Fallout 3

[roland]

Ok, so I traded some of my Xbox games into Gamestop to get Fallout 3 for the PC. I tried it on XBOX 360 before it died...and loved it. So with my trade in I got the PC version.

Has anyone else tried this game? Normally I hate FPS games, but when I played this I saw a lot of similarities in game design between this and Oblivion (meaning you can switch between First and Third person view).

[onstill]

theres a whole thread about it down there somewhere. Its the awesomeness and has 2 expansions now.

[Landro]

Basically it's Oblivion as a FPS...very cool, but can get very tiresome later on when you need ammo and money lol.

Also a lot of the "perks" are worthless....since there rarely are any guns/items for them lol

[Claven]

When I have time for it, I am playing this now. I think it's absolutely fantastic.

[roland]

see i don't think it is an FPS, because you have first and third person views. And, I have a simple solution to the ammo problem. Just go Melee until you absolutely need ammo :) That is how i started out...

IF I was a conspiracy theorist, I would say my xbox crashed out on me because I killed Vance. :D

By the way, is there anyway to hook up a wireless Xbox 360 controller to the PC? The only thing I hate is I have to use the mouse to actually turn left or right...which means I have to use both mouse and keyboard. Controllers are much easier to use, imo...

[onstill]

there is a usb converter and windows drivers for the xbox controllers last i saw. but you have to buy the converter.

[Jerith|Tony]

My scrounger finds ammo under rocks.

[Landro]

Don't get me wrong, one of the closest games ever to being perfect...just some points get irritating...though Alaska is awesome!

[ceafo]

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360wirelessgamingreceiver/

Works well. I use it for driving games mostly.

[Urthh]

Make sure you get Alaska and The Pitt addons and finish those since a new DLC is coming out on May 5th.

[Corwin of Amber]

I'm so annoyed... I have it for the PS3... LOVED it, one of the few recent games I have finished all the way through. I'm so annoyed they are not releasing the additional content for the PS3... I am tempted to go buy the PC version now.

[Urthh]

Hehe thats what I did my son now plays the PS3 version and I play the PC version.

[Stinkinstink]

Fallout 3 for the PC is amazing, with great support from the mod community. Bethesda really dropped the ball in regard to expansions. Operation: Anchorage is linear boring as hell. The Pitt was fun to play but buggy as shit. To top it off, the cost Microsoft points to get. So you'll need a Games for Windows Live account, which is a disappontingly useless service. And the expansions cost 800 points a piece which is the equivalent of 10 bucks. Still I have higher hopes for Broken Steel as it alters the ending so the game can continue and raises the level cap to 30. Hopefully it won't be nearly as buggy as the last two releases.

[wooze]

Fallout 3 for the PC is amazing, with great support from the mod community. Bethesda really dropped the ball in regard to expansions. Operation: Anchorage is linear boring as hell. The Pitt was fun to play but buggy as shit. To top it off, the cost Microsoft points to get. So you'll need a Games for Windows Live account, which is a disappontingly useless service. And the expansions cost 800 points a piece which is the equivalent of 10 bucks. Still I have higher hopes for Broken Steel as it alters the ending so the game can continue and raises the level cap to 30. Hopefully it won't be nearly as buggy as the last two releases.

At this point I am considering games for windows live a virus, maybe Steam to, it been annoying for any game that offers downloadable content.

Fallout3 is a great game. I was gonna give the game a second playthrough after seeing this post. I have now spent an evening stuck in a loop.

Apparently since I stopped playing, windows live stopped being an option and became intergrated into the Steam(or all)versions of the game. I can't launch the game. Each time it says a windows live update is available. No matter whether I click update or ignore update the game will not run.

It does run perfectly fine with a crack. Good job guys, I can play the game with a crack easier than I can legally buying it. No wonder why, to play it legally I have to click through a couple checks from Steam, Games for windows live and whatever check Bethesda has.

I've gotten used to computer games being buggy in return for the interface I like to play in. Its getting out of hand when I have to deal with bugs from the game designers, and bugs from 2 after production companies just to play the game.

This is the second game in 6 months that wouldn't run even though purchased legitimately. The first failed to run for a week until a windows live fix from microsoft was made available.

Consoles are looking good right now.

Wooze annoyed.

[Weshy]

Anyone else gotten a crap ton of crashes since 1.5? Might be the mods I'm running but I haven't managed to figure out which one yet..

