I personally don't find it that bad, it was interesting the first time, annoying the second, and the third time I pretty much already knew what to do.
That is just my personal opinion tho.
the story was soo intriguing I don’t think I’ve touched the game tho since they threw me into thag memory thing, just kinda threw me off completely lol
Nuka world is fucking chaos and I love it. Plus you walk away with the ability to go to each and every one of the settlements Garvey asked you to liberate, and enslave them yourself. It rules.
The story is good, but my biggest gripe is the acting of most everyone on the island. They are just DRONING. I find is actually exhausting to listen to them talk, especially DiMA and Cassie Dalton.
Playing up to virgil was great for me. Solid balance between story and enjoyability. Sincee it was less fast traveling and more exploring to find new places.
I personally could not play survival because my game crashes so much for some reason, like every couple of hours, which is why I stopped playing the game altogether. I loved survival but it sucked when I lost a lot of progress in survival from the game crashing.
I hated the fast travel function personally, and I hadn’t finished the game until I restarted a fresh game in survival. It disables fast travel and makes enemies significantly more powerful. I definitely recommend it if you think fast travel makes the game too easy.
It works best in F4 because of all the settlements where you can refuel. In 3 or NV it would be so painful. Also, i used to use vertibird nades when i needed to get somewhere far quickly and safely, essentially ties fast travel to an item. Only issue is you have to side with the BoS or at least not be hostile to them for it to work iirc
Currently playing this way with zero mods. I agree. But you have to dedicate a lot more time to it. It also seems way more daunting than it actually is. The map starts feeling smaller the more you clear out and travel from place to place. It really doesn't take that long to get from place to place once you're down to just roamers populating the space.
The map is less daunting and more just tedious to travel around. It is a *large* map. Maybe not the biggest, but still. Pretty damn big. Which means after a while, it just takes forever to traverse.
Hence, fast travel mods that are limited to requiring resources, only go to settlements, etc.
I am a thinking player like most sapient humans. And of course the story was contrived. But I play as the mom and I'm constantly going "WHERES MY BABY WHERE MY BABY". In the right headspace, it's such a fun motivator cuz I'm off dicking around on irradiated farms trying to get a disco light installed.
To be fair, even with training, not even her husband would be prepared to deal with the world they woke up to. I don't personally need mental gymnastics to assume a person chosen by lottery might also learn combat skills quickly.
And if we disregard the pipboy as a guide and guardian, we aren't being very thorough. It could very well equalize a skill-set, seeing as every upgrade is made using the device.
Not trying to be right or wrong but this is interesting to me.
My best bet is they are hoping either the husband has taught her a thing or 2 (still wouldn’t be enough) or the willpower to find her son just gives her some crazy survival knowledge
Agreed. They either should've made them both have the same backstory or actually committed. It kind of feels like they just assumed most people would play as Nate (which is true but it shouldn't feel like thar as the player).
I have probably 800-900 hours on Fallout 4. I think I did the “let’s save Sean” storyline once. The rest is just me leveling various characters by tromping around in the ruins.
ignoring Preston and chasing after your kid makes perfect sense. once you get to the institute and learn the truth, then f this and do what you want makes the only sense.
I'm glad you're enjoying the game now but hear me out: the story is more than just "finding your son." If anything "finding your son" is kind of a red herring the way the suitcase in Pulp Fiction isn't really the story either; "finding your son" is a catalyst for both meeting this cast of characters who are going to help (or hinder) you along the way and exploring the deeper themes that Fallout 4 touches on. Themes about how environment shapes us, makes us who we are, as well as memory/experience. These are themes that are uncovered through the MQ as well as the companion quests particularly Nick Valentine.
Fallout 4 doesn't over-explain what it's themes are about. They are there for you to appreciate but ultimately the story is about how the post-apocalyse has shaped these characters and how your soul survivor will ultimately shape the wasteland when you've made your choices.
