Fallout 3 OUT NOW!!! (Official Thread)

[heybtbm]

I'd like to say The Pitt is fixed and unbelievably fun. Unfortunately it's still glitchy. Good news: the "radio frequency" queuing you in to the start of the quest is almost instant (as opposed to Operation Anchorage...which doesn't pop up for a few minutes).

Bad news: my game keeps freezing as soon as the first quest starts and you're asked to find a slave outfit. As I approach the cliff edge to find the slave camp, my game locks up. Very irritating. After this happened 3 times in a row, I got sick of resetting my 360 and called it a night. I'll try another way around the cliff tonight.

Has this happened to anyone else?

[mezrabad]

Bad news: my game keeps freezing as soon as the first quest starts and you're asked to find a slave outfit. As I approach the cliff edge to find the slave camp, my game locks up. Very irritating. After this happened 3 times in a row, I got sick of resetting my 360 and called it a night. I'll try another way around the cliff tonight.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I don't have The Pitt yet, so I can't say that it does. But I was getting an odd freeze up at one point in the game and was able to get arround it. The freeze up would come after I'd fixed the dish to the Washington Monument and was going down to checkout the Lincoln Memorial. I would approach from the front, get accosted by Silas and the game would freeze up just before I got to the door to under the memorial. It would freeze up the same way if I started a fight and ran up the steps of the memorial. I decided to go talk to Mad Dog and get my reward for the GNR quest. After that I was able to go to the Lincoln Memorial again.

You might have an outstanding side quest in your game that you may just need to "close" before doing The Pitt. Anyway, I hope this helps.

Just finished getting all of the achievements for the original content. Waiting for the last of the DLC before taking the game up again.

[heybtbm]

I don't have The Pitt yet, so I can't say that it does. But I was getting an odd freeze up at one point in the game and was able to get arround it. The freeze up would come after I'd fixed the dish to the Washington Monument and was going down to checkout the Lincoln Memorial. I would approach from the front, get accosted by Silas and the game would freeze up just before I got to the door to under the memorial. It would freeze up the same way if I started a fight and ran up the steps of the memorial. I decided to go talk to Mad Dog and get my reward for the GNR quest. After that I was able to go to the Lincoln Memorial again.

You might have an outstanding side quest in your game that you may just need to "close" before doing The Pitt. Anyway, I hope this helps.

Just finished getting all of the achievements for the original content. Waiting for the last of the DLC before taking the game up again.

So the deal is Bethesda released an update to their update on April 2nd. No more freezing issues for anybody. Tried it Friday night and it works beautifully. All I had to do was delete the old file and download the new version from XBL.

[pooch]

One quick question for the newbie. Fr the pre-order DVD (the one with the bottle opener and soundtrack), how many different covers/versions does it have? I remember seeing more than one but I don't see any variation on Ebay anymore. Thanks.

[Celebrity maniac]

That's cool. The mods are the main reason I got the PC version instead of the Xbox 360 version. I'm looking forward to some really cool mods. Some armor that actually protects you that you can find early on in the game would be nice. Also, some drug that cures radiation poisioning and/or heals you better than what I've found so far. I suppose the weak potions and the relative scarsity of everything makes the game more realistic, but the game is hard enough without making the powerups sparce.

[heybtbm]

DAMMIT!

Why did I download the new Fallout 3 expansion (Broken Steel) this morning? WHY?

http://kotaku.com/5240794/pc-broken-...s-live-problem

It's broke. PC and 360 versions. Fool me once, Bethesda..shame on you. Fool me twice...shame on me. Definitely a "shame on me" moment. 800 points wasted. I don't even have time to play it for a few days. Why didn't I wait?

[Nebagram]

My 360 version works fine aside from the odd couple of bugs that are normally found in the game anyways.

[alxbly]

Anyone else playing the new Point Lookout dlc? I've not played much so far but have enjoyed the new location; it's quite different from other areas in the game and you don't get stripped of your weapons/armour as you did in Operation Anchorage and The Pitt. Shame the level cap hasn't been increased but in all other respects this seems pretty good.

And I've not encountered any game-crippling bugs or glitches yet... maybe Bethesda tested this one first!

[Nebagram]

I'm really liking Point Lookout, the open-endedness of it is fun, it's a lot like Shivering Isles for Oblivion (more so than the other 3 dlc's, anyway). I did have one bug where the game crashed, nuked my autosave and cost me 2 hours of gameplay, but that's just a minor niggle once I'd swonr at it for a quarter of an hour.

Oh and double barrel-shortguns=win.

[heybtbm]

I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to play this. I'm currently at level 27 and would imagine this latest piece of DLC would take me to level 30. From what I've read, it looks pretty cool.

It's just a shame I let myself be suckered into these $10 DLC purchases each time (still worth it IMO). Those patient folks who wait for the GOTY version this fall are going to be getting the deal of a lifetime.

[Trumpman]

I haven't bought any of the DLC's yet, as I sort of burned myself out playing through almost everything in the main game (sidequests, etc.) and needed a break. I will probably pick up the DLC packs, but you're right heybtbm, for the 5 DLC's alone you pay almost as much as the GOTY version will cost.

Changing the topic a bit, was anyone else disappointed with Fallout 3? Even though I had a great time overall with it, I found that it didn't really live up to the high standard set by Fallout 1 and especially Fallout 2. I enjoyed the first person perspective, and was able to live with that, but I thought that the story and the setting were both subpar. You didn't feel like you were having an impact on the world like you did in the old Fallouts, or even Mass Effect. The main story wasn't very long, and the end was (I thought) pretty bad. It had nothing that compared to the showdown with the Master. Also, most of the perks were not very inventive, and the overall leveling and SPECIAL system seemed dumbed down.

