GameSpot's Hands on Fallout 3

[Morbus]

It starts ok:<blockquote>Somewhere between being attacked by giant rats and making awkward small talk with a trio of passive-aggressive radiation zombies, I began to regret my decision to leave the vault the other day.</blockquote>Ah... If only it was an actual decision instead of an action forced by the game. Anyway, GameSpot has a nice and relatively long preview of Fallout 3, where the author assumes the role of the character in a witty piece of role-play.<blockquote>I stumbled my way across the barren nighttime landscape, and just as the sun began to rise, I found a walled-off city called Megaton. The friendly robot patrolling the door could tell I was in a bad way (I think my busted and throbbing face tipped him off), so he let me in right away. Immediately inside, I was greeted by a rough-and-tumble-looking fellow in a cowboy hat. He introduced himself as Lucas Simms, Megaton sheriff and sometimes mayor (but only when the need for civility arises). I chatted him up for a bit, asking about the giant atomic bomb sitting smack-dab in the middle of the city as some sort of twisted town-square statue. Even among the makeshift scrap metal and airplane-fuselage houses, that thing stood out like a sore thumb. (...)

Thankfully, the shopkeeper managed to flush out most of my radiation with some Rad-X, and in the process I picked up a new mutant ability to regenerate crippled limbs. Score! Finally, I was sent off to the remains of a Super-Duper Mart store to find some old junk food and see if it was still any good. I ran into a big group of raiders camped out inside the store, but they were no match for the sniper rifle I picked up off of the guy back in Minefield. The best part is that taking care of these squatters gave me enough experience points to put my explosives level above 40. I found the food and rushed back to Megaton to put my newfound skills to good use.</blockquote>Link: Fallout 3 Hands-On - Diary of a Wasteland Survivor @ GameSpot

Thanks Jiggly McNerdington.

 

[Morbus]

Before anyone says it, I know he's impersonating the character. That doesn't mean it isn't ironical.

Also, something tells me max skill levels are 100, just like dulloblivious...

 

[shihonage]

I picked up a new mutant ability to regenerate crippled limbs

Apparently Bethesda watched too much X-Men/4400/Heroes... and took the shittiest premise the latter two came up with... transferable mutations.

 

[MrBumble]

Ah... If only it was an actual decision instead of an action forced by the game.

Uh...What ? The game has to have a beginning, right ? And you can stay in the vault I guess but it would be pretty uninteresting.

 

[Mad Mantis]

This piece makes it sounds like high levels of radiation allow you to pick up some mutant abilities. I wonder if they are all positive and how many you can pick up.

 

[sai | GLYPH]

Finally, I was sent off to the remains of a Super-Duper Mart store to find some old junk food and see if it was still any good.

Wait... so way back when we had this big to-do about how little sense the supermarket quest made in so many ways... and then how we should give Bethesda the benefit of the doubt...

... it turns out the supermarket quest is in fact as poorly conceived as all us 'haters' figured.

Or is the author taking extreme poetic licenses playing off the concept of goin' shoppin'?

This piece makes it sounds like high levels of radiation allow you to pick up some mutant abilities. I wonder if they are all positive and how many you can pick up.

I'm going to bet...
1. If you play long enough, you can get all of them.
2. Aside from the initial radiation damage, there will be only positive effects.

 

[Brother None]

Also, something tells me max skill levels are 100, just like dulloblivious...

Can't say I'd mind that change myself.

As JE Sawyer loved to point out; the Fallout skill system makes no sense. It says percentage (%), yet its maximum is 200. That just makes no sense. Either call it percentage and make the max 100 (as in: full) or make it a scale with the high-end as 200.

 

[aenemic]

I liked how this preview was written, definitely a lot more interesting than most others. even if we didn't really learn anything new.

well, except for that part about mutant abilities.... which sounds awfully stupid. I hope it was a joke.

 

[Outlander]

Of course it's not a joke. Are you at this point surprised at the things Bethesda come up with?

 

[Pope Viper]

Then I turned my eyes toward the atomic bomb and discovered that I needed 40 points of explosives skill to disarm it. Sadly, I had only 15.

