Initial Thoughts on Fallout 3

So I finally caved in and bought myself a copy of Fallout 3. I got the PS3 version, which may have been a mistake, but I’ll get more into that later. I played about 5 hours of the game last night, and here are my initial thoughts. There is some criticism in this post, so I hope you don’t take it the wrong way. Although I may seem biased towards favoring JRPGs, I’m trying to be as objective as possible.

NON-LINEARITY

This is the biggest aspect of most WRPGs that I was reluctant to accept. The concept of a non-linear storyline is something very new to me. The Persona games have touched on this concept by allowing you to form relationships with who you choose and build your character accordingly. However, this here is the real deal. If you wanna be nice, you can, or you can be a total dick. And since it’s a video game, you can get away with it (at least until Jack Thompson starts whining again).

One criticism I have of non-linear storylines is that I feel it tones down the difficulty of the game. Part of the challenge in an RPG is figuring out where you’re supposed to go next. But in F3 you can pretty much do whatever you want. While it’s pretty cool being able to do what you want, I feel it does decrease the challenge a bit.

STORY

Well, I can’t really say much here, but so far it seems like it’s not much more than a generic post-apocalyptic story that we’ve seen in movies over and over again. It’s alright I guess, but in no way does it rank against the deepness of some JRPG storylines.

GRAPHICS

Compared to most other PS3 games, the graphics in F3 are sub-par at best. I feel that some areas could be more well-detailed and pixelation is noticeable at some points. From what I’ve seen in comparison videos, the Xbox 360 version looks pretty much the same. The graphics don’t even come close to the level of detail seen in some JRPGs like Eternal Sonata.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Okay seriously, what the hell? I don’t know what Bethesda was smoking when they thought they could release the PS3 version with so many bugs & glitches in it. I’ve noticed graphical issues such as characters’ limbs falling into walls (while this may not technically be a “bug,” it is the result of lazy programming). The worst issue, however, is the freezing. While walking towards Tenpenny Tower, the game just froze up. I couldn’t do anything. Even hitting the PS button was futile. I had to get up and hold the power button in order to turn the console off. This happened about 5 more times until I decided to try to wait until daytime, and then approach the tower. It worked.

But seriously, what kind of developer releases a game that freezes up?? Not to mention that the game has been out for over a year, they still haven’t fixed this yet? Absolutely baffles me. I read on online forums that this issue is actually quite common in the PS3 version. Well that’s just great. So I guess I need to make sure I save every 5 minutes. Yay.

OVERALL

So far F3 has been entertaining. I do feel the sense of addiction starting to grow on me with this game, so I feel I will definitely be playing it more. Despite the flaws I have mentioned above, the game is fun to play and that’s really what matters most. I don’t see how the game is so critically acclaimed with its flaws, but I guess some people prefer games with a mediocre story and mediocre graphics. Maybe I’m too quick to judge some aspects of the game, so I’ll post subsequent blog entries later on if I need to revise my thoughts.

P.S. I blew up Megaton and loved every second of it. =)