It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a “Getting Back To It” entry. In fact, I think the last one was about a year ago now. What can I say, I haven’t really been sitting on a lot of games. That said though, there is actually one game that I’ve been meaning to get back to for awhile now: Fallout 3. Unlike TES III: Morrowind, I didn’t leave Fallout 3 unfinished. In fact, I’m, pretty sure I completed at least two playthroughs back when it was still relatively new. Since then though, I haven’t touched it at all, and I blame two other Fallout games for that: New Vegas and Fallout 4.

In the case of Fallout: New Vegas, the problem is just that it’s probably the best game in the 3D series. Obsidian took what Besthesda started with Fallout 3, and largely made it better. More varied environments, more weapons, some more intricate quests, and so on. I consider New Vegas superior in many ways, so it’s long been my go-to whenever I’ve felt that Fallout itch.

As for Fallout 4, it’s the game that caused me to lose my taste for Fallout for a good long while. I mean, I dove into it and sank a good few dozen hours into it, but still wound up walking away from it feeling bored and disappointed. It just wasn’t as interesting of a game. There was less to find; the quests weren’t as interesting; weapon crafting made finding new weapons pointless, and the Commonwealth just was not a very interesting place to explore. Add to that the complete irrelevance of character building and you’ve got a wholly unsatisfying Fallout game. After that, there was just no going back to the series. Not until recently.

So finally it’s time to return to Fallout 3. The sour taste of Fallout 4 has finally worn-off; I never even bothered with Fallout 76, and I’ve plenty of New Vegas. It’s Fallout 3 time, I’m going to try to stick to it until I’ve gotten through one more complete run. I’ve largely forgotten just about everything aside from the major story beats, so it’s going to be interesting to rediscover what all is waiting in the Capital Wasteland.

I think this time, I’m going to be doing a smart, sciency type who’s just as capable of outgunning his enemies as he is outsmarting them. I’d like to also work on speech too, but that might be spreading the points too thin. We’ll see though. I’m also thinking of leaving the main quest be after getting to the Citadel and unlocking power armor; I’m thinking it’ll be pretty fun to run through the later missions with top-tier Tesla or T-51b armor. Well, actually I’m probably going to prioritize the Tesla armor since it’s probably the coolest set in the game. Yeah, the T-51b is the absolute best in terms of damage negation, but I’ve always felt that it looked rather plain compared to almost every other set in the game. (And no, hot rod flames wouldn’t help it).

I’m sure that it won’t have anywhere near the same wow factor that it had back in 2008, but I’m still hoping that game will more or less hold up regardless. Oh, and playing it on the Xbox Series X|S allows it to be enjoyed at near 60fps! That alone is already making a noticeable difference! So, here we go! Time to strike out into the wasteland once more!

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When is the last time you played Fallout 3? How come? What is your favorite/least favorite part of the game?

Image from Fallout 3 title screen