The GOG store page for Fallout 3 claims the game features “Mind-Blowing Artificial Intelligence” and “lifelike behavior.” I’m about to provide several concrete examples that prove those claims to be blatantly untrue. The post will contain spoilers.

Here are some examples of the world-breaking, immersion-killing stuff (caused by terrible AI & lack of attention to detail by the devs) I’ve experienced after playing Fallout 3 for a few dozen hours:

- I have a Repair skill of 100, yet I cannot repair anything unless I have another item that is identical (or near identical) to the one that needs repairing. However, every shopkeeper with any repair skills, even very low ones (i.e. 11), can repair anything even if they have no identical or near identical item. Why am I, an expert in repair, vastly gimped, and therefore I have to pay money to novices in repair to fix my items because they have miraculous repair powers that I don’t?

- The Mechanist is supposed to be a super genius. I helped him eliminate the AntAgonizer as she broke into his lair. Immediately after this battle, his HP was extremely low, and it was about 2 am at night. Instead of resting or taking meds to recover his HP, this super genius randomly went wandering into the desert for no reason. He didn't even take a robot with him for protection. I followed him, until he got attacked by a single bear. The bear made him die. Super geniuses would never do anything that idiotic.

- When I reported the results of the AntAgonizer/Mechanist conflict to Joe, the only dialogue choice that appeared on my screen was something like “I took care of both of them” even though that is not correct. I took care of the AntGonizer only. The Mechanist killed himself by his own stupidity. I never did any damage to the Mechanist.

- I eliminated Tenpenny, and the whole town acts as if he is still alive. Some may try to argue “maybe news of Tenpenny’s death” didn’t spread to the town yet,” but that makes no sense because: one, the guard right outside Tenpenny’s balcony would have noticed his death shortly after I left; two, the town continues forever to be oblivious no matter how much time has elapsed after Tenpenny’s death; three, the town still runs and Gustavo still gets paid even though he said he needs Tenpenny alive for those things to happen. Moreover, the Ghoul in the Museum Ghoul Town said that he'd easily hear news of Tenpenny's death (in other words, word would travel fast, far and wide).

- I ratted out the guy who threatened to blow up Megaton to the Sheriff. The Sheriff then confronts that guy on his own – despite knowing beforehand that he is extremely dangerous - and gets himself killed. Why didn’t the Sheriff take 2 minutes to round up a posse of townsmen before confronting the dangerous man who killed him due to his own idiocy?

- I fast traveled to Old Olney with Charon. A Deathclaw immediately spawned right next to us. Charon stood in one place shooting it with a shotgun while it mauled him to death. Charon made no attempt to run or evade the Deathclaw’s attacks in any way whatsoever. Yet Charon was supposed to be an extremely wise & elite assassin. Oh please.

- I fast traveled to Canterbury Commons and immediately when I arrived, a giant radscorpion was in the cafe attacking Joe & Dominic at the same time. I intervened as fast I could, but it still killed both of them before I could save them. This guy was the leader of a town and he can’t even handle one single monster without dying? Not to mention I never got to pay money to invest in his merchants because he was so stupid as to get himself killed before I could do that.

- I am playing a female character and I told the creepy guy who wants bang the NukaCola woman that I would give him some too if he fetched some Nuka Cola for me. The first time he ran off, I followed him and he died at the first giant radscorpion who attacked him a short way off from where he started. Then I reloaded a saved game from when he first started running, and I didn’t follow him this time. Later on, I found he had died just inside the entrance of the NukaCola factory. Yet the cola woman claims this is a super tough guy who helps her survive against groups of vicious raiders. Again, these AI fails are utterly ridiculous.

- That creepy guy who died because he lusted after me never saw one iota of my face or skin. All he ever saw was me in full power armor, in which I look like a bulky Arnold Schwarzenegger-type man. But he was acting certain that I was a hot woman.

- Similarly, every person in the game instantly recognizes me even when my skin is 100% covered in full power armor, yet they’ve never seen me put on power armor. The potential excuse, “they can tell from your voice” doesn’t work, because they identify me by sight, instantly, even if I say absolutely nothing to them.

- Diego caught me stealing from the box of the Saint Monica church, then he tried to kill me (yet he is supposed to be a benevolent Christian?!). I was forced to put him down in self-defence. From that time until many, many in-game months later, no one ever utters a single word about Diego’s mysterious death in the middle of the ship. In fact, I can still talk with others about Diego as if he is alive!

- Even though no one in Rivet City cares about Diego’s death, a few of them yell at me constantly, forever, because I stole about $20. I’m not sure if this stealing incident was from the church box, or from a time I might have accidentally clicked an object somewhere when I was trying to click on a character...misclicks like that result in a “steal” attempt even though I didn’t intend to or want to steal...which is another immersion-killing problem in and of itself. But anyway, why would stealing $20 be an unforgivable sin, but killing Diego means absolutely nothing to the same people?

