Poll: "Fallout 3": Why Do Fans of the First Two Dislike It?

[Weaver]

I liked them all. Hell, I even liked Fallout Tactics.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

I am a big fan of Fallout 3. I like the atmosphere, the atmospehereic soundtrack, as well as the catchy Jazz tunes, I love Three Dog, I even like the combat, which I'll readilly admit is lackluster.

I am currently installing Fallout Classic Collection, and I wanted to know just why fans of the first two sometimes dislike the third so much. Perspectives. Discuss.

Take your pick of reasons. I liked it, but I can see why others didn't. The gameplay changed dramatically, obviously, but the reason I can most sympathize with for not liking it was what happened regarding the story.

In the original Fallout games, there was solid emphasis on no single faction being entirely "good." The Brotherhood of Steel, for instance, was a bunch of xenophobes in powered armor. But in Fallout 3, they were the stalwart defenders of the weak and pretty much infallible. And the Enclave was effectively crippled in Fallout 2, making their appearance as the villains of Fallout 3 rather far-fetched.

 

[The Scythian]

Fallout 3 is badly written, the plot is worse, the characters are worse bethesda didn't care much for the Fallout canon.

Fallout 3 is still a fun game though.

Exactly. I certainly don't play Fallout 3 for any sort of intelligent experience.

 

[Irridium]

Fallout 3 was a shitty fallout game. It tried taking itself too seriously, and ended up falling on its face, which made it worse. Fallout wasn't really that serious, more of a dark humor. I guess it would have been fine if Fallout 3 succeeded in being more serious, but it didn't. Honestly, Fallout 3 was a good game. A really good game. But it was a crappy Fallout game.

The gameplay is miles ahead of the first 2, but the story is just awful.

New Vegas on the other hand, now thats a good Fallout game. And a good game. Combines, and improves upon, the gameplay of Fallout 3, but keeps the general tone and whatnot of the first two Fallout games.

And I love it. So, so much.

 

[Canid117]

People often react negatively to change.

 

[katsumoto03]

Pretentious people acting on their nostalgia. That is all. Fallout 1&2 were great games, but I prefer Fallout 3&NV more personally.

So it's nostalgia because you happened to like Fallout 3 and NV more ?

lolwut? Your sentence, it makes no sense.

What does my preference have to do with the fact that nostalgic people spend their days bitching about how much better the old games are?

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I assume they didn't like 3 for legitimate reasons(less likely) or they just wrote it off because it wasn't in the style of the first 2 (more likely).

You say that like that's not a legitimate reason to dislike a sequel. Okay, so the sort of fire and brimstone you are likely to see at NMA or RPG Codex might be a bit unwarranted when looking at it from a general gaming point of view. But look at it from the view of someone who deeply enjoys a type of gaming that has become more or less extinct, at least in commercial titles. Pure RPGs in the old school sense of the term are pretty damn rare. Even more so than space combat games. I can understand why someone might see this sort of bait & switch to be a slap in the face.

I guess I didn't elaborate enough. I can understand why they'd feel that way, but writing off a game for those reasons is jumping to conclusions. In my opinion Diablo 3 seems to be taking a thing or twelve from WoW, but I'm still going to try it.

 

[Stickwell]

First played 3, had no idea what it was until the minute I started playing it, thought it was fun and checked out the other 2.
They were GREAT, and I can definitely see why original fans dislike 3.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I'll sum up my general dislike for Fallout 3 in three words and an interjection.

Brotherhood of FUCKING Steel.

Also they did a really bad job of portraying the Enclave as a competent misguided force opting more for the "They're jerkasses because they're jerkasses" route, with the characters being mishandled. Also the central plot was essentially a huge joke.

Also Little Lamplight.

Okay, so maybe it's more than just the brotherhood.

 

[Arlocke]

1. And the original Fallout combat system was so infinitely better. The old system is too awkward and arbitrary. Too many clicks and god help you if your enemy starts running away. It works, but it really could have been streamlined. I'll agree that writing wasn't all too great, but I never found it bad enough to actually dislike the game because of it. As for graphics and animation, you do realize how big Fallout 3 and New Vegas are right? It would be a complete ***** on the processor if it they had tried to make it better.

