I've been talking about this game in length with Cloudy so here's what I've said so far...

I think you can own multiple homes but its not that important...

Here's how the karma system has worked out for me so far...

Early on I met a guy who would like me to blow a bomb in Megaton City (the first settlement you come across), but I refused and told the local sheriff. The local sheriff tried to arrest the guy but he killed the sheriff (but he didn't shoot the de-pu-ty...sorry couldn't help it). I killed the guy. I disarmed the bomb and saved the settlement. As a reward I got a free home. And because I saved the settlement, everytime I come home, I'm given a gift of thanks...most of the time its ammo (and ammo is kinda rare...especially for laser weapons). But now since I killed that guy, his bosses have put a hit out on me and every now and again I'll run into the Talon Mercs who want me dead. Upside to killing the mercs you get better weapons and there in better condition. And here's why I don't need multiple homes...I've negotiated peace between 2 settlements and now I'm welcomed in both areas and there's a bed always available for me to rest in. And also you can find burnt out homes with beds for sleeping and I found a few near a couple of travel points. Its kinda like the outdoor camps scattered throughout Cyrodiil.

If you are nice to poeple they are more friendly and give you more info. There is also a "speech" option, works like the red and blue options in Mass Effect. If your "speech" skill is high enough you can "win" info using this option. Also there are some speech perks wjere it unlocks certain dailogue trees...like Child at Heart perk will let you talk to kids a certain way to get more info.

You can pretty much walk to wherever you want, but once you get inside DC city limits a lot of the above-ground areas are blocked by fallen buildings. And there are a lot of creatures that want to eat you or kill you. I've run into Feral Ghouls (think of them as Zombies), Super Mutants (think of them as smarter Orges with guns), and the Raiders (bandits). The surface routes will always lead to a couple of tunnel enterances and anyway the best way to get around DC so far is to travel thru the underground metro tunnels. The tunnels will lead you to different parts of DC and are typically hubs to certain parts of DC. The tunnels will lead you to Raider or Mutant camps. I've found that the Mutants carry the big guns in the game, like chain guns, missle launchers and flame throwers. Occasionally you'll come across the different factions fighting each other and I just pick off the winners.

Going thru the tunnels forces you to explore quite a bit. I found tunnels system that lead me to a hospital...great I found a supply of healing items, downside it was a Mutant lair and there were at least 15 or so of these monsters. I took another tunnel system and I ended up nowhere near where I wanted to be but "finding" the entry point gave me another fast travel point. Clearing out raider camps also gives you access to their beds and whatever other resources they have.

The VAT system is the best way to take down any of your targets, especially the weaker ones...I went thru a gourp of 4 Ghouls quickly since they don't wear armor and a single head shot takes them down. VAT uses "action points" and everytime you use VATs uses X amount of AP and depending on what body part you're aiming for will determine how much AP will use. AP is your mana in this game.

Just like Oblivion weapons and gear breaks down. To repair you need more than one of the same item, for example if you want to make repairs to your hunting rifle you'll need at least one more to make repairs. What the game does it uses the other items for parts. The higher your repair skill is the beter the repairs.

You can also build your own weapons from scrap parts you find littering the world. You first need a weapon's plan which tells you what parts you need, then the parts and finally a workbench. You can find a workbench in every settlement or you can buy one for your home. One of the first weapons I made was a fireblade.

If you do pick up this game I would suggest you build around small arms (these are your ballistic weapons like hand guns, rifles and shotguns; plus there are more of these kind of weapons than any other...chain gun and its like are considered big guns), lockpicking (a lot of safes, boxes that has really nice goodies), explosives (how good you are with grenades and disarming mines) and repairing. Hacking is only useful if you come across security droids and using them to clear out a room. Perks, well that depends on want you want...I use perks that increase my XP and improve some of my combat skills.

Trading is different in this game because things are rare. And traders' items randomly change. And whatever credits the merchant has is all they have. For example if the merchant has only 500 creds you'll only sell 500 creds worth. If you buy stuff their cred total goes up. So what you want to do is buy want you want/need then sell them stuff. Plus also you need to give the merchants time to replenish their creds. I traded with one and wiped out all of her creds. When I wanted to trade with her again the next day, she still had no creds. Creds are a really rare thing, so you have to pick up a few trading quests along the way. For example I have a trading quest with a clan of Vampires (yes there are Vamps in the game), I trade them synthetic blood caps for creds. And I have another one with a chemist where I trade certain foods for creds (he typically gives you double what they are worth).

If anybody else playing it and wants to trade pointers and such...

Just added 2 more big guns...I got the Fatman and Missle Launcer...

Don't plan using them until I can raise my Big Gun skill a bit more...

Spent time walking around the Washington Mall...its really cool seeing these DC landmarks...its cool being at the Washington Monument and can see the Capital Building in the distance...

Not sure if you can join a faction...but I would love to join the Brotherhood of Steel...funny thing talking to them its like talking to a Stormtrooper...

I'll give my opinions on some of those questions as well.

The exploring is very similar to that of Oblivion. Though I haven't gotten there, I remember reading that you get stopped on the border just like in Oblivion. I remember reading somewhere that the area in the game is smaller than Oblivion, but since you don't have horses and you have to walk to get anywhere, it does take a while to get to places. Luckily, the fast travel that is in Oblivion is also in Fallout 3.

