Fallout 3's objects feel out of place

[Tiny Tim]

it's one of the main problems for me. Stuff like burned books in every house, skeletons and barred windows make sense logically and aesthetically in bethesda's dc but not so much in the mojave. Anyone agree?
I wish there was a mod that would somehow clean them up.

 

[Prone Squanderer]

it's one of the main problems for me. Stuff like burned books in every house, skeletons and barred windows make sense logically and aesthetically in bethesda's dc but not so much in the mojave. Anyone agree?
I wish there was a mod that would somehow clean them up.

I see what you mean but to some extent I disagree. DC should have cleaned up by some degree after 200 years. I've never been bothered much by ruined/burned books in the Mojave and the skeletons are mostly in the desert.

 

[Ediros]

Although, you have got a point Prone Squander there is something I would like to notice.

Burned books make sense in areas such as NCRF where they are treated as a fuel.

The problem is that there are too many burned books. We lack any new books and some that were not damaged that much or are pre-war. It is mostly due to time constraints and bethesda/zenimax.

Besides that many elements make a lot of sense.

 

[Prone Squanderer]

Although, you have got a point Prone Squander there is something I would like to notice.

Burned books make sense in areas such as NCRF where they are treated as a fuel.

The problem is that there are too many burned books. We lack any new books and some that were not damaged that much or are pre-war. It is mostly due to time constraints and bethesda/zenimax.

Besides that many elements make a lot of sense.

That's a fair point, I just didn't think much about the books before. I bet now when I replay New Vegas I'm going to start noticing books everywhere.

 

[Risewild]

barred windows make sense logically and aesthetically in bethesda's dc but not so much in the mojave. Anyone agree?

I think that barred/boarded windows and doors make no sense in DC... Who went around boarding houses after the bombs fell? At least in the Mojave since it wasn't that affected by bombs it could have been residents of the house that moved or some one that thought the house wasn't safe so boarded it up or something.

The problem is that there are too many burned books. We lack any new books and some that were not damaged that much or are pre-war. It is mostly due to time constraints and bethesda/zenimax.

And that is why my first mod ever was a book mod for TTW, it has more than 200 new pre-war books (real world ones), contains a re-skin for the skill books (made by me and trying to keep the original feeling) and added 10 different magazines issues (also re-skins but from real world magazines) for eachone of the FNV magazines. It also has more variation of burned/ruined books too (I still want to make more but I have been busy for ages with other stuff). It also randomize the books and has a MCM for picking options (for example if the player wants some pre-war books to be replaced by skill books dependent of character Luck skill).

EDIT: Damn. I can't show off my pics of that mod because they are hosted on the TTW server and we don't allow direct linking anymore. It was making the site really slow in the past because everyone and their grandmas were direct linking stuff from out site.
Oh well I will put one pic that I had on my tinypic album instead:

Spoiler: Showing Off

 

[Jogre]

I'd say they could perhaps have organised it all a little better. Like perhaps used full-working toilets instead of smashed up ones in towns like Goodsprings, but as was mentioned before, time constraints.

That being said, I think that Obsidian worked really well with what they had.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

Making the number of items needed for such a large open world game would take fucking ages, even with FO3/NV's simplistic graphics (in comparison to, say, Crysis).

NV was gimped because it had so little available development time, so much had to be cut, cancelled, and overall the game was hurt by Bethesda being a fucking asshole as usual.

It should be noted that for each of the DLC, obsidian added whole new environments, which goes to show you that with enough time, they could have made so much more in terms of items and vanilla stuff.

FO3 is just...Weird...Why is there so damned many skeletons (more in Fallout 4), why are there teleporting behemoths who fap to teddy bears, why is there corpses in places which makes no sense for any bandit?

 

[CT Phipps]

FO3 is just...Weird...Why is there so damned many skeletons (more in Fallout 4), why are there teleporting behemoths who fap to teddy bears, why is there corpses in places which makes no sense for any bandit?

They're not bandits they're raiders. You put the corpses up for intimidation value and because they've degenerated into cannibalistic animals. They don't want your possessions, not really. They want to kill you because you're not them and you've wandered into their territory. They're how people would really act versus all puppies and kittens. No, destroy what is different and EAT IT.

