Fallout 3 Is Fall-Bound.

[ShadowTiger]

A Gameplay Trailor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_hq7cRTD0A)


Fallout 3 is one of those games that I'm kind of up in the air about. I'm both very excited, yet somewhat depressed about. (Similar to what they did with air-dodging in Brawl. They removed wavedashing for it. We lost something magnifacent, but gained something different. It "works.") For one, 100+/- hours of gameplay is always a plus. It looked so open ended, almost even moreso than Fallout 1 and 2... It looked a lot like S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadows Over Chernobyl. (Seriously, you'll see a tremendous amount of similarities just from the gameplay video.)

So, Whereas Fallout 1 & 2 felt more like true RPG Games like Baldur's Gate and whatnot, Fallout 3 will feel a lot more like an open ended Deus Ex and Oblivion. (Again, if you haven't at least tried Deus Ex by now, shame on you.) I'm positively giddy about them adding the third dimension to the mix. I want to see how high I can jump off of buildings.

I just hope it's not too difficult to run. I personally don't have a 360, and my computer is a bit shoddy by now. I might have to get a new Gaming PC specifically for it. Either way, I can't wait until the fall.

[Beldaran]

It looks like the entire games is the same color. I'm bored.

[ShadowTiger]

You could say the same thing about both the current Diablo games, but here we are.

[Beldaran]

You could say the same thing about both the current Diablo games, but here we are.

Diablo II had many distinct, widely artistically varied environments to explore. You could explore vast cathedrals, desert caverns, the desert itself, a middle eastern palace with harems and dungeons, a giant tropical swamp with insect caves and weird ancient ruins, not to mention the planes of hell itself. Plus, you were driven by item-lust, so it was worth exploring.

Fallout 3 looks like "Oh look, some gray rubble! Let's go explore the rubble. Wait, look! More gray rubble!

The game looks really fun, technically. Artistically, however, it just doesn't make me want to explore/play/live in that environment. It makes me not care about whatever cliche post-apocalyptic story they slapped on there.

[rock_nog]

Well, look at Diablo III. Frankly, I've never been much of a fan of the Diablo series, but it's so nice to see Blizzard turn around and say "You know what, we need some goddamn color in here." Too many games, I think, have fallen into that trap of using 80 million shades of grey/red/brown/whatever theme the game is.

[ShadowTiger]

lol Quake. < <,

I will most readily agree that much of the Fallout series utilizes rubble colors, but that's obviously to create the proper mood. I don't play games for the graphics. Not on my low-end computers, no. WoW is set to minimum settings on everything, as is almost any other game I can play.

In terms of colorless, I played STALKER on minimum, and everything but the UI was literally grayscale. It was still fun as hell, and the ability to go anywhere and shoot .. er .. do anything at any time was the icing on the cake.

I even found Oblivion to be rather boring and monotonous outside of the most of the quests. It still had Oblivion's problems with finding mundane items as treasures inside. (I.e. inside the lost King's famous coffers were a set of dinner knives and a broom.) If Fallout 3 is like this, I'll be somewhat devastated. Fallout 1 and 2 were never like that. :-/ Truly wonderful games, they were. Unfortunate, they're the reason I'm so interested in Fallout 3. If not, I'd still be playing Deus Ex and trying to finish STALKER.

[rock_nog]

I don't play games for the graphics, either, but I do play for the artistic direction. You play WoW. Now there's a game that makes good damn use of color. The thing is, WoW is designed to run on a wide variety of computers, but the art direction distracts you from that fact. They make it look beautiful, and in such a way that it doesn't tax your CPU.

[ShadowTiger]

Interview #2 (http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=856489).

[ShadowTiger]

... :D



So yeah... (http://pc.ign.com/articles/924/924346p1.html)

[Archibaldo]

I went and picked up a copy if it today for the 360. It's a big place, almost overwhelming, but whatever. I spent like an hour and a half exploring the first town you get to.

[Nicholas Steel]

lol Quake. < <
Quakes atmosphere DOESN'T NEED COLOUR! if anything, colour would make the game WORSE!

