Fallout 3 save game warning

[Wheezer]

The following *spoiler free* public service announcement comes to you from Vault-Tec Industries.

There's radioactive trouble abrewin' in Washington DC fellow gamers, and you all need to be on your guard against a new threat. Now, we know what you're thinking; "Yeah, yeah gameplayer, I've already forty-fived the feral ghouls, beaten the snot out of the Super Mutants, and rail spiked the RadScorpions to the wall. I'm a wasteland owning gunslinger and my 'L33T sk1llz' are enough to make even Mad Max look sad and lax".

Even still, intrepid adventurer, you're still in mortal danger of being thwarted by a foe you'll never see coming, something much, much worse than death: ruining your 20 + game save by completing the final mission in the main quest.

In case you missed the large warning in our Fallout 3 review, if you complete the main quest by walking into the final room of Fallout 3, the game will lock you in there until you do what needs to be done - then it'll boot you back to the title screen. This sucks because there is so much more to explore in the Washington wastes and, unless you've saved beforehand, you'll be forever denied access to the outside world. Unless you start again, but really, who wants to do that crap?

So take the tip, whenever playing Fallout 3 - or any game of epic size and scope for that matter - get in the habit of having three saves; the games Autosave which triggers when you enter a new environment, plus two more that you should save over in sequence. Doing things this way will help ensure that your murderous sprees in Fallout can continue, while preventing you going on an actual murderous spree in the real world when you ruin your save.

Will Bethesda rectify this dreadful oversight? Who knows, but in the meantime, you've all been warned...

 

[imported_Imp]

No problem, I always use at least 3. How do you think I 'lose' so few battles in Medieval 2.

 

[nakedfrog]

Yeah, I've been doing the multiple save thing for years and years.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I've been doing multiple saves ever since Morrowind. Man, that game crashed every 20 minutes. And you could seriously fuck up the storyline with your actions.

 

[TBSN]

I don't get it, save three times?

In most games I quick-save a lot, but I don't understand what this multiple-save thing is about...

 

[TallBill]

Er, I have a 500gb HD. I can save 6,000 times and be ok. I save every chance I get in FC2.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: Imp
No problem, I always use at least 3. How do you think I 'lose' so few battles in Medieval 2.

ha, I do that, too. Save, fight, lose, restore, lose, restore, win, continue on.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Arg they did this is Mass Effect too. Don't know what the hell motivates the designers to lock out so much of the game after beating the main quest, although it's kind of understandable in ME [MINOR SPOILER] because of what happens to the citadel.

 

[CP5670]

I quicksave all the time in games, but only use multiple saves in some specific situations like boss fights or branching areas in nonlinear games, where I expect to have to reload the old game. A few games I have played over the years, like Descent 2 and Quake 4, automatically make backups of the quicksave.

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Arg they did this is Mass Effect too. Don't know what the hell motivates the designers to lock out so much of the game after beating the main quest, although it's kind of understandable in ME [MINOR SPOILER] because of what happens to the citadel.

They should have at least let you roam around the galaxy though, like Freelancer did. The game completely ends after the main quest and doesn't let you do anything at all.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Not keeping saves from all along your journey is silly for PC RPGs with unlimited save slots.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Not only do I keep tons of saves for games like this, I also back up my saves to a different drive just in case.

 

[teb468]

Originally posted by: CP5670

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Arg they did this is Mass Effect too. Don't know what the hell motivates the designers to lock out so much of the game after beating the main quest, although it's kind of understandable in ME [MINOR SPOILER] because of what happens to the citadel.

They should have at least let you roam around the galaxy though, like Freelancer did. The game completely ends after the main quest and doesn't let you do anything at all.

I would have cared about that with ME if there had been anything else to really do or explore in it. Every planet was the same, so I was kinda glad to be done by that point.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
Not only do I keep tons of saves for games like this, I also back up my saves to a different drive just in case.

You should also make tape backups of your save drive, just in case.

 

[astrosfan315]

you have to save extra b/c if you ever go off on a tangent then it might autosave on you and you're screwed. Case in point, last night I accidentally shot the sheriff in the face with my 10mm b/c I clicked the left mouse button to talk to him with a pistol out. oops. All of megaton went apeshit on me, so I just went and killed as many as I could. Went to hit the autosave after getting smoked, and it brought me into the clinic, which is where I ran inside to hide and it autosaved on me. I already knew I was going to load from save so I just goofed off, but luckily I had a prior save I made before entering Megaton. If I did autosave only I'd been screwed.