I liked the Fallout 3 ending(s) damnit.

[TheVrolok]

I finnnnaaally got around to finishing Fallout 3.. I had shelved it for some time as I got busy with other things but just today got back to it. I noticed all the hate around for the "disappointing ending" of Fallout 3 and forced myself not to read any spoilers, but now having finished the game. I can't say it's really all that bad. Fairly fitting I think.

 

[Jeeebus]

I don't think it's the way it "ends" per se that annoys people. I think it's the fairly trite narrative that follows that is the big disappointment. Don't get me wrong... I'm not sure what they could do after you invest 40+ hours in a game to give you a real sense of closure, but the ending(s) really felt rushed and totally irrelevant. To me, at least, it left me with a feeling of "that's it?"

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
I don't think it's the way it "ends" per se that annoys people. I think it's the fairly trite narrative that follows that is the big disappointment. Don't get me wrong... I'm not sure what they could do after you invest 40+ hours in a game to give you a real sense of closure, but the ending(s) really felt rushed and totally irrelevant. To me, at least, it left me with a feeling of "that's it?"

Perhaps that's it. I think I got the same sort of feeling at the end of STALKER.

 

[nitromullet]

****SPOILER ALERT*****

IMO, the main reason the ending is disappointing is because no matter what you do, you have to die. The first time I finished it I had Fawkes with me and the game had already made mention of his resistance to radiation when he got the GECK from vault 87, but at the end of the game you couldn't just send Fawkes in with the code to activate Project Purity. I guess it makes the end more dramatic, but it just really make any sense for a game that otherwise has you pretty much doing anything just to survive.

I also think the ending is an odd choice for a game the developers knew they would be developing DLC for (PC and 360 at least). Having revert to a previously saved game to access the DLC, which is integrated into the main game, sort of seems like an odd choice to me.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I hated the ending. In fact, I believe it was the worst ending ever for an RPG I've played (granted, I haven't played that many).

Last night, I finished STALKER: Clear Sky. Was pissed at that ending too. Though not because of the poor story (I wasn't paying attention in the first place, unlike Fallout 3 where I actually read/listened to everything the characters said). Just because they put the point of no return really early in Clear Sky. I had a bunch of stuff I was going to sell for money but there wasn't a trader nearby so I planned on doing it later. I unknowingly crossed the point and I wasn't really prepared. I hadn't upgraded my armor yet and I didn't have enough cash to repair the armor when I got the chance halfway through the ending portion. So I had to do the last battle with crappy, un-upgraded, broken armor. I died so many times (thanks to my lack of armor) that I got frustrated and installed a "God Mode" mod in order to finish it. And after that I couldn't do anything. No going back and selling my gear to upgrade and repair my armor. No trying my new FN F2000 rifle on groups of bandits. Just the chance to revert back to the beginning of the last area again.

I am planning on playing it again but cheating (I know, I know, please don't hate) so I can get all my gear back from the beginning. Now that I have a better idea of what to do I should be able to do better at certain things I screwed up the first time (for instance, the Stalkers took the depot from the bandits without my assistance the first time but it resulted in there being only four of them at the base after it was captured, rather than what should have been a much larger force).

 

[rstove02]

**Spoilers below**

The main beef I have with the ending to Fallout3 is that the ending changes only based off 3 things: your karma, what you did with the FEV virus, and if you died or had the gal die. In fallout 1 and 2, you had multiple sub-endings for every village/town/city based on your actions there. You could also have extra sub-endings based on decisions made throughout the game on side quests. Due to the briefness of the ending, it really drives home that what you did throughout the game does not matter and only two decisions in the game and your karma is all that matters.

For example in the game I found Harold and Bob and chose to apply to balm to accelerate the forest growth so that the forests will cover the country in mere decades instead of centuries. I really did expect some minor footnote (even one sentence) covering the outcome of that in the ending credits (a la Fallout 1/2) but nope.

*Edit: typos

 

[Dumac]

I didn't like that the Fallout MQ ending actually ENDED your character's timeline.

I also didn't like that they showed my character walking with a dog, although I never had a dog.

 

[AstroManLuca]

***SPOILERS***

Originally posted by: rstove02
**Spoilers below**

The main beef I have with the ending to Fallout3 is that the ending changes only based off 3 things: your karma, what you did with the FEV virus, and if you died or had the gal die. In fallout 1 and 2, you had multiple sub-endings for every village/town/city based on your actions there. You could also have extra sub-endings based on decisions made throughout the game on side quests. Due to the briefness of the ending, it really drives home that what you did throughout the game does not matter and only two decisions in the game and your karma is all the matters.

