Fallout 3 Impressions Thread - Progress: Complete (Main Quest)

That's kinda lame, if that's his only purpose. I feel it kinda cheapens the whole karma system. All the negative karmic decisions you've made don't matter, because you can always just hand water to one old homeless guy and be considered a good person. Eh.


Just killed a Yao Guai... they look a whole lot more fearsome than they are...

I mean he's sort of there to give you an idea that the wasteland needs clean water, but he's also sort of the only person who ever seems to ask for water or has problems with not having enough water

So right now, I'm hunting mole rats. For her survival guide, Moira gave me a repellent stick to test out in the wasteland, and told me to kill ten mole rats with it. I think I've killed six or seven of them with it by now. It's a strange weapon--it's a large wooden stick, bent in the middle, with the upper half drenched in this green... stuff. When I smack mole rats with it, it... I don't even really understand it. The green shit irritates their skin, I'm assuming, and after awhile, the rat's head explodes. It's kinda fucked up. There also appears to be a glitch--one smack with the stick is enough to infect the rats, but if you give them a second whack, it immediately detonates the irritant, instantly killing them. Not sure if that's the intended effect, but whatever.

As I test the stick, I'm simultaneously exploring the wasteland, and I found a bunch of freaky shit. There was a Robobrain--basically just a stronger Protectron, I guess. It fires its lasers a lot faster and more erratically than the Protectron does, and the lasers seem to do a lot more damage. I didn't even fuck with it.

Next, I happened across my first Deathclaw. Luckily, before I even got to fire a shot at it, a group of Outcasts saved me from it, so I didn't get to witness its true strength just yet. I landed the killing shot, though.

I also gathered all the materials needed to build the shishkebab, which is cool. I'll craft it right now.

Where did you find the Deathclaw if you can recall?

Where did you find the Deathclaw if you can recall?

Far east of Megaton.

There's always one homeless (by Fallout standards...he's like really homeless) dude outside the main towns (Megaton, Tenpenny Tower, and Carlos outside Rivet City) who will never stop wanting water.They are solely there for karma whoring. Kill a bunch of dudes? Just shower the guy in water and you're a saint again.  My main criticism of Fallout 3 is the black-white no-context karma system, but a minor one at best. Also, the whack-a-mole stick is supposed to have that hilarious bloody mess equivalent.

Waterbeggars DLC spoiler

Micky at Megaton is used a start for a sidequest after you get the memorial going in the base game and you re-visit Megaton afterwards, though he probably doesn't like that the only time residents come out to help is when they kill him with some heavily irradiated water...

I'm actually surprised the Outcasts dealt some damage to a Deathclaw. Normally they're just elitist pricks who get killed by everything apart from raiders, and Deathclaws should be the furthest away from an exception.

666 get.

That's kinda lame, if that's his only purpose. I feel it kinda cheapens the whole karma system. All the negative karmic decisions you've made don't matter, because you can always just hand water to one old homeless guy and be considered a good person. Eh.


Just killed a Yao Guai... they look a whole lot more fearsome than they are...

Don't worry. One of these days you'll fast travel and an albino radscorp will spawn.

Killing everything and everybody outside the gates as you try to helplessly to save them.

The ONE time I decide to go out without saving every ten minutes...

I just lost a LOT of progress...

It was partially the game's fault. Here's what happened--I'm just wandering about, trying to kill these stupid fucking mole rats which I haven't found for hours, when those stupid pricks from the Talon Company came attacking.

I all but kill one of the bastards, and he pussies out and runs away. I was using a lead pipe a the time, and he was running faster than I could catch up, so I had to pull out my pistol.

...Except my fucking quick-select buttons refused to work. I chased after the guy while MASHING the fucking quick-select for my pistol, and it would not fucking equip. The merc ran into a ditch, at which point, I said "fuck it" and just equipped the pistol the long way.

RIGHT as I unpause the game, one of his cronies in the ditch fires a missile at me.

DEAD.

At least two hours of progress, gone. Because my fucking pistol wouldn't equip, and because of a random missile.

I know, I know--I should know by now to always save, but seriously?... What the fuck happened?
Why did the game decide to shit out at the most crucial moment? And what's with the random cunts with missile launchers?

This game's randomness can piss me off sometimes. BIG flaw, if you ask me.

