Neglect and Fallout 3

I have neglected this blog for far too long.

I doubt many people will ever read my ramblings, but I miss them enough that I'm back here to blog.

Anyway, Games! That's what this blog is supposed to be about.

Fallout 3 is on my mind at the moment and I really cant tell if I like it or not. The game feels disjointed to me, perhaps it is just a sympton of being an open world game, but I find moment to moment the game isn't linking for me. 

I have had fantastic highs plotting devious schemes that resulted in ruining peoples social lives (now that I think about it I probably shouldnt be enjoying those things...or telling you I enjoyed them) but also great lows of feeling lost or uninterested in the surroundings I find. You could argue that the very fact I find plenty of the world boring a great tribute to Bethesda's accuracy of what a post-apolyptic waste land would be like. But can citizens really not be bothered to at least add a lick of paint to their dwellings after 200 years?

My biggest problem with Fallout 3 though is that it feels like a spreadsheet. There are plenty of stats and numbers that begin to lose all meaning to me. I have S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points, skill points, perks, weapen and armour bonuses not to mention status affects from items. Which numbers should I care most about most and why does changing my hat make me shoot better? I find it all creates a disconnect where I dont feel that my game actions are neceserally defining my character. I can use the XP gained from combat to increase my hacking ability and vice verca. I cant hack a computer with 49 skill points because the game requires I need 50, yet when I reach 50 points I still need to complete a minigame I could have completed with 0 skill points. 

It gets to the point where all the numbers lose meaning. I want the game to see how I am playing and react to that. It feels like I am manually having to tell the game what sort of player I am and I am being constantly forced to leave playing the game to look at various spreadsheets of numbers. Let me play the game and grow my character for me based on how I play!

It is just a shame that despite moments of real enjoyment the game cant offer me something tight and cohesive. I should also note I have not played Fallout or Fallout 2 but thanks to a recent sale at good old game ( gog.com ) I have them waiting to be played in my backlog :)