Fallout 3 [spoilers, etc]

[LK]

Finally got 1000 achievement points and putting this baby to rest. Not even going to start over and see Megaton come up in a nuclear explosion.

[Samprimary]

For you guys who were wondering where walter the water plant guy got off to:

Occasionally when you wait or sleep, he glitches and takes a drop off of a platform he's walking on, falls to his death unnoticed by anyone (you included), and is gone forever.

[Samprimary]

Also, please note that the lady who gives you the android part and tells you to just hand it over and say the android is dead?

She is trying to rob you from being able to have one of the infinitely better options available as rewards in the quest. End of story.

If you chose that route you were denied either the Wired Reflexes perk, the best plasma rifle in the game, or both.

[Venkman]

Bleh. Where the hell were you 18 hours ago! 

I feel better about the decision I made though. And I think I've puzzled out who the android is.

Incidentally, for some reason the only time I can find those Pepboy statue things is when I read about them here. And yet I can't help but stumble over damned holotape in the freakin' game. I know the backstories of almost everyone east of Megaton, but I didn't know about the +1 Int in Dr Li's office until here. I've got a wierd attention span...

[lac]

I just bought me a flamethrowing robot. Good game.

[Samprimary]

HAD ENOUGH, COMMIE SCUM? COME BACK HERE AND LET ME ENJOY MAKING SOME BASTARD DIE FOR HIS COUNTRY

[rattran]

As Lum said, Liberty Prime is worth the weak end to the main plot.

[LK]

As Lum said, Liberty Prime is worth the weak end to the main plot.

I was thoroughly pissed off by the dillemia put to me at the end.

"Oh shit! One of us has to go in there. It has to be either you or me (me being Sentinel Lyons)."

I look through the options carefully and didn't see any option for RADIATION IMMUNE FAWKES WHO GOT THE G.E.C.K. FOR ME IN A SIMILAR SITUATION standing right next to me.

GG Bethesda.

[Hindenburg]

Fret not, if you try talking to him he'll say right to your face that you're the one that should kamikaze for the win.
Same with Charon, who's a ghoul.

[Lantyssa]

It's still a lame cop-out.  It's my character, I should be able to choose.  "No, I really don't want some post-humous credit for this.  I would like to see my dad's work come to fruition.  So go hit the fuckin' button.  I'll meet you outside where we can share a cool glass of river water."

If you chose that route you were denied either the Wired Reflexes perk, the best plasma rifle in the game, or both.

Yeah, you can do both.  It felt so satifying to blast that bastard after he gave me the perk.

[Rasix]

Fret not, if you try talking to him he'll say right to your face that you're the one that should kamikaze for the win.
Same with Charon, who's a ghoul.

Heh, I took a bunch of rad x and the chamber was doing virtually no radiation damage to me.  I took my drugs, I should have been able to live.  I hate unavoidable situations in games.  The three times weakest moments in this game are when your dad dies, you get captured by the enclave and when you die.  Taking the game out of the player's hands when you put so much of it into the player's hands just feels wrong.

And yet, I find myself playing still.  Went back to an earlier save and am having fun just roaming the wastes.  I thought Fawkes would get old, but his quasi retard screams keep me infinitely amused.

[lesion]

Kicking on VATS to slow down his air-raid shortbus yelling is what dreams are made of. Unfortunately his being a big pile of stupid mutant shit and blocking doorways is not.

On my second playthrough I got to level 20 just wandering around doing new quests and I still haven't discovered everything. I thoroughly enjoyed buying Clover and having her shoot, chop and wisecrack through several hundred pounds of raider meat. Can't wait for official mod support, although a few I found at Fallout 3 Nexus make things better (centered third person cam, UI shrink, music swaps).

Also: mirelurks. Nomination for worst enemy since any other crab-like humanoid ever. The Kings and NukaLurks were okay. Fucking crab battle.

[Ironwood]

I like the Mirelurks.  Unfortunately, I've just been given a quest that basically says 'Hey, remember you shot all those Mirelurks to death ?  Can you go back to their Lair and Not Kill Them ?'

GG.


I have to say that after initial annoyance, I love this game.  Really.  I think they did a lot of things right.

By the sound of it, more Freeform and Infinite levels would have been better, but I like it a lot.

