Fallout 3

Episode

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross set Fallout 3 on fire.

Watch Out for Fireballs episode 117, 118 and 119 are about the PC game Fallout 3. Episode 117 covers the generalities of the game, and the main quest line. Episode 118 covers the side quests, while Episode 119 covers all of the downloadable content for the game.

Part 1: Main Quest

Skit

(1:03-4:37) Gary, in the middle of a battlefield gets saved by the someone and really does not want to talk to him.

Summary

(5:33-33:38) Introductions and explaining how the coverage of Fallout 3 will be split in to parts. They explain the basics about Fallout 3, including the story, gameplay and brief history of Fallout. They also talk about how this game is pretty much the Bethesda template. They go in to some detail, but still talking generalities, about the Capital Wasteland and about the combat. They also talk about basics of the skills and abilities.

(33:54-52:58) Kole asks Gary about FO4 and the dialogue system/checks. Gary laments about how bad the Fallout 4 dialogue system is. They talk more about the Fallout 3 dialogue system, the voice acting and how they don't really like how everything is voiced. They talk about the collectible Bobbleheads in the game and that the collectors edition came with a Vault-Tech Bobblehead. Gary starts talking about the morality and Karma systems. Gary tells a story about how he had a friend who wrote a story about meeting the "God of Neutrality." They go on to talk about how the companions are not that good. Gary mentions how he lost Dogmeat and says he resurrected him, but Dogmeat was not the same, as if it were Pet Semetary.

(53:00-55:00) Kole begins to talk about some of the controversies surrounding Fallout 3. Such as Australia not approving of Med-X formally being called "Morphine", India not liking how they named the cows "Brahman." and Japan was sensitive about blowing up towns and the use of Nukes. Kole mentions how Fallout 3 isn't optimized well, specifically mentioning the PS3 version, where it is known to lock up, which was a common problem with Bethesda games on PS3.

(55:10-1:08:20) Gary starts talking about how there is a section of internet that really hates Fallout 3 (and by extension other modern Fallout games) just because they are not Fallout 1, or Fallout 2. Kole mentions how Fallout 3 was his first Fallout game. Gary talks about how he used to defend Fallout 3s honor and how dumb it was to defend a games honor. Kole mentions how he is a little worried about the response they will get, as he will praise things about Fallout 3 that others hated. Gary talks about his security in talking about how he feels about the game. They talk more about comparing the Bethesda writing and world building to how previous Fallouts were. They agree that Fallout 3s writing is much worse than Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. Gary even says Fallout: Tactics, even though it was trying to strip away story stuff, has a more interesting Brotherhood of Steel than Fallout 3 does.

(1:09:03-1:21:28) Kole begins to go in depth about the plot. They also start talking about the prologue. They talk a bit about the lore and how the Vaults were designed for experimentation. Gary jokes about making a ding noise every time he says something positive about Fallout 3. He begins by saying how he likes the character creation and how you start the game as an infant. They talk about how its strange how Butch and the Tunnel Snakes have leather jackets and the persona of a greaser, when there's no real reason they should even have knowledge of that stuff. Gary and Kole agree on thinking the G.O.A.T test you have to take to determine your stats is fun and funny.

(1:21:29-1:23:55) They start talking about their builds and start the game proper by exiting the Vault. Gary says he is roleplaying as "Butcher Pete" (referencing one of the licensed songs they put in the game.). He is a melee character, who becomes a cannibal and is evil. Kole says he went with, what they call on The Level as, the Duckfeed Standard. Which is small firearms, talking and science. He is also playing a Good character. Gary actually recommends playing more like Kole did and says his build is more shallow.

(1:24:08-1:39:55) They begin to talk about the main story quests, starting with the first quest "Following in his Footsteps", leading to the town of Megaton. They mention the Eyebots and how they like them and the design of them. They talk about the flaw in not restricting Three Dogs dialogue to stuff you have not heard, as him repeating himself gets old, quick. They both mention how they love the soundtrack. They say that the licensed music and the OST are both good. They mention how strange it is that no one has recorded new music, as they have the technology to do it. Gary and Kole both dislike the Downtown portion of the map.

