Forum:Finished MZ - Impressions?

SPOILERS: Just finished MZ - personally, I thought the graphical side was really good, probably the best in FO3. It's very sheek and stylish, heavily 50s inspired but imagintive. A bit of variety is brought into gameplay too - gameplay mostly revolves around finding and destroying power generators, remeniscent of full-blown FPS games instead of being strictly FO style. However, I found the plot a bit lacking. A lot of things are left unexplained to the point where I found it a bit dissatisfying, and getting back to earth was a real 'deus ex machina' affair. Some non-aliens are cleverly brought into the levels in various points, but I still found the number of enemies a bit lacking. I'd have to give MZ 6.5/10, largely based on design/visuals. What about you? 90.201.91.102 03:26, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

They broke Chase's Coat. Not a point from me until they start making patches for the DLC. Nitty 03:28, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

While the art was certainly a fair supply of eye candy, I couldn't help but feel like I was trudging through Raven Rock again. The samurai gear is fucking sweet, though. That's some fan service I can get behind.--98.215.132.216 04:16, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

The end was disappointing, how all of the doors were locked so you couldn't go back and explore. I missed out on a few things that would have been nice to have grabbed. ~Unholy

I agree, the visuals were nice but reminiscent of Raven Rock. The plot was sort of non-existent. It started out good with good atmosphere due to the captive recordings, but they never explained what the death ray was going to destroy, or why they were abducting people, apart from Tercorien's theories. I was also hoping for some kind of a twist with the fellow abductees, like Somah turning out to be Enclave or something, or having you fight alongside someone you normally would be trying to kill, like a raider. The overlords in the cryo labs looked cool though, so maybe I can forgive it. Oh, and given the gravity of what's going on - there's an alien ship with a deathray pointed at earth, loaded with captives, and you secured it but another one swooped in out of nowhere and you barely managed to destroy it, and there may be more - there should be some added dialog back in the wasteland. The BOS would probably want to set up shop on the ship, and the Outcasts would want to loot it. Imp of the Perverse 06:05, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Bad things:
 * Aliens/robots/hybrids didn't respawn, whats' the point in adding a new enemy if you can't meet it again ala Trog situation.
 * Alien Power Modules, yay we get new ammo that is still fucking limited and even though sally gives like 40-50 everytime you talk to here it's fucking nothing! The Destabilizer is a fully automatic rifle, it will eat through those 40-50 APM's real fast.
 * Alien Epoxy, yea we got this new interesting repair mechanism but it's still limited, little sally might give us one or two everytime we wait 24 hours and go back up but it would have been way easier with a freakin' vendor.
 * We coulden't side with the aliens, I don't care that they're evil, I though bethesda would've learned by now that an RPG require CHOICES
 * The ship got locked up.
 * There is a part in the ship which is an alien fire'ing range and you can press a button and there will come random enemies through 3 portals, and you know what? That part was awesome! And now I can't enjoy it again unless I get a new character up there.
 * The story was extremly weak and most of it was "pew pew" against the aliens.
 * The new weapons aren't really that good. I Paulsons revolver is probably not as good as Callahans Magnum, Destabilizer seems to have high DAM but when I used it against a freakin' raider it took a good while to kill him. Only gun I actually thought was good was the Atomic Pulverizer becuse of it's low AP cost.
 * We got to see the Death Ray fire against earth and it was like an atomic explosion, a big one. And no other prisoner onboard talks about it, nothing different in capital wasteland, what was the point of that anyway?
 * Captains Room is pathetic.

And here are the good things:
 * Alien records was neat
 * New textures are amazing

So, I didn't like the DLC, at all. it was the worst of the 5. Even if you combined the faults of the other 4 and threw those into a 6th DLC, this one would still be worse. Oh and why I'm pissed off as hell at this DLC is becuse we said alot of suggestions to bethesda, what we like in the DLC's and what we don't like. It seem like they took our suggestions, threw them out of the window and then combined Trog situation, O:A situation and APC situation on purpose. I mean, everything was going fine, the DLC's improved along the line but MZ took a gigantic step backwards and sideways.Gabriel Cortez 07:17, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

