Well the main story is most of the fallout games is fairly weak in my opinion. I think that about most stories though. There's no online at all, same as ES. Fallout 3 and NV are mostly FPS games, with RPG elements. The movement is somewhat clunky and the gunplay is more similar to something like borderlands than CoD. By this I mean some enemies will soak up an insane amount of bullets because they are tougher than you. Not that realistic. Like a leveled enemy in Skyrim taking a million swings. You have to level up to get more hp, deal more damage with guns, etc. It's not all about level though, as you could try to find or buy a powerful gun early on. To stay true to the early isometric Fallout 1 and 2, you have VATS, Vault assisted targeting system. It basically freezes time and you choose who you want to shoot, and where, and it give you a percentage chance to hit. It's graphics are kinda crappy, it has a lot of options, but the game is very easy to run. Visually it's very dull, especially in Fo3. A sea of green-grey. A lot of people hate it, but I really love the bleakness. Leveling is like the opposite of ES, you assign your skill points after leveling, rather than gaining them to level. The game is filled with side quests, they make up like 90% of the game. There really are a lot of similarities to elder scrolls. I suggest you give them a try though. New Vegas is a better and newer game, Fo3 has more of a dead wasteland atmosphere.
Fallout 3 on the consoles can be picked up for as little as £5, not a whole lot to go wrong for that price. Its almost always in the steam sales too.
^ what I was about to type, $10 dollars usd, don't know if I could go wrong. I do know I am addicted to video gaming though, because your description alone certainly makes me (go) "hmm, I think I will have to play Fallout now, and I think the first would be the most fun"
1&2 are old does/early windows clicky semi turn based rpg's rather than real time. Really worth playing first 2. But they don't really link to 3rd besides being in same universe. Totally different genres. Fallout 4 seems to be more in the same vein as fallout 3 and new Vegas. Dlc wise on fallout 3. Point lookout and mothership zeta have balance issues. Anchorage breaks the game. But they are all worth playing if you get em. Broken steel and the Pitt aren't broken at least. Broken steel is hard, but its also late game.
Since they seem to be doing a much better job of giving us colorful compositions (while retaining the wasteland feel), the biggest thing I want to see out of Fallout 4 is a revamped movement system. Walking in Fallout 3 and NV felt like sliding a person-shaped stone block over the terrain. This contrasts with, say, Red Dead Redemption, where walking felt like it had it's own importance and nature. And aside from walking, a small amount of light platforming would be quite wonderful for giving the player a new way to interact with the level and give some players a different angle on a battle. I'm not talking climbing straight up the faces of buildings, but basic ledge climbing and vaulting (like what Dishonored and The Last of Us had) would polish up the gunplay quite a lot. I've said this before, but I wonder what it is that Bethesda is going to do differently with Boston. The Capitol had the remnants of political and military might, the Pitt had its steel industry, and New Vegas had power production and entertainment. So what sets Boston aside in this universe? My money's on shipping, but it's all up in the air for now.
This is a good question. I can think on tone of hidden underground bunkers, yes the seaport, old churches and forts as colonial New England goes, might incorporate more of the eastern seaboard, Salem Witches? Highways, railways, fairways, the East Coast is filled with infrastructure. I am still scratching me head though too now that you mention it.