For houses, I'm not a hundred percent sure about it but I think you only have two choices and the choice depends on what you do with the bomb in Megaton. You disarm it, you get a shack in Megaton. If you blow the town, you get a luxury suite in Tenpenny Tower. The tower is quite out of the way and there is nobody who can repair your items, though plenty of people you can sell stuff to. Though different in appearence and area, they both function exactly the same. You get a bed for yourself, which if you sleep in a bed you own or rent you actually get a bonus on exp (you'll get a notice that you are Well Rested). You also have a robot butler who tells jokes, give you a couple purified water drinks, and change your hairstyle which is very nice (had a little problem with it in Tenpenny Tower. For some reason it didn't show my head, it showed above it and then later my knees. Didn't have a problem with it in Megaton, but then I only checked it like once.). You can buy some stuff for your house, but it is the same in both houses. You can get an infirmary that heals your wounds, fixes any wounded parts of your body, and gets rid of any radiation you have. There is a lab set that you can cure any addictions you have and you can get a random useful chem item that takes a day to get. There are some other stuff, but I haven't bought them yet. There is a jukebox, a workbench, and a Nuka-Cola machine I think. Also have themes that change the look of the room. If I recall correctly the looks are Vault, Raider, Pre-War, Love Machine, Pre-War, Wasteland, and I think I've covered them all but I could have missed one. I've only tested a few in Tenpenny tower and you get items that fill your shelves. Raiders have guns, Love Machine have clothes. Don't know about the rest. There might be other places you can sleep at, but I don't think you can own any. Don't rent places, especially in Megaton. It costs 120 caps there, and that is because you get to "sleep" with the resident hooker, heh. You don't see anything, but you wake up with her laying next to you (clothed btw). Don't know about other places yet, but if you get a house don't rent anything cause it is to expensive.

The game was made by Bethesda, maker of Oblivion if you didn't know, so yeah you get the Oblivion feel and yeah it is very urban, though if you go out west you find few towns and more empty spaces filled with radscorpians and other mutated monsters, as well as raiders. Lots of places to travel to and I haven't done much of it so far cause I just focused on the main campaign. A warning, when you do the last mission you can't continue to wander in the game. You are forced to stop. I won't reveal what happens, but when you are told to get things prepared for a fight you better make an extra save if you want to wander the wastelands some more with that particular character. The ending is sweet though, but the actual ending cinematic isn't the greatest, but up to it was awesome.

There are several important choices in the game, kinda like Mass Effect. The most notable that I can mention is the choice of blowing up Megaton. There is some more in the main campaign as well, but I can't say anything about it. There might be others, but I haven't fully wandered the land yet or done all the missions yet. You get some choices in speech as mentioned either above or in the "what game are you playing?" thread, but I wouldn't call them anything similar to the red or blue options in Mass Effect.

Alright, I'll give some tips as well.

I agree that starting off it would be good to focus on small arms, lockpicking, and repairing. I don't think explosive skill is as important, because disarming mines is easy. Unless you want to be really good with a grenade, choose other stuff. Science is also important, because some areas require you to hack computers to get through a door or open a safe. You can't always pick the locks though. You can also get certain robots to kill enemies as well, but that useful cause they cover only a small area. Make sure you have some metro tickets on you, or you're dead! The one thing I have to stress is that this game is very good at making any character you want, kinda. Pick anything you want, such as big guns or the laser weapons skill (can't remember correct word). If you are willing to dabble in evil actions you can easily get enough ammo for your laser weapons, especially if you follow the main storyline. Later enemies tend to use laser weapons, so you get plenty of ammo there. Also, ammo boxes have random types of ammo for weapons, so you can get energy cells for a laser pistol early on. My last character, my evil one, was a master of energy weapons and I had a shitload of ammo for it. Just remember, main storyline is a great source of energy ammo.

Another thing to mention are the bobble heads. They are hard to find little figures of the vault boy that boost certain skills or attributes. I've found three so far. First is in Vault 101, the place you start off in. When you turn 16, you find yourself looking at your father who is checking to see if you are "sick", because you have to take the GOAT test that day. On his desk is the first bobble head you can pick up. It boosts your medicine skill by 15 points I think. 15 or 10, can't remember for sure. Just recently I picked up another one, that boosted my science skill. It was in Vault 106, which is like south or west from Vault 101. Yes, you can go into several different vaults, but from those I've run into they are pretty fucked up. In a later mission of the main storyline, you see a map that shows you the positions of all known vaults, which you can then travel to on foot. Only been to three others so far, two of them on the main story arc and the other was 106. I know of a few other places for bobble heads (though I looked them up on the internet though). Make sure you find these hard to see or find items. Good quick boost to skills.

There are many people out there that give you money for a certain type of item. Like the vampires (they aren't real vampires like those in Oblivion though, but I'll let you find out how so for yourself), you can find people who buy things like the blood packs. I'll give you a few. There is a library near the bottom of the map, left from Rivet City. Arlington is the name of it I think. In there are some Brotherhood of Steel members, one of them a scribe. She wants you to find surviving pre-war books and she'll give you 100 caps for each. You can find like 3-4 in that library and I've found several more in other places. They have to say pre-war books, not any of the burnt or damaged books. I think the one other you found Lo2er was a ghoul who wants you to sell him sugar bomb cereal to him so he can make a powerful version of a common drug called Jet. Also, in Megaton, there is a mini quest you can do which is to fix some leaks on pipes in the town. After that you can sell some spare parts to him, which are cheap and plentiful items though I don't know how much he pays for them. There are probably others, but haven't found them yet.

Also, it would be good to get followers though I'm not sure who you can get. I know there is Jericho in Megaton, but you have to be evil and you have to give him 1000 caps to get his service. Didn't do that and later killed him when I purged life from Megaton before I nuked it, heh. There is a guy who wanders the wasteland randomly that I came across that sells you a robot for 1000 caps as well, but I don't know how effective it is. There is Dogmeat, a dog that follows you. Haven't found him yet though, but I have a lead to him. He is supposedly fighting a raider in the junkyard, a place near the minefield. I'm planning on going there and getting the dog soon. The only other follower I found was in the Citadel, the Brotherhood of Steels fortress. She is a member of the brotherhood that knew your father and will join you if you are good. I was evil so she wouldn't even consider it. I don't know if you have to pay her though, so don't know if you want to go with her. Don't know how many people you can have following you though. I think two is the limit, but I'm not sure.

