Recession Medicine!
"Fall Out 3" is one of a now-increasing number of video games that are starting to show they are not just about foisting violence upon society via mindless teenage boys. For aging video game connoisseurs such as myself who also happen to have a dose of economic education, you can also appreciate the "Bioshock" series which heavily borrows from Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged. So good was that series that I not only hope they continue on, but that they make a movie that could be a literal sequel to "Atlas Shrugged" (it would also prevent me from having to read a book and just watch the movie).
Regardless, as video gamers age and mature, you can see more intelligent themes or at least threads embedded within new video game releases. One such thread that I like and would like to share with you is a song by Bing Crosby that was incorporated into Fallout 3.
The game itself is actually a pain in the ass. They ammo starve you. They harass you constantly with mutant scorpions and super ants, oh hey, yeah, and you gotta sleep all the time, and oopos, did we just harass you again with those stupid bloat flies? When ultimatley you really are just wondering when the game is going to develop direction and if you're ever going to get around to "conquering it."
However, there is a music station you can tune into and they play music from the 1940's and 1950's. A song I NEVER heard of before (which is odd because I am the best swing dancing economist in the world) is called "Way Back Home" by Bing Crosby. The lyrics are quite clever;
11 comments:
Ammo starvation is actually fairly accurate if you are going to gauge a game world for realism. It just makes the game really boring. Red Dead Redemption is good at making you conserve some resources, but its ridiculous how easy you can get a new horse. Finding clean water would be the biggest problem in a realistic video game.
One big criticism I have of the post apocalyptic world movies is that they seem to have an endless supply of ammunition, and they behave like it. They fire fifteen rounds when two will do, and at the rate they fire they should be empty before the next scene. If they had a 90 pound rucksack filled with ammo, I'd have to suspend disbelief a little less. It's easier to forgive failure to show a magazine change than to show a character putting 300 rounds downrange. A soldier's basic load is 120 rounds.
Agreed, if I'm looking to play a game based in the real world.
but OH WAIT! I LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD AND PLAY THAT DAMN GAME EVERY DAY!
When I play a video game I want that unrealistic element of demi-god status. I'm not there to do it for real, I'm not training for the apocolypse. I just want to veg out and shoot some binary images.
Don't know if you ever played it, but there was Civilization V. And they made it SOOOO complex, it wasn't worth playing. Plus the ghey African tribal music ruined it for me.
Liked the song - a bit kitchy, but reminds you of home. A good wartime tune.
Proper way to play fallout 3: Cheat and give yourself unlimited carry weight. Pickup everything you come across. Buy ammo from a vendor with all that loot. Never be low on ammo again.
Exactly. Games are for fun. Problems can be solved. If you can't win, you can cheat. When you're tired of it, you can get a new one.
The real world isn't much fun. In fact, it sucks most of the time.
Good games are fair. They reward you for doing things right. The right things make sense. When you get it right you think, "Oh shit, why didn't I think of that before."
The real world punishes you for doing things right and rewards you for doing things wrong. It leaves you thinking, "Huh? WTF?"
Veterans from Fallout and Fallout 2 will tell you that picking Small Arms instead of Big Guns or Energy Weapons is a great way to make sure you always have enough bullets.
The trusty Hunting Rifle can handle most everything you come across if you aim for the head, and the ammo (and replacement parts for repairs) are everywhere.
Otherwise, mod your game or use cheat codes. Using ammo efficiently is fun for some people.
This thread has a lot of great advice for surviving the early game in Fallout 3. There are dozens of things you can do to conserve ammo, and you only need to learn a few of them well to have more than enough ammo, even early.
I've played the first two Fallout games. Fallout 3's a cakewalk in comparison. (And don't get me started on using the knife in Resident Evil Code: Veronica X to save ammo early, or trying to find a use for the 600+ bowgun arrows. Or not getting a firearm at all in Fallout 2 until the 2nd town.)
Fallout 3's problem is twofold. One is that it keep changing context on you, from the birth, to toddler, to birthday party, to the Vault corridors, to fighting your way out of the Vault, to leaving the Vault, to the early Wasteland, to Megaton, to finally exploring the Capital Wasteland consistently. Until that part you're constantly having to forget what you've just learned and started to get comfortable with and start learning new areas and types of combat.
The other problem is that the early ammo-starvation is so short that most players treat it like our own Cappy Cap does. Something to be gotten over with as quickly as possible while holding one's nose.
So the good news is that once you get Small Guns skill up, and a small gun in good repair, judicious use of VATS should let you become much more efficient with ammo. Once you reach a medium character level all the troubles should be behind you.
By later character levels you'll want the Pit DLC just for its ability to convert your excess ammo into something better.
Whatacoincidink.
I just started listening to the YouTube playlists of GNR yesterday. Lots of fun.
For the record, I've never been a huge Obsidian fan, and F3 is pretty Obsidian-y. Haven't played FNV, but supposedly the bulk of the core F1 and F2 crew worked on it, which might make up for the engine.
I was never starved of much of anything in Fallout 3, it was a freaking land of plenty compared to its predecessors, compared to which FO3 was a horrible disappointment. I much prefer going back and re-playing Fallouts 1&2. I ordered a Windows version of those two years ago from the UK via eBay, and you can now digital download them from a lot of places for pocket change.
Same with Oblivion (Elder Scrolls IV), a big let-down in so many ways compared to Morrowind (ES III), serious console-itis there as well. Bethesda Softworks is right off my list, I'm not even going to touch Skyrim (ES V).
And don't get me started on Civ V, a game whose mechanics seemed designed to reward you for playing a PC style of game. Not complicated at all, IMHO. Yet another storied franchise that looks so much prettier than its predecessors, but loses most of its depth and game mechanics.
That's why I like the Mass Effect series, it's really more of an interactive movie than a game (and gives you you're demi-god status), and doesn't pretend otherwise.
Wikipedia is saying this song is by Bob Crosby, younger brother to Bing.
I always wonder what people are talking about when they say they can't tell when Fallout 3 will "start going somewhere" with its story. There's a narrative right there. If you want to follow it, and you can, then it's as simple as connecting the dots: the initial plotline quest is literally called "Following In His Footsteps" and it's called that for a reason.
The point of the game's design is that you can wander around, do quests if you want - or not.
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