The atomizers have a ludicrous value to weight ratio so it's easy to decide what to loot. That, and the noise the aliens make when you're hitting them with a deathclaw guantlet in VATS makes up for all of the faults listed above. Except, they're all dead now, though, so I won't hear it again unless I talk myself into another playthrough, so nevermind. Imp of the Perverse 07:40, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

I made a post about Zeta like 5 minutes after i beat it saying it was crap and the only response i got was from someone telling to stop complaining. Anyways, the DLC was crap. I think it is funny that the Terrible Shotgun is more powerful then the Vengence, then about halfway through the Alien rifle became really powerful. Almost 90% of my kills, with and without VATS were one shot one kill. The ending could have been a little bit harder. I killed the Alien captain from the telporter with a head shot and then killed his two cronies the same way. i mean, it was way too easy. -Drop-Zone-

i was hoping for another power-armor, one done with alien technology perhaps? what a pity though...--121.97.131.72 12:41, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Try not playing on Very Easy and we'll see just how easily you beat it. I don't really get what you're talking about 1 shot kills. These guys were taking 4 point blank headshots from a combat shotgun before finally biting it. ~Unholy

Kwayzar's MZ Review

I actually enjoyed playing through this. It took me a lot longer to finish then Anchorage or the Pitt. The problem with this DLC and all the others is that we find too many things they could have improved on. I understand that they start from scratch so I can't blame them for not putting in more after we have finished playing through. However, I do believe that they need to play through their own DLC to see what exactly they can improve on. The fact that half of the Medics head is missing in the end shows they rushed through this one. Cortez had some really good points but these are things that we are all going to find in a sandbox game. What is left in the sandbox once we have finished playing. Mothership Zeta was a large "sand castle" that was fun to play with while it lasted. We finish the DLC to realize that most of the sand castle is destroyed. I was very pissed that the weapons lab was taken out at the end. I found the shooting range to be one of the best features of MZ had they decided to make it returnable.

As for the Captains quarters....(enough said). I assume the engineering core is where your base/hideout/home is meant to be. The engineering core is definitely a plus but it is way too FUCKING (look, fallout 3 is a mature game where obscene words and graphic violence are portrayed so i don't understand why people say we cant curse on the fallout 3 forum) MESS. I mean that to me was just a slap to the face. The least they could have done is have the people clean up the goddamn ship. I think that the barricade is pretty cool and the collection of things from the wasteland is even better, but it is way too messy. You can't see the floor and even if my items don't disappear when displayed, I'm worried about losing them in all that clutter. If i take the time to clean up the mess, throwing all that shit, one by one, off the railing only to find out that the mess re-spawns in three days....

The story was absolute shit. There was great idea but the execution was terrible. I felt like I was watching Transformers 2 all over again. I didnt think that the samurai and cowboy were needed, even though they were cool, but the anchorage soldier was a lot more interesting. I wish there were more speech options regarding the war. I would have much preferred humans from all around the wastes, maybe a cameo or two. Maybe a character from the California BoS, a west coast super mutant, Shi, an other android from the common wealth, or even a gang member from reno. Unless we see Shoma in Vegas or FO4, she was utterly pointless. This was a very simple thing to do and one of the many simple mistakes that just pissed me off when playing through this.

Like transformers 2, the movie may have sucked, but I was able to easily sit through it because it was entertaining.

Anyway the focus on this DLC was clearly the play run through and not what you are left with in the end. Overall Score:1-10 Story/plot: 4 Gameplay: 8 Environment/eye candy: 9 I give this add-on just barely a 7.0 Kwayzar 18:09, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

As much as I appreciate all the work Bethesda put into MZ and I like the DLC for some things, I feel like this add-on can be summed up in three words: dissatisfying, wasted potential, rushed. Here's my breakdown of the DLC on a 1-10 scale:

Story - What story? All three MZ quests are basically as follows: ZOMG ALEINS PEW PEW, quest done. Story - 3

Graphics/Environment - Biggest plus here. I actually felt like I was on a retro-futureistic version of an Alien Mothership. Robots, tables, shelves, walls, you name it, it's alien-ized and shiny. Graphics/Environment - 8

Gameplay aspects - Most of the characters were a breath of fresh air (read: samurais, cowboys) and had interesting backstories or comments. The enemies were annoying and not very varieds, to say the least. We got 3 new enemies and even then afterwards we cant fight any again. This could have been solved with allowing us to use the shooting range after the end. I really wish the Captians Quarters could have been fleshed out more. We didn't even get a damn bed or somewhere to store our goodies. Oh, what a waste of potential awesomeness. Gameplay - 6

Overall Score - 5.5 / 10.

