I would say save the game frequently. Then go ahead and end the game to see how it goes, and then go back to a saved game and do the side quests with all your guns and money and have fun without ending the game. I think this game is meant to be an exploration of the entire world , and not just a mision to finish the main quest in the fastest time possible. I jsut finished the "American Dream" quest where I reported to the Citadel and got the armor and was asked to participate in the final fight, so I told them I need 1 minute. Now, I want to go colelct tons of weapons, and nukes so I can make the final fight spectacular. I also want to finish a lot of side quests and see how much equipment I can collect and store in my suite at TenPenny. Its cool, when I go back to places and see the destruction that I made there, and find there are new mutties to continue the fight, and they always bring more stimpacks and guns , so i pick them up easily now that I have Tesla armor and gattling laser gun.

I just wonder if the final fight will wait til I go back to the Citadel, or if things will move on, since they said time was critical, they had to move now. Wonder if the game will continue on even if I dont do the final quest right away.

I am having much trouble finding , letting alone, getting the GECK. HOW Can I find it, and how can I get it if Fawkes wont work with me ?

I see the GECK on the map, but I cant get there. I took the Lamplight tunnels and went into Valut 87 thru the back door in the reactor chamber, really cool way to get to vault 87. Better than Murder row. But once your in the vault for awhile, lots of mutants in there, they block off youre only escape back to the caverns, so you are forced to go thru the Murder row to get back. Its tough, but easier if you have the ghoul helper.

You had better take your biggest guns, and tons of frag granades, and take the Ghoul with you, he is a tough guy, he looks for the fights, gets right in front, takes the bullets, while I toss grenades over his head into the room. That ghoul is vicious with the combat shotgun !! HE hits super mutants in 2 shots. Sometimes I hear him yell out " I could use some help here". I dont think he uses any of my ammo, I think his ammo is unlimited somehow. Cause he always has the same amount of ammo every time I look. He is my pack mule and carries tons of stuff for me. NOw I am in the lab, and see Fawkes, but I have negative Karma ( for taking out Megaton) and enslaving a tenpenny resident to the slavers. So I wonder what will happen if i release Fawkes, will he attack me ? or fight with me but refuse to join me as a partner ? I may have to save my game, and try it out. Anyone free Fawkes that had negative karma ? what happened ?

im doing the main quest, and have added like 7 other side quests on the side. Everytime you talk to someone, they want to give you a quest. Its cool, lots of things to try, and you can do them in the order you like.

I have put in about 20+ hours and it gets more interesting all the time. ONce you get ammo, a reliable bed to sleep in, and some armor, the game gets really exciting. I plan to play this for the next year or so, discovering all the places, picking up all the stuff I can find.Get the strategy guide ! It helps you along the way, cause some charactes try to get you sidetracked to do stupid stuff, and there are ways around it.

BUY IT as fast as you can !! and get the strategy guide too, its awesome, you get 15% off when you buy game at same time at Gamestop.

Its highly work it, has maps, tons of stuff, tips, charts.

You will end up playing that Fallout 3 til your eyes hurt and you have to go to work... its highly addictive.

i was wondering. In the quest for Water, in the Museum, upon escapaing to protect Doc Li, I shot and killed 2 Enclave soldiers, then I found and took the Enclave power armor. I was not able tro wear it yet, til I visited the Citadel and get permission from Lloyd and got training by Gunny. Now I was wondering, if I out on the armor, will the Brothers of steel there think I am enclave and start shooting at me since IM wearing that armor ?

I put it on, and ran around in the courtyard, and no onw shot at me, but I was only there a short while, perhaps I will go back, and walk around inside the Ring A and see if they are ok with it, and not see me as an enemy. It is even better armor than the The Brothers of Steel use, so I like it alot.

Cant wait to shoot down some Mutants now, with good armor on. Although, I bet the sledgehammer can do lots of damage still, shoot em from a distance.

Get the perk "Bloody mess" and it is a real blast, the ghouls blow apart in tons of blood and guts..

If you think that decision is a tough moral decision, wait til you get to the quest "Tranquility Lane" and you have to do al these things for Betty in order to get out again. You have to put on a clown outfit and slash everyone in the town in their house, ir order to get to the next stage.

Unless you can figure out if there is an alternate action...

I say BLOW IT UP !

my cousin has beat the game when not blowing up Megaton, and is now playing it again , this time nuked Megaton, and he is having much more fun with the game with negative karma. The slavers camp like him, they give him stuff all the time. I blew up Megaton after playing many quests, and now got ammo sources all over, so I would not miss the Megaton. IT was a cool city, but I didnt need it anymore, so i racked up explosive skill to 40 and was able to rig the bomb to blow. The view from Ten penny tower is awesome ! If you have a sub, it rumbles the floor. I would have preferred to done some mayhem in Megaton before I blew it up. Once I shot someone, the whole city came after me and I could not even make it out of there alive. But it could be fun to shoot some people in the bar and have a shoot out with the sheriff before you blow it up. If anything, save a version of the game right before you blow it up, in case you regret it, you can go back to it.