From 1127f2f1cded0a8b1b3b7a8636d58663bc447927 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bill Niblock Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2024 12:23:15 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Add drafts from branches --- _drafts/fallout3.md | 161 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ _drafts/oblivion-part3.md | 27 +++++++ 2 files changed, 188 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _drafts/fallout3.md create mode 100644 _drafts/oblivion-part3.md diff --git a/_drafts/fallout3.md b/_drafts/fallout3.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a28d18a --- /dev/null +++ b/_drafts/fallout3.md @@ -0,0 +1,161 @@ +--- + tabtitle: "Fallout 3 on Linux" + title: "Fallout 3 on Linux: Setup, Summary, and Suggestions" + topics: [gaming] + pub: "" + short_desc: A relatively comprehensive review of my recent playthrough of Fallout 3. +--- + +# Fallout 3 on Linux: Setup, Summary, and Suggestions +- Objective: Play Fallout 3 with a "Vanilla+" setup of mods. Play through all + the DLC, play through the main story. + +To-Do: +- Installation + - Game files (Steam, GOG, other?) + - Mod Organizer 2 +- Modding + - Mods I used, and why + - How-to Install and/or Configure +- Game Review + - Main Story + - DLC (in order played) + - The Pitt + - Operation Anchorage + - Point Lookout + - Mothership Zeta + - Broken Steel + +# Notes + +## Installation + +### Base Game + +### Mods + +#### Mod Organizer 2 + +#### Mod List + +#### Mods of Note + +## Review + +### Main Story + +Overall, I think the main story of Fallout 3 is strong until the very last beat. +The beginning tutorial, which is the first 10 to 40 minutes of play, takes place +entirely within the starting Vault. It does a good job of the standard tutorial +phase: teach the player how to interact with the game; walk the player through +character creation; setup a few characters to care about. Then, the beginning +ends, and there's the second phase of play: open world. Arguably, this is the +remaining phase of all game-play. The player is free to explore, pursuing quests +or ambitions as they whim. There are game mechanics to aid with decisions, +generally quest markers and points-of-interest. The entire play time of a player +could be spent on everything _except_ the main story, and it would still be a +rewarding and enjoyable experience. However, my objective was to play the story +of Fallout 3, and so I keep that as my main guiding star. This is not to say I +didn't do any side-quests. I wandered far and wide; I actually discovered every +location on the map! I enjoyed exploring the abandoned and ruined metro lines, +finding small settlements or outposts, and coming across other wanderers and +survivors who had setup their own little slices of the wasteland. + +I want to specifically talk about the setting. The Capitol Wasteland, a +fictionalized, augmented, scaled-down region around modern-day Washington DC, +northern Virginia, and Maryland. The "sights" are there: all the monuments and +museums (well, some _aren't_ there, like the White House!). There are two +"layers" to the map. The first is the surface. There's the big, open-world +Wasteland, which spans almost the entire map, excluding some smaller, +independent cells. Then, there's the underground collection of metro tunnels. +All of these connect, mostly, and it is fascinating that, once underground, it's +almost possible to stay underground, at least when around the Mall and within +DC proper. + +I want to touch on one of the strengths of Fallout 3, and the open-world 3D +environment: environmental storytelling. + +### DLC: The Pitt + +The Pitt was the first of the DLCs that I played. It was advised as a good +early-game DLC, if only because it gives some great guns. I hadn't made the +connection between "Pitt" and "Pittsburgh" until I saw the name of the DLC +spelled out (as opposed to hearing it simply as "the pit"). I love the hook into +the DLC: a man, looking like Snake Plissken from "Escape from New York", sends +out an SOS signal that your Pipboy can pick up. Traveling to the +northern-reaches of the map, there's a hand-powered rail car that you use to +travel to "The Pitt." There, according to Wernher, the people are oppressed and +sick, and their tyrannical leaders hold the cure for their disease but refuse to +hand it over. Wernher escaped from the slave pits, seeking help in their +revolution. Granted, it's not all that straight-forward. There are a few hours +worth of story, during which you learn a bit more about the setting, the +disease, and the characters. You fight through the slave pits to earn your +freedom and a meeting with the tyrant, a former Brotherhood of Steel member +named Lord Ashur. The cure is actually a child that was born with immunity to +the disease. Conveniently, it's Ashur's kid. His wife, (conveniently) a +scientist, is working on bio-engineering a cure from the