[Urthh]

Sorry cannot help you just started a new toon playing a canabalistic anti-social toon and Live and the game still run smooth.

[roland]

No I do not get crashes. Try turning down / off your AA or AS settings, and maybe turn off shadows? That is the only real suggestion I can offer.

Oh yeah...and before you do something "stupid" (like kill a good or neutral NPC) - save it. Yes, Computers crash when you try to turn evil...this has been SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN! :diablotin:

PS - I am getting this if my XBOX 360 is fixed, because now my wife wants to try it and she can have my PC version when I am done with it. The only real problem I have with the PC version are cheat codes. I don't use them, but they are plastered all over out there in cyberspace (even the WIKI lists the item id# on the items lists).

Wooze:

I have an easy solution to your problem with LIVE...

Just click on LIVE, create an OFFLINE account. You do not have to be online to do it. What it does is just recognizes you as a player on your "local network" without being online. You never have to be online to play it. I don't see how LIVE can be a security risk if you assign it to be offline. This works even without an update - at least it does for me.

[ceafo]

Is there a demo for this game on the PC anywhere?

[Stinkinstink]

PS - I am getting this if my XBOX 360 is fixed, because now my wife wants to try it and she can have my PC version when I am done with it. The only real problem I have with the PC version are cheat codes. I don't use them, but they are plastered all over out there in cyberspace (even the WIKI lists the item id# on the items lists).

I've used only 2 console "cheats" in my playthroughs. One was to reset an npc that disappeared off the face of the map that I needed for a misc. quest. The other was to set companion NPCs to essential. This way they would get incapacitated but not die; I was tired of babysitting/seeing Dogmeat destroyed.

[Solostaran]

I cheated to get more EC packs after there were literally zero left in the game. That and to respawn a missing weapons dealer, who I wanted to buy some from. His stock lasted through three Giant Radscorpions. Now you know why I'm not playing FO3 right now...

Also, I hate the increase in VATS delay that accumulates after repeated saves. Waiting thiry seconds between weapon firing is NOT reasonable. (This is why I needed my Gatling Laser, btw; fights were five minutes long without it.) Punishing saveaholics is not a good idea in a game where you need to load a save in order play after the MQ. . . .

[roland]

I cheated to get more EC packs after there were literally zero left in the game. That and to respawn a missing weapons dealer, who I wanted to buy some from. His stock lasted through three Giant Radscorpions. Now you know why I'm not playing FO3 right now...

Also, I hate the increase in VATS delay that accumulates after repeated saves. Waiting thiry seconds between weapon firing is NOT reasonable. (This is why I needed my Gatling Laser, btw; fights were five minutes long without it.) Punishing saveaholics is not a good idea in a game where you need to load a save in order play after the MQ. . . .

5 minutes?

Geesh!

...loads up Fat Man....

:D

[wooze]

I cheated to get more EC packs after there were literally zero left in the game. That and to respawn a missing weapons dealer, who I wanted to buy some from. His stock lasted through three Giant Radscorpions. Now you know why I'm not playing FO3 right now...

Also, I hate the increase in VATS delay that accumulates after repeated saves. Waiting thiry seconds between weapon firing is NOT reasonable. (This is why.

No weapon dealer is needed. If you explore tunnels, sidequest and such, I cannot imagine you running out of ammo on any weapon unless you designed your character around using the fatman:) I did see your reasoning, vats being bugged.

Have you updated your game? Vats slowdown was a major problem, that took them WAY TOO LONG to fix. Known bug and fixed now.

I did use one console command cheat. It made Dogmeat sort of immortal. That doesn't mean he was an invincible tank for me, he still falls over easily when confronted with anything tougher than a lowbie raider, but after the battle is over he pops back up alive. I don't really feel I am cheating, I like running around with my doggy companion, all the cheat does is keep him around, he doesn't solo my enemies for me or anything:)

Anyway after my rant about Steam and Games for Windows Live, I feel stupid. I found out I can run the game directly from the Fallout.exe and skip Steam entirely, it run just like I'd bought the cd version.

Enjoying the game again, can't wait for the expansion content to get the bugs ironed out.

[wooze]

I'm so annoyed... I have it for the PS3... LOVED it, one of the few recent games I have finished all the way through. I'm so annoyed they are not releasing the additional content for the PS3... I am tempted to go buy the PC version now.

