I was listening to the current Bombcast and they mentioned how "grim and serious" FO3 was.  I hear people say this all the time.  Am I the only one who thinks the game was pretty goofy and silly overall?
 
Not saying it was bad, but I didn't find anything about it other then the setting grim.  All the characters had kinda crazy and goofy voices.  When you enter the bar in Megaton and that guy asks you to blow up the city, he does some goofball pun filled spiel about, "I really want to see things heat up in this town if you catch my drift.  You can make some caps in the fallout."
 
And that's how everyone in the game talks to you.  When people talk with that many puns, especially with him doing a 1920s gangster voice, it feels more comedic to me.
 
You shoot someone in the arm with a pistol and the limb goes flying like 50 feet in the air or the impact makes them do like 3 back flips.
 
I don't know.  I always thought they were going for a dark comedy.  The only thing with a serious tone to me was the vampire quest.

I thought it was stupid and childish for the most part

No I agree with you. I couldn't take Fallout 3 seriously at all. The whole thing felt like a 1950's Sci-Fi B-Movie.

dark humor has always been a staple of the Fallout series, everything carries a morbid little twist with it. despite a lot of uproar about it being FPS and 'just oblivion w/ new paint' I thought they captured the spirit of the series pretty well.

I  found it  was shallow and pedantic.

when i played the game it seemed like a place that at one time was funny and bright , but fell into decay 
 
which i think is what they were going for.

Not serious at all, every thing in the world is very hammy, right down to the characters, and the dialog. Its still one of the  best games i have played this generation though.

Stalker is much more how I would want Fallout to be.Just with less bugs.

" I thought it was stupid and childish for the most part "

You dont I gave up on it being an apocalypse game almost immediately.And just enjoyed it as a game.

There are a few moments when it got dark (such as blowing up Megaton), but those moments were quickly turned funny when a ghoul form Moira comes up to you, not even aware of her condition. Those moments are very funny, and for the most part I found Fallout 3 to be more of a "black comedy" style than a "dark or grim" one. Talking with the Button guy at the end of Stealing Independence (if you convinced him you were Jefferson) was a classic moment for me.

I thought a lot of it was silly too, I think intentionally.  The funniest thing that happened was when I killed Three Dog for badmouthing me on the radio, only to hear some woman take over for him and say "sorry, but I'm new at this, some asshole just killed our DJ."  Also, this game can't be taking itself too seriously if it has weapons like the Mezmetron(or whatever it was called) and the Rock-It-Launcher.  I think the dark comedy was there in the first two Fallouts and was carried over (I had played the first one for like thirty minutes but they even had the bloody mess perk back then, although it might have been called something different).

Pedantic? I'd like to know how Fallout 3 was pedantic for you. I think you were just looking for a big, fancy word to make your opinion sound legit, but I could be wrong.

Ok, so i'm not the only one.  The game press is the total opposite though.  From 1up, Rebel FM, Bombcast and even Gamers With Jobs, I hear someone on the show saying things like, "The game was so depressing that I couldn't play it for extended periods of time," and things like that.
 
I purchased the game based off of stuff like that cuz I enjoy any piece of media that can seriously effect me on a level like that, but was kinda shocked that the game I was playing didn't resemble what I was hearing at all.  I got over it and enjoyed the game alot (almost 100 hours invested in it) but I always wondered if I was the lone voice that would describe the game as funny before dark and grim.

" Pedantic? I'd like to know how Fallout 3 was pedantic for you. I think you were just looking for a big, fancy word to make your opinion sound legit, but I could be wrong. "

" Pedantic? I'd like to know how Fallout 3 was pedantic for you. I think you were just looking for a big, fancy word to make your opinion sound legit, but I could be wrong. "

Maybe a little dark, but nothing serious about it. I lol'd in Bryan Wilkes face when he ran up crying for his dad.

I think Fallout 3 does a good job of establishing a slightly less than serious tone. "Dark comedy" maybe isn't quite the right term to describe it, but it isn't really all that far off. 
 
Just look at Vault-Boy...how can you really take a game all that seriously that features him essentially as the game's mascot?

I didn't find it dark and serious. Just like very game, there are some dark parts, but for the most part I thought the whole outside world wasn't scary or dark in any way. I enjoyed the game thoroughly and every second I played was a great one though.

It can be serious, like if you become a cannibal or do the vampire quest or kill the ghouls for Tenpenny.
But it definitely has its goofy moments aswell

The origional fallout games had a blend of 50's sci-fi, dark and light-hearted humor, and serious tones.
 
That's what Fallout is. Its not for everyone. I fuckin loved every second. And am still loving it.

I'm sure they tried for that dark tone of the first fallouts.
It just became unintentionally humorous; I blame the lack
of a real opposition setting. There are no real major factions
or enemies, just enemy types. I'd say that's just a lack of story.

" Ok, so i'm not the only one.  The game press is the total opposite though.  From 1up, Rebel FM, Bombcast and even Gamers With Jobs, I hear someone on the show saying things like, "The game was so depressing that I couldn't play it for extended periods of time," and things like that.

I thought a few moments were pretty dark or at least some of the set pieces (skeletons scattered everywhere, child's toys covered in blood, and things like that) but for the most part I found Fallout 3 to be a pretty comical experience.

Alot og the stuff outside the quests is very serious and grim. You can find like logs about some horrible stuff that went down and some of the enviorments are like that as well. If you get into it it certainly can be.

Also, I would like to say that I LOL'd many times when a massive glitch or strange thing would occur. That is "Bethesda humor" for me, even more than their usual sarcastic, black comedy style.