So I finally got around to getting Fallout 3 GotY from Steam during the sale. I've wanted to try the game for a while, but I'm not certain if I should start out playing modded or not. STALKER, for example, I tried playing vanilla and while I found it enjoyable, I thought Lurk was a better experience by far.

I'm wondering if I should bother playing fo3 through vanilla before trying modded. I'm not looking to change the game experience completely, but some of the mods seem pretty appealing. I'm thinking the graphical upgrades and Wanderer's Edition would be good for a first run. The latter because it adds new items/things and raises the challenge without really changing core gameplay.

Is this be the way to do it, or would I be missing out? What mods would be recommended?

I don't know of any graphical updates that were really a big deal, unlike it was in Elder Scrolls Oblivion.

I played it unmodded, and I can tell you it was a blast to play the whole way through. There was almost no part of the game where I felt it was tedious or boring. I don't think it needs mods. Keep 'em off for the first playthrough, that's my opinion.

Vanilla first, modded later, except not modded later.

Fallout 3 is (in my opinion obviously) the best game ever made. Vanilla first. The mods are mostly pointless.

I reccomend fellout and the world texture packs. Also weather modding is cool

Vanilla first, although fellout and textures would be neat.

I got bored as soon as I started....did I not give it enough time?

Yes.

Most of the mods are totally pointless unless you just want it to look pretty in a different way.

Only one mod first -- Darnified UI (with FOSE). Makes the UI better by leaps and bounds.

I tried using a whole whack load of the realism mods just for a kick in the pants.
Turns out it's tough as **** to really live in the wasteland.

It should absolutely be modded first!
But it's a trick question, see, there's all kinds of mods that are great fun, but shouldn't be used until after you've finished the game.
But certain mods like Darnified UI, Mart's Mutagen Mod and FOOK (debatable, but I think so) should always be on the game, no matter what else you do.
If only one, Darnified, because all it does is make the menus and things clearer. MMM makes the enemies have variations instead of all being perfectly identical, and FOOK makes the enemy have varied gear instead of identical, FOOK also adds a bunch of guns and things so I can see why some might say not to use it for first play, but I still think you should.





If that's how you feel you've barely seen anything

Get into it vanilla style, tread some ground and get the gameplay down, and then start a new character with all the mods you can fine. I can't imagine playing Oblivion/Fallout 3 without mods anymore. It was literally a project getting a zipped install of both with 10+ mods each, but it was all lost in an external hard drive failure.

I'd say go for it vanilla first, or just with a couple of environment tweaks if you spot one you like the look of.

There's a good texture update mod, it doesn't change the game, but makes most of the outside textures much better. I would suggest that, but leave everything else as-is until you beat it for sure.

It could have been the best game ever made if I wanted a book of nerd nostalgia. Every single time I started to get a little involved with a storyline or mission, suddenly I'd realize it was from some other movie or game and then I'd be immediately taken out of it. The Cthulhu mansion was truly disturbing until I realized what it was referencing, and then the magic just kind of went away for me.

That happened at every corner and was even worse when I couldn't understand the reference and it played like a bad joke. I still enjoyed the individual set pieces and mechanics in the game, and had a blast when I was done. I just wish there was more originality and story telling that fleshed the world out in a more serious way. I don't need ultra-realism, I just want be impressed with the experience I'm having instead of adding to it with an experience I've already had. I got sick of being elbowed "Eh, Get it!?"

Why would you want to play a game for the first time with mods anyway? I know I wouldn't.

Presumably you'd have played it shortly then realized it needed mods. It didn't take me long playing STALKER to realize all the stupid and amateur mistakes its designers made that were fixed in mods.

My problem with HL2!

Indeed. There is so much to do and so much to see you may be overwhelmed by it all. Its an amazing and engaging game. So many side quests, and some get so elaborate. Like the Survival Handbook, its just a great and intense game, try using bothe VHATS and free look FPS Style. Too hard to aim straight in 3rd person.

VATS is almost like cheating in the end. Once you get really good at timing it, you can pretty much ensure you don't ever die.

I barely used VATS, I found it kinda jarring and, as you say, cheating.
I did end up using a 'bullet-time' mod though >_>

I still think Fallout 3 should never be played without DarnUI, first time or not

I loved VATS, but it should be well known that I enjoy being a totally unstoppable force in videogames.

Yah i found vats to be extreamly fun. I dont know, I just love shoting supermutants in the head with a combat shotgun and watch his eyeballs go flying.

If you have bloody mess it doesn't matter what you shoot anything in the head with... all kinds of parts go flying.

+1 on vats. I always get the perk that refills your AP if you kill a character in vats.

I just thought actually trying to shoot them with the controller on the console was too tedious, not FPS enough.

I think I'll go with vanilla first. My first character will be good at talking and science and go through the game with high karma. The second playthrough will be modded and I'll go with an antisocial hardass. One of the things I've liked about the Fallout series is that you can play as an evil ******* and still have a fulfilling game. If you tried to do that in Baldur's Gate 2, for example, you'd have to skip 75% of the game's material.

My main problem will be getting the time to get through the damn game twice.

I would suggest a decent weapons skill as well. Unlike Fallout 1 and 2, because you only get one henchmen in this at a time (as well as Dogmeat) it's harder to let your help take care of combat.

Also, if you're like me, you'll need this. Open the console and type:

setessential 6a772 1

It makes it so Dogmeat will become unconscious if he's reduced to 0 health and will wake up at the end of the fight, rather than becoming...well, dog meat. With the other henchmen it isn't so bad because you can supply them with stimpacks before a fight. Anyway, it means it isn't so frustrating if you forget to leave Dogmeat waiting a distance away before finding out that all the Super Mutants you're fighting have rocket launchers.

Although I think I remember there's a perk now for getting a new dog whenever Dogmeat is killed. But I think it might be a level 30 one and there's no point wasting a perk on it, really.

Companions only get in the way, I never used them unless I was going after a giant mutant.

Giant mutant doesn't stand a chance against the alien pistol

I absolutely agree. You'd also need FOSE (Fallout Script Extender) to get the most out of Darnified UI.

Good point. I agree whole-heartedly with both you and that genius you quoted.

You should probably install the unofficial patch for the vanilla run through with the UI and Script Extender, it's just going to be better on your save files and stats.

Im assumeing then that your coice will be vinalla due to popular demand. If not, thats a big **** YOU to all thease people.

But seariously, i played that game back and forth and i never got a dog. How do you do it, do you need that animal lovers perk? What the ****?

Disagreeing with popular opinion is very far from giving them a big **** YOU, it's simply making a choice that's different from the majority (and, in my opinion, the wiser choice, the DarnUI mod, unoficial patch and script extender don't affect the game in any way except make it run better, fix bugs and have the menus displayed better)

As for your question, you don't need any kind of perk, you find him in a junk yard. You can easily go the whole game without ever seeing it (it's a big game after all), I only found it from googling

Did you just take a dump in this thread?

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

TOTAL ACHIEVEMENTS: 6/46

dogs, how do they work

You have a dog and it attacks enemies. Pretty simple.

Dis.

htat chump knows nothign of drunk postings.