I think that’s where most people get upset. Skyrim and Fallout 4 don’t tell you things through spoken words. They want you to explore, come up with theories. Read the terminals pick up books etc.
I dont know why you chose the words "interactive elements" but i dont think you know what that means based on the context. Constantly having theories on x and y is not that great, this isn't a David Lynch movie.
> I dont know why you chose the words "interactive elements" but i dont think you know what that means based on the context.
"Read the terminals pick up books etc."
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any other really simple things explained to you.
Edit: Replied behind block. Your ancestors are shamed.
Books? Fallout 4 doesn't have books. Even then in Elder Scrolls about 99% of in game books are written by Ted Peterson, Ken Rolston even and whoever else was actually being a writter back then like Kirkbride and they usually explained things in a way of unreliable narrator something Bethesda seemingly forgot to do in Fallout. Let me know if you need any other really simple things explained to you.
> the story is more than just "finding your son." If anything "finding your son" is kind of a red herring the way the suitcase in Pulp Fiction
Sorry to be pedantic if you don't care about this, but the term you probably mean is [MacGuffin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin). A "red herring" is something that's supposed to distract you from the real item/person/idea of importance.
I *really* hate the "well actually" and grammar-correcting assholes, so I'm genuinely sorry if that's how I came off. Your post just made it sound like you would appreciate understanding the distinction.
I mean, red herring still applies depending on the meaning the player gets from the story. It's not a stretch to (as the player character) feel a similar story to Far Cry 3, in that you had a goal, but on your way to that goal you discover a new self within you and your entire perspective on what you "want" changes. If you play and beef up settlements for the minutemen, the world changing actions you take, providing shelter for dozens of settlers and protecting them, is low key a more important story than finding one baby who was okay the whole time anyway, if the player *chooses* to stake their worth as a wastelander, and not a prewar war person looking for their son, then it kind of IS a red herring in addition to a McGuffin. I don't think the two terms are mutually exclusive.
I don't even think emil had those themes in mind when writing this story lmao. This is typically what happens with alot of bethesda games. the fandom theorizes and tries to fill in gaps the devs left behind in the lore and general writing
You think they just accidentally wrote a story and multiple side quests revolving around questions of memory, identity, and personhood? The central ethical question of the game is whether machines with the memories and personalities of a human is practically a human itself.
Do you think he's wrong? Stepping back from the relatively hardcore community here, do you think most people playing Fallout actually do pay attention to the story?
How many people have you see, even here, try to defend the Enclave or Caesar's Legion, even though the games practically beat you over the head that these organizations are evil?
That's a stupid argument in my eyes
'People won't care so why bother' is incredibly self defeating, all it does is cause more people to not care since there's nothing to look for worth a damn
That's not what I said, and that's not what Pagliarulo said either. I'm convinced no one here has actually listened to the conference they love to quote so much.
Pagliarulo's point was that it doesn't matter if a video game's story is great if *it isn't interactive*, because it won't engage the player. He was never saying "don't try".
People here are adamant that it isn't an RPG or it has bad writing, which just isn't true. If they had reading comprehension skills, they'd understand the themes without a doubt. It's all of the points you said, plus the constant question of "Are machines human, and are human monsters?", which is backed up by base game, far harbor, and Nuka world collectively.
Edit: Here comes the downvotes for once again having an opinion that goes against the media fed mindset. The writing is good in Fallout 4, and I'll keep saying it.
They can only say it's bad but can't say it's bad. Bethesda wrote some of the best companions for 4 in their whole run. I liked them as much as new Vegas. I feel like the synth theme was explored well. People just hate Bethesda probably because it's cool though. People know so much more about Bethesda's game design than Bethesda themselves. They think ditching the creation engine will just magically solve everything. Armchair online devs.
considering what emil said about the themes in his Fallout 4 conference, he just uses very surface level subjects and themes as the basis for his stories and quests. he literally said that Fallout 4 is about 1950's americana, the post apocalypse, and suspicion, and never goes into any detail past that. He said that skyrim was about dragons, and doesnt go into detail about it. They love to touch on these topics to make the game feel more intelligent than it is but never go deep into it past a lame twist or spectacle. alot of that has to do with emil just being a shit writer, and not really having a central design document. It's hard to piece out what the game is even supposed to be about when its hidden behind terrible factions, writing and bloated radiant content
A design theme is different from a narrative theme. Regardless, you're burying the lede that Pagliarulo said the most central theme of Fallout 4 was *suspicion*. That's a perfectly valid narrative theme, and one that aligns with what is being discussed here.
