Fallout 4 Post-Release Bullshit

[brellium]

Or maybe something that doesn't involve a dialog bug.

Anything for less whining.  It's like you've plunged your dick in a vat of broken glass marinating in lemon juice and have decided your only way out is fucking it to death.

I have 400 hours of play time in both FO:3 and FO:NV.

The only serious game play problems I had in both are random CTD's which is due to the lack of multicore support and is largely solved by changing processor affinity to only one core for the games.

FO:3, I had a quest NPC "vanish" and had to use console to teleport myself to their holding area (which is a cell somewhere above Megaton) and for FO:NV the Steam cloud bug with saves when I lost a 10 hour save when it first came out and was resolved by disabling Steam cloud saves, and the occasional infinite load screen (which I've also run into in this game).

The only redeeming qualities of this iteration of fallout is that it offers exploration and shooting things is kinda fun (so long as you're shooting at the right things, and they're not quest specific which makes them unkillable). The characters are paper thin and you could make cardboard cutouts of them and it would make them more memorable and certainly give them more depth. Interacting with any of them is painful, both in dialog and in the fact that it can force you to reload the game.

The design choices always seem to point to laziness. The building of settlements is nifty, however I think they would have been better served by doing something akin to Skyrim with upgrading player houses. This would have required art resources, but it would probably end up looking nicer than anything I will likely put the effort into (or 95-99% of the player base) and could result in something being done to those horrible shacks in Sanctuary and elsewhere.

This is the first Fallout/TES game that will hold very little, if any, replay value.

[Sky]

I thought you got a refund.

Happily found a full suit of X-01 just now. Still mostly hoarding the power cores for them, though.

[apocrypha]

Anything for less whining.  It's like you've plunged your dick in a vat of broken glass marinating in lemon juice and have decided your only way out is fucking it to death.

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Also, finally got around to progressing the story line. The glowing sea is a fucking scary place, and cresting the lip of the crater...  Fallout does nutcases better than any other franchise I think. 

[rk47]

I'm not sure wtf happened here

[Lakov_Sanite]

So I learned the armor mods to give any cloth item 90phy 90elec dmg resist.

[Threash]

So I learned the armor mods to give any cloth item 90phy 90elec dmg resist.

You can use the cloth suits that you can wear under actual armor also.

[Merusk]

Yeah but then you're not in a tuxedo.

People who complain about paper thin characters in video games "these days" need to replay old game instead of using nostalgia to remember them. They've ALWAYS been paper thin snidely whiplashes and Dudley Do-rights in RPGs except a handful of standouts. It's a device so you can project your own thoughts and motivations.

You may as well criticize romance novels for having blank personality women or action movies for lacking depth of character in the hero.

[rk47]

Romance in Fallout 4

 http://i.imgur.com/jBiQ3Og.webm

[Tannhauser]

Got a laugh out of me, well done.

[Riggswolfe]

Anything for less whining.  It's like you've plunged your dick in a vat of broken glass marinating in lemon juice and have decided your only way out is fucking it to death.

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Agreed. I've never seen someone hate on a game so much yet feel compelled to come talk about it all the time. It's like he thinks if he mentions it again we'll suddenly all go "oh yeah, you're right, why the fuck was I having fun with this game this whole time? You just saved me!"

[Sky]

Games don't have to be perfect to be a hell of a lot of fun. I wish this game sucked a lot more, I'd be done painting this bust and also have the book of scales I'm transcribing finished by now.

But it's been good timing, since I'm still out of work (not much longer though).

[Bunk]

I'm about 15 hours in to my restart, first play I was 34 hours in to I think. I mainly restarted because I realized I didn't like being railroaded down the main quest, and being a superhero/everyone's buddy didn't feel like Fallout to me. So I restarted, did my damnest to not tell anyone about my missing brat, and have proceeded with my plans to take over the wasteland. My fortress is about 1/3 complete - I'm using the screen at that Drivein as the back wall. I'm running around with Cait, punching Raider's to death with bladed knuckles, and popping various chems all willy nilly. I'm justifying helping out various settlements because they provide me with a workforce and raw materials for my fortress.

