Got it at midnight, and four hours in I feel pretty confident calling it the Game of the Year by quite a bit. Every element of it is outstanding so far. Yes, it’s Oblivion with guns, but with everything streamlined and improved and better over that game. I almost think of it more as “Bioshock as a true RPG.”
Outstanding!
What system are you playing it on? The graphics look a little underwhelming in the gameplay trailers, how about in the actual finished game?
I think I’ll wait for X mas / Hanukkah. I’m a little busy with FarCry 2
Is that train-noise making gun still in there? Can you still not shoot people in the eyes or crotch?
I’m out of town (again) so haven’t picked up my copy yet. Won’t get it until the weekend unfortunately.
Here is GameSpy’s review though FWIW (I know a lot of posters don’t trust them)…5 stars. I think this game is going to be perfect for me though, especially once the modder community starts putting out new goodies for it.
Anyway, really just wanted to subscribe to the thread to see other 'dopers thoughts on the game…while I sit here in my hotel room enviously waiting for my change to get the game!
-XT
I really wish Steam had allowed pre-loading for this. With 11% downloaded, I still have another couple hours to go. This is definitely my most anticipated game of the year, I just hope my PC is up to the task.
Yeah, I hope my PC is up for it too. It SHOULD be…but then it’s really chugging trying to play Warhammer Online, especially during the big RvR/PvP battles.
Oh well…I’ll know, in theory, Friday night. I REALLY need to talk the wife into letting me buy a gaming laptop though…
-XT
Out of curiosity for anyone actually playing, what skills and perks do you think you’ll be going for? What will you select as your tag skills?
-XT
It’s on my Xmas list 
Anyone looking to get it for a console, Gamespot says there are some serious graphical issues with the PS3 version. So you may want to stick to XBOX 360 or even better, PC
According to the GameSpy article some of the console features (like VATS) are a bit clunky. I’m going with the PC version myself, though my son wants me to get him the XBox version for Xmas.
-XT
I’ll be waiting without much anticipation to see how this title pans out.
As others have said, it looks pretty ugly. Also - turn based shooters? Boooooring. Maybe some of you can convince me that there’s any game out right now worth its purchase price.
VATS is entirely optional, you can play the game as a straight shooter if you like.
Definately GOTY for me. GTAIV, fun but once you’ve finished it got boring quickly. TFU a steaming pile of sith. Fable 2? So buggy I can’t even finish it.
My only dilemma is what to get it on; PC or 360…it’ll run a lot better on 360, but I’ll rob myself of mods and the console…
Yes - but is the game really designed to be a straight shooter? I’m a bit skeptical of voluntarily eliminating major gameplay elements while still preserving the style of play. I’d really like to get feedback on the difficulty and responsiveness of the FPS system, as well as action and pacing of the story. Quite frequently I find myself disappointed with genre-straddling titles (The RPG/Shooter seems popular right now and I’ve yet to find one that satisfies.) Rarely does anything but a pure shooter quench my thirst for carnage - but I would really adore RPG’s were they not so interminable.
Well use VATS then. Not exactly turn based since the enemy doesn’t get a ‘turn’. The combat looks pretty fluid to me.
I got it today and have been playing for a few hours now. I’m a die hard Fallout fan and here are my initial impressions:
The game is INCREDIBLY dark. Too dark in my opinion. Very difficult to see anything unless the light is at your back. As you increase the in game brightness the lighter areas become TOO bright.
The graphics are not too hot. They look on par with Oblivion.
Speaking of which the game play is much like O.
The voice acting of the big name voice actors is good. The voice acting of the general populace is wooden as hell.
VATS is implemented perfectly. Anyone who complains about VATS hasn’t ever played the original Fallouts as it’s implemented the same way.
All the skills, perks SPECIAL and etc… are the same as you remember them.
The dialouge is well written so far too.
All in all, after my first 2 hours or so with the game, I’m disappointed with the graphics. Not as much the resolution, but the overwhelming shadows on anything that is not lit directly head on. The story seems to be good so far, but I just got out of the Vault so I don’t know how good it will keep being.
Oh, this game is 75% Oblivion so if you didn’t like Oblivion, and you didn’t like Fallout, don’t waste your time with this game because you won’t like it. I’ll have to wait to pass final judgment on it.
Been playing a few hours myself (PC version). It’s definitely Oblivion with guns. Even the main fallout file is an .esm (the same file type that was used for Oblivion). I find the voice acting ranging from meh to great (aside: I recognize Mr. Burke’s voice from Oblivion).
Had a ton of fun going through the Springvale Elementary School, and I thought the intro/tutorial sequence was fantastically executed.
Gotta go throw some food in the oven, then it’s back into the game. I’m having a blast.
That should make modding the game easier I should think. I can hardly wait to see what kinds of mods roll out. Though I never played Oblivion much I have a friend who is a big fan…and she says there are hundreds of Oblivion mods out there that make the game orders of magnitude better than how it shipped.
Man…wish it were Friday!
-XT
Anyone playing on a PC with a gamepad? If I’m planning on strictly using VATS and no real-time fighting, would a gamepad work for me?
Not sure when I’m going to pick it up. Don’t laugh, but I reserved a copy at some store nearby, and even put down some money on it…unfortunately, I can’t remember which store, and I don’t have the receipt. 
I said don’t laugh…
Damn, that sucks!
I don’t think you can use VATS 100% of the time because it requires ‘action points’, or so I read.
At Deadly Accurate - I noticed that in the teaser trailers. 
“Destroy Megaton and the Dark Brotherhood shall embrace you as family. All hail our dread father!”
What system did you play on? If it’s a console, then it can’t look much better tha Oblivion because that already strains what consoles are capable of. I would hope the PC version had much better graphics.