 

[Tiny Tim]

ok, i have to clarify that i wasn't claiming F3's world generally makes sense ( and definitely wasn't comparing it to NV). However, it has some themes going on and one of them is the apocalypse and how civilization is in ruins, basically frozen at the moment that the bombs fell. Which, we all know is silly

DC should have cleaned up by some degree after 200 years.

of course. This isn't 5 years after a zombie apocalypse but 200 years after a nuclear apocalypse and things really shouldn't have stayed frozen and yet we have, for example, untouched food products in the selves of the supermarkets that apparently no one looted in two centuries (wtf). But it is what it is. The houses and stores are empty and ruined and there are burned books and skeletons and shit. No one bothered to clean up or built something new, because the world is in the aftermath of the apocalypse and somehow never recovered at all ( again, this is stupid but it's the main theme of the game).

I think that barred/boarded windows and doors make no sense in DC... Who went around boarding houses after the bombs fell?

I always assumed that the people barred them during the war or immediately after the bombs, because nothing new really happened in F3 in the post war period and the houses appear to never have been inhabited by anyone after their original owners died in their beds or bathtubs ( again this is stupid.. ) .





So, anyway, this is the main aesthetic theme of F3- the world "ended" and we're stuck in the ruins of the 50s old world- so i don't mind that there are ruined objects everywhere, in fact whatever charm the game has lies in those "cool" goofy nihilist things .
But, in Fallout NV, where the world isn't goofy or gloomy, those objects seem odd. Ruined books in Novac, Nipton or Primm houses where people live normally? Skeletons in the Bison Steve, which from what i understand was working for a while? You'd think people would clean up the houses where they live from 200 year old junk and fix their smashed toilet sits. I know obsidian had little time to make their world and took many objects from F3, but like i said some minor stuff feel out of place to me. I wish there was a mod that would remove bethesda's objects.

 

[Prone Squanderer]

Skeletons in the Bison Steve, which from what i understand was working for a while?

I was originally going to mention that in my reply. The only skeleton I can recall is the bath one with the Med-X (or is it Psycho?) around it. The only plausible explanation could be it was someone who died after the hotel owner left, but I've always thought it was implied to be a Pre-War skeleton and so it doesn't make much sense.

 

[CT Phipps]

So, anyway, this is the main aesthetic theme of F3- the world "ended" and we're stuck in the ruins of the 50s old world- so i don't mind that there are ruined objects everywhere, in fact whatever charm the game has lies in those "cool" goofy nihilist things .
But, in Fallout NV, where the world isn't goofy or gloomy, those objects seem odd. Ruined books in Novac, Nipton or Primm houses where people live normally? Skeletons in the Bison Steve, which from what i understand was working for a while? You'd think people would clean up the houses where they live from 200 year old junk and fix their smashed toilet sits. I know obsidian had little time to make their world and took many objects from F3, but like i said some minor stuff feel out of place to me. I wish there was a mod that would remove bethesda's objects.

It was one of my big regrets there was no Raider option for the Mojave. You had Caesar's Legion which wants to rebuild the world, a major reason why they had to be stopped. I like the world just the way it is. No Kings, no Masters, just the Gun.

Bwhahahahaha.

 

[R.Graves]

It was one of my big regrets there was no Raider option for the Mojave. You had Caesar's Legion which wants to rebuild the world, a major reason why they had to be stopped. I like the world just the way it is. No Kings, no Masters, just the Gun.

Bwhahahahaha.

My biggest problem is I couldn't give the securitron army to whoever I want. Especially the BOS. Seems like something they'd fucking want. And how come veronica never once suggests doing that?

 

[SpookyBees]

I never saw anything in the Mojave that looked like it was out of place. Obsidian did a great job using the assets, but that's really just my opinion.

 

[Tiny Tim]

Yeah, it did. There's no denying that. It's very minor things, like the ones i mentioned, that bothered me a tiny bit.


