LTTP: Fallout 3

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

So having never played a Fallout game before and loving the show, I decided to try to get in to the games and figured the first 3D one was the place to start. Praise Xbox backwards compatibility.

So I'm generally not an RPG player which is why I always avoided Fallout. My opinion of the game so far is.......not bad. I'm enjoying myself enough so far though there are things that annoy me. I'll start with the number 1 thing I can't stand before moving on to the good. The weight limit mechanic sucks, it does nothing but slow the game down and irritate me. It's a game that encourages looting, then punishes you for looting. You get encumbered, then have to go back to Megaton to sell or offload your shit before you go back to what you're doing. It just adds extra busywork and adds nothing to the game but time going back and forth. Let me horde in peace and do what I want with my loot in my own time. Hate it when any game does this and Fallout 3 is no exception.

With that rant over, I'm mostly enjoying the game. I like the general gameplay, the way the combat works with the vats, the exploration, the dialogue options, the interactions with characters and the little systems. It's a cool world and game with lots of options and ways to do things. I'm not far in the game I'm only level 7 I think but yeah I'm having fun. Done the vampire people quest got them to provide protection in exchange for blood packs. And most recently I did the fire ants section. Went down killed the ants but didn't kill the queen and got a strength boost from the guy. Then afterwards I went back down and hacked the terminal did the good thing.

So yeah, cool game. Excited to play more. Curse weight limits.

 

[HolyJonte]

Yeah the games from that time often has that kind of weight system. Even Demon's Souls.

Going outside from the Vault in Fallout 3 for the first time was one of the coolest video game experiences. Together with reaching the world map in FF7, Reaching the dark world in ALTTP, Taking the Master Sword in Ocarina of Time and Going outside in Elden Ring. Great moment.

 

[cursed knowledge]

this probably will be repeated 100x here but New Vegas is so much better, you're in for a treat

 

[Bede-x]

If Bethesda ever gave players the option to turn off weight limits, I'd be surprised if the majority of players didn't turn that off either at the beginning or sometime during the game. It's the kind of thing I feel designers think is fun, but players actually hate with a passion.

I also jumped back into Fallout 3 again and aside from weight limits am loving every minute of it. Their artstyle just fits the wasteland so perfectly and it feels so desolate and dense at the same time, always enticing you to go exploring. It's an excellent game.

 

[Kreim]

I was a such a hater on launch, I thought it was a doubling down of the mistakes of Oblivion and that bethesda had lost it! Well I guess they still are losing it.... forever.

On a replay I was shocked how dense Fallout 3 was. The random events are so fun, I don't think they attempted or executed that idea nearly as well in anything else.

 

[Scottoest]

Encumbrance can be annoying, but you'll also eventually get a better sense of what is worth picking up and what isn't.

If you like FO3, you'll really like New Vegas because it's FO3 but with a much better story. And FO4 looks visually a lot better.

 

[Leo-Tyrant]

So yeah, cool game. Excited to play more. Curse weight limits.

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Fallout 4 would have been a better start for you, but just in case: loot strategically. Basically, just FIX your weapon with same type of weapons, discard the rest, get ammo only, get better gear, drop the rest, etc. You don't need to SELL things to survive, you don't need to carry most things at all.

There are perks that will help as well, but just be smart about what you carry.

this probably will be repeated 100x here but New Vegas is so much better, you're in for a treat

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I disagree, New Vegas is a good follow up if he liked 3, but OP is using backward compatibility on the XBOX ecosystem so it would be an un-modded, un-fixed New Vegas so it would probably just be a terrible first experience overall.

 

[Bede-x]

Encumbrance can be annoying, but you'll also eventually get a better sense of what is worth picking up and what isn't.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, this is the best way to handle it. Don't pick up everything. Choose what's worth bringing back to your place or to sell.

 

[Buckle]

I Wanna Be The Guy New Vegas is better balance wise, has much better writing and characters aswell as more QOL features, If that sounds more appealing to you. Fallout 3 is really starting to feel its age despite how good it is.

