My Return to the Wasteland
- -Contents
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- Game Review -
- Main Story -
- Environmental Storytelling -
- Characters -
- DLCs - -
- My Experience -
- Conclusion -
- Mods - -
- Setup and Configuration - -
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Earlier this year (2024) I played through Fallout 3 again. My objective was to -play through the main story and all the main objectives of the DLCs. In total, -this took me roughly 130 hours, played over about 2 months. I did install some -mods, though I wanted a “Vanilla+” setup, so mostly fixes, a few improvements, -but nothing too game-changing. I also played the game on Linux, which was less -of a problem than it would’ve been previously thanks to Valve/Proton.
- -I’ll cover the setup, modding, and any additional configuration I did later. -First, I’d like to give my review.
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Review
- -Fallout 3 gets a lot of flack. To a degree, I understand it. Fallout 1 and 2 are -beloved games. To suddenly have the franchise given to a completely new company, -with completely different writers, will already spark concern. Now take the game -play from an isometric real-time-with-pause RPG to an open-world, 3D action RPG, -and you’ll have committed an unforgivable sin! Well, at least that’s how some -would put it. Again: I understand this; I feel a similar sentiment (though -significantly less-so) with regards to the Baldur’s Gate franchise. Baldur’s -Gate 1 may be my favorite RPG of all time, and Baldur’s Gate 2 is right beside -it. I remain very hesitant of Baldur’s Gate 3, despite the glowing reception and -overwhelmingly positive reviews of the game, only because it isn’t the same -franchise I know. Whether the same sentiment applies to those who rail against -Fallout 3, I can’t say for certain, but I suspect it’s pretty close.
- -I often hear complaints about the story and the writing the most. Having grown -up with some of the most iconic RPGs ever made, I can understand the rose-tinted -glasses of past good writing. It amuses me how much Fallout 3 gets put down for -its writing, and then New Vegas gets enthroned for its writing. New Vegas is -great, from what I remember, and I’m looking forward to a play-through of it -soon; but Fallout 3 was no slouch! The main story, though it has some flaws, is -engaging and compelling. The side-stories and characters all feel well-written, -and help immerse players into the desolation that surrounds them. The best -stories, though, are told through the environment. Something that isometric -games just can never capture is the exploration in a first-person perspective of -a ruinous metro tunnel, with derailed train cars filled with briefcases of -whiskey and teddy bears, littered with the skeletal remains of riders, and all -without a single word. What happened here is a question left for the player to -deduce. This is what Fallout 3 brought to the franchise.
- -The setting of Fallout 3 is 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.
- -Fallout 3 is the first open-world game in the franchise. 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 character 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 kept 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.
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Main Story
- -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.
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Environmental Storytelling
- -One of, if not the, strengths of Fallout 3 is the environmental storytelling. -In a game that’s surprisingly full of content for being a nuclear wasteland, -Fallout 3 does not have a lot of overt narration. For some of the bigger quests, -especially those involving NPCs, you will get some narration, and relevant -details may be explicitly told to you. For all the rest, there is the -environment. I include things like old terminals and audio logs as part of -the environment too. Some that come to mind:
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In a part of the metro near the White House (well, the crater), there is a -sloped causeway. It dips down, and at the bottom is an old busted car. -Someone, sometime, put some sweet ramps up along the car. Following from -where you enter, down the slope, and past the car, up the opposite side, you -find a motorcycle, also ruined. A conclusion: someone did a sweet jump over -this car on the motorcycle. Returning to the car, and looking up, you’ll find -a skeleton hanging from a light fixture, wearing a helmet. Seems the -motorcycle did the sweet jump, and the rider did not.
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One of the office buildings has several terminals that recount the sudden -panic at the government raiding their office. In actuality, the events -happening outside their building was the rain of nuclear death, but all the -office workers were prepping themselves to fight off the raid and protect -their freedom to business! I forget the exact details of what the office did, -but the entire building has desks placed like barricades, filing cabinets -blocking doors, and every desk has guns and ammo.
