I am totally new to the game. Only played a few hours. Any tips you can throw my way?

I'm about to get a [censored]-storm for this (probably) but...


Buy New Vegas

I've heard that from a few people.

Yeah, you should buy NV

If you're new to the series, the most of the reasons some people prefer New Vegas won't matter nearly as much to you. Fallout 3 is a great game, it's just great in ways that New Vegas isn't, and vice versa.

As for tips, I'd stick around Megaton and do some questing (Moira has a good bunch of them for you). Pick a few skills (hopefully you tagged good ones) like small guns, repair, medicine and concentrate on bolstering them as much as you can early on. The Power of the Atom quest you get from Lucas Simms in Megaton can get you a house early on, which helps. Routing the raiders from Springvale Elementary is good for XP, ammo and items.

And don't sweat the main quest too much early, there's plenty of other stuff to do. Plus if you pursue the main quest too much too early, you'll be at the end of the game before you experience a fraction of what's out there.

I agree with cloudstrife. For your first playthrough I'd settle in Megaton to get used to everything. Do the wasteland survival guide quests and that should set you up nicely for the future. No point telling you anymore. It's best to just do your own thing and find out things on your own. But if you do get stuck with anything just ask

I stayed within running distance from megaton and leveled up a bit before heading out to far.the baseball bat is your best friend in the start up close and personal.

As others have said, do not worry too much about the main quest. Just do it at the speed that suits you. Especially so if you do not have the Broken Steel add on. Focus on the Misc Quests to build up experience and aquire some really cool unique weapons that come from the quests.

Repair and Small Guns are handy for the new player. Use chems during combat to help you survive. Use cover to your advantage and switch to a up close weapon like a combat shotgun to cap the enemy as they appear around the corner.

On your second playthru try role play and survival rules for added fun. On PC go for Mods.

Since you were very open ended about the advice you asked for ...
In advanced graphic settings make sure your "actor fade 4+"
Save alot "F5=quick save" is your friend.
Use sneak mode most of the time. Some text will appear at the top of the screen to warn you of enemies seeing you (point to the direction on your compass for red blipps to find them)
A high perception will make them show up sooner (actor fade 4 and perception 7 are close to equal distance)
Dont sweat fleshing out every area. imo exp it was a little daunting the first time (rooms and halls keep expanding)
NO Worries ... you can always come back , and thats what makes every play through different. Plus there's no way you will experience all content through one play. So just have fun.

By the way ... many people just start over to run the content in a better format. But nothing beats the first run through discovery imho.

holding down the tab key makes it a flashlight....


Not much of a tip, but it will come in handy.

And do the survival guide, its a great way to get a feel for the game and get some exploring done.

Put points into Small Guns if you don't want to pump bullets into enemies. If you want a good character put points into lockpick, speech, and repair (to a certain extent) as well. Explosives is only useful up to 25% (for the atom bomb quest). Dump stats are Medicine, Barter, Science (IMO), Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Melee Weapons, and Unarmed.

Oh yeah, and also explore! You'll actually find more ammo and supplies just exploring the wasteland than buying form vendors. Eventually you'll only go to vendors to repair your stuff (if they can and if your Repair skill isn't high but it doesn't matter since getting money in FO3 is incredibly easy). Do sidequests for exp. and don't worry about your health. It inexplicably gets higher as you level up.

Most builds I use put a lot into small guns, melee weapons, repair and explosives. I put points into medicine as well.

To the OP, repair is almost essential. You will save thousands of caps by repairing your own weapons & armor.

Heh, I don't know what the rest of the game's like, but I found the beginning of that game to be a bit dull. And I haven't been back since I don't like my character and intend to create a new one.

For your info, I'm enjoying FO3 more than NV at the moment.

No need to rush out and buy the next one due to the first reply.

Stay around Megaton a bit and do Moira's quests for ways of getting the hang of playing the game. Don't worry about finishing the Main Quest, save often and above all...explore and have fun!

just enjoy the greatest game ever!

Hang around Megaton. There is a house in Megaton you can get by doing a quest... hint, it has something to do with a Bomb.

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'm planning on getting FO3 this week via Steam! I'm a huge TES/Beth fan, but not huge on zombies, so I thought this game was all about zombies and never gave it a 2nd look. I do love Half Life and Post apocalyptic scenarios. I don't know what really prompted me to give FO another look, maybe a discussion on the Skyrim boards LOL. But OMG I watched some trailers this weekend and was blown away. I mean, the graphics, the game play, the wide open world! Hello! A Post Apocalyptic FPS game with a TES style "philosophy/layout/open world" type thing (you know what I mean, right?), that's just too good to be true! LOL

I can get a HOUSE in FO3? Woohoo sign me up! (better late than never, eh?) I also checked out the New Vegas trailer, but FO3 is more up my alley. I love the Urban feel.

I suggest just playing around in F3, play through any DLC's you have, and don't go to New Vegas until you are happy with your work in F3. You won't want to go back to F3, if you're anything like myself.

Im buying the Ultimate Edition later today. I can't wait!

@Agrona
I don't know the price from Steam, but I see you are in the US. Save yourself some trouble and go to Walmart. I was at my local store this past weekend and the price for the Game of the Year was $19.99 on DVD.
They had plenty of copies.

Got the GOTY edition on Steam for 19.99

Both FO3 and new Vegas have the strengths and weaknesses e.g.fallout 3 has a less well thought out story but new Vegas is too easy, judge them on their own merits, but in terms of actual advice which is what you asked then, remember to use vats keep stocked up on meds and ammo, keep your [censored] in good condition and if there's no way of winning a fight then retreat.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm still having some problems with feeling way too weak, but that's part of the fun.

indeed it is, but if you're really having trouble from this you could always change your difficulty. Also what armour do you use currently and what is your prefered armour type?