Point Lookout DLC for Fallout 3 up on Live

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Qbah
5-6h for 10$ more of a game I really enjoy... what's so bad about it? The vanilla Fallout 3 was for 60$. Takes around 40-50h to finish most of the side things. It looks fine. If they released a separate expansion, I would need to wait a lot longer and pay like what? 30$ for the 3 "extra" places. So it's the same in the end. Not to mention Broken Steel was really fun. And so was The Pitt (though it was the worst of the 3 imo). Bought Point Lookout before work today - gonna give it a spin once I'm back home.

Not to mention I pay more for a 2h movie... That I can watch once and need to pay again to see it. 10$ for a DLC of this size is fine in my book. Point Lookout is supposedly 1/3 of the size of vanilla. For 10$.

Just a quick Q for ya. Are they all just 'one time play' type things like Anchorage was, or do they actually add areas that you can go back to whenever?

 

[bdubyah]

As far as I can tell, all the other DLCs for FO3 can be returned to, unlike Anchorage.

I actually just returned to Adams's Air Force Base today to scour for any missed items. I ended up finding 8 extra Tesla cannons.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: gorcorps
Just a quick Q for ya. Are they all just 'one time play' type things like Anchorage was, or do they actually add areas that you can go back to whenever?

You can go back to The Pitt and create regular ammo from scraps/other ammo - as many times as you wish. Same for Brokeen Steel - visiting the Air Base again will yield some new items.

Point Lookout is basically a whole new area you can visit/leave whenever you wish (at least according to the description, still need to try it out).

 

[erwos]

Just to shove this in an on-topic direction, I bought and played Point Lookout yesterday. It is _way_ more substantial than The Pitt or Operation Anchorage. The price is definitely more justified for this one... kinda more like Knights of the Nine, IMHO.

 

[Qbah]

Played it a bit yesterday and it's really fun 🙂 And there's plenty of space to wander and find new things. Though even on hardest level it's not too hard for me. Then again my char is lvl30 and has all Skills@100 😛

Did have a few close calls however (mostly to spice things up a bit with no VATS). Gauss Rifle still owns hard 🙂 Takes like 6-7 shots to kill the tougher enemies...

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Qbah
Though even on hardest level it's not too hard for me.

On this topic, something I noticed was that the balance and design in Point Lookout is almost radically different than in the original campaign (or even other DLC). Some things I noticed:

1. Lots of valuable stuff lying around. Dump your extra stuff at your house/apartment and raise your barter skill before going to Point Lookout, because you'll really want to pick up a lot of this crap and sell it.
2. Lots of stimpacks and other medical gear. I would guess that the medikits had double the usual amounts of stuff, if not triple. I wound up with 100+ stims, and I don't think I even bought any.
3. The new rifle and shotgun are _very_ powerful. Enemies can really put a dent in you if you're not careful.
4. Masses of tough enemies - they're really not afraid to toss six or more tougher guys at you, which was not something you'd see too terribly often in the original campaign.
5. _Very_ tight and well-done scripting, like in the mansion fight or the bog trip.

I'm still undecided about whether this DLC was for higher level or lower level characters - it feels like it was balanced for a good challenge at around level 15.

I am not, however, undecided about whether it's a good value: it's very easily worth $10, which is not something I would say of The Pitt or OA.

 

[Qbah]

Hell, the new shotgun really hits hard... I'm at 85% DR (usually run on meds) and I really need to be careful or I will die fast. It's not "Super Mutant Overlord with a Tri-Laser Rifle" fast, but 4-5 seconds of not paying attention to your health and you go *pop*. And the enemies are in bigger groups. If I meet 3-4 of those local folk I'm really in trouble. Good thing I got some leftover Alien Power Cells for tight situations 😛

However, Gauss Rifle at long range and Metal Blaster at close range can kill almost everything really fast (especially the Metal Blaster - a monster gun!). Alien Blaster + VATS for the toughest mofos (Reavers... :shocked🙂. Still doing the main quest of this DLC (not really in a hurry). And can't wait for Mothership Zeta! 😀

 

[erwos]

The thing I noticed about the double-barreled shotgun is that it seems more impressive in PL because most of the horde isn't wearing armor. It was less than amazing against enemies with real armor (eg, Enclave troopers) when I brought it back to the Capital Wastes. Maybe it has a high spread? *shrugs*

There have been some allegations that the tribals are amped-up to hit way harder than they really should, given their equipment.

