Back to the Wastes with you, local. The Pitt, which is the second hunka DLC for Fallout 3, introduces a new area for you to play either the hero, the villian, or a bit of both.
After installing the content, which costs 800 Microsoft FunBux (TM), you pick up a radio signal on your Pip-Boy. Some investigation leads you north where you find Werhner, a scruffy, eyepatch-wearing escaped slave from The Pitt, formerly Pittsburgh, now a huge bustling slave colony.
Hmm. You know, I want an eyepatch. I think Werhner might have to suffer a tragic accident later. For now, I’ll play along with his scheme.
Quest: Infiltrate The Pitt. Optional: Get This Dude's Sweet Eyepatch.
Werhner’s plan is to smuggle you into The Pitt disguised as a slave, and have you swipe a cure for a sickness that is turning people into Trogs: bent, misshapen, feral freakazoids, the expansion’s sole new enemy. Doesn’t radiation kill anybody in this fucking game besides me? Everyone else it turns into cool ghouls, mutants, and monsters, but for me it’s some kinda life-threatening nuisance.
Anyway, you dress as a slave and turn yourself in at The Pitt’s main gate, where all your weapons and goodies are confiscated. You’ve been instructed to track down a slave named Midea, who will help you blend in as a slave by acquiring a massive tool (weapon) known as an Auto-Axe that the slavers seem to not mind you walking around with, and also by doing a little slave work; namely, gathering steel ingots from a dangerous, Trog-filled area of The Pitt. Trogs are fast and sneaky, but with the Auto-Axe, easy (and fun) to slice down to size.
The Auto-Axe, good for carving up mutants on your quest to acquire an eyepatch. Oh, and also on your quest to free hundreds of oppressed slaves or some shit.
The cure Werhner is seeking is currently in the hands of the slave boss, named Ashur, and the only way to gain entrance to his stronghold is by winning your freedom in a series of arena fights. Yeah, there’s an arena, which feels like a callback to Oblivion, with the same fight announcer, even. By now, you’ve gathered some extra weapons from corpses in Trogville, though I just went ahead and used the Auto-Axe in the arena anyway, quickly slicing and dicing all comers. Added to the fun are barrels of radiation dropped into the arena while you’re fighting, so you can’t take too long to dispose of the other gladiators.
Once free, you can collect your belongings in a footlocker outside the arena (I tell you this because I didn’t know, and spent a good twenty minutes wandering around the gate where they stripped my gear initially, looking for my loot), enter Ashur’s stronghold, and choose to join him or side with the slaves and swipe the cure. I went with helping the slaves, not because I want to help the slaves, myself being a former slave-trader, but because I wanted to make sure I found Werhner again, so I could have his eyepatch. It’s a bit shallow, I know, considering the lives at stake, but I’d just look way fucking cool with an eyepatch.
A stolen screenshot of a Trog. Trogs do not look nearly this nice on my PC.
Anyway, whichever side you choose, a big slave uprising results in a lot of carnage, which you can participate in or try to sneak past. I mostly snuck, occasionally picking off a few slavers with The Infiltrator, a nifty scoped assault rifle I picked up off an arena opponent.
Werhner, of course, did wind up having a tragic accident. After completing the mission, I was carving up a Pitt Boss who had survived the climax, and I guess I accidentally hurt a slave with my giant spinning sawblade, which made Werner attack me. What a jerk! Once I smoothed things over between us by cutting his legs off, I discovered his eyepatch is not a wearable item, just part of his character model. Boooo! We clearly need an eyepatch patch.
The Pitt feels a lot more like the rest of Fallout 3 than Operation: Anchorage did, but I think I actually enjoyed Anchorage a bit more. Anchorage definitely lasted longer — I think I did The Pitt in about an hour and a half, though part of that might be do to with playing it as a badass level 20 character, and being able to sneak my way past a bunch of conflicts.
There’s just not much to do in The Pitt, unless you’re a completionist and want to participate in a fetch quest that requires you to collect a hundred steel ingots for someone, which I really didn’t feel like. Most of the time spent seems to be running from place to place — it takes ages to get to Ashur’s stronghold, and even longer to report back to Werner’s hidey-hole — up and down and around these catwalks which must have been built by retarded cloned cavemen.
