r/Fallout • u/Paul277 • Dec 24 '25
Fallout 3 Having a low intelligence in Fallout3 causes this robot to think you're a child with special needs
1.0k
u/Entryne Dec 24 '25
If you have an intelligence of 1, you don't get to choose the ending. Sarah Lyons goes "the poor kid doesn't understand what it all means" and if you bring Fawkes he'll say "It doesn't take a genius to realise I can do this without harm, I'll go".
587
u/Ayotha Dec 24 '25
Funny, a solution for the writers being but hurt about their lame suicide ending being avoided
344
u/Uglarinn Mothman Cultist Dec 24 '25
I hated that. When I first played through it I sent Fawkes into the chamber because he wouldn't get injured by the radiation but the game treated it like I had done something shameful lol
184
u/Acceptable_West_1312 Dec 24 '25
I believe they did the suicide ending because Fallout 3 didn't had a post game until Broken Steel has got released yet XD
139
u/robynh00die Dec 24 '25
It's a sandbox, post game is just doing more exploring and side quests. They knew that when they made Oblivion. Instead we all had to give each other content warnings not to finish the main story cause it killed your save.
97
u/LordeWasTaken Dec 24 '25
Common Bethesda L, not like Fallout: New Vegas, where you can keep playing after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. Oh, wait, you can't. Except the game gives you a warning that this is the point of no return. I guess I can give Obsidian half a point.
44
u/Acceptable_West_1312 Dec 24 '25
That gives me a Fallout 1 ending vibes "You're a hero... And you had to leave..."
46
u/WulffenKampf Dec 24 '25
They had to shoe-horn in the warnings last-minute because they were initially planning to let you keep playing post-Battle, let you see the consequences of your choices. To the point there's multiple lines of recorded dialogue of various characters, and even Mr. New Vegas radio lines recorded, still tucked away in the game files in release copies. It had to be cut ultra late into development because they just simply ran out of time before they had to send the game Gold (releasing the 'finished' version from the studio to physical manufacturers to be printed on CDs and be sent out for distribution). There have been numerous interviews with Obsidian staff saying that's still one of their biggest regrets with the game is not having that done in time
14
Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/WulffenKampf Dec 25 '25
Oh I, and I imagine like 98%+ of anyone in this subreddit, would agree with you. That likely would have also got the game to an 85+ rating on the Metacritic instead of the 84 they did get, which would have given them a major financial bonus too - which would have avoided their major round of layoffs just to keep the studio open, getting stuck in with the mess of a deal with My.com to make Armored Warfare (before, in typical Russian business fashion, My.com screwed them over majorly), then eventually having to sell to Microsoft to avoid bankruptcy. But, alas, Bethesda didn't, and we're all a little worse off for it.
2
1
u/TomaszPaw Disciples Dec 25 '25
Why haven't they made a proper postgame dlc like fo3 did instead of halfassing it in lonesome road
2
u/WulffenKampf Dec 25 '25
Partly because part of the contract with Bethesda was that none of the DLCs could affect the overworld of the basegame. That's why no DLC NPCs make it into the normal Mojave map, and why every single DLC area is separate from it. Everything is behind at least one doorway/loading screen. Closest you get to one being there is the post-Hopeville launch targets if you actually deploy any ICBMs, but even then any direct changes beyond reputation levels with the NCR or CL is still behind loading screens.
Because of this, there could be no story-extending DLC akin to how Broken Steel went for FO3, it was just flat-out not permitted in the contracts to make the game that Obsidian signed
1
u/Raindrop0015 Dec 25 '25
If they did a remaster would they be able to include it as an optional dlc?
→ More replies (0)12
u/Sckaledoom Dec 24 '25
I mean another major difference is that the entire game including side content focuses on the main conflict in some way, with very few quests not directly referencing or being a part of it. Meanwhile, almost nothing in 3 references the main story.
12
u/LordeWasTaken Dec 24 '25
That's a very accurate observation. In F:NV the DLCs complement and enrich the main story in some way, while also referencing each other occasionally. Fo3 DLCs with the exception of Broken Steel are largely self-contained adventures, similar to how TES IV: Oblivion DLCs worked.
