I'll preface this by saying that the original Fallout is my favorite game of all time. Haha, as a result, this will be a list of complaints:
1. Special Stats
Special stats don't really mean anything - I know it's been brought up earlier, but how come I can use a mini gun if I have a 1 in strength? Each level of strength only adds 10 pounds to my maximum weight capacity...the only times it seems to make a difference is when I'm at both extremes of the spectrum - either a 1 or a 10. I use strength as an example, but it seems similiar for all stats.
Agility, for example, arguably the most important stat in Fallout - I can only tell a difference when I'm at 10 or at 1. With 10 I can shoot my pistol a whopping 4 times in VATS, with 1 I can shoot it twice. two shots. Two shots for 9 points of special. And that's with a pistol, a weapon that uses less AP than others...with ones that use more there's even less a difference - 1 shot difference or even no difference at all.
2. Tagged Skills - Wait - Skills in General
All of you guys bitching about the level 20 level cap can fuck off - if skills max out at only 100, the level cap should be 10.
Tagged skills in the beginning make no difference. Which goes along with my special stats complaint. What made Fallout so good was the way you could make a new character and play a different game every time. With special stats not meaning anything unless you're either side of an extreme, and tagged skills not meaning anything other than an immediate 15 pt bonus, it's really hard to create dynamic characters. I mean why shouldn't I make a character with tagged skills in 1. Explosives/Repair - to do the megaton bomb/repair water pipes, 2. Small Guns - to shoot in general, and 3. Lockpick - since it's such a handicap anyway, might as well put 15 points into it from the get-go?
With skills capping at only 100, every character at the end of the game is very similiar. There's not going to be an idiot that capped out barter at 100 but left small guns at 50. Some skills are throw-away - just like the first Fallout, I know, but the difference being that in the first one you didn't have the opportunity to max out almost half of them.
3. Combat
There's really nothing in the Wasteland that poses a real threat. By the time the player actually reaches a worthy opponent, he is probably so packed with stim packs that he can afford to stop the fight every five seconds to use a stim pack if need be. Opponents are no longer a threat, but an annoyance. Especially while exploring the "dungeon" type areas. i.e.: Springvale School, etc.
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Okay, with all the complaints out of the way, the truth is, I really like Fallout 3.
I already said that the original Fallout is my favorite game of all time - however, that doesn't mean I'm a huge die-hard, shut-in. This game is fun to play and that's why we play games to begin with, right?
I mean, it is kind of disappointing to think of the potential that was wasted, but it should come to no surprise - to anyone - that if released for consoles it was going to be dumbed down.
I wouldn't consider the original Fallout 10/10 by any means...However, since it is my favorite game and I have nothing better to compare it to - I'll use it as measurement. If the original Fallout is a 10/10, Fallout 3 is 8/10. It's a fun game pure and simple. Were there things they could have done better? Of course. But is there any game where everything is perfect?
Fun game, even after all my complaints, one of my main ones is very minor:
There's not enough incentive to play as an evil character - The best rewards to come from most quests seem to come from "doing the right thing." The only reward the evil characters seem to get is money, but from the middle of the game on, caps become kind of worthless - especially if you have a 5 in luck and pick up the fortune finder trait.
Miller's probably right on all counts. Combat was fucking frustratingly hard at first because I didn't have any ammo (wtf uses railroad spikes anyway?) and my guns did almost no damage, and then suddenly I have the laser Gatling gun and 50 stimpacks and everything dies immediately.
