Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 45: Fallout 3

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Todays game is Fallout 3. How would you rate the story on a scale of 1-10?

Previous Results:
Outer Wilds - 9.63 (20 votes)
Omori - 9.6 (5 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - 9.18 (33 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
Return of the Obra Dinn - 8.72 (9 votes)
Xenogears - 8.71 (23 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.65 (23 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.58 (12 votes)
Mass Effect 2 - 8.55 (26 votes)
Undertale - 8.53 (40 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.4 (5 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.38 (54 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.35 (18 votes)
Bloodborne - 8.27 (15 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.13 (39 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.1 (34 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.85 (30 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.8 (21 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.67 (27 votes)
Bioshock - 7.64 (23 votes)
Celeste - 7.52 (24 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.35 (28 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.26 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.24 (28 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (23 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7 (20 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (20 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.69 (16 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.62 (20 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.66 (30 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.6 (27 votes)
Valkyria Chronicles - 6.5 (16 votes)
DOOM (2016) - 6.25 (12 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.1 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.72 (29 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.26 (28 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 4.91 (11 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.91 (27 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.39 (14 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3.64 (14 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates (overall) - 3.45 (10 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation - 2.38 (8 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name><rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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3/10

Some side quests can be fun but mostly in a silly way, not in a 'that was actually good writing' way. Main story is bad.

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3

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I played like 70% of this and I don't think I could name a single (non-companion) character or story beat off the top of my head, so I won't score it, but if I did it would not get a good score.

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3
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I will join the chorus of 3s. Meh at best for most of its run. Hilariously bad ending.

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Nominate Majora's Mask

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Haven't played enough to rate.

Retro scores:

Bloodborne: 9
Doki Doki Literature Club: 8 - It's like Undertale but good lmao

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Sure, 3 sounds about right.

shoutouts to the original ending

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7/10

As a hook, there are worse premises than "finding your Dad in the apocalyptic wasteland". The problem is, there isn't a whole lot of drive to the story forward, at least early on. However, in its place is a textural richness of post-apocalyptic society, sprung up amd surrounded by the ruins of the centerpiece of democracy. The stories it tells in microcosms of twisted and maligned civilizations, who are making the most of the worst hand known to man, are uncannily strange, depressingly real, and exciting to live and breath in (as long as there's not too much radiation). From the depths of its ever horrifying social experiments (i.e. Vaults), to its natural sense of discovery & wonder as every bombed out building has its own story to tell, to its whimsy and creativity like a town made up of only children, or the return of Harold, Fallout 3 constantly throws bits, scraps, and story arcs that it leaves up to you to want to finish and resolve. The ending (MUCH improved thanks to the Broken Steel DLC), similarly is left up to you, representing both the high hopes and dark depths of humanity's ultimate fate. It can all feel disjointed at times, and I do stress again the main plot lacks much driving tension, but I think it's a world and story that feels just real enough to draw you in to its what-if scenarios and just fantastical enough to provide the need to want to push more into the depressive Capital Wasteland.

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5

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3

I cannot forgive having a fucking super mutant bro at the end and the game being like, nah dog you HAVE to die because fuck you.

I hear that may have changed at some point, but when I played it it made me furious.

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7

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I never finished the brotherhood of steel dlc but did complete the original storyline with the dlc installed so got the more sensible ending.

4/10 maybe? Cool lore and setting as to be expected with a fallout game, but an incredibly generic and forgettable main story.

4.5

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FFDragon posted...

I hear that may have changed at some point, but when I played it it made me furious.

It did with the Broken Steel DLC. The ending narration still treats you like a coward though lmao.

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I absolutely love Fallout 3, but I have to give it a 6.

Tranquilty Lane, Paradise Falls and Liberty Prime are great, but anything else that isn't a side quest is pretty forgettable

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7/10

Tricky vote here. The game overall is amazing, but I have to divorce the gameplay from the story. With that said, I didn't care about the main quest. Nor did I care for the sidequests much. Nor did I like having an avatar protagonist.

Tranquility Lane was brilliant. The worldbuilding was excellent. The suspense of entering a newly discovered vault was always riveting.

So a 7 sounds about right.

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Nominate Earthbound

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7

Exploring the wasteland in open world 3D (which was amazing for its time) and the side quests were the main draw to Fallout 3 but the main story is really good as well. It just takes a backseat to those two things.

5

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And this game got 48% on Brawl

Nominate Super Smash Bros. Brawl

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Leonhart4 posted...

And this game got 48% on Brawl

too low imhotbqh

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The fun fact about 2008 here is that of the three GOTY finalists, the one with the best story was the Super Smash Bros. game!

Anyway, 5. The ending is dumb but doesnt ruin the passable main story and decent side stories. With that said its really funny that the change to the ending in Broken Steel is so angry and dismissive of the player for an entirely rational decision.

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Kinda curious to see how New Vegas will do now.

As for FO3, this was the first exposure for many of us to the Fallout world. The opening setpiece of being born and growing up in the vault was interesting and unique. The moment when you exit the vault into the wastes is definitely a moment. The quest to find dad was never particularly great, and the ending to the original game stinks, but a few other moments along the way were decent and the thing that has to be remembered is that this game was created in the mold of Elder Scrolls, where the main quest is just a sidelight to exploring the world. Considering that some of the story moments (Tranquility Lane, arrival of the Enclave) are quite good, and they did eventually patch up the story with the DLC such that I never played the original lame ending, I can't completely deep 6 this one like FO4 where your conversation choices don't matter and the main story is so full of absurd plotholes.

5.5

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Lightning Strikes posted...

The fun fact about 2008 here is that of the three GOTY finalists, the one with the best story was the Super Smash Bros. game!

Loved this low-blow against MGS4. Well done.

Nominate: Metal Gear Solid 4

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he's trash talked MGS4 multiple times in these topics!

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Nominate Persona 3
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