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At Raven Rock (the Enclave base), you can find a mess hall. You can also get -under the floor grates, and there you’ll find many utensils. Presumably -eating on a floor with gaps large enough for silverware to fall through is -quite enraging.
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Characters
- -TALK ABOUT THEM HERE
- -Moira -Liberty Prime -Desmond from Point Lookout -The various characters from Zeta -Fawkes
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DLC
- -While I had played the base game before, I had never played the DLCs of Fallout -3 before. Looking at the release timeline for this write-up, I was surprised to -see that Broken Steel was released third of five, and that Mothership Zeta was -released last.
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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 Snake 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.”
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Operation: Anchorage
- -Apparently this one is polarizing. (Oh snap, no pun intended). I really liked -it. It hooked me in, it didn’t overstay its 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 sent 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. An understandable complaint is how short this -one feels. The Pitt was probably around 5 hours of content, whereas this one -could be finished up in 1-2 if rushing. Also, while The Pitt is a persistent -location that the player can return to, and it has reason to - the ammo -fabrication - the VR-training simulation is a one-and-done deal. I understand -why it was unfavorably received, but since I got it as part of the Game of the -Year edition, I didn’t feel like I was scammed.
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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. The NPCs are well written and voiced, the quests are -engaging, and you can make moonshine. Of all the DLCs, this one felt like a -proper expansion. Desmond earns a high spot on the list of best NPCs in the -game.
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Mothership Zeta
- -Another DLC apparently looked at unfavorably. While exploring the wasteland, you -follow a mysterious signal to a crashed alien ship, and get abducted by the -mothership in orbit. As is tradition, you get probed, and then dumped into a -holding cell with another wanderer from the wastelands. After some mischief, you -free yourselves, then free some other captives, and begin fighting your way -through alien jerkwads to claim the ship and save the planet! There are a ton -of audio logs, many of which I didn’t listen to, but all of which deal with the -various abductees on the mothership. All the aliens, as well as most of the -pick-ups, are cool energy weapons, and if the Metal Blaster wasn’t so gosh -darned over-powered, I would have used the weapons from this DLC for the -remainder of the game.
- -I enjoyed the setting, and the story. There are some allusions to other -alien-themed media. You find some NPCs from other time periods that were -abducted, and interacting with them is pretty fun. It definitely has a -pulp-science fiction feel to it, and it runs with it hard but well. You get to -space-walk. You also get to shoot the massive spaceship laser beam and save the -planet, by blowing up another alien mothership. And that is most definitely rad. -Once it’s all done, you get a home base, of sorts.
- -Overall, it was fun. It fell well short of the other DLCs, but was still worth -the time. Getting it as part of the Game of the Year bundle is great; I don’t -know that I would regret buying it, though, especially if the price was fair. It -was very pretty, but also a bit repetitive. Aside from the kind-of home base, -there’s no reason to return to the ship. Plus, after the finale, most of the -ship is closed off. Restoring free-roam of the ship would be a great mod, -because there is a lot of content that can be missed, and it’s also really quite -pretty!
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Broken Steel
- -The post-game DLC. Broken Steel changes the ending and continues the story of -the wasteland wanderer to clean-up the remnants of the Enclave. It also raises -the level-cap to 30, from the start, which is great. By the time I started -Broken Steel, I was in mid-to-late 20s, and Broken Steel brought me to 30 -comfortably.
- -Of all the DLCs, this one feels most like a mission. You start off at the -Brotherhood of Steel base in DC, with the first mission to follow Liberty Prime -to an Enclave outpost and destroy it. While there, Prime gets blasted with space -lasers, and the focus shifts to finding and stopping the orbital cannons from -firing again. Along the way, you get a Tesla Cannon, essentially the same weapon -as Liberty Prime’s face-laser. You assault the Andrews Airforce Base, find a -massive mobile-platform Enclave base, and eventually blow it all up using the -space lasers from before.
