Did James have to kill himself in Fallout 3?

Everyone knows the best place to build a town in washington after an atomic war is inside a crater with a Bomb in the middle, What? rain filling up the bowl shaped hole? Unstable foundations for scrap based improvised buildings? a Nuke (that weirdly looks like out of the 30's despite they clearly using more modern ICBMs) potentially leaking radioactive waste around town while keeping it withing arms reach of a cult that believes the nuke exploding and killing everyone would be the raddest thing ever? Shut up, crater towns with no farms are cool.
 
I like how people claim that 'there are no farms, but the food goes in via caravans, so it makes sense'. To which I ask 'for what?'. What does Megaton have to offer for a dangerous journey bringing food supplies - one of the most valuable resources in the wastes? How do the wastelanders pay for enough food to maintain a stable community - several in fact - entirely on outside deliveries?
 
The better question nobody ever answers is Why do people still live in a region that is so inhospitable that they can't even make a farm? Or if nobody produces any resources on their own, what do all those infinite Raiders RAID to be called Raiders and survive off that.
 
As ridiculous as it seems, I'm calling tourism. DC has decent income from tourism today, so why not several hundred years in the future when nobody cares and... nobody could afford to... travel... for something... like... that... Oh.

Raiders are cannibalistic gangs. Can't you tell by all that wasted meat plastered all over the walls? Naturally, it has to be one band of Raiders kidnapping another Raider patrol and hanging them up to dry for jerky! Wait a minute, jerky doesn't work like that? Well crap, I got nothing.
 
Obviously the CW's economy is held in place by legitimate businesses such as Littlehorn & Associates. I don't know why he is so picky about the ears you sell him, though. Of course, the ears themselves are understandable - it's common knowledge that you can't make a proper Gore Bag without an ear or two - but why only from good people? Is he selling ingredients to witches (y'know, like in Macbeth - rooster's liver, virgin's armpit hair, live chickens - that kinda stuff)? I don't know of any special properties a Gore Bag could have if it was made of good people's gore, though and not being included in one is a horrible waste of a good ear.
 
Ooh ooh, I know. They spread word that DC is a lush green place and that they would like caravans to help them settle there. When the caravans come, the raider gangs attack them and whittle down their well equipped guards... uggh... with pool cues and crappily maintained pistols... then the townspeople save them and get the food for free(?) when asked why the Wasteland is drek, they blame it on the mutants...
 
Gizmojunk said:
Tarantulakelurk said:
Did James have to kill himself in Fallout 3?
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Yes, because that's clearly not a battle they wanted to pick.

One could as well ask, "Did James have to allow and endure his child shooting him in the face 50 times with the birthday BB-Gun?", and then "Did he have to give them another box of BBs when they asked for it?".


FO3 is foremost a sandbox simulation; and its claim to being an RPG ~at best: merely coincidental. At worst: A marketing hook.
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I like Pete, I really do. But ... so much bullshit, its hard to believe that someone can do such an interview and believe in it, I mean really believe it, someone who has at least the education of a typical highschool student. Dialogues in RPGs, quality writing! what the hell! Who needs that?

But I guess the sadest thing is ... the guys at Bethesda actually got away with it. THey delivered such a mess, dialogues with a quality to make sure that even the most stupid toddler understands what is happening. And still ... it got so many awesome reviews, awards etc. ... for ... the dialogues, the story, the characters, the writting and I know enough people that really tried to tell me how good it was in F3, I mean what the fuck, seriously. What. The. Fuck. Do people never read a decent book these days? Do they not recnognize shit writting when they see it? Or maybe its me, no clue, because I have a hard time to turn my brain off when I am playing video games.
 
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I feel you Crni Vuk.
I am also rather turned of by a lot of media and the people who worship it, instead preferring to pick up a 'golden age' sci fi book (or the occasionally Star Trek book, my secret shame :lol:) rather than watching yet another remake of an existing series or movie.
Or these days trying to write a story that I would like to read.

Whenever I see a thread about Fallout 3 vs Fallout New Vegas I am always somewhat stunned when I read some of the reasons why people feel that Fallout 3 is much better than Fallout New Vegas.
"It catches the desolation of a post nuclear wasteland more", "Much more interesting locations and/or factions", "Far better characters", "Way better storyline".
I honestly would like to write to these people "Were you all brain damaged from birth, or did you have some kind of accident?". Of course I don't but damn it is tempting.
I now avoid those places as the stupid seeps of it.

