OK, let me say it right away: Yes, I know that if I do all side quests and stuff I will probably have50+ hrs playtime. But, the main quest should also be relatively long. This way, I DID in fact do a lot of side quests, but then, without even noticing, I finished the main quest and thus the game. I was shocked when the credits greeted me after only 13 hrs of play time.

 

It all started very nicely, with the birth of the main character, childhood and teenage years, which at the same time served as a tutorial and were the basis for your character definition.

 

After an hour or so, I had already left Vault 101 and went to look for my father (which is the main quest). Anyway, since I knew (based on the fact that no matter what they say, Fallout 3 IS indeed "Oblivion with guns"), that if I pursue the "Dad" Quest right away, it will most probably end too soon, I went to "take a walk" on the Wasteland first.

 

After finding Megaton, and trying both solutions for their "problem" (blow ’em up or save ’em) I was rewarded with a "house". Having loved Oblivion and it’s features with own house etc., I went to Moira, and was determined to buy the "Pre-War House Theme". The theme costs a lot of caps (1400+), and I only had a dozen of them. So I DID, as stated above, start with side quests to make some bucks.<br />

I finished almost all of Moiras Quests (and that takes a litle time), and a dozen of other side quests.

 

Without actually noticing, I was suddenly "pushed" into the main quest. First I thought "WTH", I will pursue it now and find my father. The first shocker came just a few minutes later, when my father was killed. After this event, it all kinda "went its own way". I continued to play (the "Purity" Quest) without even knowing that this indeed was the main quest. All this time I was gathering stuff (for example Scrap Metalfor Walter), thinking that I will get to Megaton as soon as "this part" of the quest ends. But this was the main quest, and it was rushing straight for the end, accompanied with a lot of scripts (where I couldn’t do anything), so I continued. And then, BAM, suddenly my life flashed before my eyes, and the credits greeted me! I was absolutely shocked. First, because I couldn’t believe "this was it", and second, because I had just realized there were not going to be any more "side quests", actually anything. That was it, the end. In Oblivion, even after having finished the main quest, you could simply continue playing - there were still a lot of side quests to do. But Fallout 3 doesn’t give you any option. Once you finished the main quest, it’s "Goodbye my someone ...". The only way out, if you were lucky, is to load the last save BEFORE you went into the Purity Lab. I checked the play time and could remember something some game producer said about the main quest alone having 20 or so hrs of gameplay. Well, spank me Rosie! It was only 13 hrs of play time and the end already came. I finished the game with Level 11.

 

It was only then, that I realized I hadn’t had the chance to try the "Mini Nuke", meet Three Dog or build the Rock-It Launcher. So, what happened to RPG, open end, "infinite world"? They were all left behind once I started the search for "Dad". I even cursed him afterwards.

 

Seriously, Bethesda, you should have put a sign, or a notice on the main quest. Something like "Hey, if you pursue this quest, you are screwed - you can’t get out anymore!"

 

This way, regardless of (not so good)graphics quality, (not so smart)AI, (not so accurate)hit detection, horrible 3d person view, retarded inventory, I was willing to enjoy the game because it had so much potential and it still offers an impressive post-apocaliptic experience- but the ending really disappointed me.