What NV doesn't have though is as strong of a sense of exploration as 3 does. 3 is trademark Bethesda gigantic open map to get lost whereas NV's is pretty dense but condensed. Its very tight and the game is much more quest focused than 3 was rather than kind of searching out every nook and cranny though there is abit of that aswell.

New Vegas' focus is more similar to the older games in how it handles things and structures itself, I feel. Feels more CRPGy at times, if that makes any sense?

I know people are getting tired of the New Vegas comparisons but he's new to the franchise so I thought I would just give him my thoughts and suggestions on that right quick in case a different sort of Fallout might be more his thing since both games are very different in a lot of ways. Sorry about that.

 

[Sotha_Sil]

Very good game. Some great exploration and discovery of DC environments. I liked the spin-off of the Brotherhood that was a bit different from the west coast origins.

The design is unique for BGS. Outside of the main quest, there's only like 20 named side quests in the game. Almost all of them have a good deal of skill checks during dialog or quest actions, as well as player agency in how they are resolved. I really liked that and wish it was something BGS kept doing (quality over quantity wrt side quests).

Gunplay is atrocious but VATS helps. Main quest is pretty rough after you get to the BoS base, but the assault on the final location was just pure, dumb fun. The writing wasn't particularly noteworthy, but passable. Overall, I'd call it a very good game and one that still has a lot of value in 2024 if you can get past the rubbish gunplay.

 

[jungius]

fallout 3 has atmospheric storytelling and ambience that still couldn't be matched by other games and fallout games, new vegas included. The feeling of somber apocalypse, despair, horror, gore really shine in this game. Even the metro system is so good, it lead to mysteries and sense of explorations to see where the tunnels goes into. The story isn't really good but no one should play this for story alone lmao.

This is one of games that I kept replaying just for the world alone.

 

[Lobster Roll]

I mean ... you're a wasteland survivor. You find scrap or materials or weapons and you pick up and haul what you can. As others have said, you'll figure out what to prioritize and also how much to venture out with. Do you really need 6 guns on you or can you make due with 2-3? Are you carrying a bunch of junk that you'll have no other use for than selling for a handful of caps? You might want to leave it behind. You'll figure out the balance in time.

 

[jungius]

So having never played a Fallout game before and loving the show, I decided to try to get in to the games and figured the first 3D one was the place to start. Praise Xbox backwards compatibility.

So I'm generally not an RPG player which is why I always avoided Fallout. My opinion of the game so far is.......not bad. I'm enjoying myself enough so far though there are things that annoy me. I'll start with the number 1 thing I can't stand before moving on to the good. The weight limit mechanic sucks, it does nothing but slow the game down and irritate me. It's a game that encourages looting, then punishes you for looting. You get encumbered, then have to go back to Megaton to sell or offload your shit before you go back to what you're doing. It just adds extra busywork and adds nothing to the game but time going back and forth. Let me horde in peace and do what I want with my loot in my own time. Hate it when any game does this and Fallout 3 is no exception.

With that rant over, I'm mostly enjoying the game. I like the general gameplay, the way the combat works with the vats, the exploration, the dialogue options, the interactions with characters and the little systems. It's a cool world and game with lots of options and ways to do things. I'm not far in the game I'm only level 7 I think but yeah I'm having fun. Done the vampire people quest got them to provide protection in exchange for blood packs. And most recently I did the fire ants section. Went down killed the ants but didn't kill the queen and got a strength boost from the guy. Then afterwards I went back down and hacked the terminal did the good thing.

So yeah, cool game. Excited to play more. Curse weight limits.

Click to shrink...

resource and inventory management is central part of modern bethesda games

thats where ppl hoarder habits being sharpened lmao

 

[ragolliangatan]

Been replaying it myself and it's still my favorite of the series. The tone and atmosphere is spot on in the game and at times almost make it feel like a horror game.

this probably will be repeated 100x here but New Vegas is so much better, you're in for a treat

Click to shrink...