2.Fallout: New vegas rolls with canon pretty well I find and Fallout 3 doesn't make too bad of a mockery. There are only two factions mentioned in Fallout 3 that were also back in the west: the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel. What they do to the Enclave is pretty bad (that was not fucking advanced power armor mark II and how is the Enclave still around?!), but the inconsistencies with the Brotherhood are negligible I found. They openly say that they're different from the western Brotherhood anyway.

I wasn't talking about New Vegas, my criticisms were of Fallout 3 exclusively.

The amount of clicking in the old turn-based system was fine for me, I don't really understand that comment. That was just the nature of the system. Enemies retreating from combat was occasionally frustrating, but you have to take the rough with the smooth and say that it is natural for enemies to retreat when it is in their benefit. When enemies always fight to the death in games it feels unnatural to me. The Fallout combat system isn't the best turn-based system ever, but it got the job done.

Better, more natural looking animations wouldn't necessarily be a system resource problem. I don't care that much about graphics anyway though, all I'm asking for is something that doesn't look like it was made by a college student on his macbook.

And on consistency of canon... I wouldn't have a problem with the factions from 1&2 evolving over time if it made some kind of sense to me, but the Brotherhood in F3 are different to the western brotherhood simply because Bethesda wanted to have noble knights in the game, because that is all they know how to do. The fact that they gave a reason for that in game doesn't negate the fact that I don't like the reason for the change in design.

 

[Wintermoot]

FO3 was allot milder for example: in 2 you can become a child murdering porn star, sleep with prostitutes and become "special". They re-added a few of those features in NV.

 

[Zanaxal]

People say it's because of the setting story etc. But thats pretty humbug if you ask me. I only played Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics before FO 3. It's mostly the gameplay thats been so dumbed down to a sheepish level. NV did a little to bring it back with hardcore mode and not getting a feat every level etc. Thing is in Fallout 2 it was really hard and a complex character system. In FO 3 it doesn't matter how badly you skill your character you can just melee combat everything into a pulp no matter.

Just look at the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system for example. There were strength requirements for bigger guns so you couldnt lug a minigun with 1 strength. There was perception that hard set your max range of accuracy so you HAD to have some if you didnt want to Point blanc shoot everything in the game. Granted this was alot more important in FO: Tactics. Also you had to use companions to survive the game unless you were going for some super lone sniper, constantly stim healing build. You also had to do alot of the optional quests to get equipment or additional XP.

Also alot of the fun perks and feats were cut away and the awesome damage resistance/bonus dmg system, redone into something near useless.

Now the other things as in a darker story and that made sense would have been nice for fo3 but really a game needs good gameplay before anything else. Kindergarten easy isn't replay value.

Also every area of the other fallout games were heavily scripted with unique enviroments. FO 3 was just a massive copy paste of Traintunnels, grey contentless city ruins and green supermutants. Saying otherwise is stick up the nose poke brain silly. Also i never really enjoyed forced super tight 1way corridor Fps's, gives no sense of freedom.

Its kind of like asking why doesn't dungeon and dragon rule set fans not enjoy DA: origins when its a totally stripped down and redone version because Atari decided to boot bioware from their license.

 

[ElectroJosh]

Like a few people here, I enjoyed Fallout 3 but prefered Fallout 1 & 2. However New Vegas took the things I liked about Fallout 3 and put them back in a more "Fallouty" setting - and as an added bonus I only encountered a couple of bugs (and even then they first appeared on my second playthrough).

I think that it would be hard for people used to F3/NV to go back to first two just because its not as user-friendly. At the time of its release it was amazing - good graphics, excellent rpg system and it was easy to use. But since then game play mechanics have improved and so it may seem a bit harder to get into. Remember the first two Fallout games were released prior to Diablo 2.