I've done several searches to no avail. I can find many rants about no ps3 dlc content but no actual reasons why?

I play it on pc and all is good, but my best friend it really pissed off. He considers Fallout the best game he's ever played and doesn't know why the extra content(according to game sites, will NEVER be on playstation). Did Microsoft demand exclusive rights and fund it or something?

[Solostaran]

No weapon dealer is needed. If you explore tunnels, sidequest and such, I cannot imagine you running out of ammo on any weapon unless you designed your character around using the fatman:) I did see your reasoning, vats being bugged.

Have you updated your game? Vats slowdown was a major problem, that took them WAY TOO LONG to fix. Known bug and fixed now.

I did use one console command cheat. It made Dogmeat sort of immortal. That doesn't mean he was an invincible tank for me, he still falls over easily when confronted with anything tougher than a lowbie raider, but after the battle is over he pops back up alive. I don't really feel I am cheating, I like running around with my doggy companion, all the cheat does is keep him around, he doesn't solo my enemies for me or anything:)

Anyway after my rant about Steam and Games for Windows Live, I feel stupid. I found out I can run the game directly from the Fallout.exe and skip Steam entirely, it run just like I'd bought the cd version.

Enjoying the game again, can't wait for the expansion content to get the bugs ironed out.

Unfortunately, EC packs are right up there with mini-nukes in terms of rarity. When they are found lying around in tunnels, it's always in quantities too small to be of much use.

Does the DLC that's out so far work well with the Steam version?

[Urthh]

In a nut shell Wooze Bethesda needed a site that people could dowload their content and MicroShaft offered them the best rates at it with one caviate that it be strictly for the 360 and PC games. With the newest shaft from MicroShafts site borking the newest DLC they may use a different company in the furture.

[wooze]

Does the DLC that's out so far work well with the Steam version?

Sort of..

On Vista, it installs into a different directory than Steam. You have to find the install folder and copy the files to the Steam Games Fallout Folder.

Baffles me they sell the game on the most popular gaming download platform in gaming, then sell their content through Games For Windows Live, which has pretty much zero PC content. Even the games demo portion of Windows Live is nearly empty.

[Weshy]

Sort of..

On Vista, it installs into a different directory than Steam. You have to find the install folder and copy the files to the Steam Games Fallout Folder.

Well, technically you don't have to copy the files over. All you really need to do is log on to Live.

[roland]

Unfortunately, EC packs are right up there with mini-nukes in terms of rarity. When they are found lying around in tunnels, it's always in quantities too small to be of much use.

Does the DLC that's out so far work well with the Steam version?

Maybe a discussion of "character templates" are in order?

I never run out of ammo, except for Alien Blaster. The only way to get ammo for this is the alien ship crashing or in Fort Independence.

But, I also have what I call a "Scavenger" template, where I make sure I never run out of anything.

Here are my perks - keep in mind I am only level 14 and EVIL...

SPECIAL (starting stats)
S 5
P 5
E 7
C 6
I 6
A 6
L 5

Skill Tags:
Lockpick (30)
Repair (32)
Speech (32)

Perks:
Level / Perk / Affect / Rank
2 - Intense Training - Luck +1 - 1
3 - Intense Trainng - Perception +1 - 2
4 - Educated - +3 skill points per level
5 - Comprehension - +2 skill points per skill book used for that skill
6 - Swift Learner - 10% XP -1
7 - Swift Learner - 10% xp - 2 (20% total)
8 - Scrounger - 50% more ammo found in containers -
9 - Swift Learner - 10% XP - 3 (30% total)
10 - Commando - accuracy in VATS improved
11 - Demolition Expert - 20% damage you deal with explosives - 1
12 - Sniper - headshots with 2-handed small guns siginificantly increased
13 - Demolition Expert - 20% damage you deal with explosives - 2 (40%)
14 - Contract Killer - kill good karma people and turn in their finger for caps

Perks considering:
15 - Fortune Finder - 50% more caps in containers
16 - Action Boy / Girl - +25 AP in VATS
17 - Better Criticals - increase damage by 50% on criticals
18 - Concentrated Fire - accuracy to hit any body part in VATS
19 - Demolition Expert - 20% damage you deal with explosives - 3 (60%)
20 - Grim Reaper's Sprint - replenishes full AP on any VATS kill

[onstill]

I never invest any points in Exp Mods (fast learner and here and now). With the lvl 20 cap your wasting perks. I went maximizer. 9 int to start(lots of skill points plus 3 skills get bonuses) and go get the int bobble head quick. Educated and Comprehension (make sure not to read any books till you get this one). Have about 5-6 dumps into Intense training. Then the rest is specialization for your weapon skill. I also love Stealth Run (can you say every first hit is a sneakattack crit *grins). Also Grim Reaper is the own for fighting. Dont overlook mysterious stranger too if your a VAT user. Its fun having 100 lockpick skill at 12th level.

