Fallout 3 Impressions PC Edition: now with more 8-Bit JRPG!

[CeeKay]

I'm finally started getting back to this the other day.  I kept my previous save, but since I couldn't remember where I was in the storyline I went ahead and restarted.  one thing I have noticed is that VATS seems to have a slight pause again before the percentages pop up.  did the latest patch do something to it?  the last time I got pauses from VATS I fixed it with the latest drivers, and didn't have them again until I updated to 1.4.

[CeeKay]

I was playing last night and came across a weird radio signal.  looking around the area I was pleasantly surprised to find a downed UFO with an Alien Blaster that does a buttload of damage, like taking down a deathclaw in 2 shots and alot of ther creatures in one.  hopefully I can find more Alien Blaster ammo for it at some point as I've used up about half of it.  I've mainly been keeping it reserve for really hard enemies or if I don't feel like taking the time to engage in combat.

I do wish there was some kind of mount you could get for faster travel while exploring though.

[MonkeyFinger]

I'm pretty sure that the ammo you scavenge from the immediate crash site is all there is for the Alien Blaster.

[Arkon]

I'm pretty sure that the ammo you scavenge from the immediate crash site is all there is for the Alien Blaster.

I could have sworn there was one other place I found some... in a bunker or that place you could launch some mini nukes from.

[Freezer-TPF-]

ALIEN BLASTER SPOILERS LIE WITHIN! 

Spoiler for Hiden:

All you want to know about the Alien Blaster in FO3

[MonkeyFinger]

I'm pretty sure that the ammo you scavenge from the immediate crash site is all there is for the Alien Blaster.

I could have sworn there was one other place I found some... in a bunker or that place you could launch some mini nukes from.

After checking Freezer's links, apparently I misremembered. 

[CeeKay]

cool, thanks.  I think I may actually make an exception for this game and pick up the strategy guide.

[CeeKay]

I ran into my first behemoth last night when I decided to do the Galaxy Radio portion of the main quest before I accidentally skipped over it like I did the first time.  I was not expecting it to be that big 

oh, and I finally found Dogmeat after going back to Minefield to see if I could find any more mine.  god, this game is HUGE.  I might have totally missed him if I hadn't noticed the junkyard off in the distance, but now I'm afraid he could get killed so I sent him back to the Vault 101 entrance for now.

[Octavious230]

Finally beat it last night with only 27 hours played. There's a metric ass ton of things I missed and I didn't play either of the mini expansions so I'm sure I'll be playing again. I think I'm going to wait until the 3rd expansion comes out and then play again. Probably as a evil guys this time. 

[CeeKay]

Probably as a evil guys this time. 

I started off as good then turned evil but may end up good again.  It's cool how they have bounties on you if you become too good or evil, but it sucks to be coming out of a subway or building pretty beat up only to find yourself getting ambushed.

Is there any secret to finding the Bobbleheads beyond wandering around or using a FAQ/strategy guide?  I've found 4 in my travels and like the boost they give you.

[Windows95]

Is there any secret to finding the Bobbleheads beyond wandering around or using a FAQ/strategy guide?  I've found 4 in my travels and like the boost they give you.

Not that I know of.  I think I found about one third to a half on my own, the rest I used an online guide for.  Even if you check out every major location in the game, some are in dark corners or hard to spot locations.  I don't think there are any in game guides to their locations.

[Moliere]

Is there any secret to finding the Bobbleheads beyond wandering around or using a FAQ/strategy guide?  I've found 4 in my travels and like the boost they give you.

They seem like another reward to encourage lots of exploring. I found great satisfaction exploring some random cave and running into a Bobblehead.

[CeeKay]

it stinks- for some reason I've been noticing more and more graphics issues with HDR turned on.  did anyone experience a bunch of graphical flickering (from the texture flickering on objects to a big black block blocking out the view of a segment of the area if you look at a certain angle) with HDR enabled on a nVidia card?  I figured out it has to be that because if I turn it (HDR) off the issues are gone, but the game looks less pretty.  I've been looking on the forums but there doesn't seem to be a solid fix- I've read people have supposedly fixed it with rolling back to a previous version of the game to rolling back or updating drivers.

other than that I've been busy exploring the Capitol area.  I've been trying to find the White House (or at least it's ruins/big crater where it would have been) but since I'm close to level 20 and the Explorer perk I may wait.

