lordmaurice

[lordmaurice]

[lordmaurice]

Top 10 Fallout 3 Quests

I recently did a play through of Fallout 3 for the first time in a couple years and it inspired me to make a ranking of my favorite quests. There will be spoilers. I tried doing an evil play through as I’ve never played fallout 3 with a very evil karma before. This is just gonna be vanilla fo3 quests.

Honorable Mention to the Replicated Man & Tenpenny Tower, two quests I greatly enjoy and barely missed the list.

 10. Those!

I liked the abrupt, ominous start to this quest. A random child, Bryan, runs up to me while strolling around the wasteland and starts talking about his town being attacked by some mysterious creature. After finding the town infested with fire breathing ants and the kids father dead, I find a makeshift laboratory in a shed next door and notes on a terminal directing me to the source of the fire ants so I can exterminate them. Pretty solid way to start a quest, got me invested.

I opted not to kill the queen fire ant, dealing with only the nest guardians and returning to Dr. Lesko so I could get some of that sweet sweet Ant Might. The ending of the quest required me to find a home for Bryan. The game gives a decent amount of options for this but since I was being a naughty boy this time around, I went down to my boy Eulogy Jones in Paradise Falls and sold Bryan into a life of slavery.

Overall, a quality quest with a variety of ways to go about it.

 9. Agatha’s Song

Agatha’s house is a quaint little home tucked away in the north of the map. This is one of the times I sacrificed my evil karma for a quest. Agatha is a charming old widow who simply wants me to find a violin for her. She lets me know of a vault which once held the nation’s best musicians, and informs me that there I can find her ancestor’s violin in pristine condition. This led me to finding Vault 92 just south of deathclaw city.

Vault 92 was an interesting place to explore with an interesting story to tell. Through a series of holotapes and terminals, we’re able to piece together yet another disturbing vault experiment, causing vault dwellers to lose their mind. After fighting through a shit ton of mirelurks, I find the violin and return it to Agatha. While there is no physical reward for completing the quest, the reward of getting Agatha’s radio station and being able to hear the violin you rescued is enough of a reward.

Overall, a spooky romp through a sinister location with a heartwarming conclusion

 8. Reilly’s Rangers

I found Reilly on a hospital bed in Underworld, the only other non-ghoul in the settlement. I woke her up with a medicine check and she began going on about her team of badass shooter dudes and how they got fucked up by some super mutants. She told me that her team was holed up on the roof of a hotel and was in desperate need of rescuing. She gave me the passcode for her home base for some reason and sent me off to take her things and save her friends.

This quest offered some good old fashioned super mutant slaughter. Almost reminiscent of a Fallout 4 quest, but in a good way. I fought my way up the floors of a hospital and crossed a fallen radio tower to access the upper levels of the hotel, eventually fighting a super mutant overlord before finally reaching the roof. I saved the epic team and thankfully had a fissure battery on me to repair the elevator. We escaped and I returned to Reilly to get a beefy ass minigun named Eugene.

Overall, an action packed rescue with a solid reward

 7. Trouble On The Homefront

And so we go back to where it all started. Going back to Vault 101 after being locked out ever since level 1 was awesome. I received a distress signal from Amata, informing me that the new Overseer is insane and they need help. I walked back through the familiar gate and strolled back into my old stomping grounds. Upon arrival, and after chatting with some familiar faces, I found out about the two ideologies battling it out in the vault. Amata wants to open up the vault and the overseer wants to keep it closed.

When I approached Amata and she told me to convince the overseer to open the vault and not to kill him, I knew that I was going to kill him. I popped him between the eyes and Amata told me I needed to go. It was pleasant being able to interact with the tutorial characters after gaining some experience in the wasteland, and although there is no tangible reward, being able to take Butch as a companion is a nice addition. There are many ways to complete this quest and takes into account the initial choice of killing or sparing the overseer that the player encounters during the tutorial.

