Between work and now enjoying some half disconnected vacations (one week out of Spain, and soon a few more days off to a small village) Fallout New Vegas came out and I have just installed it but not even launched yet.
The reasons, mainly two apart from the vacations:
First, I want the game to become stable. Looks as it is plaged of bugs and I don't want them to spoil the experience if it is near as enjoyable as Fallout 3.
And second, because I wanted to finish all Fallout 3 DLCs and at least one or two more side-missions. I've finally done so and reached level 30 (with around 50 hours of playtime), and while I won't give my thoughts at the official DLCs here, I'll just say that if you don't own the game go run for the Game of the Year edition (which contains all of them), because they "fix" some things and offer some variety in quests.
Many people disliked Fallout 3 becoming an RPG FPS, but I've loved the setting. Ok, is not perfect and probably far from the depthness of the previous ones, but still has some magic touch that made me feel really inside that wasteland. Plus I've lived some really enjoyable quests and situations much more elaborated than in Oblivion.
I really think it is a great game, one that I will probably reinstall in the future and keep discovering new places and fullfilling new quests almost like the first day. In the end, what matters most is not what everybody says but what you feel when you play a game.
Fallout New Vegas, I hope you're up the expectations!
I'be been on hundreds of fights, strange encounters and adventures lately...
From crazy robots who thought they were humans...
To cities built on a a giant adbandoned army battleship...
Luxury hotels in the middle of the wasteland...
Talking and trading with uncommon "people"...
I found too that there are more vaults than 101
I found too terrible secrets...
... and experiments
I've done all sorts of missions
Some of the ghouls I've seen are "glowing ones", but I've yet to discover exactly why that happens (I've got a theory I won't explain, at least not yet)
I've been trained to use power armor, so I am like a walking tank right now
The caverns that exist below the surface are becoming more and more dangerous, with worse monsters inside...
And at the surface I've had some important revelations...
My journey hasn't come to an end, there's still much to do
This holidays I've fimished the main quest-line of Fallout 3. As I was warned of, this is not Oblivion so the game just ends, so be careful and save before the end. so you can keep playing after watching the (quick-and-dirty) ending.
I've reached the level cap (20, but I admit I'm cheating by lowering to 19 to keep "advancing levels" and maximizing stats and perks), and I'm now trying to explore all locations and finish other secondary "big" quests (there are a lot of mini-quests and some super-secret quests too).
I've pumped in around 40 hours and I'm far from getting tired of play this game, so right now is one of the best investments I've done. Highly recommended purchase...
I've just added a new web links list for Fallout 3. Right now it contains a link to an interactive wasteland map, and to one of the first repositories of mods!
My name is Kartones, I'm 19 years old and I am a Vault 101 ex-inhabitant.
I was born 19 years ago in a atomic vault, built inside a mountain, to survive the atomic holocaust that happened in the Earth decades ago.
I lived an almost easy and calm life inside the vault, until one day my father dissapeared. We were told there was no escape, but it was just another lie.
After some serious problems and having to kill some security people, I managed to escape the vault, and now I'm searching for my father.
The outside world, called The Wastelands, is very different from what I had read. Extended exposure to atomic radiation has mutated people, animals, and rendered toxic the waters.
I found a small city near the vault, Megaton.
I met the sheriff, ho guided me and helped me starting with this new life.
The city had quite a lot of facilities (for a small desert town), even woman... that want a male's companion for money ;)
The city is built in a crater, around an atomic bomb that didn't exploded (I defused it after improving my mechanic skills. There is a local cult that worships the bomb, but nobody should come close to it since the water is extremely radiactive.
At the saloon I met a strange man from a corporation that asked me to blow the bomb and destroy the town. I informed the sheriff and... after a shooting the sheriff died. His son gifted me with the key to my house.
The outside world is quite dangerous, robots being the less of the worries.
Big City is an almost adbandoned city, with a small group of survivors fighting continuously with the super-mutants.
I got involved in one of the fights with super-mutants, and we won, but they are quite strong. Aim for the head and watch out for brutes, who usually carry fearsome miniguns.
All the rivers and lakes are radiactive, so I have to avoid them and search for bridges whenever necessary to cross one.
Although abandoned, most houses still contain goods or pieces for repairing or building new tools, I suppose that the fear of the raiders, mutants and other dangers keeps people from salvaging them.
I've tried to make my house as comfortable as possible, and I have a small medical laboratory and a workbench, very handy to heal my radiation or create new custom weapons.
Most of the survivors who didn't died with the atomic bombs have serious mutations, and are called ghouls. Some are friendly, some are not.
I've learning a lot of science so I usually try to hack computers to unlock safes or arm old defensive robots. It is not easy, but the reward is worth trying.
I'm right now heading to a radio station, last known place of my father. I'm heavily armed but I must be fast because at night more creatures dwell the wastelands.
I'm not going to create another "Journal" for Fallout 3 as I get so inmersed I forget to take screenshots most of the time, but I'll try to write some posts (warning, they might contain story spoilers) about my progress.
Up to now, the game is almost perfect... It's like Oblivion + S.T.A.L.K.E.R., with a lot of small details that makes it great. Oh, and the V.A.T.S. system (something like a action points-based shooting) is great to watch fantastic bullet-time moments :)
I'm expecting Fable II to arrive soon (I ordered it online) and I'm playing Dead Space too (fantastic Silent Hill + Doom 3 mixture, looks awesome too!) so looks like I'll have plenty of Fallout 3 fun for a while!