Fallout 3 [spoilers, etc]

[MournelitheCalix]

I have found a rotted out barn that is a ways left as you leave vault 101 that has a few random encounters associated with it.  So far after loading and reloading I have seen the following:

1.  Temporary background radiation hits you as you enter the area, an Enclave member in Power armor is firing at something in the distance, a large explosion knocks him flat.  Scattered about the barn is 7-10 "ammo clips" of the alien power source for the alien blaster I presume.

2.  A person comes up to you and is using the survival guide you make to enrich themselves in the wasteland.  You have the option to tell them you made the guide which gives you money, or you can tell them that you know nothing about the guide an they give you a guide.

3.  A pack of animals attack you and you get a mininuke in the barn.

4.  Two wastelanders fire at something in the barn.  As you get closer  a deathclaw comes out.   If you kill the deathclaw before the deathclaw kills the wastelander, they tell you they are hunting for treasure and have found the "mire king's" treasure location.  They said after tangling with the deathclaw that they have no intention of fighting the mire lurk king for his treasure and give you the location.

5.  One Wastelander kills the other and when you talk to him, he tells you to move on.  There is a mininuke in the barn

6.  You pick up a chinese radio broadcast.  When you get to the barn there is a corpse on the ground with chinese gear on it.

7.  A guy with robots kills a pack of dogs/mole rats.

8.  An enclave eyebot floats in and there are two people in the barn that basically tell you to move on.  There is a mininuke in the barn.

9.  Three raiders emerge from the barn and fire at you, there is a mininuke in the barn.

[Sky]

Yeah, there's some nice randomization in the game. Even small encounters, I had one section where there was a pre-scripted bandit base that had a lookout with a rocket launcher that blew my legs off and a pack of feral dogs nommed my face. Just before that I had traded with some random guy and his dogs after helping him kill a robot. Reloaded, hiked back there and there was a standoff over some water between wastelanders and slaves. Reloaded just for fun and got jumped by talon mercs. I could almost hear the DM rolling the dice for the random encounter table, it was pretty cool.

[shiznitz]

I fact that people save and reload over and over boggles me, but I guess I just don't have that kind of time.  My best fun last night was waiting for Moira to wander upstairs, one-shotting the merc and then stealing everything on site. I had so much good Karma I was still good afterwards. It was like UO in the old days!  When Moira came back down, she was as friendly as ever.

[Sky]

What kind of time? It's an instant quicksave + almost instant quickload (instant after the first reload). You boggle easy.

[shiznitz]

He did it 9 times and explored the spawn enough to find the loot. 9 times! I am not faulting him I just would never even consider reloading a random encounter 9 times.

[Rishathra]

So was anyone else disappointed with the conversation with President Eden?

"Do this for me."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you're evil, and a machine, and you're wrong."
"Oh, well since you put it that way..." *self-destructs*

That was paraphrased, of course, but not at all exaggerated.  It really doesn't get more specific than that.  It would have been more convincing had you told him to 'divide by zero' or something equally trite.

[TheCastle]

For some reason I am still clinging on to the idea that maybe I have yet to find a ending to this game that doesn't actually END the game..

Why in the hellfuck does the game roll credits and actually end?
I want to know!

And the point in time that it ends too.. wtf.. over some water? Its not like the enclave would suddenly vanish had the water "fallen into the wrong hands"...
These guys got fucking mech suits and choppers with nearly unlimited dudes.. Its not exactly like turning the water purifier on would suddenly cause them to vanish.

And its odd to me that the entire plot device is not that we were fighting to turn the water on but rather WHO gets to do it!?
Your dad pretty much says OMFGPWND LOL as he dies just for the satisfaction that he kept them for doing the exact same thing that he intended to do only moments before?

And whats this shit with Fawks explaining how he is immune to radiation super hero++++ invulnerable omfgroflmao you-can-depend-on-me radiation man telling me that its my job to go and die in a room filled with radiation!!??

Another slight thing I noticed is that the enclave seem to be against mutants and such. However they have no problems with using them either. I suppose it kind of makes sense. Or for that matter we don't even really know if the deathclaw mutants even need to drink water per say..

IMHO I am just a little peeved that the main plot didn't end in the same vein as the ones in oblivion did. I like wandering the wasteland building my dude and exploring while I wait for them to release the construction set or an expansion. Well that and they also messed up on the pacing when it came to the ending sequences and how they were timed a bit. It caused the whole thing to feel anticlimactic because of how it was done.

The scripting during the last battles was a little canned for my taste too. Oh well, as they say, when a good game becomes Half Life....
Overall great game... but yeah...

[Khaldun]

I think I'd have been more satisfied at the end if there was a longer "Where are they now?" extension of the narratives based on your choices in some of the key side quests.

For example, as a good character, I spread the stuff on the tree heart that would cause Oasis to expand. I blew the shit out of slavers all over the map. I helped Reilly's Rangers. I killed enough Raiders to build a second Tenpenny Tower out of their corpses, including pretty much destroying Evergreen Mills. So...what happened because of all that? etc. That could be fun, to hear a story of the Capital Wastelands over the next twenty years that derives from the player's actions. You get a little sense of the possibilities if you go back to Tenpenny Towers after helping the Ghouls to move in peacefully, and discover that all the anti-Ghoul people were basically right.