It’s nice that you can wander and explore freely, and there are plenty of people to talk to, though I didn’t find a lot in the way of quest-altering dialogue choices. I guess it’s still worth buying — The Pitt, while sort of confusingly designed, is dripping with detail and is perhaps even more morbidly miserable than any location in the original game. I liked that the nature of the cure itself was such it made it hard to tell if you were doing the right thing — not that I was, I was just after some new headgear. I just wish there was a little more to The Pitt. Anchorage had action, and lots of it; The Pitt has adventure, but not enough to really feel entirely worthwhile.
38 Comments
April 9, 2009
Huh. That second picture looks like an Oblivion elf.
April 9, 2009
The auto-axe sounds fun. It’s like the Lancer, but without that watered-down “gun” part. This is the sort of thing that just might convince me to finally actually get Fallout 3, except for the level of commitment that that kind of RPG expects of some people.
April 9, 2009
I, myself, enjoyed the Pitt, especially the ingot fetching. Got all 100 on my first run - and that rad power armour with an AP bonus was absolutely worth it. Plus, the Steelyard is an orgasmic level by itself. But, hell, I’m a sucker for anything industrial, so yeah.
Also, there are several eyepatch mods at FONexus.
April 9, 2009
All that work and no eyepatch…now that’s a good way to end the story :D
April 9, 2009
I liked the Pitt as well, but again, I felt that it felt kinda short. The two things I think were really missing were an extended, repeatable arena with Troggs, Deathclaws, giant Radscorpions, swarming Bloatflies… Anything, really.
And then, after that, whether sometime before or after meeting Ashur, I’m not sure, that involves you either pushing further into old Pittsburgh or raiding a merchant caravan. There, we’d see what kind of life the raiders live–i.e., a hard, horrible one that’s almost worse than what the slaves have. Something that really makes me want to bring down the Pitt’s hierarchy.
Oh, and if that could have been repeatable for money or equipment, that would have been nice, too.
But I like the AutoAxe, I like the Infiltrator, I like the new Power Armor–a good use of money, if only a bit short for my tastes.
April 9, 2009
My main character is stuck in Anchorage and I want out. :< I hated it and I really don’t want the Pitt.
April 9, 2009
Finally…
Anyways, you’re not a real man unless you get all 100 ingots. :P
It’s not hard, you just have to make special friends with all the ghoulkips in the steelyard (here’s a hint: they like being dismembered).
April 9, 2009
I think I enjoyed the pitt more… I think.
April 9, 2009
I’m not overly fussed about getting the Pitt, operation anchorage was a neat add on for fallout 3 but I don’t really think I’ll be getting the Pitt until after broken steel is released, mainly so I’ll have some xp that’s easy to get. Also because microsoft are fags and won’t let me place my xbox live membership on pause without erasing my gamertag (thereby erasing all my achievements and online progress in games like COD4).
April 9, 2009
Dear Chris
All your eye patch needs:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4484
All your canibal pitt cure alternative needs:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5109
Love Out Reach
April 9, 2009
I’m avoiding the DLC until it’s available with money or free.
April 9, 2009
I personally liked the Pitt. Only problem was how the slaves always repeat the same “Don’t talk or the slavers will hurt us D:” dialouge, even when they are ripping apart the slavers with Auto-Axes!!!
April 9, 2009
Chris, please, enough with the “Microsoft FunBux.” “Microsoft Points” doesn’t sound absurd enough to deserve that kind of abuse.
April 9, 2009
It’s absurd that I can’t just buy the game from them with good old dollars. Once they allow me to simply pay for the game instead of purchasing “points” in increments of 500, I’ll stop calling them FunBux.
April 9, 2009
It’s because they’re trying to integrate the PC and the Xbox 360 into Live so that you have to use Microsoft Points for either platform, but yeah, I agree that crap doesn’t fly with PC gamers. Still, I find FunBux obnoxiously over the top.
April 9, 2009
Microsoft makes you pay with these FunBux because it cuts down on the fees they have to pay whenever they do credit card transactions, which is the same reason every other console manufacturer uses their own version of it (Wii Points, adding chunks of money to your PlayStation Store account). Not saying I agree with it, but if it’s saving them money, there’s no chance they’re going to go back to good, ol’ fashioned AmeriBux.
April 9, 2009
I prefer “micro fuck-bux” myself. Then I take the good ol’ one finger discount and get it off a torrent instead of dealing with microsoft.
April 9, 2009
Welp, I FINALLY (Can’t stressed that “FINALLY” enough) managed to sign in to this stupid “Games for Windows LIVE” thing, and am downloading both expansions.
