One of the first realizations you have in the Capital Wasteland is that you are broke. You have the clothes on your back and any items you brought with you during your getaway from the vault. Wandering around not too far from your old underground home, you run into Megaton. Although a small settlement, it has a diverse and interesting population. Conversing with a merchant and seeing what you can afford confirms you are indeed broke. So it’s time to find and sell anything you can, because evidently that is what it’s going to take.
You stroll through some nearby neighborhood ruins. Homes and cars scorched and tossed ages ago. The faint remnants of lives long lost. You check mailboxes and trash containers, any stash you can spot. You are hoping to find something of value. The need to eat becomes a factor and after all, this junk is your meal ticket.
After grabbing some pre-war money and a bottle of Nuka Cola, you sprint back the the merchant. You will not starve today.
Fallout 3 was the first RPG where I really enjoyed and employed inventory management. For those first few hours I was really searching around not only for loot, but also merchants. You become familiar with who you can get particular items from for cheap and who was a little too pricey.
Strategic Fighting
When you do have to fight some creatures of the wasteland, you can use the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System or V.A.T.S. for short. This freezes time and allows you to select not only which creature to attack, but also which part of their body. Like any good RPG, you have a limited amount of action you can use at any given moment. This adds a little more pressure to how you go about attacking, you need every move to really count.