Hit level 14, and there's so much wasted time in there, I figure I'd just tell folks a few areas I found that were essentially pointless. Feel free to add your own.
Girdershade, west/SW edge of map.
I thought this was going to be a town, and finally I'd be able to leave Megaton behind without having to cross a wasteland full of supermutants. It was two people. How does two freakin' people rate a location on my map?!? Couldn't whoever told me about this place tell me that it was useless? I wasted like an hour and 100 rounds of ammo getting there, and there isn't even a store, or a bed.
Arefu, N of Megaton.
Again, I thought "Hurray! A new town, and/or quest hub!". It's like 4 people, one of whom you have to go find. How fucking lazy is Bethesda that they couldn't add some people, some history, some interesting events here. Nope, just one quest, no vendors and move along. Sucks.
Any Metro Station. Anywhere.
Seriously, I know these were all mass produced in their day using the same construction techniques, but even subway stations today have *some* differences. Add a ghoul still working a shoeshine, some industrial art created by a local college, or a newspaper vendor, or anything. I've spent more than 70% of my game time fighting my way through a dozen of these idiotic cookie-cutter locations, and there is absolutely nothing to do in any of them except run and gun. (Excepting Marigold Station, naturally, which had a point but still sucked.)
The Mirelurk location for wasteland guide quest.
The name escapes me, but really, don't bother unless you're a completist. At best run in and drop the sensor and run out. I stayed and searched every inch of that place for a couple hours and got sweet eff-all for a reward, like a couple hundred caps and some generic ammo, nothing you couldn't get in 30 seconds off the Talon Company mercs that you will have popping up every time you exit one of the aforementioned subway stations.
Again, this place could have been amazing, there's a whole backstory there about NPCs who have been harvesting the mirelurks. Now, in old fallout there would have been the NPCs to interact with (as usual, there's nothing) and several options for dealing with the quest and the sidequests. Here, there's just one thing to do and then leave. No people, no stories, no fun.
Go ahead and add your own locations, I'd like to know what other places are skippable before I spend another hour for nothing.
Girdershade, west/SW edge of map.
I thought this was going to be a town, and finally I'd be able to leave Megaton behind without having to cross a wasteland full of supermutants. It was two people. How does two freakin' people rate a location on my map?!? Couldn't whoever told me about this place tell me that it was useless? I wasted like an hour and 100 rounds of ammo getting there, and there isn't even a store, or a bed.
Arefu, N of Megaton.
Again, I thought "Hurray! A new town, and/or quest hub!". It's like 4 people, one of whom you have to go find. How fucking lazy is Bethesda that they couldn't add some people, some history, some interesting events here. Nope, just one quest, no vendors and move along. Sucks.
Any Metro Station. Anywhere.
Seriously, I know these were all mass produced in their day using the same construction techniques, but even subway stations today have *some* differences. Add a ghoul still working a shoeshine, some industrial art created by a local college, or a newspaper vendor, or anything. I've spent more than 70% of my game time fighting my way through a dozen of these idiotic cookie-cutter locations, and there is absolutely nothing to do in any of them except run and gun. (Excepting Marigold Station, naturally, which had a point but still sucked.)
The Mirelurk location for wasteland guide quest.
The name escapes me, but really, don't bother unless you're a completist. At best run in and drop the sensor and run out. I stayed and searched every inch of that place for a couple hours and got sweet eff-all for a reward, like a couple hundred caps and some generic ammo, nothing you couldn't get in 30 seconds off the Talon Company mercs that you will have popping up every time you exit one of the aforementioned subway stations.
Again, this place could have been amazing, there's a whole backstory there about NPCs who have been harvesting the mirelurks. Now, in old fallout there would have been the NPCs to interact with (as usual, there's nothing) and several options for dealing with the quest and the sidequests. Here, there's just one thing to do and then leave. No people, no stories, no fun.
Go ahead and add your own locations, I'd like to know what other places are skippable before I spend another hour for nothing.