I prefer 3 to NV because of the world and atmosphere. NV is still great though

 

[LossAversion]

Fallout 3 is fantastic. It gets shit on for not being like New Vegas but honestly, I do think Bethesda is still king when it comes to world design and environmental storytelling. The Capital Wasteland is one of the coolest worlds that I've ever explored. The vibes are awesome. Sure, the quests and dialogue aren't as complex as they are in New Vegas but there are still plenty of cool characters and quests to find. The main cities are awesome too. The thing that I wish Fallout 3 had compared to New Vegas is actually the hardcore mode. That is still one of the best "immersion" modes that has ever been implemented and neither Bethesda nor Obsidian themselves have replicated it since. The survival and super nova modes from Fallout 4 and The Outer Worlds were such a disappointment in comparison.

 

[DeliciousSunnyD!]

Never been a super big Bethesda fan, but I've always thought this was solid (without ever having played, nor caring at all about the original titles). The atmosphere/aesthetic and world exploration were the two main draws for me, everything else was mostly lacking otherwise. Not really someone who cares much about hard role-playing.

Understand your criticisms regarding the inventory management, but I think this is one of the 'defining traits' of these Bethesda games. Being able to just suck everything up all at once with zero care about repercussions would just make all the junk collectables scattered throughout the world that much more meaningless. By giving them weight on top of various conditional values depending on what exactly the items in question are makes inventory decision-making a core aspect of the game. Personally, I'm OK with the carry weight limit in these games, though typically inventory management is never really my thing either.

Have never beaten this game nor seen the majority of the game's content, despite starting it up several times throughout the years. Probably have only seen about 50-60% of the game's various content tbh and I'm mostly OK with that. Maybe I'll fully do everything in this game someday...

Never played New Vegas. Bought FO4 at launch and only played like 2 hours or so. That's what I've personally returned to with all the Fallout hype, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit (but I'm playing on Survival Mode). Honestly OP, you might actually like Fallout 4 even more, depending. It definitely seems to be less of an RPG and more of an action-adventure FPS scavenger hunt. Helps that the FPS gameplay in it is actually somewhat competent/comparable to industry FPS standards, unlike FO3.

 

[nicoga3000]

FO3 + Castle Crashers are the reasons I bought a 360 in college. It's my favorite FO game and the only one I've ever finished. New Vegas is the better story/role play, but FO3's world is more my style.

Glad you're enjoying it!

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

With the looting you're supposed to look at the weight and compare it to value. Don't waste your time picking up something that weighs multiple pounds but will sell for hardly any caps. Only time you should be farming mats is if you're doing it for something specific and target farming for it.

 

[Ruu]

I wonder how many people new to the series will go back and give 1 and 2 a shot cause my boomer take is I never liked the series much (writing in NV is excellent though) once it went 3D. 2 can be brutal (the opening dungeon I suspect bounces a LOT of people off of it) but damn it is my favorite RPG of all time.

 

[MyDudeMango]

Fallout 3 is honestly a solid ass Bethesda game, it just gets an iffy rep because it's so at odds with the first two games in themes and style that it didn't feel like a proper follow-up, and suffers immensely from direct comparisons to New Vegas as that game has gone on to achieve a reputation of being a GOAT-tier game. F3 probably holds up way better viewed as the start of its own new thing than as a numbered follow-up to such a venerable duology of classic CRPGs tbh. NV is a great reconciliation of the old Black Isle games and the newer Bethesda games, and I do think F3 deserves slightly more credit than it gets for being able to provide that game its foundation, as well as being a solid simple fun experience on its own.

If you ever do find the time and patience to get into the flow of those first two games though, I highly recommend it. I think Fallout 1 especially gets slept on, it's such a tight, concise, perfectly paced classic RPG imo.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

I have a distinct memory of getting lost in the subway tunnels and randomly discovering what felt like a hidden outside area only discoverable through the subway because of all the rubble on my second or third playthrough and having this sense of wonder about experiencing something so easily missable

 

[Anustart]

Playing through New Vegas again (it was my first Fallout, and only one I've completed, but have put 100s of hours into 3 and 4)

Maybe I'll give 3 another try after Vegas, but I'm currently thinking 4 after the patch drops.

