Fallout 4 versus Fallout 3: FIGHTO!!!

laclongquan

laclongquan

Boned Hunter of Sister
So the Fallout3 game is not as bad as you think threads make me wonder:
Compare to Fallout 4, is Fallout 3 better, or worse?
1. Stories/dialogs/ aka all things writings related.
2. Art direction: blue tinted saturated urban ruins vs full color sharp contrasted plastic feel.
3. Quests: number, quality
4. Memorable NPC: Piper versus Sarah Lyon? or else?

FIGHTO!!!
 
Fallout 4
Has shorter intro.
Has branching storyline.
Its world doesn\t look like the bombs JUST dropped. (it's been 210 years, world should have healed somewhat)
The shooting elements (which let's be real, they're shooter games) are actually good.
Looting serves a purpose due to settlement building (which isn't useful unless you are in Survival mode) and weapon modding.
Companions are more indepth and have storylines to progress.
The world is a bit more interconnected with its areas and how they influence one another.
Far Harbor's pretty neat.

Fallout 3
Has RPG mechanics. (even if they are underdeveloped and underutilized they are better than a fucking perk chart)
Its tone is a bit more Fallout'y.
The Pitt's pretty neat.

However both
Shits all over the lore.
Have horrible storylines.
The worlds doesn't make any sense.
Fail to understand what makes Fallout Fallout and just utilize iconography as jangling keys.
Rehash old elements instead of creating something new, sometimes to the point of breaking lore. (looking at you, FEV)
Horrible balancing.
RPG design is... Well just look at New Vegas and how to get it right. New Vegas outclassed both of these by miles.

I don't play either of these games for a "Fallout experience" as I consider them both to be absolute travesties and do not consider them to be even remotely canon due to their mishandling of the lore. HOWEVER.... As a game on its own merits... Fallout 4's pretty fun once you've modded it and course corrected some of Bethesda's design that doesn't synergize well with one another. So as a game, Fallout 4 is way more fun. As a Fallout game? I wouldn't play either of them. Why would I play something that's just gonna annoy me?
 
I feel the exact same way as Mr Fish aside from settlements, I like making settlements.

Fallout 4 is more fun but Fallout 3 is closer in tone to classic Fallout but that doesn’t say much. It really depends on what's more important to you personally.
 
Oh no I like making settlements too but they don't really serve that much of a purpose. It can be used to generate extra resources through its scavenging table and if you interconnect them all with the supply lines perk but apart from aesthetics the functionality of it isn't really super important.
 
Mr Fish said:
Oh no I like making settlements too but they don't really serve that much of a purpose. It can be used to generate extra resources through its scavenging table and if you interconnect them all with the supply lines perk but apart from aesthetics the functionality of it isn't really super important.
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Real and true
 
Both are largely fine...
Fallout 3 has better aspects, republic of Dave, two super villains fighting each other, Dunwhich Building, Vault 92... heck even the stuff behind Vault 101 and having weird radio frequencies are kind of fun.

Fallout 4 has better gameplay, and narrative choices (even through those choices don't amount to much... there's a lot they could have done as siding with the BOS compared to siding with the Railroad should have been a bigger deal).
I also think companions where handled better in F4.

If you put both together, you get a good game. As they stand, I think they are fine.
F3 is slightly better, but F4 is the more enjoyable game.
 
As much as I personally shit on Fallout 3, I still prefer it over 4. I find 4 to be offensively boring.

Ontop of that, say what you want about 3, but hey, at least it looked quite nice, I do like the piss green filter. Playing a whole game in what's basically the windows xp bliss wallpaper doesn't make me feel like I'm in the post apocalypse, it makes me feel like I'm playing yet another generic shooter...additionally I find the pip boy and essentially whole UI inferior, the need it has to play animations every few seconds kind of takes away from that "shitty CRT based wrist watch" feel the previous pip boy had. It's like it's constantly trying to activate your neurons for doing things, when there's a lot better ways to do that than to show the vault boy swinging a baseball bat every few seconds on a melee build.

Yeah I get that's really stupid in the grand scheme of things, but anything else left zero impressions on me, every "faction" in 4 is just a forgettable version of things done better elsewhere...even like, Megaman made me think more about robot individuality than synths and the institute...Megaman should really not be beating you in regards to storytelling.