As for the original topic question, absolutely not, if James had taken out Evil Southerner Enclave Colonel with it his sacrifice might have had some purpose and impact, instead it was just one of those faux 'emotional deep moments which focuses the player's will into trying to live up to his/her father, bring back clean water to the Capital Wasteland, and defeat the evil Enclave'
Pretty much by the book stuff.
 
The Dutch Ghost said:
Whenever I see a thread about Fallout 3 vs Fallout New Vegas I am always somewhat stunned when I read some of the reasons why people feel that Fallout 3 is much better than Fallout New Vegas... "It catches the desolation of a post nuclear wasteland more",
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In some ways it does, just not in the "Fallout" kind of way. If you were going by actual "post-apocalyptic" atmosphere, then I think F3 delivers, at least compared to NV. I mean, which scenarios would be more likely in a post-apocalyptic scenario?:

- People trying to find clean water or trying to find rocket parts to build a rocket ship?
- People trying to rebuild towns or people trying to find a sexbot?
- People worrying about raiders or people worrying they have enough chips to play another round of Blackjack?

Of course the F3 examples don't work after 200 years but if F3 WAS trying to do a "directly-after-post-apocalypse" scenario, then I think it did well, at least compared to NV.
 
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You realize you are comparing two completely different kids of quests as if they were given the same importance?

That's like saying, what's more likey:

A town being harrassed by a gang of well armed criminals that are looking for a caravan runner and the option of helpign the town or the bandits, or Collecting 50 quantum Nuka Colas?
A faction war to control a Dam, thus providing electricity to the winning faction, or hitting molerats with a stick?
 
Besides, the whole point of 'FO3 depicts "direct after" post-apocalypse better than FNV' is kind of stupid. Because neither of them are supposed to. FNV has the benefit of being aware of that - something that FO3 never did. Using that point against FNV is like saying something like this: 'There are two statues of dogs. One of them looks like a dog, the other like a fish with legs. I saw the latter first and thought that the statue is a fish with legs. The other statue looks like a dog and not a fish with legs and therefore sucks, because I expected a fish with legs.'
 
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Walpknut said:
You realize you are comparing two completely different kids of quests as if they were given the same importance?
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I know they're not of the same importance, I'm imagining it as "what would people do directly after a nuke?" Would scavengers be looking for supplies or would they be looking for a mythical casino in the desert?

No Man said:
Besides, the whole point of 'FO3 depicts "direct after" post-apocalypse better than FNV' is kind of stupid. Because neither of them are supposed to. FNV has the benefit of being aware of that - something that FO3 never did. Using that point against FNV is like saying something like this: 'There are two statues of dogs. One of them looks like a dog, the other like a fish with legs. I saw the latter first and thought that the statue is a fish with legs. The other statue looks like a dog and not a fish with legs and therefore sucks, because I expected a fish with legs.'
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That's why I said, if we were going by a "directly-after-nuclear-apocalypse" scenario, as in "what would people be doing IF they had just survived a nuclear apocalypse?" I know full well, F3 nor NV are trying to do that, but if​ they were, if F3 was sold as taking place 20 instead as 200, and if NV was stated to take place not too long after that (a "what-if" scenario more or less), then F3 would do a better job.

And even then, if you knew nothing about Fallout and discovered F3 and NV at the same time and saw enough footage from each game, which would you state is a more "post-apocalyptic" game?
 
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People complaining about Megaton having a bomb in the center forget one thing: its impossible for it to explode (in a way that would cause a big nuclear explosion) by accident. A certain order of things would have to happen, which is why Burke gave you a fusion pulse charge instead of just a bunch of explosives. The most that would have happened if it simply exploded was Cromwell and anyone else dumb enough to stand near it would be killed, and i think most would agree with me when i say "good riddance". The explosion would only be slightly bigger than that of a Mini Nuke.
 
X12 said:
The explosion would only be slightly bigger than that of a Mini Nuke.
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Ah, so it would be totally ok to have big explosion in the middle of your settlement? What about all those people that pass by? Because you know, it's in the middle of the settlement?

