Got that gears of war 2. pretty good, its no legendary in my book thanks lordofultima
Just kiddin'. It's awesome. Beat it on hardcore, played some execution with the old GameSpotters. The vehicle sequences are the most frustrating thing in the history of ever. Looking for someone to co-op with me, I have to beat it on insane. Thanks...lordofultima.
No, not Baraka...silly goose.I was personally hoping it would end in a complete tie...and we'd just let anarchy rule. But like, whatever America. Whatever.
So yeah, here I am rocking out to "Vital Signs" by Rush, in Rock Band 2; expert drums. Special thanks to EightBitWarrior for making me miss a note. Thanks!
So as you've probably guessed by now, I picked up Fallout 3 the morning it was released. I've been playing it ever since, and I've officially beaten the game as of an hour ago. I clocked in at about 43 hours or so, and I had a pretty good time playing it. But for someone who was ecstatic about the game before its release, I didn't really have the blast of a time I was expecting to. Hear me out here. Comparisons to Oblivion are very easy to make, so this is how it's going to work. I know a lot of people who didn't care for Oblivion somehow love Fallout 3, which boggles my mind...but anyway.
The 3rd person view, still crap.The World
It's not very alive, which obviously it wasn't intended to be, as it's a post-apocalyptic wasteland. I never really have an enjoyable time traversing the world. There's not enough in the way of locations to visit, and generally when I discover a new city I'm disappointed as it's nothing near the spectacle of a city in Oblivion. The environment is initially shocking and awesome when you exit Vault 101, but once again -- nothing like the brick-shitting time I had when I exited the sewers in that other Bethesda game. If you hated Oblivions happy-go-lucky fantasy setting, then you'll probably really enjoy the change of scenery here. But if you're like me, you might be a bit bummed out.
The Quests
Most people will say that they were overwhelmed in Oblivion, and that too many people gave you too many quests, yadayada. Well, it's clear to me that there just aren't enough quests in Fallout 3, and for the most part they are very similar in how they play out. There are of course the awesome exceptions like blowing up Megaton, raiding Tenpenny Tower with an army of ghouls, and...well. nevermind, that's about it. You'd imagine there'd be some sort of factions to join, like there were guilds in Oblivion; but you'd be wrong. I think it's safe to say that The Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild were the most exciting parts about Oblivion, and that there's nothing like this in Fallout 3. [SPOILER] At the end of the Thieves Guild quest-line, you BECOME the Grey Fox! You are the master thief! And yeah, Dark Brotherhood, you murder people in cold blood, which includes staging an accidental death by loosening the bolts on a mounted animal head above someone sitting in a chair. [/SPOILER] Fallout 3 really won't ever grab you like this.
The People
The people visually look better, have better animation, and dialogue in Fallout 3. They really immerse you in the world, for whatever that's worth. But the moral choices you make have less bearing on how they treat you, and you can pretty much get any information from any person at any time. There's also no racial division, as there was in Oblivion. That made it more interesting because it directly effected your status as a civilian, and other races of elves might hate you for being an Imperial -- etc. The AI still falls into the same loops here, as they get stuck on objects from time to time and behave erratically. Pretty much a wash here.
The Combat
The combat is pretty boring. The normal shooting is almost useless, as every bullet fired rolls the proverbial dice to determine whether it hits its target or not. The V.A.T.S. is a pretty neat concept, but in practice it boils down to running up in a dudes face and blowing their head off in slow motion...over and over again. You'll find that you run out of ammo relatively quickly, and are constantly scavenging for it because of it. This is maybe the most interesting aspect, as it makes you a bit more likely to pick up any weapon and use it, just because you're running low. Overall, Oblivion's combat was much better. I never felt like it was rolling some random number when I swung my sword at an enemy, it was always as if I hit him, or he blocked it. Even the melee in Fallout 3 feels gimped in this respect, which overall make exploring just not a whole lot of fun.
The Ending
I'm not spoiling anything here, so don't worry. But yeah, it's stupid how they claim hundreds of endings, but the actual differences between them are minuscule at best. It was completely disappointing. And yeah, once you beat the game, it's F'in OVER. You don't continue to wander around the world and complete quests. It's just OVER. Before you begin the last quest, save your game manually -- or have fun starting the whole thing over when it's done with.
So despite all this, the game is still awesome. It's definitely on my short list for games o' the year. But it's no Oblivion (or Morrowind, for that matter). I'm trying to go through and get the rest of the achievements, but I feel as if I've already worn out my welcome. I kinda just want to play Oblivion now. Go figure.
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Yes, more drumming! This is another System of a Down song, "Toxicity." This is an incredibly fun song to play, and despite my busted drums, it turned out pretty good. Pay close attention to my hand-work during those tom rolls, I do some pretty sweet one-handed fills.
No matter how cautious a driver you are, no matter how strictly you follow the rules of the road. Something is bound to happen. Something out of your control. That's sort of what happened to me this morning.
After a trip to the post office to mail out Chocobo's Dungeon 2 for the PS1 (Amazon sale) I make my way back home. I'm in the turning lane and when the arrow turns green, I go. Well, I didn't make it very far, as a company van of some sort blows the red light and I smack right into the side of it. Now, they'd have you believe that the first thing you think is, "oh god, I'm glad no one is hurt," but the reality of the situation was more of a "oh god my mom is going to kill me, and I'm not insured."
So after that collision I quickly pull into the gas station on the corner, get out of the car, and inspect the damage. It's all body stuff, other than a front-left tire that is losing air. So how this all came about, is that there was a gray van slowing down to a stop in the right-side opposing lane, and Mr. company van wanted to try and gun the light so he switches lanes practically right in the intersection to get by the slowing van. There's no real way for me to know he was going to blow that light, it all happened when I was in mid-turn.
So yeah, the other guy parks across the street and runs across traffic to talk for a moment, and he said hey man I couldn't really slow down I have glass in the van, and that the light was yellow when he decided to run it. Even if it was yellow when he looked at it, it definitely wasn't when he crossed the intersection. Yellow means slow down, please don't assume you're going to make the light just because it's yellow when you look at it. Anywho. We both agree to not make a scene of this. He says I broke his ladder on the side of the van, to that I'm thinking "I hope I broke all that glass in your van too." Obviously Michigan is a "no-fault" state when it comes to accidents, but it was obvious that it was his fault. He probably would have been in serious trouble with whatever company he was working for if they found out about the collision. So I suck it up and just drive away. The door makes a nice metal touching metal sound now when I open it and close it. Awesome.
So I assume this has to be karma biting me in the ass for something, I'm just not sure what. Either way, it sure is a bitch.
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