- I saved Harkness’ life by discovering his identity and telling him about the guy who wants to re-enslave and/or kill him. He thanked me a lot for this. Yet despite thanking me for saving his life and giving him back memories of his old life, he still verbally harasses me for stealing each and every time I enter the Rivet City marketplace.

- Before Charon died, I took him everywhere inside Tenpenny Tower. Not a single townsperson there uttered a word about him, even though he is a ghoul, and all but one of them hate every ghoul and want them all dead. Every Tenpenny resident completely ignored Charon’s presence, even though they had taken great pains to keep all ghouls out of their city. Yet again, this AI fail combined with lack of attention to detail by the devs results in a world that is entirely unbelievable and absurd.

- The preacher of the Saint Monica church told me to come by on Sunday at 8 a.m. to her Monica's story. Every time I show up at the time, the preacher comes an hour or two late, then stands at the front of the church and says absolutely nothing. After a couple of hours of him saying nothing, the church members start leaving and say things to each other like, "That was a great sermon today!" Did he deliver the sermon telepathically?! Why did he lie and promise to tell me Monica's story, even though he never fulfills his promise?

The AI comments are more about stuff at the time. Although, to be honest I don't remember being impressed with the Fallout 3/NV AI like...at all. Oblivion was far more impressive at the time, and even then it's crap.

It was mostly how new the idea of an NPC in these open world games had schedules depending on the day and hour and even month was. A countess would travel across the land and be most likely killed, rendering quests broken due to an ill conceived schedule.

By the point of Fallout 3 though, this was old news and, in fact, I think significantly watered down. Deadly Premonition had more complex NPC schedules than Fallout 3.

That's lowering the bar quite a bit from the grandiose "lifelike" claim. Fallout 3 breaks quests too due to its terrible AI.

Examples:

- I wanted to report to Joe that I killed the AntAgonizer but spared the Mechanist, but I couldn't because the Mechanist wandered into the desert at 2 am and got himself killed.

- I wanted to deliver the Naughty Nightwear to the creeper in Girdershade as per the audio record of the guy who died for that cause in the subway. Yet I couldn't because the creeper ran off and got himself killed.

- I wanted to give Joe money to invest in traveling merchants, but I couldn't because he got himself killed instantly after I fast-traveled to his town.

- I wanted Charon to live and help me with quests, but he couldn't because he stood idle like an imbecile while a Deathclaw mauled him to death.

- I wanted to give Ant Pheremones to help resolve the Diego romance, but I couldn't because Diego forced me to kill him.

For some reason, I have no idea why, these were a total problem in 3, but not in New Vegas.


The whole "traveling merchants died" thing can easily be fixed before they happen though by making these people essential using commands.

As for the random NPCs like the Girdershade guy, that's something that just happens. I actually proactively look for instances where I go "one of these days, this guy (or entire town) is going to die because an enemy spawn is WAAAAY too close. I'll make them essential and disable the enemy nearby"

In New Vegas, they fixed companions and made them usable by just making them essential automatically, but regardless, this isn't an AI problem, this is an inherent problem in the game design. You can fix it in 3 by using commands to making them essential, or probably just find a mod that does it.

Not sure why Diego decided to attack you, or whatever, but I believe it. Bethesda games are full of bugs, and I've seen extremely similar situations crop up in every one of their games after Morrowind.

*Dons fireproof Hostile environment suit* I don't consider FO3 to be so bad (though I'm still in the process of downloading New Vegas)

one thing I can think of is a possibility for Diego's Hostility is low Karma

in one FO3 playthrough I had I was a raider-slaver (using the mod FNNCQ to capture raiders for caps) and during this playthrough I was was out exploring the open areas then saw a single unarmed & unarmored Super Mutant in full charge at me so I activated V.A.T.S. & the SM was identified as "Uncle Leo" (first time for that Playthrough) after a fairly long battle of me being mostly defensive I had to kill him

Actually, NPC schedules had been done as early in Ultima 5.

In Ultima 5, the game doesn't save the state of NPCs, so even if an NPC somehow did get killed (which I don't think can happen unless you attack them), the NPC will be back the next time you enter the town.

In Ultima 6 and 7, the developers did make sure that you wouldn't encounter townspeople and enemies in the same area, so NPCs getting killed was most likely unheard of.

I am playing through Oblivion, and I once ran into a courier fighting off some (IIRC) goblins. The courier won, but according to UESP, if she had been killed, she would have respawned. Also, cities tend to be in separate cells (though I have read that apparently some NPCs do travel, which could result in them being vulnerable).

Morrowind, of course, avoids these issues by not giving the NPCs schedules, and in earlier TES games, NPCs aren't full entities; they don't have stats and can't participate in combat.

By the way, how do Fallout 1 and 2 look in this regard?