It's like Skyrim but less easy (still too easy on anything below Hard, Hardcore Mode in NV adds a proper challenge but later becomes just annoying). Also, with guns and lazors instead of swords and magic, and set in an American 50's style nuclear wasteland. There are some gameplay differences, for example, armor/weapon condition degrades in FO, making the item less effective. Items can be repaired. Other than that, it's quite similar in terms of how it's played. I like the FO games better myself, mostly because Skyrim lets you regenerate health (shitty crutch) and because laser guns. Also, just like Skyrim there are mods for everything. - - - Updated - - - How does Point Lookout have balance issues? I don't recall any OP items or unbalanced boss fights. Zeta has a really powerful gun, but there's no ammo for it (you get like 1 clip per visit to the alien ship), so not really OP either. Anchorage does break the game though. Come on, the indestructible T-51b is just cheating. And you can even play it as soon as you first get out of the vault, so you can have an armor that's insanely OP even near the end game from the beginning (you also get power armor training). Yay for game balance! Broken Steel is not that hard, just a lot of enemies in one place, but the Hellfires are easily the single most annoying Fallout enemy ever. Second most annoying enemy in any RPG I have played (the Therum krogan in Mass Effect takes the first place by far, had to replay that fucking part at least 20 times). Still, the DLC is fairly easy with a late game stealth character and a sniper/gauss rifle (although TBH, sneak is slightly OP in Bethesda's games). The Pitt, nice but way too easy. Even stripped of my armor and guns and with no melee skills at all I rekt every enemy that got in my way. And sneak wasn't even useful there, it's just really easy :| Still, they're all really good. Anchorage is a bit strange, since it goes more towards an FPS style (no looting, health/ammo dispensers, no having a billion weapons in inventory), and the items you get in the end are mostly cheat items, but still fun.
In fallout lore Boston, aka The Commonwealth, seems to be home to quite a bit of what remains of the intelligent population, mostly located in "The Institute", which little is known about. It's also where the androids are made. It could possibly be the tech capital of the wasteland. Also judging by the trailer there seems to be a large military presence with all of the vertibirds aroud, and whatever the huge flying thing is could probably be military related. Little is really known about the location so it's really all speculation right now, but I'm really looking forward to more information about it.
Have you tried zeta or point lookout at level 15 onwards? Aliens all get energy shields, most of them are cloaked by level 20. All the locals in point lookout might as well be super mutant overlords after surviving a fat man to the face. Unbalanced. Anchorage also has the Gary 23 glitch to allow you to bring simulation equipment into the wasteland. Then there is the ammo exploit in simulation too. And don't start on the rewards room... Elder scrolls prior to skyrim had no health regeneration and did have weapon and armour degradation. That's not a fallout vs elder scrolls issue, it's unique to skyrim. Wouldn't surprise me if they did it to fallout 4, but I really hope they don't. Oh. One difference. Elder scrolls minor skills are levelled up by using them (sneak a lot and your sneak skill goes up) and you stick a few points into major skills on level up (nerfed a tad in skyrim). Fallout you put a few points into minor skills when you level up, you're SPECIAL points don't change as frequently. Before skyrim you didn't get perks on level up, that's unique to fallout and skyrim.
I subscribed to Nexusmods for awhile. If having to choose between Fallout 3 and Fallout NV for the overall in-depth modded game experience leading up to Fallout 4, do I buy FO3 or FONV? (No 100% rewarded, forgive my fire. I am starting to understand these one sentence questions more I think.. don't stress it.) FO3 - 13xxx Mods, FONV - 15xxx Mods, oh jeez.
New vegas in terms of game mechanics to me is slightly improved. But the map and quests of 3 to me are more interesting. New vegas has a system of different ammo types (standard, armour piercing etc etc, or for the 5.56 assault rifle you can run .223 which costs a heck of alot less but deals less damage etc) and also weapon mods (adding suppressors to guns is damn handy). Also has alot more weapons in the first place. Perks system is changed so you only get a perk every 2 levels rather than every level as you did in fallout 3. Most importantly, hardcore mode was added (optional of course), you need to eat/sleep/drink every so often, can make the game alot harder early on. Some prefer new vegas. Some prefer fallout 3.
In a lot of ways I prefer Fo3, but I'd probably buy New Vegas. Just a better game overall. Fallout 3 can feel a bit archaic really. No iron sights and badly balanced weapons (a .32 caliber pistol barely does more damage than a BB gun) as well as simpler mechanics.
How long would you think they are going to spend before Fallout4 is out? Winter 2015, Spring 2016? I am subscribed to BattleCry newsletter and I haven't heard a thing, plus they are going after Doom4. E3 is going to be busy busy.
Ah but here you have to distinguish between Bethesda Softworks and Bethesda Game Studios. Doom is developed by ID Software. Fallout is developed by Bethesda Game Studios. Both are published by Bethesda Softworks.
