Fallout 3

A couple of weeks ago I began playing Fallout 3, and yesterday I finished the main quest. Totally awesome game. I don’t want to compare it with part 1 and 2 because it was years ago I played those, but let me just say that all three are great.

For those who don’t know: It’s a post-apocalyptic 1st person RPG (role-playing game). You walk around and explore, meet people, make friends and enemies (which you often have to battle), do various quests. There’s also a main quest, though it involves a number a sub-quests. But it’s possible to ignore the main quest and go about your own business. You can play a good or evil character, it all depends on the actions you take. An evil character might do things like shooting a shop owner in the head with his own shotgun and take his merchandise, and/or milder things like pickpocketing.

It’s amazing how much you can get into a game emotionally. Among other feelings, I experienced a sense of loneliness and companionship when playing. Loneliness when I had walked around by myself, away from settlements, for a long time, and companionship when I get back or met some friendly characters while traveling. I even dragged along a companion for the sake of company on some quests, despite the fact she probably made the game more difficult (I couldn’t sneak successfully, each time we approached an enemy she started to scream and shoot at them.)

The game world is completely fake, it’s a virtual world with virtual characters, but the feeling you get while playing is real. I suppose it’s not really any more strange than enjoying any good fictional story, but still.