[AtmaWeapon]

Just saw a commercial and it looked cool. With the XBox 360 at $199, I just might buy in.

[Daarkseid]

I bought the game at a midnight release, but I haven't played beyond the birthday party scene because the game keeps crashing. Apparently, some PC users of the game have encountered similar problems so I'm now waiting for a patch.

Yay PC gaming!

Okay I played some more -=SPOILER=-

Probably not much of a spoiler, but whatever, I've appreciated spoiler warnings on other forums and avoided in game details so I get the most out of the game.

[MottZilla]

I rented FO3, and I'm having fun. I've never played Fall Out the series before but I'm enjoying wandering around shooting things and the apparent freedom you have. I love the VATS thing for wicked headshots. I love when you blow someone's head off, and their body goes into the air and spins. There's a pretty good chance I might buy the game after this rental period as it seem to have a large potential for replay value. Right now I'm being a nice person but it would be interesting to slaughter everyone you meet. You know, for replay value. =)

[Archibaldo]

I made a Mexican named Jesus. It's a fun game, the ammo shortage is a bit frustrating though.

[ShadowTiger]

Then it plays just like the other Fallout games. They're strictly Strategy-RPG games of course, with no "Oblivion" feel to it, though both games do have nice and open worlds to explore, just like Fallout 3. Same skill and perk and level systems as well. Fallout 3 is simply Fallout 1 & 2, mixed with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Deus Ex. It makes for an excellent combination.

BTW, don't get it for the PS3. I've heard it got terrible reviews for being far too buggy in many areas.

[Linkus]

I'm playing the game, although I haven't gotten really far (I'm a slow player, and I like exploring). I'm having a problem with the game really lagging while in or executing VATS actions - actually, quite a few problems - as it seems to slow down while loading detail models. But it may be me, or my 8600M GT having trouble keeping up. Or DX10 trying to interfere with DX9.

Also, I find it hard being a packrat. I try to carry components that might be crucial to a schematic I might find later on, only to find something useful that breaks my limit. Hopefully, I haven't missed one by accident....

By the way, anybody want to go "out of bounds"? I found that if you go under the yellow bridge with the intact gnome inside, go behind that room, jump on top the pile of of junk, and walk to the other side you'll find yourself under building. No bobblehead though :(

[Masamune]

I made a Mexican named Jesus. It's a fun game, the ammo shortage is a bit frustrating though.

I've found that taking advantage of your repair ability to improve your guns by combining them with other guns of the same time helps you conserve a lot of ammunition. When you combine guns with repair, their damage and condition increase, which means you use a lot less ammo. :D

[MottZilla]

I'm confused, this is the second time I hear complaints about ammo. True it's not plentiful so you can shot your dead enemies to mutilate them for fun. But I have large stocks of ammunition and never have to worry too much about it. Plus you can buy ammo at a shop in MegaTon. Something "Supply" shop. Repairing your weapons is important. I didn't figure out you could do it yourself until I happened to realize having 2 of the same weapon gave you the Repair option highlighted.

[Linkus]

About the ammo, here's what I've found out about where you're most likely to find it (even if some of these are common sense)--

10mm - Raiders, most residential homes (post- and pre-war intact)
.32 caliber - Super Mutants
Energy Charges - electrical traps, Protectons, some fallen BoS soldiers
Frag Mines - Well, wherever you see one, but you'll have to be fast to disarm it. Or in mine boxes
Pulse Mines - Talon Company Mercs
Frag Grenades - If a humanoid enemy throws one, then they are likely to have them. Did I mention that you can set them off prematurely while still in someone's hand by shooting it?
.556 caliber (whatever the assault rifles take) - Talon Company Mercs, Super Mutants and the armored Warriors, and tougher Raiders
.308 caliber - Talon Mercs

Also, something you might be interested in - I found a in-good-condition Ripper, which is just a one-handed chainsaw. The damage it deals is massive (DAM 16-18); where it is, I'll leave that up for you to find, but I'll hint that it's somewhere in Marigold Station.