I'm glad to know that if the sheriff dies you can still get the house. I was worried if I told the sheriff about Burke, the guy who wants you to blow up the town, that if he dies I won't get the house but if he died and you still got the house then I won't feel as bad about letting him die heh. I want the sheriffs hat and I want to get into his house (he has a bobble head in there, at least that is what I read in an internet source. Can't pick the lock with this character right now though, cause I'm focusing on hand to hand combat and I'm not that smart either so I don't get a whole lot of points to spend. Burke, the evil guy, has two silent 10mm pistols on him, so make sure you kill him. Head shots with the combat shotgun works well at this task.

Man, I've rambled on but there is a lot of stuff in this wasteland. Listen to Galaxy News Radio as well, cause it might lead you to some interesting missions and I think it might mark the place on your map. Other then that I can't think of anything, or at least anything that won't give away any campaign secrets.

Visited Rivet City...leveled up to 10...invested a bit into Small Arms skill, becoming rather good with the hunting rifle...never gets old blowing off some Super Mutants head clean off...

Looks now I have to make longer treks into the unknown...and now I'm doing a side quest where I have hunt down a droid...

Heh, I've found out that specializing in melee or unarmed combat isn't a complete waste of time. Though I do get hurt getting up to my enemy, once you get in there face and start punching or slashing they have trouble hitting you. Except for the shotgun, they are still rather accurate so don't go melee with shotgun wielders. Kinda common sense, but yeah... Great against ghouls and such.

So, favorite perks? Got to say one of my favorites would have to be the Mysterious Stranger. When you use the VATS system at random times a guy appears out of nowhere and instantly kills the enemy you are targeting. Its pretty sweet, especially when you fight tougher enemies. Bloody Mess is fun as well. Bodies literally explode and you get a bonus to damage. Got to love it.

So how long did it take you to beat the game, Silent?

The main storyline is really short. Getting to the places takes up most of the campaign, so I'd say between 10-15 hours. Can't say for sure, cause I kept getting distracted by other stuff. I barely touched the tip of the game in that time period, cause this game is big and I barely did any of the optional missions. Only did like four and I've found like 8 so far and I know there are a lot more missions cause I keep hearing about stuff over Galaxy News Radio that can lead me to more missions. Heard about 3 things just from there I think. I'm just guessing about the length though, cause I don't have the game on right now to check for sure. Its not as long as it could be, but there is so much more to do outside of the main campaign.

Oh yeah, I got Dogmeat. I now have a dog following me, which is nice. He is quite durable from what I've seen. We take on Super Mutants and he comes out unharmed most of the time. I think he heals after battles, cause he got hurt pretty badly and when I checked his health afterwords (using VATS) he was at full. He is a nice change of pace as well. If you want him to he can even look for stuff, such as ammo, food, or weapons. I did that while in my house and he immediately went to the locker that i was using to store my extra equipment that I want to save for later or for fun. Probably not as good as the dog in Fable 2 (still need to play it but I'm currently pre-occupied with Fallout 3 ya know), but still useful. I've been doing my best to keep him away from mines or the Behemoth Super Mutants (or whatever they are known as) so he still lives, heh.

Well, I ran into a bug or something...

I finished the last part of the Wasteland Survival Guide and the game keeps asking me about Rivet City not about Arlington Library. Kinda annoying...oh well next character I do, I'll just focus on that side quest fisrt before I do anything...I think something got screwed up when I was doing the Arlington Library and Replicatnt Man side quest at the same time.

Fav perk that I used was Here and Now...leveled up a second time and I got enough XP that I was only 50% to level up again.

Silent what level you at? I'm currently at 13. You unlock all perks at 20, but I wonder if you cap off at 20.

I started to explore more of the western and northern edges of the Wastes and I keep running into Raiders, screwed robots, super mutants, giant redscorpions and this mutated wolf like thing...good thing I started to focus on Big Guns cause right now the quickest way to beat large groups is the minigun...mainly I have like 2500 rounds and I'm saving the Fatman.

My character is so tilted toward good that I can get away with minor theivery...like stealing caps and other things I need for trade...

I've had two major glitches in the game so far, one of them dissapeared after I turned my 360 off and reloaded it to an earlier save (by like three minutes, heh). I was going to Canterbarry Commons (not sure if that is how you spell it. There are two "superheroes" fighting it out in that town and I wanted to do that mission. On the way there all of a sudden my screen turned fucked up. If I look at a certain direction I see blackness with colorful lines filling it. Can't really describe me but it was impossible to see and clearly a glitch. The main one that has been bugging me is that for some reasons when you want to change the hairstyle as a female you can't see your hair because it shows other areas. This goes for both Megaton and Tenpenny Tower (yeah I've played two female characters already heh).

For character levels... well I have several now so yeah... My original character that I started with was around 10th level. The character I beat the game with was either 14 or 15. I made another character who specialized in unarmed combat, he was 10 or 11th level. Then I got bored with the unarmed guy and just made a new one and she's also 10th. I get bored with the way I set up my characters sometimes, so I make new ones. Just how I am.

The mutated wolf creature, is it a Yao Guai? Cause that isn't a wolf, it is a mutated black bear that for some reason has a Chinese name, heh.

