I'm replaying Fallout 3 for the first time since launch and it is blowing my mind how much I underappreciated this game the first time I played it. Things that felt unforgivably janky on my first playthrough now feel charming, which is pretty surprising to me.

I was definitely a lib when I first played and didn't fully appreciate a lot of the story elements. Not to say that the politics of Fallout are uniformly "good" but they're so much better than most games. It definitely has a lib streak (the way it handles the "sneaky" Chinese etc.) but it also has some incredible moments where it manages to break out of lib brain.

There are so many little things about Fallout 3 I didn't appreciate the first time that now are making me say "holy shit this game is special". Both gameplay and story wise.

I think it was actually playing through Disco Elysium that set the stage for me to finally appreciate how good Fallout 3 really is. I had never really connected with a PC style RPG before that. I was always a JRPG guy where dialog trees and whatnot are not a thing. I guess what I'm saying is that Disco Elysium was so good it made me appreciate an entire genre of games like I never have before.

I could ramble about this Fallout shit forever - I have had so many "WTF THIS IS AWESOME" moments on this playthrough.

Any of y'all have similar experiences where you had to beat your head against a game for a while before it made sense?

  • cummunist [he/him,they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Funny that you should bring up Fallout because it was Fallout 1 & 2 for me. These games are great, but for a zoomer like me, it took some time to get used to how the games actually worked. Similar story for the original Deus Ex as well.

    • bewts [he/him,comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I tried to start with Fallout 1 but I'm so stubborn when it comes to games sometimes I kept getting owned over and over. I'm hoping I'll get to the point where I feel the same about Fallout 1 and 2 as well. I haven't given up on them yet.

      • cummunist [he/him,they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I guess a lot of it comes down to character creation and stats. It's totally possible to make a character that's completely inefficient if you do it wrongly enough. There's no shame in watching a guide on how to create a good character, or picking actual builds recommended by other players.

        There's also a lot of hidden stuff that often ends up being quite helpful, so my recommendation would be to be extra nosy as well.

        • bewts [he/him,comrade/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          This is definitely part of the reason I had a semi-bad impression of Fallout 3. I made 2 horrible characters before I really figured out what made a build good or bad. Fallout 1 seems less forgiving than 3 lol.

          I have like an unwritten rule where I try not to use guides unless I'm really boned but the older games really don't care if you wind up dead immediately lol.

          So it has been hard for me to get into, but once I do figure it out I will probably like it that much more.

    • Gosplan14 [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      They're not that hard to get used to tbh, but Fallout 2 is a difficult game.

      You go to the Den and east to Vault City, you're gonna get attacked by like five groups of bandits unless you waste skill points on outdoorsman and bam you're gonna die in 3 turns

        • cummunist [he/him,they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          The temple is perhaps one of the worst tutorial phases in every game ever. It's nothing short of a chore and not representative of the rest of the game at all.

          • Gosplan14 [any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            It punishes all but melee and unarmed builds too... maybe the ill advised throwing run too, but that would need you running into (and dodging) the traps intentionally to pick up sharp sticks to throw