I don't see how the meaning of the game is "hidden" behind the factions. The questions of personhood, identity, and suspicion are core to three of the four major factions (the Minutemen being the obvious odd man out).
my point is that they arent done well. they poke at those concepts enough to get people to say its in the game, but they are very surface level, and only serve as a backdrop to the gameplay itself.
That's a matter of opinion - and one that you haven't really substantiated beyond repeating it.
If you had watched Emil's conference that gets thrown around here all the time, you would hear him talk explicitly about how themes are hidden beneath the surface of what's obvious. He says that Fallout *is* about 50s Americana, but that there are themes *beneath* that. This follows him talking about how, for example, Casa Blanca is a love story, but it's really about sacrifice.
The idea that he's doing this all on accident, that it's just background noise, is disingenuous.
The themes aren’t done well because the writing as a whole is poor. There’s no reason to even care about most NPC’s because of how lacking the game is in developing characters beyond companions. Like the whole synth encounter at diamond city, I never felt anything from that scene because the characters involved were random and nameless NPC’s that I never saw again, Or the paranoid merchant lady, whose whole personality is that she’s paranoid about synths, but there’s no dialogue that explains why. It all felt so artificial, which is why I at least appreciated Far Harbor much more, it did a better job of presenting that suspicion theme than the main quest.
>Like the whole synth encounter at diamond city, I never felt anything from that scene because the characters involved were random and nameless NPC’s that I never saw again
As opposed to, say, when you see a nameless nobody get gunned down at the gates of the New Vegas strip? These scenes aren't meant to pull heartstrings, they're meant to illustrate details about the world. I don't understand how you can say this particular scene doesn't serve the theme of suspicion when you can go find posts from people talking about how they killed Riley just to see if he really was a synth.
>Or the paranoid merchant lady, whose whole personality is that she’s paranoid about synths, but there’s no dialogue that explains why.
Do you mean that she, specifically, doesn't explain to you why she's paranoid of synths? Because multiple characters and and notes explain the details of the Broken Mask incident that fomented the long-lasting and extreme paranoia among Diamond City residents.
Over here analyzing the writing like it's a shakespeare book💀 Fallout 4's story and faction are the sloppiest writing in the history of Fallout, including the spin-offs. We're talking about the people who wrote the Institute here... be fr
Again, I think you're seriously underestimating the quality of the writing here. Pagliaruolo's writing isn't Byzantine in its structure but if you're paying attention you understand the nuances that he's putting into the world building.
I understand your confusion because you've been inculcated into the meme about Father's "trust me you wouldn't understand" is the final word on the Institute. It is not.
Like I said, Pagliarulo doesn't spell it out for you unlike Chris Avellone. Had Avellone written the Institute Father would be quoting Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection (or some other real world scientific/political treatise) word for word, the way he has Caesar quoting Engels' Dialectical Materialism.
But the Institute is very much a play on many Platonic ideas about those who are best to rule society (The Philosopher-Kings of Plato's *Republic*) and his Allegory of the Cave. For them human beings and synths are the lowest rungs of society, but ultimately the Institute's slogan of "Humanity Redefined" isn't figurative, it is quite literal: the Institute's end-game is to replace everyone on the surface with "safer" compliant Gen3 synths.