April 9, 2009
Weird how close our experiences word. I thought it took a good 4 or 5 hours to complete, but maybe I was just taking time to enjoy the scenery. However, as soon as I saw that eyepatch, my first thought was that I wanted that and pretty much ignored him. Also, when it came time to get my gear back, I wandered around for the better part of an hour, with friends watching, over the entire Pitt, especially in the area directly above the footlocker, which the arror pointed to :\
April 9, 2009
Very happy that forcing me to use FunBux, and wind up with a bunch extra that I don’t need, is saving Microsoft money on fees. That makes it all worth it.
April 9, 2009
Okay, I’ve downloaded them, but uh… How do I use them?
April 10, 2009
I wish you could still pirate things safely in Britain, the government (since Monday) now monitors all internet use and email. One of my friends pirated a game with a torrent on Tuesday, received and official warning today (3 strikes system). I wonder if proxies are safe.
Anyway, looks like I might have to dabble with the funbux myself, you can buy them in some shops, right?
April 10, 2009
Holy crap, Lack_26, the government could monitor what I do if I lived in Britain? Not that I would pirate games through torrents, but that’s news to me.
April 10, 2009
@noobie51
I’m in Scotland, I haven’t heard a thing about this.
My friends have been torrenting stuff all month and nothing’s happened.
April 10, 2009
The playstation’s online doesn’t have “funbux” of any sort, you just type in how much money you want put into your account, it transfers from your bank to the PSN and then you’re just using money.
April 10, 2009
@ Lack_26: 1984 much?! When gonverment monitors everyone’s internet AND e-mail use, it kinda ruins WHOLE FUCKING CONCEPT OF PRIVACY!
What’s even more funny, same kind of law is being pushed in France. I guess that brutal authoritarian dictatorship is not too far away. Orwell is laughing at us RIGHT NOW.
April 10, 2009
Your completly justified in your hate of Microsofts shitty system of buying stuff, but it adds to your integrity as a writer if you atlest call it by its name.
Other then that, I liked it. A very thought out review, rather funny, and interesting pictures. The auto axe looks nifty, I might get this extra content later.
April 10, 2009
I’m not sure the message was from the government, they’ve passed this law primarily to track potential terrorists. I know a few ISPs have handed over customer information to some music companies to try and stop piracy.
Edit: Okay, his email was vague. It was music, not a game and his letter was from his ISP (I think he has Virgin) not the government. These letters have been going out for a while now. But I still don’t trust the government much, they use anti-terrorism laws against littering and to spy on school children so it’s probably a matter of time.
Just don’t go round typing Nerve gas + underground + London into google.
April 10, 2009
@Lack_26
I search for that ALL the time.
April 10, 2009
Okay,maybe i’m simply overreacting, but “a road thousands of miles long begins with a single step” nontheless - even a road to brutal authoritarian dictatorship. And i’m EXTREMELY allergic to authoritarism in any form,size,or shape.
April 10, 2009
@Unconcerned Sam
Isn’t the minimum amount of money you can enter $5 though? This still slightly reduces small credit card payments.
April 11, 2009
I agree with LaZodiac regarding the FunBux™ and I thoroughly enjoyed this story.
April 11, 2009
Chris, as much as I respect you, your justification sucks. Apparently you’ve done absolutely no research, as you can buy cards of 1600 Points, which would alleviate all your bitching.
April 12, 2009
Wait, he was bitching that he could only buy five dollars worth of points at a time or something?
April 12, 2009
What would alleviate my bitching would be if I could just pay dollars for the content, like I do for anything else. How the fuck would going and buying a card make things any easier?
April 12, 2009
For one, you wouldn’t have to deal with the 500 point increments, and two, for both of these Fallout expansions you’d have no points left over, both having cost 800 points. It’s not exactly what you want, but it would have fixed those two complaints and you would have exactly what you wanted for exactly the price given.
@n00bie: There were complaints of increments of 500 and 1000 points, yes. No mention was made of the 1600 points cards that would have solved his Fallout content problem.
April 13, 2009
Wrong. There are going to be a total of three Fallout DLC packs, which totals 2400 points. So, even I took the time to buy a 1600 point card, I’d still have to buy another 1000 points to get the third pack, which will cost 800 points, which still leaves me with 200 points left over.
The simplest solution, as I’ve repeatedly stated, would be to JUST LET ME BUY THE DLC WIFF AMERICAN US DOLLARMONIES. Cripes.
April 13, 2009
God, Chris. Shame on you for having an opinion on your website.
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