- -What I remember most from this DLC is combat. So much combat. That’s not a bad -thing, but it’s unremarkable. There’s some good lore, and fun story, but overall -it’s just an assault mission. Everything else that the DLC adds - the level-cap -increase, some perks, the fricken LASER - counts for much more. Well, and any -chance to hang with Liberty Prime.
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My Experience
- -Did I have fun? Was my experience a positive one? How did I play?
- -Exploring the wasteland, discovering the hidden stories in the environment, and -experiencing the more obvious ones of the inhabitants or the remnants was -incredibly enjoyable. Part of why I returned to Fallout 3 was because I had not -actually played the DLCs, and so in addition to my memories from near-launch of -the base game, I had many new adventures. Despite playing on my decade-old -desktop, I could stream the game to some friends on Discord, and that enhanced -the experience overall as well.
- -My play-style was almost the most stereotypical of Bethesda game experiences: -the “stealth archer.” I really wanted to use “small guns,” and eventually -pivoted into energy weapons. I was stealthy, and overall I’d say my theme was a -special forces infiltrator. I didn’t fast travel, and some mods made this -manageable. I was basically addicted to Nuka Cola. I played solo, without any -companions, until relatively late game. I didn’t explore the junkyard where -Dogmeat is until late, and then shortly thereafter I got Fawkes.
- -Talking specifics: playing The Pitt relatively early got me “Infiltrator”, and -then “Perforator”, which I used for probably two-thirds of the game; and the -“Metal Blaster”, which I used for the entirety of the game, because it is -broken powerful. From Operation: Anchorage I got the “Gauss Rifle,” and -the Stealth Armor from one of the mods I installed. I also got the Winterized -T51-b Power Armor, which I did use for a bit, specifically the helmet (with a -mod) for nightvision (and thermal vision, though I rarely used it.) Eventually I -found the Stealth Armor helmet, and completed my look. Perk-wise I opted for a -build that emphasized small-guns damage, action points for VATs, and eventually -some extra VATs goodness like “Grim Reaper Sprint.”
- -Generally, combat was: if I’m far away, Gauss Rifle sneak attack victory. If I’m -close and still undetected, Perforator VATs. Else: Metal Blaster. It worked out -well.
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Conclusion
- -Fallout 3 is still a gem. It’s a game well worth revisiting if you haven’t in a
-while, and if you’ve never played it, it will be a treat. The environment is
-still awe-inspiring and captivating, the NPCs are engaging and charming, the
-combat can be hectic, and the stories are memorable. It’s a game that’s best
-when played without a guide or goal, just allowing yourself to wander the wastes
-and discover what it holds. Whatever aspersions you may have heard of it, I’d
-wager you’ll still have fun, and arguably that’s most important. Plus, these
-days, even a decade-old potato computer can run it, and it’s often on sale
-for around $10 (for example: at time of writing, GoG is selling it for $7!).
-Plus, to make even the most current super-computers bend knee, there are mods
-that can make the game look absolutely stunning. Not to mention the remainder of
-the thriving mod community. Speaking of which…
-
Mods
- -If you were to ask an outside observer what my preferred way to play Bethesda’s
-open-world games is, they would tell you I don’t play them. They would explain
-that I spend an inordinate amount of time preparing to play them: modding
-them, configuring them, etc.. And that, by the time I’m done preparing, I have
-satisfied whatever urge it was that brought me to the game in the first place,
-and I move on. That didn’t happen with this play-through, specifically because I
-had a goal to actually play the main story and DLC stories. Further, as I wanted
-to keep things “Vanilla+”, my mod list is quite reasonable. Also, I played on my
-decade-old potato desktop, and so eschewed the more heavy-weight graphics and
-overhaul mods.
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“The Necessities”
- -As with every Bethesda game, there are the patches and optimizers and -cut-content-restorers. I would wager that these don’t need any explanation -beyond what the mod pages offer. One I will highlight is the “Stupid bullet -sponge enemies nerf” mod, which is essential for late-game and DLC enemies; I’m -looking at you albino radscorpion.
