Fallout 3: Fallout At It's Finest

[Dotan]

Tell me. Why didn't you like Fallout 3's map design? What was so offputting about it?

Idk why fo3 fans insist that the idea of exploring every single corner of the map without any challenge or danger is good game design.

We are really talking about fallout? Because i dont know if its fitting to a post apocalyptical landscape filled with mutated creatures and groups of raiders to be piss easy and allow a kid without proper military training to walk around the whole world at level 1.

And hell, its boring as fuck to explore like this.
Reaching a place with high end gear should mean an extremely difficult challenge to reach there as you shouldnt be able to break itemization so easily.

 

[Dotan]

They're larger in scale and distance than what is depicted on the map. Do you really think the entire D.C. area is represented proportionally in comparison to real life D.C.?

This alone should tell you that is not a well designed map.

 

[Dotan]

When the regulators and the mercs come after you, it's an acknowledgement that someone out there, other than main factions, hate you and your actions. I'm more likely to try to change my ways after this happens, and it's an acknowledgement of just how powerful and influential my character is within this wasteland.

Nothing of the sort in any other Fallout game

Have you ever played fallout 2 as an evil char?

Let me tell you: bouty hunters coming after you is not a new thing introduced on fo3.

 

[Iprovidelittlepianos]

 

[laclongquan]

3. Side Quests

Fallout 3 follows a philosophy of quality > quantity. While some have criticized it for having less side quests than several other Fallout games, Fallout 3's side quest are arguably the best designed quests in the franchise. Take for instance the Superhuman Gambit, an excellent showcase of how campy yet grounded Fallout can be, without straying into Wild Wasteland or Fallout 2 territories. The Power of The Atom showcases just how scenic and fun a side quest can be, as well as how impactful it can be on the environment. Never before or after Fallout 3 has a side quest ever managed to pull this off.

Fallout 3's problem both a matter of less of EVERYTHING in relate to writing, to quality. From background, to quest, to notes etc... I wont mention dialog (thought it's big prob) because it relate to Voice Acting which is another headache we will talk in other argument.

I wont mention something about number of sidequest. I just mention that's the fucking unmarked quests are super annoying. No they are not mysterious. They are just lazy placement of a few writings with nothing concrete, nothing link between between them (like visual clues point to next piece). You must know that their level of quality is nothing that worth we players puzzle about their reason of nonexistance.

A lot of areas that has nothing revelant in term of writing, background, or quest. Take Shalebridge, for example. There's one unmarked quest of two different ant factions and nothing else. What's about that scientist? What about the link between this location to 2 other locations with ants like Corvega Factory and Grayditch. Zip. Zero.

Even minor area that has revelant quest are undeveloped outside of said quest. take Girdershade for example, with its quest of Nuka Cola quantum and the unmarked quest of bringing naughty nightwear to here. Outside of it, there's NOTHING else. Why would one man and one girl live in this middle of nowhere? What do they earn for a living? Why THERE, exactly? Why only 2 of them, exactly?

Even main quest doesnt escape from this lazy and unfinished development even with several DLCs in tow. Take the main quest of chasing after DAD, for example. Once you get to Jefferson Memorial aka Project Purity, there's only one mention of needing to find a prewar scientist who live in a minor Vault somewhere. NO MORE clue until you run across said vault in the middle of no where.
+++ NO clue to return to ask either Dr Li or the old man scientist. Li doesnt know but the oldster know, since he stole some data from said Vault decades ago and his diary noted about that.
+++ No clue to return to Citadel and ask BoS about it despite they has a most widespread presence in DC and has a huge treasure of data, prewar or otherwise. There is a terminal with data on V112 in the Citadel.
+++ At least they cover their ass in Vault Tek building with some clue about V112 location being deleted by unknown.

It is just one huge abyss between the holodisc in Jefferson Memorial and the vault in the garage in the middle of nowhere.

Quality Writing? YOu are gilding gold over copper~

 

[Gizmojunk]

There exists nothing of Fallout in the Bethesda games, save for the use of a few cherry picked nouns.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

I wont mention something about number of sidequest. I just mention that's the fucking unmarked quests are super annoying. No they are not mysterious. They are just lazy placement of a few writings with nothing concrete, nothing link between between them (like visual clues point to next piece). You must know that their level of quality is nothing that worth we players puzzle about their reason of nonexistance.

A lot of areas that has nothing revelant in term of writing, background, or quest. Take Shalebridge, for example. There's one unmarked quest of two different ant factions and nothing else. What's about that scientist? What about the link between this location to 2 other locations with ants like Corvega Factory and Grayditch. Zip. Zero.

Even minor area that has revelant quest are undeveloped outside of said quest. take Girdershade for example, with its quest of Nuka Cola quantum and the unmarked quest of bringing naughty nightwear to here. Outside of it, there's NOTHING else. Why would one man and one girl live in this middle of nowhere? What do they earn for a living? Why THERE, exactly? Why only 2 of them, exactly?

This is a really crucial point that a lot of Fallout 3 apologists really need to frankly consider. Fallout 3 has been compared to a themepark, and I think the comparison is apt: Theme parks are tremendously fun in small doses, and they're full of amazing set pieces, but it doesn't cohere into an actual world, it's just a series of brief distractions.

In Fallout 3, there really are a tremendous number of cool locations, cool set pieces, and cool unmarked quests. They're cool on their own, and individually they would make worthy contributions to a true Fallout game. The problem is, more often than not they exist as islands, with no connection to the broader setting beyond in the most general sense. It creates the feeling of a world created only for brief amusement, rather than a world I truly want to explore and understand as a whole.

The key to good worldbuilding, IMO, is drawing networks of connections between as many things as possible. This was accomplished best in 2 and NV. 1 doesn't have that many connections between locations across the worldmap admittedly, but at least each location gets a fair deal of development itself, and pound for pound there's still more interconnection than in 3.

Even main quest doesnt escape from this lazy and unfinished development even with several DLCs in tow. Take the main quest of chasing after DAD, for example. Once you get to Jefferson Memorial aka Project Purity, there's only one mention of needing to find a prewar scientist who live in a minor Vault somewhere. NO MORE clue until you run across said vault in the middle of no where.
+++ NO clue to return to ask either Dr Li or the old man scientist. Li doesnt know but the oldster know, since he stole some data from said Vault decades ago and his diary noted about that.
+++ No clue to return to Citadel and ask BoS about it despite they has a most widespread presence in DC and has a huge treasure of data, prewar or otherwise. There is a terminal with data on V112 in the Citadel.
+++ At least they cover their ass in Vault Tek building with some clue about V112 location being deleted by unknown.

It is just one huge abyss between the holodisc in Jefferson Memorial and the vault in the garage in the middle of nowhere.

Quality Writing? YOu are gilding gold over copper~

Actually I think you're mistaken here - You get the location for the garage added to your PIP-Boy when you find the Holotape in the memorial.