All good points here. Warning: Wall of text. lol For anyone interested in getting into the awesome FPS/RPG mix that is the recent generation of Fallout, or want to pick up FO4 but want to try 3 and NV first I'll give some input, some of which has already been mentioned by some fine folks. I'll also try to dodge giving away any spoilers to people who haven't played, just some location names, i'll give my thoughts on both games. Also, if you look online you'll get a ton of different opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of both games and why some people choose one over the other. I encourage you to get both games and play them because they are both seriously worth playing and both fantastic games in their own ways, not to mention you can pick up the full versions of both complete with all DLC for very reasonable prices. And if I mention the use of mods they are only for the PC version obviously. I should also mention that some people tend to have problems running these games on PC (many people have problems with FO3, but I actually have more problems with NV), it's nothing that can't be fixed if you find yourself running into crashes or slow downs, just check out some of the many guides if you have problems. Atmosphere/Location: Both huge open world locations with focus on exploration. The atmosphere was just so much better in 3 to me, you get a good sense of the devastation that happened, and continues to happen. NV is fairly untouched by the war in comparison. There seems to be a ton more to see in 3, you've got Megaton, Rivet city, the museums, the Capitol building, the memorials, random suburbs, THE REPUBLIC OF DAVE! lol, Gary vault, the Metro system, Underworld, all of the downtown areas, Lamplight, various factories.... I could keep going with this but you get the point. A main focal point in NV is the strip (which is supposed to be a huge deal in the game) is a massive let down, for me at least. I spent a while in the game trying to get there, the way the game wants you to, just to be disappointed that it's just a few sectioned off areas with small casinos that have very little purpose, there just should have been a lot more to see and there. There's just not a lot to see out in the rest of the map either, its mostly just a big open area with a few settlements and enemy hangouts, you have stuff like Primm, Boulder city, Goodsprings, NoVac, McCarren, Hoover Dam, Searchlight, the NCRF which are all relatively dull and/or lifeless. That's not to say there isn't decent stuff to see there at all, Freeside, Westside, Jacobstown, some of the vaults, Repconn, Cottonwood cove, Quarry Junction, and a few other places were pretty cool, but there was way less interesting stuff overall to see for me. But you do have to sort of expect it to be that way, it's a post apocalyptic desert after all, it wouldn't be teaming with life. Whereas in the DC wasteland it was a much more populated place, there are generally going to be more places to see and people to meet. In real life I find the Arizona/Nevada area to be about the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, but the portrayal of that area in the game just isn't pleasant. Also in life I have no interest in big cities like dc, where in the game it makes for a more interesting place to be with the amount of places packed in to see. FO3 is generally pretty bleak feeling, which I like considering everything going on in the game, it really sets the mood. It's a bit less bleak in NV which also seems to take itself less serious at times, which works for it. Story/Character: I'm not going to give it away for people that haven't played, I'll just say they are both pretty good. I think 3 is a bit better, it's got more emotional moments and interesting choices to it I think, there is a family element to a good portion of it, and you're very involved with the grand scheme of things in the wasteland. You can be the hero of the wastes or do a ton of harm. I like the opening to the game and the sort of bond you have with your character, you feel a lot more in touch with who you are as you actually know most of your backstory. NV was more of a revenge plot at first that turns into a sort of struggle for control where you can choose to help the outcome of a huge territorial dispute in a few different ways. I didn't like the opening to it as much, you have no real clue who you are, you just know you're a courier that has an important job, there's a lot less of a connection to who you are, and I feel that whenever someone in the story tries to get you to understand your character better, it doesn't really help a ton. Game mechanics/UI: At their core, they both are the same in this respect, but with some upgrades in NV (though I think anything that NV has that FO3 doesn't can be modded in, but keep in mind it probably wont be implemented in the same way NV has it). At the start you create a character, either male or female with a pretty good list of sliders. Afterwards you'll get to put a set number of points into your SPECIAL attributes (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck), and