Dynafire has 132 chronicles

1. Fallout 3 Initial Impressions
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Oct 29 2008

   Yesterday, I got to experience Fallout 3 for about 4 hours. I have been eagerly awaiting this game's arrival, and here are my initial impressions.
   
   First of all, the intro before the "real" adventure was pretty neat. You're sort of eased into your character, not just thrust into a gigantic world and told to go about your merry way. You get to see events that occur at periodic intervals throughout your life, and it adds a bit of depth to your character.
   
   Ultimately, you find out that dear old dad has escaped the vault, and that you are suspected of knowing something about it. As a result, you are forced to escape the vault yourself to avoid persecution. It took me about an hour to get from beginning to escaping the vault, but I was exploring everywhere. People dead-set on finishing the objectives quickly could likely be out of there in a half hour.
   
   Upon reaching the outside world, the view is very depressing. There is nothing living anywhere, and the skeletons of houses are the only nearby structures. By taking a small trip away from the vault, you come across a town called Megaton, which is built around an undetonated atom bomb. (smart, right?) There is a pair of quests that tie in to this, each one doing something different with the bomb. I'd like to say more, but don't want to spoil the story.
   
   One thing that makes this game so addicting is the way you interact with people. Instead of clicking on someone and getting a set dialogue box, you are normally given choices of things to say to them. It may be too early to say this with absolute certainty, but I didn't come across any two NPC's that looked alike. There's none of that "20 guards that look and talk the same" like Oblivion had. Even various bandits and raiders you come across in the wasteland don't look alike.
   
   The weapons are great. You initially start out with a pretty weak pistol, but after finishing one quest, I was armed to the teeth. Granted, none of these weapons were particularly powerful, but it was nice to see a variety of things to obtain so early in the game. Also, I had obtained quite a bit of ammo, and thought that I would be set for a while. after another hour or so, I desperately needed ammo. You definitely need to keep track of your inventory.
   
   The combat in this game is damn fun. You can choose to use the VATS feature to pause the action and select various body parts to aim at, or you can fight it out in real time like a traditional FPS. Real time combat is kind of awkward at first, because the controls are not as precise as a dedicated FPS such as Call of Duty or Halo. Still, it works pretty well, and VATS is extremely helpful when used under the right circumstances. During my adventures, I wandered into an old school that raiders had turned into their base. I came across one who had a melee weapon, and used VATS to cripple his leg. As a result, he moved slower, and I was able to put distance between him and myself to finish him off.
   
   I have noticed a few things that annoy me too. First of all, it takes a while to get used to the landscape. Even in HD, I sometimes can't tell what the hell I'm looking at, as the brightness can be a bit off. I've also noticed a weird graphical bug where a black and white bar flashed across my screen for no apparent reason. It was strange, but I haven't seen it since. Also, the AI is pretty stupid, and managed to do things I haven't seen before. I witness one NPC get stuck in a floor from the waist down, and it kind of reminded me of Half-Life. :P Also, I was following some kid to his settlement, and he got stuck on a pipe for a good 15 seconds before he finally just clipped through it and kept going. The third person viewpoint also looks pretty bad, much like Morrowind or Oblivion. It's true that these games are meant to be played in first-person, but there is no excuse for making the character look like he's rollerblading instead of running.
   
   These are minor issues, though. The gameplay is deeply addicting, and it is really fun to explore a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

   
   

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Dynafire has 2 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Link
   Posted On Oct 29 2008

   Took the words out of my mouth. I came here today to review almost exactly what you were just saying here.....however, I have not noticed said "black and white bar flickering across the screen"... I also agree with you on the point of the inventory. Mine was the same, i had picked up a TON of ammo, and it was gone in only 30 minutes.
   
   BUT i MUST disagree with you here.... I LOVED Oblivion. So i will be disagreeing with you on the bad aspect of that game

2. BEN
   Posted On Oct 29 2008

   AWESOME initial review Dynafire! These types of Chronicles add so much solid content into this community and I'm sure people that are considering picking this game up, appreciate your positive and slightly negative thoughts on the game so far!
   
   Thanks again and I'm looking forward to hearing more as you make your way through the game...