I really enjoyed Fallout 3. However, something tells me that Fallout: New Vegas will eventually have as much DLC as Fallout 3. I'll be keeping tabs with the game although I probably won't buy it until the Game of the Year / DLC Already-Included version is released.

The hardcore mode looks interesting, but I'd really like to see some improvements to enemy artificial intelligence. Also, the player controls in Fallout 3 felt a bit slow and clunky to me, so I'm hoping this issue has been refined a bit.

SteelBallRun wrote:

I'll only be excited if they include a little more variety to the type of character yonou play. Fallout 2 gave you the option of never having to resort to violence to complete the game, and I'd like to play something more than generic human guy and rely on either energy weapons or small guns for everything.

I agree, and more on the non-violent gametype coming. Something that I would like to see in games like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout is the ability to start a new game as a character from a different background or locale. Using Fallout 3 as an example, no matter how many playthroughs you start up, you're always the kid from Vault 101. Why not start off as a Bandit in the wastelands, or a trader in the cities? I figure each character's main questline and dialog would be different, but for these large game worlds it's a bit of a shame to me that your background is always the same.

It looks like Fallout: New Vegas starts you off as a courier character with no remembered background. I guess this lets the player create their own idea of who their character was and will be, but I also think it would be neat to have some choices on who you are at Level 1.

Blackout wrote:

Yeah you have a point, I can't really think of a way to beat the Bethesda's Fallout without resorting to violence at some point... But then again, how fun was it actually doing that? Post Apocalyptica is supposed to be violent, would you have enjoyed Mad Max if Mel's character was basically Gandhi? Actually speaking of Mad Max, I think that's what I like about Fallout so much, it feels like I'm playing Mad Max: The Game (minus driving).

Apparently Fallout 3 was supposed to feature some way to get through the main questline with a notable minimum of violence. If memory serves, before the game was released the Bethesda folks talked about an achievement you could unlock by only killing those who you absolutely had to.

I think a charismatic character would be fun to try out, but to me it feels as if Fallout 3 was essentially designed around shooting people into bits and pieces. Although most questlines offer dialog that can make enemies stand down, you can't really interact with the random bandit patrols and such while out in the wilderness, so to me Charisma ended up being the least beneficial stat in the game.