So yeah had an interesting experience. You know about the mission where you go to Three Dog at Galaxy News Radio to learn about your fathers location. On the way there you have to fight through some Super Mutants with the help of some Brotherhood of Steel members. Well, as my last character I found Rivet City, which is where you are sent to after helping Three Dog with his signal problem, before I did the GNR mission. I talked to the doctor in Rivet City who knows your father, though I haven't done that mission yet. I recently went to the GNR headquarters, but along the way there were no Brotherhood members to help me. I had to fight my way through a whole swarm of Super Mutants. Then when I got to the square right in front of GNR, I had to take on the Super Mutant Behemoth and there is no corpse on the fountain thingy that has the Fatman in it. So I was using conventional small arms and grenades to take it on. That was a rush, heh. Died once, but then it got stuck on a light pole so I got to pick it off with grenades then without getting smashed to pieces. The Brotherhood members that are stationed right outside of GNR helped a little as well, but it was mostly up to me to take the thing out. So remember children, don't go talk to the good doctor in Rivet City before helping Three Dogs, cause then you'll be faced with taking on a whole army of Super Mutants all by yourself and no Fatman to pick up and help you against the Behemoth.

I ran into that same bug where the screen goes crazy...when it happened to me...the texture began to tear and the screen would turn red everywhere...

Speaking of bugs, some NPCs have disappeared...like Walter and Leo in Megaton...

Have you found some of the unique or rare type of items?

I found a unique Chinese assualt rifle...I repaired it to 100% and does like 65+ damage...better than my chain gun...it was in a ruined towm between Arefu and Ft Bannister...it was in the center of the place in a burnt out diner...I also picked up THOSE! side quest...mutant fire ants...

My character is tilted toward big guns, repair, small arms, hacking and lockpicking...I picked up some bobbleheads and gear that boosted those stats.

Did you find Ft Constantine and picked up the protype power armor?

Level 16 and just exploring areas and subway tunnels...

I would have responded earlier, but my laptop is messed up so now i have to rely on a crappier computer.

First off, did you check all of Megaton cause those two tend to wander around a bit.

I've found a few interesting items as well. Haven't seen this Chinese Assult Rifle you're talking about. Does it have a certain name? I've recently been to Fort Constantine, after I maxed out my lockpicking and science skill with the character I'm currently playing. I looked everywhere, but did not find this power armor you're talking about. There are two areas I found that require a key, but I couldn't find the key I needed. So how do you find this armor then, cause I looked everywhere I could at least three times.

I recently found a unique power armor prototype as well. It was in a town way up in the north east of the map. Old something or another. There is a Vault really close to it. The place is a deathtrap for a lower level character since it is filled with the demonic looking Deathclaws. Out of all the enemies I've fought, they are my most hated. Well, the Mirelurks are more annoying cause they are more frequent and sometimes swarm me, but the Deathclaws are by far the most dangerous thing I've fought. If only I had a missle launcher or the plasma rifle my current character is using at the time I went into this town. Anyway, I went into the town cause I heard there was a shipment of Nuka Cola Quantium (I think that is the last part of its name) which I was trying to find for a quest, The Nuka Cola Challenge. Get thirty of those and I beat the quest. Still working on it and probably won't get it done before I max my characters level and beat the game. Well, I found one of the Quantiums there, but I found a unique power armor. It came with instructions as well. It is the prototype medic armor. It talks... heh. Just got the ability to use power armors with my current character like an hour ago (been busy with eating supper and on here right now) so I haven't had a chance to see what all it says or if it does anything unique like the note about it says. Later I'll be able to say. It is hard to get since there are so many Deathclaws in that town, you'll get ripped to shreads. I was between 10-13 levels and I still got ripped to shreads. I even had a robot buddy with me but i had to reload the game so many times because of death of either me or my robot. Lots of good loot, except in Nuka Cola Quantium which is what I was looking for.

Heh, the Those! mission is nice, but when I first tackled it I was only like 2 hours out of the Vault so I got burned to a crisp many a time against those damned Fire Ants. The reward was worth it, in a way at least.

So, have you found the place with real trees yet that Galaxy News Radio talks about? It is there and there is a quest there as well.

Advice about bobbleheads. Find the other non quest related Vaults. In most of them you should find a bobblehead.

I'm quite close to maxing out my current character. His name is Professer Wang. He is an asian guy whom I originally focused on science and other tech based perks. Of late he kinda changed though, to a bad ass with a plasma rifle and now a unique set of power armor. I'm using the plasma rifle I get from chatting with the android you look for in the Replicated Man quest. Better then the average plasma rifle. I can easily blast through the Enclave soldiers and stuff. Need to test it out on some deathclaws... Anyways, I've maxed out Science, Lockpicking, and Energy Weapons. About ten away from making out Repair and some other are high ranking as well. His karma is neutral. It is kinda hard to keep it there, but with the combination of being able to eat the dead bodies of foes and to give money to churches or purified water to guys you can find near all of the main cities/areas (Rivet City, Megaton, and Tenpenny Tower are the only ones I've found so far) so I can keep my alignment at neutral. I think I'm at level 17 right now. Soon will level up I think and I'm going to focus on the main storyline now. Just got inside the Citadel an hour ago so yeah.

I've maxed out my character. Have you done the Shoot'em in the Head quest? There's a ghoul named Mr Crowley in Underworld, he will tell you to kill 4 guys and each has a key that will open the doors in the fort.

The unique chinese rifle is on a dead NPC named Prime in a burnt out diner near. It has a chinese name starting with a "X."

I'm almost done with the Nuka Cola quest. Last quest I picked up was Stealing Indepence from some old guy at Rivet City. Finished one quest called Head of State.

I've gotten the "shoot them in the head" quest but haven't finished it. Actually, haven't even tried to do it to tell the truth. Other stuff got in the way.