The Power of Atom is one of the worst quest I've played in my entire life. Starting with very location: Megaton - town built around active and damaged nuclear bomb from salvaged metal from airport far away. Raiders had culturally never bothered to stop the process of building of town. Denizens decide never to explore supermarket down the road. Which btw would be way better location for settlement. Cult of crazies whose greatest dream is to blow the bomb up is allowed to freely worship it. What if they used the money from donations to hire some ruthless scientist to do this or buy pulse charge? Tenpenny had it, and he was not some kind of brainiac. The quest itself: Sheriff of the town allows random stranger who walks into town to tinker with the bomb, even when you insult him. Teenager straight from the vault is somehow able to disarm the nuclear bomb. If it was so easy than why anybody had done it before? Why Children of Atom don't give a crap if I did it? There is a guy in a bar that asks random strangers to blow the town up for a dude who has no other reason to do it than "teh evul lulz". You can tell the sheriff about him - evil guy for some reason acts surprised that you did it - after all he knew you for entire 5 minutes, why would you betray him and his murderous plans! Sheriff gives another display of his incompetence - immedietaly after arresting the guy... he turns his back on him, without searching him. "Surprisingly" he gets shot and dies. If you decide to blow the town up (again, for some reason you were given full access to the nuclear bomb in the middle of the town) you will discover that one of the denizens survives - she turns into a ghoul in like 5 minutes. That is impossible, even another ghoul from the same game tells you that it takes about a year for skin to look like that. Besides, world would be FULL of ghouls if nuclear explosions worked that way.

And that is just a single quest.
 
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Still, besides the bomb in the center (a very old bomb thats leaking which means its obviously not gonna have the same power), Megaton is a safe place. A LOT safer than the Wasteland. Only a few places are as safe or safer than it. Also who says the Vault didnt have books about disarming nuclear bombs? They have whole holotape archives of Libraries. Now, if someone like The Chosen One or The Courier, who lived their lives outside a Vault, did this sort of mission, it be less realistic as them knowing how to disarm a nuclear bomb would be less likely, not having imediate acess to a library on holotape.
 
X12 said:
Still, besides the bomb in the center (a very old bomb thats leaking which means its obviously not gonna have the same power), Megaton is a safe place. A LOT safer than the Wasteland. Only a few places are as safe or safer than it. Also who says the Vault didnt have books about disarming nuclear bombs? They have whole holotape archives of Libraries. Now, if someone like The Chosen One or The Courier, who lived their lives outside a Vault, did this sort of mission, it be less realistic as them knowing how to disarm a nuclear bomb would be less likely, not having imediate acess to a library on holotape.
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As I said, even that supermarket seems safer. It already had been there, there is no nuke inside and it seems to be more durable than Megaton (town from scrap). You missed the fact that Megaton wasn't just there, it had to be built. That process itself was helluva dangerous, considering distance that had to be covered and raider threat.
Overall, "rule of cool" in its finest.
In F3 you need 25 skill in explosives to disarm a freaking nuke. In NV you need 25 skill in explosives to convince some old prick to give you few sticks of dynamite. Sorry, but I find latter way more realistic.
Besides, I find it really hard to believe that they have books about disarming nukes in the vault. What purpose would it serve, especially teaching such things teenagers. Also you have to take into consideration the character of the vault and the Overseer.
 
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"Also who says the Vault didnt have books about disarming nuclear bombs? They have whole holotape archives of Libraries."

You realize you are making HUGE leaps in logic to justify stupid shit in FO3? A bookj on disarming Nukes? Pretty sure that is something they train people for in the military, not precisely the kind of thing you would be able to find in your local library.
Let me guess
"Who is to say they don't train vault kids in advanced military skills?".
 
What is Megaton build around anyway? I mean as in some sort of reason to build it? For instance, Goodsprings has a water source, Novac has a scavenging site, Tenpenny Tower is a tower renovated by a rich businessman and turned into luxurious apartments (execution is abysmal, but the premise is not bad), Canterbury Commons and Paradise Falls have trade (one way or another), New Reno and New Vegas have gambling and prostitution. What does Megaton have? There is nothing good to scavenge in he area, there's no clean water source (need deliveries from BoS), only one trader and no agriculture to speak of. If the Children of Atom were more of a widespread religion, the place could serve as a 'CoA Vatican' of sorts, but it's just a cult that's barely even there (and plays absolutely no role in the game).
 
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