NMA: Fallout 3 review

[SuAside]

hey Vince,

nice review, but maybe a bit too nice?

had a few good laughs though.

anyway, it's true that the review doesn't mention everything worth mentioning and that it remains the opinion of one man, but i thought that making the GC Leipzig preview was hard (and Kharn did most of the writing anyway), i think i can say it's a job well done. (though it's obvious that many people will have difficulty picking up the nuances, much like they had difficulty with BN's recent opinion piece on Capital Wasteland: Rev)

 

[Ausdoerrt]

A very solid review, agree with most of it, although i did expect the conclusion to be a bit more harsh. My one issue was what VD said about the minigames... Do you really make a roll to use science/lockpick? It seemed to me like it was a consistent 25/50/75/100, and you'd never get to open a higher-level lock with too little skill.

 

[VDweller]

No, no rolls. You either have the required skill or you don't.

 

[Knödelkarpfen]

I feel that, taken as a whole, the NMA Impressions piece, BN's review, and VD's provide the most accurate overall written assessment of the game thus far. I understand some people may not find the pieces, esp. Vince's, to be as negative as they would like them to be, but this shows that they've given thought to the game, differing on many points, and are not just giving the game the rubber hose without consideration. Doubtless we'll only gain a clearer picture of the game overtime. Congrats and thank you gentlemen.

 

[AskWazzup]

It’s a good and entertaining action RPG

It seems that even the hardcore Fallout fans think that this game is pretty good.....

Even though it has quite a few interesting aspects that you wouldn't expect from bethesda, but what of it? If the game in general, is a horrorshow made of random ideas that are plagued with childish writing, bad voice acting, terrible animations and a bunch of other flaws that bethesda seems to excel at.

Well, ok. Let's ignore the bad combat, animations, physics, voice acting, even the game ballance. But you are still left with a main plot that could only be appreciated by Uwe Boll and writing in most cases similar to that, of what a 12 year old would write.

Really now, is that an entertaining RPG? The most entertaining part that i see about this game, is that you can make funny videos for youtube, but for me, F3 fails as an RPG and as a FPS. Which leaves this game medicore at both sides.

Some of the more serious flaws in the game game, will probably be fixed by the modding community, and the game might even have a chance to be pretty good as an action game, but a good rpg? I just don't see that happening

 

[whirlingdervish]

I think he meant to add a qualifier to that "RPG" with the term "Action" referring to the game's step away from the more pure RPG genre and into the realtime action lite RPGs of today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_role-playing_game

Generally the subset of RPG games that fall into the category of action role playing games (ARPGs) are seen as inferior to the pure RPG in terms of Role Playing elements because they downsize the importance of things like choices and consequences, meaningful dialogue and alternate methods of quest completion (beyond finding/killing/rescuing)

In the ARPG genre the main game elements consist of getting more powerful stuff and gaining levels so you can kill things better and be prepared for the inevitable boss fight at the end.

They can be entertaining to some, but as a general rule they tend to be pretty light on actual role playing which would lead people who love pure RPGs to not enjoy them very much.

As an ARPG, the game seems to be one of the best things that's come out recently in that genre, thus his characterization of it as GOOD.

Unfortunately for gamers, good is a relative term and when applied to this 'AAA' title despite the game's inconsistent atmosphere, horrendous flaws, crash bugs, and crappy main quest, it seems to indicate that the market and the games recently released into it are in pretty bad shape if this game is considered good by comparison.

If we had a good pure RPG game in recent years to compare it to (since bethesda claimed it to be one) I don't think this game would be recieving anything near "good" ratings.

 

[Sir. Vivor]

Hello NMA,

Yes.. I am a newcomer to this form but i was reading news about fallout from NMA forms quiet a while now. I found this excellent review very informative and even though i dont have the game (not sure if i will ever buy), it gave me a good idea about the game. I am sick of seeing all the unrealistic reviews from the mainstream media.

Since this is my first post, i want to say hello to all of you guys. Im afraid I was unfortunate to find fallout so late in my life. I am 21 and i only started playing fallout 2 a couple of months ago and i am amazed by the game. I cant stop playing it and i am afraid it will ruin my MSc year Sadly i havent played the first game but i will do it first chance i get.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

I want Rosh's review.

Agreed, I'd like to see the game eviscerated.

I went through parts of DC pretty early so that might have locked my levels in low, hence my easy playthrough.

Called it! The very first time I read about how they were doing level scaling, I pointed out that as a likely problem.

As an ARPG, the game seems to be one of the best things that's come out recently in that genre, thus his characterization of it as GOOD.

Unfortunately for gamers, good is a relative term and when applied to this 'AAA' title despite the game's inconsistent atmosphere, horrendous flaws, crash bugs, and crappy main quest, it seems to indicate that the market and the games recently released into it are in pretty bad shape if this game is considered good by comparison.

If we had a good pure RPG game in recent years to compare it to (since bethesda claimed it to be one) I don't think this game would be recieving anything near "good" ratings.

That's exactly what I see as the problem, calling the game good compared to recent releases is one thing but I've been seeing comments about it being plain good which, I feel confident in saying, that it isn't compared to general pool, which when done it's average. It's my problem with ratings in general, people have an aversion to placing games low on the scale, especially when numbers are involved.

