Fallout 3 Fose 1.7.0.3

[Latisha Gervase]

Fallout3 is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the Fallout series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment. The game marks a major shift in the series by using 3D graphics and real-time combat, replacing the 2D isometric graphics and turn-based combat of previous installments. It was released worldwide in October 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

The game is set within a post-apocalyptic open world environment that encompasses a scaled region consisting of the ruins of Washington, D.C., and much of the countryside to the north and west of it in Maryland and Virginia, collectively referred to as the Capital Wasteland. Downloadable content is set in Pennsylvania, pre-War Alaska and outer space. It takes place within Fallout's usual setting of a world that deviated into an alternate timeline thanks to atomic age technology, which eventually led to its devastation by a nuclear apocalypse in the year 2077 (referred to as the Great War), caused by a major international conflict between the United States and China over natural resources. The main story takes place in the year 2277. Players take control of an inhabitant of Vault 101, one of several underground shelters created before the Great War to protect around 1,000 humans from the nuclear fallout, who is forced to venture out into the Capital Wasteland to find their father after he disappears from the Vault under mysterious circumstances. They find themselves seeking to complete their father's work while fighting against the Enclave, the corrupt remnants of the former US government that seeks to use it for their own purposes.

Fallout 3 received a number of Game of the Year awards, praising the game's open-ended gameplay and flexible character-leveling system, and is considered one of the best video games ever made. Fallout 3 shipped almost five million copies in its first week. The game received post-launch support, with Bethesda releasing five downloadable add-ons. The game was met with controversy upon release in Australia, for the recreational drug use and the ability to be addicted to alcohol and other drugs; in India, for cultural and religious sentiments over the mutated cattle in the game being called Brahmin, a varna (class) in Hinduism; and in Japan, where a questline involving the potential detonation of a nuclear bomb in a prominent town was heavily altered. The game was followed by a spin-off, Fallout: New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment in 2010. The fourth major installment in the Fallout series, Fallout 4, was released in 2015.

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 200 years after a nuclear war between the United States and China. Some survivors of the war took refuge in high tech fallout shelters known as Vaults. The player character, nicknamed the Lone Wanderer, grew up in Vault 101, located near Washington, D.C. After the Lone Wanderer's 19th birthday, their father, a scientist named James, leaves the Vault without explanation. The Vault Dweller decides to track down their father, and journeys the region in and around Washington, D.C., now known as the Capital Wasteland. Along the way, the Lone Wanderer learns about their father's background from other characters, including residents of the nearby settlement Megaton, radio DJ Three Dog, and scientist Madison Li. Before the Lone Wanderer's birth, James and his wife Catherine had been working on Project Purity, in which a water purifier built in the Jefferson Memorial would have purified the irradiated water in the Tidal Basin and Potomac River. However, Catherine died during childbirth, and James abandoned the project to raise his child in Vault 101.

The Lone Wanderer finds and rescues James from a virtual reality program in Vault 112. James reveals that he wanted to revive Project Purity, and left Vault 101 to seek the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.), a powerful piece of technology intended to assist in rebuilding civilization after a nuclear war. When work on Project Purity resumes, the remnants of the United States government, known as the Enclave, intervene. Its leader, President John Henry Eden, wants to inject the purifier with a deadly virus that will kill any mutated organisms who drink the water, including humans. James sacrifices himself to protect the purifier. In response, the Lone Wanderer enlists the help of the Brotherhood of Steel, a military organization that protects the residents of the Capital Wasteland. The Lone Wanderer finds the G.E.C.K. in Vault 87, but is captured by the Enclave and held in Raven Rock. They escape imprisonment and meet President Eden, who is revealed to be an artificial intelligence program. Eden gives them a vial containing the virus and asks them to insert it into Project Purity. Afterwards, the Lone Wanderer leaves and optionally causes Eden to self destruct.

