-type, but with a bit more to it. The idea I came up with was to "miss" Megaton, by simply going right instead of left when leaving the vault. After some crawling around, I would inevitably come across Fort Independence, where I would encounter my first semblance of civilization and would be given a purpose. The Outcasts need spare parts, scrap and anything that resembles technology in exchange for sustenance and hopefully, eventually a spot in their exclusive little club. This would give me a short-term reason to start exploring, and some long-term prospects of fancy power armor, big guns and an Outcast follower (mod).
So there it was. I now had a reason to check nearly every single location in the game in search of glorious scrap. And to my surprise, I was (and am still having) a ton of fun with this. Exploring all the dark corners of Fallout 3 made me realize how absolutely huge this game is. Not only that, but there's also a great amount of work put into every location, always with a unique bit of environmental storytelling, worth-while loot and attention to detail.
Blindly following quest markers when playing in my youth, I had completely missed the fact that all over the metro tunnels there are directions leading you to GNR. In fact, the metro tunnels can be navigated entirely by using the direction boards. But why ever use this? It's much easier to get around using fast-travel; or so my younger self would have thought. Well, no longer. Clearly, if exploring the tunnels is your goal, fast-travel is not an option. But I also resolved to make sparing use of fast-travel if I could find a way through the tunnels that I had no previously explored. (For example, ever tried getting back to GNR after repairing the satellite dish, without using fast-travel?) Upon doing so, only then did I realize the size and interconnectedness of the tunnels. I uncovered places that I, in all my hours of Fallout, never knew existed. I realized that following the main and side quests left the majority of the game unexplored.
Mostly avoiding the more populated locations of Fallout 3, scrounging for scrap and generally getting by with the things I scavenged, provided the sort of experience I find most appealing in a post-apocalyptic scenario. It was only after putting restrictions on myself and avoiding the attempts of the developers to make me play the game their way, that I got there. And isn't that weird?
Nearing the end, here are some questions I'd like to ask you all;
- Have you ever taken a similar approach as I did, traveling directly into the Wasteland or D.C., avoiding the main quest altogether?
- What do you think of the design decision to railroad the player to civilization (Megaton) after leaving Vault 101?
- What is your opinion on fast-travel in the Fallout franchise?
Finally, a concluding topic of discussion;
In Fallout 3 we see countless marked and unmarked locations which will remain unexplored if the player doesn't choose to explore them. This runs the risk of players missing all of that content, but it also makes exploration more authentic. In F:NV we see the opposite. Almost every location has a marker and a quest linked to it, making free exploration unnecessary, but also in a way, discouraging it. Many times in F:NV have I stumbled upon a new area, and was immediately overcome with the dread feeling that I was not supposed to go there without the correct quest. In fact, many places are simply locked unless one has the accompanying quest, and often that quest is also the only reason one would want go there in the first place. In many ways, F:NV was not made with exploration in mind.
In my opinion, a compelling and believable story-arch and exploration are both indispensable facets of a Fallout game. Where F:NV shines in the department of storytelling, roleplaying and meaningful choice-making, F3's huge explorable world often goes unappreciated. It's something I really missed in F:NV and for that reason I am glad Fallout 3 exists.
So, without turning this into a F3 vs. F:NV discussion, which design philosophy do you prefer?
Thanks for reading,
Apollyon