On a somewhat unrelated DLC note, Broken Steel completely alters the difficulty of the main quest line. I think I had to kill two super mutant overlords in the same freaking room once! Like the mini-nukes, but those guys really take a beating...

 

[trmiv]

Well that settles it, I need to buy this. Although I don't have the Gauss Rifle because I never bought operation anchorage. I'm not sure I have the metal blaster either, I think I got rid of it in favor of the tri-beam laser rifle.

erwos, yea Broken Steel can be difficult as well. The super mutant overloards, feral ghoul reavers and those damn albino giant radscorpions are total pains.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: trmiv
erwos, yea Broken Steel can be difficult as well. The super mutant overloards, feral ghoul reavers and those damn albino giant radscorpions are total pains.

See, it's not just Broken Steel, it's the _original main quest line_. I went into Vault 87, and there were just super mutant overlords from hell jumping me. Now, there is something to that, as it actually makes the Fat Man worthwhile as a "real" weapon (rather than a novelty), but it's not what I was expecting...

I think it's cool how it alters the original content, don't get me wrong, it's just surprising.

 

[imported_Imp]

Got it last night, played it a bit. Runs a bit choppy, so I need a new system🙁.

I'm on Hard or Hardest, and getting my ass kicked by lots of stuff because I forget to check my health. I suck at aiming, so the shotgun isn't doing me much good. Thank god I brought a minigun, missile launcher and Fat Man.

Liking it so far, but I do miss shooting high tech, power-armoured people.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: trmiv
Well that settles it, I need to buy this. Although I don't have the Gauss Rifle because I never bought operation anchorage. I'm not sure I have the metal blaster either, I think I got rid of it in favor of the tri-beam laser rifle.

erwos, yea Broken Steel can be difficult as well. The super mutant overloards, feral ghoul reavers and those damn albino giant radscorpions are total pains.

Metal Blaster is from The Pitt, you get it for the Ingots you find (don't remember for how much). It fires 8 bolts, each can crit for extra dmg (so sneak+head+metal blaster = one-shot Overlord 😀 with psycho 😛). And all that for 1 ammo. Also, it can be repaired using regular Laser Rifles - plenty to find around.

As for Broken Steel, on my other character, I finally decided to go to Galaxy Radio at lvl14... Met with Lyon's Pride, started to fight our way to the station (with Masters all around so it was ok). But in front we were greeted by 3 Overlords with Tri-Laser each !! The BoS suiciders went into melee range and I had an endless stream of "X or Y is unconcious". They were getting one-two shotted (total rape-fest 😀) by the mutants. Seriously, I don't remember sweating that much on any fight. Used up like 40 stimpacks... You can imagine that at lvl14 your skills aren't very high, so your aim is not so good and the dmg you do isn't so hot either. Your hp is also kinda low. The Behemoth that followed was a total push-over compared to those guys. Loved every second of that fight btw 🙂

 

[Dorkenstein]

"We'll gitt yeeeeew..."

I agree with the choppiness statement. I use a motion blur + depth of field plugin for the rest of the game that works swimmingly. When I hit the swamps outside Pilgrims landing I got noticeable movement lag and when I brought my pipboy up it took a second longer.

Enjoying it so far, and I hope there is reason to come back after completion but I doubt it.

 

[nitromullet]

I like it so far overall.

Pros: Combat is cool. The enemies are scripted so they actually surprise you at times. They run in packs, so watch your back.

Cons: The inbreeds... The look of them is good, but the accents sound like some northerner impersonating Larry the Cable Guy. Having grown up in the south, I've seen some creepy hillbillies and the voice acting here doesn't quite capture it. Bethesda should have watched Deliverance when making this instead of Cars. They were obviously trying to make them creepy, but they turned out just being goofy.

 

[erwos]

Well, the nice thing about PO is that there's a lot of stuff not on the main quest lines, so the explorer crowd still has stuff to do afterward. One of the side quests, The Velvet Curtain, is pretty amazing IMHO.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: erwos
Well, the nice thing about PO is that there's a lot of stuff not on the main quest lines, so the explorer crowd still has stuff to do afterward. One of the side quests, The Velvet Curtain, is pretty amazing IMHO.

:thumbsup: That one was really nice. Enjoyed it the whole way. Don't want to spoil anything 😛 The DLC is definately of high quality. However, the bloody game freezes up a lot 🙁 Went to the bog, was on my way back and suddenly, out of the blue, the game just stops. I had only an autosave from when I entered the area... The related quest for this area is also pretty slick 🙂 (it's the main quest-line)

 

[erwos]

I had zero freezes in PO. The only place I really consistently freeze up is exiting Raven Rock in the main quest line. Of course, if you're on the PC, it might be different.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Buy GoTY eidtion in October for the same price as all the released DLCs and patches
Sell vanilla edition
Profit.

