So I just got Fallout 3...

[phoenix352]

Play the game fresh without letting a forum full of people spoil the goings on of the game.

My game, I shall play it as I wish to.

I actually found it better not to start fresh, i didn't manage to enjoy the game until i grabbed a ton of hints from other people.

Spoiler: How i'd recommend starting:

First off i'd advise getting your explosives skill to 30 during the tutorial.
Then when you reach Megaton at the beginning of the game talk to the Sheriff dude and say you'll disarm the bomb in the middle of the town. Then use your explosives skill of 30 to disarm it!

From that you get a free house! The whole quest takes like 2 seconds you just need that explosives skill to do it.

From then on you can hoard as many items as you want in your house and then filter out the stuff you can sell later on.

Spoiler: bonus tip

If you find yourself low on health often i'd recommend putting points into your Medicine skill. This makes Stimpaks more effective, which are your main health item.

Whether or not you follow the spoiler'd tips i just gave it's always best to just explore rather than follow the main quest. Hunt for some sidequests and do some random exploring and you'll find all sorts of crazy weapons and earn tons more money!

thats not the best way to deal with that quest.

Spoiler: best way to do that quest

talk to the sheriff to start the quest, go and talk to mr.burke in the saloon he will give you a device to rig the bomb. after you speak to burke go back and tell the sheriff that burke wants you to blow up the bomb then go with him to confront burke. after the sheriff dies kill burke and loot both their gear. then when you get 30 explosives you can come back and disarm the bomb the sheriffs kid gives you the XP and money

my advice is up your repair skill to as high as you can as early as you can will save you lots of money, then up lock pick , small guns and science. those 4 are your most important skills after them sneak medicine and speech are great.

 

[soapyshooter]

Sink all your points into small guns, big guns and lockpicking.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Go to fallout nexus. Modded Fallout 3 is fun.
And don't forget to use the Fat Man whenever it is even remotely possible to survive the blast.

 

[G-Dragon]

wear a vest, it makes the game much better, but seriously, just take in all the scenery, and make sure you always steal all of peoples clothes

 

[Dexiro]

thats not the best way to deal with that quest.

Spoiler: best way to do that quest

talk to the sheriff to start the quest, go and talk to mr.burke in the saloon he will give you a device to rig the bomb. after you speak to burke go back and tell the sheriff that burke wants you to blow up the bomb then go with him to confront burke. after the sheriff dies kill burke and loot both their gear. then when you get 30 explosives you can come back and disarm the bomb the sheriffs kid gives you the XP and money

That way's a little better but my way was just a quick fix for new players ^_^

Depends what the OP's up for doing really.

 

[Duskwaith]

Look at the sky. Spin about then look down.

Then walk in what ever direction your pointing too. Its immensly rewarding.

Also http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki is also pretty good for any problems that may arise.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

Stay away from Little Lamplight if you value your sanity.
And there is some really cool and easy to grab gear in old olney. Perfect for the budding adventurer [sub][sub][sub]only joking[/sub][/sub][/sub]

You need to go to little lamplight to get into that Vault, or you can't complete the game.

I consider it worth not completing the game to avoid little lamplight
I hate it so much >_<

 

[Ironman126]

Beat the vanilla game. Then go to http://www.fallout3nexus.com/, sign up, and download mods. It makes the game better in way you can't even imagine. And if you need help getting around Steam, there are forums for that on the site. Again: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/

Edit: Mods are free...

 

[RandomWords]

Spoiler

not really, I'm not that mean

 

[BlumiereBleck]

You're gonna get bored of it fast. Just sayin it now, before you feel like you didn't get your money's worth.

 

[CD-R]

Heres a pretty good guide to installing mods.


As for Windows 7 installing Fallout 3 in another folder other than crogram files seems to fix most of the problems. There's also something else you have to do if you have a multicore cpu. The video explains it.

 

[Jiggabyte]

Roleplaying makes the game a lot deeper. If you want it easy you can balance out karma by donating caps from stealing things... don't take a full 10 SPECIAL and don't take any stat to 100 due to skillbooks and perks... keep your equipment well maintained (repair is pretty amazing if you're OCD about collecting equipment... as is strength)
Make a lot of saves, and back your saves up. Fallout 3 is notoriously... crashy. In fact my latest save crashed and make me a naked male in the middle of a desert just a few days ago. Huzzah!
Oh, I don't see much need in mods in this game to be honest, but Fallout 3 Nexus is cool. Don't try it until you've gotten through the regular game... my favourite DLC is The Pitt, but the best is probably Broken Steel. You should have gotten Game Of The Year because all of the DLC is fantastic... then again the "vanilla" game is pretty amazing too.
Oh, and save before a speech check. Reload saves and charisma/speech skill is pointless.

 

[Dana22]

My tip is, dont use fast-travel too often. Exploration was biggest fun for me in f3.

 

[TheSkaAssassin]

get the bobbleheads! Use a guide if you have to, but get the bobbleheads, they make leveling your skills so much easier.

 

[Counterwise]

The first 3 post are so ridden with hypocrisy and contradictions. Anyway, my advice(i got it about a month ago) is play it. Do whatever you like, that's the point of the game.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

I still don't have it, but I'm gonna borrow it off a friend and see if I can create a forum game based on people here making my decisions for me. I'm expecting a horrendously gimped character who makes awful decisions at every turn. It could be fun!

So you're going to do a Let's Play like a hunded others have done before? Clearly, you are a genius.

 

[Phoenixlight]

Play the game fresh without letting a forum full of people spoil the goings on of the game.

My game, I shall play it as I wish to.

Ok then,
-Your father (and mother) were originally from outside the Vault.
-Your father left the vault to build a water purifier
-Your father sacrifices himself and kills several Enclave soldiers by overloading Project Purity's main chamber with lethal amounts of radiation
-The enclave want to use the purifier to distribute a massive modified FEV virus that will kill anyone with any kind of mutation.
-Doctor Braun tortures the people constantly and they can't die for real because of a fail-safe so when you use the Chinese Invasion program it overrides the fail-safe so you kill them for real and release them from their misery.
-The end of the game let's you decide whether you want to turn off the purifier and die or get this other woman to do it.
Enjoy.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

I still don't have it, but I'm gonna borrow it off a friend and see if I can create a forum game based on people here making my decisions for me. I'm expecting a horrendously gimped character who makes awful decisions at every turn. It could be fun!

So you're going to do a Let's Play like a hunded others have done before? Clearly, you are a genius.

I've never seen a let's play before, so I apologise for rehashing an old idea.
Also, no. I'm not telling the story of my playthrough, I'm letting everyone else tell the story of my playthrough - so a let's play with far less effort on my part, I guess.

 

[Zackary Yakumo]

I still don't have it, but I'm gonna borrow it off a friend and see if I can create a forum game based on people here making my decisions for me. I'm expecting a horrendously gimped character who makes awful decisions at every turn. It could be fun!

That's actually a good idea. And a bad idea at the same time. If you do, I want in on that.

as do i. damn your character will be messed up beyond all hell though.