Powerful weapons in FO3...

[Tiamat]

FO1 was too long ago

...

Yeah, I'm a youngster, so what I played FO1 at first and then, two years later or so, I picked up FO2. That made a difference.

The whole point of the Enclave was that that their advanced technology like APA, energy weapons, gauss weapons, vertibirds and FEV2, not hordes of soldiers with 200 HP.

Then they should have replaced the high amount of HP with more armor protection. I'm not here to say that FO2 was flawlessly designed, but I can look over things like that if the overall experience is better. Stumbling out of the Vault and killing Super Mutants with the first nearly broken Laser Pistol certainly doesn't qualify as such an experience for me.

I guess you have never encountered one of the infamous Fallout 2 random encounter battles between completely insignificant factions where they dropped tons of high-tech stuff.

Oh no, I did, somewhere around Broken Hills. It didn't matter though, as both of my companions were killed in the line of fire. It was at least a situation with consequences, I decided not to trade the lives of them for these weapons.


//Edit: The Bozar wasn't of much use for me, I didn't have enough ammo and my weapons skills were insufficient.. I can use the Fat Man in FO3 with a Big Weapons skill of less than 20

 

[Sorrow]

VATS makes the game so easy its, well, easy. Not to mention my older days as a rabid UT player. Though I'm not much of a FPS fan, I do possess skill at them.

So, in real time, it's player skill based?

EDIT: Neither have I ever encountered two high tech factions dueling it out in FO2. I think the most advanced were the Hubologists vs the Press Gangs. Dropped powerfists and H&K 93's or something.

There were some weird people like bootleggers, claim jumpers, homesteaders, prospectors, etc. who were armed with high tech stuff. And they didn't even wear a decent armour.

Yeah, I'm a youngster, so what I played FO1 at first and then, two years later or so, I picked up FO2. That made a difference.

I played Fo1 a few days ago.

Stumbling out of the Vault and killing Super Mutants with the first nearly broken Laser Pistol certainly doesn't qualify as such an experience for me.

It sounds pretty awful. Unless you stumble out of the Vault as a well trained ninja fighter, of course .

Oh no, I did, somewhere around Broken Hills. It didn't matter though, as both of my companions were killed in the line of fire. It was at least a situation with consequences, I decided not to trade the lives of them for these weapons.

How? They were already dead.

//Edit: The Bozar wasn't of much use for me, I didn't have enough ammo and my weapons skills were insufficient.. I can use the Fat Man in FO3 with a Big Weapons skill of less than 20

It sounds like they completely screwed up the skill system.

 

[Tiamat]

It sounds pretty awful. Unless you stumble out of the Vault as a well trained ninja fighter, of course .

It depends.. Centaurs, Mutants are no problem, even the "Super Mutant Brutes" armed with a minigun. A giant radscorpion, on the other hand, was much more challenging. The whole difficulty just feels really odd, it's strange how they nerfed certain types of enemies.
That's what I originally meant. You have your points regarding the original Fallout, it has its flaws, but I think it's MUCH better in that aspect than FO3. Which is weird considering the new game was released about 10 years later...

How? They were already dead.

Well, you got me I just reloaded. Sorta lame, I know, but it just wasn't worth it for me.

It sounds like they completely screwed up the skill system.

From what I can tell, that's sadly true. I'm not sure if it's just the Fat Man, though... My skill points didn't matter, I just shot a nuke outside of VATS, hit the Behemoth and he died. Simple as that..


But really, apart from this strange combat system (and some of the other obvious flaws), it's not a bad game in my opinion. After excessively using it, I yet have to get tired of VATS. I sorta like it.


I might dig out FO1 again, just for the sake of a comparison

 

[Bal-Sagoth]

But really, apart from this strange combat system (and some of the other obvious flaws), it's not a bad game in my opinion. After excessively using it, I yet have to get tired of VATS. I sorta like it.
I might dig out FO1 again, just for the sake of a comparison

Vats+bloody mess actually provides the first feeling of nostalgia for the older games. Shooting a raider in the head with a hunting rifle in F3 with the perk and having his arms and legs fly off reminded me of ye old days where you could crit someone in the eye in F1 and a chunk of the side comes flying out

 

[Tycn]

The energy weapons I've gotten so far are next to useless. With around 70 small guns and energy weapons, a Laser Rifle in good repair is easily outdamaged by an assault rifle or SMG, or even a flamer although I have 15% in big guns.

