Fallout 4 versus Fallout 3: FIGHTO!!!

laclongquan said:
There's a direction about the theme of some years right after Apocalypse. This is a theme near and dear to Beth so there's a lot of effort devoted to it. The writings in Germantown police HQ? That absolutely useless pile of text. The robot take care of house in DC ruins? Yeah, one of those effort. finding audio logs of survivors that will gather at National Guard Armory's bunker? THat. But that theme drop in importance, yet not deleted, which is why there's only unmarked quests belong to that theme. And making such a big disconnect between those writings and the main quest.
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My hot take: Pre-war stuff should have an aura of mystery about it.

Like Fallout 1, the only unoccupied pre-war ruin which has been abandoned the whole time is The Glow, which has been blasted to hell and back with radiation so nothing can survive there.

You see the names and job descriptions of a few pre-war scientists, but very little about what they think or feel, it's just there to give some context to the world, and you see ZAX, this technological marvel that couldn't be repeated.

Having it so you can explore every office building, hardware store and factory, and it's all complete with "Muh environmental storytelling" skeletons and holodisks telling you exactly whta the days following the war was like, just kills the mystery of it for me. I like having fewer but more substantial clues on what the pre-war world was like, rather than having it everywhere and in your face.
 
That's not hot take, that's flat as boiled water. Those F3 dev try to "reward exploration"... yeah, it works only to a point, which is the scenery worth the walks and the fights. F3 is not Morrowind, so this design direction doesnt really work, not in DC and not with F3's art direction. (it might work with PLO, Anchorage, and The Pitt).

Nobody really give a flying fuck about those useless text about prewar (or even apocalypse) characters or events, and most of them are boring as fuck beside. So this socalled "reward" was ignored by most people, unless there's some hardcore Fallout players which will get enraged by those useless text

You are just repeating those marketing stuffs F3 spread out during their heyday. But here in this concentration camp of Fallout crazies, those hot air just doesnt work.
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To prove it doesnt work: Honest Hearts. The scenery usually worth the walk, the climb, or the fight.
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You know what will make those useless text have some purpose in game? have them link to certain named ghouls still live in DC or around. it will make them personal somehow. But naaaah, let's just write about some noname noone care about because they will not appear in game.
Like the audio logs about a family that will gather in National Armory bunker for example. At the end of days, there's only a glowing one there. so how about having one ghoul in Underworld mentioned about it?
Or the robot with the house. You know what will make it really scary? Having a ghoul live in a cellar under that house. Now THAT make the whole thing eerie.
Useless text are useless because they really have no use.
 
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laclongquan said:
That was probabbly a change of personel in their writing department. Fallout 3 show the different parts, different line of design/direction quite well

There's a direction about the theme of some years right after Apocalypse. This is a theme near and dear to Beth so there's a lot of effort devoted to it. The writings in Germantown police HQ? That absolutely useless pile of text. The robot take care of house in DC ruins? Yeah, one of those effort. finding audio logs of survivors that will gather at National Guard Armory's bunker? THat. But that theme drop in importance, yet not deleted, which is why there's only unmarked quests belong to that theme. And making such a big disconnect between those writings and the main quest.

THe Supermutant as main villain also dropped, which explain many events in storylines, and not enough connecting to main quest "enclave as main villain". The remains of that is the various mention of SM raiders capture wastelanders in Big Town, Arefu, Three Dog radio etc... Also the recent capture of Jefferson Memorial (after Dad visit it and left audio logs behind).

As a result they dont have enough writers to fill in the details of many puzzle in F3. Like, where is most of communities? Where is most of wastelanders? The obvious answer is that they are the raiders. Tough wastelanders = raiders. Of course, there's the gore bits associated with raiders, but that's likely latter addition to design. Or no farm so where is food supply for whole DC? food cans? That was the solution of the some years after Apocalypse direction, not actual 2277 scenario
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Interesting enough, this theme of "some years right after Apocalypse" was tried again in Fallout4 if you look at the design direction (everything look damn new to be 2 centuries PA).
There was a mod to change the mentioned 200 years into 60 years and the text doesnt seem so bad.
Of course, there's problem of certain characters from Fallout 3. None touch them yet. But I would think a rename should be enough. After all, Little Lamplight was said to be from right after Apocalypse. So is Brotherhood.
 
Both are generally dogshit examples of fallout games, though are fairly amusing skinner-boxes. Which one I prefer varies on my mood honestly. Do I want to be immersed in a grim awful green depressing world where I kill orcs and collect loot? Or do I want to be less immersed in wish.com Boston and enjoy a better gameplay loop? If I actually want to think about what I’m playing I go back to FnV or 1+2. Honestly 1+2 I have a hard time playing in a casual manner, after work say, so I tend to not go back to them as often : /
 
Now that enough time has passed, I think Fallout 3's biggest faults where over how misguided it all felt.
There may have been People on the team who loved the first two and wanted to recreate that experience, but they fell flat.
I can admire the side stuff for F3 as I feel there's some good stuff there.
F3 isn't a bad game, it's a bad Fallout game, and they tried and failed, but succeeded in other areas.

F4 has some game mechanics that I like going back to, but I've not felt the need to return to that World for a few years. It's a bad Fallout game, and even the side quests can't help this time.
Fallout 4 seems to be an attempt to learn from the experiences of F3, while trying to follow its direction, and falling flat in both regards.
If F3 gave you the chance to pick a faction, my bet is that there would be a unique ending screen for that choice alone, but F4 doesn't even have that.

I think F4 is a better overall game, but a worse Fallout experience.

So Fallout 3 is better, but only because I can see they put in the effort and least tried.
 
Generally, after this long time past, we could look at Fallout 3 with an objective eye.

And really, what Fallout 3 lack is a proper full-staff writing department that fill in the holes that was obviously lacking. I might object to the style of writings, the empty pose they did, but that is because all that useless stuffs take manpower away from all that holes. You can do all the useless fluffs about prewar or Apocalypse stuffs you want, just as long as other holes filled properly.
 
Millim said:
F3 isn't a bad game, it's a bad Fallout game
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this is cope. if a television show were as poorly written as fallout 3 was itd be universally shit on. gamers just have literally no standards beyond no ugly women and dont make it woke and even then they've already bent the knee on that second one with the whole body type a and b thing.

"let's see are you a type a? or a type b? oh you're a type b! oh Kathryn its a beautiful baby type b!" -fallout 3 remastered
 
R.Graves said:
this is cope. if a television show were as poorly written as fallout 3 was itd be universally shit on. gamers just have literally no standards beyond no ugly women and dont make it woke and even then they've already bent the knee on that second one with the whole body type a and b thing.

"let's see are you a type a? or a type b? oh you're a type b! oh Kathryn its a beautiful baby type b!" -fallout 3 remastered
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it's shit fps game, bad rpg game, and it has boring and meaningless quests, the atmosphere and ton are not that good and consistent like when you meet weston lesko who talks like a nerd scientist, the way he talks makes me forget about this bleak atmosphere and ton that only exist in design and people head or ian west who have this vampire nonsense and have this edgy werewolf/vegeta "something just snapped" dialogue or little lamplight
 
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