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- Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 -Patch -
- Goodies -
- “Stupid bullet sponge enemies -nerf” -
- Fallout 3 Ending Restored -
- Vanilla UI -Plus -
There is a “Script Extender” for Fallout, and some additional mods that depend -on it:
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- Fallout Script Extender (FOSE) -
- IStewieAI’s -Tweaks -
- Command Extender -
- Enhanced Camera -
- Iron Sights Plus -
If using the Steam version, you’ll want Fallout Anniversary -Patcher. I should -also note that something with Stewie’s Tweaks gave me trouble, and I had to -disable it at times for the game not to crash, but generally nothing here caused -trouble.
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“The Pretty Ones”
- -I’m not generally too concerned with making Bethesda games look pretty. That -being said, I love when I can enhance the environment. In Oblivion, for example, -I love the mod that adds light posts along the main road ways. In a similar -vein, these mods enhance the environment. Of note: Fellout removes the green -tint from the game; that’s a personal preference, but I preferred seeing -clearly. The Street Light mods add (mostly) working street lights throughout the -wasteland, which significantly enhanced the ambiance for me. Combined with the -incredibly dark nights that Fellout gave me, these lights became actual beacons -in the night, and some of the only sources of light during the night. The -Megaton mods make the settlement a bit more visually interesting and also easier -to navigate.
- -The two audio mods I included added quite a bit of ambiance as well, and on -several occasions would put me on alert while I traversed the wastes.
- -Then, the truly ostentatious mods: Fallout 3 Redesigned makes the models look -better, specifically the faces; FO3 Flora Overhaul is highly customizable, and I -used it to litter the wasteland with dead trees and shruberies and such.
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- Fellout -
- Fallout Street Lights and -Fallout Street Lights - -Wasteland -
- Megaton Walkway and Lighting -Overhaul -
- Ambient Wasteland and ATMOS -Ambient Sound Overhaul -
- Fallout 3 Redesigned and -patches -
- FO3 Flora Overhaul -
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“The Content Ones”
- -Since I’m aiming for a “Vanilla+” play-through, I went very light on the content -mods. The only two I included were D.C. Interiors and Metro Carriage Interiors. -Both add not only some content, but really enhance the immersion by making more -buildings in the overworld, and all the train cars in the metro tunnels, actual -places to explore. I find they do a great job keeping with the environmental -storytelling.
- - - -I also added this neat armor, because I was playing a bit of a sneaky character. -It didn’t seem imbalanced or over-powered, and it looks pretty rad. The -nightvision mod turned out to be essential for the surprisingly dark nights and -tunnels. The T51-b mod just adds nightvision to that helm, as the other power -armor helmets have.
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- Advanced Recon Stealth Armor, -Advanced Recon Thermal -Nightvision, and Advanced -Recon T51-b Winterized Helm -
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“The Game Play Ones”
- -Interestingly enough, the mod which inspired me to play Fallout 3 again is -Fugacity. Advertising itself as a “vanilla-plus balance and difficulty” mod -basically does much of the work for me. I used it as the starting point, and -built my mod list up around it. Conveniently, the mod page includes a list of -mods recommended by the mod-author; it may look quite similar to this list!
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- Fugacity -
The remaining mods helped to complete my immersion. I had already decided -against fast-traveling throughout the wasteland, and the caravan-based -fast-travel helps make this much more manageable. Having recently played -Morrowind, I think it does fast-travel by default best of the Bethesda -open-world games. This mod implements what I would consider to be basically that -system in this world. Finally, I prefer food slowly regenerating health over -time, instead of eating 20 cabbages with alarming speed and instantly restoring -health. Notably: stim-paks still restore instantly, and so it provides a nice -game play decision - can I take the time to heal, or do I spend a rarer -resource?
