NoNewTaleToTell: I'm finally getting around to giving Fallout 3 a second chance. I currently rank it among the worst games I've ever played, due to the outright terrible with no redeeming qualities writing, nonsensical events, ugly everything that looks like it was made out of mashed potatoes and a couple other Bethesda trademark issues.
Enebias: My thoughts exactly... add also the giant map full of nothing (because it is not empty at all, but lacking of any interesting thing) and the complete contempt thay made with the lore, other than the simply awful writing.
NoNewTaleToTell: Or at the worst I can just uninstall it again and try to forget I own it.
Enebias: In the end, that's what I did, too.
Something funny: I liked a few Bethesda games (New Vegas, Dishonored). Only, they were the publishers and not the developers.
I don't want to sound like a troll or similar, but I seriously cannot understand the praise that studio keeps getting, as their games are imo subpar even when confronted with many harshly criticized AAA titles: they are dull bugfests (another thing I don't understand: Obsidian gets the -deserved- bashing, but Bethesda does not) with the most repetitve gameplay I have ever seen outside MMO games and an awful map design (basically a flat square with some mountains here and there and many "holes" to access dungeons). Speaking about open world games, despite being a lot less famous and with a thin budget Piranha Bytes beat them on every possible aspect.
I'm in agreement with pretty much everything you said. I have enjoyed some of their own creations (namely Skyrim, especially heavily modded) but I don't quite get the praise, and I REALLY don't get reviewers tendencies to overlook the flaws of Bethesda's games. It just seems to be that Bethesda constantly gets free passes that aren't afforded to other studios.
Anyway, I've sunk a few more hours into Fallout 3 and have mostly been enjoying it in a "turn off your brain and whack things with sticks" kind of way. The dialogue is just as terrible as I remember, and a lot of in-world things don't make sense (or are stupid). Like the vampire cannibals and the "kid" who sounds older than 99% of the adults. Or the town of cast outs (all presumed to be around the ages of 16-25) who've managed to survive on their own against slavers, raiders and super mutants. Not to mention the more well known inconsistencies.
Another thing I find odd is that the wildlife is much tougher than the humanoid enemies and the super mutants are ridiculously easy to beat. I'm playing on normal difficulty and my melee is already up to level 100 and my Small Guns is around 32, yet I managed to take down roomfuls of super mutants using the 10mm pistol while taking little damage. I've also taken on five plus raiders at once while using melee and managed to only lose a quarter of my health, yet mole rats take nearly ten percent of my health per bite.
At this point of time I'm purposely avoiding quests (I've done maybe four or five) and am just exploring and hitting stuff with sticks (or hammers). Overall I'm having a lot more fun than I did in my first go round but that's not saying much, especially considering I'm having to avoid (what should have been) the meat and potatoes of the game to enjoy it.