3 just had a bunch of things that irritated me. I remember debris and trash piles blocking your path in a lot of areas, but the thing that really irked me (and it's dumb) was in one building, there's 2 doors on the same wall, go in one of those doors and you're in a long hallway, door on either end. Traverse that hallway and you pop out from the other door that was on that same wall. Made no sense and pisses me off lol

 

[Doskoi Panda]

Game is dope. Atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Get good at repairing so that you can consolidate multiple weapons into one more valuable and reliable weapon, to conserve space. And let go of hoarding tendencies. Sell shit when you can, drop what you don't need, and prioritize items with a high value-to-weight ratio.

I disagree, New Vegas is a good follow up if he liked 3, but OP is using backward compatibility on the XBOX ecosystem so it would be an un-modded, un-fixed New Vegas so it would probably just be a terrible first experience overall.

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Relative to playing the game modded on PC? Sure, I could absolutely see where you're coming from.

Relative to playing Fallout 3 on Xbox? Not at all, lol. If Fallout 3 on Xbox works well enough for them, then Fallout NV on Xbox is likely to, as well. Fallout NV has its issues, even relative to Fallout 3, but I think you're overstating the degree to which the game is broken.

 

[AnimeJesus]

I liked 3 at the time but I don't remember it fondly for some reason, nor do I ever want to replay it. I think because it's part of that era (Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3) where Bethesda games, while great, felt especially jankier than they do now. It wasn't until Skyrim that I felt like Bethesda games felt more well put together technically.

 

[kamineko]

I loved Fallout 3. I appreciate that it's still a wonky, numbers-driven RPG (as is New Vegas). I don't like Fallout 4 at all, but I've experimented a lot with various builds in Fallout 3 and have had a great time. Like, I get that the writing isn't great, but the mix of exploration and system fiddling was very addictive. I'm sure I'll play it again someday.

 

[GenTask]

1&2 are the better starting points in my opinion. You get to see what Fallout was. Those that never were introduced to the originals though don't really understand how jarring it was to go from a strategy rpg game to F3. To go from a great written series to that.

 

[ChitonIV]

One of the best intro chapters in all of gaming.

Gunplay is atrocious but VATS helps

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I played a melee character whom specialized in explosives. So I would throw an explody thing, then run in and punch up whatever was left. And sometimes I'd puch a gun out of their hand and I would grab it and use it point blank.

Pretty exciting way to play and VATS only added to it!

 

[JasperMyst]

Fallout 3 was one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played and even when I tried getting into New Vegas, there was just something artificial about it that prevented me from moving along with my playthrough.

I will say that New Vegas has some great DLC like with Old World Blues. Such a fine piece of DLC that was.

100% everything in Fallout 3 with all the DLC and it's one of my personal goats of the genre. Don't care about the criticism, at its inception it felt like the best thing ever for me at the time. Would die for a Remake with all the creation engine advances.

Todd make it happen!

 

[riotous]

I've had the console command to basically disable weight limit memorized for years lol. (Although they are called console commands I believe ironically only possible on PC.)

3 is good but the map can be a nightmare at times with how you can't get to places without some crazy roundabout nonsensical path.

 

[Chippewa Barr]

Booted up the game on Series X after starting the show and picked up right where my save was at back in like 2009. Cloud saves are so underrated lol.

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

Going up against Super Mutants now. The game remains cool. I'm not sure why people say the combat sucks? I like it. You have to use vats but why is that a problem? It make it unique and I basically look at it as a turn based combat system but not if that makes sense.

 

[Swiggins]

Going up against Super Mutants now. The game remains cool. I'm not sure why people say the combat sucks? I like it. You have to use vats but why is that a problem? It make it unique and I basically look at it as a turn based combat system but not if that makes sense.

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I remember when the trailers for Fallout 3 were coming out, a bunch of people were saying "VATS is gonna get old really quickly" and yet somehow it never does.

Blowing a raider apart in slow motion is consistently entertaining.

What kind of build are you going with OP, find any of the fun sidequests yet?

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

I remember when the trailers for Fallout 3 were coming out, a bunch of people were saying "VATS is gonna get old really quickly" and yet somehow it never does.

Blowing a raider apart in slow motion is consistently entertaining.