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: erwos
I had zero freezes in PO. The only place I really consistently freeze up is exiting Raven Rock in the main quest line. Of course, if you're on the PC, it might be different.

I'm on Xbox 360. Freqeuent freezing recently. It's a 1,5 year old Falcon Elite that's working perfectly fine with other games.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Qbah

Originally posted by: erwos
I had zero freezes in PO. The only place I really consistently freeze up is exiting Raven Rock in the main quest line. Of course, if you're on the PC, it might be different.

I'm on Xbox 360. Freqeuent freezing recently. It's a 1,5 year old Falcon Elite that's working perfectly fine with other games.

Have you installed it to the HDD?

 

[Qbah]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: Qbah

Originally posted by: erwos
I had zero freezes in PO. The only place I really consistently freeze up is exiting Raven Rock in the main quest line. Of course, if you're on the PC, it might be different.

I'm on Xbox 360. Freqeuent freezing recently. It's a 1,5 year old Falcon Elite that's working perfectly fine with other games.

Have you installed it to the HDD?

Yep, it's sitting on my HDD. No way I'm gonna play anything from the DVD - it sounds like a jet plane. The HDD instal option was the best thing that came with NXE imo.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Qbah

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: Qbah

Originally posted by: erwos
I had zero freezes in PO. The only place I really consistently freeze up is exiting Raven Rock in the main quest line. Of course, if you're on the PC, it might be different.

I'm on Xbox 360. Freqeuent freezing recently. It's a 1,5 year old Falcon Elite that's working perfectly fine with other games.

Have you installed it to the HDD?

Yep, it's sitting on my HDD. No way I'm gonna play anything from the DVD - it sounds like a jet plane. The HDD instal option was the best thing that came with NXE imo.

Just checking, as I had crashes that disappeared after I installed to HDD. Haven't had any problems since.

 

[Qbah]

Zoned to Rivet City, walked to the merchant location, waited an hour, Crow showed up, walked towards him, started a dialogue and freeze 🙁 Good thing there's an autosave every zone change.

Anyway, seems one of the new perks is bugged like hell... Made all the automatic weapons do crazy damage... Minigun does 255 now, Vengeance 335... Hell, the unique Assault Rifle does 118 or something. Makes 'em really powerful (not that I mind 😛). I actually managed to kill a Reaver with Eugene using 200 bullets 😀 The "wear-to-damage" proportion on Miniguns and Gatling Lasers is pretty good now. Gonna test on an Overlord once I find one.

As for Stimpacks I finished the place with 15 less stimpacks than I arrived with. Hardest mode and plenty of Stimpacks around means that the place was pretty tough. Sadly, after doing everything there and visiting every location, there's no reason to come back (unless you want some more of a particular drink or want weapons for repairing some of the new ones). However the quests were really nice, the main quest line was very well written and "directed". Only one of the side quests was dull and uneventful (though there was a nice story behind it 🙂).

Well worth the 10$! :thumbsup:

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Qbah
Zoned to Rivet City, walked to the merchant location, waited an hour, Crow showed up, walked towards him, started a dialogue and freeze 🙁 Good thing there's an autosave every zone change.

Anyway, seems one of the new perks is bugged like hell... Made all the automatic weapons do crazy damage... Minigun does 255 now, Vengeance 335... Hell, the unique Assault Rifle does 118 or something. Makes 'em really powerful (not that I mind 😛). I actually managed to kill a Reaver with Eugene using 200 bullets 😀 The "wear-to-damage" proportion on Miniguns and Gatling Lasers is pretty good now. Gonna test on an Overlord once I find one.

As for Stimpacks I finished the place with 15 less stimpacks than I arrived with. Hardest mode and plenty of Stimpacks around means that the place was pretty tough. Sadly, after doing everything there and visiting every location, there's no reason to come back (unless you want some more of a particular drink or want weapons for repairing some of the new ones). However the quests were really nice, the main quest line was very well written and "directed". Only one of the side quests was dull and uneventful (though there was a nice story behind it 🙂).

Well worth the 10$! :thumbsup:

Good review. Looks like the special stuff you get with the DLC is really good. The O:A armor will never break it seems like

 

[erwos]

Yeah, the bugged O:A power armor is awesome in a game-breaking sort of way. Wish they had made that mistake with the Gauss Rifle, too. Patch time!