Hello All....

As per title i am new to Fallout 3 and after hearing about it for the last few years i have decided to take the plunge and but the GOTY edition as i know it is better value for money considering the fact that it has all the dlc's

But this is also a concern of mine and i wantedto ask you a couple of things.

Once i will load up the game for the first time, will i be bombarded with quests from all the new dlc's as well as the main storyline from the "vanilla" version of Fallout?

What i would NOT want is to load up the game, get started and have a quest log so overwhelming that i dont appreciate the normal fallout 3 story and ambience. I dont want to start the game first time and not even knowing which quests and which lands are the original fallout lands. It would be nice for the dlc's to make themselves available slowly, perhaps even being available at my request though installation at my own pace.

In other words i dont want to all this new content and new quests to be thrown in my face, without even knowing anything about the pure fallout 3 game itself.


So how does the goty work? is it a gradual experience or will I be overwhelmed as soon as i stick my nose out from the Vault?

THANK YOU


Ps. Is stealing weapons and armour as satisfying as in Elder scrolls?

Four of the DLCs will trigger shortly after leaving the tutorial area. You'll recieve a message about a radio signal for each one and a quest for each will be added to your quest log.

Broken Steel pops up with a message about the level cap being increased, but does nothing further until the relevant time.



If you are on PC, you may be able to find a mod that delays the activation of the other four until a sutible time. On console, it's more a case of putting up with it and ignoring quests that talk about a radio signal.



On the other hand it's better than Oblivion, where you apparently recieved messages asking you to undertake tasks or giving you the deeds to houses, despite having been in prison for who knows how long.

Well, if th DLC's quests are not too imposing, an d if its just a case of ignoring 4 radio signals for the 4 dlc's then i think it will be fine, no? Im on PS3

Yes, you will be fine. The DLCs are kind of self-contained parts of the Fallout universe and have their own parts of the map, which is separate from the main Capital Wasteland. So you wont start any DLC until you actually travel to each one. So you can still enjoy the main Fallout 3 quest without any interruption.

Enjoy

only 4 of them give you quests, and only 3 of them give you radio signals. and the good part is that you can completly ignore them, expcept for broken steel.

oh.. i should also tell you

all dcls, except for the broken steel one, when you start them you cant get out of it til either a certain point or by completing the dcl. but again, its difficult to start it by accident.

also, for point lookout, you CAN leave short, but your gonna have to pay a handful of caps. whereas leaving after a certain point it would be free.

Thankyou all for the answers...

One more question... Is Fallout 3 like oblivion, where you can pick up stuff from fallen foes, like armour and dress in their robes and such? Like in oblivion you could kill a guard for a example and pick up his sword, his chest armour, his shield, his boots, and wear them, or sell them. Is that the same in Fallout 3?

if I were you I would go straight to the pit for the ammo press, but if you want to experiance just Fallout 3, rent the reg eddition and beat the main quest

Yes to all your questions.

Absolutely, yes. You can pick up pretty much anything (weapons, ammo, clothes, armour, misc items) that you see on dead enemies (even if you didn't kill them yourself), or just lying around outside. You can use these things for sale, repair or just equip them yourself.

If you pick up stuff that's lying around, then thats ok, just make sure that its not already owned. If something belongs to someone else, then the activate text will appear in red, rather than in green. If you still take it, then it constitutes stealing and your karma will drop a little bit. It will also turn nearby people hostile if they catch you. Same thing with picking locks or hacking terminals - if the text is in red, then make sure nobody is around to see you do it.

Why bother, you'll come across enough ammo in the main game to supply a small army. That ammo press is pretty much redundant as far as I'm concerned, I had absolutely no use for it.

i guess to wina's post i need to explain a couple things.

everything has a condition, if a switchblade has a low condition you can use another switchblade to repair it. ie you take parts from one switchblade to the other.

and karma just determines what type of person you are. its like fame and infamy.

edit: i press all my 5mm rounds into other rounds since i never use a minigun.

Ah ok so its just like the elder scrolls. Fantastic. In the elder scrolls series i was always a thief, light armout and light build and sneaky. Its because i loved going around and killing without big battles that would put me at a disadvantage with my bow and arrow. I didnt really like sword and hand to hand conbat in the elder scrolls cause i felt that it was a bit of a flimsy combat system.

However, shooting in fallout 3 seems to be much more my style, and is a combat system I can appreciate much more. So i was wondering, i probably am better off forgetting about the sneaky business and just take what i want and kill anyone who might have an objection to my actions. So perhaps I will be better off developing a character who is a warrior and able with rifles?

Any suggestions for good perks and attributes to go for to be a smash and grab character?

There's nothing wrong with being a sneaky character. Just add points into your sneak skill when you level up. You can then steal, hack, lockpick and even pickpocket people without detection. Alternatively, if you want to go in all guns blazing then you can do that as well. That's what is so great about this game, you can play at however you like, with whatever type of weapon you like (melée, unarmed, small guns, big guns, energy weapons or explosives).

Try things out, you will work out what works best for you.

Yeah well in oblivion in my opinion it was best to steer clear of armed combat as i didnt really find it engaging to wave around my sword and kill stuff. But with rifles that should be a whole different story! I played as a super silent thief and i had my fun in Oblivion. Now i think i want to burst in and steal and get rid of opposition all guns blazing!

No, actually being a sneaky type works better in Fallout than it did in Oblivion IMO. With a Sniper Rifle, you can quite often one shot a tough opponent since you get a sneak attack critical bonus, which double the amount of damage you can do. In Oblivion you could rarely drop someone with just a single hit, but it's not that difficult in Fallout because your weapons can be so much more powerful. Even attacking from behind with nothing but a knife in sneak mode can be effective. If you liked being a sneaky character in Oblivion, you'll probably enjoy it even more in Fallout.

Hmm ok i see your point. Well sneaking and killing from behind is satisfying but does the brute killer also get the job done? Cause i wanted to change from sneaking to loud killer.

Certainly. You can play the game anyway you like. I tend to use a combination of both styles myself, depending on the situation. Sometimes being sneaky just isn't practical, you need to go in with guns blazing. On the other hand, at times that would be a really bad approach since you could end up fighting several enemies at once. It pays to be versatile in this game, there's no set way to go about it. It all depends on the situation.

Just want to warn you about something, don't kill the caravan traders. They are the best people for buying, selling, and repairing items, I killed them on my first play through because I didn't know what they were and I regretted it later on in the game, just don't kill them or you'll regret it later on.

I'm a Big Guns, Explosives, Unarmed guy.
I use a mini-gun.
I sneak into situations, determine the first to receive lead, make a sneak shot on that enemy, then jump up with grenades flying and mini-gun clattering. If someone gets too close I give them a face full of spiked knuckles. You can easily employ both methods in your play.