in NV you get to chose up to 2 traits or none at all (traits are just little things that usually help one stat or ability and harm another for the remainder of your play through). The UI and HUD are the same in both games. In both games all of your inventory, quest control, and stats are done the Pipboy, and arm mounted computer. Both games have VATS, which as someone mentioned earlier, allows you to lock onto an enemy and freeze time and have a percentage of a chance to hit the target, each shot uses action points. You get XP which levels you up and lets you use a certain number of points to put into your skills (amount of points can vary depending on certain things like intelligence and perks). You get to choose a perk every level in FO3 and every other level in NV, there are a ton of them and they all have various benefits while some might have a minor drawback. Certain perks can only unlock at certain levels and when certain criteria are met that usually involve what a certain skill level is. NV includes an optional hardcore mode which makes it so you have to eat, sleep and have a drink now and then to survive, it is a nice mechanic to have in a game like this. You can get a mod that does the same sort of thing for FO3. NV has the ability to use true ironsights on guns, where as in 3 you just zoom in with crosshairs (there is an ironsight mod to change this as well). Both games have a weapon and armor repair system. NV has a weapon upgrade system where certain guns have different available attachments, I think there's a mod for this for FO3. NV has ammo crafting and different types of ammo where as FO3 doesn't (but I believe there are mods for these as well). This is all of the basic stuff I believe. Graphics: Look for yourself, they aren't anything amazing looking by todays standards but there are a plethora of texture, lighting, weather, ENB etc mods to really pretty it up. In both vanilla games you get a sort of annoying hue to everything, in 3 everything has a green/gray look to it, NV is incredibly orangeish. It's meh, but bearable. Add ons/ DLC: These are a huge strong point to these games. Both games have sizeable amounts of DLC. I wont really get into the specifics of them, but I will say they are all worth playing through. However FO3 has my favorite piece of DLC that's ever been put into a game, Point Lookout. A very large, creepy new land with some tough enemy's and fun quests. All of the DLC in both games adds a new area with a ton of quests and things to do and see. If I had to choose a favorite DLC in NV it'd probably be Old world Blues. It was so different feeling from the rest of the game, I loved the comical parts of it. I should also mention there are a few item DLCs for NV, these include the preorder items that were available for the game at launch and a weapon pack that adds some unique stuff to the game. In closing they're both fantastic games in their own right, like I said before. Don't choose one, get both, it's more than worth it if you're into this genre of game, and they can be picked up on sale for nearly nothing. But for me at least, I will ALWAYS pick FO3 over NV, it was just such an engaging experience that I keep going back to even to this day. There's nothing quite like it for me.
And there's never been a better time hehe, Fallout 3 and New Vegas are both 50% off on steam, or 40% of the GOTY/Ultimate Edition.
And that is why you sir are more ingrained for this work than me. I'm a player, and I will die in the end. How do I know this? As Braindead put it, except, I cannot buy them. I want to so bad, and this is terrible because I cannot. Instead I went to the bar "pub" today and what can I say...? women, I need to save money. I spend all my "time" waiting for them, I cannot afford it. Plus now that I subscribed to Nexus, they have all the adult mods, and so I get a hard on every freaking time I am not looking for it, and it hurts. I just can't do it right now, and it hurts. I have to wait. It is killing me inside. All I do is read, review, and play. You guys are my window to the games. I will probably wait for Fallout4, but then that will compete with Just Cause 3, and women. The cycle starts over again. I am love here, but it hurts. Problem solving at its worst. - - - Updated - - - Wow, Combustibob, wow. This makes me hate myself for not being rich enough to just buy it! seriously time spent on that wall of text, Thank you. - And about adult content, yes I know I can just turn it off, or filter it out . However thinking now that I have seen it, would I ever want to go back, can I ever un see it? I don't think so, I have to hide or prevent it from being exposed in the future, since cutting this short, there are some truly weird people out there, and we may never see their face.
I think we all unsee adult content on a daily basis, or at least manage to not be distracted by fallout nude mods. Although although, I may have to ring Hanson up later, wine bottle, lol (inside joke).
No problem. Still hyped from the FO4 trailer, more than happy to give my input. So looking forward to E3 for some more info.