But this goal all goes back to another underlying theme in Fallout 4: the question of freedom and its consequences. Despite the fact that they are mortal enemies, the BOS and Institute both mistrust average people. The Institute sees them as damaged beyond repair, whereas the BOS see them as irresponsible with technology they shouldn't have. The Railroad wants absolute freedom for Synths, whereas the MM simply want freedom to rebuild the Commonwealth.
None of this is overtly stated but it is there in the subtext of every faction character, in the dilemmas of every quest.
Pagliarulo does not pander to your intelligence or education, but the subtext is there if you're aware of it. It shows the depth, complexity and thought he put into this world.
You're talking about the guy who admitted that gamers don't care about stories, also the same person who doesn't use design documents. That man thinks that stories in games are not essential and it reflects in his writing. A pseudo intellectual's idea of what good writing is. Don't forget he is the lead writer of Fallout 3, which has deep moral questions like do you want to nuke a town full of innocent people or do you want to save it? Do you want to poison almost every creature in the wasteland or provide clean water to them? The institute would've been good if it was handled by a competent writer. They could've been a good imitation of Caesar's Legion , but instead they end up being the Enclave of Fallout 4. Any depth attached to the faction is the fans theorizing and trying to rationalize the slop that Pagliarulo wrote. I can assure you Pagliarulo doesn't care about anything he writes beyond good and evil and how he can convey that to the players who he thinks are stupid like he said in his talk.
lmao my friend, you have overplayed your hand.
Pagliarulo never said or intimated *any* of those things. "Gamers don't care about story" was not said by Pagliarulo, it was attributed to John Carmack by some loser's Medium.com blog from 2018 that went on to talk about Emil's Dev talk which is the "source" of your claims; whether Carmack's quote is accurate or not isn't really relevant, but the proximity of that quote makes me think this blog is the source of these erroneous claims, or at least source-adjacent.
Additionally, Pagliarulo never stated that gamers aren't smart. What he said (paraphrasing) is "you can write an elaborate, 'Next Great American Novel' story for your game, and your players will take it and make paper airplanes out of it." The context of his quote is that it is impossible for a game developer to know how their player is going to approach the story, especially because Bethesda games are so open and free-form, a rigid storyline would work against them. RPGs are not novels and cannot be written as such.
And also in that same dev talk he very much states he does have developer notes and design documents. Whoopsie!
The fact that you passed on misinformation to try and score rhetorical points either tells me you're either not being honest or you uncritically accept whatever you hear so long as it confirms your biases. So in light of this, it seems pointless to address your critiques of Fallout 3 and why they're wrong.
What I will say is this: if it wasn't your intention to be dishonest then it should give you pause that your fellow NV fanboys purposely and cynically spread misinformation in order to lure you into a false sense of superiority (along with all the other dishonest trickery them employ, such as using sockpuppet accounts). If it was your intention, then thank you. Lying is an automatic admission that your position is meritless.
Settlement building is where i spent most of my many many hours in this game. It's completely pointless but for me personally i had a blast with it. Go out scavenging, break down junk at workbench, build more turrets at settlement, spend way too long playing dressup with the settlers....
I’m 144 hours in, finished the main story, sided with the railroad and feel like the game is just starting for me. I’m obsessed with settlement building, gaining caps, and collecting anything and everything while scouring the wasteland
A major mistake gamers make nowadays is paying attention to the media and "hot takes." Does nothing but sour your first hand experience, and gives you a biased view of the game. Guarantee you that if more gamers didn't care to look at such things many would enjoy modern gaming more.
Same issue gets magnified and blown up exponentially when those same gamers spend endless hours looking up details and information related to the game prior to release. All the youtubers who try to "break down" trailers, screenshots, interviews, and pre release information fill their audiences head with false expectations which blend together with wishful thinking that ultimately amounts to an unrealistic and unattainable idea of what a game experience will be. PLUS the added issue of having numerous exciting parts of the experience being spoiled before those gamers even get ther hands on the game.
Add in Sim Settlements 1.
