Fallout 3!

[dbsmith]

Questions:
1) I have a house in Megaton now (one of the few ppl who DIDNT blow it up). Can I leave stuff in its cupboards safely?
2) In my house I also have a bobble head stand. I assume Im still getting the benefits from them even tho they arent in my inventory right?
3) How do you repair weapons yourself (as opposed to paying someone for them)?

I love this game so much so far! I dont really understand ppls complaints about ammo, by the time i finish a quest, i am usually very low on ammo. It seems like just the right difficulty so far (level 9 or so....)

[Phen]

Saladin, the quest you mean is the head of state? I got to find some hannibal fellow?
dbsmith:
1 - I assume so, that's what I do.
2 - Yes.
3 - by clicking R on a weapon of the same type that you destroy for parts.

[Jack Saladin]

I found this guy named Mel, who's like a wussy Raider or something. I guess I said the wrong thing to him, because after our chat he started "fleeing". This involved crouching down and covering his head. I couldn't talk to him at all after that, and he was still like that the next day.

Nah, it's a chemist Ghoul you're looking for. You don't actually have to find him to find them, though, but he has another side-quest type thing on him so you mays as well talk to him. You musn't have gone any further than the first few meters of at least one of the locations if you haven't met him.

Saladin, the quest you mean is the head of state? I got to find some hannibal fellow?

That's the one. The slaver will also tell you to go get him some Lincoln artefacts, and put the museum on your map.

[Phen]

I found this guy named Mel, who's like a wussy Raider or something. I guess I said the wrong thing to him, because after our chat he started "fleeing". This involved crouching down and covering his head. I couldn't talk to him at all after that, and he was still like that the next day.

Nah, it's a chemist Ghoul you're looking for. You don't actually have to find him to find them, though, but he has another side-quest type thing on him so you mays as well talk to him. You musn't have gone any further than the first few meters of at least one of the locations if you haven't met him.

Saladin, the quest you mean is the head of state? I got to find some hannibal fellow?

That's the one. The slaver will also tell you to go get him some Lincoln artefacts, and put the museum on your map.

Nope, he didn't. Maybe it's later in the quest... I've found Lincoln's hat, diary and action figure, though.

[Minerva]

lol @ Mayor MacCready in Little Lamplight. Potty mouthed little shit!

Questions:
1) I have a house in Megaton now (one of the few ppl who DIDNT blow it up). Can I leave stuff in its cupboards safely?

Yes, that's really the main point of owning a room or house.

Where do you get the schematics for the railway gun?

Two options:

Spoiler:

a) Shack by the power station north of Minefield.

Spoiler:

b) See Abraham Washington in Rivet City and do his quest.

[Upsilon]

Nah, it's a chemist Ghoul you're looking for. You don't actually have to find him to find them, though, but he has another side-quest type thing on him so you mays as well talk to him. You musn't have gone any further than the first few meters of at least one of the locations if you haven't met him.

Oh, the guy who wants the sugar bombs?

Anyway, I cleverly deduced that I went the wrong way, went down the OTHER tunnel, found the Family, finished the quest, and built the Shishkebab. I wish I was melee-oriented so I could use it.

[Rippy]

Yay, Liberty Prime stopped glitching for me! My solution involved reverting to saves over and over (because sometimes he would start very soon, or sometime's he'd keep going for a while), saving whenever he took a step forward. Once he got close to the first force field, everything worked perfectly.

End-game spoilers:

Spoiler:

I liked the ending, but I'm a bit disappointed. First of all, it's kind of weird that the game ends even if you send Lyons in instead of yourself. It'd be nice to be able to walk around and see the aftermath. Hell, they could even have added something (maybe a speech skill or something of the sort) where you trick Lyons into adding the FEV, telling her Dr. Li told you to put it in or something. Then you could explore a game world without any mutants and ghouls and stuff.
Second, I thought there were going to actually be different endings to the game. Apparently, all that changes is a couple of the sentences that describe your legend.

What does everyone think of this Enclave/Brotherhood thing? The Enclave is depicted as this evil organization, but they really don't seem that bad to me, apart from some bad management. I don't even get what the two factions are fighting about. Maybe I've missed something.

