Fallout 3

[DrSpike]

Length is one area where you just shouldn't be comparing Mass Effect and Fallout. Linear games are always shorter than open games, in fact, for open games any length estimate may be far off. How quickly people complete a game really depends on their style a lot.

This is true on a very superficial level, but not really under proper analysis. Whilst Mass Effect is more linear overall as I said there is still a lot of scope to accept or not accept side quests. This makes the game anything from 10-20 hours, which is a significant amount of variation based on playstyle as well. People may have an even wider range of experiences with Fallout 3 but it's still perfectly valid to compare, say, all of the quests in Fallout 3 with all of the quests in ME. Fallout 3 isn't just longer using that metric - it's about twice as long. This is a point worth making.

[Solver]

That is only valid as long as it's quests you're comparing. Fallout in particular consists of more than that. You can just wander around, exploring and finding places and enemies to kill. Unlike actual questing, this doesn't really translate to Mass Effect. Fallout also offers a lot more variation due to playstyle for doing quests, such as how you travel between the locations. Due to all these variations, if you compare just the main quests, for instance, Fallout can be about the same as ME, longer or shorter. Comparing all quests, Fallout can range from some 50% longer to 200% longer, easily.

[Grandpa Troll]

What is meant by Linear?

[Solver]

Basically, a single set path for you to follow through the game.

[ZEE]

so like Civ then?

[Quillan]

More like Half Life 2. You always start out in the train station, make your way to Dr. Kleiner's lab, then down the canals to Black Mesa East. From there, you always go to Ravenholm, etc. No matter how things play out along the way, you have to in that sequence.

Mass Effect is something like KOTOR, where the beginning is linear, then it opens up for a long time, then you go back to a linear conclusion. The main quest in Fallout is (sorta) linear. It has a set sequence of quests, but it's possible to "screw" it if you're unlucky. If you stumble across Vault 112 and go through Tranquility Lane it'll jump you to that point in the main quest, even if you've never been to Galaxy News Radio in the game.

[Stuie]

Got Fallout 3 for xmas and haven't stopped playing since. I'm about 80 hours into my first game - incredible!! Of course, I started as a stealthy type character, so I spent a lot of time sneaking through the wasteland, and I almost never use fast-travel - so that's added to my play time no doubt.

Looking forward to the downloadable content and the revised level cap (in the March DLC the level cap will be raised to 30).

Oh - and in case anyone missed it, if you run the game from the fallout3.exe, you don't need the disc in the drive.

[Grandpa Troll]

Are there many downloads available yet?

Id like a slight more ammo available..thats just me

Or it would be sweet if they had a Bo Staff like they have baseball bats

[Solver]

Hundreds of mods out already, Gramps.

[Grandpa Troll]

Hundreds of mods out already, Gramps.

Solver

Many games have an easy to use Mod section

BTS for one

In the old Rogue Spear Series, very easy, simply click which mod you wish to use.

Is this about the same?

Oh and yes, is there a best site for downloads or just Google?

[flash9286]

Got this game for Christmas, not really liking it right now. But I have heard it gets better a couple hours in, so I'm going to stick it out for a while longer. I'm off to find galaxy news radio.

[Solver]

Gramps, for Fallout, you usually want to combine numerous mods that change stuff that you like. The Fallout launcher (comes with the game) has a "Files" section in which you just tick the extra files (mods) you want to run, although some mods have slightly more complex instructions.

Generally, browse the Fallout mod forum at the official forums to see what's going on. Mods tagged with [REL] or [RELz] are released. You can also browse Fallout mods at the Fallout Nexus.

[Grandpa Troll]

Gramps, for Fallout, you usually want to combine numerous mods that change stuff that you like. The Fallout launcher (comes with the game) has a "Files" section in which you just tick the extra files (mods) you want to run, although some mods have slightly more complex instructions.

Generally, browse the Fallout mod forum at the official forums to see what's going on. Mods tagged with [REL] or [RELz] are released. You can also browse Fallout mods at the Fallout Nexus.

Thanks so much Solver

[DrSpike]

That is only valid as long as it's quests you're comparing.

Which I quite clearly was in my earlier statement that you objected to.

[Solver]

Yes, but you were talking game length in general. For games like ME, length pretty much equals quest length, while for games like Fallout, that doesn't hold.