(1:40:16-2:14:20) They begin talking about doing the quest they got from Three Dog to help him expand his radio broadcast across the Wasteland. Gary says that its a cool idea to show all these iconic statues and buildings from American History to be destroyed. They start the next main quest, "Scientific Pursuits." Gary finds it funny that the pull quote on the Fallout wiki for Rivet City is "Welcome to Rivet City, please wait while the bridge extends." Kole mentions how he likes that robots have no real conception of time. They talk about how they like the execution of the Tranquility Lane segment of hte game. And then talk about how the survivors in the towns REALLY need to clean up all these God dammed skeletons! Gary mentions how he likes to use console commands on PC to make himself super tiny when he was going on his murder spree as the Pint Sized Slasher. Gary and Kole criticize how, even when you're the worst person who murders everyone and has the lowest/most evil karma, your dad does not seem to care. They also criticize how the Brotherhood of Steel is horribly written.

(2:14:37-2:25:53) They start talking about Little Lamplight. Kole talks about how he went in to Paradise Falls and just killed everyone that was a Raider. Gary mentions how the area called "Murder Row" isn't actually that bad. They start the quest "Finding the Garden of Eden." Gary criticizes the Super Mutants for being so much less interesting than they were in Fallout 1, turning from a race of people trying to figure out how to make radiation resistant humans, to re-skinned orcs.

(2:26:08-2:32:32) Kole says this the ending of Fallout 3 is like the end of Fallout 2. Gary also mentions a lot of the story beats Fallout 3 does well is because it is almost the exact same thing from Fallout 2.

(2:32:58-2:47:21) They start talking about the ending. They complain about how you don't have to do anything at the end and Liberty Prime does all the work. They also criticize that Liberty Prime doesn't really feel like Fallout and is kind of out of place. Gary mentions how he, again, uses console commands to shrink Liberty Prime down. They go on to criticize almost, if not all, of the ending.

(2:47:45-2:54:37) Closing thoughts, for now. Kole says they are holding off saying their thoughts, because they think the main quest is always the weakest part of a Bethesda game. They go on with admin stuff, and talk about the next parts of the Fallout 3 episodes.

(2:55:31-2:55:59) Outtake of Rors being a bad kitty!

Show Notes

David and Goliath and Foreskins
Yaddle. Star Wars, ugh
Pet Semetary
Van Buren
Teenage Dirtbags Episode in question
Liam Neesons
The Real Life Colin Moriarity
Speedrun
It's a good life
Monster Factory

Music

Main Title
A Wonderful Guy
Behemoth
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire
Gotta Start Somewhere
Anything Goes
Tranquility Lane
Ashes and Sand
Battle Hymn of the Republic
->Not sure what song plays at 2:32:33 If you find it, put it in place of this text.<-
Let's Go Sunning

Part 2: Side Quests

Episode

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross meander through the side quests of Fallout 3.

Skit

(0:38-3:35) In a recording studio where Gary pretends to be "The Ink Spots" where Gary just keeps singing/talking about food. It is revealed to be a Vault, but also not a Vault just a shed.

Summary

(4:25-7:13) Introductions and explaining what the episode will have.

(7:14-34:34) They start by talking about the side quest "Waste;land Survival Guide". Gary mentions how he likes the first combat dungeon, Super Duper Mart, is great because it feels like a real place. They go on to talk about the other parts of the quest and talk about why Moira wants you to do these specific things. Kole talks about how he likes the tension of hearing the beeping of mines and having to quickly disarm them.

(34:51-42:18) They start talking about the side quests "The Power of the Atom." Gary blew up Megaton and Kole defused the bomb. Gary talks about how its weird they put a character that requires a lot of bad karma to be a companion in Megaton, as you will probably blow up Megaton if you're a bad character.

(42:19-46:41) They begin talking about the next side quest "Those!" (Reference to the old movie "Them!") Neither Kole or Gary are fond of this side quest. Kole mentions how a big problem involves hit boxes and the fire attacks of the Fire Ants.