[Cloral]

I'm thinking of picking this up, but I need to know one thing:
The leveling system doesn't work the way it did in Oblivion does it?

[Archibaldo]

Apparently the enemies during the main quest scale with your level, but the enemies during the side quests don't.

The thing about the supply store in Megaton is that there isn't exactly infinite ammo. Nor a lot of it, or even the right kind. For the first little while she was only carrying like 36 rounds max of the pistol ammo and like 16 of the rifle ammo. But after I started to continue through the main story, I started to find more ammo, but only for the hunting rifle, which I'm not a big fan of.


-=SPOILER=-

[MottZilla]

Cloral they say they fixed the level scaling issue from Oblivion.

Linkus, your ".52" caliber you actually mean .32 Rifle. The Assault Rifle uses .556 as in five-five-sixers.

Personally I like the Hunting Rifle. It's got some good power and is in good supply. More so than the Sniper Rifle (.308 cal).

[MasterSwordUltima]

I really like the hunting rifle. Its more accurate than the assault/chinese assault rifle, and yet there are about a 100:1 ratio when compared with the sniper rifle [which I only got from some dude I think around Minefield].

Is anyone else regretting picking the bloody mess perk? It was cool at first, shooting a Mutant in the head and having his limbs and skin blow off, but now its getting too silly.

[MottZilla]

I agree, Bloody Mess does get kind of old after awhile, but supposively you get a 5% damage boost. I actually would have built my character up differently if I knew all I do now. Unfortunately my rental period ends today, so I have to decide if I want to buy the game. I might consider trading in some games to get the price down some.

[Linkus]

Heh heh, I picked Strong Back and Commando aver Bloody Mess. It's good enough to watch someone's head get blown off anyways.

...Anyhow, I hope some of the future expansions do open up new areas within the current map. I'd really like to get into the WWII section of the Museum of History, and see if there are any M1A1s still around. Or better yet, a mission involving a Howitzer, and blasting through rubble into new, unexplored areas of downtown DC and its suburbs.

Another thing I'd like to see is a new town set inside a baseball/football stadium. I could so see some settlers finding that as a safe place to live, given the high concrete walls and the centralized construction.

But why am I talking about expansions when there is still a lot to be explored as of right now? Maybe I just want more within the city, instead of a majority of the map being the outskirts (mainly because of the major lag the game has from the wide and distant view out there).

[Archibaldo]

I think I might be pretty close to the end of the game, and I have to say being evil is very fun, backstabbing every one is awesome.

-=SPOILER=-

[Nicholas Steel]

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_bugs

I think I'm pretty happy I haven't bought this yet, 100$ for a game filled with tons of bugs? no thanks :/

[Masamune]

Where'd you get $100 from?

[Breaker]

I'm thinking of picking this up, but I need to know one thing:
The leveling system doesn't work the way it did in Oblivion does it?

NO. But the only problem I have with it is that you can only level to 20 and pick so many perks and skills. I kinda wish it let you go a little further because there are a lot more than 20 perks, which are special attributes you gain each time you level. Unfortunately once you hit 20, you're stuck with your skills unless you find skill books or pip boy figurines.

[Nicholas Steel]

Where'd you get $100 from?
It is a bit more then 100$ at EBGames for the collectors edition and about 99$ for the standard version (I live in Australia so it is AUD, not USD).

[Linkus]

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_bugs

I think I'm pretty happy I haven't bought this yet, 100$ for a game filled with tons of bugs? no thanks :/

And yet ZC isn't the same right now?

On a side note:


Raiders spawn inside the stone bridge ramp between Wilhelm's Wharf and The Citadel. Raiders can shoot out from inside the solid walls.

I'm certain that this isn't a bug in this matter, but a bug opposite of it - instead, the game didn't constantly check the distance between the player and the bridge, and kept the face that covers the windows instead of making it invisible when approached. I know this because you can enter from the back and find several things (most notably an intact, undamaged garden gnome) in the Raider outpost.