The game certainly isn't a masterpiece of writing, Cait's quest dialog for example is halfway between hilarious and painful (though actually having a questline is a step up from the follower's in Skyrim at least). But so long as I play the game like a Sandbox, its exactly what I wanted it to be.

[apocrypha]

I swear BoS Vertibirds must run on Windows 95 they crash so often. During an epic, 3-sided battle at the Revere Satellite Array I had two of them crash right into me. I was going to join them for the rest of the main quest line but I've change my mind. Fuck 'em! 

[Nija]

Yeah, if you are playing and skipping the main story do yourself a favor and advance the story to the point that the vertibirds are flying around. They add a solid amount of comedy to the game. You will know when the story is at the right point when you get there.

[Merusk]

I think part of that problem is they're not that high level and you can take out the REALLY exposed and unarmored pilot to take them down.

The Revere array in particular is a problem because there's a legendary super mutant with a missile launcher at the top of one tower. They did the same thing in my game yesterday. That's in addition to having goddamn laser sniper skills that are stupid. I was halfway around the bay trying to escape them and they were STILL hitting me.

Also it's worth it to pickpocket the BOS members for tons of fusion cores. The frames and armor get flagged as stolen though - unless you kill them first to nab the armor.

[Lantyssa]

If you have a follower get in the stolen armor you can trade them for it and it's no longer flagged.  The frame and anything you put back in it still will be, but no one blinks if followers are in stolen frames.

[Tannhauser]

Finally cleaned out that damn Revere Satellite Array yesterday.  I've also had two verti-birds crash on me.  It's like "We're going down!  Find a soft place to land!"  "There!  The Lone Wanderer!"

[Threash]

I'm pretty sure the lone wanderer was the F3 protagonist, this time you are the sole survivor. One's was the vault dweller and two's the chosen one.

[Tannhauser]

I'm pretty sure the lone wanderer was the F3 protagonist, this time you are the sole survivor. One's was the vault dweller and two's the chosen one.

Well, if we're going to split hairs, I'm called the Vault Dweller.  On the radio at least. 

[lamaros]

I'm about 15 hours in to my restart, first play I was 34 hours in to I think. I mainly restarted because I realized I didn't like being railroaded down the main quest, and being a superhero/everyone's buddy didn't feel like Fallout to me. So I restarted, did my damnest to not tell anyone about my missing brat, and have proceeded with my plans to take over the wasteland. My fortress is about 1/3 complete - I'm using the screen at that Drivein as the back wall. I'm running around with Cait, punching Raider's to death with bladed knuckles, and popping various chems all willy nilly. I'm justifying helping out various settlements because they provide me with a workforce and raw materials for my fortress.

The game certainly isn't a masterpiece of writing, Cait's quest dialog for example is halfway between hilarious and painful (though actually having a questline is a step up from the follower's in Skyrim at least). But so long as I play the game like a Sandbox, its exactly what I wanted it to be.

I found a few points in my early play where people were talking about stuff that they couldn't know about, as I hadn't told them anything. It was annoying. The game obviously didn't have a "you're a mute arsehole" dialogue tree and assumes you're going around everywhere whinging about your son.

[Evildrider]

I'm pretty sure the lone wanderer was the F3 protagonist, this time you are the sole survivor. One's was the vault dweller and two's the chosen one.

Well, if we're going to split hairs, I'm called the Vault Dweller.  On the radio at least. 

I'm still wearing my Vault outfit and they keep making fun of me or making comments about it in dialogue.

[Evildrider]

[apocrypha]

I don't really get the point of all the settlements. I've got about 15 of them now and they're just a pain in the arse. I'm constantly getting requests for help, I.e. go kill ghouls on the other side of the map, or 'Settlement under attack' warnings, which they always lose if you ignore, regardless of how much defence they have.