Could have been so much better.Addicted2Beer 20:35, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Fun thing is, I actually don't really care. I just felt the need to excessivly point out the faults in this DLC. I never had high hopes for this DLC yknow. Oh and by the way, ya'll who rate the gameplay, do you only rate the gameplay during the DLC or also the aftermatch of the DLC, becuse it would lose at least 2 points for being inaccessible(?).Gabriel Cortez 21:56, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

- All in all it was bad. First the story is boring as hell, I got tired of "take over the ship" right after the space walk. The story was dull and etremly repeative. The second quest "Among the Stars" was not needed at all. When I came out of the decompression chamber I saw maybe three bodies. So my question is why spend 45-60mins trying to sufficate the aliens if there is no body there. Secondly its like O:A there is no replayablity unless you like firing the Death Ray. Seriously Bethesda why did you have to ruin it all by locking everything. Next the Aliens, only two different kinds and three drones. That is seriously lacking. Also the unexplained shields, where the hell did those come from?

Now for the good stuff(what little there is) nice change of graphics no more brown(but now grayish silver) also the level design was good. And lastly the space "battle" was fun but that leaves me with three questions. First why did no one mention the Death Ray exchanges. Secondly why does no one notice the big ass burning ship, at that distance I think it would be bigger then the moon and what if it crashes? Finally, how the hell does no one notice the laser that missed the planet and if you were bored the shot(or more) that hit the Earth?

Could have been much better left me fairly disappointed. On a side note, if we have a ship that travels between solar systems, why can't we go to the commonwealth or China for god's sake Doctalen 22:56, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

One thing that didn't make sense - I destroyed the death ray's 4 generators. How come it still worked? there were a lot of loose ends in the plot. Too many. 90.201.91.102 00:52, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh yeah I forgot about the laser Doctalen 01:40, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

It was amazing at first. But it soon got repetitive. The factors that killed this DLC for me was the loss of replayability, and getting locked out of YOUR OWN SHIP! (Which killed the replayability). A rock solid 4/10 for me Ballisticgoat
 * there was the big kick to the nuts when the ship ws pretty much locked up, so those of us who didn't explore the ship ASAP can no longer get the goodies we missed.
 * No replayability. You just get to waste your time reloading every now and then trying to get some epoxy or ammo. Or one of the weapons to sell or use for repairs.
 * Alien Crystals have no use. Seriously they could've had a way to use these as intergalactic money and buy special items from some sort of shop. The only thing they're good for is decorating your house or selling to make maybe 1000 caps...
 * Character interactions was pathetic. Which is a huge part of RPG's... This category deserves a -5/10
 * No respawning aliens. Great we get to kill some annoying little green people, and then they never return! That's alot of fun right?
 * Lack of variety in captives. Other than the ones you befriend, theres some raiders and like a ghoul or two. Also a rivet city guard who does nothing...

This was the DLC I was most excited about due to the possibilities, but it ended up disappointing. Weapons- I was hoping for another energy sword, lightsaber ...anything. We get a shock baton really? Lame. Alien Power cells were just as scarce as the were in the Wasteland. Only 4 abductees? There are 20 something captive recordings and only 4 captives to interact with? come on. I was at least hoping they would throw in a universal translator so you could at least find out what the Samurai was saying and maybe talk to some friendly Aliens. The ship getting locked up was a HUGE letdown. I took my time and there were still areas and items I missed out on on my first playthrough. Giving you a huge area to explore and not able to explore it is a downer. The quests were too linear. It became repetitive after a while. A side quest that expounded on the guy in the wasteland who discovered the Govt. knew about the Aliens (his notes on the terminal that unlocks the safe with the plasma pistol)would have been welcome. Or at least let us befriend the Alien workers to get parts to repair the ship to restore all of the teleport pads that are powered down...something. I could go on. There were so many possibilities and the execution fell flat. 4/10 for me as well. Statesofeuphoria 13:30, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

I agree with most of what's been said on this page. And that's saying something because generally I didn't find much fault with the other DLC's. The story was very weak and they could have done a lot more with it. I wanted to see the pre-war US Govt was involved in some way, or Somah was actually working with the aliens... just something, anything, to break the monotony. I would have especially liked to be able to befriend the worker aliens. It was just way too linear of a storyline for an RPG to have, especially considering the awesome precedents set by the Pitt, Broken Steel, and Point Lookout. And it left so many questions unanswered: Why were the aliens making human abominations? What the heck is with the evil Bittercup?