I've done and/or found almost all the quests actual quests. Still got to do a few. There is one I haven't found but somehow completed it heh. In a Vault I found a violin or something that was a quest item. Couldn't drop the 3 pounds of it so that sucked. Well the guy you get the Stealing Independence quest from buys rare items, such as the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights. I sold the violin to him and I get a quest completion for a quest called Agatha. I heard a news piece on GNR about how I got a quest from Agatha but sold the violin instead. Don't know where this Agatha chick is though or I would've done it. Read a bit of information on a website a bit ago and it says you get an upgraded .44 pistol from her I think. Still don't know where she is located though, which sucks.

You might not have noticed it, but I mentioned that I have been to Fort Constantine but I haven't found the armor you mentioned. Any advice on that would be nice.

At Ft Constantine, you go thru the CO's quarters. You head down the basement and the second you need a key from one of the guys you killed for Crowley.

After you get the keys from 3 of the guys you use those keys (the forth target is Tennpenny). You'll find a room that is the armory. There are 2 doors that have very hard lock, they can be picked. There's a 3rd door that needs a key and in that room has the armor. It looks like the Brotherhood's armor, the stats boosts rad resistance. But as I'm learning you need to have a merchant do the repairs since yoju can't use other heavy armors to repair.

The keys are on a kid on Rivet City (you can buy the key off from him), the leader of the Republic of Dave (kill him or steal it), some Russina perv near the Tepid Sewer (best to kill him or lure Mirelurks and they will kill him).

And after you get the keys for Crowley, give him the keys to complete the quest, then follow Crowley and kill him out of sight of the ghouls. He takes the subway under the muesum. If you talk to Tennpenny and agreed to kill Crowley for him, collect your reward before you complete the Tennpenny Tower quest.

Thanks for the advice. I got the armor now and it looks like it is better then most of the other power armor available.

Also found the most powerful weapon in the game, though it has limited ammo. The Alien Blaster. It does around 100 damage I think. Depends on your energy weapon skill.

Yep, there is a crashed spaceship in the game and a little green man that you can pick up and throw around, which I did repeatedly for a minute or two and then got out of there cause the area is filled with radiation. The gun looks like one of those old alien blasters you can see in old cheesy movies, which fits the games feel. The crash area isn't marked on the map so you'll have to guess where it is at. Here is some advice for that: find the one place I mentioned that is filled with Deathclaws, Old something (where you find the prototype medic armor. Go a little south to some waste disposal area. Then go north west from there. If you have visited Oasis, head towards that. Keep your eyes open and explore that area between the two places. You'll come across a radio signal that has a gibberish message on it. You're in the right area so look around, just mind the radiation.

Alright about that prototype medic armor I found. It talks to you, so whenever you enter battle you'll hear your armor give out a battle cry or comment, similar to the Mister Gutsy robots I believe. The only other thing it does is that if you are low on health it'll inject you with Med-X, if you have any with you. I'd prefer stimpacks but the thing is still a prototype after all, heh. Pretty unique item but not all around amazing or anything.

I heard about that gun...I thought it was a laser minigun...

My laser gun skill is middle of the road...I've maxed out Mdeical, Lockpicking, Big Guns, Small Arms, Repair and Explosives is pretty high...I was using laser weapons but the most interesting laser weapon is the plasma rifle but it feels like it uses up too much ammo compared to damage...

My default weapons right now are the hunting rifle, combat shotgun and minigun...thank goodness in this game ammo has no weight...I'm carrying like 6000 rounds at all times...

I've taken down 2 of the 5 really big super mutants...I plan on "assualting" the Capital building after I do Stealing Indepence...

How much of downtown DC have you explored? Have you just explored what you comke across in the quests? I want to find the White House...

Well, there is a laser minigun which I've found. Accidentally killed some of outcasts that are around Ft. Constantine. I was shooting at a robot but missed... Its alright but ammo is an issue.

Something strange happened recently, though luckily not a bad thing. I had a different character then the one where I found the Alien Blaster and I was doing the Super Human Gambit mission. I was going to the place where the Mechanist was at but I noticed a glowing object near the door. There was a single round for the alien blaster right there. Its odd because the crash site is farther north from the crash site.

If you want to use energy weapons, do the replicated man mission. Find out all you can and confront the android in person and revive his memories. He'll give you a special plasma rifle for helping him. It is a lot more powerful then the standard plasma rifle and is my favorite energy weapon I've found. Also tell the android that you'll kill the guy searching for him. I did an interesting thing that was very beneficial. I told the guy who he was after so he gave me an interesting perk that increases my chance to hit in VATS. Then I killed him and nobody minded. Might get bad karma but you can easily fix that, heh. So I got the perk and the awesome plasma rifle.

In all the characters I've played, I've only taken down two. The one outside GNR and the one in the Capitol building. I had more trouble with the Talon Mercenaries then the Behemoth. I easily killed it without a Fat Man by going staying in and around the doorway into the large area where the Behemoth lurks. If you go through the doorway back into the hallway, the Behemoth runs away. if you enter it, he'll charge to attack you. Got it without it hurting me once. Same kinda goes for the one at GNR. I just stayed near the door into the building and shot Fat Man nukes at it from a safe distance. Only went down to draw its attention to me cause it ran away again, heh.