Also, I have a hint for people who are a decent way into the main story: Pay Vault 101 a visit sometime.
Related spoiler:

Spoiler:

I shot the place up. No surprises here. Basically, the way I dealt with the problem down there, Amata wanted me not to come back, so I figured I might as well kill everyone and do things right with my newly created good character.

Edit: Apparently if you sabotage the water chip (something I was not aware I could do) and then tell Amata it was the Overseer's plan, the Vault gets evacuated. According to this Gamespot thread of questionable integrity, you DO see Vault characters out in the game world if you do this. I WANT.

Edit 2: OH. MY. GOD. Someone has to try this, because I missed my chance and I'll be playing as a good character on my next playthrough: can you enslave Amata or other Vault-dwellers after the quest is over, I wonder? She becomes non-essential after the quest, and the vault door is wide open, so it seems plausible. That would be friggin' awesome.

[Upsilon]

Spoiler:

Edit: Apparently if you sabotage the water chip (something I was not aware I could do) and then tell Amata it was the Overseer's plan, the Vault gets evacuated. According to this Gamespot thread of questionable integrity, you DO see Vault characters out in the game world if you do this. I WANT.

Spoiler:

I heard someplace that you can get Butch to join you.

[Jack Saladin]

lol @ Mayor MacCready in Little Lamplight. Potty mouthed little shit!

I've been looking for Little Lamplight, where the hell is it? I was hoping someone in Big Town would put it on my map, but they never did.

I just found Evergreen Mills, the raider town, shot the place up, and got the Terrible shotgun (which is ridiculously powerful). Since it's a pretty big place, it took me a fair amount of time, and then just as I was walking out my PS3 locked up. Gah. Hope it auto-saved recently.

I really, really wished they'd kept it in for another two months and fixed it up a bit. The graphical glitches are constant and the slowdown and freezes are frequent... I hear the PS3 version is the worst for this sort of thing as well. Sigh.

Looking at the screenshots you PC players have posted here, that version looks infinitely better than the PS3 version, too. The PS3 game looks kind of crappy, actually.

Edit: Anyone found those trees yet, btw?

[Phen]

You get little lamplight on your map for completing "escape from paradise" in Paradise falls. Havn't been there yet, though.

[Upsilon]

Edit: Anyone found those trees yet, btw?

I have to point out that Three Dog mentions he "may have been experimenting with Jet at the time" when he found the trees. I still hope they're real, though.

[Amnesiasoft]

The trees are real. I still haven't found them yet.

Proof:

Spoiler:

[Xaddak]

...what.

O.o

I...uh.

What?

A talking tree?

[Rippy]

Speaking of Three Dog, it's worth killing him just to hear the radio afterwards.

As for Lamplight, it's on the West end of the map. You also get it put on your map during the main quest.

I haven't noticed any visual glitches really, Saladin. I think that's just the PS3 version. The only annoyance I have is that the NPCs still look sterile and robotic. Mass effect did it so much better, I would've thought they'd take the time to improve on Oblivion's AI. (The worst part is at the end of the game when it gets all dramatic and you're supposed to feel compassionate for the stone-faced person dying in front of you. Didn't happen)

Edit: Hmm, have a look at this map, which is an actual map of the DC area with Fallout 3 locations overlayed on it. I wonder if there are any easter eggs at "Bethesda"... (Edit 2: Apparently there are the ruins of Bethesda's office buildings there)

As for the tree, apparently he's at a place called Oasis, which is towards the North end of the map.

[Voco]

My god, is that... (Not really a spoiler, since it was in Fallout 2, but just in case I've tagged it)

Spoiler:

Harold... (or should I say Bob)? The Ghoul leader of Gecko in Fallout 2 with the little tree (named Bob) growing out of his head? The one who wants the nuclear reactor part with the really long name but won't actually take it from you or even bother to tell you you're supposed to go install it yourself? He has the same deformed lip, at least, and, well, he had a tree growing out of his head.

This next bit relates to the main quest, so I've spoilered it separately.