9
u/Sckaledoom Dec 24 '25
Not even just the DLCs. Can you think of many side quests that reference the water purifier, the enclave, the brotherhood, water shortages, crop failures, etc? The closest is the water beggars outside every city and a couple of Broken Steel quests.
4
u/Acceptable_West_1312 Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
Overall, Bethesda tends to simplify each of their new games in the series. Oblivion was downgraded in many ways compared to Morrowind. Skyrim was downgraded even further compared to Oblivion. And the same thing happened to the Fallout games. Even though Fallout 1 and 2 wasn't really a Bethesda games, Fallout 3 was a child play compared to Fallout 1 and 2. Then, Fallout 4 came out and it has became just a solid shooter, but it wasn't a Fallout anymore.
Edit: Now, let's try to imagine what TES 6 and Fallout 5 would be... How could they downgrade them even further?
3
u/WillOfTheWinds Dec 25 '25
I'd like to bring up that Morrowind itself was a downgrade from Daggerfall
→ More replies (0)2
10
u/Leukavia_at_work Dec 25 '25
Yep, if you sent Fawkes who is radiation immune in, he'd go "No, i'm sorry friend. But this is your destiny"
If you sent Charon in, he'd literally just say no (despite his whole thing being that he's doggedly brainwashed-level loyal to whoever holds his contract. . .)When they added Broken Steel they addressed the fan complaints except not only does Charon still ARGUE with you about doing something that's harmless to him, but fatal for you, but choosing Fawkes or Charon for this still results in the epilogue shaming you like you're the worst most horrible human being on the planet.
Not to mention the snarky comments in the patch notes for killing the costumed freaks in Canterbury commons failing the quest
God, the writing team for F3 really just could not stand players being smarter than them. . .
1
u/TomaszPaw Disciples Dec 25 '25
What are the patch notes for costumed freaks? I can't find anything online
1
u/Leukavia_at_work Dec 27 '25
The player has killed the Mechanist and/or AntAgonizer before the quest began, and is immediately rewarded by Roe. CHANGED! If the player does this, now they don't even get the quest, the rewardxp, or the achievement. CHOICE & CONSEQUENCES, PUNK!
This is in the log entry for the Superhuman Gambit quest.
23
u/Scharmberg Dec 24 '25
I always forget the original ending was so stupid, “hey I have like three different party members that can easily handle this while mostly lowly being done or very minor side effects but I’ll go do it myself and die.”
1
u/Yuraiya Dec 26 '25
Even worse, if you had an advanced radiation suit and some rad-x with a decent medicine rating, you barely took rads from going in to activate it. The game has to give you a scripted death.
1
u/Renard_Fou Dec 27 '25
I mean, if its really is that badly irradiating, then it makes sense. Look at chernobyl
2
u/Yuraiya Dec 27 '25
If it was that bad, everyone in the area would be dead within hours to days. If it's enough that a simple enclosure can contain it, then it isn't Chernobyl bad.
34
u/Therealsam216 Dec 24 '25
is that true?
35
u/Antermosiph Dec 24 '25
I cant seem to find anything about it, but cant watch videos at work. Sounds like a mod.
16
9
1.5k
u/Smart-Mate Freestates Dec 24 '25
Yeah and this is the only low inntelligence interaction in the entire game iirc
371
u/Successful_Lychee130 Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
I understand doubling the dialog in the whole game just for this is a lot of work but boy would it be worth it There are a million Situations you could do were your Character is falling upwards or causing total chaos out of dumbness
178
u/Martyrlz Dec 24 '25
Fallout 1, 2, and New Vegas all have that, it's pretty fun
83
u/Technical_Teacher839 Dec 24 '25
New Vegas still doesn't go anywhere near the same length as 1 or 2, though. There's significantly less changed dialogue.
113
u/fyester Dec 24 '25
In fairness, in 1 and 2, a lot of the text is just replaced with “hurrr” and most NPCs won’t even talk to you. It was a little disappointing after playing something like Neverwinter Nights which legitimately does account for it in EVERY line, it feels.
2
u/Renard_Fou Dec 27 '25
That is mostly for absolute caveman 1 inteligence. Having it slightly higher has you speaking like a caveman instead
34
u/helios_is_me Dec 24 '25
Honestly the New Vegas version of that breaks my immersion to such an absurd degree with how inconsistent it is. Potentially hot take but I'd rather have it not all than like that.