For example in the game I found Harold and Bob and chose to apply to balm to accelerate the forest growth so that the forests will cover the county in mere decades instead of centuries. I really did expect so minor footnote (even one sentence) covering the outcome of that in the ending credits (a la Fallout 1/2) but nope.

I think another problem was that Bethesda touted the "multiple endings" feature of Fallout 3, claiming there were "over 200 possible endings." It was totally misleading because they led people to believe it would be just like Fallout 1 and 2 but with even more possibilities. In reality there was far LESS variety.

Now, of course there were some problems with the endings of Fallout 2. I remember that no matter what you did, the ending would always accuse you of slaughtering all the intelligent deathclaws in Vault 13 (or at least accuse you of being complacent in it). A few other endings were rather poor or limited as well. But there were still a lot of possibilities. Much more than in FO3. Personally, I liked the one for New Reno if you killed all four families (which would inevitably lead to you killing most of the townsfolk as well). It said something along the lines of "then one day the whole city got killed and now it's a ghost town."

 

[Liet]

The Deathclaw ending in F2 was a bug, sadly.

I was not disappointed with the ending to Fallout 3, because I already knew that Bethesda threw away almost everything that made the originals such well-loved classics. Bethesda disgusts me now, frankly.

The F2 ending was probably one of the most satisfying game endings I've ever had. SO many fun variables!

 

[DaveSimmons]

It didn't make much sense that Ffolkes couldn't go in and harmlessly drink in the rads as (s)he started up the purifier for you.

But overall it was a fun game, with many good moments like meeting the "president" (then triggering self-destruct), and retaking the purifier with the giant robot.

 

[Udgnim]

the journey != end

so huge letdown once the end was reached

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
****SPOILER ALERT*****

IMO, the main reason the ending is disappointing is because no matter what you do, you have to die. The first time I finished it I had Fawkes with me and the game had already made mention of his resistance to radiation when he got the GECK from vault 87, but at the end of the game you couldn't just send Fawkes in with the code to activate Project Purity. I guess it makes the end more dramatic, but it just really make any sense for a game that otherwise has you pretty much doing anything just to survive.

Same with Charon. Ghouls are immune to radiation, yet he won't enter the radioactive room at the end. And your radiation suit, and all your anti-radiation drugs are useless there as well. The ending couldn't have been more poorly contrived.

 

[Liet]

Originally posted by: BladeVenomThe ending couldn't have been more poorly contrived.

Every single plotline in F3 was contrived, stale, weak, and unimaginative.

 

[Martimus]

I didn't get it because I was in a super rad suit (The one you get from the vault in Lamplight Caverns), and the radiation wasn't harming me at all. So when I went from perfectly fine punching in the code to dead instantly, it was kind of weird.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom

Originally posted by: nitromullet
****SPOILER ALERT*****

IMO, the main reason the ending is disappointing is because no matter what you do, you have to die. The first time I finished it I had Fawkes with me and the game had already made mention of his resistance to radiation when he got the GECK from vault 87, but at the end of the game you couldn't just send Fawkes in with the code to activate Project Purity. I guess it makes the end more dramatic, but it just really make any sense for a game that otherwise has you pretty much doing anything just to survive.

Same with Charon. Ghouls are immune to radiation, yet he won't enter the radioactive room at the end. And your radiation suit, and all your anti-radiation drugs are useless there as well. The ending couldn't have been more poorly contrived.

Wrong... your anti-radiation drugs aren't useless! I remember entering the chamber and then running around in circles for over a minute trying to figure out what to do, popping Rad-Aways like there was no tomorrow. Eventually I had to pause and look up what to do on the internet (enter a code that was never given to you on the keypad; thanks Bethsoft).

So yeah, Rad-Away and RadX work in the chamber but only until you enter the code. Then you die instantly.

 

[way2fast91]

***Possible Spoiler alert***

I actually am/was new to the Fallout universe with Fallout 3, came over from the Elder Scrolls world. I must say I was really disappointed with the ending. I had been told by a friend ahead of time that you can't play beyond the end of the MQ, but I still found it very short and abrupt, emotionless. All that journey and no payoff at the end. If they weren't going to do something creative at the end they should have at least left it open like the end of the MQ's in Morrowind/Oblivion, that way the character you had created/built up/invested in could continue on to other heights.

