After nearly a decade, I decided to revisit Fallout 3 after watching the show, and discovered that the game holds up quite well, with excellent side quests and interesting lore and locations that make up for lackluster combat and some jank (Disclaimer: I did use a light set of mods for QoL / some extra quests).
Just like its sequels, Fallout 3 excels in creating a fantastic gameplay loop - exploring, going to new locations to complete quests, killing everything, and moving on to the next spot. In my opinion, the main quest has a good story, with solid voice acting and good twists (Tranquility Lane and Raven Rock as highlights). The side quests are where the game really shines, with interesting twists, a good spread of moral (or immoral) decisions, and great variety. Although I play as a "good guy," I appreciate the effort to make sure you can be very bad instead. The dialogue is full of opportunities to apply skills to resolve situations, and I like the old-school skill system, though more narrow then perks in later games. My only complaint with quests would be the poor writing at the end of the main quest, which is largely a non-issue with the Broken Steel DLC.
However, a lot of the gameplay loop was greatly improved by the games sequels. Companions are uninteresting, with no quests and little dialogue, (except for those added by mods) and are a constant liability. Although individual locations are quite fun to explore, there's not much motivation to go out of your way to remote corners of the map (a benefit of the radiant quests introduced by later games). The excellent side quests are incredibly difficult to find at times without an online guide. The subway system, though atmospheric, is frustrating to navigate. Combat is a mixed bag, ranging from quite fun when headshotting enemies in epic VATS killshots, to frustrating with tanky enemies who are hard to hit. Managing inventory weight is often annoying, as with most Bethesda games.
At the end of the day, the game still holds up well. Graphics, though dreary and green, still convey the atmosphere quite well, and the gameplay ends up being very fun if not as refined as some later Bethesda games. Fallout 3 is still very worth playing.
Just like its sequels, Fallout 3 excels in creating a fantastic gameplay loop - exploring, going to new locations to complete quests, killing everything, and moving on to the next spot. In my opinion, the main quest has a good story, with solid voice acting and good twists (Tranquility Lane and Raven Rock as highlights). The side quests are where the game really shines, with interesting twists, a good spread of moral (or immoral) decisions, and great variety. Although I play as a "good guy," I appreciate the effort to make sure you can be very bad instead. The dialogue is full of opportunities to apply skills to resolve situations, and I like the old-school skill system, though more narrow then perks in later games. My only complaint with quests would be the poor writing at the end of the main quest, which is largely a non-issue with the Broken Steel DLC.
However, a lot of the gameplay loop was greatly improved by the games sequels. Companions are uninteresting, with no quests and little dialogue, (except for those added by mods) and are a constant liability. Although individual locations are quite fun to explore, there's not much motivation to go out of your way to remote corners of the map (a benefit of the radiant quests introduced by later games). The excellent side quests are incredibly difficult to find at times without an online guide. The subway system, though atmospheric, is frustrating to navigate. Combat is a mixed bag, ranging from quite fun when headshotting enemies in epic VATS killshots, to frustrating with tanky enemies who are hard to hit. Managing inventory weight is often annoying, as with most Bethesda games.
At the end of the day, the game still holds up well. Graphics, though dreary and green, still convey the atmosphere quite well, and the gameplay ends up being very fun if not as refined as some later Bethesda games. Fallout 3 is still very worth playing.