I was going to post this in the main Fallout 3 thread until I realised the non-spoiler thread was packed full of spoilers and I had to beat a hasty retreat. Can someone update the title of that cursed thread? If you haven’t been spoiled yet make sure to avoid the DLC, it seems they’re trying to encourage me to buy it by giving away later events of the game without warning.
This is little more than a post about how much I’m enjoying this game. I was dubious, I wouldn’t touch Oblivion with a barge pole. Swords in a game with tedious sounding close combat mechanics? A levelling system which appears to defeat the point of the open world (I have no idea if Fallout 3 does something similar and I’d prefer not to know. Nothing ruins an immersive game like a deep understanding of all the mechanics)? Urgh, no thanks. I felt the same about Fallout 3 yet for some reasons just felt an urge to buy it, probably games like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, STALKER, Far Cry 2 and Space Rangers 2 giving me an open world hankering.
Needless to say I’ve been loving it. The childhood section really clicked for me, and of course the whole perks system is just fun (at its best when it isn’t just a stats boost) and I love that I always seem to be living on the edge when it comes to ammo levels and money for repairs. But best of all is the way there always seems to be something going on, for example:
I was following the Wasteland Guide quest, heading towards the tepid sewers to thwack some mole rats when a boy ran up to me asking for help with his father. I decided to help and followed him on his route home without waiting on the assumption that he’d take a safe route (which he did). Thus begins the investigation into Grayditch where I sneak from house to house picking up ammo and hacking into computers where I can. I learn a weakness in my enemy and get to use it to good effect when they trap me on the upper floor of a ruined house, having them turn on each other just as I was mere bars from death.
Recovering from my burns by drinking from an irradiated water thing (it’s still a game :)) I make a dash for the underground station I’ve learned I need to head for and dive inside. Well, I slowly sneak my way through until, worried about my ammo levels, I decide to emerge through a door to the surface I’ve found. This leads me straight into a firefight between the Brotherhood of Steel and some Super Mutants which at first I watch until I realise one side is friendly. I then assist and agree to help them rescue one of their brethren. We engage more Super Mutants (a foe which I fear mainly due to his ammo sucking toughness) and I find that arm shots are proving to be mighty effective, though the laser rifles of my colleagues are a big help.
In the end though my two allies are overwhelmed and I have to defeat the last two Super Mutants in my weakened state, though fortunately the damage done to them appears to have put their aim way off. At this point I have picked up so much loot I am moving at a crawl. Still, I decide to head into the building to complete the rescue but decide that this is folly the second I spot the first brute. Perhaps I could have pulled it off with mines and such, but I’m moving at such a slow clip (and oddly I’m too lazy to dump items and retrieve them later yet I’m willing to move this slow) I withdraw and decide to save the guy later.
So now it’s back to Megaton to deposit my sweet loot and hopefully have enough to repair everything. Rather than head back via the underground I decide to go overland, a plan I change in minutes as I approach a building corner and get a red blip. I don’t know what it is and I don’t want to know, I withdraw to the station. Good thing too because I missed a raider body complete with the sweet nectar that is a stash of .56 ammo. Glorious.
After a long trek through the tunnels I emerge back in Grayditch to find some soldiers under attack by the Grayditch foe. I naturally assist. Rather than receiving thanks I learn that they’re after me and so I quickly pump every combat drug I have into my battered, overladen body. With the aid of stimpacks it’s enough and I defeat them and resume my slow trudge to Megaton.
The entire journey from Church Falls to Megaton takes me half-an-hour (yet I never get bored, something is always happening or needs avoiding) whereupon I flush out my many addictions, sell my loot, repair all my guns and am left with about one cap, but I do have a laser rifle now. Perhaps I should head back to Church Falls now?
This whole experience lasted a few hours and was beyond awesome, every time I tried to focus on a quest something else would happen. Hell, just wandering through the wastes is finding me new things, and the fact that I always need ammo means scavenging is always worthwhile.