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- Caravan Fast Travel with Random -Encounters (Requires FOSE) -
- New Vegas-Style Food -Mechanics -
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Setup and Configuration
- -As with the other Bethesda games, getting everything modded, configured, and -functional can become the real game. Luckily, with a moderately small mod list, -this was not the case. This time. The process for running on Windows or Linux -are almost the same, except for some Proton shenanigans. I used Mod Organizer -2 to handle all the installation -and management of the mods themselves. For the game version, I did use the Game -of the Year version from Steam. However, any version should work. When I do -eventually play Fallout 3 again, I’ll plan to try the GoG version with Wine -instead of Steam and Proton.
- -Full list of non-game applications (that is, non-mods):
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Installation Process on Linux
- -To make running the various Windows-only applications easier, I made an alias
-for myself. You’ll need to replace <YOUR STEAM INSTALL PATH> with the
-directory path for your Steam Library, aka where you installed Fallout 3 through
-Steam. By default it is ~/.local/share/Steam.
alias fo3-run='STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=<YOUR STEAM INSTALL PATH>/steamapps/compatdata/22370 STEAM_COMPAT_CLIENT_INSTALL_PATH=<YOUR STEAM INSTALL PATH> ~/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/GE-Proton8-6/proton run'
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- Download ALL THE THINGS! -
- Run the game at least once to generate the initial configuration files. Take -this opportunity to also configure graphics. Start the game fully, then exit. -
- If installing the Game of the Year version from Steam, use the “Fallout
-Anniversary Patcher”:
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-
-
- Extract it to the game directory (
<YOUR STEAM INSTALL -PATH>/steamapps/common/Fallout 3 goty)
- - Run “Patcher.exe” from the game directory with the above alias:
fo3-run -Patcher.exe
- - It should say the game was patched successfully, and any following runs of -the Patcher should report that the game is already patched. -
- - Extract it to the game directory (
- Extract FOSE to the game directory (
<YOUR STEAM INSTALL -PATH>/steamapps/common/Fallout 3 goty)
- - Mod Organizer 2 has two options: you can download a 7z archive, or the -installer. Either extract the archive somewhere you want to work from (I -advise not the game install directory), or run the installer with the -alias. -
At this point, you’ll do everything through Mod Organizer 2. Again, to simplify
-my play a bit, I created an application entry for use with the KDE menu. This
-may be different for other window managers/desktop environments. As with the
-alias above, replace <YOUR STEAM INSTALL PATH> with the directory path for
-your Steam Library, and <YOUR MO2 INSTALL PATH> with the directory path for
-where you installed Mod Organizer 2. Optionally, if you have a picture to use
-for the launch icon, provide it on the Icon= line; else remove the line.
[Desktop Entry]
-Type=Application
-Name=Fallout 3: Moddeded
-GenericName=Fallout 3
-Comment=Fallout 3 but with mods too
-Keywords=Fallout 3
-Exec=STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=<YOUR STEAM INSTALL PATH>/steamapps/compatdata/22370 STEAM_COMPAT_CLIENT_INSTALL_PATH=<YOUR STEAM INSTALL PATH> ~/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/GE-Proton8-6/proton run <YOUR MO2 INSTALL PATH>/ModOrganizer.exe
-Icon=<AN OPTIONAL PATH TO AN IMAGE FILE>
-Categories=Game;RolePlaying
-Either launch MO2 with that application entry, or use the fo3-run alias above
-to launch it; or add it as a shortcut in Steam, or to Lutris, or really any
-number of other options. Actually using MO2 is beyond the scope of this post,
-but it’s relatively straight-forward. Download the mod archives and install them
-using MO2. Some configuration may require editing an INI file, which can be
-done through MO2 or any other text editor. Most importantly: you’ll run
-Fallout 3 from Mod Organizer 2. You will no longer launch the game via Steam,
-or whatever other game manager you may have used to install it. Assuming all
-works as intended, you’ll now have a means for interacting with the Fallout 3
-install (via the alias above), an easy-to-access application menu entry (via the
-Desktop entry above, or a similar launcher setup), and a hostile wasteland
-awaiting your exploration. Good luck out there!