[Kagath]

Is there a way (or one I've missed) that I can map a ranged weapon to a key and a melee weapon to another like Morrowind? I hate having to go the Pip just to change weapons mid battle.

[dmd]

Is there a way (or one I've missed) that I can map a ranged weapon to a key and a melee weapon to another like Morrowind? I hate having to go the Pip just to change weapons mid battle.

Open pip, hold down number key, click on weapon. Release number key. Weapon assigned to number.

[Kagath]

Awesome, thanks! I just started and use the hunting rifle at range then the 10mm close as I have a ton of ammo for it.

[CeeKay]

after more exploring last night I found the remains of the White House, which I had actually already been by but it didn't occur to me the few columns laying around were from it until I found a small hatch near it, went through a tunnel and exited in the very radioactive crater with the message that I found the White House.  I also found Arlington Cemetary (and a bobble head!), which was kind of surreal.

[raydude]

I just started this up again after a 4 month long hiatus. I'm still amazed at the cinematic slo-mo kill shots that happen while in VATS. Just last night I did a headshot on a vicious dog that was charging towards me. The shot tore the dogs head off and it arced in the air, blood droplets flying, till it landed at my feet. 

[CeeKay]

the slo mo is cool, but at times it seems to take too long to end, usually when you've got a bunch of other people shooting at you.  I've also found that it doesn't work well if a melee guy is charging you and gets in too close.

[raydude]

the slo mo is cool, but at times it seems to take too long to end, usually when you've got a bunch of other people shooting at you.  I've also found that it doesn't work well if a melee guy is charging you and gets in too close.

Yeah, but that's what the flame thrower is for . Something else I like is how the objects in the game "make sense". Case in point, I'm under attack by super mutants who are behind some abandoned cars. One mutant with the minigun accidentally hits a car and flames start spewing out. Hmmm, I wonder what happens if I chuck a grenade at them? Sure enough, the grenade causes the cars to explode, causing mutants to launch into the air and die. Now that was cool.

[CeeKay]

I found a really nice set of power armor last night, now I just need to find a trainer for it.  I also found the place where you can invest in the 4 caravans that wander the wastes so they carry better items and have better repair skills, whihc is pretty cool as one of the guys (the junk vendor) was then able to repair most of my items to near perfect condition.

I was going through the perks, and some of them seem kinda useless, or at least the do for the PC version.  the 2 higher level ones that give you a second chance to pick a broken lock or hack a terminal after you've entered the wrong password too many times are the big ones I've noticed.  you only break a lock if you try to force it, and when hacking a terminal it makes more sense to turn it off and back on if you're on the last attempt unless you've got most of the password, and then if it locks just quickload (assuming you quicksave right before starting a hack like I do).  there are two other perks which give you bonuses depending on the time of day and the two that give you the ability to take fingers from certain people for caps seem to be rather limited so I put those on my skip list as well.  don't get me wrong, I'm not saying taking them is stupid but from a effieciency standpoint it's more efficient to take the perks that give you benefits all the time.

oh, and on this playthrough I skipped Bloody Mess.  the damage bonus was nice, but it just got ridiculous after the first few times.  I see enough heads flying off as it is without it.

[raydude]

I was going through the perks, and some of them seem kinda useless, or at least the do for the PC version.  the 2 higher level ones that give you a second chance to pick a broken lock or hack a terminal after you've entered the wrong password too many times are the big ones I've noticed.  you only break a lock if you try to force it, and when hacking a terminal it makes more sense to turn it off and back on if you're on the last attempt unless you've got most of the password, and then if it locks just quickload (assuming you quicksave right before starting a hack like I do).  there are two other perks which give you bonuses depending on the time of day and the two that give you the ability to take fingers from certain people for caps seem to be rather limited so I put those on my skip list as well.  don't get me wrong, I'm not saying taking them is stupid but from a effieciency standpoint it's more efficient to take the perks that give you benefits all the time.

There are only a few perks that seem to be must-haves and all the others I tend to pick based on a "this might be fun" basis. One that I've heard is pretty fun to take is the mysterious stranger perk. For now I'm taking another rank of "demo expert" after having seen how powerful the frag grenades are. Those babies let me blow up two assassination attempts by talon mercs as well as two super-mutant groups.

I think the "taking fingers" perks are "might be fun" perks for characters on the extreme side of good or evil.

