Tell me of Fallout 3

[Transgirlenstein]

As my friends continue planning their post-apoclyptic larp, I've been looking for interesting post-apoclyptic things.  Can anyone tell me about Fallout 3? (Without ruining the story)

[Jude]

The year is 2277.  200 years ago China and America's war over fuel went nuclear, resulting in the end of the civilized world.  Before the bombs landed many people made it into giant underground vaults scattered throughout the United States where they, and their descendants, lived out their lives safe from the Atomic Bomb's initial and after-effects.  Some people managed to survive on the surface, others left the vault sooner rather than later, and eventually human re-emerged onto the earth and tried to survive in the apocalyptic wasteland left behind by atomic warfare.

There's a few coalitions and armies left behind, the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel for one, but for the most part everything is very local.  Some local governments have managed to emerge, especially via the use of a G.E.C.K. (device for re-establishing civilization).  The west is especially civilized with the New California Republic and Vault City.  Fallout 3 however, is set in the east around Washington D.C. where there's only a few towns that have a local government which doesn't stretch beyond the tiny borders of their dilapidated settlements.

In Fallout 3 you play a character who emerges from a vault 200 years after the apocalypse, who gets involved with a project to better the "capital wasteland."

EDIT:  Other thing worth noting, Fallout 3 is an alternate timeline, not our own.  The exact point of departure remains relatively unknown, but in Fallout 3 the United States culture never surpassed beyond the Red Scare mentality.  Paranoia about communism, 1950s style ads, and war-time propaganda were essentially the norm in the Fallout-Universe United States before the bombing.  They also had a more "family values" oriented culture, it seems.

Science is also different on a fundamental level from our laws of physics; they developed cars with mini-nuclear reactors, plasma/laser weapons like in the old sci-fi movies, mini-nuke launchers that creature mushroom clouds the size of a tree etc.  This manifests itself by mutated creatures of a wide variety in the aftermath of the bombs too.  From gigantic ants to mutant people who look a lot like Frankenstein, and zombie-like things known as ghouls; the post-apocalyptic world is full of freaks.

[consortium11]

It's rubbish.

You'll find a lot of people who love it though, and I accept that fact I'm in a minority.

The game is pretty much a shoot-em-up with the rp elements so streamlined they're nearly non-existant. You'll struggle to find quests where the primary goal isn't achieved by just shooting anything that moves, the morality system has no depth (and rarely makes sense), you have no real choice in your actions (and the choices you do make don't really change the world in a meaningful way). The game is easy (even on the highest difficulty settings) a fact emphasised by the idiotic AI.

And the plot and internal consistancy of the game? Horrific. Truly horrific. Like, honestly one of the worst I've ever played/read/seen.

There's the odd good quest, the game can e pretty and wandering around the Wasteland is quite good fun, but overall the game is an absolute fail.

[Avi]

*points up To Kwanzaa*  What he said is the basic setting. :) 

The aesthetic and visual style of the game series is as if social and cultural norms had stopped with the mid to late 1950s, but technology had gone to the far-reaches of what was considered possible during the "Nuclear Golden Age", with much of the "old" technology looking like it came out of a science fiction comic from the period.  There are nuclear-powered automobiles (literally, if you shoot them , and they start burning, RUN!), rusting in the deserted, bombed-out streets of what used to be the area in and around Washington D.C.  Radiation poisoning and stuff like that doesn't really happen, with radiation exposure sticking to science-fiction rules and instead resulting in horrific mutations like the Centaurs and the Ghouls (humans exposed to radiation over a long period of time, resulted in slowly-decaying bodies, numbness, and extended lifespan: See image below). 

"Sci-fi" weapons like laser rifles and pistols are available, but they're bulky and cumbersome, like the tech had not downsized as it has in our timeline.  The Fallout timeline diverged from ours in a number of ways, beginning around the year 1960 or so.  For a complete timeline, see here (stop reading at about 2077 to avoid Fallout 3 spoilers):
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline


Mr Crowley, a resident of the Ghoul settlement, Underworld, found in the ruins of the old Museum of American Natural History.

[Jude]

Everything Consortium11 said is true from the perspective of a hardcore Fallout 1 & 2 fan who's moved on to Fallout 3 and doesn't like the shift in style.

I have to respectfully disagree though.  I loved Fallout 1 & 2, they were very difficult games with stellar stories.  I still think this game has a stellar story, it just has a bit of a different feel to it.  Fallout 3 is full of black humor, interesting scenarios, and a gigantic wasteland that's fun to explore.  Some people hate the survival aspect and how your equipment degrades by use, constantly foraging for supplies, and all of that, I love it.

