Fallout 3: You Think Your Day is Bad?

To celebrate a friend blog of mine passing 1000 views in only two months, I decided to write a post in tribute to her! Congratulations Dystopianwonders! The blog is about Dystopian...ness, and I thought of what games would be best to play through?

Upon discussion with little Miss Wonders of the Dystopian, she completely fangirled over Fallout 3.

And you know, what?

I decided to play it.

I have come for your toast.
No seriously, they'd kill you for your toast. It's rare.

Thaaaat's right, I'm playing that old game. Quite honestly, it is timeless. Who wouldn't want to travel around in a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Actually, I don't. It's quite frightening. I mean, you wander around devastated landscape like this:

And that's no fun! But what I'm really trying to say is, THERE ARE NO SPAS! I actually hate spas. Actually, I've never been to one. Actually, actually, I'm digressing. THIS IS ME DIGRESSING. In place of said spas are irradiated water. I guess you could still swim in it though, if you wanted to die.

BUT LET'S BACK UP.

Google says:

dys·to·pi·a

disˈtōpēə

noun

1. an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

Dystopian fits into two connected categories, as shown by the last bit of google's definition. There are the ones that are used to explore a government that has turned out horribly wrong and is oppressive, OR they explore the world after a devastating event, but may still use part of the previous definition.

Fallout 3 fits into this category perfectly, and that's how come it applies so well in being connected to the DystopianWonders blog, a blog that covers all of your dystopian needs! Or just some.. cuz ya know, still growing. 

This game has a lot of pluses for me. You begin in something called a Vault, where people sheltered themselves from an oncoming nuclear apocalypse. There are several of these vaults, and the one you're in is named Vault 101. So... there at least 101 of these things across the country, or even the world. I do math gud.

But the MOST fascinating part of this game is just exactly where it chooses to start, which would be your birth.

Guess who just got pulled from a dark place?! You did! Yes, YOU did!

This sort of a beginning was strange at first. I don't really recall many games where you start off at two minutes old. and let's you attack your father with tiny baby fists! And there's your dad, who you apparently look completely similar to for everyone else in the Vault no matter what, even if you chose to be Asian or African American. Speaking of which, the opening character creation scene is a tad clunky.

Do I look like a middle aged white guy yet? No?

Maybe "distracting" would be a better word.

BUT THEN, you begin your next riveting chapter....

as a TODDLER! THAT'S RIGHT! You can even make noises. The worst part of it is the humiliation as your father tempts you into a play area, and then LOCKS YOU UP LIKE SOME SORT OF MISCREANT LLAMA.

Watch that smug little llama walk the duck away. YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS YOU LOPESIDED COOKIE.

 Then you go into more brief stages of your life at ten, sixteen, and then nineteen. Basically, you grow up in this place. You see different type of people. You even have a birthday party where a robot ruins your cake. The point of this entire beginning is a bit strange, but it's meant to serve as a way to help you as the player gain a greater attachment to Vault 101. You know what? It kind of works. I mean when you leave, you aren't totally devastated, but you do understand what the main character is forced to leave behind. They are forced to leave behind safety, and its something that's much more clearer as you first step out of Vault 101 and see this:

It is a total opposition of the place you had just spent the first part of the game in. You are aware of the Wastelands while inside the Vault, but it's not something you see at all until this very moment. Oh, and dat opening scene. It's quite incredible how it happens. You walk out and then you are assaulted by daylight and it clears away to ruins.

This is when stark reality begins to hit. In the safe Vault, everyone was your friend. Well except for Butch. BUT EVERYONE ELSE WAS YOUR FRIEND. Then there was that time when the Overseer tried to kill you, but I'm digressing. But now you've been plunged into a Post-Apocalyptic environment, where many will only help you if you have a service to exchange. The ultimate goal is survival. This is especially true when you get to Megaton, a city in the Wasteland.

This city is forged from scrap pieces of airplanes because that is all people really had been left to build with, the scraps of a ruined civilization. You're here because you need particular information, but the only place you can go is Moriarty's Saloon to meet with the ultimate poo face, Moriarty, who, if you play your cards wrong, will force you to pay him to give him money.

