Fallout 3

[Pop]

I agree, certainly. There's very little in the way of "dead weight" when it comes to exploration in Fallout 3, there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of little "vignettes" scattered around the map, like the prewar house with two skeletons entwined on a bed with drugs around it, or the bomb shelter with meticulous junk statues and plungers stuck to the walls. It's a shame they punish the players by making them hit level 20 by the time they've explored barely 10% of it all (there are mods already out that address this, with the PC version anyway)

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Google Maps + Fallout 3 = Wasteland guide for lost Valutdwellers.

[~Di]

I hadn't realized that scorpions were that widespread in the US. I checked wikipedia and your statement appears to be slightly misleading. Scorpions are only found in 31 of 50 US states. Maryland does in fact happen to be one. I wonder if Bethesda knew this or if they just got lucky.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion

 

 

edit: I hasten to add that 31 of 50 is way more than I thought. I had thought them to be restricted to the desert SW/Texas of the US.

 

I live in the foothills, about 2000 feet up, amongst trees and all manner of flora. Scorpions were a staple inside our home for years (until we gave up and contacted Ugly Bug Incorporated to give the perimeter a monthly spray). We had the small ones, about an inch long... but if one of 'em got you, you'd sure know it. They are incredibly persistent creatures. For some reason, they took pleasure in skittering up toward the ceiling, then staring at us with a smug look, as if issuing a dare. Fortunately, flyswatters are avid dare-busters. Still, every time you opened a cupboard or reached into a drawer you had to keep your eyes peeled. And we got used to shaking out our shoes, too. It was almost like living in the Amazon!

 

Scorpions may not be everywhere, but that's not for lack of trying. Extremely prolific critters. Anyway, everytime I have to battle one the size of a buick in Fallout 3, I get an extra "ick" factor because I've battled the danged things for so long in real life. *shudder*

Edited November 18, 2008 by ~Di

[Gorgon]

I just get spiders, by the pound apparently, they come from the attic above my apartment. The really big fat ones I evict, the rest I am very Buddhist about, although my sister's dog likes to hunt them and eat them.

[Gfted1]

I hate scorpions. They freak me out and every one Ive ever seen has ended in a pulpy mess. Im cool with spider and will let them freely roam as long as they dont come below eye level. I call that my "eye level rule". Clever huh?

[Aristes]

If we're going by realism, then Fallout 1 and 2 were completely unrealistic also. Something that struck me in Fallout 3, however, is that the brotherhood of steel were such slobs. I'm telling you, the first thing any military operation is going to after they've secured their base of operations is get some of the grunts on cleanup duty. Rivet City is another example. Once it became a permanent residence, they'd clean the damned place. Sure, some folks would have filthy rooms, but the hallways and common areas would be clean of debris. I think Fallout 2 did this best, where the Republic of California was pretty much spotless.

 

I think Fallout 3 bought into the "junktown" idea and forgot about how sterile some of the areas in the earlier games felt.

 

Plus, if we're totally honest, if humans survived to the extent they did in the Fallout gameworld, then society would have moved a lot further towards cohesion.

 

No biggie. It's fun to make these points, kind of like nitpicking a movie, but these picayune details, like radscorpions and clean military barracks, really don't detract very much from my experience.

[Gorgon]

I watched Mad Max 2 and 3 last night, and the sheer number of references I was able to pick up surprised me.

 

The male leather armor skin : Exact copy of Max's armor.

 

The raider boss from Mad Max 2 wears a hockey mask, uses a scoped .45 magnum, the prestige handgun of the 3 available in the game.

 

The raider mohawks and piecemeal armor are very similar.

 

Max is called a 'wastelander' by the small community he encounters.

 

The major of Little Lamplight looks exactly like one of the kids from Mad Max 3, down to the colonial helmet.

 

It's only missing the tribals from fallout 2, which were also in Mad Max 3.

 

I'm betting they forced the devs to watch all the films. I kinda miss a vehicle section, or a thunderdome in the game to top it off.

just putting together a working bike, or buggy could have been an interesting quest. Also, one of those fancy high tech bows with a pulley mechanism to support the draw would have been a very cool fallout 3 weapon.