It was Game of the Year last year, so obviously it's not actually rubbish on an objective level, it's just not for all hardcore Fallout 1 & 2 fans.

I don't think it's fair to compare it to an FPS honestly, VATs is the cornerstone of the game and the gunplay in Fallout 3 is truly sad compared to modern FPS gunplay.  I do almost NO real time shooting.

[consortium11]

Everything Consortium11 said is true from the perspective of a hardcore Fallout 1 & 2 fan who's moved on to Fallout 3 and doesn't like the shift in style.

I have to respectfully disagree though.  I loved Fallout 1 & 2, they were very difficult games with stellar stories.  I still think this game has a stellar story, it just has a bit of a different feel to it.  Fallout 3 is full of black humor, interesting scenarios, and a gigantic wasteland that's fun to explore.  Some people hate the survival aspect and how your equipment degrades by use, constantly foraging for supplies, and all of that, I love it.

It was Game of the Year last year, so obviously it's not actually rubbish on an objective level, it's just not for all hardcore Fallout 1 & 2 fans.

I don't think it's fair to compare it to an FPS honestly, VATs is the cornerstone of the game and the gunplay in Fallout 3 is truly sad compared to modern FPS gunplay.  I do almost NO real time shooting.

I'm far from a hardcore Fallout 1 + 2 fan, although there's no doubt I prefer both of them to Fallout 3. It's not the change of style though... hell, I liked Oblivion (even with all its flaws) far more than Fallout 3. I also like the survival aspect... as I mentioned it's one of the few highlights of the game.

I generally refuse to use VATS due to how easy it makes the game. You take 10% damage in VATS, meaning that it's nearly impossible to die if you use it well. That's without the fact it makes you a roving sentry turret so it's nearly impossile for enemies to sneak up on you, the way it nerfs certain weapons and the fact that shooting someone with a pistol in the leg can easily lead to their whole body exploding and them being left a limbless torso.

I'm not sure how anyone can call the plot steller. It has plot holes you could drive a truck through and in gameplay terms absolutely railroads you. Nothing makes any sense and it seems half of it was them just popular things from Fallout 1+2 shoehorned in for fan service.

[Cold Heritage]

I'm not sure how anyone can call the plot steller. It has plot holes you could drive a truck through and in gameplay terms absolutely railroads you. Nothing makes any sense and it seems half of it was them just popular things from Fallout 1+2 shoehorned in for fan service.

Funny how you can say the same about Fallout 1 and 2.

[consortium11]

Funny how you can say the same about Fallout 1 and 2.

Oh agreed, but neither game threw those plotholes and lack of consistancy in my face the way Fallout 3 does.

[Sabby]

I found Fallout 3's plot to be a lot better. I'm sure theres flaws, but I'm not the best at finding them :P

Fallout 1.

"Our vaults broken... go get us a new part. What? Really? Mutants? Hmmm... they sound like they could be a threat... go destroy their base! No, serious, do it >.>"

many weeks later.

"Your a hero! Now get out. Kids are too impressionable >.>"

[consortium11]

I found Fallout 3's plot to be a lot better. I'm sure theres flaws, but I'm not the best at finding them :P

Fallout 1.

"Our vaults broken... go get us a new part. What? Really? Mutants? Hmmm... they sound like they could be a threat... go destroy their base! No, serious, do it >.>"

many weeks later.

"Your a hero! Now get out. Kids are too impressionable >.>"

It's hard to point out the massive plot holes without spoiling the plot... so instead I'll list a few of the internal inconsistancies that aren't plot breaking spoilers:

1) In a world without power not only does every computer in every shack in the middle of the Wasteland have power... but DC has enough power for the metro lights and sewer lights (and doors) to work. Plumbing also seems to work remarkaly well...

2) As Kwanzaa mentions cars have been developed which run on nuclear power. Yet there are still gas stations dotting the Wasteland at least one of which is actually entitled "Gas"...

3) All food is radiated... yet the population of the Capital Wasteland seem immune to its effects.

4) Robots can wander around the Wasteland for 200+ years without refueling, repairs or reloading...

5) Underground rivers with virtually no contact with the radiation are highly radiated 200 years later...

The worst plot holes are spoilers so I can't really post... but think about what your ultimate quest is... and think about why it is virtually pointless...