(46:42-52:20) Gary starts talking about the side quest "Tenpenny Tower". He sided with the humans, saying it was more for a gameplay reasons, as it offers more and better shop merchants. Gary does also talk about the other outcomes of the mission, if you side with the Ghouls. Gary also talks about owning a home in the game and some of the mechanics of that.

(52:21-56:43) Kole starts talking about the side quest "Agatha's Song". They both think the quests pretty cool. They like how you get a radio station for completing the quest. They talk about the Vault that you have to go to and the lore behind it.

(57:03-1:06:14) Gary starts talking about the side quest "Blood ties". Gary says he doesn't like it as much as he used to. Gary thinks its weird how cannibals are treated in Fallout 3.

(1:06:15-1:11:53) Kole starts talking about the side quest "The Replicated Man". Gary says he likes how this does a pretty good job of planting the seed and setting up Fallout 4.

(1:11:55-1:16:13) Gary starts talking about the side quest "The Super Human Gambit". Gary says he likes the way it sounds on paper, but find its kind of boring in execution. Gary likes how you find out who the Ant-agonizer actually is.

(1:16:15-1:22:10) Kole starts talking about "Big Trouble in Big Town". Kole describes it as a "wet fart that brought friends". Kole goes on to describe the specifics of the mission. Neither Kole or Gary really like this mission, at all.

(1:22:32-1:26:25) Gary starts talking about the side quest "Trouble on the Homefront". Gary goes on to talk about the specifics of the mission. Gary thinks Butch is the most interesting part of the mission. Gary says this mission is kind of a wet fart.

(1:26:26-1:30:44) Kole starts talking about "Riley's Rangers" side quest. Kole talks about specifics. Both Gary and Kole think the mission is pretty boring and generic. And neither of them care much for Riley, or her Rangers.

(1:30:46-1:35:04) Gary starts talking about the side quest "Strictly Business". Gary thinks this is one of the most mechanically sound missions, though it is one of the worst missions, morally. Gary explains how it can be pretty tricky to get two out of the four people enslaved, sue to the population density. He thinks the mission is pretty fun. Kole says "Strictly Business" is probably the only quest in Fallout 3 he has never done.

(1:35:12-1:41:47) Kole starts talking about the side quest "Stealing Independence". Kole explains how he really like Abraham Washington and his performance. He goes in to specifics about the mission and how it can be a very long dungeon, or a very short hallway, depending on skills. Kole thinks the quest is quite fun. Gary talks about an alternate way to complete the quest.

(1:41:48-1:46:16) Gary starts talking about the side quest "Head of State", which is kind of the dark half of "Stealing Independence". Gary mentions other ways to complete the quest, but since he is evil, he brought the slaves to the slavers. hey talk about a couple of alternate ways to complete the mission and some misc. location stuff about Deathclaws and a special kind of armor that injects you with Med-X when combat starts.

(1:46:44-1:52:11) Kole starts talking about the side quest "Oasis". Gary says he remembers liking it, but did not do it on this play through. Kole says the quest is really great, partly because it is a change of scenery. Kole goes on about the specifics. Kole completed the quest by killing him via destroying his heart. He also talks about the other ways to complete the quest. Gary explains how Harold was in previous Fallouts and how him becoming a tree wasn't necessarily the outcome, but it was an interesting way of finishing off his story.

(1:52:13-1:57:47) Gary starts talking about the side quest "You gotta Shoot 'em in the Head". Which Gary describes as a "really great quest". Gary describes part of the mission as a nightmare, due to having to follow the quest giver through the wasteland. Gary likes the story being told int his mission and Kole also finds it interesting. Gary goes on tot alk abit about the other ways to complete the mission.

(1:59:27-2:08:47) Gary brings up he forgot to talk about the side quest "The Nuka-Cola Challenge". He talks about the specific of the mission. But, now they talk about random locations. Specifically Vaults. They start with Vault 106, which is a more horror themed area. This Vault is about people being experimented on with hallucinogens. Vault 108 is the next Vault that Gary talks about. This Vault is full of Garys! This Vault is full of clones that literally just say Gary. They tart wrapping up their thoughts on the side quests. They talk about the next episode, which will be about DLCs. The rest is pretty much admin stuff.

