Post Fallout thoughts

[Jamash]

One think that's struck me as odd is how untidy most of the places are.

I know that it a post-apocalyptic world, but does that mean that everyone's lost the ability to pick up after themselves?

It really struck me when I went to the Regulators H.Q for the first time, the place is a shit-tip, with loads of empty whisky bottles lying around... for a group of good guys they are sure a bunch of alcoholic slobs.
I mean for fuck sake, they still have a charred skeleton in the bath! It wouldn't take a lot of effort just to pick it up & bury it outside, (less effort than hunting down bad giys & chopping their fingers off). If they've gone to the effort to move a computer terminal in there & turn the bathroom into an office, they why couldn't they remove the corpse?

I can understand the abandoned areas being messy, but almost every house & domicile is also a fucking mess. Did everyone lose the will to tidy up after the bombs went off? They've even got robots to clean up for them, yet nobody seems to mind living in squalor.

EDIT: The whole untidiness thing may have something to do with the fact every that N.P.C. chides you every time you knock over a piece of debris. It's funny when you're on patrol with some Brotherhood of Steel guys and accidentally bang into an abandoned shopping trolley or tin can & they say "Cut it out!" or "Watch it!". It's almost like they placed it there & are angry with you for messing up their mess. Everyone seems very attached to & protective of their rubbish.

Another thing, there seems to be a inordinate amount of cigarette packets in bins. When the 3 minute warning sounded did everyone decide that it would be a good time to give up smoking? "I've only got 3 minutes to live so I better make my last 3 minutes healthy."

If it were me I'd probably chain smoke until I was atomised.

One more thing, why does the women's toilets in the LOB building have urinals?

 

[Ronwue]

I don't think I got about the same ammount of gameplay as the op but to tell the truth, it wasn't that I didn't want to find all the places and nifty stuff... the game offered no incentive to do so whatsoever. After reaching level 20 and "no more xp for you mister" I tried doing a few quests away from the main plot only to find myself not actually looking forward to ending the quest since it doesn't give anything aside from some useless items I didn't need cause I already had tesla armor and plasma rifle.

But to return to the topic... post fallout thoughts... Well... when it landed in the sea of games it made a giant splash but it died away pretty soon in the puddles of mediocrity. Yes, it is stunningly beautiful, the story is nice... but it simply left me with thoughts of meh after the ending... So much more could have been done with this but as it is... meh... this game will not live long in my memory.

 

[smartalec]

Freeze-dried vacuum-sealed powdered just-add-water food? Seems about right for the retro-50s feel. Sailsbury Steak, ready in seconds! Eggs, just add water!

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I've played Fallout 3 for some 60 hours now, not counting another hour or two lost to forgetting to quick-save often enough... and I still have about a third of the map left to explore, though I did get to the game ending soon after hitting level 20.

If the combat's too easy, turn up the difficulty dial and don't take perks that make getting ammo or money easier. Beef up on the non-combat stuff like lockpicking and science and speech instead, and tough it out in the trenches if you're looking for a challenge.

As for the ending, I've done it twice; first time I got the "failed Good" ending, the second time the "successful Good" ending. They both made sense as endings go, but (to spoil no spoilers) I can see why some players would find them unsatisfactory especially since they make further play impossible without resorting to an earlier save. (Protip: if you want to continue playing after the end, make a save game before starting the "Take It Back" mission. That's where the game hits the "no return" point.)

I, however, don't mind; I'm going to keep exploring the map and looking for sidequests, because it's the game setting that draws me in more than the game mechanics or levelling up. (And I haven't seen Paradise Falls yet; I hear it's lovely this time of year.)

-- Steve