[Brandon]

I didn't play fallout 1 or 2 so from someone that's played just Fallout 3, I liked it. I agree that some things are oddly placed and that the 200 years since the disaster seems like a long time before power would start to fade or the wasteland would start to experience a big bullet shortage but the games still very immerse and has some interesting themes. Oh and another thing that I always rag the game on is when I travel through the subways with mountains of debris but yet you look up to see a completly pristine ceiling.

The 1920's tone combined with some futuristic backing made a unique setting that hasn't been done to death in any recent media and hasn't yet overstayed its welcome (for me at least). There are a variety of groups in fallout 3 that make the game interesting. You have common gangs (called Raiders), Super mutants (mutated sterile humans who steal people away to turn them into more of their kind), the brotherhood of steel (A military group that are remnants of the US military and focused on fighting the Super mutants and recovering lost technology), Brotherhood outcasts (Basicly brotherhood members that thought the real brotherhood had forgotten its mission of recovering lost tech), Talon company (pretty much an evil group of mercanaries), Slavers, and Im sure Im forgetting some.

Despite its many flaws, including the poor plot and overlooks for power, water, food, etc, etc, etc I like the game a lot.

[Avi]

It's hard to point out the massive plot holes without spoiling the plot... so instead I'll list a few of the internal inconsistancies that aren't plot breaking spoilers:

1) In a world without power not only does every computer in every shack in the middle of the Wasteland have power... but DC has enough power for the metro lights and sewer lights (and doors) to work. Plumbing also seems to work remarkaly well...

2) As Kwanzaa mentions cars have been developed which run on nuclear power. Yet there are still gas stations dotting the Wasteland at least one of which is actually entitled "Gas"...

3) All food is radiated... yet the population of the Capital Wasteland seem immune to its effects.

4) Robots can wander around the Wasteland for 200+ years without refueling, repairs or reloading...

5) Underground rivers with virtually no contact with the radiation are highly radiated 200 years later...

The worst plot holes are spoilers so I can't really post... but think about what your ultimate quest is... and think about why it is virtually pointless...

The creators of the game openly admitted that, in terms of real-world science and nature, the game is ludicrous.  As I stated above, it's a science-fiction game, with a lot of the basic principles harkening back to the 50s and their brand of space/future fantasy.  If you keep in mind that it is a fantasy world, and that it's fiction, I find it easier to forgive plot holes, sit back, and just enjoy the atmosphere.  Believe me... nothing's more atmospheric (and slightly ironic) as hearing "America the Beautiful" start up on your radio as you come over the crest of a hill and look upon the bombed-out remains of D.C. for the first time.

[consortium11]

The creators of the game openly admitted that, in terms of real-world science and nature, the game is ludicrous.  As I stated above, it's a science-fiction game, with a lot of the basic principles harkening back to the 50s and their brand of space/future fantasy.  If you keep in mind that it is a fantasy world, and that it's fiction, I find it easier to forgive plot holes, sit back, and just enjoy the atmosphere.  Believe me... nothing's more atmospheric (and slightly ironic) as hearing "America the Beautiful" start up on your radio as you come over the crest of a hill and look upon the bombed-out remains of D.C. for the first time.

It's not the real world science issues... in that case there'd e far more issues with the amount of uildings standing, the lack of craters etc etc. As I understand it Fallout has always seen the future from a 1950's point of view and I accept and enjoy that.

ut the 1950's viewpoint doesn't change the fact that none of the settlements seem to have an in any way viale economy, why no-one else seems to e affected y radiation, why supermutants can drag humans through the main door to a vault without any harm to the human yet when you try to go there the radiation is fatal, why my gun deteriorates in seconds yet those roots can rock round for centuries without repairs and a whole unch of other stuff that would e spoilers.

I'm not mad it doesn't follow Fallout 2 canon... I'm not mad at the setting or anything. All I expect the game to do is to be logical within itself. Set up the most crazy world in the universe... ut set the rules and follow them. Fallout 3 doesn't.

I think one of my over-arching issues with F3 is pretty much what you said at the end; it's style over sustance. There's no weight behind it. Normally I can ignore the odd plot hole and keep going... but F3 has so many holes that I just can't look past them. Hell, the entire plot is a massive hole... I just couldn't escape that.

[Brandon]

The reason why I dont rag on Fallout as much as say Modern warfare 2 is because its not trying to sell itself as a realistic game. It sells itself as fiction from the get go so knowing its fiction and not trying to tell some lie I enjoy it for what it is

[Lyseni]

I actually adore Fallout 3. I don't care for debating something like a video game because you're either going to like it or not. >_> It's not something you can be right or wrong about.

I would look up some gameplay videos on Youtube or something and see if it looks fun to you. Decide if you want to try it or not based on that.