Morning Discussion

I finished the BioShock 2 singleplayer DLC Minerva's Den last night and am delighted to say that it's delightful. If you have BioShock 2 on console and enjoy the singleplayer of either game, you really should try it. Perfect length and pacing, a lovely little story and some solid gameplay additions. If you own BioShock 2 on PC, well, I'm sorry.

I also gave the Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 demo a whirl. The supposed retro revival of 2D Sonic games has proved pretty divisive, with some lauding it as a return to form and other grumbling that it's no fun at all. I did not like it. The movement and physics feel all wrong and the targetted attack is naff and no, I cannot play that.

From short games to long games, I'm still making steady progress on my new playthrough of Planescape: Torment. Yesterday I was saying I often get bored of long, "epic" video games but Torment is so very dense and its countless distractions are so interesting that I never feel like I'm drifting aimlessly, even though The Nameless One has very little idea of where he's going and what to do next. Ace.

From The Chatty
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    October 15, 2010 5:08 AM

    If all goes well tonight I should be playing Fallout:New Vegas \m/

    SO PUMPED

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      October 15, 2010 5:08 AM

      HAX! Got your spurs that jingle jangle jingle?

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      October 15, 2010 5:09 AM

      From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.

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        October 15, 2010 5:10 AM

        I always think "Shady Sands Shuffle" when I see your name.

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          October 15, 2010 5:11 AM

          Shoot, there was a dance off in Fallout? Must missed that.

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            October 15, 2010 5:12 AM

            Yah, it's got a pretty bombastic beat.

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      October 15, 2010 5:19 AM

      [deleted]

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        October 15, 2010 7:31 AM

        I love singing that song. Did it for my vocal class.

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        October 15, 2010 7:39 AM

        They really needed more music like that. I loved the Danny Kaye song.

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          October 15, 2010 8:14 AM

          [deleted]

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            October 15, 2010 3:02 PM

            I did wish they had done about 3 times the dialog with 3Dog and made him react to more things that happened while you were out in the wasteland. Like the one bandit village he kept telling you no one had heard from or something even after you cleaned the place out.

            The one where everyone was hostile but the one vendor toward the end.

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        October 15, 2010 7:43 AM

        I was actually humming the song all morning and now I read your comment.... It's coming... it's in all our heads... the sound of drums... can't you hear it?

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      October 15, 2010 5:21 AM

      A part of me wants to play the Fallout 3 DLCs before firing up New Vegas. Of course another part of me wants to play the shiny new thing ASAP. :(

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        October 15, 2010 5:22 AM

        yea i didnt play any of the DLC - but only like one of them was really good right? And this has nothing to do with the Fallout3 storyline, yes?

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          October 15, 2010 5:23 AM

          4/5s have nothing to directly do with it. Zeta is meh, I liked Anchorage. Never got to the other 3.

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            October 15, 2010 5:39 AM

            you got the two worst DLCs :(

            Point Lookout was lead designed by lplasmatron (IIRC) and it's the best by far. The other two are pretty good too.

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              October 15, 2010 7:19 AM

              I could have played a whole game set in Point Lookout, so awesome!

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            October 15, 2010 7:44 AM

            I only got Brotherhood of Steel, and I was surprised how quickly it ended. It was good, though.

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          October 15, 2010 5:24 AM

          [deleted]

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            October 15, 2010 8:14 AM

            Broken Steel is the only one I've played, but it was definitely worth buying. I need to play Zeta and Lookout asap.

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          October 15, 2010 5:28 AM

          In my case I already own four of the five, and I intend to play all of them. So it's not like I'm sitting here thinking about buying them along with NV.

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          October 15, 2010 5:31 AM

          I found all the DLC to be enjoyable, with varying levels of awesomosity. The maximum fun was derived from playing them early on and using the phat lewt to pillage the Wasteland.

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            October 15, 2010 5:32 AM

            Anchorage a lvl 4 made me way OP. :(

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              October 15, 2010 5:43 AM

              Yeah, I carried the Stealth Suit with me, but I didn't use it all the time.

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          October 15, 2010 6:03 AM

          Broken Steel and Point Lookout were both damn good. The other three were decent, depending on how your personal preferences ran.

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            October 15, 2010 6:51 AM

            Pretty much this. BS and PL were both great and felt like they really belonged as part of the game. The other three felt like really boring, linear, combat oriented crap that didn't fit in at all. At least in my opinion.

