A quick introduction. I have played Fallout 1 and 2. I actually just started a Fallout 1 character shortly before 3 came out. I also enjoy Fallout 3. A lot. It's one of the better games I've played recently.
And I know there are a countless numbers of "What's Wrong with Fallout 3" threads but I can't help myself. If you are tired of them, you may want to quit reading.
I have not completed the main quest in Fallout 3, intentionally. I was unfortunate enough, or perhaps fortunate enough, to find out a bit about the ending. So, I've been delaying the main quest in order to explore and complete some of the side quests. I don't remember ever having to do this in the original games. There was a more natural flow to how you got involved in side quests. The main quest would lead you to a new area where you would meet people and they may or may not have something they needed done. In FO3, I find myself having to hunt down side quests.
I am conflicted with regards to the VATS system. VATS isn't a bad system but there was so much more to the combat setup in FO/FO2. In FO2, you could die in the Temple of Trials if you didn't figure out that you shouldn't go up to a giant ant and trade blows with the thing a la Rocky movies. You had to use you action points wisely and move around. This element is completely gone. APs were for more than just shooting a gun or swinging a knife. But that is all gone. Also, in FO/FO2 if you ran out of action points you weren't going to be doing anything. In FO3, all that happens is you are forced to use a terrible FPS mode. I am not advocating a turn based game over a real time or vice versa, I simply wish some of the elements that made the turn based so interesting hadn't been overlooked.
I find the quests pretty repetitive. What was always so interesting in FO/FO2 was the inventive ways that quests could be completed. Since you couldn't master everything in FO/FO2, the quests had to be kind of open in order to allow a variety of characters to complete them.
Which leads to... the unimaginative and limited dialog in FO3. Not too much needs to be said here. I think this problem is pretty self-evident. Even some of the throw away popups in the old games have more personality than many of the speeches in FO3. I think this is actually a problem with how "immersive" Bethesda wanted the game to be. FO/FO2 presented the player with dialog that wasn't simply "Yes, I'll help you. / Go to hell, I won't help you." The dialog had personality outside of your own intentions. You were role-playing, but it's like you character had some personality of his own that you couldn't quite control. I don't know, hard to explain, but in end something just ain't right.
The areas are repetitive. This is particularly bad because FO/FO2 were pretty repetitive but they felt like they had more variety. In FO3, I know exactly what every sewer, every office building and every shack is basically going to look like. I remember the first time I walked into New Reno in FO2. Not likely to happen with anything in FO3. That being said, I do kind of enjoy seeing the wasteland scenery in FO3. And that being said, I do not enjoy dungeon crawls.
Some more minor complaints: The schematic weapons are cartoonish. They feel like something that ACME should deliver to Wiley Coyote. I've never put on clothes and felt my self more capable of some task. This is just too silly for an RPG like Fallout. In fantasy games, fine, but not in Fallout. I'll even justify to myself a charisma increase when you have a suit on, or a perception increase with a baseball cap (keeps the sun out of your eyes, right?... right?) but that is about as far as I can go.
Well, this has already gotten absurdly long and I'm not sure I'm even really done complaining yet but I need to stop. Fallout 3 is a good game. Pretty fun. But Fallout 1 and 2 had a certain something about them that made them so great. They had a sense of humor about them but were also very serious at the same time. Fallout 3 feels like somebody tried to copy the atmosphere of the first two games and got pieces of it right, but somehow missed the soul of the games. Fallout 3 feels like it was made by people who didn't truly understand what was so original and great about the first two games.
I remember moments from the first games like getting into the boxing ring in New Reno, or going the Glow for the first time, or even just seeing the talking head of the Enclave soldier for the first time. Nothing about Fallout 3 strikes me as memorable currently except for maybe some of the scenery, like first walking into the Washington Mall. And honestly, I could have looked at the game art to have that kind of experience.
Sorry about the length of this post, I got a bit carried away.
PetrolMan
And I know there are a countless numbers of "What's Wrong with Fallout 3" threads but I can't help myself. If you are tired of them, you may want to quit reading.
I have not completed the main quest in Fallout 3, intentionally. I was unfortunate enough, or perhaps fortunate enough, to find out a bit about the ending. So, I've been delaying the main quest in order to explore and complete some of the side quests. I don't remember ever having to do this in the original games. There was a more natural flow to how you got involved in side quests. The main quest would lead you to a new area where you would meet people and they may or may not have something they needed done. In FO3, I find myself having to hunt down side quests.
I am conflicted with regards to the VATS system. VATS isn't a bad system but there was so much more to the combat setup in FO/FO2. In FO2, you could die in the Temple of Trials if you didn't figure out that you shouldn't go up to a giant ant and trade blows with the thing a la Rocky movies. You had to use you action points wisely and move around. This element is completely gone. APs were for more than just shooting a gun or swinging a knife. But that is all gone. Also, in FO/FO2 if you ran out of action points you weren't going to be doing anything. In FO3, all that happens is you are forced to use a terrible FPS mode. I am not advocating a turn based game over a real time or vice versa, I simply wish some of the elements that made the turn based so interesting hadn't been overlooked.
I find the quests pretty repetitive. What was always so interesting in FO/FO2 was the inventive ways that quests could be completed. Since you couldn't master everything in FO/FO2, the quests had to be kind of open in order to allow a variety of characters to complete them.
Which leads to... the unimaginative and limited dialog in FO3. Not too much needs to be said here. I think this problem is pretty self-evident. Even some of the throw away popups in the old games have more personality than many of the speeches in FO3. I think this is actually a problem with how "immersive" Bethesda wanted the game to be. FO/FO2 presented the player with dialog that wasn't simply "Yes, I'll help you. / Go to hell, I won't help you." The dialog had personality outside of your own intentions. You were role-playing, but it's like you character had some personality of his own that you couldn't quite control. I don't know, hard to explain, but in end something just ain't right.
The areas are repetitive. This is particularly bad because FO/FO2 were pretty repetitive but they felt like they had more variety. In FO3, I know exactly what every sewer, every office building and every shack is basically going to look like. I remember the first time I walked into New Reno in FO2. Not likely to happen with anything in FO3. That being said, I do kind of enjoy seeing the wasteland scenery in FO3. And that being said, I do not enjoy dungeon crawls.
Some more minor complaints: The schematic weapons are cartoonish. They feel like something that ACME should deliver to Wiley Coyote. I've never put on clothes and felt my self more capable of some task. This is just too silly for an RPG like Fallout. In fantasy games, fine, but not in Fallout. I'll even justify to myself a charisma increase when you have a suit on, or a perception increase with a baseball cap (keeps the sun out of your eyes, right?... right?) but that is about as far as I can go.
Well, this has already gotten absurdly long and I'm not sure I'm even really done complaining yet but I need to stop. Fallout 3 is a good game. Pretty fun. But Fallout 1 and 2 had a certain something about them that made them so great. They had a sense of humor about them but were also very serious at the same time. Fallout 3 feels like somebody tried to copy the atmosphere of the first two games and got pieces of it right, but somehow missed the soul of the games. Fallout 3 feels like it was made by people who didn't truly understand what was so original and great about the first two games.
I remember moments from the first games like getting into the boxing ring in New Reno, or going the Glow for the first time, or even just seeing the talking head of the Enclave soldier for the first time. Nothing about Fallout 3 strikes me as memorable currently except for maybe some of the scenery, like first walking into the Washington Mall. And honestly, I could have looked at the game art to have that kind of experience.
Sorry about the length of this post, I got a bit carried away.
PetrolMan
