A few more late impressions, about 30 hours in. I have just under 1/2 of the map explored, but have barely touched the main quests. I'll be diving into those this weekend.
I'm really enjoying the game so far, but I have to say, there's very little about the gameplay that is elegant. The menus (espeically the title screen) are nicely minimal yet functional, and the inventory system and overall organization is a big improvement from Oblivion.
With Oblivion, I forgave a lot because the overall game was so compelling. The loop of exploration, combat, loot and leveling was very addictive, and there was a wonderful feeling of discovery through the entire game; tall hills just called out to be climbed, dungeons to be looted. But it had issues: hilariously outdated hand-keyed animation. Sluggish controls. Combat that was often not very satisfying, just basing away or launching the same spell over and over until the enemy collapsed.
Fallout 3 is nearly identical in those regards. I'm kind of shocked that the animation system was not improved. Bungie at long last moved to mo-cap with Reach, and the difference between that and the hand-keyed stuff from the previous games is night and day.
Gameplay wise, it's still a bit akward. I feel heavy and sluggish, get stuck on odd bits of geometry often, and CQC is frequently clunky. The gunplay - not VATS - is very weak; it's half shooter, half RPG, but with none of the finesse that shooters demand. I find the VATS system is most useful up close when I have a sure bet of hitting, but mostly I use it as a way to avoid damage from powerful melee creatures, thanks to the tip a few posts up.
Despite this, the combat is more satisfying than Oblivion. Blowing enemies to chunks has yet to get old. I've had some fun shootouts in hallways and other areas, where - to my delight - the enemy didn't just charge right at me as they did in Oblivion. They were using cover, hanging back, exchanging volleys. Fallout 3 offers frequent glimpses of how great the game could be it it was just tightened up a bit. I do like how I find myself mixing up the weapons a lot, carrying around 10 different ones to use depending on the situation. And the improved enemy scaling system is, I think, working wonderfully. There's been several pockets that kicked my ass at first, such that I had to go and beef up for a while to overcome them. That was something missing entirely from Oblivion.
But as with Oblivion, I'm willing to forgive the chunkiness because the game context is so compelling. There have been some wonderful, huge places to explore, some nicely twisted encounters and side quests and a very strong pull to just keep seeing what's out there. That's what I was looking for, so I'm pretty satisfied. But I hope Bethesda really re-examines their animation and gameplay systems for the next iteration of their open world RPGs.
I'm not sure how I'm gonna reach what looks like the Tenpenny Tower from the E3 previews etc.