5punk

Now that I've ploughed several more hours into Fallout 3 I can say for certain that I am loving the side quests.

I guess that knowing in advance that the main game ends has been an advantage to me that I know I have to get as much done as I can before finishing the main quest, becuase of this I've spread out doing bits of the main quest in between all the side quest and random exploring stuff.

When I think about it though this is exactly what I did with Oblivion, I didn't feel like I wanted to get through the main quest then carry on with the other stuff, I felt like finishing the last mission was my goal and that the journey to get there would be more enjoyable if I spread it out.

What has also helped drag out the main quest is not really having a fixed goal at any time, several times when on my way to a main quest location I've become distracted with other quests or locations to explore. Another reason is coming across something I'm not at a high enough level to do, like a computer I can't hack (One example being a locked room in Vault 112 This game didn't immediately draw me in like Oblivion did though and it took a few hours of play before I really 'got it' but I am ejoying it immensly now, although I like random wandering and sightseeing less than Oblivion, I guess because it's all the same colour and a lot less pretty!

There is a greenery mod for Fallout 3 brobbins. It adds trees and grass and such and makes it look quite a bit better. I put a link around here somewhere. If not it'll be on failplanet or similar.

It doesn't feel as big as Oblivion and wandering around the wastleland with so many nasty things to kill you, seemingly every few steps, it doesn't feel as much fun as trotting through them on your awesome horse.

In Oblivion I made the mistake of not levelling very much and doing the main quests fairly quickly - not to the exclusion of side-quests, I did all the guild ones and cleaned up everything as I went from town-to-town - but I ended up thinking I'd missed something out as it had all been super-easy.

In Fallout, I'm scouring everywhere - even identical caves and vaults where there's nothing to interest, kind of like the random dungeons in Oblivion I'd never have bothered with - stuff only happens in them if you have a quest there usually. As a result, I've levelled quite a bit from fighting and now some of the roaming monsters cause me serious trouble, even though I've put a lot of abilities into combat.

I think I need to play both games again, using the other method - levelling properly in Oblivion rather than using a 1-hit-kill sword on a mage character - and a playthough of Fallout nicking everything in sight. Despite my professed dislike of stealth games, I actually had a lot of fun in Oblivion doing the sneak missions, apart from when thHALT CITIZEN! YOU HAVE BROKEN THE LAW!