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Fallout 3 tutorial: THIS IS HOW A TUTORIAL SHOULD BE!


ponytheorist

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There are spoilers for fallout 3 in here!!!!

 

We all have these moments when playing a game: the tutorial. And it can be the most horrible thing of the whole game. Matter of fact is, it’s very easy to screw the tutorial up, at least when you’re a new company trying to make their first game

 

Now, I’ve seen horrible tutorials. Some that take way to long before you are actually playing the game. Some examples are fable 3, far cry 3, red dead redemption, etc.

 

Let me be clear, I love both all three of these games, but there’s no denying that it takes way to long before the real game actually starts. It took me a full month before I was done with the tutorial of fable 3, mainly because every time I started the game, I put it away after 5 minutes, going: Fuck this, it takes way to long. Mainly because I was so bothered by not having a sword or gun, while I was able to use magic

 

I also got this feeling while first playing the intro of fallout 3. I did play this in one time trough, though. When looked at the tutorial/intro casually, it looks like any other tutorial. Until you dig a little deeper. And when you do, it’s one of the best intro’s/tutorial made

 

But why is that?

 

Well, if you’re like me, and you want to start the ‘’real’’ game as fast as possible, chances are you didn’t pay much attention to everything while in the vault. Maybe some small things, but not every thing that happens. You kill a few guards and get out as fast as possible

 

To be honest, I didn’t see the tutorial of fallout 3 as something so good when playing the game. I only realized it later with a second playtrough

 

But that isn’t all important. Trough all my thinking I realized something: the tutorial didn’t end when I left the vault.

 

No, it extends way further.

 

When you come out of the vault, you wander around a little, looking around and all that. Big chance you wander into Megaton first. It can be easily spotted.

 

While inside, you figure out that if there is civilization here, there must be a merchant of some sort. You don’t have that much to sell, but because you killed some guards in the vault, and because you have yet to find a place to store it all, you decide to sell the loot.

 

So you find the merchant, and she starts saying that she’s making a wasteland survival guide and needs your help.

 

Now, you never had a quest before. The feeling of adventure seeps in. Chances are high you accept it.

 

This is the real tutorial

 

The things that merchant let you do for chapter 1, tells everything you need to know about the wasteland to survive. Go to a mall and look if there are stuff you can use. It shows you the loot (and dangers) these ruins have in them and let you learn a important aspect of the game: discovery

 

Next you get tasked with collecting mines at a place called Minefields. Changes are, you needed a lot of stimpacks here. However, changes are you are more notorious for mines lying on the ground

 

The last of the chapter is the radiation poisoning. You need to get yourself poisoned. It lets you experience what happens when you get radiated and what effects it has.

 

These 3 things are the most important things to know about the wasteland: how to fight, how to obtain stuff and what to look out for. These are the basic things needed to explore the wasteland and do the quests.

 

And because you had that boring intro in the vault that just wouldn’t end, you are just so glad to finally have an adventure. So glad that you don’t even notice it’s still part of the tutorial. Yes, totally optional, but the chances that you did just one of the quests that merchant gave you, are pretty high.

 

And let me tell you: because I didn’t do the minefields thing at my first save, I got hit with so many of them. Second playtrough: not one got to me

 

A great tutorial

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The only good tutorial for me :D

 

Although I kinda dislike the tutorial you`ve described here. It gives a vibe that the game forces you to uncover a lot of vital elements which you'd have to learn all on your own tbh. Because who needs a tutorial on scouting/discovering/stuff gathering at all? It's what you'll do intuitively in any similar game :s

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I don't remember, was FO3's long-as-hell intro optional? If not I automatically hate it because all tutorials should be optional.

 

Also, I miss the days when games had manuals that you read while they installed. You got the basics and went from there. These days, it seems like every game has some 15 minutes snoozefest like "okay, now look at these lights. Now walk to this thing, now this other thing, now back to the first thing. Now open this door. Now shoot 5 targets and pick up some ammo and shoot another target."

  • Brohoof 1
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Because who needs a tutorial on scouting/discovering/stuff gathering at all? It's what you'll do intuitively in any similar game :s

The beauty of this tutorial, is that the player doesn't realize that it's still part of the tutorial. They think it ended when the left the vault. 

 

But the game is designed in such a way, that it's almost impossible for a new player to not stumble into megathon first and find this merchant.

 

The game doesn't force you to take the quest the merchant offers, but because you're so glad to have finished that boring tutorial in the vault (that wasn't a tutorial at all) that you take the quest and go to do it. It's a normal quest like any other, but shows the player the basic things to pay attention to when traveling the wasteland, and the player doesn't even realize that this quest is the ''real'' tutorial 

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These days, it seems like every game has some 15 minutes snoozefest like "okay, now look at these lights. Now walk to this thing, now this other thing, now back to the first thing. Now open this door. Now shoot 5 targets and pick up some ammo and shoot another target."

Yeah, I know, Those are the worst tutorials. But the reason I like it here, is because it isn't really a tutorial at all in the vault. The quote I made as respons to Khajiit: 

 

The beauty of this tutorial, is that the player doesn't realize that it's still part of the tutorial. They think it ended when the left the vault. 

 

But the game is designed in such a way, that it's almost impossible for a new player to not stumble into megathon first and find this merchant.

 

The game doesn't force you to take the quest the merchant offers, but because you're so glad to have finished that boring tutorial in the vault (that wasn't a tutorial at all) that you take the quest and go to do it. It's a normal quest like any other, but shows the player the basic things to pay attention to when traveling the wasteland, and the player doesn't even realize that this quest is the ''real'' tutorial 

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