[Big Tall]

The only skill-based perk that is even remotely viable is Size Matters. Other than that, the rest provide a very minor bonus and, IMO, a waste of a perk. Also, with the horrid batch of perks granted from level 21-30 thanks to Broken Steel, there's plenty of time to go back and pick perks you may have overlooked. Here and Now and +XP perks are wasted once you hit 30 and if you even remotely care about the game you'll explore enough to hit 30 easily.

Here's the basic perk selection I go with time after time:

2 - Black Widow - I play female characters exclusively for this perk. The extra dialogue options are few and far between but considering the overwhelming majority of NPC's are male, the +10% is amazing
3 - Intense Training
4 - Educated - Simple has to be taken here to maximize skills/level
5 - Comprehension - Save your books until you get this
6 - Bloody Mess - +5% damage AND gory explosions? Sold!
7 - Intense Training
8 - Commando - Gunslinger is nice for a lvl 6 perk, but the majority of weapons are two handers. No-brainer.
9 - Strong Back - Note the strength req, but an extra 50lbs of carrying space is great
10 - Finesse - More crits are always good
11 - Intense Training/Mysterious Stranger
12 - Silent Running - Absolutely critical for stealth and non-stealth players alike.
13 - Sniper - Better accuracy for headshots? Awesome.
14 - Cyborg - It's like four perks in one
15 - Light Step/Life Giver - I like not having to worry about traps, but more health is good as well. Intense Training is also an option here.
16 - Better Crits - Self-explanatory
17 - Action Boy/Girl - More points in VATS? Yes please.
18 - Concentrated Fire - I used to pass on this, but it's great for sniping from far away. Your first shot may only be 30%, but 4 shots later it's 50%.
19 - Whatever you want
20 - Grim Reaper's Sprint - Before the level cap increase, this was the only one worth taking IMO. The first time I played the game I took Explorer to see what was out there. With the level cap increase you can take Explorer or Solar Powered later, though the former takes half the fun out of the game and the later is useful only to melee characters.

The key is to get your stats in order so you meet requirements, ie - Intense Training. If you have to wait on Mysterious Stranger until 19, that's not a bad thing if you pick up the rest along the way.

[Urthh]

FYI if you have the expansion Broken Steel you can get both an Alien Blaster and ammo on the final segment of the expansion along with your Tesla Cannon.

[Corwin of Amber]

I am sure they will release a Game of the Year version for the PS3 with the additional content... that is their MO on every other game they've made in the last few years (Morrowind/Oblivion at least).

I picked up the PC version, got the extra content, but am waiting a bit to start it... I'm caught up in so many things I didn't find the first time around. Never used any cheats, don't really see the need for any actually. I never ever run out of ammo... the only thing I ever seem to run out of is stims.

[Big Tall]

The beautiful thing about the PC version is the mod community, which can fix things Bethesda won't for the consoles. Though to be fair, this usually just means bigger boobs for the women...not that I'd complain. :p

That said, I've very happy to play this on the 360.

[Urthh]

getting stims use to be a problem for me until I decided to start selling my ammo that I dont use like sniper .308 rounds and .32mm rounds not to mention collect those missles they sell for a quite alot early on. Everytime I hit Megaton I go see the Doc and buy all the stims he has whiole selling my BS ammo. On my latest toon I have 1243 stims :)

[Corwin of Amber]

I'm so annoyed at the PC version right now... every 20-30 minutes, the game memory dumps me to desktop. I've got the latest drivers, updates, everything installed, and its gotten better... at least i'm not getting the big bad memory leaks like i used to have, but still this is not cool for a game thats been out for as lnog as it has.

[Urthh]

Check your system I run it on 3 comps and no memeory dumps. (I cant believe I got my wife addicted to FPS's)