Fallout 3: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love RPGs

[DrStrangelove]

Fallout 3: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love RPGs

Fallout 3 is more than just a game, it's a gateway to further RPGs.

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[Lono Shrugged]

This article explains a lot of things...

I quite enjoyed it, but it's a shame that it has not opened your horizons up much more. You should check out Deus Ex

 

[PunkRex]

Fallout 3 was my first real indepth look at RPGs too, one I actually fully understood and tried to push my character as an actual character at least... but

I realized with Fallout 3 that an RPG didn't have to be full of impractically sized weapons or crazy hair but can depict a "real" world that didn't rely on fantasy or outlandish plot twists.

might be pushing it abit coinsidering the worlds setting.

 

[Danakir]

I realized with Fallout 3 that an RPG didn't have to be full of impractically sized weapons or crazy hair but can depict a "real" world that didn't rely on fantasy or outlandish plot twists.

Are you serious? Sit down and think for a minute here about what nonsense you've just written. Fallout is a parody of the unrealistic notions people had about the future in the past while remaining steeped in purposefully overdone americana.

It's got mutants. And laser guns. And a giant mechanized statue of liberty.

As for the plot, it's pretty much nothing BUT a long series of outlandish plot twists. None of the characters have a coherent motivation and the whole thing is closer to the peyote-fuelled night terror of a madman than anything reasonable.

Fallout 3 isn't a bad game, but your expressed reasons here don't make a lick of sense.

 

[loc978]

This is an interesting piece to me, coming from the other side of the fence. I grew up on 8-to-16 bit RPGs, then moved on to PC RPGs in the mid 90s. I think my first sandbox RPG was Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun for Genesis. My first on-rails shooter was Doom (first one with modern controls: Quake). Never liked those much, like 'em less now. Arena shooters are fine though, Quake multiplayer included.

I think the closest I've come to the realization you had here was with Wii Sports. With it I realized not every sports game is worthless, same with casual party games.

 

[Hawker101]

If you enjoyed Fallout 3 and the choices you got to make having an impact, you should try Fallout: New Vegas, it has choices galore.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Fallout 3 was my first real indepth look at RPGs too, one I actually fully understood and tried to push my character as an actual character at least... but

I realized with Fallout 3 that an RPG didn't have to be full of impractically sized weapons or crazy hair but can depict a "real" world that didn't rely on fantasy or outlandish plot twists.

might be pushing it abit coinsidering the worlds setting.

Spoiler: Now just what was impractical about the weapons in Fallout 3?!

You ask me, the MIRV could have fired 10 mini nukes instead of just 8!
;D

Also, yeah. I wouldn't say Fallout's story never got "outlandish". In a good way though.

 

[viggih7]

Cool, now go play New Vegas. The good one

 

[pilouuuu]

Interesting read. I had a similar experience. I had played Oblivion as one of my favourite RPGs. I simply couldn't get into it because I expected it to be a hack n' slash and I didn't get the whole quests, levelling and open world sandbox gameplay stuff.

Thankfully Fallout 3 was a different case. Growing up in the vault was an amazing experience and then going into the open world was an amazing feeling. The levelling up made sense in this game and V.A.T.S. was simply so fun to use and also made me think that turn based is not bad at all.

Fallout 3 and Dragon Age are the games that made me love RPGs.

 

[PunkRex]

Cool, now go play New Vegas. The good one

Wow, really? New Vagas was so set on making you follow a set path around the wastes, it got unbelievably dull for me. Not to mention the bugs and i'm not talking about rad scorpions...

 

[loc978]

Cool, now go play New Vegas. The good one

Wow, really? New Vagas was so set on making you follow a set path around the wastes, it got unbelievably dull for me. Not to mention the bugs and i'm not talking about rad scorpions...

It never really forced you onto the path, though. My first character arrived in New Vegas at level 7, having gone north directly after clearing Primm. It only took a little patience and judicious use of binoculars to sneak past.

