Something different! · 5:46am Sep 23rd, 2013
(Late again, I know) This week, I wish to elaborate on something: Why FO3 (in my opinion) is best Fallout. (bar technical reasons. FO3 is less crashy...)
In short, it's because I actually cared about finding dear ol' dad and finishing his work. Both of the original games had a bit of a show-don't-tell problem. It tells you that things are bad, I just never see the effects. And Set was an asshole anyway, so I didn't care when he got waxed by muties. It failed to give me a reason to give a damn about Vault 13/Arroyo, I felt no connection to them. If you just jump into the game all you really get is:
1: This is you, this is your vault. Go save it.
1a: Dweller! DWEEELLEERRR!
What is it Mr. Overseer?
I saw a mutant. It was ugly. Kick its ass.
2: This is you, this is your village. Go save it.
Though when it comes to FO3, just the way the prologue works, where it goes through your childhood in the vault? It actually makes me form some sort of attachment to the place, especially towards dad. Being voiced by Liam Neeson probably helped. When he bit the dust, it actually had an emotional impact on me. I liked the guy!
When Arroyo was abducted, my only reaction was really, "Oh, that sucks," especially since the time limit is kind of arbitrary in FO2 anyway. If you find the GECK in time, your village gets snatched by the Enclave. Take too long, the same thing happens. Getting taken by the Enclave is like the parts of RE4 where Ashley gets snatched: It's a relief. One less thing to care about!
In NV, they slipped into the same problem with Lonesome Road.
(In a deep voice) Courier. This place asploded. It's kinda your fault. You should feel bad.
I didn't feel bad about Hopeville, I just wanted to get to Ulysses and waste his smug ass.
Oh, and about the story? Current chapter is currently over 10000 words. I just wrote 3,000 words this evening. I feel sleepy. Have a look.
Part of him expected the princesses to throw words dripping with condescension or contempt his way. Or fear, or worry…or calling for the guards to seize him.
All of his worries were swept away when he found himself wrapped in a feathery white wing and pulled into an fluffy embrace. Gasping in surprise, he quickly found that Celestia smelled faintly of vanilla.
Her gold-shoed hoof was resting on his opposite shoulder. “There is nothing to be ashamed of,” she whispered into his ear, “While it would be so easy to make broad assumptions, I will not judge your race based on the actions of a few selfish individuals. They dragged your civilization to ruin. Your people should not blame themselves.”
There was something unusual about Celestia, and it wasn’t the fact that she was a six-foot tall winged unicorn. She made him feel…strangely calm. In some ways, he was reminded of the pacification field at Big MT, but there were some huge differences. He was unable to even form an aggressive thought at the latter. Around Celestia, he could still feel angry, but be eerily tranquil about it.
Celestia gently nuzzled his face, much to his surprise, when she finally released him and walked back to Luna.
“To tell you the truth,” said Luna, “Our race has once made a very similar mistake in the past.”
Isaac’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?” said both Twilight and he simultaneously.
Celestia nodded. “Although most of us have long forgotten it, the rise of Discord was the fault of Ponykind.”
I'm going to bed now! Have a pic of AJ.
I need an adult. I don't care if I'm over 18; I need an adult!
I agree that the story and environment in Fallout 3 were more compelling and interesting than those in New Vegas. I do however prefer the game-play of New Vegas over Fallout 3. In number 3 it was almost impossible to hit anything reliably without using VATS and you couldn't aim down the sights. Hardcore mode also made the game far more interesting in New Vegas. If we had the story and setting from Fallout 3 with all the game-play and mechanics of New Vegas we would have a far better game.
1369769
That's what mods are for. A lot of features that were added in NV already existed as mods for FO3. Iron sights...a wider crafting system...and a form of hardcore that's even more hardcore than NV hardcore mode namely Fallout Wanderer's Edition.
In addition to adding primary needs, heal-over-time stimpacks, it also tweaked a lot of things to make the game more realistic, like guns to a whole lot more damage, to both you and enemies.
In fact, the dev team for NV looked at mods when deciding on what new content to add. It shows what players like!
Edit: There is also the "Tale of Two Wastelands" mod. I've never used it but essentially what it does is combine the two into a single game.
1369778 I only have Fallout 3 on Xbox. I have New Vegas for both Xbox and computer.
Ach. As much as I like Fallout 2, you do bring up a point. Fallout 3 certainly did a better job of establishing your motivation. Plus, dat Liam Neeson voice.
The lip bite really sells that picture.
I personally like how much more involved FNV is, how much more your choices matter.
Then again, making you CARE about those choices, like you said above, is important. Good show.
If only they locked out Lonesome Road until you completed the other DLC. That way, you can rub it in Ulysses' face that HE'S not free from accidental mistakes either.
1369769>>1369778
The Tale of Two Wastelands mod is probably the Best Thing Ever. It takes Fallout 3 and slams it into NV's slightly better engine (I personally find shooting to be a bit easier in NV) add in mods like project nevada, and you're set for a good game.
Of course, it's still in alpha. There will be bugs, crashes... but it's pretty late into the alpha right now. I'm at tranquility lane right now and I've had no problems.
I was a huge fan of Bethesda before they took up the Fallout mantle and I was really looking forward to what they had in store. I love Fallout III but part of me always attributed that to the fact that I am so Bethesda biased and the radical change in play style (though part of me does miss the turn based combat and fixed isometric camera. Ah, nostalgia).
Looking objectively, I totally agree with you though. I'd say that Fallout III did a better job completely immersing me in the story. I still can't forget stepping out of the vault for the first time and just taking time to look around at the world. That may be the first time I've ever done that in a game. And that immersion just made the connection to the characters and story even stronger.
I think New Vegas also suffered from a bit of character/choice overload. Part of the reason I didn't connect with the story was the fact there were like 20 factions you could affiliate yourself with. And joining one pissed off everyone else. It bums me out because I think it's great to have a lot of in game choice and factions, but it didn't work well for me because I'm a completionist, so trying to play out every side to get every bit of story cheapened the story as a whole. That being said, I wish more games could implement that level of choice, and I just need to get over trying to "beat" the game every possible way.
On a side note, let's not forget this is probably one of the only games that give you "the talk." I mean they got Liam Neeson to say "boys and girls have different parts." How do you not connect to a character when the level of back story is from your character's birth to had "the birds and the bees," discussion.
dat pic...
i need an adult...
1369778 You excited for the new Fallout? Although not officially announced based on what I've heard the setting is in Boston, urban wastelands are always nice as well.
I'll be waiting patiently for you to release it whenever the hell you feel like it.
My 'There is a God!' meter is rising...
1371138
Those rumors that are based on rumors of Beth employees snooping around Boston. And if the rumors are true, then there's a good chance they were researching stuff for The Evil Within. Or maybe they were having a vacation.
1375014 "Although not officially announced" I didn't say it was true was just asking if he was excited for the next game.
1376081
Sure! I just hope by then I have a less crappy computer, so I can actually run it without any headaches.
1376129 I have a similar problem, my motherboard fried so I need to use a meh laptop.