Also fuck being a parent by default, it's almost like bethesda intentionally limits playing a character as much as possible. Like, think about it. What if some of us don't wanna have kids? What about the homosexuals? The asexuals? Why are we all forced to follow that plotline when this is supposedly an RPG? I know some of you at least groan at the mention, but no I think it's a fundamental thing you shouldn't break to have even a decent CRPG. The ambiguity is kind of needed for that immersion, but no, you WILL be a 1950s esque mother or father, anything else is gonna be your personal excuse (such as it being a lavender marriage, or your character doing it for the tax reasons), and that excuse is barely even gonna matter since your PC is VOICE ACTED now...need I say more?

Wanna play a GOOD apocalypse based game about parenthood? Play LISA. That way you get an actual protagonist, not mr "I'm voice acted but I'll still pretend to be your avatar."

uh tl;dr Fallout 3 is more offensive within context, but Fallout 3 walked so Fallout 4 could run...and a game that's the "long awaited sequel to 3" is forgettable at best...I didn't even mention how shit the mutants are, that's just a default in the east coast games by now.
 
laclongquan said:
1. Stories/dialogs/ aka all things writings related.
Click to expand...
Eh, both are stupid, but Fallout 4 tries to be serious and therefore fails worse - Like trying to pretend the Institute believe in literally anything - Game wants to be New Vegas, but you know, New Vegas let you ask Caesar actual questions, it's not just "We're good for humanity because we say so, just don't ask why we're making Synths or Supermutants or synthetic apes or doing literaly anything we do"
laclongquan said:
2. Art direction: blue tinted saturated urban ruins vs full color sharp contrasted plastic feel.
Click to expand...
Fallout 3 kinda has the gothic look with the big heads going on. I think it's world is extremely colorless - Green tint aside, everything is just pure grey - Fallout 1 had limited colours but it still made it's world more appealing to look at than just, depressing grey everywhere.

But Fallout 4's world is just, the art-style is completely different, everything is way too colourful - It looks like a cartoon world, I don't like that either.
laclongquan said:
3. Quests: number, quality
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Fallout 3 wins this category and it's not even close - At least it had quests with branching paths and choices and skill checks.

Fallout 4 is 90% "Another settlement needs your help" - Even major quests put you in corridor shooting dungeons, or have mandatory combat, and there's not a single way you can use skills to solve problems in a unique way beyond speech.
laclongquan said:
4. Memorable NPC: Piper versus Sarah Lyon? or else?
Click to expand...
See, this is a matter of complete personal bias - But Piper sounds like a millenial to me. IDK how to explain it, she just has that vibe. IDK that alone kinda means she annoys me as a character.

The only Fallout 4 companion who doesn't either have no personality, or who I don't find personally annoying is Cait - She's the only one I can tolerate having in my party for more than 5 minutes.
 
Personally I dont find (marked or unmarked) quests in Fallout 3 is that bad. The problem is that they rely too much on the randomness of gameplay to initiate itself, thus some can very well hide away from players.

+++ The letters in the graves that finally lead you to a SM camp with Behemoth near train junction. Damn things are too damn well hidden it's more likely you run across said camp and initiate the Behemoth, than to collect notes from graves.

+++ The voting quest in Republic of Dave is too standalone it's quite possible to never run across it (like the quickrun session I did once). Sure, it has a quest lead in, the ghoul hit quest, but if you either unvisit Underworld, or ignore the quest, you wont have a reason to visit Rep of Dave. And we dont have a reason to activate that quest and achieve either results. No personal reason, you see.

+++ THe helping a girl from Dukov's place to run away to Rivet City is not interesting either, but mostly because Rivet City is a crowded place, so helping a new character appearing here is a bit like punishing player. if it's helping her running to, say, Canterbury Common it would be more interesting.

+++ The initiating a robot in DC urban ruins so it run around the place is... pure posing for poseurs, really. Perhaps if that robot is set to be something more active, more impressing, it would be more interesting. Like, if it had a missile launcher for example, and in the course of patrol it set everything upside down? Just a thought. And it's too hidden away from main course.
 
honestly, what I think about 3 vs 4 is less technical and more meta for lack of a clearer word.

Fallout 3 is heavily flawed, but I can easily excuse many of its shortcomings due to it being a first for many things, including Bethesda’s first foray. It’s only natural they stumble while they figure out what works and what doesn’t with this new formula they created.

4 on the over hand, nothing but infinite disappointment and missed potential. Bethesda had well over a decade to improve, and they instead chose to regress so they can appease the lowest common denominator, hobby tourists, by sacrificing the old rpg fans who were there since the beginning. For the sake of principle, I cannot give fallout 4 any positive praise on any moral ground because of how much was changed for the worse.
 
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