I played both Fallout and Fallout 2 long before I ever got to play Fallout 3...and I am shamed to admit that I find it the most engrossing of the three. Mostly because of VATS, and the power armor looks much swanker. Fallout 1/2 had better storytelling and much better dialogue, not to mention there was more to actually do...I just like the combat better in 3 I suppose. Shame it ends so abruptly. Thankfully the Construction set will prolong its life.
Honestly though, it has made me want to go back to the first two, so that's not a bad thing at all!

Not bad, since there's something cool about walking around in a post-apocalyptic wasteland looking for your father (or being a total jackass, your choice). But my high hopes were crushed since it's not scary. Those mutants are so ugly, not scary.

i think FO3 is an awesome game.
Definitely brings the originals into the 21st century and does it with style.

I found out how immersed I had become in this game when I found a tape of a man paying attention to a woman sexually, and instead of thinking 'this is sexy' I thought 'This is my Mum when she was alive and my Dad, obviously before I was born and before Vault 101'. I am not ashamed to admit that although there were no tears, I felt emotional. Like a Son hearing the voice of his Mother.... Not a game player listening to some sexy goings-on!

I've taken some time off from the game after initially beating it.
Planning on playing through again, because I know I missed out on a lot of content due to sticking to the quests and not exploring.
I never really explored the northern portions of the map, so there's about half the map to uncover and sight-see.
I'm looking forward to this, but with the games I'm currently playing, I'm not sure when I'm going to start a new toon in FO3.
All in all I still feel it's a good game, though I know some people think it's not a true Fallout game. It's definately get the Bethesda touch, and I did not find it bad because I enjoy Bethesda's games.
I would stand by my statement that it's more than a simple "Oblivion with guns" - it offers more story than Oblivion could ever hope to without mods.
Morrowind on the other hand... Every time I play that game it's like reading a thousand page book, and that's not a bad thing.
-Cym

I just started today. Hearing that it was on the easy side I set the difficulty to very hard and it is pretty brutal at parts. I like how they start you off in the world but it also is too long. Haven't gotten very far so I don't have many more insights than that.

Just as with Oblivion, it's the mods that are making this a great game! I have a mod to slow down the levelling by giving less experience points, I have the new MMMF3 mod that increases some spawns in some locations to fill the world a little more (this is by the same guy who did the brilliant MMM mod for Oblivion, which ended up a massive 300mb mod - so I have hope!). I have a mod that makes the textures clearer and less 'cluttered' and I have a mod that makes all the important NPC's immortal.
Adding these mods have made a game better for exploring without maxing out the levels too quickly, and it makes the world a little more dangerous, which it should be. I always felt it strange that it was always just the one dog when going from Megaton to the Supermarket. I always thought that the number of creatures should vary a little and MMMF3 does that!
Fallout3nexus has all the above mods - and a lot more. Check it out at:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/

couldn't they just make them immune to falling damage? what if I decide I want to kill one or more?

Well, you might have to check the mod comments and readme on nexus to see who is protected, but if they are important to quests, etc, then I don't fell the need. There are plenty other thinga to blow away (especially with the MMMF3 mod!)