Overall, a fascinating trip down memory lane

 6. Stealing Independence

Whilst roaming the halls of Rivet City, I stumbled upon the Capitol Preservation Society. Here I found Abraham Washington, a brilliant historian who wants me to retrieve the Declaration of Independence from the national archives to preserve in his glorious museum. After arriving at the archives, I found a girl named Sydney fighting off some super mutants. I helped her kill them and then promptly shot her in the head and took her epic gun.

After fighting through a barrage of super mutants, mister gutsies and sentry bots, I came across a true patriot, Button Gwinnett, a Protectron who believes he is a founding father. After convincing him that I am Thomas Jefferson, he decided to take a long nap and allowed me to snag the document I craved. I was also able to pick up the Bill of Rights and Magna Carta while I was there. After bringing the documents back to Abraham Washington, I received a nice amount of caps and the schematics to build the railway gun.

Overall, a fun history lesson with a rad robot

 5. Wasteland Survival Guide

This is always the first side quest I tackle in Fallout 3 and this play through was no different. I sauntered into Craterside Supply and Moira sent me off on my first set of objectives. Each objective gives great opportunities for early experience and opens up the world early.

This is the perfect introductory quest for an open world RPG. It sends the player all around the map, providing them with solid loot, and lets them experiment with numerous mechanics, enemies, and locations all under the guise of creating a survival guide for the world you're exploring. It’s a multi-faceted quest with three sets of three objectives, leading to many opportunities to gain experience and learn about the Capital Wasteland.

Overall, a goddamn classic

 4. The Superhuman Gambit

I love this quest. Utter and pure fun and creativity. Upon first walking into Canterbury Commons, I witnessed a battle of epic proportions. The Antagonizer, a villainous ant commanding fiend, and the Mechanist, a robot commanding superhero, briefly argued before battling their minions and running off in different directions. After talking to the townsfolk and learning about their disdain for the two super-bozos, I was tasked with returning peace and justice to Canterbury Commons.

I started off by visiting the Antagonizer. After fighting through her ants, I reached the fiend herself and convinced her to give up her life of crime with my eloquent speech. She gave me her suit and fled. I then paid the Mechanist a visit. I decided to allow him to continue his delusional superhero antics and traded the Antagonizers suit with him for his swanky laser pistol. While this isn’t the longest quest, there are so many ways to approach it and its humor and lighthearted fun makes it a constant joy to play.

Overall, a superhuman war that only you can stop

 3. Oasis

After wandering through the grey, dead wasteland for so long, stumbling upon the lush, vegetated forest of Oasis is absolute joy. Upon first arriving I am whisked inside by some tree people and told that I have been summoned by some unnamed powerful character. After being forced to take some psychedelics, I wake up in a gorgeous, green grove. Here is where I find Harold, a man in a tree who has lived for hundreds of years. The tree people believe he is a God, but he informs me that he is simply a man inside of a tree. He has one request for me: death. He craves a release from his stationary existence, and I oblige. He informs me that I can find his heart underground. Harold can be killed on the spot by burning him alive, and although I am doing an evil play through, I’m not that evil.

While on my way to the heart, I overhear the tree people arguing. One wants to stop Harold’s growth so he can stay tucked away and safe while the other wishes to accelerate Harold’s growth and speed up forestation of the wasteland. After fighting my way through the mirelurks beneath Oasis, I arrived at Harold’s heart. I opted to accelerate his growth, as the thought of a vegetated wasteland intrigued me. There are many ways to go about this quest, and it genuinely makes you ponder what the most ethical option is.

Overall, a luscious land with some difficult decisions

 2. The Power of Atom

When I think of Fallout 3, I think of Megaton. The first town of the game is my favorite location. Perhaps the best part about Megaton, is that it can be wiped off the map with a nuclear bomb that’s just chilling in the middle of town. Upon first walking into Megaton, Lucas Sims tasks me with defusing the nuke in the town square once and for all. I smiled and gave a lukewarm thumbs up. After venturing into Moriarty’s Saloon, I encountered Mr. Burke, who tasked me with rigging the bomb to explode. Myself being a no good bad boy gave a devious smirk and agreed.

