Avoid the forums for at least a month.

(I'll be checking in at least once a day to see if everyone's doing this)

Not a half bad idea. After Skyrim launched, I was too busy to hit forums. When I logged on it was like I had the only working copy of the game in existence judging by the doomy gloomy thread dominance.

Sigh, this attitude is pathetic. Yeah let's turn away anyone interested in the new games because you personally like the antiquated style of the old games.

1) Explore

2) Kill everything you can

3) Explore some more

1. Save often

2. Save at every location

3. maintain mulitple saves

4. Did I mention to save often?

5. If you fail to follow the above, come onto the forum and ask if there is anyway to get back the hours you lost due to not saving.

6. Save even more often.

1) Never use a guide

2) Make the character you want to play right now as opposed to the one you want to play 20-50 levels from now

3) Never complete the main quest

Have fun gamers.

1. Avoid spoilers as much as possible!
2. Don't use guides, wikis or forums, find it all yourself!
3. Just do what's fun!

For your first run I suggest:

1. Explore every nook and cranny of any place you happen to be.

2. Follow the quest, do side quests that help your quest along.

3. DON'T use a guide or wiki. Enjoy the game as it naturally unfolds in front of you. Many things can be found in the natural progression of the game.

After your first play, THEN I look things up to see where good loot is, and how to get it.

Not visiting the forum too often is probably a good tip...

(because you'll be occupied )

I would say conserve ammo early is good advice...there will be a situation early in the game that tests you IE super duper mart...if you blew all your ammo on molerats its going to svck.

Do game guides really enhance other peoples enjoyment of the game? You couldn't give me one for free. I don't want to find everything. I like the idea when I start a replay that the game is full of things that I missed the first time around and I still have new discoveries to make.

I would say ...

1) Avoid spoilers. Don't read reviews, stay off the forums after reviews come out.

2) Play the game and protagonist roll as intended the first time. Really, you might consider yourself a special flower in real life and prefer a protagonist that conforms to your special flowerhood, but you can do all of that in replays. GIve the story they are trying to tell a chance.

3) Follow SarahMay's advice and don't skip through dialogue. Honestly, I didn't know people actually played like that.

4) Most will disagree with this, but I say if you are like me and likely to replay the game several times, go ahead and play the story. You don't have to explore every nook and cranny the first go around. Replays will have more value if you've left yourself a little sense of the unknown.

I mean the game will still be open post-main quest completion, so, might as well finish the main quest.

ROFL!!!

OP: Change the Title of the thread to "FO4." I know most of us understood it, but I was temporarily confused (my perpetual state some might say) with "FO3" as the thread title.

My suggestion: do everything you can in the game...without a guide...and without mods. Make your first playthrough the longest. Cover every piece of terrain and talk to every NPC you can. Do every quest, complete every mission. Learn everything you can about the game...then mod the living hell out of it for follow-on playthroughs.

Oh, and save often.

Most advice I would offer has already been given, but:

1. Save often, in many slots. With fewer loading screens, relying on autosaves won't cut it.

2. Avoid game guides, wikis, etc. for your first playthrough. You may not find every secret, but it's more rewarding to genuinely discover something than to know in advance about every special item.

3. Roll with it. Don't reload or restart whenever something takes an unexpected turn. Try to live with your mistakes and accept the consequences of your choices.

This is going to be a big game with many surprises. The story of your character doesn't have to be a perfect run with no goof-ups. They've said that there is more focus on fail-states not forcing you to reload, so I suggest that one should push forward, see what happens, and let the game unfold as it may.

- Set up a base the first chance you get.

- Keep yourself light.

- Steal everything.

- And trust no one, they're all robots. Yes, even the Dog.

I dunno. On every Bethesda game on my first play through I just go out and be lost and end up where ever. I just love the feeling of soaking in the sights.

1. Explore. Explore. Explore

2. Play the game how you want to play it.

3. Don't worry about caps so early on, by mid-level you'll be swimming in them.

-enjoy the sixxi new gunplay
-no fast travel...Everett
-enjoy bethesdas most amazing world yet
- FALLOUTS BACK BABY!!!....7 years and now the promise is coming true

They sure will be

I would agree, and I'm not going to derail this thread; but the incongruities only begin with the gameplay mechanics...