 

[Bal-Sagoth]

The energy weapons I've gotten so far are next to useless. With around 70 small guns and energy weapons, a Laser Rifle in good repair is easily outdamaged by an assault rifle or SMG, or even a flamer although I have 15% in big guns.

I do not use it much because I detest the looks of it but the plasma rifle I got from the android quest is my "oh shit" weapon. Can drop a death claw with head shots a lot faster than my Chinese AK.

 

[TheFlyingBuddha]

The energy weapons I've gotten so far are next to useless. With around 70 small guns and energy weapons, a Laser Rifle in good repair is easily outdamaged by an assault rifle or SMG, or even a flamer although I have 15% in big guns.

That's because the laser is a long range weapon. It's for sniping, not close-quarters.

As to the discussion of skill and the Fat Man, the thing with the fat man is skill is a non-issue, it simply does crazy damage, period. Now, if there were say, a great deal of deviation in the shot, as there should have been (and hopefully will be when there are mods) and there was a chance that the person with 20 big guns could have dropped that nuke at their own feet by mistake, well then it would be a slightly different ballgame.

 

[Kashrlyyk]

....

That's because the laser is a long range weapon. It's for sniping, not close-quarters. ...

So the damage increases with the distance for a laser rifle?

 

[TheFlyingBuddha]

No, no, it's just more accurate and uses a hitscan (ie it instantly hits the point rather than being a projectile which travels and could be dodged). At long ranges that adds up to more damage than spraying with an assault rifle or similar weapon. If I can consistently hit more with the laser, I'm wasting fewer shots even if each hit is doing less damage.


Also, I'm not sure yet, but the "damage" numbers in the inventory might not be literal damage-per-round-fired numbers but rather some approximation of damage per second or VATS attack. For burst weapons this means that while you're definitely doing more damage quickly, on a round per round (which again makes accuracy important) basis they are possibly weaker. It'll take some sort of constructed test to prove that though.

 

[Tycn]

Still, a high tech laser rifle dealing less damage than a hunting rifle is absurd. If it's DPS, then that makes it even less effective. As a long range weapon, it's about on the same level as the rifle in terms of damage, which feels quite underwhelming considering it's a mid to late game weapon.

 

[TheFlyingBuddha]

Still, a high tech laser rifle dealing less damage than a hunting rifle is absurd. If it's DPS, then that makes it even less effective. As a long range weapon, it's about on the same level as the rifle in terms of damage, which feels quite underwhelming considering it's a mid to late game weapon.

Well you didn't say hunting rifle, all the weapons you listed were relatively close-quarters, burst type weapons. I kind of doubt the laser in the same condition as a hunting rifle does less damage at the same skill, if you actually go check it.

EDIT: I totally take that last part back, I just went and looked and it does. That is pretty dumb, the only possible justifications I can see might be magazine size and rate of fire... in which case my thought that the inventory might be showing DPS would either be wrong or only mean the rifle is STILL doing way more damage.

 

[Tycn]

Edit: Yeah, it has an advantage of rate of fire, magazine size and AP usage. I guess the plasma weapons are for damage output in the energy weapons line.

 

[TheFlyingBuddha]

I'm also pretty sure it's still a hitscan weapon, wheras the hunting rifle is not, so there's some potential to miss more at long range if the enemy is shifty.

 

[Doolan]

It depends.. Centaurs, Mutants are no problem, even the "Super Mutant Brutes" armed with a minigun. A giant radscorpion, on the other hand, was much more challenging. The whole difficulty just feels really odd, it's strange how they nerfed certain types of enemies.

Finally!

It's not a complaint really, I was just shocked when I encountered my first giant radscorpion. Two in fact. I unloaded a few SMG bursts on one and it basically stared back with a "oi, that wasn't nice" look.

Took me a good 20 shots from the hunting rifle to dispose of both of them.

Jeez, I hope I won't find a lot of those...

 

[Lexx]

A giant radscorpion, on the other hand, was much more challenging.

Give me 15 super mutants at once, I fight them all! But please, pretty please, never give me 3 or more radscorpions at once. It really sucks in Fallout 3. It seems like the scorpions are harder enemys than the super mutants - you can kill the mutants with three or four shotgun shells in the head, but the radscorpions want more from every gun.

I also don't like, that you can not aim for the scorpion heads.