2:09:41-2:10:06) deleted scene of Kole singing about the water he got.

Show Notes

Whomp
Mr Fischoeder
Look at those ants
That's a good boy
Apt Pupil
Mr Show Button

Music

Butcher Pete
Ambush
Bach's Sonata Number 2 - Grave
Way Back Home
Yankee Doodle Dandy
->CANT FIND THE SONG THAT PLAYS AT 1:46:17!<-
Never Surrender

Part 3: DLC

Episode

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross expand upon the DLC expansions for Fallout 3.

Skit

(0:24-3:24) Gary, impersonating Three Dog talking about "DLC Bloat" and its effect ont he economy. Kole plays an "institute economics expert".

Summary

(4:47-6:14) Introductions and explaining what the episode will have in it. This is the first episode where they talk about DLC. They played all the DLCs previously, but for the episode they split the DLCs to cover.

(6:15-26:42) They start by talking about the DLC "Broken Steel". They cover this DLC first, because it is directly connected to the vanilla game and addresses problems about the ending. Gary mentions how he likes that video games can correct mistakes they made in a released product thanks to DLC. Kole and Gary both like the level cap increase, as well as the perks that were added in between level 20 and level 30. Gary criticizes that the DLC disregards if you were a good character, or a bad character. Gary poisoned Project Purity and it has no effect on the story. Gary says the side quests for the DLC are pretty OK, but the main quest is lacking. They criticize the bullet spongey-ness of the higher level creatures.

(27:03-49:10) Kole begins to talk about the DLC "Operation Anchorage". This was the first DLC that was actually released. Kole and Gary think this DLC is strange because it feels like a different game and is not even connected to Fallout 3 proper. Gary points out that this is the easiest DLC to play at a low level and this makes it very easy to break the game early on, sue to the rewards from this DLC. Kole calls the first half of the DLC fun. Kole calls the final boss of this area anti-climactic.

(59:35-1:09:24) Gary starts talking about the DLC "Mothership Zeta|. He calls it "The worst piece of Fallout branded content, other than the PS2 game." Both of them criticize making the existence of aliens canon, where as in the other games they were just an Easter egg. Gary and Kole agree nt he most interesting thing about this DLC being the "people out of time" portion. But, the characters don't really have a story,a side from Elliot.

(1:09:49-1:26:29) Kole starts talking about the DLC "The Pitt". Kole says The Pitt has the highest highs and lowest lows. Kole talks about how the Auto-Axe is the most powerful melee weapon, even if you don't have a melee build it is powerful. Gary mentions how he likes when games add babies to your inventory. Gary describes this DLC as "top tier for Fallout 3", not top tier for other games in general.

(1:26:53-2:24:47) They start talking about the DLC "Point Lookout". Gary describes this area as the hardest content in Fallout 3. Gary talks about how he likes when games make you defend a central location with traps. he also mentions how the degenerate humans you fight are effectively creepy. Gary and Kole both praise the hallucination scene. They bring up the Dunwich building, which is their favorite non-quest area in the game. They start talking about closing thoughts on Fallout 3 and what they are doing next. They also do admin stuff.

(2:25:39-2:26:11) Deleted scene of Gary slammin' Grahams. and other Graham talk.

Show Notes

Anton Chiguhr
Fatal Attractions
Ebert Hate
Zapruder Film
End of B$M
The Troggs
Whirligig
Gruber
Trouble Man
Grizzly Man
Madea
Medea

Music

Civilization
Curb your Enthusiasm
-> Not sure what song plays at 26:41<-
Dear Hearts and Gentle People
Mighty Mighty Man
Rhythm for You

Extrasode

Gary Butterfield and Kole Ross read your responses to Fallout 3.

Summary

(0:14-1:22) Introductions. Kole explains how he split all the responses in to "pro", "Ambivalent", and "Anti". And a special section called "New Ways to Play".

(1:23-17:32) These are the "pro" responses. There are five total pro responses, all from the Contact page.

(17:33-34:39) These are the "Ambivalent" responses. There are five total responses for this section, all of them are from the Contact page.