FUCK. I haven't been this pissed off over a game in a long time...
Guess that's a good sign for me to take a break.

Actually, no, I can't have lost two full hours, because I entered/exited Megaton within that interim. I still have an auto-save.

But STILL. The shittiest part about dying is that you can't remember how much shit you lost.

The quick select is rather quick to untoggle I've found. Especially if you're messing around with your inventory or put it away, it just unbinds it.

The quick select is rather quick to untoggle I've found. Especially if you're messing around with your inventory or put it away, it just unbinds it.

What do you mean? It left my quick-select? I mean, I guess that's the only explanation, but I don't recall ever fucking with my inventory for that whole session...

I mean, if it just leaves your quick-select for no reason, then that's kind of a big flaw...
All these glitches and oddities are starting to pile up REAL fast...

The quick select is rather quick to untoggle I've found. Especially if you're messing around with your inventory or put it away, it just unbinds it.

What do you mean? It left my quick-select? I mean, I guess that's the only explanation, but I don't recall ever fucking with my inventory for that whole session...

I mean, if it just leaves your quick-select for no reason, then that's kind of a big flaw...
All these glitches and oddities are starting to pile up REAL fast...

I don't think it's a bug, just when you're micromanaging your stuff, ammo and guns, it unbinds them. That's all I can think of that would be the problem.

Either that or when binding it, it's kinda sensitive so it might bind to a different D-pad direction when you let go of it, because it flings back up and might register it as a different direction. That's happened to me anyway, could have been the controller, but not sure.

The pistol has always been mapped to "up", and it's never changed. If it happens again, I'll check if it became unbinded.

Man, fuck me is that annoying, though.

bethesda games are usually really buggy.

The pistol has always been mapped to "up", and it's never changed. If it happens again, I'll check if it became unbinded.

Man, fuck me is that annoying, though.

Yeah it's worse when you bind things on the diagonal slots. I can't remember if that's in 3 or only in Vegas though. But that's even more fiddly.

I'm glad PC has quick save, so F5 is really a life saver

Coincidentally, it can also screw you over if you use it at the wrong time.

I'm glad PC has quick save, so F5 is really a life saver

Coincidentally, it can also screw you over if you use it at the wrong time.

My laptop is awful with the function keys

I have to hold control and then press the button if I want to use them as function keys

I'm glad PC has quick save, so F5 is really a life saver

Coincidentally, it can also screw you over if you use it at the wrong time.

My laptop is awful with the function keys

I have to hold control and then press the button if I want to use them as function keys

It works for me so far

But I know on console it WOULD take a while sometimes and I hated it

On a more positive note, I forgot to mention--I crafted my shishkebab.

WOAH GODDAMN THIS THING IS AS COOL AS A MOTHERFUCKER

I'm gonna be taking this sucker to end-game for sure. Instant replacement for my silly combat knife.

For those who don't know what it is, it's a makeshift flaming sword made out of junked motorcycle parts, a pilot light, and a lawnmower blade. The butane (or whatever) produced by the motorcycle gas tank ignites the blade, and it's just... the coolest thing, ever. Striking enemies with it sets them aflame, and they take small residual damage as they burn.

fucking awesome

DO NOT equip the sword near a gas leak

Also the deathclaw was a random encounter in which a deathclaw spawns fighting an Outcast squad.

Verb I've just remembered. Energy weapons (laser, plasma, one very special one located in the wasteland I won't spoil in case you find it) can be sold to the outcasts at theor base (Which I'll let you find) for a fuck ton of radiation meds, stims, caps or food. So even if you're not over keen on those weapons, keep thwm in your house until you find the base. They'll buy them for the same price regardless of condition.

Cool, I'll keep that in mind.

Yeah, I feel like the energy weapons in this game could've been a lot cooler.
I picked up a laser rifle which I haven't used yet, though.

On a more positive note, I forgot to mention--I crafted my shishkebab.

WOAH GODDAMN THIS THING IS AS COOL AS A MOTHERFUCKER

I'm gonna be taking this sucker to end-game for sure. Instant replacement for my silly combat knife.