Handholding, pure and simple. I don't recall in either of the first two FOs where we were actually told what we needed in order to perform a certain function.

How the hell is this "immersive"?

 

[Ausir]

well, except for that part about mutant abilities.... which sounds awfully stupid. I hope it was a joke.

Knowing previewer competence, he simply might have meant a perk.

 

[aenemic]

Then I turned my eyes toward the atomic bomb and discovered that I needed 40 points of explosives skill to disarm it. Sadly, I had only 15.

Handholding, pure and simple. I don't recall in either of the first two FOs where we were actually told what we needed in order to perform a certain function.

How the hell is this "immersive"?

yeah, that's something I really miss from older games. in Fallout 1+2 you never really knew if you wasted skill points when maxing your traps skill for example. I hate knowing right from the start where I should put my points and not having to take a wild guess. min-maxing is only fun when you know the game inside out.

well, except for that part about mutant abilities.... which sounds awfully stupid. I hope it was a joke.

Knowing previewer competence, he simply might have meant a perk.

nice observation. I really hope that's the case.

 

[thefalloutfan]

calling me "Smooth Skin")

This earned me some funny looks from the local townsfolk--even the Church of Atom people looked at me like I was crazy. I tried to explain that I was doing this in the name of science, but no luck. I'm not making friends in this town anytime soon.

I like this too.

Then I turned my eyes toward the atomic bomb and discovered that I needed 40 points of explosives skill to disarm it. Sadly, I had only 15.

Damn hand holding <_<

Thankfully, the shopkeeper managed to flush out most of my radiation with some Rad-X, and in the process I picked up a new mutant ability to regenerate crippled limbs.

This is new. If these small mutations are positive and negative then I think they'll fit in.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Finally, I was sent off to the remains of a Super-Duper Mart store to find some old junk food and see if it was still any good.

Wait... so way back when we had this big to-do about how little sense the supermarket quest made in so many ways... and then how we should give Bethesda the benefit of the doubt...

... it turns out the supermarket quest is in fact as poorly conceived as all us 'haters' figured.

Fed Ex quests are bad enough, especially when it's something you already have to do in real life for your stoner roommate. "Dude can you snag me some Funions and a Snapple?" How about a quest where we mow the lawn, do the laundry and file our taxes too?

Handholding, pure and simple.

Jeez, the Curious George online games my daughter plays aren't this explicit.

The ultimate concession to the LCD. God forbid they should actually present a freakin challenge to the player to figure things out on their own.

 

[Humpsalot]

Tho it seems yet again, get sniper rifle = win.

OP weapons and 1 shotting things from out of their range is boring, it was boring in FO1 and it will be boring in FO3.

 

[Texas Renegade]

Finally, I was sent off to the remains of a Super-Duper Mart store to find some old junk food and see if it was still any good.

Wait... so way back when we had this big to-do about how little sense the supermarket quest made in so many ways... and then how we should give Bethesda the benefit of the doubt...

... it turns out the supermarket quest is in fact as poorly conceived as all us 'haters' figured.

Or is the author taking extreme poetic licenses playing off the concept of goin' shoppin'?

No actually most of you haters were complaining about the idea that you went to the super duper mart to get medicine. Some even said that if it was getting food from the place, it would make sense. I think it is poetic license using the term "junk food" as in another preview it was just food. I mean, why would the raiders be there if they didn't have food. I mean seriously, in the other FOs you could get TV dinners and Roman noodles.

This piece makes it sounds like high levels of radiation allow you to pick up some mutant abilities. I wonder if they are all positive and how many you can pick up.

I'm going to bet...
1. If you play long enough, you can get all of them.
2. Aside from the initial radiation damage, there will be only positive effects.[/quote]

I don't know how the radiation works, if it is mutations then they need to be good and bad.

All I have seen previously regarding limbs is that you needed to use a stimpak or see a doctor to fix a broken limb.

As for the skill points...In both of the previous games there was little value in raising most skills above 100 anyway, so it is fine, especially with a level cap of 20.