I haven't done much exploring in the DC ruins. I've only been to the places on the Mall and a few other areas I accidentally stumbled upon, mostly because of missions. Found two interesting things that involve the Reiley's Rangers mission. When you go to the Ranger outpost there, either before or after the mission doesn't really matter, there are two things in that area that are interesting. First is a guy speaking over an intercom that fills a large area. He's insane, which you can easily tell by what he's saying. I eventually found where he was at. He was in an alleyway on top of a building that seems to be barricaded so you can't go up to him. There is another guy in the alleyway who is hiding. He tells you that this guy will blow up anybody who goes into the alleyway. I accidentally ran in there once and was basically nuked repeatedly. No way to survive. I sneaked in there and found a bunch of mines and mini nukes laying around. The only thing I found you can do is just shoot the insane guy in the head or persuade the other guy in the alley to try to talk to the insane guy, resulting in a massive explosion. So watch out there, but would be a good source of mini nukes if you want to find it. Can't give exact locations though, the only clue is that there are like glowing mushrooms near the alley and the guy will start being more hostile in his speeches if you get closer.

The other interesting thing I found was also near the Ranger Outpost. It is really close to the Capitol building. There is a talon merc sniper stationed on a bridge between two buildings. Get up to where he is perched and you'll find a button and some notes. This button unleashes artillery rounds in the area near the Capitol building. Good way to take out a few talon mercs and super mutants and provide a little entertainment. Decent loot as well.

I've also been looking for the White House. Haven't found it yet. If I knew the layout of DC better, like the real one, that might help but I have no clue cause I've never been there. From what I heard the White House is a smoking crater, but I'd still like to see it for myself. My guess is that I'm blocked by buildings and will have to use subway stations but yeah...

Well there was another place that led to a mini mission. Don't remember how I got there but it was in the ruins. I came out of a subway tunnel and nearby there are some Brotherhood of Steel members fighting it out with some Super Mutants. Apparently an initiate that was with them got split from the group in an ambush and is now holed up in a nearby building. I found the kid and the Brotherhood members say that anytime I'm in the area they'll protect me. Not much other then that but was quite interesting. I love these little mini mission things. I've found a few like it and there are bound to be more. Its also a nice touch that you have random encounters like a person running away from Raiders and such. Found a guy way up north, kinda near Ft. Constantine, that was shooting at two guy running away. The guy had an actual name and a sniper rifle. I killed him and took his stuff, heh. Quite nice of me cause I saved the two's life, but I really just wanted the sniper rifle.

My addiction to this game is starting to run out. I think I'll soon turn to other games, like Fable 2. Been so many good games coming out recently it is hard to pick, heh.

Yeah, I have the Android's Plasma rifle. If I plan on using it I'll couple it with the Tesla Heavy Armor I got plus and Enclave Officer hat...the 2 combined boosts my energy weapon by +15 (+10 from Tesla and +5 from hat).

I like running around in the unique heavy armor I got but its a bitch to upkeep. And I can't use Brotherhood or Enclave heavy armor to repair it.

For my last perk I picked the Explore perk and it showed every location on the map. The White House is near the mall but the easiest way to get there is use the Metro Station tunnels and look for the Metro/Penn Junction. I think its Penn West that is closest to the White House.

I've gone back to the game over the weekend, but I got burnt out...still like playing it, but I went thru 3 factories in a row and by the time I hit the 3rd one it started to look the same to me. I think I need to alternate between factory and deserted town settings. I plan on hitting the a few more subway tunnels. I don't plan on returning to the main quest till I've finished all the side quests, have one more Behemonth to kill and get all the bobbleheads and get the Explorer Acheivement.

Currently my main weapon are now the unique minigun - Eugene and unique Chinese Assualt rifle. I carry the combat shotgun for weaker enemies. I've also found a unique sniper rifle. I can't remember where, all I can remember it was in a burnt out church...I think I found it walking from Megaton to Tennpenny Tower.

I may take a break from this game soon too...

The unique sniper rifle, was it the reservist rifle? If thats it, then to me it wasn't that useful. Close to the same amount of damage but you have 2 less shots in a clip. The only location I can say that it is at is north west of Paradise Falls, so yeah. Get directions to Oasis in the church so that is nice.

Since I have played so many characters (same problem I had with Oblivion, get a new idea and stop playing an old character) I keep things interesting. Right now I'm evil again, just played two good characters in a row so yeah. I'm basically like Mr. Burke but more badass, heh. I am trying to specialize in one handed weapons and I'm currently sporting a grimy business suit and the shady hat you get from the survival guide mission.

Speaking of that mission, I learned of a way to get an interesting perk though it means you can't finish the quest. At any point of the quest you can try to persuade the lady, can't remember her name, to focus on helping caravans. If you succeed, you crush her hopes and the quest ends. In doing so you get a perk, I think it is called Dream Crusher, that makes it hard for people to critically hit you, like by 50% I think. Nice thing to take when you are in the last chapter and don't mind getting negative karma. Just pick a quest you don't like the reward that much to be last and then persuade her to stop the mission. I did all but the harness old technology part of the quest.

I'm close to taking a break myself, start renting or buying some of those epic games that recently came out.

Yeah, that's the sniper rifle...same here its kinda od useless for me too, considering my character is a heavy gunner type...there's nothing subtle about my character...I can't even sneak well in the heavy armor...

I think my character I'm go for a more cowboy feel a-la Clint Eastwood from his old westerns...but that's not going to be for a while still...

You what's wierd...I've gotten into a routine...I explore/quest during the daytime hours and then head home in the evenings and sleep and then start all over again at 6am...I do it mainly because when you wait you don't heal like in Oblivion...

Heh, my routine while playing is quite similar as well. Though sometimes I might stay up late in the game to do quests and stuff, I generally sleep in my house if I have one and go out either at 6 or 8 in the morning. 6 when I don't have to visit a shop and 8 if I think I'm going to need to soon, which I normally do.

I do all my shopping at Rivet City or Underworld...which is mostly ammo for Eugene...

