Fallout 3 Thread

[drew]

so im home sick as a dog and playing this right. so. awesome.

fallout 3 redeemed. could this be better than Oblivion?!

[TakingBackSunday]

It is.  Like three times better

[drew]

how many big cities are there?

im at rivet city now and it blows away megaton

[TakingBackSunday]

Big Cities?  Well, I mean there's a boatload of small communities scattered around, but Rivet City, Megaton, and Tennpenny is about the largest you're going to get.

oh yeah and the Citadel and the Enclave base.

[drew]

i shouldnt have asked

oblivion had like 7-10 big cities

[TakingBackSunday]

Well I'm just saying there aren't any as HUGE as Rivet City or Megaton

also its fucking post-nuclear DC, what do you expect 

[demi]

oblivion had like 7-10 big cities

all of which are, you know, fluff and not worth exploring

[drew]

eh

ran into a bunch of bugs in this game so far

opening doors in rivet city in 3rd person got me stuck inside the door and behind me was just a light blue sky backdrop

i picked up this blonde from the whorehouse to run away to rivet city w/me, along the way i blew the head off a trader and ganked his phat lootz, 5 minutes later i looked back and she was gone, even backtracked a ways no dice

i fixed the freaking leaking pipes in Megaton and the water guy evidently (via wikia) slipped in between geometry and fell off the face of the earth.  its also possible that he or anyone else living in that shitdivot could at any time fall to their death.  wow.

[TakingBackSunday]

I don't get it, I haven't had ANY issues with the game other than lagged walking.

[BlueTsunami]

I'm in the heart of DC and omfg its a Warzone people :'( . All that just to get to Vault Tech, shit was crazy. I'm also fucking shit up with Hand Grenades. I took out 4 Mercs with 2 grenades.

[tiesto]

I was playing this last night, after having a bit of frustration I actually managed to level up a bit, and do a few quests... met up with Three Dog and now I have to find the Lunar Lander (the game gets points in my book for featuring that!), did the quest with the vampires in the metro station, disarmed the bomb and got my own house. Also found another vault filled with insane survivors, and a bobblehead there. Now I'm saving up for my own infirmary.

Some comments and questions:

-I kinda cheated a bit and looked at a FAQ online, noticed there were only something like 30 quests (and I assume, 1 achievement per quest)... will probably do these, get the bobblehead achievement, and the 100 areas achievement. Can you get all the quests on the first run through the game, I know obviously you won't be able to get the level 8/14/20 good/neutral/evil achievements all on one run. I'm playing it pretty straight so far, though I'll occasionally loot and try my hand at hacking.

-What are some of the best combat strategies? I'm working on building up melee and small guns (I like the Assault Rifle so far). What I do is I'll go into VATS mode, get off a few hits, then just constantly shoot at them/melee at them and run away while my AP recharges, where I go into VATS again.

-How the hell does lockpicking work?

-If you fail in hacking a terminal, picking the lock on a box, or picking the lock on a door, are you ever able to retry or are you fucked for good?

-I'm on level 5, about to hit level 6. What are some recommended perks and skill distributions? I assume you should minmax and specialize, not try to make a general character.

-Not a fan of the dungeons, the localmap is confusing as hell, and everything in the dungeons tends to look the same, which makes navigation annoying.

-Drewsy: I had the game crash on me once so far during a loading screen. But I think my 360 drive sucks and this has happened on a number of other games. I have to fix the leaking pipes around Megaton as well.

Overall, I'm starting to get into this game, and I definitely like it MUCH more than Bioware's stuff.

[Eel O'Brian]

always back out and retry on the locks and terminals

you always have to find the sweet spot when lockpicking, easy locks almost always have the sweet spot on the right hand side near the top of the key slot

[drew]

can someone who has the collectors edition lunchbox confirm if these are really the making of dvd



thats part 1 of 4, ill put the rest in spoilers

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

edit: nvm

[demi]

-I kinda cheated a bit and looked at a FAQ online, noticed there were only something like 30 quests (and I assume, 1 achievement per quest)... will probably do these, get the bobblehead achievement, and the 100 areas achievement. Can you get all the quests on the first run through the game, I know obviously you won't be able to get the level 8/14/20 good/neutral/evil achievements all on one run. I'm playing it pretty straight so far, though I'll occasionally loot and try my hand at hacking.