13
u/Successful_Lychee130 Dec 24 '25
Yea agrred They just replace regular text with the Idiot lines and have the Characters react as if you talked normally
2
u/Earl0fYork Dec 26 '25
Arcanum did a great low int run though it also means you miss out on a few quests and….that quest
7
573
Dec 24 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
437
u/xxSadie Vault 101 Dec 24 '25
Well in New Vegas there are those few checks but there are definitely updated dialogue strings that are for low intelligence. Just the way you ask the questions, etc.
385
u/Ivan_Ivanov1 Dec 24 '25
The "why flowers of poc lips and bear shoulders no play nice?" Line lives rent free in my head
373
u/xxSadie Vault 101 Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
There’s also one that you can say to Fantastic that’s along the lines of “me smarter than you” and Fantastic buys it.
Edit: I looked it up and the dialogue is “Me take your job cause me smarter” and that’s just priceless.
321
u/AznOmega NCR Dec 24 '25
"Aw shit man, you're direct. You're no-nonsense. How am I supposed to compete with that?"
111
u/Danson_the_47th Dec 24 '25
I guess join the Ceasers luncheon
96
u/your_average_medic Minutemen Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
Fantasticus
Leader of Hellos Mauris
"How did I get this job?"
"Well after those Legion ears took over, the NCR asked me if I had any experience with espionage, I said about as much as anybody else.
"So l put on some hockey pads and soaked them in blood and went to talk them Legion ears. They asked me why I just came from the NCR lines. I said I had been under cover with them for about a year, they asked if i was Picus? I said sure dude. They said their commander had recently died and I was the highest ranking legion ear there and asked if I had any leadership experience. I told them I had experienced leadership. They said welcome aboard."
35
9
117
u/AmItheAholereader Dec 24 '25
My favorite is the incoherent drunk becomes eloquent if you are low intelligence. Because you two are so stupid you transcend and understand each other. see it here it’s glorious
67
u/Quietuus Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
This bit is a callback to a similar bit in Fallout 2, where if you're a low int character you can have a conversation with Torr Buckner in Klamath where you both basically just grunt and mispronounce words and the text boxes translate a full and detailed conversation where you can actually find out a lot of info about the town and even get a lead on the GECK.
Want! (Where can I barter?)
Tragu? Oo Kramat? Ick boo Den. (A trader here in Klamath? Why yes, Vic trades in antiquities for the most part. He's not in town right now. I think he might be trading things at the Den. That's south of here.)
Grok! Torr! (Thanks so much, Torr. You're a prince amongst men. I need to be leaving but I wish you the best of luck with your cattle production. Goodbye, friend Torr.)
13
15
31
28
14
u/xaddak The House Always Wins Dec 24 '25
I thought so too, but apparently there's quite a few: https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Intelligence_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)/Low_Intelligence
What I didn't like is that the conversations were largely unchanged, except for a low intelligence line or two randomly stuck in the middle. I know rewriting every line of the player's dialogue for low int, and then rewriting every NPC's reaction to every line to accommodate for low int, would be a monumental undertaking, but it just felt weird that you'd speak normally except for a single "uhhhh me no smart" line randomly stuck in the middle.
But it's been a while since I played New Vegas, and even longer since I did the low intelligence playthrough, so maybe I'm misremembering and it's actually a lot of fun? I've seen at least a few people who seemed to really like it...
12
u/FalloutMaster We Rule Dec 24 '25
I have to imagine the low int dialogues were a bit of an afterthought given how much other content is in the games. Most players likely won’t do a dumb character anyways. Having low Int cripples you pretty bad since your intelligence stat is directly related to how many skill points you get when you level, and there’s so many intelligence skill checks that are really useful. Hell, in the first two games many of the NPCs won’t even talk to you if you’re too stupid which is probably the most realistic tbh. I see low int characters as mostly just a fun novelty :)
2
u/Renard_Fou Dec 27 '25
NV was famously rushed pretty badly. Clearly they didint want to make massive changes post release, especially since this would require getting the VAs back which would be very expensive
18
u/Laundry_Hamper Dec 24 '25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJKuWH-L7jU
almost 15 minutes of low-IQ dialogue
2
1
u/10TheKing10 Dec 26 '25
You literally get a companion based on your low intelligence, there’s lots of speech checks
2
u/ameriCANCERvative Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
That is so lame. In fallout 2, being low intelligence had drastic effects with nearly every single interaction. It was almost like an entirely different game. One character interaction was impossible without being stupid, with another stupid NPC. Conversing with him was the only way your character ever seemed intelligent. The game would translate oogaboogas and other grunt noises into intelligent speech, but only when conversing with someone of equal intelligence. Everyone else just made fun of you and your dialog options were somewhat limited, but still useful enough to beat the game.
