Finally done with Fallout 3 (At least until The Pitt comes out this week)
Final thoughts on this game. It was good, but I'd say it barely edges an 8/10 score. Going into it trying to get all the achievements in one run (doing save manipulations for the lvl 8/14/20 karma ones) took up a long time, and frankly the world it's set in was done wonderfully. The major drawbacks are the ones I mentioned before (Updates seem to clear some of the bugs, but glitches still plague the game) and the fact that the main storyline is way too damn short.
Most of my playtime was spent doing the major sidequests (the ones that give you achievements) and scouring around for the bobbleheads. A few were boring, a few were way too easy, but for the most part they were very fun overall. I personally recommend doing Reilly's Rangers for a long intense action quest, and Oasis for a heavy interesting story quest. Others range from the unremarkable (such as Agatha's Song, although I do enjoy the lovely violin music over the radio now) to the annoying collection quests (Nuka Cola Challenge ugh) to the extremely long (Wasteland Survival Guide). But overall they created a nice world setting and were fun to do.
The main quest however, deserved more to it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't enough. The sidequests wound up overshadowing it. In any other RPG you'd have sidequests to bide your time and entertain you, and the main questline to hover over you as a looming long running challenge, standing on its own as the meat and potatoes of the game. However, half the main quest segments are simply "go here" quests. First character I started I actually wound up skipping 2 segments of it just because I accidentally figured out where to go for a latter segment. Come to find out you can actually skip more than half the main storyline if you know where to go!
As for how good the main quests are in this game, let's just say that one titled "Tranquility Lane" and the last two segments in the entire chain are the only ones that really stood out for me. By the time the main story gets really interesting, it's over.
Overall, a fun game, but left me wanting a bit more.
Now on to the next game. I'll let the next person who replies decide the path I take.
Shall I...
...Finish my achievements and "perfect Sheperd" in Mass Effect?
...Pick up Blue Dragon and see it through to the end?
...Finish up Lost Odyssey?