01-09-2009, 05:36 AM
Quote: On it's own, it's not a bad game. I'd say it can even be a very good game. Bethesda can usually be counted on making great environments, and building atmosphere. And IMO they succeded here again. Unfortunately I think they still need work on the character models. Some of it is just lighting and 'dead eyes' syndrome.
I spent a while without responding to this post because i hadn't played through the whole game, and then a little while after finishing it because I was so pissed i didn't want to think of the game.
After playing 90% of FO3 including finishing the main story and most of the optional side quests I have come to the conclusion that bethesda really has little to no skill when it comes to game design and that they are completely comfortable riding out the self congratulatory masturbation they must partake in everytime they look at a copy of Oblivion GotY edition.
The barren post-apocaliptic wasteland of the fallout universe is perhaps a perfect metaphore for what has become their design philosophy: Large play arenas to explore and interact in resulting in little to no consequence. Fallout 3 is a new skin slapped on the same game they have been making for the last 7 years. I've done these same quests before in Oblivion, and even yet again before in Morrowind.
My defining moment while playing FO3 was when i reached level 20 and was hit with the dawning realization that i had been duped and that my natural obsessive leveling impulse had been used against me in a kind of sadistic bait and switch to cover up the vast emptiness of gameplay in the title. Sure there was a lot of places i had not explored and some quests i had not done, but why bother exploring those places? I can tell you already what i'd find: some inconsequential enemies to fight, some weapons and armor which were no different than the ones i had already encountered, and a metric crap-ton of bent tin cans. Whoop-a-dee-doo. At this point I rushed through any remaining quest i had to do and finished off the main quest without so much as a second glance. And if it weren't obvious enough how inconsequential everything is in this game, the final ending essentially tells you it to your face.
Bethesda: You've gotten really good at making interesting and attractive environments. Now if only you could learn how to make a good game to go in those environments.