Did you get the unique Ultra SMG?

Yeah, though with that gun I didn't have enough ammo to use it effectively with that character.

Ok, I finally beat the game. I didn't know that when you finish the main quest its game over...luckily I saved right before I went into the Jefferson Memorial.

Well, I finished up a few things...

Agatha's Song...her house is walking distance NW from the vampire lair...Merici (sp) Metro Station...

Oasis...that talking tree dude was a trip...

I got all 20 bobbleheads...some were in some weird places...

Found the White House...or a large carter that used to be the White House...

Got some new unique items...

I found the alien blaster...nice...

Vengence...the unique gatling laser
Jack...the unique ripper
The Medical Power Armor
Victory...another unique sniper...it does a lot more damage than the other one
The Experimental Fat Man...it holds a clip of 8 mini nukes and does a bit more damage...its in the National Guard Armory in the locked bunker

Now Talon and Enclave are hunting me down...they show up a lot more and when its the Enclave they are sending 2 Tesla Soldiers, 1 Power Armor Soldier and an Officer with plasma weapons...

I've explored almost all of the map...just about a dozen places left to explore/find...

Silent, did you free Fawkes? The super mutant in Vault 87? He is a great guy to have around...when you joined up with me when I escaped Raven Rock he had a laser gatling and it has infinite ammo...he practically immortal...he regenerates health extremely quickly...when I'm walking around in the Wastes, he is a great early warning system. When I hear him go nuts I know we're walking into trouble. When I took down the last Behemoth, he did it by himself.

BTW, IGN just posted when to expect the first of three DLC in Jan09...one will be a campaign in Alaska, another in Pittsburgh and one that will be parallel to the main quest about the Brotherhood of Steel...

Okay, now the comparison with Oblivion...I love Oblivion and I love Fallout 3...but I think Oblivion is a better, deeper game...a lot more to do and explore in Oblivion...right now I still say Oblivion is the best RPG on the 360...

I found Fawkes with two of my characters (the only ones that got to that point). The first time, I killed him. I was very evil. The second time I freed him, but he wouldn't follow me because I was neutral. I've been working on a good character now, but I'm taking a break from Fallout 3 so it'll be a while until I get to have him follow me. Its interesting, he is a big reference to V for Vendetta.

I think I found the White House, but I'm not sure. I found a church like building with Brotherhood of Steel members guarding it. Right next to it is a metro station and a large gate that wouldn't open. The area was full of radiation and the place was a wreck, obvious explosion. It was on Pennsylvania Avenue so I'm guessing that is the White House, but I couldn't get in it. Is that what you found Lo3eR?

What was his name, Harold I think, the talking tree guy? From what I read he is a reference to the previous Fallout games. Apparently there was a ghoul whom your character met in both the games, and in the second game he had a tree growing out of his head. I'll have to get both the games and see this for myself, but unfortunately my laptop is busted, ugh, and that is where I play all my computer games.

Also learned something today. Many of the human/ghoul companions that you can have follow you can wear power armor. Very nice. Lets see if I can remember all of them.
Charon: A ghoul who guards the pup in Underworld. Can get him by buying him for 2000 caps (1000 if you are good at bartering I think) or kill some ghoul chick. He's a tough guy and it doesn't matter what your karma is.
Jericho: The ex-raider of Megaton. For 1000 caps he will follow you and use his Chinese assault rifle on foes. From what I read, if you give him cigarette packs he will smoke them and make comments about them (haven't tried that myself though). Have to be evil.
Star Paladin Cross: Brotherhood of Steel member who will follow you for free if you are good. Already has power armor and has a laser pistol and super sledge at her disposal. She a good one to have in my opinion.
Clover: A slave in Paradise Falls who will follow you if you buy her from the head guy there, can't remember his name right now (starts with a E I think). I think you have to be evil to use her. I don't know what armor she can wear, but she is supposed to be a crazy girl, both in battle and in bed. 1000 caps I think is her price, but I haven't used her so I don't know for sure.

I think that is all the human/ghoul types I know of. Non-human/ghoul types include the following:
Dogmeat: Loyal pup that follows you and attacks foes. You normally can't have more then one or two followers, I think just one, but you can have Dogmeat no matter how many are in your party. He's tough, for a dog, and can be used to find hard to find stuff, like ammo for the alien blaster (there is a random event I heard of where an explosion occurs above you and an advanced alien blaster as well as some ammo for it falls to the ground, I think the gun is called the Firebrand or something, not sure, but Dogmeat would be good help in finding all the ammo and stuff nearby).
Hawkes: You said enough about him I think.
RL-3: A robot! Get an advance Mr. Gutsy to follow you for 1000 caps. Have to be good, maybe neutral as well cause I got him as my neutral character. Not that useful in my opinion compared to other ones. Can't equip him with new weapons and his don't do a whole lot, plus it takes him a long time to switch between his plasma blaster and his flamethrower. At least he loves to shout out anti-Communism comments, which is grand heh. Also can carry stuff, like other followers besides Meatdog. He is sold by a wandering trader who has a bunch of robots following him (I found him by the robo tech building near Tenpenny Tower.

Thats all I can remember, but I think I got them all.

I'm split on which game I think is better. They are both similar experiences but different at the same time. Forest, magic, and monsters with Oblivion. Nukes, mutants, and a shattered version of DC. I can't say which is better cause they are so similar. The only real bad thing for Fallout 3 is that it doesn't have near as many quests as Oblivion had, just in the main campaign for one thing let alone all the side stuff. I hate not being able to join a group or something like in Oblivion. I'd love to be a full fledged member of the Brotherhood of Steel, not just some honored wanderer who gets money for finding books or holotags for the Brotherhood. Hopefully the downloadable content will fix that, but I doubt it.