Spoiler:

Did anyone else feel that the Enclave bit was a little...short? I mean, you're kidnapped without warning, briefly interrogated, then within a minute the place is in the middle of a civil war. Twenty minutes later, the compound is rubble and the Enclave is pretty much finished

Except for the soldiers guarding the route to the water plant, of course. Which was the second problem with the Enclave plot. Why are they even there? To stop you from turning it on? They WANT it turned on. Heck, they were willing to turn it on right there with the code you (didn't) give them during your interrogation. President Eden wants the virus inserted, but his second-in-command obviously isn't on board with that plan, so they can't be trying to make sure that happens. I mean, I know they want to take credit for Project Purity, but why would they fly their last remaining troops in on vertibirds and fight the brotherhood to the last man for a public relations boost? Obviously you can't give them the code while you're a prisoner (or they will have no more use for you and shoot you) but once you're safe, why can't you just let the commander-guy turn it on? For that matter, why can't they take credit for project purity without defending the station? They WERE the first ones to mention it publicly, after all, and it's not an unreasonable claim for them to make, even if they didn't already commonly make absolutely ridiculous claims.

Altogether, the whole last section of the main quest line just seemed rather rushed and unpolished. Compared to the rest of the game this was quite a shock. Don't get me wrong; I think this is an absolutely great game. I mean, they put such care and detail into the sidequests that I just expected more.

I also wish the heads wouldn't come off so much. It's a neat effect and the VATS cinematic sequences are great, but as someone whose combat strategy (thanks to an endurance of 1) focused on aimed shots to the head from hiding, I really began to relish the few times an enemy just fell down dead normally. It seemed like the enemy retained his noggin one time in five, when by rights it should have been the opposite. I shudder to think what the game must be like with the bloody mess perk.

[Minerva]

I think it's really, really crap how the game ends when you finish the main story quest.

I would much prefer it to be like Oblivion, whereby you finish the main quest, and you remain in the game world and you keep your stuff and your character, and you can keep doing minor quests.

Also, how many possible endings are there?

Spoiler:

There are three, right? Either you can activate Project Purity, the chick can activate it, or you can insert the FEV into Project Purity.

[Phen]

I know there are some "bethesda offices" somewhere, only because it's a bobblehead location.
I've only just been through Vault 112, so I'm not very far, I guess. I just enjoy wandering around, occasionally enslaving people. Now I found the schematics for the deathclaw gauntlet, too!

Spoiler for the waters of life:

Spoiler:

What the hell. Dad committed suicide just to get the colonel. It's not like we couldn't have rescued him from the enclave. Argh

[Endless Mike]

If Bethesda offices are in their real world location, they're north of DC.

[BumpInTheNight]

I know there are some "bethesda offices" somewhere, only because it's a bobblehead location.

Spoiler:

If you were to draw a line between Megaton and the Minefield, somewhere a little north of the river you'll find the offices, they're in the center of a devastated block of buildings. There is an over-street bridge that joins the two halves of the offices that you can watch out for too.

[Rippy]

Also, how many possible endings are there?

Spoiler:

There are three, right? Either you can activate Project Purity, the chick can activate it, or you can insert the FEV into Project Purity.

The ending also changes based on whether you're good, neutral or evil. So technically 9 endings, but they're all basically the same thing.

Also, how have you guys gotten frontal screenshots of your characters? I'd like to get a good look of what my character looks like...

[Phen]

I got power armor training, yay! Enclave power armor, too. Although it's a bit funny how the people (especially in

Spoiler:

vault 101

can still recoqnize me.

[zombie_monkey]

Not like I would have time in the next two months to play it anyways, but it seems like the storyline and dialogue and atmosphere are completely un-fallouty. I hope someone makes a mod with a proper storyline and dialogue, eventually.

Spoiler:

At least:
Apparently there is a locale where you can find Brotherhood of Steel people who deserted when the East Coats BoS decided to abandon their agenda and be Lawful Good. Despicable hand-waving excuse which only makes things worse.
And please, no mutants-who-are-Evil Orks with some lame excuse of another FEV or whatever, I don't remember their absurd rationale. The thing they have done with Harold is kind of retarded. And ideally some Van Buren material like the homage-to-Canticle-for-Leibowitz abbey.

And the stupid gore. The gore was done to emphasize the grittiness setting, dammit, _reveling_ in it is just plain stupid and is completely contrary to the purpose. I remember an interview in which some Bethesda developer said something like "the funny gore is still there, better than ever". Moron.