[Litigator]

I have to say, I don't generally react emotionally to video game stories, but the tenpenny tower thing really made me blow my stack.  I kind of liked some of those characters in there, but I felt a little sorry for the ghouls and thought they were getting a raw deal, so instead of either murdering the ghouls or helping the ghouls break in and kill all the people, I got Tenpenny to agree to let the ghouls move in if the residents were okay with it, and then I went around getting the residents on-board my anti-discrimination bandwagon.

So the ghouls moved in with the normals, and I pat myself on the shoulder for being wasteland Jesus and move on along my merry way.

[Ironwood]

Sounds more like a bug.  I hope.

[Ingmar]

Can't wait for official mod support

This. I find myself daydreaming about doing conversions of the first two games to this engine, and I thought I'd never ever want them any other way but turn-based. I thnk they'd hold up really well (and you could finally have non-retarded NPCs!)

[Rasix]

Uhh, the vendors said they were leaving. They were the staunchest anti-ghoul people in the building and flat out said they wouldn't live with the ghouls. "Where will I live?" I remember the general store lady bemoaning. One of the non vendors you "convince" decides to move into Burke's old place and I believe the aristocrat couple just up and leaves

[Tebonas]

I like the Mirelurks.  Unfortunately, I've just been given a quest that basically says 'Hey, remember you shot all those Mirelurks to death ?  Can you go back to their Lair and Not Kill Them ?'

Don't worry, killing them prior to getting the quest doesn't count.

[Venkman]

So I get to the National Archives for the Declaration of Independence side quest. I like that the computer terminal in the lobby asks you historically accurate questions while the guy in Rivet City is all wrong. The part I'm not liking so far though is escorting whats-her-name through the depths of the Archives.

For one, what is it were her barely-armored self running head first into lasers and flame throwing? She's eating my Stimpaks!

For another, now the b*tch is trapped in a room because her AI code is interacting with some bad guys on the opposite side of the wall, which I cannot get to anyway. I'm thinking of loading a prior save and just telling her to stay put.

Is the pet/partner AI pathing a recurring issue here? I'll plan ahead if so.

Also, now in the Archives I realize that at least in the lower depths, while I'm loaded for Bear it's the wrong type of Bear. Stupid robots. I've entirely ignored energy weapons to this point (level 11). Are lowered-powered ones more effective against robots than much-higher-powered (as in, max repaired) ballistic weapons? Or should I just stockpile pulse grenades and pulse mines and finish them off with ballistics?

[Litigator]

Uhh, the vendors said they were leaving. They were the staunchest anti-ghoul people in the building and flat out said they wouldn't live with the ghouls. "Where will I live?" I remember the general store lady bemoaning. One of the non vendors you "convince" decides to move into Burke's old place and I believe the aristocrat couple just up and leaves

I talked to everybody on the ground floor about that, and most of them said they were okay with letting the ghouls in.  The woman who the slavers wanted said she was moving upstairs to hide out in Burke's room so she wouldn't have to see the ghouls, the couple said they were going to leave the tower, and so did the other shopkeeper.  

Everyone else, the doctor, the cook, the drunk, the old couple, Dashwood, the security chief and Tenpenny were okay with letting the ghouls in.  The first time you visit after you tell Roy in the sewer that he can move in, the ghouls and the residents are all living in the tower.  If you return later, you find out that Roy killed all the humans. Does anyone know if killing Roy for Gustavo keeps you from getting the ghoul mask? Or can you loot it off Roy?  Does killing the ghouls get you evil karma?

I was particularly annoyed because there was a freeform quest I wanted to check out where you reunite Dashwood with Argyle (they're the people the radio play is about).  But I went ahead and finished the game last night.  Ending was underwhelming.  I wonder how they sell an expansion with that ending.  They will probably just stick quests onto new areas and charge for them over XBL.

[Litigator]

So I get to the National Archives for the Declaration of Independence side quest. I like that the computer terminal in the lobby asks you historically accurate questions while the guy in Rivet City is all wrong. The part I'm not liking so far though is escorting whats-her-name through the depths of the Archives.

For one, what is it were her barely-armored self running head first into lasers and flame throwing? She's eating my Stimpaks!

