I’ve been playing Fallout 3 recently, in part because Fallout 4 is very likely to be announced ‘soon’, but also because while I’ve played New Vegas a few times, I’ve only played Fallout 3 itself once. For a while now I’ve considered NV the better game, but I’m not so sure anymore. Breaking news: Fallout 3 is really freaking good.

The biggest thing F3 has over NV is its more open. In NV the map is basically a circle you follow, while in F3 you start in the dead middle and really can go almost anywhere at any time. That’s a huge feature, and it’s nicely done in F3. I mention this anytime I talk about Fallout, but for someone who isn’t huge on Sci-Fi, I love the setting. I love all the little details, the big arcs that span games, and just the general tone of it all. It’s a wasteland, and most people aren’t happy or having a good life, but it never beats you down with doom and gloom until you just feel outright sad. That’s a tough balance to strike, and when it works it’s pretty great.

I think Fallout 4 is going to be set in/around Boston MA, which will be awesome considering that’s where I live, so I can ‘visit’ what historic sites would look like if nukes flew in the 50s. The F3 quest of the missing android, where an NPC from the Commonwealth (Boston) comes to DC, has extra meaning now, which again is just the Fallout lore being awesome.

I’m playing with a lot of graphic mods, the unofficial patch, and some minor gameplay stuff like weapon mods. Someone really should come up with a system to allow me to pay someone like $5-$10 to ensure all the mods work well together, get updated, and are easy/quick to grab. Such a system would be neat, because as decent as the Nexus mod manager is, it’s not on the level of the Steam workshop. Hopefully by the time F4 hits, that is a reality.