205
u/EpatiKarate Dec 24 '25
You know what would’ve been absolutely peak? This is how you recruit Dean Dewey as a companion and as you venture through the wasteland you can ask DD for advice or he interjects when you use your low intelligence in conversations! Sort of a helping hand for a dumb playthrough.
175
u/carrie-satan Dec 24 '25
I’ve always been torn on my opinion of Low Int in Fallout, because it always feels like brief flashes of mental disability rather than playing someone of actual low intelligence
Unrealistic maybe but I’d love the next game to take a page from Vampire The Masquerade and how they did Malkavians and rewrite the dialogue based on your intelligence level
97
u/AtoMaki Vault 13 Dec 24 '25
Fallout 1 and 2 had the latter, it was fun for maybe the first hour of the gameplay.
106
u/Enchillamas Dec 24 '25
The OG's had both. At low intelligence you were an imbecile. At none, you were literally non-vocal and treated as a burden.
The vault dwellers are all literally suicidal at you being chosen as the savior.
29
u/Battlejesus Bingo Bango Bongo Dec 24 '25
Yep and in 1 if you didn't already a know a path to completing the videogame you were fucked, no one would talk to you and if they did, it was like to a child
7
u/Renard_Fou Dec 27 '25
Still the funniest/saddest shit ever put into a game, like wtf do you mean "they gave the completely disabled dude a gun and sent him out"
1
u/cat_that_uses_reddi Jan 01 '26
If you got a 1 or nothing in intelligence then you must have a 10 in something to make you be seen as a super human
14
u/Rutskarn Dec 24 '25
I'd go so far as to say it hasn't been done well in any of the games, ever. In some of them you sound like a drooling idiot if your intelligence is barely below average. In most of them, you sound "normal" and then occasionally say things which sound like parodies of developmental disorders, as you said; I would add that these lines generally suggest someone who wouldn't, otherwise, have a normal gameplay experience.
If I was the director of a Fallout title, a day-one discipline I'd implement is "the spectrum of stats belongs to someone who is basically competent to perform any part of the gameplay loop that isn't locked off to the player because of this low stat." So an Intelligence 1 character is still someone who can hack low-level terminals, navigate on the overworld, maintain and operate their weapons, et cetera. In non-gameplay terms, an Int 1 character is the sort of person who's doing
just finebasically okay in life but sometimes says or does stuff that stops others near them dead. So [Intelligence 1] dialogue would sound like:
- "Brahmin chips sound like they'd be delicious, but they smell so bad I've never tried one."
- "These Vaults suck. They're all rusty and full of radroaches. How were people supposed to survive in there?"
- "Jet sucks, it never works. I even tried spraying it on my eye instead of my hand and it just made me blind for an hour."
16
u/yolilbishhugh Dec 24 '25
I see what you're saying but I disagree about being able to hack low level terminals etc. I like that there is content I couldn't access, I don't think a dimwitted character should be able to hack anything full stop.
4
u/Discount_Extra Dec 24 '25
Well, there is usually other routes, a key to the safe, a companion that can hack, etc.
Really my main complaint about Fallout 3 is that the perks etc. basically skip content instead of unlocking it.
Like with Child at Heart in my first playthrough I skipped directly to Murder Pass; and never saved the kids from Paradise Falls.
2
u/madhatmatt2 Dec 24 '25
Yay but seriously though you are critical of the developers for not creating basically an entire different game for what is essentially a joke for most players and it would make the game extremely boring what’s the point of spending hours and probably thousands of dollars paying writers and developers to create an entire play through curated around low intelligence that would essentially end up being boring and annoying to play.