 

[qi]

VD's review is nice.
After all the time we waited for it, I was hoping for something more substantial and analytical. What's there is good - but it could've been more.
Good on him for getting it done, though. But I've been following the development of his own RPG, and I was really hoping to see more of a criticism of Beth's design from the perspective of a "true" RPG developer.

 

[Sytxferryman]

Im afraid I was unfortunate to find fallout so late in my life. I am 21 and i only started playing fallout 2 a couple of months ago and i am amazed by the game. I cant stop playing it and i am afraid it will ruin my MSc year Sadly i havent played the first game but i will do it first chance i get.

I was cursed with this addiction. I like to play a game all I can, run it through the ringer as much as possible before I look over the Prime guide or some other online guide... with Fallout and Fallout2 though, this kept me busy for quite some time. I would be playing it a year later and do something a little different and "wow, what a different outcome". It is quite a bit of fun if you don't mind the fact that it IS a older game. I am glad you like it

Someone asked what a Mirelurk is.... its a crab/human thing Bethesda invented for Fallout 3. They have kings and hunters and gatherer's and run around a little bubbling castle all day They removed the iguana's (but you still find iguana on a stick and other things like this oddly) and added these things. Also they added allot of squirrel meals, but no visible squirrels in the world leading me to think that isn't a real lizard or squirrel

 

[100LBSofDogmeat]

One of the largest cause of frustration is - aside from the constant dungeon-crawling - the so-called 'news' on the GNR-station. I assume they got the idea from the way news is handled on radio in GTA, but here it just feels random, limited, and insanely repetitive.

Agreed. The radio stations seem like a strange edition to this game, regardless of their "use". Definitely a bad GTA knock-off attempt. Then again, when you're bastardizing someone else's work, why stop there? Three Dog is definitely annoying as hell... is he killable? Haven't tried.

 

[Ausir]

Three Dog is definitely annoying as hell... is he killable? Haven't tried.

Yes.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Three Dog is definitely annoying as hell... is he killable? Haven't tried.

Yes.

But if I recall another member of the board saying, it doesn't stop his radio broadcasts.

Apparently he still transmits, from beyond the grave!!!!

* woo hooooooo *

Spooky

 

[Brother None]

The radio broadcast is supposed to be taken over by his mechanic/tech chick/whatever.

Not sure why it wouldn't for some.

 

[Pope Viper]

I had the same problem.

Killed 3D and still heard his broadcasts.

Eliciting a loud scream from me,.

 

[Kindo]

The radio broadcast is supposed to be taken over by his mechanic/tech chick/whatever.

Not sure why it wouldn't for some.

Really? Well, I'll have to keep trying, then. Kill him over and over again until he is off the air forever. Again, the scripting on the news broadcasts is stupid as hell (so insanely repetitive), so I'm really hoping for a way to remove them all together while keeping the music intact.

 

[winterraptor]

Another titillating review not a week apart from Brother None's 'Fantastic Voyage' (if you will). This one acts almost like a Mr. Hyde to the other's Jekyll, with a slight blurring as the commentary on side-quest structure and other similar content resemble each other.

I was originally jarred by the 'good game' summary paragraph near the end. Not that it's inconsistent with the piece necessarily, just my own impression when I came to it. I was expecting something more harsh or dismissive...but...I read on. The conclusion is essentially a dismissal of the game as an rpg, instead branding it an action game. A rather gentlemanly insult, I suppose, but it at least rejects the game utterly for comparison to the RPG titans of the 'good ole' days' (or, uh...of 10 years ago).

It’s a good and entertaining action RPG provided you can ignore the fact that it was supposed to be a Fallout game and mentally block that aspect of it,

Conscious or subconscious reference to Brother None's trans-dimensional review? Or true coincidence?

Anyway, enjoyed the review - it's about as critical of faults as any professionally done review is going to get.

 

[mountaingoat]

Game Informer, Sep 2004:

"While only in preproduction stages at the moment, the game will use the same technology as Oblivion, and is planned as another open-ended roleplaying game. This game however, will be decidedly darker. Imagine a survival horror-esque version of the Fallout world, with all the things you expect out of the series still intact, but with deeper, more immersive gameplay..."

Yeah, they had seen/watched something gamers obviously weren’t aware of, until now.

Thanks for the info, good to know.

I wonder about what the DLC content will be, as the replayability of the vanilla game is limited mostly to one more time, good or evil path, although it’s relatively easy to built a god-like character in one play-through,despite the level cap, with all the various skill-upping books laying around and enchanted apparel also, so there’s really no point for a second.

 

[thefalloutfan]

If we had a good pure RPG game in recent years to compare it to (since bethesda claimed it to be one) I don't think this game would be recieving anything near "good" ratings.

"Pure RPG" Do you mean an RPG which satisfies your idea of what an RPG is?

There is no universally 'pure' RPG. An action RPG is just an RPG like any other type of RPG, be it classical, dungeon crawler, rogue like etc

 

[MrBumble]

It seems that even the hardcore Fallout fans think that this game is pretty good..

I don't. I hate it even more than FOPOS ( for pretty different reasons ). And when I first came here I was pretty open-minded about it being done by Bethsoft. I just can't play the piece of junk anymore, it makes me so angry...