Things that Fallout 3 did right!

Let's see, what did it do right...

- The White House was leveled, and then-some. Unlike virtually every other major target of nuclear warheads, at least they made one building so irretrievably demolished that you had to notice the map title to be aware of it. Then again the pillars sticking out of the debris was damned goofy.

- Common presence and utilization of robots. Finding Mr. Handy stations in houses and having metro sentries was appreciated. Having military-grade sentry bots in less-than-military areas, not so much.

- Appeals to the "other side," ergo Chinese communists. Then again, maybe too many appeals. Felt like every third building was full of dirty reds.

- Having settlements made out of reasonable materials. If Megaton was made out of wood, I'd have been disappointed. Then again, there's a curious lack of fortifying existing structures...

- Having a post-war nation state ala the Republic of Dave. Brilliant tie in to the common micronationalist fantasy. Not very feasible though; I doubt anyone could live on so few food sources and such for very long.

- Using real-world locations for events, specifically Raven Rock. But then they botched it, because sites like that should have been like the Glow by the time it was over.

- Showing alternate-history information in museums which still tied back to the real time line. Also having people massively ignorant of the facts while still claiming to know all about the pre-war US. The corruption of history is a solid thread.

And uh...

Well, uh...

...

I dunno, Dukov? Got nothing else.
 
I will share the best moment in Fallout 3 for me. The museum of technology. Specifically the Vault tour. I think it was the only moment I genuinely felt that old fallout feeling. The perfect blend of destruction, satire, 50's positivity, humor all rolled into one. It was only a few seconds but it made the entire museum a fun place. The alternate history information was fun as well.
 
I liked the Herbert "Daring" Dashwood radio stories.

I'll never get tired of "the EAGLE CLAAAAaaaaAAAAWWW"
 
I really liked the look of the buildings. It's something I missed in New Vegas, really. The architecture in Fallout 3 looked spot on, and I really liked the urban areas despite the arbitrary wall-offs and annoying forced metro-trips.
 
Good things about Fallout 3?...Well, eventually it ended I guess (cue laughter)

But seriously, I guess I liked some of the weapons that it had, like the combat shotgun which I find satisfying (and it's kind of a shame that it wasn't put into New Vegas) Also, just seeing the weapons go from 2D pictures in the originals to actual 3D models (albeit crappily textured ones) is just kind of satisfying. And I suppose seeing other elements of the old games brought into the 3D world is satisfying, like the armors, chems etc.
 
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The weapons were pretty cool, yeah, although I kinda disliked the lack of the classic weaponry.
The new 10mm pistol looked ok, but it felt weird. Like, "Yeah, we want something new, but not THAT new". I did like the new laser pistol and rifle designs.
And hell yes, the combat shotgun ruled. Easily one of the most satisfying weapons in the game. Too bad my old favourite, the City Killer, didn't make it.
 
The radio system was quite welcomed, really. The lack of radio content was not. Don't get me wrong, I love Galaxy News Radio's music choice, but there wasn't enough of it to make you not grow sick of listening to the same songs. More variety of types of music would be nice, it'd just need to be a genre that doesn't feel too out of place with the 50s thing. I also felt like 3Dog talked about Lone Wanderer way, way too damn much. There's gotta be other things going on in the world. Meanwhile, Mr. New Vegas had the opposite extreme of never once mentioning you, beyond the "courier shot in Good Springs" and all your actions were pretty much anonymous, despite House, NCR, and Legion making you a bit of a legend come mid-game.

I enjoyed most of Capital Wasteland for what it was. Smashed up buildings are actually something I prefer over miles of desert. But while I enjoyed that, it did feel separated to a large degree. Isolated societies with little in the way of trade.

The introduction of the game was very well done, I also gotta say that Living in the vault was a pretty nifty thing for a tutorial. It made the idea of this being your home a lot stronger than that of Vault 13, though perhaps Fallout 1/2 could have benefited from a tutorial all together.

Those are a few things I like.
 