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          October 15, 2010 6:33 AM

          Point Lookout - awesome. Operation Anchorage - pretty good. The pit - meh.

          I haven't played the other two, but plan to. Broken Steel is supposedly really good and Enough people liked Mothership Zeta that I will buy it from steam eventually.

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          October 15, 2010 7:18 AM

          You should play Zeta because you get some kick-ass alien weapons. I just started Point Lookout now and am tearing all enemies a new one.

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        October 15, 2010 5:23 AM

        I waiting for NV assets to get backported to FO3. :D

    • gmd legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury mega
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      October 15, 2010 5:27 AM

      That shady store you go to? Fedex overnight a copy to me

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      October 15, 2010 5:30 AM

      I am completely in the dark on this game. is it an expansion or just a full stand alone release with no relation to fallout 3?

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        October 15, 2010 5:32 AM

        Full standalone, only one or two references to FO3. It takes place four years after, and on the other side of the continent.

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        October 15, 2010 5:43 AM

        FUCKING AWESOME IS WHAT IT IS

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          October 15, 2010 5:50 AM

          I totally multisync'd fallout 3 and gave up on it after a week or so. I should probably finish it

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            October 15, 2010 6:06 AM

            dude seriously, even digitalburro who had ZERO INTEREST in it at all ended up buying all the DLC and putting something like 90+ hours into the game

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          October 15, 2010 6:31 AM

          GOTY 2010-2100

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          October 15, 2010 6:33 AM

          ^^^ IAWTFAIWIS

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          October 15, 2010 6:47 AM

          ^^ knows WTF

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          October 15, 2010 7:15 AM

          ^^ has very large genitals

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        October 15, 2010 6:33 AM

        It's Fallout 3 with golf clubs.

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        October 15, 2010 7:05 AM

        Let's hope it's not like Bioshock 2.

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          October 15, 2010 7:10 AM

          CrustaR this game was made by a real developement team not a bunch pf PR hacks.

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            October 15, 2010 7:29 AM

            Haiku-Jim, I hope you are right. I got burned real bad by Bioshock 2. :[

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              October 15, 2010 7:35 AM

              Why is it being compared to bioshock2 is there some development tie in there I don't know about?

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          October 15, 2010 7:15 AM

          I thought Bioshock 2 was a great sequel and a lot of fun. I hope New Vegas is just like it. I hope they even have little sister escort missions.

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          October 15, 2010 7:34 AM

          Why would it be anything like bioshock2?

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            October 15, 2010 7:37 AM

            Bioshock 2 was an unoriginal travesty that was obviously a cash-in on the franchise and offered nothing new to the universe. I fear that FO: New Vegas might be the same.

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              October 15, 2010 7:39 AM

              Ok, but what does that have to do with FO New Vegas?

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                October 15, 2010 7:40 AM

                Did you read the last part of the post?

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                  October 15, 2010 7:44 AM

                  I just don't understand why if one sequel is bad another one will be bad. It's Obisian and Black Isle... a totally different developer with no real reason to suspect the game might be bad.

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                    October 15, 2010 7:49 AM

                    I think what he's saying is that he hopes it's one of those good sequels not just a cash in on the brand. Y'know since there's no reviews to confirm it's awesomeness.

                    I don't think anyone is thinking the gameplay will be like a bioshock game if that's what you're hung up on.

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                October 15, 2010 7:40 AM

                I fail to see what you don't understand about the comparison.

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                  October 15, 2010 7:45 AM

                  The games have nothing to do with eachother, aren't made by the same developers and the only thing in common is that they are both sequels.

                  Going by your logic of sequel connection, there are just as many good sequels as bad sequels, so how do you logically conclude that just because Bioshock2 sucked, Fallout New Vegas might?

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                    October 15, 2010 7:54 AM

                    They are reusing the same engine/assets from FO3 for this game. The same was done for Bioshock2, and in turn, they offered very little new items to the table and were just going in on the cash-in. What if New Vegas does the same? What then? Let's hope it doesn't!

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                      October 15, 2010 7:58 AM

                      They have promised many engine upgrades!

                      Perhaps we should continue this discussion over a beer and burger at nxnw.... I haven't had a good burger in a while

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                      October 15, 2010 4:37 PM

                      They did the same thing with Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 and that worked out okay.

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          October 15, 2010 7:41 AM

          [deleted]

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            October 15, 2010 7:43 AM

            G to the B, you give me hope!

