I was hoping that I could find the special rifle you mentioned above, wizekrak, but it's apparently not in the game. Hopefully there'll be an update or an expansion pack as with 'Oblivion' that adds more features and items.
The lack of accuracy with guns is understandable when your stats are low, however, with 100% stats and 'S.P.E.C.I.A.L' at maximum, it's still fairly off. This forces one to rely primarily upon 'VATS' for combat, which isn't so much of a problem, though it can get fairly boring from time to time; killing Radscorpions every ten seconds or so to prevent Dogmeat's untimely death is not fun. Dogmeat also sets off traps for you and attracts the attention of the enemy, which is something more reminiscent of the older 'Fallout' games!
The side-quests are epic and fun, with some interesting rewards. My personal favourite would be 'Agatha's Song' and the 'Wasteland Survival Guide'. Listening to radio on your Pip-Boy is nice, even with the GNR songs subtly and ironically reflecting your status in the 'Capital Wasteland' and perhaps nuclear holocaust; "I don't want to set the world on fire..." and my favourite "Maybe you'll think of me, when you're all alone...". The radio is a big plus for me, however I've only ever discovered ham-radio sets to be useful in the 'Super-Duper Mart' part of Moira's larger quest, if indeed that's what allows you to hear the raiders' returning over the intercom...
Does anyone know what these ham radio sets do, if they're activated? I've no idea otherwise.
I found the first parts of the main quest to go fairly slowly, which was good. However, once you end up in, well, later parts (F****s onwards) it proceeds to all end rather quickly, with the ending dialogue refusing to divulge the future of the 'Capital Wasteland' that's been moulded by your own, unique touch as with the other games.
There is far too little dialogue, too many bugs (getting stuck in buildings, corpses moving around whilst stuck in walls and even at the final part of the game, if you activate the airlock and send someone else in, it seems to leave you stuck in a cutscene!) and not enough of the quirky dark humour that makes you feel as though the developers were all laughing whilst writing the script!
"Maybe if you click this 23 more times, something will happen."
...
"No, we were just kidding and can't believe you actually did it."
At least Harold makes a comeback. It's practically obvious that he's the one responsible for the little 'settlement' you get to the moment you can see it on the horizon! His character isn't hilarious nor interesting, whilst it was in the previous games. It's a shame, really, as I looked forward to seeing whether Harold had weathered the several years of meeting various world-saving vault dwellers and lived to see yet another visionary, but alas, the voice and his dialogue is fairly pathetic.
The perks are interesting and, after trying all of them out, including those given to you by quests and such, they all have their uses other than the 'Bloody Mess', 'Ninja' and 'Robotics Expert' as there are fairly few opportunities within the game to meet robots that you can sneak up on, sneaking is already easy enough with so many StealthBoy items in the game and seeing everyone lose their limbs due to a couple of bullet wounds gets old after the first kill.
I wasn't impressed with being unable to converse with the Vault-Tec mainframe 'RoboBrain' to learn more regarding the social experiments that were conducted within the vaults themselves, though I did find the sultry female voice a rather disgustingly nice touch. Talking to the other computer was interesting, also. Circular logic indeed...
Gaining a laser pistol with 70 DMG right before the end, when you can't actually use it all that much, is a little disheartening.
But I loved the work that's been done. I suppose that the immensely detailed graphics and lovely V.A.T.S combat make up for lack of hilarious dialogue choices, which are replaced with a general good, neutral, evil set and some related to your S.P.E.C.I.A.L and skills. Playing the game was wonderful, which is why I played it through to completion so many times. Liberty Prime is certainly a great ally to have..! "Better dead... than RED!"
Plus, where's the gambling? It was my main source of income, other than stealing immensely powerful and expensive weapons from unsuspecting characters, in the other games, especially 'Fallout 2'.
I think the 'Repair' ability allows for great weapon and armor management and custom weapons make the junk you find lying around everywhere useful. Looting corpses is a must if you want to ensure the survival of Ol' Painless.
Highlight of the game: Butchering slavers en masse using Lincoln's Repeater at the Lincoln Memorial. Rescuing Dogmeat every single time and actually winning the game without him dying. Watching Feral Ghouls splash onto the ground as green liquid after being assaulted with a barrage of hot plasma. Fixing the election in the Republic of Dave.
Problems: These things never live up to fantasy. Developers are put on tight schedules and are forced to choose what to include and what can be given up; many fans aren't going to be satisfied with the game after waiting around a decade for it, but it isn't Bethesda's fault that they had so much to live up to. Plus, the game is fantastic on its own and independant of the other games.
Oh, and the 'Keller Family' holotapes were difficult to find!
I think seeing semi-clothed skeletons of the victims of nuclear holocaust next to suitcases packed with their belongings in broken down houses and sewers shows a very dark side to the world and makes the game seem particularly tragic at times. It would be dark and tragic without the quests to focus upon; you're alone in the ruins of a once prosperous capital city and everything you meet wants to either eat you or kill you.
Did anyone actually manage to get the Mesmetron working on Tenpenny? I attempted to use it on almost everyone and there were some interesting successes, but I'll leave those for the rest of you to discover.
The alien blaster was a nice touch. Shame you couldn't interact with the alien whatsoe'er. Being permanently kicked out of the Vault by your childhood friend is rather disheartening and goes into the storyline--and tradition of 'Fallout' games past--as once you've saved the moronic citizens of a place you once called home, you're cast out into the wastes... To save a little karma, I made sure to reload my saves after butchering everyone in 101 who said anything unpleasant. I was that absorbed into the story...
Anyway, great game, different from expectations, but lots of perks, some interesting quirks and a couple of pitfalls. However, there's a huge variety of weapons, perks for characters interested in each and every skill and enemies get more dangerous as your level increases, which means that nothing is all that easy. You can't gamble or get married and the number of NPCs you have with you seems somewhat bugged, but the graphics are splendid and show a beautiful portrayal of how much damage the bombs caused. Very tragic and, were it a book, un-put-down-able.
EDIT: Why do all of the ghouls have the SAME voice? Surely they don't all sound like chronic chain-smokers.
9/10.
Score one for quality!