4
u/Rutskarn Dec 24 '25
Perhaps I wasn't clear: this is the dialogue I would include instead of the other jokes, not as a whole new thing that takes over the game. Like find-replace the existing "low Int" dialogue with stuff like this. And unlike the pre-existing low Int dialogue, which is inconsistent with the rest of your character's dialogue specifically because it would be an outrageous misallocation of resources to stretch this joke across the entire play experience, this stuff is consistent with previous dialogue choices.
2
u/Dreaming_Witch Dec 25 '25
I did love how they had the different fonts for each of the clans. I would add/edit that the malkavian dialogue was treated as low int/crazy but it was really Max int no charisma.
94
u/smeghead_85 Dec 24 '25
Fallout 2 is the undisputed king of low int interactions
74
u/HekesevilleHero Dec 24 '25
The funniest part is Sergeant Dornan tries is damndest to make the Chosen One understand what's being said, despite the fact that it's not strictly necessary
39
u/Fireboy759 Enclave Dec 24 '25
Notice how he doesn't even bother with yelling and insults, because he knows it won't matter to an idiot that can't process being insulted
13
u/smeghead_85 Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
That was fantastic, but what about the intellectual conversation you have with another low int npc in the first town?
Edit: it's Torr in Klamath
13
u/Antermosiph Dec 24 '25
I loved howbthe deathclaw companion is able to easily talk to you because he's used to working with feral deathclaws.
26
2
u/Arrow_to_the_knee1 Dec 26 '25
An Int of 1 is great for evil runs in Fallout 2. The bad guys are so nice, and the good guys are so mean.
20
12
u/Piemaster128official Dec 24 '25
Low intelligence playthroughs are always funny
3
u/Discount_Extra Dec 24 '25
I like a playthrough where you force yourself to choose the 'bad' dialog option every time.
7
u/Clemtwdfan Dec 24 '25
Its New Vegas that gets me laughing when your brain thinks you're coming onto them!
11
u/86cinnamons Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
Well I guess you are. Cognitive disability qualifies for SPED services. That’s some great immersion :p
Edit: specifically *intellectual disability. I just woke up so -
1
18
u/Le_Juice_ Dec 24 '25
I mean, you are an 18yo vault dweller
3
6
6
3
u/DragoniteDK Dec 25 '25
Interesting thing, if you have a Subway token in your inventory they will take it and you'll be protected passenger by their code. Found that neat thing years ago
2
1
1
1
u/SpikeRosered Dec 25 '25
It's like in Fallout 4 when you're doing the flying shop quest and there are skill checks during the mission out of nowhere. It's like random half finished concepts got left in the game.
1
1
u/JustDontbStupid Dec 26 '25
Damn I might play that when I'm free in September because I love this game
1
1
1
1
1
-49
Dec 24 '25
[deleted]
25
u/Krungoid Dec 24 '25
Shut up.
-32
Dec 24 '25
[deleted]
31
u/Krungoid Dec 24 '25
In here whining about horseshit and shocked no one wants to hear it.
-31
Dec 24 '25
[deleted]
28
18
u/Krigdoth Dec 24 '25
Are you alright? Is there something wrong with your head?
-2
Dec 24 '25
[deleted]
10
u/WorldEaterSpud Dec 24 '25
What makes you dislike 3 so much? It was 3 that got Me into the series and have never had much innterraction with OG and 2
-1
Dec 24 '25
[deleted]
5
u/WorldEaterSpud Dec 24 '25
Ah wow. Looks like I'll have to jump down the lore loophole.
There are somethings youve mentioned that I dislike (the whole crossing the capital wasteland to find dad only to not call him out on thing)
Thanks for your mature input. I'll look into getting to the earlier two. I feel if I can get past how dated they are I'd really enjoy them
→ More replies (0)8
u/Krigdoth Dec 24 '25
bro that was not even me, you gotta learn how to read lol
-1
Dec 24 '25
[deleted]
5
u/Krigdoth Dec 24 '25
ty for answering my question lol there is something wrong with your brain. Keep fighting those shadows bro.
→ More replies (0)
1.1k
u/host_can_edit Dec 24 '25
Thank you for reminding me that I just reinstalled Fo3 for the holidays.
Time for a new playthrough after a long time!