PS- did anyone else die the first time because they had no clue what the damn code was? I had to look it up online, maybe I missed an obvious clue somewhere, I tried to listen to all the recordings, but was distracted/couldn't hear some well.

Off Topic:
Would Bethesda please just make an ES- MMORPG already!!!!!

 

[acheron]

The code was the number of the Bible verse that your parents liked, and that your father had framed in Vault 101.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: acheron
The code was the number of the Bible verse that your parents liked, and that your father had framed in Vault 101.

I learned that when I looked it up, but the game didn't make it very obvious. And honestly who pays attention to the Bible anyway, especially among gamers?

 

[Liet]

I do, becuase it's almost a certainly that the Bible passage number is going to unlock a safe with a silencer upgrade later on in the game.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

There are a lot of problems with it. Several possible companions could do it for you - Fawkes is just the one that hits you in the face, since they made a huge plot point of her being radiation immune. The robot could've done. Charon at least has a reason for not going in there, but still. The radaway problem. The "It didn't kill that enclave guy, and I stole his jacket" problem. The "Hey, if it's so horrifically radioactive in there, who cleaned up dad's body, anyway?" problem. The "How do you know it's gonna blow up if we don't turn it on if nobody's ever turned it on?" problem.

And once it smacks you up with that one, you turn around and realize you've just played a game about a war over who could turn on a water purifier first. And it dawns on you just how god awful stupid the whole plot actually was.

 

[JoshGuru7]

I think this is a case of your expectations being managed well in advance, so when you saw the terrible ending you thought "well, it wasn't THAT terrible". For people who had been expecting the ending to be as good as the rest of the game, it was both extremely abrupt and terrible storytelling. When I died and got the credits while still having reasonable expectations for the ending, I just assumed that I had screwed something up and was being presented a "you lose" montage.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: acheron
The code was the number of the Bible verse that your parents liked, and that your father had framed in Vault 101.

I completely forgot that and had to let the timer run down, or did I just give up and stop taking my radaway...

The ending was terrible. I usually don't put much stock into how a game ends. The more important thing is the run-up to the end, and that was disappointing.

All I had to do was stick close to the robot. It was unnecessary to fire a shot unless I ran ahead. Once I got inside the final building, I took out my mini-nuke and nuked the room full of Enclave people. With most of them dead, I took out my mini-gun to finish any stragglers. Then we made it to the final room, and I chain-lasered the 'boss' in about 5 seconds. Would have been quicker if he stood still.

It would have been a nice twist to have the robot get disabled on the final route, then you'd actually have to fight to the end. For effs sake, I had 20 mini-nukes I'd been saving and thousands of rounds of ammo.

Oh well, might pick up "The Pitt" this week.

 

[CP5670]

The main quest story in general had tons of holes, not just the ending. I still liked the game a lot because of the side quests though, which were much more well designed.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: rstove02
**Spoilers below**

The main beef I have with the ending to Fallout3 is that the ending changes only based off 3 things: your karma, what you did with the FEV virus, and if you died or had the gal die. In fallout 1 and 2, you had multiple sub-endings for every village/town/city based on your actions there. You could also have extra sub-endings based on decisions made throughout the game on side quests. Due to the briefness of the ending, it really drives home that what you did throughout the game does not matter and only two decisions in the game and your karma is all the matters.

For example in the game I found Harold and Bob and chose to apply to balm to accelerate the forest growth so that the forests will cover the county in mere decades instead of centuries. I really did expect so minor footnote (even one sentence) covering the outcome of that in the ending credits (a la Fallout 1/2) but nope.

Give this man a beer and a cigar! You invest a lot of time in the game and it would be nice to at least be given some idea of the impact of your actions. It is true that sometimes you will hear comments on the radio about what you have done (pretty cool in my opinion) but the endings in the previous games showed the lasting effects of your actions. It was such a disappointment when there was nothing at the end of Fallout 3 and the Harold and Bob quests was one that I was particularly interested in hearing about at the end.

Still, I really liked Fallout 3.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
Wrong... your anti-radiation drugs aren't useless! I remember entering the chamber and then running around in circles for over a minute trying to figure out what to do, popping Rad-Aways like there was no tomorrow. Eventually I had to pause and look up what to do on the internet (enter a code that was never given to you on the keypad; thanks Bethsoft).

So yeah, Rad-Away and RadX work in the chamber but only until you enter the code. Then you die instantly.

The code isn't too hard to figure out. Especially when you need it quickly or you will die. It is the mothers favorite verse from the bible. I believe that it is even plastered right above the control panel to remind you what it is.