For those who have played / beat Fallout 3

[Tweak155]

I hate the fact that you can pick up just about everything. This makes me wonder WTH do I pick up, so I just pick up everything. Can you tell me now what I should be looking to grab? I hate when a game gives you options and I don't know how to pick the best one (or have any knowledge on how my choices affect me).

But I've heard great things about this game so giving it a go...

This is the same reason I quit playing Morrowind.

 

[shortylickens]

You could also ignore looting and just do quests.
I have mods that add more recipes but basically you should decide what custom weapons you want to make and only grab the things you need to make them.

I'll find a list for you.

 

[shortylickens]

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_crafting

Scroll down, see the components column? Thats the junk you wanna hold.


Also, when looting bodies and chests, click on the tabs for weapons, armor, etc. Most of the junk you DONT wanna grab is in the Misc. section.
Ammo weighs nothing and can sell for good money if you never plan on using it.

 

[shortylickens]

Actually, grab all that other shit too.
Make the weapons. If you dont feel like carrying them, sell the things off for much better money than their source components.

And the crap in Morrowind is mostly useless except for selling. But they went a little overboard that time.

 

[Tweak155]

You could also ignore looting and just do quests.
I have mods that add more recipes but basically you should decide what custom weapons you want to make and only grab the things you need to make them.

I'll find a list for you.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_crafting

Scroll down, see the components column? Thats the junk you wanna hold.


Also, when looting bodies and chests, click on the tabs for weapons, armor, etc. Most of the junk you DONT wanna grab is in the Misc. section.
Ammo weighs nothing and can sell for good money if you never plan on using it.

Wow, thanks!

 

[futurefields]

I grab everything and take it to my Megaton house.

I keep all misc. junk in the first locker, the one closest to the door. I keep all weapons and armor in the 2nd locker, the one closer to the kitchen. I keep all my consumnables in the refrigerator in the kitchen,and I put all my journals in the filing cabinet upstairs.

I have tons of stuff in my Megaton house.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I tried several times and just never could get into the game. Just seemed I never had the right weapons or enough ammo. I finally got to the part where you go back to that fifties town and hated that part. Somehow I lost my save and wasn't willing to do it again. I also started new Vegas and didn't finish that either. There are not that many new games coming out now that really interest me so perhaps I will give them another try one of these days.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You can easily finish the game without doing any crafting at all, so don't worry about it too much.

You might collect pre-war books since there's a quest needing them later. There's also a quest for scrap metal.

In New Vegas I hoard the components for Weapon Repair Kits until I get my repair skill up to 50 and can make them, since repair costs can be very high. For some weapons it makes sense to just mash together 2 of them to repair (select 9mm pistol, Repair with second 9mm pistol) but you can't do that with some uniques and don't always want to use up expensive guns you could sell instead.

 

[acheron]

This is about Skyrim rather than Fallout 3, but same idea: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/11/14

 

[shortylickens]

I grab everything and take it to my Megaton house.

I keep all misc. junk in the first locker, the one closest to the door. I keep all weapons and armor in the 2nd locker, the one closer to the kitchen. I keep all my consumnables in the refrigerator in the kitchen,and I put all my journals in the filing cabinet upstairs.

I have tons of stuff in my Megaton house.

Dont you use any mods with inventory sorting?

Bunker 72 is a great one.

 

[mmntech]

Junk can be sold for caps. You can also use it as ammo for the Rock-It Launcher. Though seeing as proper ammo is weightless in FO3, the RIL is a pretty useless weapon.

 

[coldmeat]

I hate the fact that you can pick up just about everything. This makes me wonder WTH do I pick up, so I just pick up everything. Can you tell me now what I should be looking to grab? I hate when a game gives you options and I don't know how to pick the best one (or have any knowledge on how my choices affect me).

I used to feel this way, then I realized that this is the best part of gaming. I used to be so focused on choosing the best options, making the best character, getting the most skill points, etc. until I realized that I wasn't even really playing the game anymore.

Just go with it, picking up what you need now and what you think might come in handy later. If you find you need something that you were previously ignoring, then go scavenging, like a real post apocalyptic survivor would do.

I enjoy gaming a lot more now that I just go with the flow, not being afraid to make a wrong choice.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I used to feel this way, then I realized that this is the best part of gaming. I used to be so focused on choosing the best options, making the best character, getting the most skill points, etc. until I realized that I wasn't even really playing the game anymore.

Just go with it, picking up what you need now and what you think might come in handy later. If you find you need something that you were previously ignoring, then go scavenging, like a real post apocalyptic survivor would do.

I enjoy gaming a lot more now that I just go with the flow, not being afraid to make a wrong choice.

That's a recipe for horrible doom in some games (many JRPGs) but FO3 and FONV are pretty forgiving. You can make it through both playing the way you want to and not worrying about powergaming.

 

[mistercrabby]

I grab everything and take it to my Megaton house.

I keep all misc. junk in the first locker, the one closest to the door. I keep all weapons and armor in the 2nd locker, the one closer to the kitchen. I keep all my consumnables in the refrigerator in the kitchen,and I put all my journals in the filing cabinet upstairs.