But I agree about the 2nd chance perks for the locks and computer terminals being on the useless side.

[CeeKay]

I think the "taking fingers" perks are "might be fun" perks for characters on the extreme side of good or evil.

yeah, they might be fun for a diversion but by the time they unlock you're practically swimming in caps.  I did take the Mysterious Stranger perk, and with a current Luck of 8 it doesn't seem to pop up very much.  the look of the guy is not what I expected and made me LOL the first time he showed up.  I might have otherwise skipped it, but when it popped up I didn't really see anything else worth taking.  I'm kicking myself over skipping the Comprehension perk early on with the amount of skill since I've been finding a ton of those.

[Purge]

the slo mo is cool, but at times it seems to take too long to end, usually when you've got a bunch of other people shooting at you.  I've also found that it doesn't work well if a melee guy is charging you and gets in too close.

Yeah, but that's what the flame thrower is for . Something else I like is how the objects in the game "make sense". Case in point, I'm under attack by super mutants who are behind some abandoned cars. One mutant with the minigun accidentally hits a car and flames start spewing out. Hmmm, I wonder what happens if I chuck a grenade at them? Sure enough, the grenade causes the cars to explode, causing mutants to launch into the air and die. Now that was cool.

If a car is on fire, it doesn't need the grenade to help it along, but it does speed up the eventual explosion.

[Purge]

Is there a way (or one I've missed) that I can map a ranged weapon to a key and a melee weapon to another like Morrowind? I hate having to go the Pip just to change weapons mid battle.

Open pip, hold down number key, click on weapon. Release number key. Weapon assigned to number.

OMG TYVM!!!

[Destructor]

I absolutely loved watching people explode via a slo-mo grenade toss. Makes me want to go through the game a second time and train in nothing but grenades.

[Moliere]

One that I've heard is pretty fun to take is the mysterious stranger perk.

I love this Perk! Its really fun to be in a fight and have Humphrey Bogart come in with his .45 pistol and finish someone off.

[Kagath]

How often does he show up? Is it worth it to take something like that as opposed to Intense Training or something else more universal?

[CeeKay]

It's random, and since it has a luck requirement I'm guessing it's based off whatever your luck star is.  With a luck of 8 and I rarely see him pop up.

[Destructor]

He has I think a 5% chance of showing up if an enemy gets to 10% health or less without dying.

[Sarkus]

He has I think a 5% chance of showing up if an enemy gets to 10% health or less without dying.

Actually, I think it is tied to your health level as well.  So if you are loaded down with stimpaks and keep yourself healed up you rarely see him.

It is kind of funny that he shows up in the Operation: Anchorage DLC expansion thing.  Being that its a VR sim and all. 

[drifter]

Try this if you like grenades:

Pick someones pocket and then place a grenade on them from your inventory - move away from them quickly

[CeeKay]

they actually included a stat for Mysterious Stranger visits on the 'general stats' page.  since I picked it up when it first became available I've seen him 8 times.  considering right now I'm killing most enemies in VATS by the last shot (better criticals, sniper, action girl, and the perk that gives you a better chance to hit with 2 handed weapons plus high luck) I don't think I'll be seeing much of him.

Try this if you like grenades:

Pick someones pocket and then place a grenade on them from your inventory - move away from them quickly

I'm assuming that is what gives you marks under the 'pants exploded' stat 

[CeeKay]

tonight I hit level 20 and I'm maybe half way through the main quest line.  now I have to debate do I want to continue or wait for Broken Steel to raise the level cap so I don't waste any XP.

[CeeKay]

Operation Anchorage and The Pitt are coming to retail.

[CeeKay]

patch 1.5 is out, preparing for Broken Steel:

New Features

New achievements for Broken Steel

Bug Fixes

Fixed issue with VATS calculations not appearing properly for perks (PC)

Fixed crash related to altered references between master files

LOD objects render properly when loaded from DLC worldspaces

Fixed issue with companion NPCs not loading into cells immediately after player

[Daehawk]

You can manually update here..

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/downloads/updates.html

[Daehawk]

So is there a new Point Look DLC?

[Sarkus]

So is there a new Point Look DLC?

Weird.  Maybe somebody spilled the beans early on another DLC, but it does seem odd that one would be coming that soon and hasn't been announced. 

Or maybe it's just BS.

[Greggy_D]

Happy Birthday to Fallout 3.  You are one-year-old today.