Although, I'm glad I'm not the only one having performance issues while in the Wastes or while executing VATS actions.

[MottZilla]

Franpa, I played through the game on 360. Only once did I have a glitch. The game froze once. It could have been the 360 though. The only other thing I did notice and was a bit worried about was I "almost" got stuck in some rocks. I managed my way out pretty quick but it was a bit scary. Overall I don't think there are that many glitch problems.

[MasterSwordUltima]

The only problem I've had was someone was trying to escape out a door, and I hit R2 for VATS just as they were fading away, and so they faded away, but the VATS pause-out stayed there, with no body to target, and I couldn't get out.

[ShadowTiger]

Yeah, I'm definitely not playing it without a patch.

Or a video card installed in the computer. :googly: I'm working off of the motherboard graphics card. :p

[MottZilla]

The only problem I've had was someone was trying to escape out a door, and I hit R2 for VATS just as they were fading away, and so they faded away, but the VATS pause-out stayed there, with no body to target, and I couldn't get out.

That reminds me of a glitch I had in Star Wars Force Unleashed. There are button press kill things, like Resident Evil 4 cutscenes. The thing is I used force lightning and killed the enemy but pressed the first button for the action sequence and got frozen, forever, in mid-air.

I know games are complex, but shouldn't these things be obvious things developers check? To have some failsafe devices.

[Linkus]

Yeah, I'm definitely not playing it without a patch.

Or a video card installed in the computer. :googly: I'm working off of the motherboard graphics card. :p
This is what's going in my custom-built desktop from class. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/include/AddCartfromGallery.asp?EdpNo=4111742&csid=ITD&Sku=E145-9504&imgcart=1&imgcounter=5) I didn't order the parts, but I may be switching out the card anyway, to a 8800 GTX or 9800 GTX. I'd suggest the 9500 GT for someone like you - It's inexpensive, and has a performance that is similar to the 8600 GT, which is close to what I have on my laptop (8600M GT), and it can play Fallout 3 well in high settings if it weren't for those FPS drops. Of course, it depends if you can find one that matches your motherboard's clock speed... Otherwise, you're better off with a new computer.

Anyhow, yeah, you need something other than the Intel Chipset Family (insert model number here); that's more for basic primitive and two-dimensional drawing anyways. Who does that anymore? :tongue:

Although, the more I think about it, the Oblivion engine is perhaps just above par with Source - It's the textures, with their layer and particle effects that can make a game use more memory and processing speed. It's the management of this that can prove an engine's efficiency, and I must admit that Source really trumps Oblivion in this matter. But let's keep it to this: Oblivion needs work. It's got potential, but its efficiency definitely needs improvement.

[ShadowTiger]

Aye, thanks; I do actually have an 8600 sitting above the very computer I was referring to: It's just not mine to install and use.


Also, Remember Oldblivion? Well, An OldFallout3 (http://www.oldblivion.com/sm/index.php?topic=5828.msg68957) may soon be in the works. Lets hope for the best.


Also, personally, I'm never one to enjoy the graphics of the game. I absolutely prefer framerates over anything else 100% of the time. The instant I get in-game, whatever it is, I crank it all down to the lowest settings, and only rarely have even considered slowly climbing back up to a level of "modern graphical decency." :p As some would put it, anyway.

[ShadowTiger]

Been playing it a lot lately on my new computer. Got it working Wednesday night, and installed / played it the next night.

I've already accidentally stumbled across a certain garage out in the wasteland, which had a certain <spoiler><spoiler> ... ... so yeah, ... GG Bethesda. I polled a bunch of friends, and the majority of them found it the same way, bypassing much of the major plotline entirely.

Ridiculous.

[Brasel]

My soldier started playing this right before he left for the states. I don't have a computer that will run it here, so I stole Fallout 1 and 2 from him to play until I get back home. I beat 1 already and I'm pretty near the end of the main story in 2. These games are fantastic. I can't wait until I get to play 3.