Fallout 3

[Bongo Jack]

Anyone else playing it yet?  It looks tailor-made for sci-fi fans to waste a good portion of their short lives in front of the telly playing it, so I imagine it'll find a few fans hereabouts.

I like how it starts with the birth of the character and you pick the name and gender, then it flashes forward to age one and you're 'learning to walk' in a vague tutorial style-thing with nice touches like a baby's book that lets you decide what stats you want to improve.  Pushing the X button at this point makes your character burble baby-talk, too.
After that, straightforward RPG stuff for a bit, with a nice decapitation when I blew some fool's head off at age 19 - I think my character may have grown up a bad 'un.
I think I'm nearly outside the bunker where it all starts off on a quest to find Liam Neeson, we'll see how it goes...

Not seeing the technical issues I heard were a problem with the PS3 version, aside from a slight screen-blur that occurred when a system update for a download came up during a cut-scene, but immediately disappeared once the dialogue box did, leading me to assume it's supposed to do that in the first place so you'll pay attention to it.
Pretty polished-looking so far, but the bunker setting is still a little generic in terms of current-gen graphics.

Bit early to say, really, but nothing has been unenjoyable about it yet, though I can see complaints coming regarding the (seemingly optional) turn-based-ish combat system.

[Roger Godpleton]

I will be buying it legally in 10 hours. I'm torn on whether or not to get the retarded Limited Edition with cast-iron robot thingy so my Big Daddy and Altair figurines can have a new pal in that incredibly dusty corner of my room. If I do buy it I can prolly use it to bludgeon myself to death when the inevitable self-hatred kicks in.

[TheEdge]

i preordered the retarded lunch box ed with the bobble head

[Satanist]

I bought this on the way to work today.

I cannae wait to get home.

[Bongo Jack]

'Legally'?  I hired it from our local rental emporiom to make sure the bugs that supposedly cripple it are actually present and correct before I cough up my wad, and not just overzealous reporting on minor and/or infrequent PS3 glitches.  Not that I'm suggesting that the large amount of advertising Microsoft purchase and access granted to journalists that dries up after bad reviews inform any particular website's completely impartial reporting - and I'd certainly not mention Eurogamer and IGN by name - but the bugs seem to be nothing I haven't seen in Oblivion, and one screen-blurry thing that's actually a part of the way the game's designed.
I'll be buying the full package later today, bobble-headed thingy and all.

Played it a bit more - I have to admit I'm spending a silly amount of time just wandering the wasteland looking for stuff and having fights with Raiders.  It really is impressive in scope, moreso than Oblivion given the recognisable settings (albeit burned and irradiated).  Fave weapon so far is the laser pistol, which you can find if you search the supermarket by the river that runs through Springvale - just head straight through the town out of Bunker 101 and head right at the school.
It's a good idea to have a decent perception stat from the off, as tapping the R2 button as you wander around lets you focus on enemies you most likely don't even know are nearby.

God help me, I really am going to waste so much time on this game...

[Roger Godpleton]

Played a couple of hours, and I have to say I prefer Fable 2 quite a bit more. I have a week of housesitting in which to get better acquainted.

[mogzilla]

getting into it but its lacking that wow factor of oblivion.

any one done the fire ant quest yet? boy those guys take some shooting to go  down.

i picked up some power armour and helmet but cant use them yet!!! bum!

[Bongo Jack]

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.  I'm a bit bored with generic 'it's a bit medieval' fantasy settings, so I'm not as in lust with Fable 2 and Oblivion as I would have been when I was 14, but 'generic post-apocalyptic setting' is still pretty fresh for me, even if you can't shit your trousers in Fallout.

You can't use Steel Brotherhood Power Armor items until you level up and get the Power Armor skill, but until then, they're handy for cash, or you can repair them and stash them in your home in Megaton until later in the game (you get a home by disarming the bomb in the centre of Megaton - just take the Mentats to up your intelligence level before activating it).
The ants are annoying little bastards - best strategy is to stock up on frag grenades from the dumpster behind the diner in Greyditch, then take the ants out using VATS.  If you find the doctor in the train tunnels in Greyditch and wipe out the ants' nest for him, he'll give you an injection to turn you into an X-Man or something.
To get a healing factor, go to Megaton and talk to Moira about contracting radiation sickness, then stand in the water in the centre of town until you get over 600 rads.  Moira can cure you, but you also get a healing factor that repairs crippled limbs.

[Roger Godpleton]

Played it a bit more and I've got over most my initial misgivings. Just a coupla questions:

-Can you get through the escape without offing the Overseer? And just what the fuck is his ethnicity (and everyone else's for that matter)?

-Where dost thou obtain the key to get into the main section of Hamilton's Hideout on the Blood Ties quest?

-

[SamuelAWilkinson]

[spoiler]A) Yes, I managed it, via the medium of legging it till he stopped following.

B) Dunno, I don't remember needing a key in there. Which is fine, because the Family aren't there anyway. It's just full of rad-scorpions, who are little shits.[/spoiler]

[Neheroth]

Yeah I was looking at this since I heard it was like a Sci-Fi Oblivion, which I really bloody enjoyed a damn lot and what not, and since a lot of you have to have played a fair bit of this post-nuke you in the face romp of a game, is it worth me getting on my PS3?

[Bongo Jack]

No point paying full whack right away when there's plenty of cheap games that can tide you over until the post-christmas crimewave fills second-hand shops with copies of the game and cheap PS3s.

1)    Talk to the Overseer but don't threaten him and he won't attack you.  Just leave the room and close the door.
1.a) I think he's African-American.

2)     Hamilton's Hideaway isn't a necessary stop to find the Family.  Just ignore it until later.

[Roger Godpleton]

More moaning: The voice acting is diabolical spesh Neeson.

[jakeblues69]

Goddammit, I'm still trying to decide whether to buy a PS3 or XBOX 360! Loved FALLOUT 1 & 2 though.

[TheEdge]

has anybody gotten into the armory in megaton yet


I got in once [spoiler]you need to talk to the old couple you find out nathan is a gun NUT, pickpoket him and their house keys open the armoury, there are a few nice guns/shotguns but a bad ass robot that needs killed[/spoiler] but i restarted to get the house ( lucas had died somehow teehheeee)