Edited November 18, 2008 by Gorgon

[Maria Caliban]

I hadn't realized that scorpions were that widespread in the US. I checked wikipedia and your statement appears to be slightly misleading. Scorpions are only found in 31 of 50 US states. Maryland does in fact happen to be one. I wonder if Bethesda knew this or if they just got lucky.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion

 

 

edit: I hasten to add that 31 of 50 is way more than I thought. I had thought them to be restricted to the desert SW/Texas of the US.

 

How was I misleading? I didn't say they were in all 50 states. I said they were 'all over' and listed various climates. They don't like to go further north because they dislike the cold.

[Aristes]

You were misleading because scorpions are only in 3/5 of the US. How dare you. Furthermore, Bethesda didn't conduct any radscorpion research. They're just lucky that scorpions exist in Maryland. otherwise, they'd have SOOOO much egg on their face. hahaha

 

Seriously, though, even if scorpions only existed in the western US, Bethesda would have felt compelled to put them in the game. The numbers of folks who attack the game based on the "lack of realism" associated with east coast radscorpions is probabably pretty small when compared with the folks who would complain because they were lacking in Fallout 3.

[Slowtrain]

You were misleading because scorpions are only in 3/5 of the US. How dare you. Furthermore, Bethesda didn't conduct any radscorpion research. They're just lucky that scorpions exist in Maryland. otherwise, they'd have SOOOO much egg on their face. hahaha

 

 

Are you being unduly antagonistic? I can't tell. If you are, let me know and I will be happy to antag right back. Otherwise, peace.

 

 

@mc: Only misleading in the sense that your post gave the impression that scorpions can live anywhere it isn't cold all the time. Which would have been most of the US. I wasn't being critical in any way. Your post just made me curious as to how widespread scorpions were in the US. SO I looked it up.

[Aristes]

Yeah, I guess I was being antagonistic. I don't know what it is. This discussion seems to bring out the bad boy in me. Ah, hell, I don't want any more bad blood over it. I tell you what though, you can help my karma by antagonizing me and I won't respond. Next time, it's my turn.

 

Seriously, I honestly think they pretty much had to have radscorpions because it's one of the things Fallout must have. I hate them because there's not a lot of profit in killing them. Although I guess you could make a factory for those darts. *shrug*

[Whipporwill]

I don't see why anyone should think radscorpions wouldn't spread. They can move and apparently breed. They're big, hard to kill, and likely at the top of the food chain. I'd be shocked if they weren't in South America by now.

[Slowtrain]

Yeah, I guess I was being antagonistic. I don't know what it is. This discussion seems to bring out the bad boy in me. Ah, hell, I don't want any more bad blood over it. I tell you what though, you can help my karma by antagonizing me and I won't respond. Next time, it's my turn.

 

Seriously, I honestly think they pretty much had to have radscorpions because it's one of the things Fallout must have. I hate them because there's not a lot of profit in killing them. Although I guess you could make a factory for those darts. *shrug*

 

 

I have no problems with Fallout 3 having radscorpons or radelephants or radsalmon or whatever. Stuff like that doesn't bother me. Its a game. They can put in whatever they want. MC's post merely piqued my curiosity of how widepsread scorpions actually are in the US. My post was not intended in any way to be an attack on Fallout 3 or Bethesda or game design in general. WHich was why your post seemed a little aggressive to me, since I really wasn't intending to be attacking anyone. Thank you for your clarification.

[Aristes]

At one point, I think some of the folks at BIS were talking about having Fallout games set in various parts of the world. I think different animals would almost certainly have come into play. Bethesda, in a lot of ways, really seemed to go too far to accomodate familiarity. Radscorpions, ghouls, Molerats? These things were staples in Fallout 1/2 and I think they just wanted to play it conservative by providing the things most recognizable to the fans. The Yao Whatzits seem to be the exception, although there might be more that have escaped my mind.

