So far, I absolutely love Fallout 3 and it might just be my favorite RPG this year (only 2nd to Mother 3 which just got fan translated a week or so ago). I'm about 7 hours in and the only glaring similarites I've found to Oblivion is the game engine and the way the conversations work. Other than that I can't really compare it to Oblivion.
I'm someone who absolutely HATED Oblivion and found it extremely boring and lacking of any immersion whatsoever. I happen to feel the exact opposite with this game, and I'm not even a Fallout fanboy either. I've known about the series for awhile but never really forked up the cash to play any of them until I found this site.
So, according to most "IT'S OBLIVION WITH GUNS" posts I should have absolutely hated this game, but I've ended up loving it quite abit and found there to be lots to like.

I understand that for many people this is the child they've been waiting years for, and it's easy to be disappointed with aspects of the game.
Yes, it is similar to Oblivion in some ways, but it's so much better than Oblivion (imho) that the likeness is surpassed by this game's graces.
The graphics are better, the dialogue is better, the quest options are better, imo the combat is better. If you don't like shooters than obviously you're going to feel uncomfortable carrying a gun in this game. But the point is you don't have to carry a gun in this game.
Sure, that raider is going to do some damage if you run at him/her in a straight line, but if you strafe then your chances of getting hit are marginalized and you can run in and beat the snot out of them with that lead pipe, baseball bat, or Ripper.
I am not disappointed with this game at all so far, and I do not find it too easy nor do I find that there is too much ammo - the exception being I always have ammo fo guns I don't have, so in that respect I can say I agree.
The hunting rifle is a bit clunky though, so when I shoot I usually use the 10mm.
The perks are awesome and really make a difference, as well as providing a wide variety for what your character becomes.
And as far as I can tell, this game does NOT have the scaling difficulty that Oblivion has, so if you do a certain quest be prepared it might take some extra stimpacks or ammo.
I gave it a 10/10 in the other thread, and I stand by my rating. Yes, it could have been better, but in this day and age when it's so common to release alphas and betas instead of finished product, I think Bethesda did a pretty good job.

this is why you don't sleep in the megaton bed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvbYp6oaT5c

I bought the game for full price at the day of release.
I think it was worth every penny, even if it left me poor as a twat.
I think if you expect a "classical" Fallout experience, you will be disappointed. There is more of a focus on combat this time around. The scenery and presentation is stellar. The legendary V.A.T.S. system is still fun to work with even after completing the game. Main quest isn't too long, but I ripped through it without touching any of the side-quests. I started a game immediately afterwards; which is very rare for me to do.
I'm having a great time with this game, and after I am done doing everything I can do I will play Fallout 1 again to experience this great universe from the start.
It's a great game; but if you go in with the wrong expectations it's pretty obvious you will be disappointed.
It's a great game. Period.

Quoted for truth.
Again I can't emphasize how happy I am with this game. Now if I could just get RL to stop interfering with play time...

THIS!

I have about 20 hours on it so far, loving it so much.

I've never played a Fallout game before, and the more I play the more I enjoy. I liked Oblivion, but hated the setting, so the thought of 'Oblivion with guns' was an appealing thing to me.
I'm having that much fun with Fallout 3, that I've come to this site just to buy the original two to see how the series started off and to see how comparable it is.
I can understand hardcore fans of the originals being a bit cautious about the game being put into a different game engine but reskinning a franchise does work. For example I have a massive love for all the Resident Evil games, and when they first showed off the new system for Resi 4 I was mortified. But when I got my hands on the game my fears were gone. It was different, but certainly for the better.
I'm eager to give the originals a go tho (about halfway downloaded), but whatever happens, Fallout 3 is a great game.

I got the collectors edition, I've even got the Vault Boy bobblehead sitting near my clock.
The game is good, REALLY good. Like "I can't take out the garbage because I'm too busy killing super mutants" good. The graphics are excellent (although, occasionally I would come across a body suspended in midair. Not game breaking, but still an error.) to the point of me putting a save before the detonation of the Megaton bomb just so I can watch it over again. The music selection is nice (if limited, I got tired of hearing Three Dog's voice after two days of playing, I swear to God if I hear "This is Three Dog OOOOWW!" one more time... Good thing you can turn the radio off). Most of all, the storyline is well read and full of surprises, I found myself thinking "What could Dad be up to?" and nearly cried manly tears when...well, I won't ruin it for people who haven't played.
And I half-expected to hear "Stop right there, criminal scum!" when I talked to Mr. Burke.
The point is, I like it. It's fun, easy to pick up, but difficult to master. The achievements are easily obtainable, yet long enough to make you work for them.
Also, you can blow someone's head off while wearing a party hat, there is no greater joy in life than that.

Got it myself. I waited a little bit after release till I heard it was pretty good.
So far, I am totally loving it. I was a little worried cause it used the Oblivion engine, which while I liked Oblivion it also had a lot of bugs and issues. So far though, that hasn't been the case with FO3.
The NPC's have conversations with each other that make sense, unlike how Yahtzee put it with Oblivion that they have conversations with themselves about much they love buying stuff from the shop, owned by themselves. Also the fact there is more than just 3 voice actors in FO3, unlike Oblivion where every npc sounded exactly the same.
One nice touch, for people who have xbox 360 live accounts, you can link the PC version to your live account and earn achievements for it too. I found that to be a pretty nice.
But if your looking for a fun, engaging scifi rpg I would highly recommend giving Fallout 3 a try. Now, if you will excuse me. I need to go back to playing Fallout 3. :D

I like it a lot.....after I get over the freezes......and the glitches......and the crashes to desktop...and having to restart from the last auto-save after clearing out a whole area of super mutants.
But yeah, great game.

Bethesda has always been known for having buggy games. I know your not the only one having problems judging from the posts on the official forums. Weird thing for me at least, this is the first Bethesda game that has ran bug and crash free for me. I had one crash to desktop when I died exploring the Nuka Cola factory. Other than that I haven't had any problems with it. Even while playing for hours on end. Granted, I do have a pretty new and high end computer now.
Hopefully they will release a patch soon to clear up the bugs, but compared to other Bethesda games at launch this one has ran really smooth.

Quoted for emphasis. I have only had one situation where my game crashed out on me, and technically it didn't CTD it froze while loading during fast travel. I think it was related to using xfire to broadcast, but I can't be sure. The saved game related to it was unusable as well, so I think I got a corrupted saved game file, but I loaded a different slot and it's worked fine since *knock on wood*.
I quoted because Bethesda is notorious for releasing buggy games, and this one seems in much better shape than Oblivion did on launch from what I recall.
However there have been a LOT of people having issues with CTD's, black screens of death, etc, so Somethingfake I commiserate with you on that one though it hasn't happened to me (yet). There's some good fixes that work for some of the issues you might be having on the official forums, so you might want to check there.
-Cym

I have a couple of hours of game play behind and one thing is nagging me and seeing it has not really been brought up...
The game is good, very good infact, but something just isn't right. Why is everyone so serious? I know it's wasteland and all and things are a bit rough (I know an understatement) but you'd think you would find at least some people with that twisted sense of humour making fun of it all... but no (the craterside supply girl does not count, she's too over-the-top in my oppinion).
What I'm trying to say is that I miss the twisted sense of humour that was to me the no. 1 selling point of the previous Fallouts. As somebody pointed out somewhere (maybe even this thread), the black humour is still there in the setting... but the characters I have encountered are take it so... so... seriously, too seriously (ok, I'm going in circles...).
Well.... what do you think? Have you encountered this? Do you think it is a problem?