Your Fallout 3 Impressions

here are some screenies...1920 x 1440, DX10, AA= 4X, all graphical settings at their highest

 
I've only watched a friend play the game for a while, but it was enough for me to see that Bethesda hasn't improved a whole lot since Oblivion. It seems I find myself doing this every with Bethesda game; they get better with each release but consistently fail to match my hopes.

I think my biggest issue is graphics. Christ, why can't they just license a damn engine? I mean, come on. Oblivion looked hardly better than Far Cry so far as environment and required twice the graphical resources. The facial animations and character animations were just plain bad; they've been upgraded to merely mediocre with Fallout, at least, but still suck compared with Half-Life 2. These are now four year old games that they can't seem to match (ok, Fallout 3 has surpassed Far Cry in environmental graphics, if with a far lower number of objects, but at this point the comparison should be Crysis... its not even in the ballpark).

I realize I'm comparing with FPS games, which tend to have a much higher focus on graphics. But the thing is, these aspects of the graphics are more important in an RPG than they are in an FPS. With an FPS you see most characters for all of half a second before shooting them; the quality of animation is not that critical. But when you see characters for longer than they, who might be enemies, friends or something in between, the animation should convey some sort of body language; same goes for facial animation. There's a serious lack of life in both games (though Fallout 3 has an excuse) and it really kills the immersion. It feels like Bethesda spend the first two years of development making an engine and then two years creating content, ending up with years old technology at release.

I suppose my gameplay issues will have to wait until I try the game...
 
rndmize said:
I've only watched a friend play the game for a while, but it was enough for me to see that Bethesda hasn't improved a whole lot since Oblivion. It seems I find myself doing this every with Bethesda game; they get better with each release but consistently fail to match my hopes.

I think my biggest issue is graphics. Christ, why can't they just license a damn engine? I mean, come on. Oblivion looked hardly better than Far Cry so far as environment and required twice the graphical resources. The facial animations and character animations were just plain bad; they've been upgraded to merely mediocre with Fallout, at least, but still suck compared with Half-Life 2. These are now four year old games that they can't seem to match (ok, Fallout 3 has surpassed Far Cry in environmental graphics, if with a far lower number of objects, but at this point the comparison should be Crysis... its not even in the ballpark).

I realize I'm comparing with FPS games, which tend to have a much higher focus on graphics. But the thing is, these aspects of the graphics are more important in an RPG than they are in an FPS. With an FPS you see most characters for all of half a second before shooting them; the quality of animation is not that critical. But when you see characters for longer than they, who might be enemies, friends or something in between, the animation should convey some sort of body language; same goes for facial animation. There's a serious lack of life in both games (though Fallout 3 has an excuse) and it really kills the immersion. It feels like Bethesda spend the first two years of development making an engine and then two years creating content, ending up with years old technology at release.

I suppose my gameplay issues will have to wait until I try the game...
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For me, I can accept the odd look of the Gamebryo engine. Objects and textures seem more simplified and have an odd glow to them. The game almost reminds me of graphics in the 1990s age where spirtes and textures were simply canvas paintings that were scanned into computers.

For me, this works for the Fallout universe because it seems to give it a "comic-book" feel or ambience. I am usually a stickler for realistic graphics and photo-realistic textures and seriously Crysis and Far Cry 2 are raising the bar in that regard....but this game just works. It has a graphic novel feel to it because of the rough textures and rough graphics.
 
polonyc2 said:
here are some screenies...1920 x 1440, DX10, AA= 4X, all graphical settings at their highest

Click to expand...

Some nice screens, just a tip -

If you press the ~ key it will open the console but hide the hud so you can take a screen without the hud on display.

Here's a couple I've did so far on my play through:




 
I've been wondering for awhile, how can I get a good look at my face now that I'm further in the game? :p
 
tuaarita said:
I've been wondering for awhile, how can I get a good look at my face now that I'm further in the game? :p
Click to expand...

Hold the middle mouse button down and you can swing it around with the mouse or hold down f for the same affect.
 
the game seems to be moving too fast for some reason...maybe I'm not unlocking enough optional side quests but I've already finished the radio tower and my next objective is to go to some Museum...I'm only a few hours into the game...I thought when you enter the Capital area that the game is close to ending...I am anywhere close to finishing? (hopefully not)
 
polonyc2 said:
the game seems to be moving too fast for some reason...maybe I'm not unlocking enough optional side quests but I've already finished the radio tower and my next objective is to go to some Museum...I'm only a few hours into the game...I thought when you enter the Capital area that the game is close to ending...I am anywhere close to finishing? (hopefully not)
Click to expand...