Yes you can get all the quests in one run. It is possible to miss quests, though. Example, don't blow up Megaton until you finish the Wasteland Guide / Blood Ties. Don't kill the people at Paradise Falls, etc.

As for the level acheivements, just make a new game and do the EXP glitch at Big Town / Andale, then save before reaching X level at X karma. Didn't take me long at all.

-What are some of the best combat strategies? I'm working on building up melee and small guns (I like the Assault Rifle so far). What I do is I'll go into VATS mode, get off a few hits, then just constantly shoot at them/melee at them and run away while my AP recharges, where I go into VATS again.

VATS is pretty much it. If you get a Sniper Rifle, sneak and shoot, for critical hits and usually one hit kills.

-How the hell does lockpicking work?

Move the pick in a circular motion, then try to pick. If it vibrates, stop immediately, cause that's not correct. The farther it goes up/down, the closer you are to picking it. Tweak your pick incrementally and hope you pick it. The sweet spot gets smaller as the difficulty increases.

-If you fail in hacking a terminal, picking the lock on a box, or picking the lock on a door, are you ever able to retry or are you fucked for good?

You can retry picking a lock if you got bobby pins. If you try to FORCE a lock and FAIL, then the lock is broken. Hacking terminals is different, if you fail 3 times, the box is locked and you can't try again. However, before you waste your last hacking attempt, back out and try again, it will refresh your tries. You can get perks that allow you to pick/hack broken things, but neither should be a problem in the first place.

-I'm on level 5, about to hit level 6. What are some recommended perks and skill distributions? I assume you should minmax and specialize, not try to make a general character.

Medicine because you will be downing health packs like chips. Small guns. Hacking.

[Solo]

so im home sick as a dog and playing this right. so. awesome.

fallout 3 redeemed. could this be better than Oblivion?!

Oblivion sucked dick (piece of shit that wasnt even worth playing until the mod community god to work on it), Fallout 3 does not (it actually is pretty awesome). So yes, its much better.

Example, don't blow up Megaton until you finish the Wasteland Guide / Blood Ties.

Not true with Blood Ties. I killed Lucy West, and blew up Megaton, because I had given up on the quest (couldnt find her brother). Eventually I found where he was, sent him back to Arefu, and completed the quest. Its the dude from Arefu you need to talk to in order to finish the quest, and not Lucy in Megaton.

[demi]

You also shouldnt blow up Megaton until you get the Bobblehead from the sherrif's office.

[drew]

tomato tomahto etc etc

oblivion def isnt for everyone, but when iwas a kid i went through this phase with my best friend where we'd read 1000 page long fucking awesome knight fantasy shit and watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail and make wooden swords n shit

if i could go back in time and show the young me oblivion id spray the walls with jizzum (not really. my balls were the size of marbles at the time)

edit:  also imo oblivion is the better wrpg, fallout 3 is the better "game" if that makes any sense

the best thing about the elder scrolls is the raw manbeard levels of rpg shtuff like magic, enchanting, etc etc

i also like how your stats progress in real-time. jump around the overworld and your agility will raise

[tiesto]

Thanks, demi, some really helpful advice. 

I actually disarmed the bomb in Megaton.

[pilonv1]

yeah me too. but before that i went and told the sheriff of the dude wanting to blow it up so he killed the sheriff. then i went in his house and took the bobblehead

did anyone kill the vampires? apparently they have some sweet gear

im going to do the giant ant quest today then get to rivet city for that +1 skill bobblehead

[siamesedreamer]

There gonna be new achievements with the dlc?

[TakingBackSunday]

I would assume so.

Oh and Fallout 3 > Morrowind > Oblivion

of what I've played

[demi]

There gonna be new achievements with the dlc?

Definitely so

[Eel O'Brian]

morrowind is only good on the pc, after the community fixed all the bullshit

on xbox you could never find anything and you were stuck getting repeatedly fucked up by those cliff rider things

so for me fallout>oblivion>morrowind

[Himu]

How do I stop these Talon Merc fegs from coming after me? I went to their hideout on accident, killed a bunch of them and their commander. Hopefully they don't mess with me anymore?

