about a week ago i wrote a long multiple paragraph essay on why i disliked Fallout 3. backloggd then proceeded to go down and delete the whole thing. i don't feel like writing it all again so here is the jist:

i really, really disliked my time with Fallout 3, but that's because i spent my time playing it the way i played and enjoyed Fallout 1, 2, and New Vegas: i did the main quest.

3's main quest is pretty much universally panned, and while i was aware of some criticisms, i deliberately avoided learning about them so i could experience the game blind. so i went for the main story, doing a bit some exploring and adventuring along the way, but not much. and unfortunately, that means i missed out on most of the genuinely fun and interesting parts of Fallout 3.

perhaps one day i will revisit this game with the wisdom i have attained since playing it. but for now, it goes down as one of my biggest gaming disappointments.

i really tried to like this game, honestly, and i can see the appeal, but it's just not my thing. the classic Fallout games are not anything i'm used to, but the turn based combat allows me to take it at my own pace and absorb info as needed. Fallout Tactics' real time based combat seems really interesting and fun to play, but since the game suffers from a really poor UI (not to mention no scaling for modern resolutions) it makes navigating the game feel horribly clunky. i truly feel bad leaving this as the only Fallout game i've had to abandon, but after multiple attempts to just get past the first level, i really don't think it's for me.

first things first, obviously it's a live service game. it's got the shitty monetization practices we've all grown to abhor over the past decade. you will never see me defending that in particular.

but damn, it is honestly so fucking fun to go questing, exploring, and killing in fallout with your friends. i have tried and failed to find an MMO that kept my attention for more than a dozen hours or so. but this has been so fun to play, especially with friends. i'm 30 hours in, so maybe that will change as i play more, but for now, this is a solid experience if you love fallout.

Wind Waker had been my favorite Zelda title since long before this remake was announced. my teenage heart damn near exploded when this game was announced, and i couldn't wait to get my hand on it. the original's charming art style suffers a bit from the new coat of "HD" shading applied to it, but that's about all i can say to detract from it, the rest of the game is a straight upgrade from its original, and leaves little reason to return to it outside of nostalgia purposes. Wind Waker's sense of adventure, exploration, and wonder remains intact and just as pleasantly enjoyable as it was 10 years prior, and even to 20 years to today.

i once read a steam review for this game that described it as a "glorified on-rails shooter". this particular reviewer wrote this statement with contempt, seemingly not realizing that on-rails shooters are fucking awesome. i mean, there's a reason there's always a couple in every arcade ever.

no, a open world, gunslinging cowboy adventure game this is not, but of course, that is what red dead redemption is for. now, it would be an absolute treat to have more games of that series' caliber, but i digress. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger instead offers a masterclass in themes and storytelling, rpg progression, and gunplay.

simply put, if you wanna be a cowboy, but don't wish to put in another 100+ hours for a rdr playthrough, check this game out. it comes on sale for dirt cheap extremely often on steam.

i really tried to love this game, in fact i was sure i was gonna love it. not only is it just my type of game, it's pretty highly rated as well. you start it, and it has so many cool features, like the extremely original hacking minigame, the motion sensor, the crafting, all pretty cool stuff that i was enjoying. but then you keep going, and you just get to a point where the game shifts back and forth between walking simulator, and waiting simulator.

nothing is scary or interesting about the xenomorph. they have some cool concepts for how it can stalk you, like when it hides in the ceiling and you have to look for its saliva, but most of the time it just waits for you to move half an inch, forcing you to go back into the same locker or under the same table, it walks around you, leaves, then you repeat the process until you get lucky and can move for more than 3 seconds, or just give up entirely.

if you want a game that actually encourages exploration, forces creative thinking, offers multiple options for any given problem, and does it all within a creepy environment, play Prey (2017).

show me a fallout fan, and 4 times out of 5 i'll show you someone that hasn't played the classics. while fallout new vegas deserves all of its praise, fallout 4 is an amazing open world fps, and fallout 3 deserve to be taken out back and shot, it's important to remember what fallout was before bethesda took it and morphed it into something it wasn't.

truth be told, fallout is a bit clunky, but in the way that developers for pc games from the 90s couldn't make a halfway decent user interface to save their fucking life. once you manage to learn your way around it, you're presented with the horrifying reality that is a post nuclear world. the game's atmosphere is incredibly tense and stressful as you adventure and race against the clock before your entire vault dies of dehydration.

the gameplay is fairly standard as far as old iso-rpgs go, that is to say pretty good, just not groundbreaking. where the game really shines is it phenomenal world building and writing. it also features one of the best villain the series has had, a million times better than "somehow, the enclave returned".

if you're a fan of the bethesda fallout games, you owe it to yourself to at least try 1 and 2. they're not some old unfun relics of the olden days, they're genuinely great games and deserve to be played.