Key

I'm going to give credit where credit is due before I even start this entry. Exo, my man. You're the one who pushed me to get into this game, and I am grateful for that. At first, when I started playing it, I told you that I played for about an hour and stopped playing after that, now I'm of the opinion that you're the greatest human being that ever lived since I've found a new addiction. Now that that's out of the way, let's get into this.

So, Fallout 3. I'm sure everybody and their mother has heard of this game. It's certainly taken me a lot longer than anybody else or everybody else for that matter to find the true genius that is this game. It's not so much that I wasn't interested in it. I just felt that it would be such a huge undertaking, and it wasn't really worth my time. Funny thing is, I played this for the first time a few years ago on Xbox and for whatever reason, I didn't really cling onto it. It seemed like a great game, one that I probably should have liked from the get go, but didn't really see much to it to interest me. Over the years i've sort of regretted not getting into it when I had the chance, because now with Fallout 4 coming out, I feel like i'm way behind the 8-ball, which I usually am, I guess. Everybody was always talking about the Fallout series like it was some sort of god or whatever, and back then I would have just shrugged it off and thought nothing of it. I've played a few more hours of it and I can kind of understand where people are coming from when they "overhype" the Fallout series. It's certainly deserving of that type of praise.

For me, I am very easy to please when it comes to video games, and sometimes certain games of a certain genre have to hit that sweet spot where it takes me from "liking the game" to "holy crap this game is awesome" and this one does it very well. The atmosphere is perfect. I've always been a huge fan of post-apocalyptic settings. Probably why I love zombie survival games so much. The thought that i'm controlling one of the few people left on earth just feels so depressingly awesome that it makes the whole experience worthwhile every single time I play it. I love the feeling of running around trying to find things to keep me from dying / allowing myself to survive longer. There's just something about it that really adds a "holy **** i'm alone" sort of feel, and that's a really cool feeling to get when playing a video game. The difficulty of the game is nothing to sneeze at either. I'm starting my first playthrough on Normal difficulty, and even that is pretty tough. In the couple hours that i've played the game, i've found myself in really tight situations because I was either not prepared for them ammo wise, or i'm just not using my supplies in the fashion that I should be. I'm of the mindset that there will be a bunch of ammo cases lying around everywhere, but so far that just isn't the case. I have to get into the mindset that I need to be careful with my supplies and only use certain weapons when the time calls for it. The nice thing is is that i'm actually going for a more melee style character, so the ammo usage isn't too much of a big deal. I feel more immersed in the gameplay when I can get right in someones face and break their neck or their limbs. However, there are times where it's obvious that I need to put the melee weapons away and just open fire. I'm also going to have to be of the mindset that not every single enemy needs to die. I've been trying to make sure I clear areas of enemies, but instead I could have just run by them and saved myself the time and ammo and health for that matter. I'm so used to just taking the enemies out that it's a weird transition to make where I don't really have to worry about it. Sure, the experience is useful, but if I feel like I can't take on the enemies that are showing up, I should really just be running away from them and deal with it later. Even if they take me out while I try to run away. Hey, that's part of the experience, right?

I think one of my favorite things about this game is being able to tune into certain radio stations. I had always heard people talking about how great the music is in the game and things like that, but I never really understood where they were coming from. I do now, however. There's a variety of stations you can tune into that really help set the mood depending on how you want to play. Hell, you can even have the radio turned completely off if you want to. There have been times that the static from the radio add a super unsettling effect on the game, and I think that's awesome. And if I feel like it's too quiet, I can just turn on the radio and hear this beautiful little gem that pops on every now and again:



The music era that they chose to go with in this game is perfection. They absolutely did a fantastic job in finding a certain era of music that really fit the post-apocalyptic setting and the era they chose is just so good. I also really like tuning into the news about whats going on in the world. There's a certain charm when tuning in and hearing the DJ say something like "soooo, how's everyone doing in this post-apocalyptic world of ours!" It sort of adds a bit of positive and comedy to an obviously negative and terrible situation. I haven't really seen a lot in terms of radio stations, but just being able to tune into certain ones is really cool. Then again, Bethesda has always been great at coming up with ideas that fit games really really well.

The only thing about this game that I don't like, and it's not even the game itself. "Windows Live". I hate it. I absolutely hate it and I don't see why it even needs to be a thing. It prompts me to put in a 16 character product key even though i've bought the game on Steam. There may be a loophole around that, but for the time being, I just X out of it and continue on my way. It doesn't really cause any disruption other than being an annoyance when I start the game up. Another thing i'm surprised by is the lack of achievements through Steam. Again, just a minor detail that I find more interesting than anything else. Doesn't really take away from my enjoyment though. The game is still fun and I play to put many hours into it.

So, where do we stand now? Is this a game that I regret not getting into as much as everyone else? Yes. Absolutely. I honestly wish I could turn back time and tell my past self to keep on playing even if it's not enjoyable at that time. I pushed myself a little bit and it took some personal convincing but I finally had the urge to play the game again since the first time I played it on PC a few weeks ago (my first ever time was on the Xbox that I mentioned earlier), and I haven't looked back since. There have been some technical issues that I have been able to get fixed, but now the experience is better than ever before. The other question is, will I be interested in Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4 upon it's release? Absolutely yes. But with me being so behind the 8-ball, it'll be a little while before I pick up Fallout 4 for myself. I don't really want to pay full retail for it because I already know everybody else is going to do that. I'd honestly rather wait a few months until it goes down in price, or it's thrown into a bundle. Fallout: New Vegas will probably be the next game I purchase if anything, mostly because I hear that one is a lot of fun. Most people have said that if you enjoy Fallout 3, you'll absolutely love Fallout: New Vegas. I actually haven't seen any lets play or anything of that game, and I plan to keep it that way. I'm going to go into it completely blind.

And that's about all I really want to say about that. I plan to talk more about this game as I progress, but for the time being, i'm really enjoying it. I can only imagine that my experience will continue to get better. There's really no way it could get worse.