[Eel O'Brian]

you don't

you're good, there's a hit on you, it won't go away

if you're evil the regulators come after you

just kill them and sell their gear, they're really easy to take out at higher levels

[BlueTsunami]

Yeah and its a nearly constant source of Laser Rifles

[Himu]

laser rifles are meh. Small guns and automatic rifles all the way. Oh, and combat shotgun.

ps: goty.

currently level 13.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

So, someone want to explain Tranquility Lane to me? Pretty sure I did it wrong.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I made the boy cry, then I started wandering around. I ended up in the abandoned house, and solved the puzzle that activated the fail safe on my own. Next thin I know Chinese people killed everyone, I could leave, and my dad was there. I'm guessing I skipped some stuff that would explain what just happened.

[close]

[pilonv1]

fuck me those fire ants were making me waste my stimpaks. need more medicine i think

now I want to get to rivet city before finding the lunar lander, but it looks like a long trek

[Himu]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

there's a terminal that goes over the details if you go into the abandoned house. the fail safe was created in case the guy wanted to be alone but he has prolonged using it because he doesn't want to be alone. the vault-tec people and himself created the fail safe, iirc, so he could be alone or whatever. I don't remember the details.

[close]

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Meh. Whatever. I got dad. Yay me.

[Himu]

yeah, that bastard.

you're at the same place i am in the main story. apparently that's half way through the story

[pilonv1]

wow hubris comics

[Darunia]

for the speech challenge achievement, just do the big town speech exploit. it's useful for that, but also for getting all the karma achievements in one playthrough

[Positive Touch]

about how many points do you guys get to boost skills when you level up?

[Kestastrophe]

17 skill points, unless you get the perk that increases that number to 19 or 20 (I think). Also, there's a perk that gives you one skill point for every book that you find

[TakingBackSunday]

17 skill points, unless you get the perk that increases that number to 19 or 20 (I think). Also, there's a perk that gives you one skill point for every book that you find

I believe it's 2, not one.

[Great Rumbler]

wow hubris comics

Make sure you play the text adventure game hidden on one of the terminals.

[tiesto]

God, I just emerged from the metro station into the Mall, those super mutant brutes there... ugh, killed me like 20 times, before I ran away. Now I'm inside the museum, finally...

I switch between Assault Rifle and Combat Shotgun for my weapons. I am fairly annoyed with the combat, seems the enemies can hit you so much easier than you can hit them. Are there any skills/upgrades I can do to improve my aim? Or is going for the head each and every time a bad idea?

[Eel O'Brian]

go for the gun or the gun arm, it'll knock the weapon out of their hands and give you some free shots while they switch weapons or pick it back up

if something's closing in on you fast (like a deathclaw), aim for the legs to cripple and slow them down

[BlueTsunami]

I wish I could record what it looks like when a Deathclaw is charging you while your throwing Grenades at it via VATS. Its so fucking epic.

God, I just emerged from the metro station into the Mall, those super mutant brutes there... ugh, killed me like 20 times, before I ran away. Now I'm inside the museum, finally...

I switch between Assault Rifle and Combat Shotgun for my weapons. I am fairly annoyed with the combat, seems the enemies can hit you so much easier than you can hit them. Are there any skills/upgrades I can do to improve my aim? Or is going for the head each and every time a bad idea?

Upgrading skills to a specific group of weapons will help immensely (from the guns your using, Small Arms is the right choice). Also, if your talking about accuracy Realtime (not VATS) then there's something like the Hunters Rifle/Snipers rifle will be more accurate.

[Great Rumbler]

I shoot all the distinguished effete fellows in the head yo. Bam bam.

It's awesome, Kosma. Way better than Mass Effect... and different.

Amazing game by Bethesda.

SHITS ALL OVER SHITTY OBLIVION

Yeah I REALLY didnt like Oblivion, this is ace. Better then ME? Could be.

When I started playing, I remember thinking to myself "Wow, the guy playing the voice of James sure sounds a lot like Liam Neeson." I had no idea that it actually is Liam Neeson. Awesome.