But yeah, the climax itself also just feels kind of wrong. Fawkes' refusal to go in is just stupid...I'd rather it were based on something. Say he finds out you had the FEV virus and didn't tell him about it, and so he says something like, "We have worked together, but now I don't know to expect of you." Or a scripted event that has Fawkes seriously wounded and unable to go in, so somebody else has to do it. And yeah, it's also annoying that you can load up on Rad-X, put on your best anti-rad suit, and not have any problems staying alive until the code is entered and then blam, you're dead. It's not like the alien crash site, where it doesn't matter how much protective shit you're doing, you're not going to survive very long.

[Sky]

He did it 9 times and explored the spawn enough to find the loot. 9 times! I am not faulting him I just would never even consider reloading a random encounter 9 times.

I see that as an acceptable playstyle. That's the great thing about more sandboxy-style games, the gameplay isn't always evident or what it's "supposed" to be.

Sometimes in Far Cry, I'd reload over and over just to try different ways of attacking enemy outposts, because it was so much fun and they reacted differently with all kinds of great unscripted action unfolding differently each time. To me, that's the hallmark of a truly good game.

[Khaldun]

Yes. It's so rare that at first you don't really believe you've got a game that does it right. So in Fallout 3 or Far Cry, I've done exactly this--reloaded some encounters just to discover that I can do them different ways, and that the outcomes are not inevitable. I attacked a big Talon Company fort in my first run through and got hammered by a missile launcher merc behind sandbags that I could quite nail quickly enough several times. So next time I circled around and tried hitting the fort from a high-ground ridge behind the fort. That worked pretty well but I still got pretty beat up. So then I just ran hard for the door into the underground of the fort and worked it from the inside out. I could have won (or died) in any of those styles, or more--there weren't any rails I had to ride on, no single strategy that was required, just a few basic core facts to consider (missile launcher, fairly concentrated group of mercs in the core surface area, underground that was accessible at several points).

[Riggswolfe]

I think I'd have been more satisfied at the end if there was a longer "Where are they now?" extension of the narratives based on your choices in some of the key side quests.

This is what happened in the original games. You got a breakdown by city about what your actions did for that city. Whether you turned it into a wasteland or helped make it a paradise in the wasteland or even in between. I usually got the middle road endings because I'd forget to track down some mutant outpost and wipe them all out. In my first Fallout 3 playthrough I wiped out Everygreen Mills, every Super Mutant base I found and Paradise City and couldn't find any differences.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, that's what made me think that this was missing from this game. For something which so closely "got" the narrative appeal of Fallout 1, I was surprised that this one aspect of the finish was missing.

[Jade Falcon]

Console command codes for companions.I just cut and pasted this from Fallout Nexus. Just press tilde to get the console curser.Only worked for me if I did it while the game was running not from the menu screen.

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE DOGMEAT AS A COMPANION AND WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IT THAT WAY - open the console and type "setessential 0006a772 1" Dogmeat is now invincible. Don't shoot him or youre in trouble!


IF DOGMEAT HAS PREVIOUSLY DIED AND YOU'D LIKE HIM BACK AND INVINCIBLE - open the console and type "player.placeatme 0006a772 1" then while the console is still open, click on dogmeat to select him and type disable. This is important because he will spawn with errors if you dont do this. Now repeat the "player.placeatme 0006a772 1" and then type "setessential 0006a772 1" Voila! Dogmeat back and unable to die.

This will work with all companions and their codes are the following:

Fawkes: 0003D34E
Seargeant RL-3 : 00094867
Charon: 000156f6
Star Paladin Cross: 000156e5
Jericho: 00000a71
Sydney: 00003a22
Clover: 000156a2
Butch: 00027f65

[Sky]

Cool, thanks. Just met Charon last night.

[lac]

You'll like him. He's an 'in your face' kinda guy.

[Rishathra]

And he's a hardy one, too.  The only thing he can't handle by himself is multiple deathclaws.  Other than that, when he goes off on his random vigilante sprees, as the companion AI is wont to do, instead of worrying, you can just smile quietly to yourself.  He even sneaks well.  If you are hidden, he will usually stay sneaked with you until you make the first move.

The scene after you first hire him is  .

[Ingmar]

Yase, Charon is awesome. And he doesn't require any kind of special karma bullshit, he'll work for anyone.

That said I have ended up replacing him with Fawkes. We'll see if I ever get tired of his voice stuff - so far it cracks me up every time. He sounds like Barney from the Simpsons gone horribly wrong.

[Phred]

Speaking of console codes, I hope everyone knows it's like Oblivion you can type save mygame and it will save your game named mygame. No more having to page through the random names it saves games under.

[Sky]

Eh, I always makes sure the thumbnail is descriptive of where I am and what I'm up to. Still, good to know.

