Fallout 3 Lacks Any Serious Closure (Contains SPOILERS)

[BrunDeign]

Don't get me wrong, Fallout 3 is one of the most fantastic games I have ever played. However I'm currently doing another playthrough (in preparation for the next New Vegas DLC) and I just completed the Pitt add on. I sided with Ashur because, well, I just didn't feel like kidnapping a baby from her parents. However, once you complete the quest and all that, nothing becomes of the cure that Ashur was working on for the people of the Pitt.

It doesn't seem to me like it would be that hard to give the player some sort of closure when it comes to big events. Like Liberty Prime. No matter how many hundreds of cameras or sensor modules (is it sensor modules? I forget) you collect, he is never repaired. I know the whole gameplay and story segregation thing but you could work your way around that and actually make me feel like I accomplished something. If Liberty Prime booted back up and started spouting Anti-Commie speak I would be completely satisfied. And as far as the Pitt goes, you don't do anything meaningful, at ALL, that you get to see come to its ultimate fruition. You can spend years of the ingame time dicking around in the wastes and NOTHING HAPPENS.

There are other points where Fallout 3 lacks closure like this but this post is long-winded enough as it is. What do you guys think? Anyone agree?

 

[Trolldor]

No.

I think, at best, they might have an epilogue component.

 

[SimuLord]

Fallout 3 is exceptionally poorly written even by the standards of an action game, but where it recommends itself is in the ancillary gameplay. Then again, this may just be a function of Emil Pagliarulo's severe lack of ability as a writer, since Oblivion suffered exactly the same problem---it was only fun if you never spoke to any NPCs.

Once Obsidian got real writers with real talent working with that game engine, they made Bethesda's writers look like poo-flinging monkeys at the zoo.

But then again, nobody does "dick around in a sandbox and make your own fun" like Bethesda except for the folks who made Mount&Blade, so it's not like I'll miss the great writing when I play Skyrim this fall. I'll probably approach it like I approached Oblivion and Fallout 3, like "OK, Smacky, just tell me where to go so I can ditch the Uncanny Valley for the fun parts of the game. Thanks."

 

[Yassen]

While I agree Fallout 3 lacked closure it sounds like you're asking for a dynamic, changing environment which is asking quite alot. If Bethesda had managed to make a satisfying ending then those choices would have felt like they mattered. But they didn't. For a game about choice the mainplot is extremely limited and the epilogue is just stupid.

What's great about New Vegas is they knew how to write a meaningful plot with choices that mattered and a satisfying ending for practically everything and everyone. You want the best description for Fallout 3? Expensive fan fiction. Enjoyable sure but not even close to being meaningful.

 

[FlyAwayAutumn]

I guess it does lack closure. But it didn't bother me at the time. Mostly because I didn't notice. But you're right.

 

[Vault101]

Don't get me wrong, Fallout 3 is one of the most fantastic games I have ever played. However I'm currently doing another playthrough (in preparation for the next New Vegas DLC) and I just completed the Pitt add on. I sided with Ashur because, well, I just didn't feel like kidnapping a baby from her parents. However, once you complete the quest and all that, nothing becomes of the cure that Ashur was working on for the people of the Pitt.

It doesn't seem to me like it would be that hard to give the player some sort of closure when it comes to big events. Like Liberty Prime. No matter how many hundreds of cameras or sensor modules (is it sensor modules? I forget) you collect, he is never repaired. I know the whole gameplay and story segregation thing but you could work your way around that and actually make me feel like I accomplished something. If Liberty Prime booted back up and started spouting Anti-Commie speak I would be completely satisfied. And as far as the Pitt goes, you don't do anything meaningful, at ALL, that you get to see come to its ultimate fruition. You can spend years of the ingame time dicking around in the wastes and NOTHING HAPPENS.