Cool, although I dunno who James is yet.

James is your character's dad.

[Kestastrophe]

Ugggh


I can't figure this one out. There is not a single word on the screen that does not include a c, i, r, or e or some combination thereof.

[Eel O'Brian]

just keep backing out and retrying, eventually you'll get it

[Human Snorenado]

17 skill points, unless you get the perk that increases that number to 19 or 20 (I think). Also, there's a perk that gives you one skill point for every book that you find

I believe it's 2, not one.

Skill points per level = intelligence + 10 I believe.  So it varies.  And you get 2 points for the books when you have the perk, yah.

[Kestastrophe]

just keep backing out and retrying, eventually you'll get it

That's what I keep doing, but this one dumbfounded me because there doesn't seem to be a word on screen that satisfies those conditions.

^TCC, you are correct sir. Skill points do in fact depend on your level of intelligence.

[Joe Molotov]

I never even tried to work them out, I just picked three at random, backed out, picked three more, repeat. It never took me more than a minute or two at most.

[Kestastrophe]

Does the sequence of the letters matter, or is it just letters and letter frequency?

[Joe Molotov]

The letter has to be in the right position before it's counted as correct.

[BlueTsunami]

I personally just pay attention to whether the words have a string of end letters in common (-ing -en -ers -ies). If the number of correct letters doesn't match these common strings, then it excludes all the other words with them. Then I choose the others.

[Eel O'Brian]

how many have you gotten on the first guess?

i think i got around five on my first playthrough

[Kestastrophe]

Alright, I've started to get the hang of it now. I beat the game once, but really ignored data terminals and science altogether. I always thought that it just depended on what letters and their frequency. Now that I know that it depends on the place of the letters in the word it is much easier :themoreyouknow

[trh]

Ugggh
(Image removed from quote.)

I can't figure this one out. There is not a single word on the screen that does not include a c, i, r, or e or some combination thereof.

Seems you have not fully grasped how it works, it only counts if the letter is at the same position in the words. So in other words it's like this:

Code: [Select]

CONSIDERS
    v   v
AMERICANS
meaning that's a 2/9 word

So the possible ones would be:
CAPTURING
SURVIVING
CARPETING
STERILIZE



Edit: god dammit don't figure it out while I'm typing, you butt.

Edit2: ok that was not while I was typing. I just missed yer last post.

[pilonv1]

wow hubris comics

Make sure you play the text adventure game hidden on one of the terminals.

FUCK I missed that. which terminal was it? i presume its the one in the room with all the desks and the hole in the floor?

[tiesto]

Currently LV 8, installed the radar dish, off to Rivet City now... haven't been there yet and maybe I can finally do something about that robot needing surgery that I still have no idea wtf its about quest. Actually I'm at the minefield town now, how do I get a mine for the lady who speaks like Sarah Palin ("Wasteland Survival Guide" quest). It's so easy to get sidetracked in this, I discovered an abandoned police station, freed a prisoner, escorted her and her friend back to town and got an achievement.

The "main quest" so far is pretty boring, story-wise, I'm hoping it improves. There's some cool ideas in this, I think the game should have done more with the overseer of Vault 101 going insane. I'm also hoping the game answers some questions, like who bombed the US and why?

[pilonv1]

Actually I'm at the minefield town now, how do I get a mine for the lady who speaks like Sarah Palin ("Wasteland Survival Guide" quest).

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have a mine in my inventory when I accepted that quest and I tried to give it to her but she said "no way you're here too quick". So I went somewhere else and did a quest, came back and tried to give her the mine. I rattled off some awesome story about how hard it was to get the mine and she was really impressed . You might need a certain level of speech though.

[close]

This game is so awesome.

[drew]

speech

[pilonv1]

speech

yep. it's fucking awesome. they're really good options too, I always chose Speech. Also having extra options for Intelligence and Science is great.

[demi]

I'm also hoping the game answers some questions, like who bombed the US and why?

The WORLD (not just the US) was nuked since Fallout 1... basically the world freaked out and nuked each other. Not much to go on. It's not Final Fantasy or anything.

[Joe Molotov]

They were involved. Russia, China, or the US twitched first, and then it was MAD.