Fallout 3 - Better Than You Think

Silver

Spaceman
Staff Member
Joined
February 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
Many A True Nerd looks back at Fallout 3 and thinks its better than you think.


Fallout 3 is an utter classic that came out 10 years ago, and some rather unkind words have been said about it in that time. So I'd like to tell you just how good Fallout 3 is, and how parts of it might even be the best a Fallout game has ever been...
More information.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
Hah. Yeah, no.

Certainly better than FO4, though; Moira dialogue was penned by a Pulitzer prize winner in comparison with anything in FO4.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
5,979
Location
Florida, USA
At least it hadn't evolved into a construction sim yet?
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,444
I loved Fallout three, but more for the setting than the gameplay, quests, or combat. I lived in the area featured in the game for quite some time, and while playing it enjoyed a constant trip down memory lane.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,799
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
It's better than you think with the right mods but not the vanilla game.

One thing I agree with though.. stepping out of Vault 101 for the first time was pretty amazing. The initial hour or so in the vault was a nice build-up to that point, and they really nailed the atmosphere of the moment. For me, it was even more impressive than seeing Seyda Neen for the first time in Morrowind.

Fallout 3 has a great early-game. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long before you start to see the cracks.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,138
Location
Florida, US
While it was not the Fallout 3 many wanted, I still had a lot of fun with the game thanks to mods and played for several hundred hours. Here are some recommendations:

Fallout 3 Wanderer's Edition (changes several systems to become make survival feel more real)
Weapon Mod Kits (stolen by Beth for FO4)
Fellout (nice weather mod including radiation storms; again Beth took some inspiration)
Mart's Mutant Mod (similar to Mart's Monster Mod of Oblivion fame)
Energy Visuals Enhanced (Beth also took some inspiration for FO4)

And most importantly:
FOOK (Fallout Overhaul Kit)

FO4 on the other hand is unsalvageable and not a RPG.
 
Joined
Feb 21, 2015
Messages
2,164
Location
BW, Germany
Just play New Vegas with the Josh Sawyer mod. Best of the bethesda era Fallouts.
 
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
875
Just played it for first time a couple of months ago. While I liked exploration I thought the rest of the game sucked. That's what I think.
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
7,758
Location
usa - no longer boston
For me, it was even more impressive than seeing Seyda Neen for the first time in Morrowind.

Fallout 3 has a great early-game. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long before you start to see the cracks.

i completely agree !!!
although morrowind is hard second! Damn been a while that a game gave me such a feeling. Mm after give it some thoughts, morrowind is still nr 1 :D
 
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
1,747
Location
The Netherlands
While it was not the Fallout 3 many wanted, I still had a lot of fun with the game thanks to mods and played for several hundred hours. Here are some recommendations:

Fallout 3 Wanderer's Edition (changes several systems to become make survival feel more real)
Weapon Mod Kits (stolen by Beth for FO4)
Fellout (nice weather mod including radiation storms; again Beth took some inspiration)
Mart's Mutant Mod (similar to Mart's Monster Mod of Oblivion fame)
Energy Visuals Enhanced (Beth also took some inspiration for FO4)

And most importantly:
FOOK (Fallout Overhaul Kit)

FO4 on the other hand is unsalvageable and not a RPG.


MMmm i might do replay after reading this..
 
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
1,747
Location
The Netherlands
He makes good points in his video (only listened to about 1/2 of it) but after megatron I found it repetitive and just not that interesting.
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
7,758
Location
usa - no longer boston
All a matter of taste. I could never get myself to finish FO3 although I played through the first 20-30 hours a few times. Liked the beginning but eventually lacked interest later on - although like others I did like the atmosphere.

FNV was much better and I got hundreds of hours into that game and that was well before I even knew what modding or ENB or ReShade was.

FO4, on the other hand, is well above all of them for me personally - fantastic RPG and love the story, setting, combat (the first game I ever enjoyed the combat enough to play on the hardest mode and actually enjoy it), companions are a massive improvement, lots of different things to do and see. Just a great game all the way around.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
3,959
Location
NH
Both FO3 and FO:NV had flaws, but I simply had much more enjoyment playing FO3 than I did FO:NV. FO3 was a better game experience for me. I never did feel compelled to finish FO:NV.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,521
Location
Seattle
Just like this old saying, You say "Tomato", I say "Tomata", tastes differ. Fallout 3 follows the same old Bethesda model and Fallout NV follows a different model.:)

As for Fallout 4 it's also the usual Bethesda model but with many deviations.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,185
Location
Spudlandia
Personally, I much preferred Fallout 3 to New Vegas, though both games remain great. The exploration, and open, dynamic feel of F3 constantly seemed to deliver something interesting to me. However, I'm fairly happy to just pratt about in a game like that, setting my own goals and exploring the world at my own speed. I don't feel the need to be provided with a strong narrative to motivate me or tell me what I'm "supposed" to be doing, which is why I suspect so many preferred NV.

New Vegas was a much more linear. The exploration and world building was mostly pretty terrible, though it kept itself interesting by always dangling the next thing in front of you. You don't notice the lack of a rich and interesting world because you are always just passing through it to get to the next bit. The most interesting bit's in NV were the bits that were written for you, where as with F3, the reverse is true.
 
I loved the first two Fallouts and finished both multiple times back when I was younger and had more time. I was eager to play Fallout 3, and it will forever be responsible for a great gaming memory. I hadn't played a lot of shooter games before it, because frankly I'm terrible at them.

I get out of the vault, wander a bit, kill a mole rat, and then pick up a faint radio signal. I follow it and end up at a sewer grate or hatch of some sort in the ground. Enter, find a room with a switch that opens a room below. Go in there and find strung up bodies and butcher knives, and just as the "cannibalism" thought enters my head I hear approaching screaming. Two crazed mutants come screaming into the room with some disturbing dialogue and scare the crap out of me to where I'm panic-firing as they come at me. Very good intro to the atmosphere of the game.

However, I never finished 3. I did finish NV once, so by that standard, NV was better.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
60
People don't finish 3 because the world, as a whole, makes no sense. It's all a series of disparate, unrelated locations. It's great for a few hours at a time, but at the end of it all, the shopping list of locations all rings hollow. Stumbling upon an homage to HP Lovecraft is all well and good but what point does it serve in the game? Just like 99% of other locations, none at all.

But this is a trademark for Bethesda games, so it's not like you go in expecting anything different - anything evolved from their tired formula that seemingly rakes in the profits. What's truly astounding is how people can consider these good RPGs. I challenge anyone to spin a story that explains how, after having your wife murdered and child abducted, it makes any [role-playing] sense to go on a settlement building crusade.

Fallout 3:
  • Excellent Hiking simulator
  • OK RPG
  • Clunky FPS

Fallout 4:
  • Excellent Hiking Simulator
  • LolWTF RPG
  • Average FPS
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
5,979
Location
Florida, USA
Joined
Nov 15, 2013
Messages
3,753
Location
Brasil
Back
Top Bottom