Hassknecht said:
The weapons were pretty cool, yeah, although I kinda disliked the lack of the classic weaponry.
The new 10mm pistol looked ok, but it felt weird. Like, "Yeah, we want something new, but not THAT new". I did like the new laser pistol and rifle designs.
And hell yes, the combat shotgun ruled. Easily one of the most satisfying weapons in the game. Too bad my old favourite, the City Killer, didn't make it.
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I feel like I'm one of the few who prefers the modern 10mm design to the classic. My only suggestion would be to darken the metal and give the handle some wood furnishings and you've got a winner.

The classic design never made sense with it's purpose and function in the first two games anyway.
 
TheChosen1 said:
WittyUsername said:
Though perhaps Fallout 1/2 could have benefited from a tutorial all together.
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Rat caves/Temple of Trials
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Those are really simple levels, not much of tutorials. Tutorials tell you how to operate the controls, the original Fallouts fail to actually do that.

Though, I admit, Temple of Trials does encompass more than what the rat cave does. At least Temple of Trial contains lockpicking and planting explosive. The rat cave is honestly just a battle thing and that's it.


But maybe the originals had manuals to go along with their game upon release. If true, then ignore what I said. I dunno, I just have a digital version of them.
 
Both game had pretty detailed manuals, but most games did at that time.
Internet was not as broadly used and i doubt games were sold digitally, so physical disk and physical manual were a given.

But i do prefer a tutorial separate from the game campaign itself, like Half-Life, Fallout Tactics, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel or the Myth trilogy.
In those game, you could choose in the main menu to start a new game (main campaign) or play the tutorial that happens in a different gameworld.
As much as i like tutorial, i don't like them getting in the way of the actual campaign. It breaks the immersion.
 
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I think everyone hates Temple of Trials. Why do I have to go there? I mean, I'm the grandchild of Vault Dweller, for god's sake. Who else would they choose to do this job? Of course, you can just run through it and it will take you like two minutes, but you lose a lot of exp this way.

As for things Fallout 3 did right, I like new BoS power armors better (except for the helmet). T-51b is cool in intro movie (the one where they annex Canada), but it looks kinda goofy in game (it's even worse in New Vegas). I never use power armor myself so it doesn't bother me that much though.
 
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That somebody actually wanted to make a guide to surviving the Wasteland from a commoner's perspective, although I'm surprised that the idea wasn't contemplated before Moira Brown, of all people.

(NOTE: I liked Moira)
 
Actually, there are already several guidebook about survival before Fallout 3.
IMO, that Moira questline is the worst of the whole series. Moira is clearly stated to have no clue about how life work and the Lone wandered just left his/her vault. They are the two worst qualified persons to write such a book, they miss crucial informations, and the book isn't even needed 200 years after the war.

PS: I think the classic power armors are meant to be goofy, following the design of inspiration.
 
Since Fallout is based a lot on 50s science-fiction, I think they were meant to be a little cheesy, but not goofy. They're not goofy in said intro movie, they're quite badass there actually. I don't think that this is the same model as this used for sprite references.
 
mef said:
I think everyone hates Temple of Trials. Why do I have to go there? I mean, I'm the grandchild of Vault Dweller, for god's sake. Who else would they choose to do this job? Of course, you can just run through it and it will take you like two minutes, but you lose a lot of exp this way.

As for things Fallout 3 did right, I like new BoS power armors better (except for the helmet). T-51b is cool in intro movie (the one where they annex Canada), but it looks kinda goofy in game (it's even worse in New Vegas). I never use power armor myself so it doesn't bother me that much though.
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On first playthrough, the Temple of Trials is pretty fun, and quite challenging too.

The problems with it arise on repeat playthroughs, as it's incredibly tedious and a total slog to get through. In juxtaposition, Fallout just drops you right into it outside of Vault 13.
 
Gotta agree with the idea of a Radio System being cool. Altho, Fallout 3 just fucked up with the idea that only 50's music existed in the Fallout Universe. They could've made original music for the game on other genres and even have some Post war music. The Violin Lady is a good example of this, but she only does period neutral music, because they went way too overboard with the 50's thing.
 
I liked the pip boy. Sure, it's forcibly put on your arm and it is kinda large, but I think it's a well designed interface and it certainly makes you unique in the wasteland. Just wish the pip boy glove got some more love, honestly I don't even know what it does.
 
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