Fallout 3

i don't doubt that daggerfall was more complex. i just never played it (never even heard of the elder scrolls until my mom randomly got me morrowind for christmas one year) so i can't really include it in my analysis.

i do think you're right that morrowind was the first to go to console.

in a way, the static content was one of my favorite things about morrowind compared to oblivion. in morrowind, you go into a dungeon and fight john smith, and elton jones, and bobby johansen (not elder scrolls names, i know), and you can usually find out their story and what they are doing in the dungeon, and take their fancy unique equipment. in oblivion, you go into a relatively generic looking dungeon and fight 20 guys named Bandit and pick up generic leveled loot. i don't know, maybe daggerfall had some way of adding story to its randomly generated dungeons; i just always assumed it didn't.

the static content does obviously hurt replay value, but i think it makes it a lot more interesting the first time you explore the game world.

i'm not sure how you can be bad at hacking computers, unless you're just lazy about it. i've literally never failed a hacking attempt.

 

If you say so

 

i meant to answer this in my previous post, but i forgot. yes, as long as your console is hooked up to the internet, as soon as you turn on any given game you will be automatically prompted to install any updates or patches that have been released and you haven't already installed. it's just a matter of clicking "ok" and waiting for it to install (at least that's how i remember it; i'm not a big fan of online play for most games so i haven't had it hooked up for a long time).

 

After I noticed this thread I asked my son if he had Fallout 3 and he does. He has it for his PS3 not the xbox version. I played it for the first time today and I had fun. I do have to say that so far I prefer Skyrim for the scenery, being able to fight with magic and the medieval story line. There are things I like about fallout too. I liked watching my character grow up and I liked breaking out and exploring the outside world. So far I have only done 4 quests and I have explored a little. I think after I get bored with it I will go on to my son's Tomb Raider games and Assassins Creed. We have an Xbox as well but the boys have taken it over playing Halo. So I get stuck with the PS3.

 

yeah, fallout really isn't much to look at. although that is kind of the point after all.

it's still pretty cool to go up to the top of tenpenny tower, or the washington monument, or one of those satellite towers on the north end of the map, and look out over a few square miles of wasteland.

also, yes, magic is cooler. at least it was back when levitation was an option. but shooting someone with the fat man comes a close second.

 

thanks for the answer. back before the online capabilities of consoles, if a game program was glitched, too bad.

kinda funny because game consoles are essentially stripped down computers. The original XBox was a Pentium 3 @850mhz with nVidia graphics and a hard drive. That is when consoles started to try and catch up to PC's for gaming.

But like I said, with the limitations the console format imposes, it also brings stellar performance because the game software is written specifically for that hardware configuration. That is the main caveat to PC gaming. Potential for more hardware issues arise simply because the software has to be able to address myriad possible hardware configurations.

That is why consoles excel at some genres, but not so great with others, and that difference starts with the programmers.

Another reason I prefer PC's. My addicted friend has installed some mods for the vegetation, skies/weather and view distance effects that make the game look SOOOOO much better without losing that post nuclear war feel.

I can't even believe it's the same game when I fire up my non-modded vanilla installation.

If you guys are curious about what I'm talking about, here is a link to some of the best user-made content sites around;
http://www.nexusmods.com/
:2thumbsup:

 

When I'm looking for a game, I may rent the console version of it to try it out. If I like it, I get myself a PC copy.

My PC has more graphics crunching power than any console. And then as Nox is saying, modding is awesome.

It's not destroying someone's work. It actually helps promote the game. First few months of release, you couldn't move on Youtube without bumping into a Skyrim mod-vid. Free advertising!

 

Exactly.
I and others I know have gone back and re-installed a few different games over the years solely to play mods/user content that had been created.
I re-installed NeverWinter Nights 4 different times to play through user created mods.
The game developers, if smart, also benefit because fresh eyes and novel approaches are what keeps the industry moving forward. A vast amount of ideas and material comes from the end user community.
As I previously mentioned, the in-game weather system, the animal AI, many appearance tweaks and more were created by end users for Morrowind and Oblivion and Bethesda then got permission to use those modifications in Fallout and Skyrim.

Example, for those of you who remember in Morrowind/Oblivion there was lots of wildlife in the game, but all the critters just kinda wandered around and it wasn't unusual to see a mountain lion walking right next to some deer, plus there was not much variation in types, ages, etc.

Starting with Morrowind, the user mod community progressively tweaked this aspect until now in Fallout and Skyrim you have realistic wildlife behaviors. It was awesome when less than an hour after starting Skyrim I watched a pack of wolves try to corral and kill a moose.
The moose fought back, but ultimately did the smart thing and crossed the river which the wolves couldn't do.
That type of AI didn't exist in Morrowind or Oblivion, but was developed by the user community and then incorporated by Bethesda. Whether people were offered jobs, paid outright, or licensed, who knows.

Along the lines of "destroying the creators work", how many of you guys have played/play Counter-Strike?

InfantDressingTable, did you know that Counter-Strike started as a user made modification of Half-Life and after Valve saw how horribly the two guys destroyed their work, they put them on the payroll and funded and produced Counter-Strike.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Strike
Funny that one of the most popular of all time online shooters started because some guys set about "destroying the creators of Half-Life's work".

The smart companies promote and encourage user modifications because ultimately it is the software developer that wins.:2thumbsup:

 

We have both Morrowind and Oblivion on PC but I did not realize they had mods for them. The only PC game I ever modified was Minecraft. I will have to check out the mods for Oblivion and Morrowind now.

 

NWN were so smart. Here's the game, and here's the world building tools!! Go Nuts! I've tried NWN Persistent Worlds too. Good times. Kept me coming back to a game that's a decade old.

 

That is sweet! Another cult member recruited

 

so what factions and gangs do you all join or destroy?

 

fallout 3 doesn't really have much in the way of factions, does it? you can move into megaton or tenpenny tower, and you have the option to take one side or another in some quests, but that's about the extent of it, unless i'm forgetting something.

so far, i've played twice as a good guy and once as a bad guy.

 

its been a while since i played it so you could be correct, i am now on my second playthrough of new vegas and there are quite a few gangs and two main factions, im trying not to kill anyone that dosnt attack me first unless its to get a mission done. and i am not stealing anything as to keep my karma up. i am looking forward to when i go and wipe out the legionaires though.

 

Just got New Vegas the GOTY edition so I'm in there.

 

yeah, i generally don't kill people unless i have to, even when i'm playing as an evil character.

i've played new vegas twice. the first time i hardly even started the main quest. the second time i did the option to take over vegas for yourself.

 

Yeah man, I'm really really like New Vegas, since I haven't played it since it came out.

The graphics are still buggy, but a crispier too, as frustrating as the bugginess is, that's the only downside I really have with this game. I really like how there's a lot more variety and to do in the game. The storyline is amazing as well. And I like the desert scenery, everyone bitches about it, I actually find it less boring than 3, believe it or not.

I can go on and on, but bottom line, I'm liking New Vegas more than I have 3, maybe cause I just played that too much, or if in fact New Vegas is a little better, that's just me.

Fallout 3 > New Vegas (for now)

 

i don't know, it's been a while since i played new vegas, but the way i remember it the two games looked almost the same as far as scenery. which, of course, makes sense considering that almost all vegetation has been killed off.

i did really enjoy the whole western vibe given off by the people in the game and the one radio station.

i would have a really hard time choosing which game i thought was better overall.

 

yeah it's really a draw.

Both games have their pros and cons, but it's just too difficult to ultimately crown a victor.

But yeah... New Vegas...

 

i will say vegas only because of the fact that it had sarsaparilla in it, i dont remember seeing it in 3.