The conclusion was very disappointing as well. I'm annoyed you can't free the Rivet City security guard in the holding cells even after you've secured the ship. I'm even more annoyed that they cut you off from significant portions of the ship after beating the main quest. It means you can't explore. It means if you haven't already gotten the katana, unique plasma pistol, chase's coat, or any of the unique alien weapons that you're screwed. It also means if you didn't get all of the captive recordings on your first time through you can't get the achievement. Why? Why would Bethesda do this? I can't think of any logical reason to lock the doors to those areas. In the Pitt and Point Lookout the player had a reason to stick around after the main story and explore. With Mothership Zeta the developers took that notion and threw it out the window.

Bethesda started off with a great idea for the Lone Wanderer's "last hurrah" and just seriously dropped the ball. The DLC had beautiful textures, yes, and was definitely unique. But the developers seem to have taken all the faults of Operation Anchorage and replicated them on an even greater scale. They didn't learn a thing from OA's poor reviews. Somebody should take this thread and copy/paste it on the Bethesda forums. ~The Unsigned One, 5 August 2009

FUCK MOTHERSHIP ZETA... I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT I COULD RETURN TO CERTAIN AREAS TO EXPLORE AND LOOT AFTER THE DLC WAS FINISHED... BUT NOOO. SERIOUSLY BETHESDA... MAYBE TAKE A LITTLE MORE TIME TO MAKE YOUR VERY LAST DLC FOR FALLOUT 3 AT LEAST DECENT.

Hooray for mods...

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8251 http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8255

Imp of the Perverse 18:52, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Someone said that the ship was parted into 2 parts, one above and one under, which you can clearly see when you do the spacewalk. They say that the underpart disattached itself and attacked the upper part where the cockpit is, but that is wrong. You can still travel back to the Engine Core and the Holding Cells which are at the under part. So the ship did not divide itself into two parts. But if it did it would have explained why you coulden't go through the doors, but that would mean you coulden't go back to the engine core aswell. So this theory is fail. Gabriel Cortez 19:45, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

The graphics where great, no comments about that. But it was far too linear, only some mindless shooting. The Destabilizer is fár overpowered (WTF?! 100 bullets, very fast, 150 damage?!), but destroying the alien ship was awesome. Those crystals were useless. Btw, the aliens do spawn in the Holding Cells. Also, It sucks you can't explore the ship. I need ONE freakin' recording, and that one is at Biolabs. Tedjuh10 - Talk 11:32, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * They don't respawn in the Holding Cells or Steamworks for me, they respawned one single time in steamworks, I've waiter 73 hours and gone back over a dozen times now. Only aliens that respawn are two in Enginering Core. Gabriel Cortez 15:07, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I think it was average. The graphics were great, no doubt, but there werent many weapons. The only GOOD weapon as well was the Novasurge. The plot was really dumb. No mysteries were sloved. What did the aliens want? Well, we know that they need us to make Abominations. But why? Why did the aliens want to destroy the rest of us with the death ray? So many unanswered questions. Hooz
 * The whole plot, or lack thereof, really raised more questions than it answered. Maybe they're planning to expand on it in New Vegas or Fallout 4, and this was just a teaser.  That way they could reuse the new visual elements they spent time and money coming up with, but save the great writing for a whole new game.  Imp of the Perverse 19:48, 6 August 2009

Graphically great....story shite ......gameplay run & gun = not fun........5/10 I want to know why the fuck the other ship came out of nowhere and attacked the 1 your on there was no story to explain anything of what was going on this could of been so much more bethesda why did you so badly balls up the last hurrah why? I hope to hell there is 1 more DLC that they are hiding as itll bring it up to 1750 they would be stupid not to we would buy it just dont fuck it up thats all we ask!!!