I met the Burke man at Tenpenny Tower, an elegant hotel in the middle of the wasteland, and met Alister Tenpenny, the man who Burke worked for. I stood on the balcony, pushed a button, and watched the town of megaton explode with a massive explosion, which still looks absolutely gorgeous in 2021. This quest ranks so highly for me because of the massive consequences that branch from this decision.

Overall, the bomb go boom boom kaboom

 1. Tranquility Lane

Whenever I start this quest, I never want it to end. While out hunting for dear dad, we reach Vault 112, and are guided to a simulation pod. Here, we enter Tranquility Lane, a simulation of an American suburb that contains the unknowing minds of the vault’s dwellers. Here we meet Dr. Braun, a sadistic scientist who parades around the simulation as a little girl named Betty. Hearing Bruan and Betty’s voices swap between each other is creepy and awesome.

Braun sends us on a quest to torment the citizens of Tranquility Lane. Each of the objectives he gives us can be completed in a wide variety of ways. All of these horrid acts culminate in the player dressing up like a killer and slaughtering all of the citizens, only for them to be reloaded to be tormented by Braun another day. There is a way to finish the quest without killing anyone or losing karma, as there is a way to access a secret terminal and call in the Chinese soldiers to save the day.

This quest is just ultimately creative and wildly fun. It’s the most enjoyable quest for me to play from start to finish, and has so many creative ways to go about completing each of its objectives.

Overall, a masterpiece quest

That’s gonna do it.

Peace.

[lordmaurice]

RIP Hella Sketchy

Hella Sketchy songs to check out:

Hella Sketchy - AFRAID

Hella Sketchy - what happened?

Hella Sketchy (ft. Coldhart) - SEROTONIN

Hella Sketchy - Llame

Hella Sketchy - Misunderstood

[lordmaurice]

See the ghost of where I was, lonesome as I was

Thebe Kgositsile

[lordmaurice]

Music Review #2: Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs (2018)

Original Release Date: November 30th, 2018

Some Rap Songs sees Odd Future prodigy Earl Sweatshirt at his best. It feels like the culmination of a long journey, one that has seen Earl’s music mature into a rich, jazzy, genre-bending style of rap that is completely unique.

From Earl’s very first release, the self-titled mixtape EARL in 2010, it was clear that he was head and shoulders above the rest of his Odd Future peers in terms of talent. With absurdly slick bars like “I’m a hot and bothered astronaut / Crashing while jacking off / To buffering vids of Asher Roth eatin’ applesauce / I came to Earth to poke Catholics in the ass with saws/ and knock blunt ashes into their caskets and laugh it off,” fans were instantly hooked. With this one release, he went from an unknown 15-year-old to a critically lauded young artist featured on numerous “album of the year” lists. One would expect Earl’s career to explode after this, but instead, the young rapper disappeared, being shipped off to a reform school in Samoa by his disapproving mother.

The next 3 years saw Odd Future’s “FREE EARL” campaign further building up the hype for Earl’s release. When that day came, Earl immediately dropped a song, “Chum,” and subsequently gained tens of thousands of followers all across social media. In 2013, the same year he was released, Earl dropped his debut album Doris to massive commercial and critical success. With this release, Earl had entered the mainstream.

However, things began to turn sour for the wunderkind. Odd Future broke up. Earl’s grandmother died. Earl harnessed this turmoil in his life and created his second studio album, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside in 2015. Earl’s sound was more serious and mature. He wasn’t afraid to let you know about his sadness and anger, with edgier and more serious bars like “The wins like lotion, he get it and go rub em in/ critics pretend they get it and bitches just don’t fuck with him/ Spend the day drinking and missin my grandmother.”