 

[Irriduccibilli]

Fallout 3 introduced me to the Fallout universe, and I bought and played the other two affter I finished Fallout 3. I actually liked the first two games more (mostly Fallout 2). Yes, its slower paced and ALOT harder than Fallout 3, but I like that. Having to use tactics in battle is just something you really dont have to do in Fallout 3. Half the time you are just rushing straight towards your enemy guns blazing.I like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but the old ones just appeal more to me. I believe that alot of people dislike the new Fallout games because they went away from theold genre, but I actually believe that Fallout: Tactics (the worst Fallout game IMO) was the reason they changed style

 

[Vault101]

Eh alot of stuff was removed and the story wasnt near as good as the orginals also they ruined the BoS in it


I dont hate FO3 but I dont like it that much FO2 is my fav in the series


Oh and I hate how child killing was removed

I dont think they ruined the brother hood of steel, for two reasons

1. the outcasts, not onyly are they closer to what the brotherhood are suposedly like but they show how much controversy The elders decicion created, that it caued a rift

2. the fact that almost every brotherhood member you talk to is frustrated and/or pissed off at the elders decision indicates that playing peace keeper is not standard brotherhood protocol

as for the story, well its not bad for somone who didnt play the originals and I can see why they would re-use elements such as the enclave (except the orginal ending but they fixed that) also yeah it shoehorns you into helping the brotherhood but I guess it makes sense if your good, if your evil on the other hand....well being evil in general just dosnt make much sense, it seems out of charachter for the PC

 

[Vault101]

I am a big fan of Fallout 3. I like the atmosphere, the atmospehereic soundtrack, as well as the catchy Jazz tunes, I love Three Dog, I even like the combat, which I'll readilly admit is lackluster.

I am currently installing Fallout Classic Collection, and I wanted to know just why fans of the first two sometimes dislike the third so much. Perspectives. Discuss.

- Morally black and white. Fallout is gray, always.
- No jokes, or memorable characters. Fallout is fun, not sad.
- Lacked the weapon and armor selection. Modern AND sci fi guns. They put in weapons from WWII which are CENTURIES OLD yet the new guns are NOT AROUND. The power armor was nerfed and replaced with PROTOTYPE armors that were from WEST TEK IN CALIFORNIA. How the fuck did all the PA find its way to DC? and yet the official PA the t-51b is rare? California has t-51bs by the THOUSANDS. T-45ds couldn't be in DC because west tek is highly irradiated, and only ghouls can go into it. EVen if they found anything, the armor would be too irradiated to use. West tek has approximately 1,000 rads a second.
- shat on established lore.
- many plot holes.
- Ruined the BOS.
- no explanation for the shameless copy-paste.
- took out the morally questionable stuff due to the higher sensitivity of today's audience. God forbid a hooker be put in the game or child killing.

I said exactally the same hting before but ill say it again here

I dont think they ruined the brother hood of steel, for two reasons

1. the outcasts, not onyly are they closer to what the brotherhood are suposedly like but they show how much controversy The elders decicion created, that it caued a rift

2. the fact that almost every brotherhood member you talk to is frustrated and/or pissed off at the elders decision indicates that playing peace keeper is not standard brotherhood protocol

as for black and white morality and plot, yeah thats the games weak point, but if you play it through being "good" then things arnt that bad, though as I said above being evil dosnt make much sense

anyway I really liked fallout 3 and it good for anyone who hasnt played the orginal fallout games, even though the game can feel soul crushingly depressing, there is humour there (ever hacked miora browns terminal? hilarious)

 

[Vault101]

I am a big fan of Fallout 3. I like the atmosphere, the atmospehereic soundtrack, as well as the catchy Jazz tunes, I love Three Dog, I even like the combat, which I'll readilly admit is lackluster.

I am currently installing Fallout Classic Collection, and I wanted to know just why fans of the first two sometimes dislike the third so much. Perspectives. Discuss.

Didn't you know? EVERYTHING WAS BETTER IN THE PAST WHEN THEY STILL HAD MAGICAL UNICORNS

ok but seriosuly its because Fallout 3 is very different to 1 and 2, both in gameplay and some people have said in tone, I have had a look at fallout 1 and I can see its an awsome game for its time...but unfortunatly its just not my thing

also they made it an action RPG to apeal to a wider audience, because turn based isnt widley popular as shooting, and Im glad becaue I can't bloody stand turnbased, also they did at least try somthign different with VATS