For another, now the b*tch is trapped in a room because her AI code is interacting with some bad guys on the opposite side of the wall, which I cannot get to anyway. I'm thinking of loading a prior save and just telling her to stay put.

Is the pet/partner AI pathing a recurring issue here? I'll plan ahead if so.

Also, now in the Archives I realize that at least in the lower depths, while I'm loaded for Bear it's the wrong type of Bear. Stupid robots. I've entirely ignored energy weapons to this point (level 11). Are lowered-powered ones more effective against robots than much-higher-powered (as in, max repaired) ballistic weapons? Or should I just stockpile pulse grenades and pulse mines and finish them off with ballistics?

Teammate AI in this game is not very good.  They will also eat up expensive ammo shooting roaches and flies, block doorways, and get stuck on geometry.  But you need them anyway for their carrying capacity.

If Sydney survives, she becomes a useful ammunition vendor later on.  If she dies, you can loot the unique SMG.  But you can get the SMG if she lives by finding the holotape from her father in the Statesman Hotel during the Reilly's Rangers mission and giving it to her. 

Having a good extra vendor in Underworld is fairly handy later on if you want to vendor a lot of the valuable junk that drops.  Even with a companion, you can't lug around a lot of power armor suits and big guns. 

[shiznitz]

I was pissed when I shot Burke in the face after taking the Fusion Controller he didn't have his key on him.

I agree with schild - doors should be destructible.

[Hindenburg]

Are lowered-powered ones more effective against robots than much-higher-powered (as in, max repaired) ballistic weapons? Or should I just stockpile pulse grenades and pulse mines and finish them off with ballistics?

Damaged energy weapons are, much like any damaged weapon of any class, horrible.

Just stockpile pulse grenades and mines.

Teammate AI in this game is not very good.  They will also eat up expensive ammo shooting roaches and flies, block doorways, and get stuck on geometry.  But you need them anyway for their carrying capacity.

Ahm, teammates have infinite ammo, afaik.

I sure as hell never gave shotgun ammo to charon or gatling laser ammo to Fawkes, and when i gave him a gatling laser at the vault and forced him to equip, he shot that thing at everything without ever running on empty.

[Lantyssa]

I was pissed when I shot Burke in the face after taking the Fusion Controller he didn't have his key on him.

I agree with schild - doors should be destructible.

The GOAT test even has a response about using Cherry Bombs to blow a lock!

I talked to everybody on the ground floor about that, and most of them said they were okay with letting the ghouls in.  The woman who the slavers wanted said she was moving upstairs to hide out in Burke's room so she wouldn't have to see the ghouls, the couple said they were going to leave the tower, and so did the other shopkeeper. 

The shopkeeps will also move out if you raid their safes.  Mine packed up and left and I haven't done anything about the Ghouls yet.

[Litigator]

The shopkeeps will also move out if you raid their safes.  Mine packed up and left and I haven't done anything about the Ghouls yet.

Losing the vendors isn't the beef; the ghouls replace the shopkeepers.  My beef was that I put in a lot of extra effort going around on my diplomatic hero trip, trying to convince the Tenpenny residents that their ghoul-exclusion plan was bigoted and wrong.  Turns out, bigotry was right and ghouls are, in fact, a bunch of zombie assholes. 

I could have solved that quest much faster by just shooting Roy in the face and leaving his corpse in his goddamn sewer.

[Litigator]

Damaged energy weapons are, much like any damaged weapon of any class, horrible.

Just stockpile pulse grenades and mines.

I don't think energy weapons have a bonus against robots, other than the pulse grenades and mines.  Robots just have high damage resistance.

You can make them turn on each other by sniping their combat inhibitors.

Ahm, teammates have infinite ammo, afaik.

I sure as hell never gave shotgun ammo to charon or gatling laser ammo to Fawkes, and when i gave him a gatling laser at the vault and forced him to equip, he shot that thing at everything without ever running on empty.

Fawkes seems to have unlimited ammo for his gatling laser.  Charon definitely used up my bullets.  On the plus side, though, his gear could be upgraded, and he didn't get caught on geometry as often.  You would think they would have put more thought into teammate pathing before they littered the ground with all that crap.

[schild]

I don't know how Charon used up your bullets. Maybe they use them if you give them to them, but I never gave my teammates ammo and they just kept killing and killing. With guns.