As for the bugs, I had (and still have) a worse time of 'em with Fallout 3... but I never played either on a console, so this is very much a "your mileage may vary" observation.

 

[Nooners]

snip

and

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From the RPGs he was describing, I'd gather that he was talking more about JRPGs, with oversized weapons like Cloud's swoard and huge hair like...well, like Cloud's hair.
Compared to Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts/insert stereotypical JRPG here, Fallout is much more restrained and plausible. THAT'S the point that he was going for (I think).

 

[Someone Depressing]

My first "major" experience with an RPG was Elder Scrolls: Arena.

It controlled horribly. It looked painful. It sounded painful. It's aged like a red blood cell, somehow kept alive by outside forces. I hated it back then, and I hate it today.

But it introduced me to PC RPGs, so I can't really complain.

 

[Kiste]

Cool, now go play New Vegas. The good one

Wow, really? New Vagas was so set on making you follow a set path around the wastes, it got unbelievably dull for me. Not to mention the bugs and i'm not talking about rad scorpions...

That pretty much ends once you reach the Strip and even before that there is a ton of optional sidetracking.

 

[deathbydeath]

Wow, really? New Vegas was so set on making you follow a set path around the wastes, it got unbelievably dull for me. Not to mention the bugs and i'm not talking about rad scorpions...

...or maybe it's your fault you were so set on the path to begin with. You can completely skip They Went That-a-Way and then hop back on the main story at your leisure. If there's one thing that nobody can argue about in New Vegas, it's the near-absence of linearity.

 

[Kiste]

The strip was small and dull, the desert isn't a great place to explore first person, stuff like that, that is where Fallout 3 was better.

If Obsidian wrote the story and Bethesda did the game world...damn son.

While FO3 might have been somewhat more interesting in terms of exploration and environmental variety, I just found the whole thing to be utterly unappealing - starting with the garish blue/green-tinted color palette. Combined with the urban setting, the whole thing just didn't feel like Fallout to me.

I am also a bit puzzled why FO:NV is receiving so much criticism for gently shoving the player along a certain path for about 20% of the game, while no one seems to be bothered by all the linear subway crawling and the cordoned off city sections in FO3.

 

[Muspelheim]

Oddly enough, I didn't mind the subway tunnels that much. It felt rather interesting, sneaking through the clogged arteries inside the concrete carcass of the city. However, there were a bit of a missed opportunity. More signs of long gone survivors and failed settlements would've made the different sections stand out a bit.

One moment that stands out are my first encounter with one of those devious pram bombs. I did fall for it the first time, hearing a baby crying abandoned in a dark tunnel and activating my Wasteland Hero cirquits. Until I noticed the baby was an old doll, snuggly bedded down in explosives.
I did barely survive, but it was a damn near death experience. It was a great scene, in all. Those pram bombs really did stick out for me, because they felt so obviously constructed to target Wasteland White Knights, like myself.

Cool, now go play New Vegas. The good one

And don't worry. It isn't multiplayer. Thankfully.

 

[The Deadpool]

The strip was small and dull, the desert isn't a great place to explore first person, stuff like that, that is where Fallout 3 was better.

If Obsidian wrote the story and Bethesda did the game world...damn son.

While FO3 might have been somewhat more interesting in terms of exploration and environmental variety, I just found the whole thing to be utterly unappealing - starting with the garish blue/green-tinted color palette. Combined with the urban setting, the whole thing just didn't feel like Fallout to me.

I am also a bit puzzled why FO:NV is receiving so much criticism for gently shoving the player along a certain path for about 20% of the game, while no one seems to be bothered by all the linear subway crawling and the cordoned off city sections in FO3.

Different people, different tastes. A lot of people LIKE Bethesda's brand of RPG. I don't get it either, but accept it.

I wish it hadn't come to take a dump all over Fallout, but it is what it is...