About the securitron army, i did think the same when i first played the game ( the ncr would certainly have a use for it in battle) but it's a gameplay thing. If you gave it to either faction and then somehow pissed them off, you'd be locked out of all endings. Having the wild card was a brilliant touch, in my opinion.

 

[cordelionreaver]

There is ransom note in the Bison Steve Hotel that seems to be pre-war.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ransom_note

I suppose you could argue that the note is referring to NCR money.

 

[Big No]

I think that barred/boarded windows and doors make no sense in DC... Who went around boarding houses after the bombs fell? At least in the Mojave since it wasn't that affected by bombs it could have been residents of the house that moved or some one that thought the house wasn't safe so boarded it up or something.

Apparently there were riots, looting and such after the Great War. After the two hour exchange, it's not like everyone just vanished. Presumably the boarded up doors would be used to keep out looters and rioters.

 

[Ediros]

Apparently there were riots, looting and such after the Great War. After the two hour exchange, it's not like everyone just vanished. Presumably the boarded up doors would be used to keep out looters and rioters.

Still 200 years after Great War someone should have moved in or looted the place.

In New Vegas we have got a few boarded buildings here and there, which most likely were never finished due to time constraints and such.

However, Fallout 3 should be set like 20 years after Great War, get rid of Enclave, Little Lamplight, Megaton, Arefu and you get a decent world that does not break canon.

As it is, Fallout 3 makes little sense with supplies, skeletons, boarded houses and many other things.

 

[Risewild]

Apparently there were riots, looting and such after the Great War. After the two hour exchange, it's not like everyone just vanished. Presumably the boarded up doors would be used to keep out looters and rioters.

But Washington DC was one of the most bombed places in the USA, I doubt anyone outside of Vaults would have survived in the area and the radiation would be so bad no one would be able to live there for decades after the apocalypse happened. So unless most people in the USA capital boarded their houses before the bombs fell I can't see how they would do it after the bombs.
Also Washington was under heavy police, military and even private protection (as we can see from the military checkpoints and all the armories, military forts, national guard HQ and even from many of the factories and other large businesses there having lots of robot and turret automatic defense systems), I don't think the riots there would be as bad as in other areas of the USA.

And I still can't imagine why someone would board their own house... About riots I can understand boarding their windows, but also their doors? Where will they live if they can't get into or out their house, specially because it seems like the situation on the entire country (even on the whole world because of the resource wars and the great war) is even worst than in DC? We can't even say that the residents boarded the house before leaving to the Vaults because once the bombs started to fall everyone who believed it was happening rushed right away to the vaults or their own private shelters (which seems to have failed for most of them judging by all the skeletons and un-looted supplies we can find in all the Fallout 3 pre-war "shelters").

For example, in Fallout and Fallout 2 (can't remember about FO:T) we see no boarded houses at all because it makes no sense that there will be boarded houses like that (and people in those games have the means and skills to actually build and repair houses and stuff, so they could board a house if they wanted to).

 

[Big No]

But Washington DC was one of the most bombed places in the USA, I doubt anyone outside of Vaults would have survived in the area and the radiation would be so bad no one would be able to live there for decades after the apocalypse happened. So unless most people in the USA capital boarded their houses before the bombs fell I can't see how they would do it after the bombs.
Also Washington was under heavy police, military and even private protection (as we can see from the military checkpoints and all the armories, military forts, national guard HQ and even from many of the factories and other large businesses there having lots of robot and turret automatic defense systems), I don't think the riots there would be as bad as in other areas of the USA.

And I still can't imagine why someone would board their own house... About riots I can understand boarding their windows, but also their doors? Where will they live if they can't get into or out their house, specially because it seems like the situation on the entire country (even on the whole world because of the resource wars and the great war) is even worst than in DC? We can't even say that the residents boarded the house before leaving to the Vaults because once the bombs started to fall everyone who believed it was happening rushed right away to the vaults or their own private shelters (which seems to have failed for most of them judging by all the skeletons and un-looted supplies we can find in all the Fallout 3 pre-war "shelters").

For example, in Fallout and Fallout 2 (can't remember about FO:T) we see no boarded houses at all because it makes no sense that there will be boarded houses like that (and people in those games have the means and skills to actually build and repair houses and stuff, so they could board a house if they wanted to).

