Fallout 3 Virgin

Frame352

Frame352

Frame352

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What do I need to know in advance?

Essentially, I'm going to be starting Fallout 3 in the next day or two and I'm wondering if there are any key things I should know before hand as regards mission sequence, levelling up etc.

For example, is levelling handled in the same way as Oblivion, and if so, do enemies level simulataneously?

What about completion of the main quest... can I continue playing after, or should I mess around with side quests first?

Basically, if you can give any advice based on your own experiences playing vanilla FO3, without obviously giving away any spoilers, I'd be most grateful!
 
Leveling is much more sensible than oblivion. You don't have to grind skills to ensure you get the maximum number of skill points.

At the beginning you set your basic stats (called SPECIAL), these are your strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck.

The number of points you get at each level up is based ont the intelligence trait...... so on your first playthrough you'll want to put lots of points in that catagory. Charisma is the least useful, so take points away from that (it's fine to have 1-2 charisma).

The points you're given are allocated to the different skills (guns, mellee, lockpicking, etc etc). On your first playthrough you'll want put lots of points into the "small guns" skill, as they're the easiest weapons to find and use.

There is some very subtle leveling up for the enemies, but it's not silly like oblivion. You won't find bandits wearing daedric armour. Generally there are low-level areas and high-level areas. You find them mostly by trial and error. Sometimes an area will appear too difficult, so you'll have to come back later on once you're on a higher level or find some better weapons.

As long as you have the Broken steel DLC you can continue after the main quest. Without it, the end of the main quest ends the game.


So. to summarise, take points from charisma and add them to intelligence, and small guns is the best combat skill to level up on your first playthrough (or maybe mellee). Ignore big guns or energy weapons to begin with as they're hard to find, and don't worry about leveling up your character "wrong" like in oblivion.
 
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To add to what jimbob said...

Big Guns is next to useless on a vanilla FO3, only an absolutely dedicated character with Barter will have the cash to spend on ammo to have enough to use them properly. Don't even bother with it bar picking up a Fat Man.
Energy Weapons are semi-viable but really expensive and unless you know where to go they too will be practically useless to you.
Barter in vanilla is pretty pointless. You can easily get lots of caps and your ammo is fairly common and cheap (for most small guns) that any ammo you do need to buy like .44 Magnum is easily affordable.
Sniper Rifles really aren't as good as you might like them to be. Even though all game information says they have no spread they sure as hell don't hit where you point it.
Lincolns Repeater is the single best gun in the game. Perfect accuracy and very high damage. Find it and have its babies.
Even if you don't use melee, keep 1 handy (everyone loves a Shishkebab) since it lets you kill off weak stuff without wasting ammo.
Sneak doesn't have much effect until you get to around 60-70, then you really start to notice a difference.

Most of all expect to be killed frequently towards the start of the game. It doesn't take much to kill you when your only weapons are a 9mm pistol and a baseball bat.

Once you feel like changing, add FWE and everything it suggests like MMM. Automatic weapons are actually worth using then and there is nothing quite like swapping to a Minigun and mowing down enemies. I have fond memories of starting a sneaking small guns char and having to avoid the school like the plague, then starting a big guns char beginning with Power Armour and going round the school like death incarnate, picking up enemies dropped weapons and killing others with that.
 
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