There are things I like a lot about Fallout 3 that Oblivion doesn't really have. The first is the random encounter stuff. In different playthroughs I can go to one place and get attacked by a pack of dogs, the next time there is a wastelander running from a sniper who is hunting him apparently. Random traders wandering the wastes waiting to sell you stuff, to a secret weapon that falls from the heavens from a downed alien space craft. There are so many of these things it is awesome. You don't get random stuff in Oblivion, just scripted events.

The second thing is each building or area has a story. Getting a high science is very helpful for this, as well as a high lockpick. In almost every building or factory I found, you could find terminals or holotapes that give background to the place and what was going on in it. Not all have this, but a large majority. You aren't likely to find stuff in the metros, my least favorite place to travel into, but buildings like the Nuka Cola factory or the Vault headquarters (which is near the hotel that you go to for the Reiley Ranger mission), you can find interesting and unique stories there, even though the design of the building is similar to others, for the most part. Not to mention you can find interesting features to places. Such as the place Three Dog says raiders are at. On the outside you have a bunch of raiders watching over slaves and a Behemoth!!! On the inside you see a whole city in a way that is quite interesting. Two notable things. First is the nice bartender/trader who won't shoot at you. Can't remember his name, but you can buy stuff from him. Its better to kill him, cause he has the Terrible Shotgun, a unique and more powerful version of the combat shotgun, which means more exploding Super Mutant heads!!!! The second interesting thing in there is a certain room. You know it because right by the entrence to the area are two female mannequins with glowing boobs!!! Inside it seems to be a jail turned into an orgy room, raiders without clothes on scrambling to fight you as you enter it, with drugs lying all over the place. There was one chick locked in a cell who couldn't get to me but was trying to kill me. Another interesting thing I found outside was a certain shack that had a male and female raider, and the female was in sexy sleepwear, heh.

Anyways, it is hard to say which is better in my opinion. Oblivion has more stuff to do, but Fallout 3 has more interesting locals to explore, plus it has VATS!!!!! That is an amazing thing right there.

...are you guys the only ones with the game?

Apparently... Or we are the only ones who love it enough to talk about it frequently.

Yeah you found the remains of the White House...its ground zero when the bombs fell...

I can agree that Fallout 3's locations are more interesting because its a real world place and its fun readin some of the journals especially the one that go crazy or turn ghoul...

I think Fallout 3 has a higher replay value because if you follow the main story its short and since I've explored every inch, next play thru there are place I will avoid...

I've already figured out my next character...going to specialize in big guns and energy weapons...love using VATs with the plasma rifle and see a raider turn into a pile of goo...

Also I'm going to use different perks and avoid the ones that increase my XP...as I played thru I would have levelled up to 20 without the XP boost...

But yeah like you I'm going to take a short break...

Yeah, I stayed away from the experience perks because I knew from the start that the level cap was 20. I only used them once and that character didn't go very far if I recall correctly. I think everybody who is playing the game is praying for the DLC to lift the level cap. My opinion, at least 30. What was Oblivions, 50? All I know is that i never got there. One more good thing for Oblivion, high level cap that is harder to reach, heh.

Now I can't play anything, cause my 360 seems to be broke <_<

I reached 50 in Oblivion with my latest character and 47 with my first...

Me too I'm hoping they do raise it and make the gap a bit wider...I mean the first night I played I leveled really fast...I mean I think I reached 20 in about 20 hours (considering when I did everything I logged about 80 hours)...

I just wished you can get power armor a bit earlier unless you do the main quest till you reach the Citadel (which I finally figured out was the Pentagon) and then stop the main quest and go off and explore...

The perk I want to try is the contract perk (good or evil) and the mysterious stranger...

Heh, I knew about it being the Pentagon, but only because in the weeks before it came out I was in a frenzy to see any bit of information on it.

The contract stuff is alright. I think it is harder to do the evil one, cause there are more evil guys to kill then good guys ya know. The Mysterious Stranger is an awesome perk, because he randomly appears in VATS and instantly kills an enemy, even if you missed every shot and it isn't even scratched. Its just an epic moment each time, heh. I remember a little mess up where he killed a guy, then he shot at another one but he didn't do anything but the enemies unleashed a flamethrower on him and he died, but there was no body left and he appeared later.

I've got it on PC. Can't wait for the Mods to start pouring out after the CK is released. :D

Best game of 08 if no other reason than making this Michael Myers style moment a virtual reality.

Did anyone find the crashed aliem spaceship? The aliem is dead but you can take his otherworldly aliem weapon.

Yeah, we found it (as I believe we mentioned in earlier comments).

Yeah, but don't use it too often as ammo is really rare and as far as I know no merchant carries the ammo...hopefully your energy skill is high enough to make it worth your while...if not and if you are trained in heavy armor, hopefully you'll find the Enclave Tesla Armor +10 to energy skill.

Well that's a downer. Oh well I'll keep it for the occasional indulgence! That is...if I find it. Is it hard to find in the wasteland?

If you know the general area it is in, its not a problem. If you don't know, well you'll be looking for a while. Two tips to help you that won't reveal everything (though you can probably find an earlier comment by me that will ruin it for ya, heh). When you get near, the area will be full of radiation for a good distance. Since there is no pool of radiation waste in that area, it stands out a little. When you get very close, a new radio station appears. It is an alien beacon. You are basically right on top of it then.

Okay thanks!

Fallout 3 Add-On News

FYI...more than likely some of you may have heard already...

I'm interested in the new stuff that can carry over into the main game and raising the level cap and that you can continue playing after the main quest is done...

Fallout 3 is currently going for $39 at Target (in America at least).