They really don't bring in vast quantities of income, and besides, I'm swimming in caps anyway. I think if I do another play through I'll just get the 3 needed to trigger the Castle mission and no more.

Also really struggling to get more X01 armour. I've only got one full set and another one missing legs. Level 58 and I'm still finding T60 sets on frames  . There's one more levelled-frame location I've not been near yet, deep in the Glowing Sea, and if that doesn't have X01 legs I'll just cheat some in. Too RNG.

[Tannhauser]

I was going to do the MM quest line, but like you said, too many radiant quests are souring me on the faction.  I will probably switch over to BoS.  Right now that character is on hold for that decision so I made a second character and she is a fun stealth, psychotic murderess.

This game suffers from the same dramatic crutch as ME3.  Here you're off to find your son and in ME3, no less that the fate of the galaxy pushes you on, so the decision to do side quests strikes the wrong chord with me.

[Jeff Kelly]

It's not even an effective motivation for the main character. I guess that you will eventually find your son in some capacity or another (no need to answer and spoil that) because Bethesda never does narratives that even pretend to try to subverted your expectations and so they'll just stick to the tried and true tropes of the genre.

For all I know my son could have been dead for hundreds of years though, given that I had been re-frozen for an indeterminate amount of time after he was kidnapped.

[Khaldun]

I think the main quest would be more effective if you could follow it for a bit and then have the trail go totally cold, so your character has no choice but to get out into the world and live--and then at level 20 or so, it retriggers and you can do more if you want.

I do wish in some cases that there were minor factions that you might choose to rip up but that don't aggro on you the moment they see you--that there were speech trees that could lead you into 'winning' in an encounter with an unusual faction or NPC. Sort of like the cannibal society in New Vegas.

[satael]

I think it would have been a lot more interesting (and fun) if you could side with lead raiders instead of the minutemen and build raider camps (to raid caravans etc) instead of settlements.   

[Jeff Kelly]

Fallout had a clear cut motivation (Find the Water Chip) and an implicit time limit marked on the map (time until water runs out), which gave the story a purpose and direction but also offered you some leeway to pursue side-quests. It also doesn't tell you where the water chip actually is until you've done quite a few of the main story and side quests. It doesn't even tell you which quest is part of the main quest line and which isn't. So you actually have lots of in-game justifications why you'd go around on wild goose chases. Fallout 2 had a similarly clear cut motivation (Find the G.E.C.K.) that had more of a long term time limit (your community will perish if you don't)

Both switch goals mid-game once the real enemy (The Master, The Enclave) becomes apparent and the motivation changes (save California from the FEV, save the world from the Enclave).

Fallout: New Vegas gives you a very personal motivation (revenge for being almost murdered) instead which gives you a lot of leeway how to interpret your mission and how you want to roleplay it. You could go for a "best served cold" type of mission and bide your time or go into House's casino guns blazing and finish it there and then. For me it was probably the best framing device for an RPG. The mission is important but personal and so allows you to interpret it according to your own playstyle and you  get entangled in the bigger political machinations almost by accident.

[Jeff Kelly]

I think a big improvement of the 3D Fallouts would be to scrap the tracking and naming of quests or to not tell you what is part of the main questline and what isn't. At least make the goal more abstract. Fallout's main quest was "find Vault 15 and check if they have a water chip" and you find out that Vault 15 is collapsed and abandoned almost immediately after you leave your vault. That leaves you with a quest that has no clear destination. At first you don't know where to find another water chip and then you find out a possible source (Vault 12) but don't know where that Vault is located. This gives you a lot of ways to suspend disbelief and actually do a lot of the side stuff even though there is a time limit.

The Fallout 4 main quests has a few issues that irk me.

