best way to play fallout 3 goty for first timer?

Semiskimmed

Semiskimmed

Semiskimmed

Soldato
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ive read theres a lot of addons available people use to play fallout 3.
ive just picked up the goty edition with all 5 dlc's so im wondering what the best idea is to play through, all in order? or with some mods from the get go?
(never played the game before!)
:D
 
Point Lookout might be a bit challenging for a lower level character, but otherwise install them all and have fun. I wish I was playing it through again for the first time.
 
Install and activate (they should be by default anyway) all of them. Broken Steel especially causes crashes if you install it once you hit lvl20. The others it won't make any difference though. But Operation Anchorage in particular is very easy for low level characters but it gives you access to several overpowered items really early in the game and its not a good idea to play it before you hit the lvl20-30 region on a first playthrough. Its better to get to grips with how the game was initially before you get hold of an infinite durability T-51b Power Armour (think the unofficial patch fixed that) or the utterly broken Chinese Stealth Suit.

Point Lookout is a no go area for low levels unless you've already got to grips with the game. The enemies mostly get +x damage boosts to every hit they land which is ridiculous at max level with high damage resistance never mind low level. Entering the mansion primary quest would almost certainly mean you'd never finish it without cheating.

Don't bother with mods (except maybe the Darnified UI) if you've not played it before. Its best to get to grips with the game before you start modding it if only to appreciate what it changes. Plus a lot of the biggest mods change the game quite drastically from vanilla. Once you've got 1 character under your belt just search for the "Best FO3 Mods" thead here somewhere. Things from massive balance overhauls and variations/ additions of enemies to extra areas and modified weather.
 
His is the rder I did them:

Vanilla > Broken Steel > The Pitt > Operation Anchorage > Point Lookout > Mothership Zeta
 
Bought this too and I'm investigating the radio broadcast quest. Seem to be dying frequently. Should I be doing this quest yet? The gun I have from the vault seems very underpowered and what with all the dogs I'm running out of ammo.

Any tips for starting out?
 
Do the vault section and then head to Megaton wander around chatting, pick up a few quests there and this opens up several more map locations for you, I would totally ignore the DLC missions for the time being if you've only just started the game.
 
Evilsod said:
Install and activate (they should be by default anyway) all of them. Broken Steel especially causes crashes if you install it once you hit lvl20. The others it won't make any difference though. But Operation Anchorage in particular is very easy for low level characters but it gives you access to several overpowered items really early in the game and its not a good idea to play it before you hit the lvl20-30 region on a first playthrough. Its better to get to grips with how the game was initially before you get hold of an infinite durability T-51b Power Armour (think the unofficial patch fixed that) or the utterly broken Chinese Stealth Suit.

Point Lookout is a no go area for low levels unless you've already got to grips with the game. The enemies mostly get +x damage boosts to every hit they land which is ridiculous at max level with high damage resistance never mind low level. Entering the mansion primary quest would almost certainly mean you'd never finish it without cheating.

Don't bother with mods (except maybe the Darnified UI) if you've not played it before. Its best to get to grips with the game before you start modding it if only to appreciate what it changes. Plus a lot of the biggest mods change the game quite drastically from vanilla. Once you've got 1 character under your belt just search for the "Best FO3 Mods" thead here somewhere. Things from massive balance overhauls and variations/ additions of enemies to extra areas and modified weather.
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thanks for such a detailed reply, i think i may aswell play through the original game before going onto the dlc content then just incase it makes it too easy/simple.
ill give the mods a total miss for now too.
for disabling the dlc then, do i just need to untick the 5 boxes in the first menu screen?
 
Fair point :cool:

But leave Broken Steel on. I can see why activating that after level 20 could cause issues, and there's no quest you'll run into before you're ready for it.
 
Hudzy said:
Don't disable them. You can just ignore them in-game till an appropriate time.
Click to expand...



All require you to go to a particular place (except Broken Steel which requires you to finish the MQ). The only one you can start by accident is Mothership Zeta, and once in you're stuck. You can retreat from Point Lookout and The Pitt (only at certain points in the latter), but not Anchorage. All except Broken Steel show messages on your Pipboy.


M
 
i just reinstalled this on steam so i can finally complete the game (stop and started many times before) to be honest you should definatley get darnified ui and im using a mod that doubles the pipboy light range, i have one more mod that adds 100 songs from the 1930s to GNR because the stock 20 songs now get on my nerves and thats it, tbh darnified is a must have mod though.
 
Semiskimmed said:
but if theyre just quests how will i know what to ignore and what not to :D
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Its pretty obvious which are the DLC quests and which aren't, if you've ever played Oblivion you'll know what i mean... Basically if it pops up randomly in your pipboy either at the start of the game or the moment you exit the Vault, ignore it. The only quest you should start with is Following in His Footsteps taking you to Megaton.

Well unless you were using an alternative start mod :p
 
Dutch Guy said:
His is the rder I did them:

Vanilla > Broken Steel > The Pitt > Operation Anchorage > Point Lookout > Mothership Zeta
Click to expand...

HERETIC!

I seem to be the only person alive who really liked Zeta :(

For me it's Vanilla > Broken Steel > Zeta > The Pitt > Lookout > Anchorage.
 
Fallout 3 Nexus has a lot of community based mods, and a lot of pretty cool stuff. I found an armory mod lol, Ive never seen so many guns in one game before, well except for Arma 2?

And also you can pick up save game files, i know this sounds a little noobish, but some times if you repeat going through the first part of the game it gets a little annoying. Like if you uninstall the game and the your save file.
 
Fenris said:
HERETIC!

I seem to be the only person alive who really liked Zeta :(

For me it's Vanilla > Broken Steel > Zeta > The Pitt > Lookout > Anchorage.
Click to expand...

Zeta was definitely better than Anchorage. Just for the comedy if nothing else.

My only real tip for the first time player.... is to pick up EVERYTHING which has cash value, and then sell it to the shops/traders. It really helps if you're a low level character to have some money. Later on you can get more picky and only take valuable items.
 
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