[Rishathra]

Yeah, if you give your teammates stuff, they will use them, but they will never run out of the default stuff they use.  I haven't given Charon one single shell, but he's been happily blasting away with that shotgun for a while now.

I have no idea about the other companions you can get, but I've been loving Charon to pieces.  Yeah, the pathing sometimes sucks, but sometimes its actually pretty decent, and overall its not that big of a headache.  At least when he runs off to kill someone, he actually manages to do it, and doesn't instantly die, like Dogmeat.  He's a fucking death machine.

I'm curious as to how many companions there are in this game.  I know that Butch can end up in Rivet City sometimes.  There's also Fawkes, Jericho, and Dogmeat.  Any others I don't know about?

[Litigator]

Yeah, if you give your teammates stuff, they will use them, but they will never run out of the default stuff they use.  I haven't given Charon one single shell, but he's been happily blasting away with that shotgun for a while now.

I have no idea about the other companions you can get, but I've been loving Charon to pieces.  Yeah, the pathing sometimes sucks, but sometimes its actually pretty decent, and overall its not that big of a headache.  At least when he runs off to kill someone, he actually manages to do it, and doesn't instantly die, like Dogmeat.  He's a fucking death machine.

I'm curious as to how many companions there are in this game.  I know that Butch can end up in Rivet City sometimes.  There's also Fawkes, Jericho, and Dogmeat.  Any others I don't know about?

I used Fawkes and Charon.  Charon went with me into vault 87, disappeared after the forced plot event, and Fawkes was waiting to join up, so I took him.  After I got dragged off by the enclave, Charon decided to go back to drinking in Underworld. What a dick.

I dislike that, after Fawkes offers early in the plot to fetch the McGuffin out of a room saturated in high radiation, he doesn't step up at the end of the game.  Between the pair of them, it really makes you want to stuff the FEV into the purifier.

there's a wandering robot guy you can buy a Mr. Handy companion from, and you can also get Clover the whore in Paradise Falls if you are evil.

[Venkman]

Will companions ever rubberband to your current location if you get too far ahead? I could leave Sydney in that room for all I care right now. Her combat skills just leach stimpacks from me anyway and so far the robots have only eaten a lot of my ammo, not deadified me. But for the future I want to know what to avoid or to expect with other companions.

You can make them turn on each other by sniping their combat inhibitors.

Oooh nice. Guess that was my one-new-thing to learn for the day 

[Litigator]

Will companions ever rubberband to your current location if you get too far ahead? I could leave Sydney in that room for all I care right now. Her combat skills just leach stimpacks from me anyway and so far the robots have only eaten a lot of my ammo, not deadified me. But for the future I want to know what to avoid or to expect with other companions.

If you tell them to wait, they will wait where you leave them.  If enemies spawn or patrol into that room while the companion is waiting, though, the companion will engage, and potentially die.

I wouldn't worry too much about the stimpacks though.  With a little bit of exploring and sidequesting, I finished the game with like 150 stimpacks in my inventory.

[Rishathra]

Wait, so you CAN get a robot from that wandering guy?  I don't care if it sucks, I want it.  That fucker told me that the robot wouldn't like me, so no dice on buying it.  Do you have to have bad karma to get that one or something?

And Litigator, forced events like that tend to deactivate your companions, but not permanently, you just have to talk to them afterwards and they will follow you again.

EDIT: clarification

[rattran]

I dislike that, after Fawkes offers early in the plot to fetch the McGuffin out of a room saturated in high radiation, he doesn't step up at the end of the game.  Between the pair of them, it really makes you want to stuff the FEV into the purifier.

What, you mean you didn't commit genocide to punish Fawkes for being a coward? I sure did. Then sent Power Armor Girl in to die for her country. The end scenes were a bit down on me.

[Ingmar]

Wait, so you CAN get a robot from that wandering guy?  I don't care if it sucks, I want it.  That fucker told me that the robot wouldn't like me, so no dice on buying it.  Do you have to have bad karma to get that one or something?

And Litigator, forced events like that tend to deactivate your companions, but not permanently, you just have to talk to them afterwards and they will follow you again.

EDIT: clarification

Robot requirement is annoying. You have to have *neutral* karma.

[LK]

Did anyone ever encounter Uncle Leo? I saw that person once then never saw him again.