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            October 15, 2010 7:44 AM

            ...and Fallout 2 I think? Wasnt FO1 and FO2 both by pretty much the same Black Isle team?

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              October 15, 2010 7:45 AM

              [deleted]

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              October 15, 2010 7:50 AM

              There was a changeover between 1 and 2. 1 was mostly Troika people, 2 not so much.

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                October 15, 2010 7:56 AM

                Troika :( Vampire The Masquerade felt so much like a Fallout game in the way you could interact with people and the amount of choice you had with your actions... I wish it had been released in a better state and they hadn't gone under.

                Actually I just looked them up on Wikipedia and they actually released two other games? The Temple of Elemental Evil and Arcanum? I never even heard of these games but they look like they use the Infinity Engine or something similar. Did anyone ever play them?

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      October 15, 2010 5:30 AM

      Multisync we can share notes!

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      October 15, 2010 5:32 AM

      I'm goiong to see if I can get a copy at the flea market on Saturday. It's hit or miss but sometimes I see stuff there the weekend before release.

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      October 15, 2010 6:35 AM

      So what features does Vegas bring over Fallout 3? From what I've seen and briefly played at PAX, it's really lots more of the same.

      Not that I'd be complaining.

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        October 15, 2010 6:40 AM

        Iron sights, Hardcore, lots of crafting, more skills used for speech checks, companion backstory/quests, shades of gray, more than one way to end the story, all sorts of stuff.

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        October 15, 2010 6:41 AM

        -Hardcore mode
        -New Weapons (2x as many)
        -New Perks and Skill
        -Companion Wheel
        -Iron Sights

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          October 15, 2010 8:25 AM

          companion wheel?

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            October 15, 2010 8:27 AM

            Streamlined interface for telling your companions to: Heal, Switch combat modes, etc.

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              October 15, 2010 8:31 AM

              yeah you don't give out commands via the dialog system anymore, that sucked ass to begin with. One thing from the first two games Bethesda should never have kept.

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                October 15, 2010 8:35 AM

                Oooh yeah that's good, having to talk to them really did suck.

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      October 15, 2010 6:36 AM

      Whaaaat

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      October 15, 2010 6:37 AM

      I hate you.

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        October 15, 2010 6:37 AM

        New Vegas comes out here the week I start a new job, it's going to be disastrous.

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          October 15, 2010 6:39 AM

          take vacation your first week

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            October 15, 2010 6:40 AM

            There was a good reason I only wanted to start in November. I'm sure I was going to lose the offer if I didn't start earlier, though. :(

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          October 15, 2010 8:16 AM

          I'm going to be out of a job here shortly, so this comes right on time, however I'm also moving into a new home so motivation to find a new job is pretty high. Nothing ever ever works out.

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      October 15, 2010 6:53 AM

      When does the review embargo lift?

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      October 15, 2010 7:03 AM

      Hardcore more, motherfuckers. PLAY IT.

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      October 15, 2010 7:18 AM

      If all goes well tonight I should be hating you more than ever \m/

      SO PUMPED

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      October 15, 2010 7:30 AM

      If all goes well? What the box on the truck is falling off at the corner of 125th and 8th?

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        October 15, 2010 7:40 AM

        It's too bad we cannot livestream this early. :(

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        October 15, 2010 7:47 AM

        Yea I'm curious too... how do you get it tonight multi? Are you a reviewer or something?

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          October 15, 2010 11:34 AM

          small game shops that sell shit early

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      October 15, 2010 7:38 AM

      I am SO on the fence about this game. There was so much I was disappointed in over FO3. I really didn't like the translation to FPS. (Or their lack of multicore support but that's a separate issue for which Bethsupport will pay ... oh yes, they will pay.)

      I love the FO universe. I really wanted to like FO3. I really, really did.

      Friendly AI was beyond retarded.
      VATS didn't work as advertised or hardly at all for that matter.
      Stealth didn't work worth dick.
      There really wasn't a weapon progression. Just the special weapon for whichever weapon class you decided to take.

      I keep wanting to give it another chance ... but I don't know. I'm afraid I'll be heartbroken again. That and I'll have to overclock my processor to get it up to 2400 MHz / core again.

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        October 15, 2010 7:44 AM

        Agree. I really tried to like it too.

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        October 15, 2010 7:48 AM

        I remember reading that they've improved multicore support for NV, but I could be wrong.

