Thinking about trying out Fallout

[Rapier]

Or, more specifically, Fallout 3, as it is on sale on Steam, although I'm open to other suggestions until Bethesda releases a new Elder Scrolls game (all Fallout games are on sale on another site, but I prefer using my Steam credits).

I'm not an usual FPS player and I'm not so fond of that genre. Far Cry 3 and 4 were the last FPS games I've played (I don't count the DOOM demo and I don't think GTA V counts), and I liked them more for other elements than for being FPS, although it was fun. The RPG aspects, rich storytelling and choice making that the Fallout series supposedly have were what attracted me the most.

Is Falllout 3 a good start? Are there other, better Fallouts that might be good starts for a new player? What should I be expecting from its choices and consequences and RPG mechanics?

Edited February 28, 2017 by Rapier

[Captain Karnage]

be careful, last I checked Fallout 3 does not work with windows 7 and forward

[kingddd]

14 minutes ago, Captain Karnage said:

be careful, last I checked Fallout 3 does not work with windows 7 and forward

The last time I played Fallout 3 was on Windows 7 and it worked perfectly fine.  It the message you see on steam just means it hasn't been tested for compatibility but if it runs on vista it runs on 7 in most cases.

Not to mention tons of people have gotten it fixed without any problems running the game.

Now random crashes?  Well that's bethesda experience.

Edited February 28, 2017 by kingddd

[Captain Karnage]

2 minutes ago, kingddd said:

The last time I played Fallout 3 was on Windows 7 and it worked perfectly fine.  It the message you see on steam just means it hasn't been tested for compatibility but if it runs on vista it runs on 7 in most cases.

Not to mention tons of people have gotten it fixed without any problems running the game.

I had issues with it running on my desktop back then when I upgraded to windows 7, so I'm not sure if it still has that problem

[kingddd]

17 minutes ago, Captain Karnage said:

I had issues with it running on my desktop back then when I upgraded to windows 7, so I'm not sure if it still has that problem

Check the steamcommunity for fallout 3.  There are tons of fixes for it.  Even the stickied thread is a huge fix for majority of the people.

Also to answer your question TC.

Fallout 3 is not a bad start for most players since Fallout 3 was a lot of people's first Fallout game.  Despite the criticisms of the story and the lore itself, there is a lot of love still put into the game you'll definitely enjoy but it's definitely more of a game where you have to learn to inspect the situations that you're exploring then some kind of narrative that tells you what to do.  It's very free roam and consequences will happen depending on the stats of your characters.  It was my first fallout and I definitely enjoyed what I got out of it.

As for gameplay, really the game doesn't require good precise aiming to do well thanks to the vats system.  Your stats are the big dependence on how well your avatar will shoot a rifle or use a gun more than your physical reflexes.  And most of the time the stats are really for helping you unlock things, persuade people and get better perks in general.

I wasn't a fan of Fallout 4 as much though.

Edited February 28, 2017 by kingddd

[Refa]

40 minutes ago, Rapier said:

I'm not an usual FPS player and I'm not so fond of that genre. Far Cry 3 and 4 were the last FPS games I've played (I don't count the DOOM demo and I don't think GTA V counts), and I liked them more for other elements than for being FPS, although it was fun. The RPG aspects, rich storytelling and choice making that the Fallout series supposedly have were what attracted me the most.

Fallout 3 is as much of an FPS as Oblivion is, so you should be fine.

[Rapier]

32 minutes ago, Captain Karnage said:

be careful, last I checked Fallout 3 does not work with windows 7 and forward

I have Windows 10 Pro (trial, but whatever), so... Uh, I think there's no way to know until I try. 9 bucks can't hurt that much, I think.

20 minutes ago, kingddd said:

The last time I played Fallout 3 was on Windows 7 and it worked perfectly fine.  It the message you see on steam just means it hasn't been tested for compatibility but if it runs on vista it runs on 7 in most cases.

Not to mention tons of people have gotten it fixed without any problems running the game.

Now random crashes?  Well that's bethesda experience.

Can't be that different from Oblivion randomly crashing. I wonder if there are unofficial patches as well, because Bethesda.

2 minutes ago, Refa said:

Fallout 3 is as much of an FPS as Oblivion is, so you should be fine.

Is there a weapon similar to Chewbacca's metal crossbow? It might work perfectly as a substitute for an iron bow, should I choose to play that way again.