I don't think so.

I'd like to note that I thought there would be more ruins to explore. The map isn't that big. It's a lot of open space ( I guess reasonable), but when you start to see the destroyed city line you want to keep going and explore, but you can't.
 
I missed out on the first two in the series...would picking up at this one be worthwhile? It looks like a game I would enjoy but I hate being clueless about background stuff.
 
Lok said:
I missed out on the first two in the series...would picking up at this one be worthwhile? It looks like a game I would enjoy but I hate being clueless about background stuff.
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It's not a direct sequel in terms of storyline, so yes you'd be fine.
 
I would personally shake the hands of each developer if I could murder these little shits..

screenshot8tp8.jpg
 
I thought I'd throw my $0.02 in quick. I got it this afternoon and I'm loving it so far. I'm close to two hours and it feels like I've barely started, lol. I see the resemblance to Oblivion but it's certainly not "Oblivion with guns". With the stock game, it feels much more polished than Oblivion was....graphics are better, animations are better, the dialogue so far has been great, gameplay is more interesting, and above all, it runs much better than Oblivion (for me at least). Overall I'm really enjoying it so far and I'm encouraged because I think it can only get better from here, not only with me getting further into the game but with all the mods that will certainly be released in the future.
 
Anyone know where I can find the trader in megatown ? I keep going to craterside supply but the door is always locked :confused:.
 
RailGunRiz said:
I would personally shake the hands of each developer if I could murder these little shits..

screenshot8tp8.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah that sucks that you can't kill them. I was in a house and there was a husband, wife, and little girl.

I naturally wanted to shoot a rocket in the middle of the table and blow them into pieces like any sane person would. When sorting through the limbs, chunks of flesh and heads, there was no child, and i was very disheartened over it.

I mean hell they make a perk that lets you do 10% damage to women. it's ok to have a perk that encourages you to kill women, but children, no thats too far. blah. im trying to roleplay here, and they just won't let me
 
Darkatom said:
Anyone know where I can find the trader in megatown ? I keep going to craterside supply but the door is always locked :confused:.
Click to expand...

Go during the day. The default key for 'wait' is T. Just hit T, and change the amount of hours so after waiting the current time will be between 8a-9p.
 
polonyc2 said:
the game seems to be moving too fast for some reason...maybe I'm not unlocking enough optional side quests but I've already finished the radio tower and my next objective is to go to some Museum...I'm only a few hours into the game...I thought when you enter the Capital area that the game is close to ending...I am anywhere close to finishing? (hopefully not)
Click to expand...

idk, I have been playing for 20 hours or so and just got to the radio tour, I just do a lot of wandering and going into old factories and power plants to explore and go in search of goodies.
 
Is there any way to use a friggin flashlight in this game? So tired of not being able to see...
 
Hold in the pip-boy key for a few seconds for a flashlight.
 
I have been really busy but i just got fallout yesterday and played through the vault, and went outside to spring vale and megaton, I wont be playing it through for a few more weeks but here is what i have to say as being a huge fallout fan.

EPIC

they did everything right, the game is so badass

Fallout 3 is a true FALLOUT game

It's not oblivion with guns or whatever people are bitching about, Fallout 3 no doubt earns the title A POST NUCLEAR ROLE PLAYING GAME!
 
Has anyone finished the "retrieve the Declaration of Independence quest line"? This quest sold the game for me. Really well done. Game of the year imo. I'm about 10 hours of gameplay through and now I wanna restart just to re-tweak my abilities and talent points.
 
anyone complete the 'Blood Ties' mission? (see screenshot 1)...I'm trying to find that kid Ian who was kidnapped but the map doesn't give their location...anyone know where 'The Family' is hiding?

anyone found Vault 106?...interesting stuff going on down there

I still havn't decided whether ot not to disarm the bomb or nuke Megaton because I'm still doing some optional quests from there...the Moira Brown 'Wasteland Survival Guide' quest is huge...I've done 3-4 subquests for her already and am going to try and complete them all...for her latest experiment she wanted me to contract 600 doses of radiation poisoning...I did it and as a reward I got a Bonus Perk added (see screenshot 2)

 
Hahaha if anyone got to a high enough level- get the damn Mysterious Stranger perk. I was getting my ass kicked by like 4 enclave guys and this bastard comes out of no where with a .44 and blows one of their heads clean off and it plays this ballsy western music when he comes around too. Totally worth it!
 