        FO3 wasn't for everyone, but:
        -I enjoyed VATS, and it was a big help in combat (some people think too much so). I played through 3 with an unarmed only character, and I couldn't have done it w/o VATS
        -Stealth enabled me to get the first shot in a confrontation, which would crit and take out one enemy. With the stealth suit, Stealth worked too well.
        -I found myself rotating through a wide variety of weapons throughout the game, due to durability.

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          October 15, 2010 3:10 PM

          The problem I had with vats the most was your inability to move. Both because the enemies still could and for the many times I tried to get that stealth first shot in and wound up putting 3-5 slugs into the wall because what was a clear shot outside of VATS wasn't in it.

          It seemed to me that you were detected way too often until you had stealth maxed out. The reason I would step out from behind the wall and enter VATS in the first place is because as soon as I stepped out of cover, they immediately saw me, even with their backs turned.

          I rotated weapons, too. But there were so few of them. Remember all the types of shotguns in the originals? You just kept finding more nice weapons till you got the jackhammer in endgame. There only seemed to be one or two examples of any given weapon. I would have liked more variety. And the energy weapons used to be the elite cannons and were scarce because of it. Having assault rifles that were more powerful than laser/plasma rifles was just disappointing to me.

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        October 15, 2010 7:50 AM

        FWE fixes most of your complaints.

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          October 15, 2010 3:16 PM

          I'll jump on FONexus and look that up. I've taken a peak at some of the mods but didn't get nearly as deep into them as I did Oblivion.

          Damn. Oblivion had some nice mods.

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        October 15, 2010 8:00 AM

        Friendly AI was absolutely terrible. It was at the point where I got companions but just let them die 5 minutes later because they were so dumb and couldn't keep themselves alive.

        VATS worked as I expected it to. What was the problem?

        Stealth worked fine... in fact it was almost too powerful. With a high stealth skills and/or certain items you could basically sneak up on and one shot almost any enemy in the game. It was also almost too good in the fact it tells you if enemies are around without you even having to see them.

        I thought the small guns were fine but it sucks that almost every other weapon type was so subpar. Small guns though you would start out with some shitty pistol or hunting rifle and as you explored you would find better stuff like the chinese assault rifle and then eventually you would find the even better named versions of weapons and maybe even the ultimate gun, Lincoln's Repeater. On top of that, you constantly had to rotate weapons when you ran out of ammo. It felt pretty fine to me.

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          October 15, 2010 8:33 AM

          You only need Fawkes to fuck shit up. Accept no substitute.

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            October 15, 2010 8:34 AM

            I had him but he just randomly disappeared after about 30 minutes of being with me. Dogmeat has died everytime I picked him up within 10 minutes and Charon lasted maybe an hour :(

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              October 15, 2010 8:42 AM

              One of the DLCs has a mod that has Dogmeat respawn but yeah, he's useless in combat. Fawkes might randomly disappear but he always reappears eventually.

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        October 15, 2010 8:15 AM

        I didn't have ties to the Fallout universe (I was a teenager when the originals came out, limited money and various girls kept me from gaming too much) so I didn't have anything to compare to. While I did think there were many flaws with Fallout 3, I enjoyed it for what it was.

        That said, FO Vegas looks to be more of the same which could be either good or bad. Regardless, I will not pick this up on day 1 simply because it looks like more of the same.

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        October 15, 2010 8:48 AM

        I love post-apoc. This being my first experience with the FO world, I graded it hard.

        I understand wanting it to be something it's not, that's when I realized I'm not their core customer. I had issues with the silly backstory, inconsistent encumberance and the internal logic of the game.

        On the upside, I liked the bonus content. Also, Bethesda continues to offer a substantially polished GOTY package, even if I didn't prefer the direction of the main game.

        I've heard a lot of people make comments about the direction Bethesda took after franchise acquisition, their choice to continue on the path layed before them. I look at it like as the same opportunity Raven had with the SoF franchise, where they went from a sci-fi theme to one of realism and it worked well.

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          October 15, 2010 3:15 PM

          Yea, I totally recognize where I want it to be something other than what it is. It's strong, but I try not to judge it on that alone. I wonder how much of my issues was my processor speed as far as gameplay goes. For example, if you took a step to the left or right, it seemed to always want to double step you. Like it had to get your feet right or something.

          I think that parts of the map disappearing worked out to be my processor as it disappeared as far as I could tell when I overclocked.