And don't get me started on their pathetic, star-wars-y attempts at introducing "moral choice". Or complete inability to actually go out there and do things in the world of any consequence outside the predetermined order and causation chains. That said I have _one_ friend who is a fan of the old games and enjoys it. For now. But he said I made good points of which he hadn't thought I was just reporting what people who I know see the game as I do report. Also, he played the first two relatively recently.

[EdgarJPublius]

umm, sounds like someone has a case of the IANACS.

Try not to judge based on what you imagine Bethesda has done to the Fallout mythos, or what you imagine the fallout mythos even is (right, the over-the-top blood and gore was supposed to emphasize the grittiness of the setting. That's why the bloody mess trait makes your character so hardcore and gritty that he can blow peoples' chest off their legs )

And so far I haven't seen any of the 'strict cause and effect trees' you mention, they must be hiding behind the part where I blew apart story-related characters in ways Oblivion would never have allowed, and feasted on the corpses of murdered children for sustenance (incidentally, there's your grittiness )

I would tacitly agree that the re-introduction of super-mutants is a little weak, although I can't think of any reason there couldn't, or even wouldn't be multiple sources of FEV.


My understanding of the East Coast BoS, is that they are the remains/descendants of the expedition from the west coast BoS seen in Tactics, which were well on their way to lawful good by that game. But I haven't gotten far enough in to FO3 to know what their rationale is yet.

In any case, slavish devotion to some nebulous 'lore' will only get you so far, I'd much prefer a Fun, immersive sequel like the one I got than one that strictly adheres to the story of previous games.

A homage-to-Canticle-for-Leibowitz abbey would be nice, but a little out of place on the east coast, in the ruins of a major metropolitan area. There is a side-quest where you can hunt down a bladerunner though, which I think makes up for it.

[Ryom]

To remove dismemberment and blood splatter edit the FALLOUT3.INI in My Documents\My Games\Fallout3 and add the line bDisableAllGore=1 anywhere in the [GENERAL] section.

[Jessica]

It's crashed... at least half a dozen times since I've been playing. I'm still early on (working on blood ties... fuck I keep running into super mutants when I'm trying to find The Family).

I couldn't stand oblivion. I played maybe 1/2 an hour and had to quit. Same with Morrowind. And yet I absolutely love Fallout 3. I'm not entirely sure why I hated oblivion so much. Maybe it was the look. Maybe it was the fantasy. I really don't know. All I know is that fallout is my god, even though it keeps crashing. And, it's damn fun.

I had fun lying my way through as much as I can. Like Minefield. I found a mine earlier, and I said "Yup, I went there, here's the mine. don't go". It was awesome. Or when I told her after finding the food and meds that "nope, no food or meds there". It was awesome.

I enjoy being a lying dick to people. Speech is awesome!

[Rippy]

I enjoy being a lying dick to people.

And I enjoy taking out-of-context signatures.

Edit: "Trouble on the Homefront" spoilers

Spoiler:

YES, turns out I DID have a save from before I shot up Vault 101, so I redid it in the way that evacuates the Vault AND keeps Amata on your good side (hack reactor terminal or steal password for it, activate manual mode, start a purge, tell Amata it was the Overseer's plan). So now I have to figure out where all these people went (assuming they actually are out in the game world now).

I was also unable to enslave Amata, however when I tried she was really pissed at me. Don't they have to be neutral for the mesmetron to work?

[Ixtellor]

I just read about 90% of this thread, and I don't see any detailed reviews.

I am thinking about buying this game, can someone please give an accurate review of it?

+ A few questions.

1) Does it have multiplayer capability?
2) Is it better, same, or worse than Neverwinter nights?
3) How does it compare to half-life?
4) How many hours of game play can you get out of it?
5) Can you finish the game and if so, how long does it take if you power your way through?


Ixtellor

[benbw]

This game seems so awesome but there are a couple things holding me back (PC version). Does anyone know something I don't?