What kind of build are you going with OP, find any of the fun sidequests yet?

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My specials are currently 7 strength 5 perception 5 endurance 5 charisma 9 intelligence 6 agility 5 luck. For my skills so far:

Barter 25
Big guns 15
Energy weapons 15
Explosives 26
Lockpick 53
Medicine 45
Melee 20
Repair 50
Science 45
Small guns 55
Sneak 18
Speech 60
Unarmed 17

Perks so far I got strength increase and fire resistance from the ant sidequest. I got the educated perk so I get more skill points each level. All 3 gun nut perks. Gunslinger to increase vat accuracy with pistols. I regain hp from blood packs from the vampire people side quest. Rad regeneration from moira's rad experiment quest. And toughness.

 

[Radarscope1]

Really love this game. FO4 just did not hold my attention in the same way. VATS system is cool. It does make it into an optional, modified turn-based combat system. I remember the game not quite clicking with me when I got out of the vault because I was going into some mobs guns blazing and not using VATS or taking healing items with me. There is a small building near the beginning (I think an old super market?) and I figured out there that I needed to be strategic and methodical and I could win. It's the equivalent of the small cave outside your hometown in any basic fantasy RPG.

From there, it clicked and loved all the rest.

 

[deathsaber]

Great classic game. For me, this was a great power fantasy game- VATS rules all in Fallout 3- engage in it (and make your build full of agility and perception, so you can pause and and shoot a whole lot in VATS, and have high hit percentages- and watch as you dismember and behead everything and everyone to pieces.

Fallout 4 was different through. Combat was harder- VATS is much less OP, and VATS worked as a decent opening salvo, but I fell back on traditional real-time FPS gunplay more often than not. And of course, the actual roleplaying stuff, already diminished in Fallout 3 (coming from 1 and 2), gets way more trivialized.

 

[Yam's]

Great classic game. For me, this was a great power fantasy game- VATS rules all in Fallout 3- engage in it (and make your build full of agility and perception, so you can pause and and shoot a whole lot in VATS, and have high hit percentages- and watch as you dismember and behead everything and everyone to pieces.

Fallout 4 was different through. Combat was harder- VATS is much less OP, and VATS worked as a decent opening salvo, but I fell back on traditional real-time FPS gunplay more often than not. And of course, the actual roleplaying stuff, already diminished in Fallout 3 (coming from 1 and 2), gets way more trivialized.

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I found VATS in F4 even more busted personally using a Luck/Critic build. I had to up the difficulty all the way up in order to compensate for the crazy damage I was doing.

 

[TheOnlyJ]

I think if you take Fallout 3 as its own thing and don't compare it to 1&2 or New Vegas, it is a very enjoyable game that's great to just exist in and explore, except for parts of DC where's it's impossible to get around. New Vegas has better quests and 1&2 have better writing, but 3 is a very solid game that excels in what Bethesda excelled in. Fallout 4 just isn't very good at anything in particular - even the world felt dull to me.

 

[Silverhand]

FO3 is my favorite of the modern era. Good story. Good locations. Etc.

 

[Otakunofuji]

It's my favorite Fallout and I actually played through it twice over the last 3 weeks or so. Doing different builds and setting off in a different direction instead of just beelining the story leads to amazingly different experiences each time. I love it. One of my top 5 favorite games of all time.

 

[SilentEagle]

I still think FO3 is best work of post-Morrowind Bethesda. Fallout New Vegas is indeed better game but Fallout 3 nailed with the open world and the atmosphere in their own way.

 

[Wanace]

I just started playing again using the "Capital Punishment" modpack through Wabbajack which uses the "Tale of Two Wastelands" mod to join Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas together.

It's super hardcore and tough, but looks great and is a ton of fun if you like Fallout 4 survival mode but wished it were amped up times 10, this is the mod for you.

 

[NicoNicoRose]

Honestly think Fallout 3 is, to me, the weakest of the "main" Fallouts. It's just as badly written as Fallout 4, but Fallout 4 looks and plays much better. 1, 2, and New Vegas handily outdo it in the writing/narrative department, and 76 is honestly now at this point probably the best Bethesda Fallout in many regards apart from some of its quirks resulting from being multiplayer.

