Fallout 3

[Andrew]

That sucks, sorry to hear it. Troubleshooting time.

[Andrew]

Only a couple of days left. I've been building up my new character, doing my best to max out everything by finding the skills books. I've only completed a few quests (or just the beginning stages) and I'm at Level 13, in good position to run straight through to 30 when Broken Steel comes out. Pre-exploration should also make the quests a breeze when I finally get around to playing through them again since I can fast travel. Once I finish this play through and seen all there is to see of Broken Steel, I may finally be able to put this aside for more than a few weeks.

[Lean]

...I may finally be able to put this aside for more than a few weeks.

Nah, I doubt that.

I've finally found the Oasis!

[Lean]

Double-post.

phpBB [video]

War, war never changes.

[Andrew]

...I may finally be able to put this aside for more than a few weeks.

Nah, I doubt that.

Definitely, keyword in that sentence is "may". I've got into NBA Live Dynastys in recent years but it's been a while since I've been this addicted to a game of another genre. GTA I guess, but usually not to this level of wanting to complete absolutely everything. Still haven't got the achievement for finding all 100 steel ingots though.

I've finally found the Oasis!

It is tucked away a bit. May I suggest that you talk to Sapling Yew and pass the speech check, that way you can get an item that gives you a permanent +10 to speech like the Bobblehead once you finish the Oasis quest (without burning Harold down). You can then go ahead and sell it, drop it or store it.

[Andrew]

Broken Steel is awesome, well worth the wait. I feel sorry for PS3 users, as much as I enjoyed Fallout 3 out of the box the DLC has been fantastic.

[Lean]

I apparently forgot that its already available.

[Andrew]

For shame.

I've played a little bit from one of my saves but it's with a character I did a pretty bad job of building, so having sampled it I've gone back to my recent fresh start and started playing through the quests with all the DLC in place, with the intention of going all the way through past the original ending and into Broken Steel's quests. It's pretty cool to see the Purifier working and filling the tidal basin with water that gives you a free 20 HP per drink, with 0 rads. I haven't tried Broken Steel with an FEV infected water supply yet though.

[Patr1ck]

So it's possible to do Broken Steel after the main quest?

[Lean]

Yes, I believe there's no autosave after you complete the main quest.

[Andrew]

So it's possible to do Broken Steel after the main quest?

Sure is, it's essentially a continuation of the main quest that occurs two weeks after the events of the original ending. You still see the original ending when you complete "Take it Back!" then you wake up two weeks later and the game continues.

[NovU]

Broken Steel is awesome, well worth the wait. I feel sorry for PS3 users, as much as I enjoyed Fallout 3 out of the box the DLC has been fantastic.

FFS I would be playing this if my video card didn't fuck me up.

I am hoping the main quest won't be as short as the original one and hopely better ending.

[Andrew]

Well, it's not like it's a complete sequel, rather a few more chapters in the main quest regarding the Enclave and some sidequests involving the distribution of the pure water throughout the Wasteland. I think it will be long enough and satisfy most people but it's definitely not a whole game's worth of a main quest; more a significantly "extended cut" of the story, if you will.

[Lean]

I got Broken Steel finally.

Is there any way for an evil character (totally evil I must say) to finish the main quest, put the FEV into the purifier, and still continue to Broken Steel?

[Andrew]

Yes as I understand it, though if you infect the purifier with the FEV you've got to be careful as the "purified water" is then quite deadly.

[Lean]

I checked it out and placed the FEV on the purifier, after the ending sequence the credits played.

I tried it again with the "Good" method. And it I got past the main quest and into Broken Steel.

I'm hyped though, maybe I'd play the game from the start again.

[Andrew]

Odd, I'm sure I read otherwise.

[el badman]

I must really love that game beyond measure to keep playing it...
It was always pretty unstable (the Gamebryo engine unfortunately has inherent issues) but it really got worse the last couple of weeks. Basically, each time it crashes or lockups, which can happen after 30 minutes just like it could be after 2 hours, all the saved game files somehow become corrupt, therefore when I load any of them, any susbequent quicksave or hardsave will cause a crash to desktop. The only solution that I could find is to commit suicide (the Fatman makes sure that it's swift...), let the game show your messed up corpse and reload the last saved game on its own. Then I can finally save again after that.
It was put to good use but I really hope Bethesda comes up with a better engine soon...

[Lean]

Never heard of it, does the infamous "reinstall-install" method work on it?

[Andrew]

Sorry to hear that. Aside from the bugs in the original Pitt DLC, I haven't experienced any major bugs yet; nothing that's forced me to start all over again or be unable to play the game at any rate. Worst I've had is important (but not essential) characters getting killed accidentally by falling off ledges or randomly getting blown up by nearby vehicles when I fast-travel. It definitely pays to keep a couple of recent staggered saves going.

[el badman]

Never heard of it, does the infamous "reinstall-install" method work on it?

I must admit that with the shitload of mods and additional textures that I use, I really really don't feel like uninstalling and reinstalling...But yeah, I guess that could help. Even if there's only so much you can do with this game on PC, with such an outdated, flawed engine...

[Lean]

Maybe the same goes with Oblivion at any rate.

Worst I've had is important (but not essential) characters getting killed accidentally by falling off ledges or randomly getting blown up by nearby vehicles when I fast-travel.

Are they your character's companions, 'Drew?

[Andrew]

Not as yet, but most recently it was Casadin of the Outcasts when the truck at Fort Independence exploded unexpectedly. It was before I'd scavenged enough tech to gain the Outcasts' trust and being a quest that can be repeated infinitely for useful items, it wasn't particularly so convenient so I chose to re-load.

[Lean]

I've started a new game for the Broken Steel goodies. And stumbled upon this. Apparently Broken Steel is not the last DLC.

[shadowgrin]

Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition that is coming out in October. It will include the full game plus all five add-ons and have a price of $59.99 on Xbox 360 and PS3 and $49.99 for PC.

Guess, I'll just wait until October to buy the game.