The biggest disappointment to me, though, was that after Megaton and maybe Rivet City there were no other settlements. While Bethesda got the wasteland atmosphere correct, they forgot to populate it. Compared to the worlds in Fallout 1 and even more so in Fallout 2, the game world in Fallout 3 was miniscule. I loved Oblivion, so I understand Bethesda's philosophy, but I feel that it doesn't really fit with the Fallout universe. In Fallout 1 you had Shady Sands, the Hub, Junktown, Necropolis, and the Boneyard, and each of them had their own set of quests and own importance to the overall plot. Fallout 2 had Arroyo, the Den, the villages, Vault City, Gecko, San Francisco, the Enclave base, NCR, and New Reno. Again, Fallout 3 just had two real cities, in my opinion.

Playing through Fallouts 1 and 2 (with the unofficial patch) reinforced what I already thought. Fallout 3 is a fun, but flawed, game.

[Nature Boy]

Changing the topic a bit, was anyone else disappointed with Fallout 3?

Not in the slightest. It's the first RPG I've ever played where I've completed every side mission possible. I loved it.

No DLC for me yet though - I'm going to wait to see if/how they package all 5 of 'em, or for a sale or something.

As far as settlements go, I consider Big Town, Arefu, Canterbury Commons, Little LampLight, The Republic of Dave, Tenpenny Tower, Evergreen Mills, Paradise Falls, Oasis, and even Girdershade settlements. I found the world totally immersive because of the diversity that all of those locations (plus Megaton and Rivet City) provided.

I just get the feeling that you love the first two a lot.

[unwinddesign]

Point Lookout is what the other crappy DLC should have been. If they had released this first, I would have loved it. Now, I'm just a little bit tired of Fallout 3. Sure, it was my favorite game of the last year, but the DLC does NOTHING to change any of the gameplay.

Shivering Isles was so much better than any of the shit they put out for Fallout 3. Operation Anchorage was lame, Broken Steel/The Pitt were mediocre, and Point Lookout was decent. But I can only go to so many dingy, run-down buildings and shoot so many radioactive enemies before they all look the same. And they all just had really weak backstories. Nothing even close to what you might find hidden away in some vault in the wasteland. Where's the attention to detail there? That's what made F3 so great.

...now if they did something like Shivering Isles, which had a completely different art style than Oblivion, that would have been awesome. Shivering Isles was BETTER than Oblivion. F3's DLC is just more of the same. Which is ok, I guess, but goddamn if it hasn't gotten old after putting like 100 hours into the game.

On the flip side, most games don't have 100 hrs of gameplay, even with $40 worth of expansions, so that's a plus for the game. Can't help but wish the DLC was more inspired, though...it doesn't help that the first bits of DLC were like 3 hrs long each. At least Point Lookout takes about 8 hours.

[Nebagram]

As far as settlements go, I consider Big Town, Arefu, Canterbury Commons, Little LampLight, The Republic of Dave, Tenpenny Tower, Evergreen Mills, Paradise Falls, Oasis, and even Girdershade settlements. I found the world totally immersive because of the diversity that all of those locations (plus Megaton and Rivet City) provided.

The Citadel, man, the Citadel. Yeah, more of a barracks than a town, but I sure as hell count it. There are plenty of people around if you just look for them.

I'm looking forward to the next expansion, but I for one want a Vault 77 expansion pack.

[Tupin]

Well, I feel like I'm behind. Just about to finish the main game.

I'm super fast, I know.

I might download some of the DLC, I never actually bothered to buy the game until a few weeks ago, which is another . Can I even download them after completing the main game?

[ProgrammingAce]

Sure. I just hope you haven't hit the level cap yet. If so, you might want to start a new character because you would have lost a lot of experiance you can't use to get to level 30 now.

The Broken Steel DLC also advances the game beyond the original ending.

[Tupin]

I'm at level 15. I guess I'll buy Broken Steel. Can I wait until I finish the game normally?

Like I said, I rented this game and got to the point where you enter Vault 87. That was December. Bought it a week ago, started where I left off today, and I'm ready to start the final chapter.

[digitalpress]

Well, I feel like I'm behind. Just about to finish the main game.

I'm super fast, I know.

I might download some of the DLC, I never actually bothered to buy the game until a few weeks ago, which is another . Can I even download them after completing the main game?

As a player who has played through the game twice, I suggest that you do not rush through the experience. If you find yourself at the Jefferson Museum near what seems like the end of the game, GO EXPLORING. There are loads of missions outside of the main mission. You need to go on the Nuka Cola Quantum quest. You need to meet the ANT Agonizer. You need to find the game's best weapon in the Deathclaw Camp. And so much more... You can finish the main game in 15-20 hours depending on skill level. With the side missions, three times that. I discovered this the hard way when the game suddenly ended and I realized I'd have to go back to an old save to see all the stuff I missed.

If you have the Broken Steel DLC it's a non-issue, of course. And if you don't, be sure to save the game before "the end" so you can pick it up again later.

Fallout 3 is my favorite 360 game of all time. It is precious. I'd also place it in my top 10 of all time, though I need to let it settle a bit before I know where it fits in with all of the other crusty classics.

[Tupin]

I'm going to buy Broken Steel and then finish a bunch of quests before I do the last mission.

[heybtbm]

Sure. I just hope you haven't hit the level cap yet. If so, you might want to start a new character because you would have lost a lot of experiance you can't use to get to level 30 now.

Ain't that the truth.

I hit level 20 (the max at the time) somewhere mid-way through the original game. I've played through all four DLC's now and am only a level 28. If the level cap was 100 (for example), I would probably be level 40 or so by now. I had fun though, so it's not the end of the world. I still have the alien DLC coming up to hit level 30. I refuse to grind.