It's been a while since I went through 1 and 2. I seem to remember that outside of events happening within a time period (like a town attacking the underground mole people if you don't resolve the conflict fast enough, or the terrorist attack on NCR), maybe there was a little bit of a schedule? Like maybe some people wouldn't be in specific areas at certain times? I can't remember any specific examples though.


Oh and for Oblivion: at least one important NPC does travel. The Countess of Leyawiin. Normally she's essential, unless you've done, I think, Sanguine's quest.

What is it like having so little life that things like this is worth so much attention? I mean, seriously?!

It's your typical Bethesda game. Hyped to the max, packed with half baked features and unfinished.

Currently replaying Oblivion and the AI was pretty decent when it came out. It was one of the first games where NPCs had some kind of a schedule. FO3 is more of the same, yet somehow they managed to make it even buggier.

Repair skill 100 - yes, you need somewhat similar components to fix stuff. A gun barrel from a shotgun won't do for fixing a machine gun. And yes, a shopkeeper has usually a much bigger space to store replacement stuff then you have space in your pockets. And no, not even nowadays junk dealers list every screw "on display".

Mechanist wandering off and getting killed - he felt supernatural before and with his nemesis gone, pretty much invincible. Being a genius doesn't mean you're no longer making mistakes.
Roe rewarding you for Mechanists death - he asked you to deal with the problem, not how or getting rid of one specifically. So you get rewarded for both deaths. You expected a line where you can point him towards the bear and that he should reward him?

- the same quest can be done by killing AntAgonizer, the Mechanist or both immediately upon entering Canterbury Commons which causes Uncle Roe to thank and reward you. Drawback is, that you won't get the achievement for it, which is intended. In the Log Entry notes for that quest stage is written:
"The player has killed the Mechanist and/or AntAgonizer before the quest began, and is immediately rewarded by Roe. CHANGED! If the player does this, now they don't even get the quest, the rewardxp, or the achievement. CHOICE & CONSEQUENCES, PUNK! "
Lack of detail?

Megaton Sheriff - you've been that posse and simply failed.

Old Olney - now you're really pulling it.... the only inhabitants of Old Olney are Deathclaws. Everybody who's been there, knows that. Yet you fast travel there and don't suspect getting immediately attacked by one? Charon did what he could, as a shotgun works best up close and personal. It was your own idiocy which killed him, not the AI.
What's next? You expect from your companions that they don't shoot and defend themselves if you equip them only with a BB Gun?

Canterbury Commons - you stated it yourself: a giant radscorpion. Vs 2 common guys. Yes, I'd expect the radscorpion to win, otherwise nobody in the wasteland has a need for any protection, left alone you the player.

Sermon at Saint Monica church - is known to be glitchy because of a bug in the quest "A nice day for a right wedding".

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I see a lot of fails in how you approach the game and what you expect from the AI. For that I'd like to get some examples from you, where other games did it better.
What I do accept is the whole crime / punishment system which could use work and especially working faction disguises. The second would add a lot to Bethesda games (not just F3), but is likely rather difficult to include. Not true. Play NV on hardcore and your companions die. A lot. Simply because he got caught attempting to break into the donation box, which makes Father Clifford and Diego become hostile towards him. He screwed up, then blames the AI. Wrong. Oblivion had rarely NPCs out in the wild and when, they went along the roads which where practically critter free. F3 is simply a much more dangerous environment for NPCs than Oblivion ever was.

I happen to remember another oldish game that has NPC schedules, though it has a couple different characteristics that prevent quests from being (permanently) broken.

The game is Zelda: Majora's Mask. Anyone who has heard of this game probably knows about the 3-day cycle, where after 3 days, the moon crashes into Termina and the game is over. It turns out that the reason the developers did that was so that they could give every NPC in the game a schedule that covers the 3-day period; for example, there's a mailman who goes around town, as well as an innkeeper who, if a certain condition is met, will wait for her lover in a specific spot at a specific time.

The game avoids the problems mentioned earlier in this thread in 2 ways:
1. NPCs are not fully fledged combat-capable entities; so can't kill arbitrary NPCs as your attacks won't interact with them, and they can't be attacked or killed by monsters. (There actually is one NPC that you *can* kill, but the next point addresses that issue.) There may be scripted things that happen to NPCs if you aren't there to fix the situation, however.
2. When you play the Song of Time to restart time (something the developers expect you to do many times during the course of the game), the state of the world resets. This means that, should an NPC die, that NPC will be brought back to life by the song, and you can choose to save people the next time. Also, since quests reset, if, for example, an important piece of paper went down the toilet, you can still do the quest if you reset it by restarting time. (Note that you do keep permanent items, including masks, songs, and heart containers when you travel back in time.)

Everyone and their dog has played Majora's Mask.
It's not NPC schedules. It's specific events that happen at specific times.
NPCs don't eat at certain times, they don't sleep at specific times. Specific NPCs can go to the weird sewer area on second day morning. They disappear behind locked doors after certain points, but they're not sleeping.

I also think Sakon still shows up in his hideout, even if you blow him up.