I have tons of stuff in my Megaton house.

I can't say i grab everything because a. the weight, b. i'm not by nature a hoarder and i don't like the way it clutters up my list. As many have pointed out, the game does use random crap as input to new items, so the above approach has a point.

As i got further in the game and was pretty well kitted up i picked up less and less minor stuff. It's a personal preference thing, whatever adds to your enjoyment of the game. There are a lot of side quests for collecting that can distract from the main quest. It depends on what you want out of the game.

In my opinion, if this is your first time, enjoy the story and don't worry about collecting this or that. It won't really change the outcome.

Have fun!

 

[clok1966]

Crafting is so hit and miss i found.. but I think it comes down to game play styles.. I loved the lunchbox mines. the crab guys didn't like um as much as me Otherwise I made stuff, but used the standard guns 99% of the time. BUT, learning what did what, I collected it all. Some of the better stuff had some weight. Fast travel made it almost trivial to keep anything you wanted. There was so much to collect.. nuka cola with the blue, the bobble heads.

Skyrim- the crypt on edge of town (with glowing guy, by path up mountian).. pick up EVERYTHING and sell in town, raise your barter skill quickly

 

[Tweak155]

Well guys I've played about 2-3 hrs so far and I gotta say, I like the game. I've pretty much just explored Megaton and interacted with every character I could find and picked up a bunch of quests.

The game is starting to piss me off though, it's frozen at some point every single time I've played it. In fact it just froze up on me again causing me to post. I've decided I'd like to keep playing but this freezing thing has got to go. Any tips? I have everything maxed out graphics wise since the game is older, maybe it doesn't like shadows or something? I'm tempted just to pick it up for Xbox.

 

[Tweak155]

Also, what's up with rads? I see a lot of crap gives it to me and I've been avoiding it, but the meter goes to 1000 so I'm sure there is leeway... Can anyone explain it to me (I know it means radiation...)?

Also items I find that do like -1 int (vodka for example), is that permanent?

 

[TallBill]

Also, what's up with rads? I see a lot of crap gives it to me and I've been avoiding it, but the meter goes to 1000 so I'm sure there is leeway... Can anyone explain it to me (I know it means radiation...)?

Also items I find that do like -1 int (vodka for example), is that permanent?

I don't recall on the rads but it was never an issue for me. I also never crafted anything. The stat mods are not permanent.

 

[Phynaz]

The game is starting to piss me off though, it's frozen at some point every single time I've played it.

Google quad core fix.

 

[shortylickens]

As your radiation goes up you eventually get stat penalties that stick around until you remove the rads. If you hit 1000 you die. Rads dont go away naturally unless you pick the perk which does just that.
Most stat penalties are physical, draining endurance lowers max HP, etc. Eventually when you get way up there I think your perception and intelligence suffer.

There is one perk that lets you ignore the first level of radiation. You have the points but no bad effects. This means you dont have to keep using rad away to keep it down. With most dungeons/Vaults, you can just wait until you get back to a town and have the Doctor heal your rads.

Also theres perks which give you bonuses as rads go up, but you need to balance those with the penalties which are also accumulating.

The big one to avoid is the area filled with super mutants outside the main door to vault 87. It shoots up to like 500 rads per second as you get closer, and even with RadX and a rad suit you wont be able to survive that long enough to get to the door.
You have to go in the back door through Little Lamplight.

New Vegas doesnt have any areas with Super Mega radiation as I recall.

 

[Legios]

I pick up and store all billiard balls and store them in 1 room. When I walk into that room they go crazy with collisions. Its soothing......

 

[Wardawg1001]

I always felt the radiation was more for atmosphere than anything else. There are very few places that divy out enough of it to actual cause you any real harm, and theres plenty of ways to keep it down.

 

[Tweak155]

Google quad core fix.

Thanks I think this was it... been playing a few hours straight no lock ups.

This game is pretty sweet! I picked Very Easy because I have such a backlog of games, I'm not in it for the challenge, but the story & atmosphere. The game has been delivering on both. If New Vegas is just as good as this game, I'll have to pick it up when I'm done.

 

[smackababy]

Thanks I think this was it... been playing a few hours straight no lock ups.

This game is pretty sweet! I picked Very Easy because I have such a backlog of games, I'm not in it for the challenge, but the story & atmosphere. The game has been delivering on both. If New Vegas is just as good as this game, I'll have to pick it up when I'm done.

I think NV is better gameplay wise, but overall, I felt less of a deserted wasteland feeling. It just felt smaller and less barren. I really enjoy the post apocalyptic style of gaming / movies, and both games felt like a PA themepark, rather than such an environment. NV moreso than FO3, but I still enjoyed them.

And Liberty Prime is quite possibly the best "character" in any video game series. You'll understand once you get there.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I tried several times and just never could get into the game. Just seemed I never had the right weapons or enough ammo. I finally got to the part where you go back to that fifties town and hated that part. Somehow I lost my save and wasn't willing to do it again. I also started new Vegas and didn't finish that either. There are not that many new games coming out now that really interest me so perhaps I will give them another try one of these days.

Wow, you can get to that point in about 20 minutes....