[Surlyboi]

Yase, Charon is awesome. And he doesn't require any kind of special karma bullshit, he'll work for anyone.

That said I have ended up replacing him with Fawkes. We'll see if I ever get tired of his voice stuff - so far it cracks me up every time. He sounds like Barney from the Simpsons gone horribly wrong.

A cross between Barney and Brak.

[Yoru]

I finally finished my first full playthrough last night. It was kinda a letdown that, as mentioned above, they didn't do the Fallout 1/2 thing of narrating how your actions changed the wasteland. It seemed to be just a few areas of divergence, depending on your karma and what choices you made regarding the FEV vial and dying in the radiation killbox.

Compared to the Oblivion ending, it felt a lot less... epic. You got a huge dragon spewing particle effects everywhere and then a huge explosion and boom, world saved. In fallout, following Liberty Prime around was awesome because of his dialogue and eye lasers. Pretty epic! But then you walk inside, breaking out every bit of super-high-powered weaponry that you've been saving and... blow up 4 Enclave dudes. And then the Colonel. And that's it.

MOTHERFUCKER WHY DID I HOARD ALL THESE NUKA-GRENADES AND PLASMA GRENADES?

It's the antithesis of epic-osity.

[Ard]

IBut then you walk inside, breaking out every bit of super-high-powered weaponry that you've been saving and... blow up 4 Enclave dudes. And then the Colonel. And that's it.

More importantly, the Colonel, who's already dead, when your father killed him with radiation earlier.

SO MANY PLOT HOLES....   

[FatuousTwat]

IBut then you walk inside, breaking out every bit of super-high-powered weaponry that you've been saving and... blow up 4 Enclave dudes. And then the Colonel. And that's it.

More importantly, the Colonel, who's already dead, when your father killed him with radiation earlier.

SO MANY PLOT HOLES....   

Mine was even more retarded.

The first time he dies, I noclipped though the door to steal his shit (cool coat), and let him live when he came back.

[Bunk]

So I'm finally far enough in to the main plot to take a look at this thread.

Have to ask, did anyone else find it retarded that Eden gives you this huge speil about his plan to rid the wasteland of mutation and all, and then you you pull out your Jedi Mindtrick Speech skill, and convince him to blow himself and all the Enclave up instead - with a single line of dialog.

Second problem with that whole thing - Eden wants me to poison the purifier to kill the muties, Colonel Autum thinks that's too extreme. I actually agree with Autum. So really, the whole point of the end game therefore, is me getting revenge on Autum for killing Dad? Cause really, who gives a shit who turns the damn machine on?

Oh, and I found my favorite new toy - the Waser Wifle.

[Hindenburg]

Not only that, Autumn's goal mimicked your father's goal. 

I say that your father survived, hence why no corpse, and he'll be kicking bhramin in the inevitable xpac, where, y'know, hopefully bethsoft will bring someone from the original game to write the plot.

[Lantyssa]

So if Autumn didn't die, and dad didn't die, why did I need to fry myself to turn the damn machine on?

[cironian]

Not only that, Autumn's goal mimicked your father's goal. 

That at least could be explained away if Eden was just feeding you lies about Autumn in order to get rid of the someone dangerous to his own position. The Enclave always wanted to exterminate all of the "mutated" life in order for America to be reclaimed by the Real Americans, so I don't think Autumn suddenly found his conscience. Some internal power struggle for which the player was a convenient tool seems more likely.

Although it still doesn't explain how he survived...

[rattran]

I don't think there's anymore explanation than 'poor writing' or perhaps 'We ran out of money to pay Liam for more voice work'

[Hindenburg]

So if Autumn didn't die, and dad didn't die, why did I need to fry myself to turn the damn machine on?

You didn't. You obviously sent the woman to her death, or, just like daddy and autumn, you survived, only you're now part super-mutant, part cyborg, part human, part ghoul, all awesome. 

[Kitsune]

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.

Fun fact: Fawkes is a girl.  Enjoy your nightmares!

[shiznitz]

Is there any repercussion at all for killing Mr Tenpenny? I saved, killed  him, and the proceeded to walk around unmolested by guards but I don't want to mess up a major plot arc. I already got my money for exterminating the ghouls.

[Yoru]

Is there any repercussion at all for killing Mr Tenpenny? I saved, killed  him, and the proceeded to walk around unmolested by guards but I don't want to mess up a major plot arc. I already got my money for exterminating the ghouls.

If you've already done that and blown up Megaton (or refused to), there's no point in leaving Tenpenny around. Those are the only two quests I've found associated with him, and murdering him doesn't seem to have any effect on the tower itself.

[Bunk]

There is one quest that actually involves killing him, but it may be that you pick up the item you need from his corpse regardless of whether you have that quest yet or not.

[lac]

You don't need any item from him. You need to shoot him in the head.

[bhodi]

The slave escort quest has destroyed my will to play this game.

My god, it's awful. They wander around everywhere at the slowest pace, and I'm over near megaton somehow. I think they're totally lost. This buggy piece of shit quest just made me throw my hands up in frustration. Maybe I'll take a second look once this game is less shit.