There are other points where Fallout 3 lacks closure like this but this post is long-winded enough as it is. What do you guys think? Anyone agree?

thats why I didnt like the orginal ending not because I couldnt keep playing but because it was just a slap in the face, I wrote this on another thread:

Sara lyons: "one of us must scrifice ourselves!...I'd do it but its more dramitic if you do"
Lone wanderer: "wait..die?? Look Im all for doing whats right, but dying?....I didn't sign up for that!"
Sara lyons: "fine I'll do it! but threedog's gonna be real pissed at you....selfish *****"
Lone wanderer: "what about fawkes? can't he do it?"
Fawkes: "No freind, it is your DESTINY!"
Lone wanderer: "to die just like dad? thats so stupid, he got himself killed for no reason!"
Fawkes: "YOUR DESTINY!!!"
Lone Wanderer: "but...but after all the good I did? after everything Ive been through? "
Sara lyons: "seriously we'll all remeber you forever...or we won't whatever Just do it already Im getting bored here"
Lone wanderer: "*sigh* alright Im doing it...you know being good really sucks...I wish I nuked magaton

and Broken steel did fix that but as you said...the wastland just keeps going I supose you just stop playing after that but a little more closure would be nice

that said how ever I prefer it to the stupid ending (which I hope to god they dont pull in Mass effect 3 with paragon)

 

[Souplex]

I actually kind of liked the Fallout 3 original ending.
You took on the wasteland from cradle to grave.

 

[Vault101]

I actually kind of liked the Fallout 3 original ending.
You took on the wasteland from cradle to grave.

While I didn't like it, I did find it very emotional but it was so sad, so unfair especially if you were good, plus Dying just like your father did seemed very pointless

what Im saying is there was no happy ending for you if you were good, the rest of the game was depressing enough, you at least deserved somthing better than that, plus I thourght I read somwhere that they had to rush the ending anyway for deadline perposes

anyway I dont belive all endings have to be sunshine and rainbows, but it at least dosnt have to feel pointless and so depressing

also what the heck happened to Doctor Li? (post orginal ending) she just got up a left? why?

 

[WorldCritic]

Fallout 3, a very good game with some rather annoying writing and a not so original plot. Seriously, examine it and you'll find that almost every major part of the story was taken from either Fallout 1, 2, or Tactics, and then glued together in a random order.

 

[Souplex]

I actually kind of liked the Fallout 3 original ending.
You took on the wasteland from cradle to grave.

While I didn't like it, I did find it very emotional but it was so sad, so unfair especially if you were good, plus Dying just like your father did seemed very pointless

what Im saying is there was no happy ending for you if you were good, the rest of the game was depressing enough, you at least deserved somthing better than that, plus I thourght I read somwhere that they had to rush the ending anyway for deadline perposes

anyway I dont belive all endings have to be sunshine and rainbows, but it at least dosnt have to feel pointless and so depressing

also what the heck happened to Doctor Li? (post orginal ending) she just got up a left? why?

She felt useless once project purity was finished, had an argument with the brotherhood, and headed to the commonwealth.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Yes Fallout 3 lacked a lot of closure, many things are left unexplained and open ended.

New Vegas on the other hand pretty much explains what happened to any major factions, characters, companions and locations you encounter on your travels. Which is why the game has a definitive ending and doesn't let you keep playing afterwards, because there would be too many changes, plus they take place over a long period of time.

 

[sb666]

Fallout 3 is exceptionally poorly written even by the standards of an action game, but where it recommends itself is in the ancillary gameplay. Then again, this may just be a function of Emil Pagliarulo's severe lack of ability as a writer, since Oblivion suffered exactly the same problem---it was only fun if you never spoke to any NPCs.

Once Obsidian got real writers with real talent working with that game engine, they made Bethesda's writers look like poo-flinging monkeys at the zoo.


But then again, nobody does "dick around in a sandbox and make your own fun" like Bethesda except for the folks who made Mount&Blade, so it's not like I'll miss the great writing when I play Skyrim this fall. I'll probably approach it like I approached Oblivion and Fallout 3, like "OK, Smacky, just tell me where to go so I can ditch the Uncanny Valley for the fun parts of the game. Thanks."

this is how i felt about fallout 3 and why i loved new vegas

 

[saintchristopher]

Listen, you'll never be satisfied with the storylines of games like Fallout if you just take its own writing at face value. They have plots, sure. But the development of the character is almost entirely dependent upon you. Bethesda dictates the major milestones, sure, but when all is said and done it is YOU who writes the story of the Vault Dweller.