A lot of money. If you feel the urge to punch the screen after seeing this picture, I do not blame you. Luckily, I was all like screw that, and reloaded the game to right before I paid him 300 caps, which is a lot of money early game.

That's dang straight you will. I'LL BURN DOWN YOUR SALOON! *ahem* Controlling myself. But the main thing that these two screenshots demonstrate is the amount of versatility the game has. Any event can be played multiple ways, and unfortunately, if you like to play a wide-eyed doe, the Wastelands might be a bit tougher. So invest everything in speech! It adds onto the realism of the entire game.

Something else that is very realistic is how the game handles ammo, food, and other worthwhile supplies. Ammo is one of the most precious resources in the games, especially when you are going on a hostile trek through a dangerous enemy filled area. On a previous run through, I got stuck downtown with ZERO ammo. Now, you could argue that I didn't play the game smart. You know what? I'd argue the same exact thing! There were Super Mutants everywhere. I'm still a bit traumatized. But now during my second playthrough, I've noticed how hard ammo can be to come by. Sometimes you can buy it from a shop, normally Craterside Supply in Megaton who gets new stock every few days, but when you're in a pinch, you need to find ammo anywhere you can and you have to use it responsibly.

May your unborn children suffer a horrible pox, Mirelurk!

If you played the game, I'm sure this screenshot just made you flinch. Fighting things like a mirelurk wastes precious ammo in the early game, and just pisses me waaaay off. So your shots need to matter, even when fighting enemies that don't need an excessive amount of ammo. ALWAYS AIM FOR THE HEAD. It's beautiful that's one of the hardest experiences in Fallout 3, because it's realistic.

Another realistic thing is how you heal yourself. Everything is irradiated, and you have a bar that indicates radiation sickness if it gets too high. Recklessly eating through things can get you very sick. Something pretty cool about Fallout 3 is that water provides health. You can find it in small bottles of water, sometimes you find an intact sink, and then there's toilets. That's right. Toilets. Toilets provide health.

Imagine how bad your day has to be to be forced to drink out of a toilet to literally save your life. I was forced to drink from that toilet once upon a time. stop judging me. Luckily sinks provide more health and less radiation. There are other ways to heal other than drinking from toilets. You can go to a clinic which actually costs a fair share of money, OR you can find a bed to sleep in. Moriarty's Saloon is one such place, but it costs money. I found another ingenious place to go!

It's safe and secure. I can come here, rest an hour, and be completely healed! Ain't no one running up in here, and I can come here whenever I want to rest! It's so nice because I haven't really found many other beds to sleep in, but these beds? They are SO comfortable. Like, oh em gee, you'd think I was sleeping in the Hilton! I mean, there's one minor thing I have to deal with:

A messy floor, wouldn't you know it. There's things everywhere, and that cabinet in the back over there on the left. It doesn't seem very secure. One of the doors like to squeak open and I just CAN NOT stand it. I'm afraid one of these days it'll fall over and just be broken to pieces, making the floor even worse. Why, me? Oh, and there's that whole murdered family thing. But hey, free bed! You have to deal with minor inconveniences to get what you need, and that's my favorite part of the game next to it's vast element of exploration.

WELCOME TO THE WASTELAND!

If you haven't played Fallout 3 yet, then why are you even reading this? Go get it! Now. Some people love of it, but players of the previous two installments have some issues. Me? I am both in love and completely terrified of it. Nothing quite frightens me like being stuck in the sewers. Something I realized playing this is that I'd looove to include small segments of video of one of my playthroughs, but that's something to accomplish another day, with another computer. Have fun in the Wasteland!



Shout out to Gob:

For being part of the cutest little Post-apocalyptic race ever that I will never ever in my entire life hug because I'm sure he'd be more squishy than I'd like him to be and he's actually kind of gross.

THIS POST HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY SCREENSHOTS AND UNNECESSARY CAPITALIZATION. SCREENSHOTS, WE'RE ALL OVER THE FREAKING PLACE.

Happy 1000 views Dystopian Wonders! May you get many more! And give me some.