 

Of all the old school stuff, Bethesda did the best job with Deathclaws, providing at least two areas with a lot of exposure. Deathclaws can be a real bitch in pairs, but they aren't so bad one on one. Having to make sure you don't draw multiples of them can make for intense gameplay. Frankly, I think the Deathclaws are tougher opponents than the end game foes on the main story path.

[LoneWolf16]

The game's quite excellent, old school fans confuse the hell out of the rational part of my brain, and ghouls creep me out to an almost unbearable extent (Subways are a "No Go" zone as far as I'm concerned, unless mandated by a quest to get to a certain part of D.C. proper).

 

That was really all I had to add there, since just about everything I had to say was brought up during the course of...well, entirely too many pages.

 

I'm loving it.

[Amentep]

I have no problems with Fallout 3 having radscorpons or radelephants or radsalmon or whatever. Stuff like that doesn't bother me. Its a game. They can put in whatever they want. MC's post merely piqued my curiosity of how widepsread scorpions actually are in the US. My post was not intended in any way to be an attack on Fallout 3 or Bethesda or game design in general. WHich was why your post seemed a little aggressive to me, since I really wasn't intending to be attacking anyone. Thank you for your clarification.

 

Man...now I want radsalmon in my game.

[Dark_Raven]

Took on the deathclaws in their lair and got the

Endurance bibblehead.

I just used sneak the entire time I was in there and sniped them off in VATS with my laser rifle. Not a one ever touched me. They're not so mighty after all.

[mkreku]

Took on the deathclaws in their lair and got the

Endurance bibblehead.

I just used sneak the entire time I was in there and sniped them off in VATS with my laser rifle. Not a one ever touched me. They're not so mighty after all.

Since I found all the SPECIAL bobbleheads in my first playthrough, I thought I'd collect them rather early in my second playthrough. Trust me, when you get to the Deathclaw lair at level 5 equipped with a 10 mm pistol and little ammo, THEY ARE MIGHTY. I think I spent an hour watching various slow motion scenes of me being spluttered all over the walls before I gave up. I will have my revenge.. in 10 or so levels..

[Aristes]

Yeah, sneak is overpowered. One shot kills a lot of the time. Plus, you can really use the environment to your advantage. It's not like WoW or something where the monster evades if you get to a place they can't reach. I've either sneak/sniped tons of baddies or hopped back and forth over small barriers shooting bad guys right and left.

[Volourn]

http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=47347

[Arkan]

Huzzah! I finally collected all the bobbleheads (needed help with a couple of them)!!

 

Here is me admiring them in all their glory!

 

 

[crakkie]

If you take that as a response to Volo's post it's really funny.

[Maria Caliban]

http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=47347

 

I hate it when a review contains major spoilers but doesn't bother to post a warning at the top.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=47347

 

I hate it when a review contains major spoilers but doesn't bother to post a warning at the top.

 

From what I read at the beginning, there were no major spoilers in there, at least for people who have followed the game's development for a while. He does warn of spoilers on another page, though, when talking of certain quests.

[newc0253]

that review had at least one eye-brow raising bit:

 

To be fair, some things Bethesda did are brilliant and atmospheric

'to be fair'?

 

NMA?

 

fair?

 

that review was exactly what anyone would expect from the NMA-crowd. an utterly knee-jerk (but nonetheless highly detailed) rant against Bethesda's choices, e.g. VATS is 'horribly conceived', exploration is strangely 'crippled' despite being 'wide-open' (why? because you level up too fast),

 

the basic problem with that review is the basic problem of every die-hard fanboy rant against Fallout 3: they can't seperate the wood from the frakking trees & perfectly sensible criticisms that can be levelled against the game (and there are many) get lost in the vitriol against anything and everything.

 

for instance, the criticism he makes about the

Dunwich building quest

is perfectly sound: like several locations in the game, it would have been better if there were more story to it, a dialogue path as an alternative to killing everything, or an interesting perk for solving it.

 

to cap it all off, the rant ends with a suprising concession to Bethesda making Fallout 4:

 

The most important feature of the game is the promise of great things to come from Bethesda in the future, so let

Edited November 19, 2008 by newc0253