Verno wrote on Apr 11, 2011, 09:13:
Every Fallout 3 run I start goes the same, I get to Megaton then I wander off the narrative and end up 80 hours later remembering that maybe I should do the main story. Of course at least half of that time is spent lost in the subways.

God, I hate those fucking subways. It took me 3 days or so, but I finally got a map showing what all connects where. It's a giant tangle of lines, but it works out.

I need to play this again, but haven't really felt the urge to. of course, playing it three times in a row when it just came out probably didn't help. I'll wait another 6 months and get some mods, but by that time Skyrim is also almost going to be out.

ARGH! Need... more... time...

Creston

Jerykk wrote on Apr 10, 2011, 21:35:
Won't that still force me to manually enter each value? I have one mod that changes the weight for every item, one mod that reduces the value of most items, one mod that removes the health bonuses from food items. If I merged them, would they all retain their respective value changes?

Depends. Once you have a merged master you can use wyrebash to edit the values for basic items. Everything else you'll still have to do but that can be done in a esp. Unless you're editing the base value weight of every item that is the easiest way. For mods that modify values/what they do/etc you need to merge them one at a time in order. So base, then values(long as there isn't any crossovers), followed by stat modifications. You can check the conflict data then figure out which ones you'll need to manually edit.

Otherwise you could always write a obse/fose/fvse/etc script to modify the weight/abilities of items done by a custom ability/perk.

Jerykk wrote on Apr 11, 2011, 03:07:
Really? I didn't feel any urgency at all. In fact, I accidentally found my dad while exploring but loaded an earlier save and avoided him so I could keep exploring and doing side-quests.

I played as if it were me in that situation. If I grew up in a vault and one day my dad left, and a crazy overseer and his guards want my head, I'd get the hell out of there and try to find him as fast as possible.

It happened to be dark when I exited the vault. I had no idea of the scale of the map, so I didn't know how far Megaton was. I didn't want to be stumbling around in this unknown wasteland in the dark with just a 10mm pistol and a BB gun, so the first thing I did was carefully make my way down to Springvale and hide in an abandoned house until daylight.

When I talked to the bartender guy, I wanted to tell him to fuck off, but that dialog option wasn't available. I did his little job, but told the woman I'd tell him she was gone if she gave me some money. Rather than pay that fucker for the info, I bribed the whore for his computer password, and then I was off to the GNR radio building.

I wanted to tell that ass hole where to go too, but I did his job so he'd give me the info I needed. Then I headed to Rivet City, then to Vault 112 to fin dad only to end up going back to Rivet City. After that it was find a way into Vault 87, get kidnapped and end up in Rave Rock, escape and go back to the Citadel. Then it was take the Jefferson Memorial back, game over.

I did a few side quests, ones that didn't take me too far off the main path, like Moira's quest to the Super Duper Mart, then when exiting that, the kid from Grayditch came screaming for help, so I helped him out. But I stuck mostly to the main quests.

You miss a lot doing that. I never found dogmeat for example. There are only a couple of locations in the main quest that take you in the Northern half of the map, I don't recall there being any main quest locations that took you anywhere in the Northeast quadrant of the map.

I just pulled my saves from my backup drive (I save everything) to refresh my memory. I spent the first 60 hours of the game in the DC ruins and metro tunnels. I was at level 13 and 62 hours of game play before I ever ventured West of Vault 101. After "dad" dies, I began to fuck off and explore a little more, but I still stayed with the main quest to finish his work.

Every Fallout 3 run I start goes the same, I get to Megaton then I wander off the narrative and end up 80 hours later remembering that maybe I should do the main story. Of course at least half of that time is spent lost in the subways.

Jerykk wrote on Apr 11, 2011, 03:07:

My first play of FO3 was pretty quick. The main quest felt urgent, so I stuck to it only taking/completing side quests if they were along my way.

Really? I didn't feel any urgency at all. In fact, I accidentally found my dad while exploring but loaded an earlier save and avoided him so I could keep exploring and doing side-quests.

Yea, I had zero interest in finishing FO3. There was no urgency at all. I quickly found myself not ccaring about the story at all after I saved megaton. I just went off and did my own thing like the kid on Seaseme Street.

My first play of FO3 was pretty quick. The main quest felt urgent, so I stuck to it only taking/completing side quests if they were along my way.

Really? I didn't feel any urgency at all. In fact, I accidentally found my dad while exploring but loaded an earlier save and avoided him so I could keep exploring and doing side-quests.

Beamer wrote on Apr 10, 2011, 23:42:

As for feeling overwhelmed, that never really happened to me in either game. I put over 100 hours each into FO3 and NV and over 300 hours into Oblivion. As long as there's enough compelling content to keep me playing, I'll keep playing until I've seen it all.

