I played fallout 3 through 3 times, it's not the story i like, it's more the gore and setting of the game, biggest downfall tho is the repetetiveness of the game, Same monsters, same enviroments like oblivion syndrome, into a portal kill some stuff in red space.. Repeat... Into a boring cave system, kills some stuff.. Repeat. no super killer boars tho?(iirc)
All the optional stuff in fo3 also just seem very optional and can be skipped all together, my first playthrough i just had 2-3 bobbleheads, and did barely any exploring, just shows what a waste of a big map.
Story is a stinker of fo3, i actually had more fun just talking smack to all the main questgivers then listening to their "story".
I have now almost completed fallout 2, the difficulty of that game in the beginning is very tough and i had to see some guides to get a character that could survive. I played through fallout tactics twice before attempting fo2 for the second time.
The older games are just alot more varied and has more that adult gore'y / sadistic story to follow, no sunshine and rainbow's or little bastard endings.
Hoping New Vegas has more of the old story flava, combat seems more varied to and no supermutants hopefully(yay no more green goblin hordes to shoot)