-Tons of reports of glitching
-Shooting seems really inaccurate outside of V.A.T.S.
-Graphical requirements: I can play Crysis on low with a very high framerate, but Fallout 3 looks awful on low.
-Excessive head explosions and blood (might not be able to play this if it can't be turned off)

[SoapyHobo]

1) Does it have multiplayer capability?
2) Is it better, same, or worse than Neverwinter nights?
3) How does it compare to half-life?
4) How many hours of game play can you get out of it?
5) Can you finish the game and if so, how long does it take if you power your way through?

1)Nope
2)Haven't played NN, sorry
3)Half-Life's a linear FPS, Fallout 3 is an open world RPG, what are you trying to compare?
4)Days, possibly more, depends on what you do really. There's a load of side quests and locations to find.
5)Yes you can finish it, not sure how long it takes, I've stopped advancing in the main quest for now. Some people have finished that already.

-Tons of reports of glitching
-Shooting seems really inaccurate outside of V.A.T.S.
-Graphical requirements: I can play Crysis on low with a very high framerate, but Fallout 3 looks awful on low.
-Excessive head explosions and blood (might not be able to play this if it can't be turned off)

-There are glitches and crashes, but nothing terrible. They're likely to be fixed in a patch anyway.
-Fair enough

To remove dismemberment and blood splatter edit the FALLOUT3.INI in My Documents\My Games\Fallout3 and add the line bDisableAllGore=1 anywhere in the [GENERAL] section.

[Phen]

The crashes has mostly stopped for me... And I've had no glitches that I know of (except maybe for one insignificant merchant). I'm a bit annoyed at the decapitations, though - I'll have to look into that.

[Jack Saladin]

1) Does it have multiplayer capability?
2) Is it better, same, or worse than Neverwinter nights?
3) How does it compare to half-life?
4) How many hours of game play can you get out of it?
5) Can you finish the game and if so, how long does it take if you power your way through?

1) See Soapy.
2) NWN sucks. This is not even slightly similar.
3) See Soapy again. Wtf?
4) I've gotten 30 hours so far, and only just started the main quest and still have a bunch of side quests to do.
5) I believe it's possible to speed run through in a very short amount of time (couple of hours). But if you do that, ur doin it rong.

[Ryom]

I'm a bit annoyed at the decapitations, though - I'll have to look into that.

To remove dismemberment and blood splatter edit the FALLOUT3.INI in My Documents\My Games\Fallout3 and add the line bDisableAllGore=1 anywhere in the [GENERAL] section.

...

To remove dismemberment and blood splatter edit the FALLOUT3.INI in My Documents\My Games\Fallout3 and add the line bDisableAllGore=1 anywhere in the [GENERAL] section.

I think I'm going to have to shout it from a mountaintop

[Phen]

I did see it! I'm just having the game open, so I'm not about to change anything atm. Besides, I don't want to remove ALL gore/decapitations. It just needs to be less frequent as in, not every friggen time.

[felixalias]

Just a quick question - Does the Steam version of Fallout 3 install SecuROM at all? I know that the boxed version does, but sometimes the Steam versions don't (Bioshock on Steam no longer has any references to SecuROM at all).

[semicolon]

Man, I haven't really played any FPSes in a while (most recent one I've played more than a couple times is probably TF2) and I am having lots of fun shooting people's legs off and stuff. This game is pretty enjoyable.

[Aethernox]

I happened to like NWN.

But no, this isn't like NWN. It has rpg elements, but the gameplay is entirely different.

It is somewhat similar to HL in that is is an FPS of sorts, but Fallout is much more open ended.

I have over 50 hours in, and I'm only level 12; the maximum is 20. Powering your way through, I could have beaten the game in a fifth of that or less.

[Irrefutable]

It just finished downloading.. just when i am going to bed.

All.... willpower... being... utilised..

[Minerva]

Is it possible to go back to Vault 101? I tried, and it said I don't know the new password.

[Aethernox]

Is it possible to go back to Vault 101? I tried, and it said I don't know the new password.

If you're far enough into the storyline to go back, you should have received some sort of distress signal from 101 when you arrive there. If that's not available, you may have to quest more, etc.

[Upsilon]

Also, how have you guys gotten frontal screenshots of your characters? I'd like to get a good look of what my character looks like...

I'm assuming you have the PC version. Hold down Mouse 3 (probably the scroll wheel) and move the mouse around.