You don't know if the abduction of your son has happened five minutes or a hundred years ago. You've been frozen for two hundred years and when exactly the abduction happened is unclear. After all the crystasis continued once the kidnappers left. Your son was still a baby and so he doesn't even know what name you've given him he probably doesn't even know he was kidnapped if he is still alive. He could be anything a baby to dead for twenty years and he'd have no recollection of his original name or the fact that he was abducted. This makes the whole "looking for my kidnapped son Shaun" quest line a little bit ridiculous.

Even when you are able to suspend disbelief the main quest clashes with the whole "build settlements and scrounge for scarp materials for 100 hours" game.

[apocrypha]

Yep, totally agree. There is a constant disconnect between the stated motivations of the player character and how you actually play the game.

Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of fun with FO4 so far, but I'm probably going to plough through the main quest now and then not revisit it until there's some expansions and major mods out. From a simplistic game point of view it's good fun, but the immersion is entirely absent due to the static & sterile factions and the paucity of sensible story line.

The one thing that really makes the world feel vaguely alive is the BoS vertibird patrols and the hilarious chaos that ensues from them.

[Mac]

The one thing that really makes the world feel vaguely alive is the BoS vertibird patrols and the hilarious chaos that ensues from them.

I call them: "The 20 Minuters".



I need to get back to the main quest but I'm stuck in the settlement building trap. More beds, more turrets. How would Oscar Niemeyer have built this shack?

[Ceryse]

I broke down and bought the game. Enjoying it so far, but I very much agree with the issues already brought up. Now, I've been spoiled on the whole 'son' thing, so I know how that goes and it's.. well, it's Bethesda storytelling.

I preferred the way New Vegas did the motivation, as it was more open to interpretation. In Fallout 4 immersion requires everything be put on hold because you're son was kidnapped, must find!

So far.. I've done one main story quest (I'm now at the part where I'm supposed to go to Diamond City.. and I probably will soon), but I've largely just been exploring, taking everything and building up Sanctuary (I enjoy the settlement building.. but god damn they could have done it better). I've now got Sanctuary walled off and largely well defended via Heavy Machine Gun turrets.. not that it matters much because the enemy spawn locations for attacks on Sanctuary is.. inside the build-able zone (unlike most other settlements..) not that I've actually had an attack happen (nor do I think I will). Probably build up the Drive-In next, once I get the robot farm protected (for which I need a lot more oil, which is the motivation behind my current exploration drive).

Haven't cheated yet.. but I'm getting close to saying 'fuck it' and cheating some more carrying capacity. You can't give me an actual reason to take all the things and then ask me to only carry 300 pounds of stuff, with another hundred or so on my poor, poor dog!

So far, my most satisfying moment was blindly exploring into a raider base, sniping two guys dead, then panicing when a third was about to enter a full power armour suit. Thankfully I had a crit in VATS and was able to stop her as the enter power armour animation was happening.

Also, found a behemoth and found out they are.. surprisingly fast and my guns did not do anywhere near enough damage to cripple their legs before I died.

[Rasix]

I preferred the way New Vegas did the motivation, as it was more open to interpretation. In Fallout 4 immersion requires everything be put on hold because you're son was kidnapped, must find!

 

I agree with the motivation.  It's a bit jarring that this sort of plot impetus is in a game this purposely unfocused.  I was over it pretty early.  I think I was level 25 before I even found the entrance to Diamond City.   Anyhow, I've gotten to the point in the plot where urgency is no longer a thing. So, that's nice.

[Lantyssa]

I think a mod that makes all junk weigh nothing would be perfect.  I could scavenge for my bases without worry, and still have plenty for guns and armor.  As it is now I have to decide if that phone and desk fan are more useful than the not-high-end combat rifle is.  (Answer not this play through were I haven't taken the Scrapper perk.)

[Jade Falcon]

Would make an expanding settlement network more useful if you could call for a scrap pick up and a settler would appear to clear out all that stuff for you either from a target building or from yourself based on how far away the nearest settlement was.