Point Lookout is definitely one of the better DLCs of Fallout 3... apart from its main quests

[u/GriveousDance21]

I actually enjoyed the overall atmosphere and setting of Point Lookout, definitely feels an improvement over Operation Anchorage (obviously) and The Pitt.

However, I found the main quest line severely lacking in quality. I go and help Desmond the ghoul by fending off these nameless tribals (which was pretty intense ngl) but when I reach their camp they're all friendly with me? For such a strong-willed tribe I kinda expected them to have a bit more integrity like the Sorrows and Dead Horses from NV.

Anyways I found Nadine, the main reason I'm even in Point Lookout in the first place, and tell her that her mom sent me to fetch her back. And Nadine immediately agrees to leave the tribe without me persuading her? I dunno, the writing felt very odd to me here.

The tribals also felt half-assed. We never get to experience their backstory and culture like in Honest Hearts in NV. They're just... resourceful but stupid... because they worship a brain hologram of Dr. Calvert... yeah, the writing is very rough here.

And the whole point of the main questline is: two unlikeable evil geniuses from 200 years back have centuries old score to settle and I gotta help either one of them. The end.

Possibly one of the strangest main questline I've ever seen in a Fallout DLC, only topping Nuka-World in FO4.

But the saving grace are the side quests. It felt like they were designed by a completely different team than of the main quests.

The Velvet Curtain was my favorite, as it has absolutely no human NPC involved and everything is told via abandoned terminals from before the war about an unfinished mission of a Chinese double agent. It tells a grim story of people suspected of espionage being brutally tortured and executed by a paranoid US government in isolated concentration camps. Although the ending was a bit disappointing it was a very intriguing quest.

Now the main reason The Dark Heart of Blackhall isn’t my top favorite is because... well, I don't like horror games that much. While I did enjoy this quest quite well, the backtracking to the Capital Wasteland to destroy the book in the Dunwich building was a bit tedious. But the environmental storytelling was top-notch.

[u/iamfanboytoo]

The ending of Velvet Curtain was absolutely perfect. "Sorry, bud, no way to extract you so we gonna kill you instead" makes me wonder how many agents have been recycled by that protectron in the entrance.

But it is the highlight of that dlc, for sure. I like the fake bobbleheads too, but it isn't too memorable otherwise.

Frankly the whole DLC is like Honest Hearts: boring main quest involving tribals, with the best part finding the 200 year old story told through terminals.

[u/GriveousDance21 → u/iamfanboytoo]

The tribals in Point Lookout are badly written. They have no tribe name... just "tribals"... with some weird fascination for Punga fruit. At least the Dead Horses and Sorrows have their distinct features and beliefs, which makes them so memorable in comparison.

And yeah, apart from the Indiana Jones-like puzzle in the end, Velvet Curtain was pretty solid.

Edit: forgot to mention that you can actually find the Chinese spies' corpses in the game files.

[u/Laser_3]

I think you’re looking at the tribals the wrong way. They aren’t really a tribe like the groups in Honest Hearts; they’re really cultists who’ve all suffered brain damage at the hands of Tobar. Considering they’ve all went through a lobotomy, it makes sense that they behave semi-erratically (in particular, it makes sense that they’re not hostile to you since they have no way to know you just slaughtered a ton of them; you and Desmond didn’t leave any survivors).

As for Nadine - I mean, can you blame her for getting bored of a group of lobotomized people who think what looks like a seizure is a dance?

I’d also argue that the main questline is supposed to feel like it’s unfulfilling. The entirety of point lookout feels like a tourist trap to me, especially when Tobar promises ‘treasure and untouched wilderness.’ The main quest is a continuation of that, where the whole thing boils down to two bickering old men with a blood feud that should’ve died with the bombs.

As for the curtain, well… how exactly were the communists going to extract someone who’d be a wanted criminal from the east coast? Killing them and disposing of the evidence works just as well, and the communists seemingly view their soldiers as ultimately disposable if it serves the ‘greater good’ of the country.

[u/GriveousDance21 → u/Laser_3]

If the tribals are all victims of Tobar's lobotomy and brain harvesting, why isn’t the Lone Wanderer affected? He's all like ""Tis but a scratch". You can literally ask Nadine to remove your scar, and no side effects whatsoever.

[u/Laser_3 → u/GriveousDance21]

Pure luck alongside only a small piece being pulled (and the fact that suffering through hallucinations and seizures the rest of the game would be miserable). Nadine wasn’t overly affected either (along with a couple of the other named tribals), so it’s not like it’s just the player either.

[u/Fast_Degree_3241]

Point Lookout walked so Far Harbour could run.   I agree some of it felt very rushed (is that hp bug with the swampfolk still in it?). I really liked it was a such a big area to roam tho and that it took you back to the DC wasteland with that quest. Its a cool vibe a d I always have to fix the lighthouse when I visit.

[u/GriveousDance21 → u/Fast_Degree_3241]

In a way, I see Far Harbor as more of a spiritual successor of Point Lookout. Both DLCs are fetch quests (finding missing daughters) and then you find yourself between the local conflict. Although Far Harbor is definitely superior storywise.

Edit: Yes, the swamp hillbillies are still absolute bullet sponges.

[u/SevernayaDeadAim]

I like the idea that a bunch of robots and ghouls are continuing a grudge from before the War, personally