Now three years after this, we get Earl’s third studio project, Some Rap Songs. In this release, Earl sounds wiser, more poised, surer of himself and is clearly not afraid to try things completely differently. The album starts with “Shattered Dreams,” which helps to establish the themes and sounds that will be heard throughout the project. Earl raps about not being able to find help as he drowns in his own life, all over a slick jazzy beat. Jazz and lo-fi are clearly big influences in the crafting of this project.

The instrumentals are impeccable. The way Earl rhymes on these sample-heavy beats is very reminiscent of MF Doom. He sometimes goes off beat when he rhymes, but in the context of the song, it works to make a more interesting sound.

It’s hard to find any low points on this album, it’s a joy to listen to from the first track to the last. The tracks are short, and the whole album can be listened to in less than 30 minutes, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It seems to me that the album is meant to be listened to all the way through as a full experience.

Earl’s anger with his father has been a consistent theme from his first mixtape 8 years ago. With the recent passing of his father, we see Earl in a more reflective and forgiving light. This is a flawless album with a shit ton of replayability. If you haven’t heard it already stop what you’re doing and press play on Some Rap Songs.

“See the ghost of where I was, lonesome as I was”

Least Favorite Track(s): Loosie

Favorite Track(s): Ontheway!, Cold Summers, The Bends, Azucar, Veins

Final Score: 10/10

[lordmaurice]

Music Review #1: Ski Mask the Slump God - YouWillRegret (2017)

Jackson Michalski

Ski Mask the Slump God: YouWillRegret - Review

Original Release: June 30, 2017

Ski Mask the Slump God arrived on the rap scene at a time when his native land of south Florida was becoming a thriving scene in rap. He was able to originally enjoy success as a frequent collaborator of viral sensation XXXtentacion, but it has become increasingly clear over time that he is far more than X’s sidekick.

After a year of stellar releases and collaborations with successful artists outside of his peer group, (such as A$AP Ferg and Busta Rhymes) he released his debut mixtape, YouWillRegret on island records. On the surface, most listeners would be quick to categorize Ski Mask as yet another braindead, adlib filled, trap heavy rapper, but listen closer and you’ll see something else.

It’s clear from listening to this tape that Ski Mask is having fun. He raps in a very quirky and even animated way, manipulating his voice in ways I’ve rarely seen. Despite this voice manipulation and the speed at which he can sometimes rap, he is so precise with his wording and never seems to trip over himself. The rhyme schemes he employs are weird and random at times, but so fun and energetic that they are impossible to deny.

One of my favorite things about Ski Mask’s music is the weird and obscure references he busts out. He’ll make references to pieces of media like Final Fantasy, Yu-gi-oh and Kim Possible and seamlessly transitions them into a coherent rhyme. In fact, on the tape’s most popular single, BabyWipe, the chorus includes Ski Mask candidly discussing which Fantastic Four character he relates to. Its this quirkiness, nerdiness and the all around likable personality helps to elevate this tape tenfold.

Ski Mask’s energy on this project helps to elevate his collaborators as well. Madeintyo and DirtyFaceSmook are able to help carry the vibe of the tape, but XXXtentacion’s part on H20 stands out the most. The previously established chemistry between the two shines through, which is especially potent in the fast and aggressive second verse.

Despite all these positives, the project is not without its flaws. The dull and essentially pointless interlude, Gone, sounds like he’s trying to emulate a sad Travis Scott and totally kills the pre-established vibe. He does this style a little more successfully on the track Energy, but in the end it still falls short to the rest of the tape. One positive I could find from this track, however, was Ski’s ability to manipulate his voice into what I can only describe as an MF Doom-esque supervillain.

At the end of this tape, I wanted more. Although it can seem gimmicky at times, the hilarious similes and all around fun energy surrounding it definitely make up for it. Seeing Ski Mask’s ability to maintain quality over a ten track project makes it even more clear to me that he is not the same as the rest of the mass of South Florida rappers screaming over distorted beats; he’s something special.

Favorite Track: JustLikeMyPiss/BabyWipe

Least Favorite Track: Gone (Interlude)

Final Grade: 8/10