Fallout 3 Retrospective
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Sure, some weapons work better than others, but once VATS has run its course and I have to cower behind a rock while I wait for it to recharge, I have to trust in my FPS skills. Only, Fallout 3 isn't an FPS. It's an RPG, and the floaty crosshairs reflect this. None of the weapons have any real heft, and the controls slide around without weight or substance. It creates a disconnect that I can't get over, but more importantly I keep bloody missing whatever I'm shooting.I find it curious why someone who never finished the game (and didn't enjoy the little time he did spend with it) would take it upon themselves to write a retrospective. Bizarre.
Early on, this aggravation is compounded, not eliminated, by the turn-based VATS. I queue up a long line of attacks, only to see my laser beams fly off into the distance like a light show at a rave. In Fallout 3, this translates into dying a lot. It introduces the paranoia of constantly having to save every five seconds, which breaks any immersion. In some ways, this is a masterstroke of mercy. I'm constantly at odds with the cloying animosity of my surroundings, and any interruptions are a welcome relief.
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In total, I've put well over 25 hours into Fallout 3 so far, and I've managed to get absolutely nowhere. It's difficult to summon the courage to return to a world so ruined and so ruinous as that of Bethesda's. Endless foraging, punishing combat, the chores of simply existing can you blame me? It's all so wearying. I just don't have the energy for it.
Like I said, it's probably my fault. I understand; I just don't enjoy it. Perhaps I just prefer my games to be shinier, lighter, fluffier excursions: ones that lie glittering in my pile of games, winking at me, alluring and infinitely more inviting than the iron grimness of Fallout 3. I fondly scratch Dragon Age: Origins under the chin a game positively merry by comparison, but undoubtedly informed by Bethesda's Fallout and make a genuine promise to return to that soon.