Together with the Brotherhood of Steel, the Lone Wanderer retakes the Jefferson Memorial, and learns the water purifier needs to be manually activated, or else it will shortly explode. Before James died, he flooded the control room with lethal amounts of radiation. The player is presented with three potential endings: the Lone Wanderer sacrifices themself to initiate Project Purity, optionally inserting the virus into the purifier; the Lone Wanderer instructs a Brotherhood of Steel member or - if the Broken Steel downloadable content is installed - a radiation-resistant companion to activate the purifier; or the Lone Wanderer does nothing and lets the purifier blow up.

The origins of Fallout 3 date back to the cancellation of Van Buren, which was intended to be the third game in the mainline Fallout series.[11][12] Under the development of Black Isle Studios, Van Buren was to be set in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, and would have included a mixture of real-time and turn-based combat.[12][13] Black Isle Studios' publisher Interplay Entertainment was struggling financially, and in December 2003 Van Buren was cancelled.[14] In 2004, Bethesda Softworks purchased the rights to develop their own rendition of Fallout 3 from Interplay for $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties.[15] At the time, Bethesda was known for their work with The Elder Scrolls series, but wanted to expand their catalogue with another project.[13] According to developer Joel Burgess, Bethesda's holding company ZeniMax Media turned down multiple offers from other companies who wanted to work on the game.[11] Burgess remarked, "The sense was we had to make our own game."[11]

Development on Fallout 3 began in late 2004 with a small team of around 10 people, as most of Bethesda's staff was busy working on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.[16] After the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006, the size of the team drastically increased.[16] Programmer Jean Simonet estimates that when development concluded, there were around 75 team members.[11] Lead designer and writer Emil Pagliarulo wrote the majority of the main story early in development, and when the team expanded, he allowed other designers to make rewrites and suggestions.[11][17] This process exemplified Bethesda's decision to foster a more collaborative approach and allow developers to voice their opinions on various aspects of the game.[11][18] Pagliarulo notes this approach differed from the rigid and "unhealthy" development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, in which the developers had to follow the outline of the original design document regardless of their opinions.[18]

In multiple interviews, Bethesda developers noted the difficulty of working on a game from an established series they had no prior connections to.[11][17][18] Product manager Pete Hines said Bethesda's mindset was to treat Fallout 3 as if they had worked on the original Fallout games.[18] To this extent, they kept Fallout 3 an in-house production, and did not hire anyone who worked on the original games.[19] Bethesda used the first Fallout game as a model while designing Fallout 3.[17] Pagliarulo favored the oppressive and bleak atmosphere of the first Fallout game in contrast to the excessive and camp dialogue of Fallout 2.[17][18] Pagliarulo wanted to instill a "rawness" to the dialogue, and included occasional profanity.[17] Another goal was to instill a sense of moral ambiguity whenever the player made an important decision.[19] According to lead producer Gavin Carter, the karma mechanic was designed to let the player know the immediate consequences of their actions, and make the player question whether they made the right choice.[19] The player character's father, James, was created as a moral compass, and would react to the player's previous actions.[19]

The original setting for Fallout 3 was the West Coast of the United States, but early in development, the setting changed to the Washington metropolitan area.[19] Pagliarulo said this decision stemmed from the adage "write what you know", as Bethesda was based in Rockville, Maryland, a city close to Washington, D.C.[18][19] Burgess wanted Washington, D.C. to be a difficult location to explore, with harder enemies and more radiation.[11] Due to how the game engine worked, Washington, D.C. needed to be split into separate zones connected by the Washington Metro.[11] Playtesters routinely struggled to navigate the city, and complained the increased difficulty made the area less enjoyable.[11] Bethesda attempted to remove the dividers separating the zones, but Burgess said the initial test did not show promise, and the idea was dropped.[11] Burgess claims a proper test could have yielded a different result, and describes the entire Washington, D.C. area as "the big mistake I feel I made on [Fallout 3]".[11]

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