Really it all depends on how things went down honestly. We didn't get to see exactly what happened after the event so we can't say for certain there wasn't looting and rioting, even with heavy military presence. I'm just guessing that things got chaotic enough, even with the bomb detonations so close, that rioting was an issue that people felt was dangerous enough to warrant boarding up their homes.

It's possible the type of bomb played a role in how bad the rioting got, since the bombs used in the city are clearly not of the same type as ones used in Lonesome Road or at Vault 87. Their craters are much weaker and has less rads. Bad game design, probably, but I'm guessing IRL there's warheads weaker than others.

There's also the possibility that they were boarded up post-war. Settlers seeking shelter may have boarded up a building to keep an enemy inside or to keep resources secure while they leave to find more elsewhere, presumably dying in the process.

A lack of boarded up houses in the first two games could be art direction, BI not thinking about it or maybe like you said, not thinking it'd be good. Fallout 1 and 2 focus a lot on people rebuilding society and creating new communities like the NCR. Black Isle also wanted to give out a good RPG experience which could put their focus in other areas. Bethesda on the other hand went for a more "chaotic" wasteland look obviously, and houses having boards of wood haphazardly nailed into the door frame does give off a chaotic feeling, for me at least. These are just some ways I can think why BI didn't put them in barring your example.

 

[Risewild]

Really it all depends on how things went down honestly. We didn't get to see exactly what happened after the event so we can't say for certain there wasn't looting and rioting, even with heavy military presence. I'm just guessing that things got chaotic enough, even with the bomb detonations so close, that rioting was an issue that people felt was dangerous enough to warrant boarding up their homes.

Like I said before, I could understand boarding the windows because of riots, but why board your door? Where will you live if you can't get inside your house? Since we see the wooden boards are nailed on the outside of the house we know that who boarded it was also on the outside.

It's possible the type of bomb played a role in how bad the rioting got, since the bombs used in the city are clearly not of the same type as ones used in Lonesome Road or at Vault 87. Their craters are much weaker and has less rads. Bad game design, probably, but I'm guessing IRL there's warheads weaker than others.

Judging by the Megaton crater and radiation after we explode it, the white house being just a giant hole in the ground with a really deadly type of radiation, Vault 87 entrance (that you mentioned) was hit by one nuke and still the radiation will kill you almost instantly, most puddles on the ground will radiate you too. I would say that the radiation from the Nukes who hit Washington DC was quite deadly (this is also supported in game by showing that the Nukes used in the Fallout universe differ from ours because they don't seem to have such a powerful explosive power as real world ones [because wooden houses are still standing, some almost unscathed] but they are way more radioactive than the real world ones, because the radiation from it can still be felt in the environment after 200 years old and some places can still kill you in seconds if you walk into them). If you can die in minutes just by exploring ruins in DC after 200 years imagine how much radiation that city would have had after the bombs fell. I would say anyone walking in it would have died in seconds (like Vault 87 or the White House, 200 years after the bombs).

There's also the possibility that they were boarded up post-war. Settlers seeking shelter may have boarded up a building to keep an enemy inside or to keep resources secure while they leave to find more elsewhere, presumably dying in the process.

I don't think anyone could have boarded up around 5 windows and two doors (depending on the house) while an enemy was inside without the enemy coming out of the house, unless the enemy is bound in some way, but if it is bound already there is no point in going as far as boarding an entire house to keep the enemy there (it would be much easier to just keep the enemy bound or kill it right away).
Unless the enemy is some kind of critter that can't open doors, but then there is no point in boarding them since the critter can't open the door.

I really see no way why someone would board their house in Fallout 3 universe.

Boarding a large house like that will take hours and require a ladder or something else (if it has more than the ground floor).

Also I don't see the logic of someone thinking to themselves "I will look for more resources in the wastes, so I will now board up my house to keep my remaining resources safe until I return with more resources. It will only take an hour to do so and make a lot of noise by hammering these boards, attracting attention to me and my house, and it will take some time again once I return to un-board it again so I can go back inside while carrying more resources. Also I have to do this everytime I go out to scavenge."