that's it?
We have Far Harbor at home
Being the "least bad" Fallout 3 DLC is a bit like being the "most moral" person in a trial at the Hague, but given how bad everything Fallout 3 related is it needs all the accolades it can get.
Point Lookout isn't really more than a pocket-sized other Wasteland to explore, a brief main quest that doesn't have much to it beyond you killing ~tribals~ in droves, some decentish sidequests aaaand some loot. Yay.
The main quest isn't anything to write home about. A guy named Desmond conscripts you to kill and infiltrate some Tribals which are just... Uncritically placed into FO3's setting with all their uncomfortable tropes and occasionally you-no-take-candle style of speech in all its offensive. You get part of your brain removed (this doesn't mean anything) by a boatman and then you kill more tribals. Then you kill a lot of tribals. Then you kill a brain in a jar.
The only emotion this stirs in me besides apathy is mild annoyance, because on my main Fallout site circa 2009 I knew a guy who made Desmond his entire personality and was really annoying about it.
Desmond is an English pre-war ghoul who swears a lot and is a massive dick despite being good-aligned. I didn't really find him funny back then because the Bit is very one-note and nowadays I mashed through his dialogue after reading the subtitles because hoho wow this is some immature humor even for Fallout.
The main sidequests aren't going to make any Best Sidequests Ever lists but they're servicable compared to 3's.
One sees you taking up a Chinese spy's mission to destroy evidence of their espionage long after their death, and while it's not exactly rife with choice or even combat it's a nice little vignette with a decent tone to it - also it gives the Backwater Rifle, one of the game's better 10mm weapons.
The other is a thinly-veiled Lovecraft reference that's not very deep but it is relatively atmospheric and does utilize the scenery well. Apparently it was meant to be a lot deeper and better, but as is the norm with Bethesda games this was cut super late in development.
But I'll admit PL's setting does kind of irk because it's very superfluous. Like sugar candy. The parts near the pier honestly don't look much different from the Capital Wasteland and while the idea of setting a Fallout story in a swamp is neat, the terrain is incredibly repetitive and not very interesting.
Same goes for the Swampfolk, inbred cannibal killers, who were very obviously inspired by The Hills Have Eyes - such was admitted outright. They even used to be called Hillfolk, c'mon.
They're very much just there, making effigies and killing outsiders because that's what they do I suppose. The Lovecraft-lite quest gives the vague insinuation that they do it because this is supposed to reference Shadow over Innsmouth, I guess. Happy to see people from Cumbernauld show up in a game though!
Outside of the main quest and two big quests, though, Point Lookout just isn't very interesting. It's the first of the DLC maps to be nice and ~open~ but it's also so small that it only took me 3-4 hours to clear it of meaningful content.
Considering Mothership Zeta is next, let's just call this calm before the storm.
Point Lookout isn't really more than a pocket-sized other Wasteland to explore, a brief main quest that doesn't have much to it beyond you killing ~tribals~ in droves, some decentish sidequests aaaand some loot. Yay.
The main quest isn't anything to write home about. A guy named Desmond conscripts you to kill and infiltrate some Tribals which are just... Uncritically placed into FO3's setting with all their uncomfortable tropes and occasionally you-no-take-candle style of speech in all its offensive. You get part of your brain removed (this doesn't mean anything) by a boatman and then you kill more tribals. Then you kill a lot of tribals. Then you kill a brain in a jar.
The only emotion this stirs in me besides apathy is mild annoyance, because on my main Fallout site circa 2009 I knew a guy who made Desmond his entire personality and was really annoying about it.
Desmond is an English pre-war ghoul who swears a lot and is a massive dick despite being good-aligned. I didn't really find him funny back then because the Bit is very one-note and nowadays I mashed through his dialogue after reading the subtitles because hoho wow this is some immature humor even for Fallout.
The main sidequests aren't going to make any Best Sidequests Ever lists but they're servicable compared to 3's.
One sees you taking up a Chinese spy's mission to destroy evidence of their espionage long after their death, and while it's not exactly rife with choice or even combat it's a nice little vignette with a decent tone to it - also it gives the Backwater Rifle, one of the game's better 10mm weapons.
The other is a thinly-veiled Lovecraft reference that's not very deep but it is relatively atmospheric and does utilize the scenery well. Apparently it was meant to be a lot deeper and better, but as is the norm with Bethesda games this was cut super late in development.
But I'll admit PL's setting does kind of irk because it's very superfluous. Like sugar candy. The parts near the pier honestly don't look much different from the Capital Wasteland and while the idea of setting a Fallout story in a swamp is neat, the terrain is incredibly repetitive and not very interesting.
Same goes for the Swampfolk, inbred cannibal killers, who were very obviously inspired by The Hills Have Eyes - such was admitted outright. They even used to be called Hillfolk, c'mon.
They're very much just there, making effigies and killing outsiders because that's what they do I suppose. The Lovecraft-lite quest gives the vague insinuation that they do it because this is supposed to reference Shadow over Innsmouth, I guess. Happy to see people from Cumbernauld show up in a game though!
Outside of the main quest and two big quests, though, Point Lookout just isn't very interesting. It's the first of the DLC maps to be nice and ~open~ but it's also so small that it only took me 3-4 hours to clear it of meaningful content.
Considering Mothership Zeta is next, let's just call this calm before the storm.
This is the best of these, new map is fun the quests are cool and all
And yet it still manages to piss me off a bit
Why is the enemy scaling like that, why do they have an NPC rivalry you can pick a side of without ever, EVER, explaining to you what their deal is
it's so stupid
the dream sequence was cool I guess
And yet it still manages to piss me off a bit
Why is the enemy scaling like that, why do they have an NPC rivalry you can pick a side of without ever, EVER, explaining to you what their deal is
it's so stupid
the dream sequence was cool I guess
One of the eeriest locales in Fallout. This DLC kept me hooked and wanting more.
That dream sequence really banked on the main quest being better then it was.
This was alright. The new location was very different from DC.
Builds on fallout 3's best aspects of exploration in a wholly new setting.
Fallout 3 being consistently fun? Impossible.