For those who don't know what it is, it's a makeshift flaming sword made out of junked motorcycle parts, a pilot light, and a lawnmower blade. The butane (or whatever) produced by the motorcycle gas tank ignites the blade, and it's just... the coolest thing, ever. Striking enemies with it sets them aflame, and they take small residual damage as they burn.

fucking awesome

yeah that's why I said it's my favorite weapon.

hokay

time to make up for some lost progress


Where the FUCK are these stupid mole rats...

Still no sign of any mole rats, but I think I managed to make up for all the stuff I lost, at any rate. I think I need to learn to stop focusing on just one sidequest, when I could just as easily hunt for mole rats while simultaneously saving Grayditch from the fire ants. I feel like I'm kinda just wasting time and ammunition.

Anyway, the place I last died at ended up being near a place called Fort Bannister. One of the Arefu citizens gave me the map marker for it, but I've never actually accessed it before. It's filled to the brim with Talon Company mercs with missile launchers, however, so it's probably not a great idea to fuck with them for now--or at least, until I get a high enough sneaking skill.

Fort Bannister is surrounded from the outside by these toxic craters of radioactive waste. Festering in these craters lies a high quantity of radscorpions, who I farmed mercilessly before I died. When I made it back, however, I encountered only one radscorpion. Bullshit.

I did notice, however, that around the earth surrounding the craters, there lie about twenty or so lightstick-looking objects, like flares. The pip-boy calls them Alien Power Cells. Some of them seemed to form a path, so after picking them all up like E.T., they lead me to a mysterious weapon called a Firelance, and it was then that I realized that I was picking up its ammunition.

A rather ugly weapon, I was excited to use it, nonetheless. Not five seconds after I picked it up, I encountered a Super Mutant beyond a crater. Using V.A.T.S., I aimed for his big stupid head and fired just one shot, and I watched as the Mutant was not only killed in one shot--it was fucking vaporized in one shot. I was aghast.

I only wish the thing looked a bit cooler.


Later, I entered an outpost that was housing a couple of unfriendly ghouls. They had a Super Mutant imprisoned, as well. I'm not entirely sure what it was I walked in on--especially because the terminal they had in the back FUCKING EXPLODED IN MY FACE RESULTING IN A COMPLETELY RANDOM DEATH SAFIESJFESIFEJSOFES

Fortunately the game auto-saves whenever you enter buildings, but come the fuck on--How the fuck was I supposed to know that some computer terminals have a meltdown if you try to hack them!?

Regardless, the coolest thing I found in the outpost was a scoped .44 magnum. I've been picking up magnum rounds for a long time, and I've never seen one 'til now.

The firelance is a random encounter in which a spaceship flies past you and explodes and drops it. There's a limit to it's ammo - what you get there and a small amount you get from Mothership Zeta

Also mole rats always spawn around the back of megaton.

Oh yeah. Trapped terminals have a little wire/ antenna sticking up out of them and (IIRC) a frag grenade strapped to the back

The firelance is a random encounter in which a spaceship flies past you and explodes and drops it. There's a limit to it's ammo - what you get there and a small amount you get from Mothership Zeta

Oh yeah--I saw that explosion from the north. I was wondering what that was.

And yeah, something told me I wasn't gonna find ammo for it very easily. I'll use it only when I absolutely need to,

Oh yeah. Trapped terminals have a little wire/ antenna sticking up out of them and (IIRC) a frag grenade strapped to the back

Guess I'll keep an eye out... Can I disarm them?

The firelance is a random encounter in which a spaceship flies past you and explodes and drops it. There's a limit to it's ammo - what you get there and a small amount you get from Mothership Zeta

Oh yeah--I saw that explosion from the north. I was wondering what that was.

And yeah, something told me I wasn't gonna find ammo for it very easily. I'll use it only when I absolutely need to,

Oh yeah. Trapped terminals have a little wire/ antenna sticking up out of them and (IIRC) a frag grenade strapped to the back

Guess I'll keep an eye out... Can I disarm them?

I believe so, yes. Like a mine.

oh, thanks for the drugs, moira

i appreciate it


now she wants me to place an observer in a mirelurk pod--without killing any mirelurks

bleah

edit:
actually no, i'm supposed to put it in the memorial, my bad


All right, she gave me a few stealth boys, and a shady hat. Neat, I guess.

Now she wants me to break one of my limbs out in the wasteland. All right, I guess <_<
I'll just... jump off a bridge, or some stupid shit.