kid. Wernher wants to +take the kid, harvest it, and distribute the cure himself. Thus the main moral +conflict of the DLC: do you side with Ashur, saving the kid, but continuing the +status-quo, and having only Ashur's word that he'll do the right thing when the +cure is ready? Or do you side with Wernher, kidnapping and probably dooming the +child, to let him play his power-trip and essentially take over The Pitt for +himself? I sided with Ashur, killed Wernher, saved the kid, and got some sweet +guns. + +Overall, I enjoyed The Pitt. The setting is phenomenal, the story is engaging +enough. The characters are good. It has that 80s action-film vibe. The moral +choice at the end is a good twist, though by no means unforeseen. I do like that +the game has no karma tied to the final decision; neither one is obviously good. +I tend to enjoy that in moral decisions, as rarely are any decisions obviously +"right" or "wrong." + +### DLC: Operation Anchorage + +Apparently this one is polarizing. (Oh snap, no pun intended). I really liked +it. It hooked me in, it didn't overstay it's welcome, and it gave me some cool +loot. + +The gist: your Pipboy lets you operate a virtual reality training simulation of +the invasion of Anchorage, Alaska by the Chinese forces. You start off on a +cliff, having been one of a few surviving special forces members, to infiltrate +and destroy the artillery shelling the United States forces. Right away, it set +a really fun tone with me. I loved the little infiltration angle. After you save +the day, you return to base camp, where you are given several more missions to +destroy key resources, before repelling the Chinese forces and retaking +Anchorage proper. + +The stealth mission at the beginning really swings this content in a favorable +direction, as does the cool rewards. The Gauss Rifle is just fun to use, and the +player gets the Power Armor Training trait and access to a suit of Power Armor. +One of the mods I had included several additional sets of armor in the reward +vault, and I enjoyed them as well. + +### DLC: Point Lookout + +This one grew on me. When it started, due to the nature of the DLC being more +open-world and less driven, I felt thrown into another region that I had to make +my own fun in. However, I was able to relatively quickly find some engaging +storylines, intriguing storytelling, and the main quest was fun. + +Arriving in the Land of the Punga, you have two objectives: one, you were asked +to find a girl by her mother; two, you are advised to investigate why a manor on +a hill is smoking. The swamp wasteland is inhabited by inbred swamp-people, +mirelurks, and the expected cretins. There's plenty of history scattered both +told and unsaid throughout abandoned tents, terminals, hotel rooms, and ruins. +This location does a lot to invoke an eldritch horror vibe, and it does so quite +well at several points. There's a specific side-quest dealing with a tome, The +Krivbeknih, which is obviously a reference to tomes like The Necronomicon. The +characters throughout the location are well-written and fun to interact with. +The main quest covers a lot of ground, sends you on a psychedelic dream-vision, +and gets you lobotomized! Plus _an entire building explodes_, and that's pretty +rad. Oh, and the secret Chinese spy submarine! + +By the end of this DLC, I was happily impressed, and it took the new top spot on +my list. There's some cool loot, plenty of neat lore, and more Punga than you +can shake a shotgun at. And you can make moonshine. + +### DLC: Mothership Zeta + +Another DLC generally looked at unfavorably. + +### DLC: Broken Steel diff --git a/_drafts/oblivion-part3.md b/_drafts/oblivion-part3.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8d2cb1 --- /dev/null +++ b/_drafts/oblivion-part3.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- + tabtitle: "Oblivion on Linux Part 3, A Full Install" + title: "Oblivion on Linux, with Mods! Part 3 - Full Install" + topics: [gaming] + pub: "2021-12-20" + short_desc: "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of my favorite games of + all time. The vanilla game holds up, but mods take the game to an entirely + new level. Getting it working on Linux requires a bit of configuration, bit + is surprisingly accessible! This is the final part of my journey." +--- + +# Install Walk-Thru + +- Install from source. Run for first time. +- Symlink `obse_loader.exe` to `OblivionLauncher.exe`, make back-up of original +`OblivionLauncher.exe` +- "Install" all relevant tools +- Source `Aliases` file +- LOOT masterlist not working. Change to reference local +- Disable LOOT update on start +- TES4Edit click the box to not show stuff on startup, ignore the error +- Make updates in BethINI +- Install Unofficial patches. Run to verify things are working. +- Begin installing mods! + +## Universal Silent Voice +Had to install manually. Move relevant files to `Data/OBSE/Plugins`.