[Locke087]

There is a major difference between Fallouts 1 and 2, and 3 forward. 1 and 2 are in the style of classic CRPG's like Baldurs Gate (because their are). Where as Fallout 3 and forward are Elder Scrolls with guns. So yes unless you're interested in a classic style CRPG start with 3.

 Now onto your concerns for 3 is absolutely nothing like a shooter, in fact you will spend 200% of the time in VATS (if you don't know what that is please look up footage of the game).  This is because aiming in the standard way is crap so you'll either abuse VATS for easy head shots (aimer stays at the same place after you exit VATS so you can just VATS someone's head then exit VATS that shoot them for better hit chances sometimes), or just use VATS pure and simple.  This remains mostly true for New Vegas but aiming is a little bit better.  In 4 they nerfed VATS a little but aiming is significantly better so the game ends up playing a lot more like a shooter. 

Choice and Consequence are only a heavy factor in 3 and New Vegas, 4 tones this down a lot, there's no karma system and speech and role-playing choices are heavily paired down, some choices and consequences remain but it is a lot less than previous entries.  3 and new Vegas though you actually have quite a bit, you can do everything from kill every person that walks and take everything that's not nailed down (a staple of Bethesda games), their everything you could expect from an elder scrolls game lockpicking/hacking, stealing, crafting, crappy stealth, on top of things unique to this game such as radiation poisoning, and repairing weapons/weapon degradation.  This game and New Vegas also features Karma system where you can make good and bad decisions, good decisions will see you saving communities and so forth and bad ones will see you things like blowing up entire towns.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Locke087

[Rapier]

Are the DLCs necessary or do improve the game experience significantly? I planned to buy the vanilla version.

[Locke087]

2 minutes ago, Rapier said:

Are the DLCs necessary or do improve the game experience significantly? I planned to buy the vanilla version.

What ever you do make sure you get the game of the year edition Fallout 3 is nothing without its DLC. The DLC is better than the base game, there's a reason this game is considered as having some of the best DLC in the bussiness. Same goes for New Vegas except the main game is of the same quality.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Locke087

[kingddd]

5 minutes ago, Rapier said:

Are the DLCs necessary or do improve the game experience significantly? I planned to buy the vanilla version.

Broken Steel
Point Lookout
The Pitt
Mothership Zeta
Operation: Anchorage

These are the 5 I would prioritize in order.  Broken Steel is a must get for the DLCs as it raises your level cap by 30 and lets you continue the game after the main story.  Point Lookout is basically another nice place to explore and it's a pretty vast place to tread through.  Everything else though is just a minor side story or unnecessary padding.  The first two are the good ones.  The rest is kind of mute or not really needed as mothership zeta is very linear and so is operation anchorage.

But yeah if you can get the GOTY edition.

Edited February 28, 2017 by kingddd

[Locke087]

Oh yeah if you have to buy the DLC piecemeal for whatever reason I also only recommend Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and mabye the Pitt but it's way cheaper to just get the Game of the Year edition which includes all the DLC so just do that.

[Excellen Browning]

fallout 3 is meh and I recommend you start with new Vegas. Yes it plays like a first person (shooter, but you can also melee, sneak and talk through the game) action game, but it's a serious improvement over fallout 3.

[Rapier]

32 minutes ago, Excellen Browning said:

fallout 3 is meh and I recommend you start with new Vegas. Yes it plays like a first person (shooter, but you can also melee, sneak and talk through the game) action game, but it's a serious improvement over fallout 3.

Can you tell me how better it is? I can't decide between them and context would help a lot.

40 minutes ago, Locke087 said:

Oh yeah if you have to buy the DLC piecemeal for whatever reason I also only recommend Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and mabye the Pitt but it's way cheaper to just get the Game of the Year edition which includes all the DLC so just do that.

I'll just buy the GOTY in that case, although I'm still thinking if it's worth it (my budget is kinda lacking and there are other games to consider, like Nier Automata).

[Excellen Browning]

both fallout 3 and new Vegas are essentially first person games, even if you can go to third person view. The difference between the two is that you can actually properly aim in NV. Mouse control is weird and imprecise in fallout 3.

[DodgeDusk]

New Vegas was one of my favourite games last generation; the world building and the writing are a lot better than Fallout 3's. The Mojave Desert genuinely feels like a living "world". Out of the two, it's the game I'd recommend.

[Magical CC]

Fallout 3 and New Vegas are good start. Note that both games are buggy so you should also install bug fix patches on moddb or nexus. You can try some mods on top of that.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Magical CC