I just...ehhhh, Fallout 3 just doesn't hit for me in almost any way.

 

[Patitoloco]

That's why the only real way to play FO3 is with Tale of Two Wastelands through New Vegas.

Basically adds the entirety of Fallout 3 to New Vegas, with all the QoL and gameplay improvements that game has and rebalances both of the games fantastically.

 

[Malverde]

this probably will be repeated 100x here but New Vegas is so much better, you're in for a treat

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I disagree that it is clear cut. I am currently playing through New Vegas on Steam Deck after falling off after multiple failed starts on 360. The biggest thing I love about Fallout 3 is the feeling of freedom. It genuinely feels like I can go wherever the hell I want and do whatever I want. Fallout 3 is maybe the only game where I have ever had a fantastic time playing a black hat run. Fucking over Megaton gets you the Tenpenny apartment that makes your base of operations a different location, changing your trajectory and order of tackling quests. But I always felt free to be whoever and go/do whatever. Not pure evil, but fuck you I am going to do what I want in the moment.

New Vegas pissed me off to no end because it very much does not want you to do whatever you want. It wants you to go down a very specific route. You start in the center west. Try going north, Deathclaws. Try going east, giant scorpions. You are pretty much forced to go south. Because fuck you, this is the path. The game heavily nudges you to help the NCR, not even giving you a chance to fuck with Caesar until hours and hours later when you have likely been helping the NCR since forever. And if you decided to help the powder gangers early on over the NCR, because fuck the NCR they are liberal slavers who say "actually they are prisoners" then suddenly the NCR is pissed at you and you have no real alternative. It is either you work with them or fuck you. Having played through a big chunk twice before dropping it, I finally let myself engage on the game's terms and there is a lot of fun to be had. But I feel like I am fighting against the handholding constantly in a way I never did in Fallout 3.

 

[PAFenix]

I was deterred when my game froze and lost about 30 mins of progress one morning. Had autosaves turned off because was told that leads to corrupt save files.

Maybe I should just mod it to make things easier, so it won't feel like I lost progress even if the game does crash.

 

[Maxpower45]

I recommend after finish playing the fallout games OP is to look into modding for both 3 and NV. I played both games back on the ps3 when I was younger and had a blast. Modding it just brings a new light to them. Tales of two wastelands is the best mod to find out there that combines both games together. You will be able to travel from 3 to NV through a train. I've started my play through with it and have been enjoying it.

 

[PinkSpider]

I yo yo on which I prefer. 3 or NV (4 is a different beast, bigger in tech and some quality of life stuff but more of the same and doing it less well).

3 I think I prefer because exploring was just plain fun. I'd never played a RPG like it. Bought it on a whime for £3 (New and sealed). Played it one day hungover. Just wandering around, exploring, finding new things, killing things, getting better things, the story and most sidequests meaningless outside of exploring. A lot of fun though and I played it for 6 hours solid on the first day and did pretty much everything.

New Vegas clearly has a better story though and actual is a proper RPG outside of the exploration. I just miss the exploring though (I did try it a third time and spent around 100 hours in exploring mind).

 

[RockAction]

encumbrance put me off Fallout 3 back in the day as well, tangential but I played dragon's dogma for the first time recently, loved it first of all, but it had encumbrance and i just don't get why it's present, is it so you don't end up with a bunch of junk and then the complaints go from i hate encumbrance to i hate the poor item management? what's the solution?

wish i had a decent PC to run the stuff and turn off stamina meters so i can just be free in these games

 

[Skytylz]

Stop picking up garbage, the weight limits aren't that bad in these games. making everything "useful" in 4 made the junk way more annoying.

 

[The Albatross]

Still love FO3, I love the world so much. Just started FO3 up for the first time in almost 15 years. Immediately got the feels when leaving the Vault.

But then I was told about the mod that links FO3 and NV together and brings over the best systems from NV to FO3 and now I want a PC to experience that.

Also like others said, the junk in the wasteland is *mostly* useless. It's not quite a collectathon like FO4 and even NV is to an extent.