          It's a lot of the stuff I didn't like about oblivion, or any of the elder scrolls for that matter. I did still enjoy the franchise, don't get me wrong. But I think I enjoyed what it had the potential to be, too. Even if it never reached it's potential.

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      October 15, 2010 7:52 AM

      [deleted]

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      October 15, 2010 8:21 AM

      Pirate Bay, Friend at a retailer, giving a Trucker roadhead or a truck stop quickie in exchange for a copy of the game? Inquiring minds want to know! :D

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      October 15, 2010 8:29 AM

      How buggy can we expect this game to be? Is this developer the kind where it's a good idea to wait for a few patches before buying?

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        October 15, 2010 8:34 AM

        That's Obsidian's reputation, yes. But they're working with a finished engine that's already had most of the bugs ironed out, so I have high hopes.

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      October 15, 2010 8:42 AM

      I'm thinking about replaying FO3 with the Point Lookout and Broken Steel DLC. Last time, I was the standard Small Arms + Energy Weapon sniper character. By about half-way through the game, I was popping everyone's head from about 2 miles away. Should I try melee next game? I wouldn't mind Heavy Weapons, except that I've heard there's basically no ammo for them.

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        October 15, 2010 8:48 AM

        [deleted]

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        October 15, 2010 8:54 AM

        I played Unarmed all the way through, so melee is viable. Tough to beat the Shishkabob though.

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        October 15, 2010 8:56 AM

        I think Bethesda missed a cue on the Operation: Anchorage expansion. Using the theme of simulation, a number of alternate game worlds could have been created. It was a nice plot vehicle, but limited in scope.

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      October 15, 2010 8:51 AM

      Hijack Fallout 3 Men - At what point should I do the DLC? I'm at the GNR station and I'm wondering when I should do the DLC missions, after I finish the main quest or earlier?

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      October 15, 2010 8:58 AM

      Seriously, I wish new games would be released on Friday so that we can have the entire weekend to play them. This waiting till tuesday is harsh.

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        October 15, 2010 9:03 AM

        Yea I was just complaining about the same thing :/ My current solution/idea is just to go on a drunken binge tonight and hope that I wake up finally sober on Tuesday morning.

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          October 15, 2010 9:45 AM

          I got alot of packing to do this weekend but still. I guess I'll tide my freetime over by playing some Fallout 3 with top 10 mods thing that was in the chatty a few days ago.

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      October 15, 2010 9:03 AM

      Lucky bastard.

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      October 15, 2010 9:03 AM

      [deleted]

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        October 15, 2010 9:06 AM

        i have nicknamed my penis PipBoy

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          October 15, 2010 9:08 AM

          because its got the small frame and bloody mess perk?

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            October 15, 2010 9:17 AM

            he took both Little Leaguer & Mysterious Stranger. top & bottom!

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      October 15, 2010 11:36 AM

      faggot

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      October 15, 2010 3:10 PM

      How are people getting this early? Pirated copies?

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      October 15, 2010 3:23 PM

      another hijack also i'm not sure if that is the right shacktag here is hoping

      I searched and saw a couple of posts about this with no reply. Is the collector's edition coming for PC? Amazon only has it under ps3 and 360 and gamestop I can't find any CE's what's the deal?

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        October 15, 2010 3:30 PM

        There's a collector's edition for the PC, but it seems like amazon sold out.

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          October 15, 2010 3:42 PM

          It looks like it's sold out everywhere. No preorders for it on Gamestop, Walmart, or Best Buy either.

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            October 15, 2010 3:50 PM

            It's crazy that they didn't print more. Maybe try local places?

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          October 15, 2010 4:09 PM

          yeah and I just noticed the 360 and ps3 ones on amazon say it is actually from the Target store not amazon themselves. Guess I'll just check the local shops day of. If I can't find it will just get on steam which was my original plan until I realized it would end up in steam anyway so might as well get the stuff after all.

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      October 15, 2010 3:55 PM

      I rather enjoyed FO3 but am not at all excited about New Vegas. I don't know why.

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        October 15, 2010 4:04 PM

        because ragnaros calls to you. you cannot deny this.

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          October 15, 2010 4:07 PM

          ragnaros? What's that?

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        October 15, 2010 4:06 PM

        I wasn't either but then I read about the faction features and how it is much less linear, I like games where I can just go off and carve my own path.

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      October 15, 2010 4:38 PM

      Needs more pre-loading on Steam.

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