RailGunRiz said:
Hahaha if anyone got to a high enough level- get the damn Mysterious Stranger perk. I was getting my ass kicked by like 4 enclave guys and this bastard comes out of no where with a .44 and blows one of their heads clean off and it plays this ballsy western music when he comes around too. Totally worth it!
Click to expand...

One of my favorite perks.

I just finished the game... didn't care for the ending myself... but that's all I'll say.
 
sprtnbsblplya said:
Is there any way to use a friggin flashlight in this game? So tired of not being able to see...
Click to expand...

Hold down your pip-boy button it glows and illuminates the area like a flashlight.

It's like holding down the reload button to holster your gun (you move faster)
 
Headed to Rivet city, and lost, but ill find my way.

anyways, playing on ultra high @ 1280x1024 on my supposed (bottlenecking/outdated rig) with a average 35fps.

but like others said, this game made me a fallout fan, the karma thing kinda worries me, but w.e makes the game funner for me :p

anyways, i love the game, get it, made me a fallout fan
 
Kuros said:
One of my favorite perks.

I just finished the game... didn't care for the ending myself... but that's all I'll say.
Click to expand...

How many hours would you say the game is total?

I'm about 5 hours into it so far.
 
sprtnbsblplya said:
How many hours would you say the game is total?

I'm about 5 hours into it so far.
Click to expand...

I'd say it depends on if you mean the main quest only or if you mean total hours of gameplay. I'm curious to know how long the main quest is though.
 
kadozer said:
Has anyone finished the "retrieve the Declaration of Independence quest line"? This quest sold the game for me. Really well done. Game of the year imo. I'm about 10 hours of gameplay through and now I wanna restart just to re-tweak my abilities and talent points.
Click to expand...

Yeah, except I couldn't hand it in because the Abraham Washington guy was bugged. Did you do it with that woman tagging along?
 
polonyc2 said:
anyone complete the 'Blood Ties' mission? (see screenshot 1)...I'm trying to find that kid Ian who was kidnapped but the map doesn't give their location...anyone know where 'The Family' is hiding?

anyone found Vault 106?...interesting stuff going on down there

I still havn't decided whether ot not to disarm the bomb or nuke Megaton because I'm still doing some optional quests from there...the Moira Brown 'Wasteland Survival Guide' quest is huge...I've done 3-4 subquests for her already and am going to try and complete them all...for her latest experiment she wanted me to contract 600 doses of radiation poisoning...I did it and as a reward I got a Bonus Perk added (see screenshot 2)
Click to expand...


I did blood ties. If you talk to Evan King he gives you 3 possible locations.
Spoiler:
They're in the metro.. I think.. pretty sure.

I blew up Megaton yet I still have the Moria quests to do, just gotta find her.

Also, anyone else love the sound when you take a new quest? Fucking awesome.
 
Dallows said:
I blew up Megaton yet I still have the Moria quests to do, just gotta find her.
Click to expand...

so even if you nuke Megaton you can still continue with the 'Wasteland Survival Guide' quest?...so Moira escapes before the explosion?
 
polonyc2 said:
so even if you nuke Megaton you can still continue with the 'Wasteland Survival Guide' quest?...so Moira escapes before the explosion?
Click to expand...

haha, well, she escapes death, she just isn't quite as pretty anymore if you know what i mean.
 
I just bought it. I've never played any of the others. So obvious first question. How the fuck do you pick locks?
 
Wally said:
Yeah, except I couldn't hand it in because the Abraham Washington guy was bugged. Did you do it with that woman tagging along?
Click to expand...

Yeah she goes with you back to Rivet City to complete it as well.
 
pigpen said:
I just bought it. I've never played any of the others. So obvious first question. How the fuck do you pick locks?
Click to expand...

WASD and mouse. Mouse guides the bobby pin , WASD applies pressure with screwdriver. Basically angle the bobby pin and hold down W. You'll either break the pin or unlock it. You'll get the hang of it!
 
TheToE! said:
WASD and mouse. Mouse guides the bobby pin , WASD applies pressure with screwdriver. Basically angle the bobby pin and hold down W. You'll either break the pin or unlock it. You'll get the hang of it!
Click to expand...


don't forget objective is to get the lock horizontal.
 
I'm playing fallout a lot like I played oblivion, swinging heavy things to kill people and its quite fun.

Fallout3-headexplosion.jpg
 
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