(34:40-49:39) These are the "Negative" responses. There are five responses in this section, all from the Contacts page.

(49:54-54:00) These are the "New Ways to Play" responses, about playing Fallout 3 in a weird, or uncommon way. There are two responses in this section.

(54:01-55:32) This is closing and what they're doing next. As well as Admin stuff.

Responses

(1:23-2:51) Kole didnt take note about who wrote this in. The response is about Gob, the Ghoul.

Pro Responses

(2:52-4:41) Peter, via Contact. Peter describes how he doesn't play the game for the story, but the exploration. And Gary and Kole agree.

(4:42-6:57) Joe, via Contact. Joe explains why he likes the main plot. He also explains some of the other highs of the game that he liked. Gary explains how he grades on a curve as a fan of the series.

(6:58-12:12) Sean, via Contact. He explains when he first played Fallout 3 and why he loves it. Kole explains how Fallout 3 is a great game to get in to environmental story telling. They talk a bit about Oblivion and how it hold sup, a bit.

(12:13-15:32) Michael via Contact. He explains how Fallout 3 was his introduction to WRPGs and how "interesting side quests" was not a thing before he played the game.

(15-33-17:32) Steven, via Contact. He explains how he experienced doubt if an enemy was hostile, or if he just killed him and was a monster. Which turned n to him talking about how he liked the fact that the game made him wonder if the enemy was hostile, or if he (Steven) was just a little trigger happy. Gary explains how, even though Fallout 3 executes this the worst, the fact that it introduces a lot of people to the idea is praise worthy in and of itself.

Ambivalent Responses

(17:33-19:19) Brian, via Contact. He says he wasn't to happy about Fallout 3 as a Fallout game. But, he says as a post-apocalyptic survival game, he is glad Bethesda continued the series. Gary talks about a mod for New Vegas that makes the "survival" aspect emphasized, greatly.

(19:18-25:16) Sam, via Contact. Says that Fallout 3 has poor writing, specifically about the story and mainly about the ending. Kole mentions Dragon Age: Inquisition as an offender of not knowing its ending, until it ends. Gary brings up his example, is RAGE, by id Software. They talk a lot about possible future plans for WOFF! episodes.

(25:20-28:27) Lori, via Contact. Explains how she was not a Fallout fan and decided to play Fallout 3 when Gary and Kole said they'd do it for the show. Explains how Fallout 3 is a good game, but New Vegas does it better.

(28:28-31:28) Joe, via Contact. Says New Vegas is better than Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 is also better. Kole jokes about Silent Hill fans and Fallout fans "deserve each other".

(23:29-34:39) Tim, via Contact. Explains how Fallout 3 does exploration and dungeon crawling well. Thinks the "Pitt" DLC is probably the highest point of story telling in Fallout 3. He does not think so favorably of the main story, though.

Negative Responses

(34:40-36:40) Danny, via Contact. He says the game is the only game that made him fall asleep at 3pm, on a Saturday. He didn't play it for awhile after that, and when he tried again he still could not get in to it.

(36:43-39:35) [I don't know this name, sorry :(] via Contact. Says they could only play 20 hours before giving up and playing Phantom Pain, instead. Gary disagrees with them, on the fact that Fallout 3 has too many quests, and says that Skyrim is the worst offender.

(39:36-43:36) Gordon, via Contact. He thinks Fallout 3 is straight up a bad game. He has a big problem with the map design, as well. He claims the only good point of Fallout 3 is the overworld, which is interesting to wander around.

(43:37-46:00) Davide, via Contact. Says he agrees with all of the criticism they pointed out in the main episodes.

(46:02-49:39) Morty, via Contact. Says he didnt like the game at all. Pretty much complains about everything in the game. Literally everything.

New Ways to Play

(49:54-52:26) Ben, via Contact. He talks about how he played an "Unarmed" build.

(52:27-54:00) Lotus says they played the "Tale of Two Wastelands" mod.

Outtakes

There are no out takes for this episode.

Show Notes

Gabagool
Environmental Storytelling
Davide's Game
Tale of Two Wastelands

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