And the raiders at the mini mart are a lowlevel area, so yes a sniper rifle should be effective against them. Same once you got the SMG in FO1, most of the low level areas were much easier as long as you had ammo.

 

[Humpsalot]

I don't know how the radiation works, if it is mutations then they need to be good and bad.

Pretty sure there are no downsides in this version, I know they said with "perks" there will be no downsides, but with the ant str and now this it seems like it is spread across the board. Good that it is strong. Bad because doesn't add any thought into it. Would rather get the added ability from the quest with a downside, and maybe do another quest to get rid of the downside. Something like that.

As for the skill points...In both of the previous games there was little value in raising most skills above 100 anyway, so it is fine, especially with a level cap of 20.

I probably wont raise guns above 60, since every screen shot i see has a 95% chance to hit something. I dont want to turn the game on hard, because i dont want to die from 2 hits or have to be healing all the time, but i dont want to be Nick Cage in The Wind Runner (or whatever movie that was he had to save the Navajo in WWII) where i can't miss.

One more thing, see if anyone has an opinion on this. It seems the game has distinct blocks of skills. In oblivian it was 0% 25% 50% 75% and i think 100% might have been something, never played it that long. But anyway in FO3 it seems to go in 20%. (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100). Where from 0-20 you wont be able to do anything what that skill and 20-40 you suck but not as bad, and 40-60 you are ok with them, such as explosives where you cant defuse the bomb w/o 40% in explosives. So when leveling it should be trying to get to that next tier? Just wanted to confirm with some of yall.

 

[sai | GLYPH]

No actually most of you haters were complaining about the idea that you went to the super duper mart to get medicine.

Actually I was responding to the, "old [anything] and see if it was still any good" part, which greatly implies that you're actually going to the market to pick up an item that's been sitting there a few hundred years. I hope at the least you find the 'junk food' on the floor.

Oh and... I was one of the defenders... in fact I offered up a whole little story that tied a sick daughter, a murdered doctor, an old townsman, the raiders, the market, and a cure together in a consequentially branching story that amounted to far more than a fed-ex quest. Cause I thought hey... maybe Bethesda did something good and it's just not coming off that way in the reviews. But this quote doesn't provide nearly enough wiggle room to think happy thoughts.

Some even said that if it was getting food from the place, it would make sense.

Yes well, if it's a raider camp chances are there would be food... but then you wouldn't have to worry about it being old or wonder if it was still any good.

I mean seriously, in the other FOs you could get TV dinners and Roman noodles.

But they weren't edible and you didn't find them on the shelf in a supermarket.

 

[Seymour the spore plant]

Yep, just as I thought: I had a crippled head

Heh. This never gets old.

Thankfully, the shopkeeper managed to flush out most of my radiation with some Rad-X

What? Shouldn't that read "Rad-Away"? Hope it's just a previewer screw-up and they didn't merge the two chems. Also, that mutation thing sounds to me like a reward for that particular quest instead of a radiation-related gameplay feature, since the shopkeeper sends you out specifically to study its effects.

 

[Texas Renegade]

No actually most of you haters were complaining about the idea that you went to the super duper mart to get medicine.

Actually I was responding to the, "old [anything] and see if it was still any good" part, which greatly implies that you're actually going to the market to pick up an item that's been sitting there a few hundred years. I hope at the least you find the 'junk food' on the floor.

Oh and... I was one of the defenders... in fact I offered up a whole little story that tied a sick daughter, a murdered doctor, an old townsman, the raiders, the market, and a cure together in a consequentially branching story that amounted to far more than a fed-ex quest. Cause I thought hey... maybe Bethesda did something good and it's just not coming off that way in the reviews. But this quote doesn't provide nearly enough wiggle room to think happy thoughts.

Some even said that if it was getting food from the place, it would make sense.

Yes well, if it's a raider camp chances are there would be food... but then you wouldn't have to worry about it being old or wonder if it was still any good.

I mean seriously, in the other FOs you could get TV dinners and Roman noodles.

But they weren't edible and you didn't find them on the shelf in a supermarket.

Well if you will pay attention to the quest, it isn't to get food to eat, it is to get the food so she can determine if it is still edible for her wasteland book.