I probably put 70 into FO3, not that I remember, I'm at least at 40 in NV and I'd guess over, would probably be 100 by the time I'm done, and I put 80 into each playthrough of Oblivion.

I still consider all 3 among the best games of the past few years, without any hesitation.

My last save before I quit playing shows 120 hours. The only part of the main quest I have done is get to Vegas and retrieve the chip from Benny. I decided not to give it to Mr. House yet, and instead I finished some side quests I had taken on. I planned to finish Boone's quest, then go back and pick up Veronica before I carried on with the main quest when the last patch came out breaking Boone.

Like I said, breaking Boone seemed like such a huge fuck up, I figured they would have released a fix for it soon, so I put my game on hold. That was 4 months ago.

I'm taking my time in New Vegas. I don't feel rushed to complete the main quest, so I'm exploring and doing pretty much every side quest I come across along the way. I was in no rush to get to New Vegas. To give you an idea of how much time I'm taking, my first save game I made just outside the gate before entering Freeside shows a play time of 75 hours, and my Steam profile says I've played New Vegas for 208 hours.

I did have to revert several hours of play when I ran into one of the broken quests. I also like to see all of the dialog outcomes, so I quick save before speaking to someone, make my choices and then make a hard save. I load the quick save and try out all possible options, but I make myself stick to my initial choices. I also re-played some side quests that could be done fairly quick just to see how they play out in different ways, but again I make myself stick to my first choice. I'm also playing in hardcore mode and not using fast travel.

My first play of FO3 was pretty quick. The main quest felt urgent, so I stuck to it only taking/completing side quests if they were along my way. I didn't let myself get side tracked. You miss out on a lot by doing that. I used a free play after main quest mod to continue playing, finding every location and doing all of the side quests I could find. I think by the time I was done it was well over 200 hours.

Then I got the FO3 GotY. I was going to start a new game, but I decided to enable all but the Broken Steel add-on and loaded my last save to play through the Operation Anchorage, The Pitt, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta add-ons. After those were done it was over 300 hours.

I then started a new game of FO3 GotY from scratch with some mods (ammo weight, needs etc.), but I didn't finish it before New Vegas came out. I was taking my time to explore more rather than sticking to the main quest path.

After waiting a month for New Vegas to get fixed, I went back to Fallout 3. I'm going to finish this play of Fallout 3, and hopefully by then, New Vegas will be fixed up and I won't forget what I was doing when I left off.

Just to clarify...the trailer for this game was never public. Bethesda uploaded it to Youtube, but it was always set to private.

As for feeling overwhelmed, that never really happened to me in either game. I put over 100 hours each into FO3 and NV and over 300 hours into Oblivion. As long as there's enough compelling content to keep me playing, I'll keep playing until I've seen it all.

I probably put 70 into FO3, not that I remember, I'm at least at 40 in NV and I'd guess over, would probably be 100 by the time I'm done, and I put 80 into each playthrough of Oblivion.

I still consider all 3 among the best games of the past few years, without any hesitation.

I'm ok with that. FO3 left me wanting, but I also never felt overwhelmed by it. Ok, I felt slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of worthless buildings without anything inside them other than a filing cabinet full of tin cans and financial reports, but that was it.

I actually felt that was the one area where FO3 was better than NV. In NV, there weren't many dungeons and most of the dungeons that did exist were small and didn't really have any story behind them. Conversely, in FO3, most of the dungeons were pretty big and told some kind of story, making them a lot more interesting. I hope Bethesda goes for the same approach with Skyrim. Oblivion had a ton of dungeons but they all felt generic because they told no story.

As for feeling overwhelmed, that never really happened to me in either game. I put over 100 hours each into FO3 and NV and over 300 hours into Oblivion. As long as there's enough compelling content to keep me playing, I'll keep playing until I've seen it all.

And yeah, the endings were great. They actually show the consequences of your choices and companions and wrap up things nicely. In FO3, the endings didn't really do any of that.

This comment was edited on Apr 10, 2011, 23:28.

I did all of Veronica's quests, so she definitely has some. I can't remember what triggered them though. I think I just kept talking to her, but there is also a chance that I found the right location...

If you haven't finished the game you should. The ending was satisfying (at least for me).

There are Deathclaws around (and they're mean too), but they hang out in a general area.

It'll be interesting to see how Bethesda handles the next Fallout. I highly doubt it'll be as open-ended as NV or that the writing will be as high-quality.

I'm ok with that. FO3 left me wanting, but I also never felt overwhelmed by it. Ok, I felt slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of worthless buildings without anything inside them other than a filing cabinet full of tin cans and financial reports, but that was it.

NV I feel like I'll never finish. Too long. I've made some pretty extreme choices already and it will take hours still to see how they play out. Hours and hours.