[small]In my mind the Vault Dweller, having done literally all he could to help (most of) the people living in the Capital Wasteland by seeing his parents' dream, Project Purity, come to fruition, had started to feel as though he were no longer needed. A profound sense of "my work is done here" washed over him. Though it wasn't until the time he swore up and down to anyone who would listen that he was abducted by and subsequently saved the world from aliens, with listeners merely suspecting he'd fallen victim to a potent Jet/Med-X mix, that he realized he needed to get the fuck out of DC.

It took the better part of three years to hoof it as far across the country as Nevada. Along the way he'd camp out up with whatever settlements he managed to run across, leaving behind stories of fresh, pure water back east. He never made any mention of his own part in the tale. Never that flush with caps, he'd take on odd jobs where he could, solving other people's problems like always, but his favorite work, since it allowed him to keep moving on, was running packages. A lot of the folks he ran into were migrating east and had roots back the way they came. They'd often have some message or small parcels they'd want delivered to whomever they left behind.

Once he traveled far enough to hear about the Mojave Express, he decided to register with them for a short while. The pay promised to be better than the favor gigs he'd been running on his way, which was great, since he was burning through his provisions twice as fast since he'd wandered into desert country.

it was only his second job for the Express that found him carrying an unusual item: An oversized novelty poker chip; the work paper says it's made of Platinum...[/small]

My point is, if you feel robbed of closure, make your own! I didn't get closure from Fallout 3 either, so I figured his story must not be over.

 

[Vault101]

I actually kind of liked the Fallout 3 original ending.
You took on the wasteland from cradle to grave.

While I didn't like it, I did find it very emotional but it was so sad, so unfair especially if you were good, plus Dying just like your father did seemed very pointless

what Im saying is there was no happy ending for you if you were good, the rest of the game was depressing enough, you at least deserved somthing better than that, plus I thourght I read somwhere that they had to rush the ending anyway for deadline perposes

anyway I dont belive all endings have to be sunshine and rainbows, but it at least dosnt have to feel pointless and so depressing

also what the heck happened to Doctor Li? (post orginal ending) she just got up a left? why?

She felt useless once project purity was finished, had an argument with the brotherhood, and headed to the commonwealth.

I see, this commonwealth where is it? is it related to anything else in the fallout universe? like the NCR?

 

[Souplex]

I actually kind of liked the Fallout 3 original ending.
You took on the wasteland from cradle to grave.

While I didn't like it, I did find it very emotional but it was so sad, so unfair especially if you were good, plus Dying just like your father did seemed very pointless

what Im saying is there was no happy ending for you if you were good, the rest of the game was depressing enough, you at least deserved somthing better than that, plus I thourght I read somwhere that they had to rush the ending anyway for deadline perposes

anyway I dont belive all endings have to be sunshine and rainbows, but it at least dosnt have to feel pointless and so depressing

also what the heck happened to Doctor Li? (post orginal ending) she just got up a left? why?

She felt useless once project purity was finished, had an argument with the brotherhood, and headed to the commonwealth.

I see, this commonwealth where is it? is it related to anything else in the fallout universe? like the NCR?

All the information is here:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Commonwealth
I am trying to get people to post their CAPTCHAs.
CAPTCHA: sitlett Arrets,

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I see, this commonwealth where is it? is it related to anything else in the fallout universe? like the NCR?

The Commonwealth is the remnants of the state of Massachussetts and no, it doesn't appear to be related to any other faction in Fallout... allthough you never know if Bethesda are going to pull something out of their arses for Fallout 4

 

[Chewyjazz]

I don't know, I haven't played New Vegas, but the lack of closure did take something away from the experience. I think it goes without saying that Fallout 3 is a good game, but I definitely can see why some people would think it had rather poor writing, not that Bethesda is known for writing the most interesting dialogue known to man...

 

[zehydra]

I always thought it was because the main campaign isn't really the focus of the game. It's hard to claim that I suppose, but I always felt that the gameplay was focused more on the side quests than the main quest. This is a notable characteristic of the elderscroll series and it's no surprise that Bethesda played that card here. I for one, don't particularly mind.