So for that reason I'm actually ok with the more linear FO3. I'm also ok with the wholly linear Oblivion. I think there's plenty of room for all 3, and that they can distinguish themselves just fine. We just need to keep getting all 3.


The writing in NV is pretty damn good. I like to save before a big decision to see how different things play out. Caeser discussing his past was pretty entertaining. Then I blew his brains out.

But I really, really like the open-endedness. Vastly improved on F3, which itself was miles ahead of the complete lack of choice in Oblivion. I think there's a time and a place for each.

Yeah, New Vegas has tons of high and low-level choice in almost every quest. The game is the closest thing to a pure RPG we've had in years. Everything else has been action-RPG. It'll be interesting to see how Bethesda handles the next Fallout. I highly doubt it'll be as open-ended as NV or that the writing will be as high-quality.

There is. Convert it to a master, or merge the mods into a master. Then build an ESP with your values, and load it last.

Won't that still force me to manually enter each value? I have one mod that changes the weight for every item, one mod that reduces the value of most items, one mod that removes the health bonuses from food items. If I merged them, would they all retain their respective value changes?

I'm fairly far in the game, but might stop. I'm at least 40 hours in, not sure exactly but I should check. There's no end in sight. I got bored about 2 hours ago and tore the legions Camp apart, killed everyone inside, then took Benny's advice and did some rearranging of the Penthouse in Lucky 38. Still no end in sight.

I very, very much enjoy that, until my rampage of the legion, I talked my way through nearly everything. I enjoy how many options there are and how readily I can pick and choose what I do in the game. I'm playing almost exclusively without any wiki or FAQ help, which makes it far more entertaining.

The only major complaint I have is that Veronica isn't being triggered for anything, meaning I can't advance her plot. I did Boone's, and those will likely be the only two, as Boone's is obvious and Veronica made me laugh so I actually looked hers up. I doubt I'll put the time in with anyone else. As of right now the game seems unfathomably long; there's so much I haven't seen or done. I haven't even seen a Deathclaw yet. There's an entire west part of the map I haven't gone near.

But I really, really like the open-endedness. Vastly improved on F3, which itself was miles ahead of the complete lack of choice in Oblivion. I think there's a time and a place for each.

Asmo wrote on Apr 10, 2011, 20:06:
I think if you'll finish reading his post you'll see that he has attempted building the merged mod with Wrye Bash and FNVEdit, and either method proves to not easily do what he wants it to.

I think if you understood what I wrote then you wouldn't have made the post that you did believing that you understood what I was talking about. Neither wyrebash nor fnve will properly merge or create masters with parents. This has to be done with different tools.

And yes I know what I'm talking about.

Just loving this game, so far the user mods are way better than the DLC stuff. try New Vegas Bounties II , A World Of Pain or Project Nevada. I have the Dead Money DLC and didnt like it so much. mabey the next one will be better.

Mashiki Amiketo wrote on Apr 10, 2011, 18:32:

Jerykk wrote on Apr 10, 2011, 17:47:
I wish there was an easy way to merge mods. I have several mods which all edit item stats, though they modify different stats.

There is. Convert it to a master, or merge the mods into a master. Then build an ESP with your values, and load it last.

I think if you'll finish reading his post you'll see that he has attempted building the merged mod with Wrye Bash and FNVEdit, and either method proves to not easily do what he wants it to.

Mod makers bundling up all their mods in to one big release, so you can't easily pick and choose what parts you actually want, is problematic. Of course, bitching about free community support (which, as usual, is far superior to the companies support) is totally harsh, they could always just not put anything out, but sometimes a great mod feature will be bundled with a bunch of other stuff that might be gamewrecking for the player.

Having waited months for the community to leap in to action with a plethora of the best mods, I've found only two show stopping bugs thus far, which is gratifying. Not sure if I'll grab the DLC early, I usually wait for the community to catch up and integrate before I chance ruining a save game.

I played and completed this game back when it was originally released, just the other day I got an urge to play through it again and figured it was a good time to go see what good mods there were available at Fallout Nexus for me to install.

Holy hell, the Elder Scrolls (And I guess by extension, the post Fallout 3 games) have some amazingly dedicated community support, I'm guessing a number of developers would just about murder for this kind of interest.

Hmmmm...

A quick check on that Boone bug seems to reveal that it should be a pretty simple fix for the developers.

Why they wouldn't have corrected it by now is a mystery. Makes me want to wait for the GOTY edition like I did with FO3. Which I just may end up doing.

Plenty of other things to play in the interim.

Wonder if this is the DLC they discovered in the files after launch. I know some uber geeks over at DAC found some files that suggest a DLC that has you encountering ANOTHER mojave express delivery person who attacks with a flagpole and his flagpole is some uber melee weapon or something.

Guess we'll see.