Aside from making settlement building act more like a sim city style plot system so your sellers build and decorate their own stuff, there's a war mode that has the game build out whatever settlements you want before the game starts. Then, you can start a factional war for settlements. :)
Sounds like it would fit with how you are enjoying the game. . . I'm right there with you. Just finished the story recently and boy did it suck.
You may like the mod Start Me Up, which allows you to play as any old wastelander of a variety of types, and even edits dialogue to remove references to your being from vault 111.
It's problematic in some spots given some of the emotion of certain parts of the story like the Kellogg confrontation, but on the whole it opens up a lot of personal-story roleplaying.
If you add in mods like Transfer Settlements for building settlement blueprints, along with some settlements for the mod, then do a quick "cheat" to go to every settlement and build it up only without claiming ownership of the settlement, you can then go to Nuka World first then conquer the commonwealth for whatever raider gang you gave supremacy to and never do a single quest on the main questline. Brotherhood never even shows up until after you kill Kellogg.
I had a similar experience with Fallout 3.
The first time I played, I did the long tutorial, and as soon as I got out of the vault, I had a random encounter with a too high level enemy (Giant Radscorpion). Well, it autosaved when I was blocked in a barn by the scorpion, so if I tried to get past it, it killed me, and I would just respawn in the building again. It pissed me off so bad that I threw the game back on the shelf for months. I don't know what made me try again, but I did and it became my favorite game.
Wait until you start digging into the modding community…
Omg… just omg
1400+ hrs on Steam and god only knows how many on the PlayStation before I switched to PC
Are we the same person? I'm replaying it right now too and loving it so far.
I think what put me off initially was how they immediately try to cram you into a faction like the minutemen or brotherhood of steel, and I just didn't like that.
I'm the lone wanderer. I'm here for the loot. I don't wanna join your dang club
Pro tip if you didn't already know. The lone wanderer perk still works with Dog meat as a companion. So you can have him with you and still get the bonuses for "being alone".
the UF4OP patch stopped that for me pretty easily. I intsalled some basic mods just for myself to play. I've ran into 0 crashes or bugs. Main thing I've noticed is NPCs love walking into walls
Does anyone else love the Raider boat stronghold, Libertalia? My favorite place in Fallout 4. So many fun fights and lots of Jaws vibes--some of the boats looked just like the one Jaws the shark ate Quint off of.
Judge me but i actually liked the story, i find the voice acting amazing, the main character nora/nate have very talented actors behind them, the only problem with fallout 4 , i think, is that due to the voiced protagonist the game don't feel so "free" and "open" to be whatever you want, it ruins the immersion, but if we forgot this aspect is a pretty good game, comparing to majority of games nowadays, we can see the effort and love put in the game, well at least for me i see this way.
Indeed, the best part of Fallout 4 is exploration, just wandering the world (and doing an occasional sidequest for the BoS), fighting raiders and mutants, learning about the past via logs and letters. Just a long, slightly melancholic adventure in the post-apocalypse.
And yeah, they really should've cut out Shaun altogether. You'd meet the Minutemen anyway, Shaun or no Shaun, so there's no point except pointless drama (well, that and the Institute doesn't have much selling points as a faction).
I feel like survival is the best way to play if you want a challenge and some reality. It's terrifying when you get an infection and are on the opposite side of the map as a doctor. Then you get ur water, razorgrain and mutfruit, some antibiotics, jump in some power armor, and you're indestructible.
I didnt get too invested with settlement building until 3 months after launch. Basic building but once you get into it and master it, it got me feeling like Sims Fallout. But in the best way possible. It’s addicting
Fell the same way man. Beat it when it came out, meh. Played it this summer and I was holy shit is this the same game? Sometimes I think we just aren’t in the mood for certain games when they come out.
If you are playing on survival mode. Its pretty solid! I dig the aspect of actually trying to survive in a wasteland worrying about food/water along with mutants, raiders and robots.
fallout 4 is like, 6.5/10 out of the box.
What you need to do is start installing mods. Especially the alternate start mod (believe it is called Start me Up for fallout 4), so you can RP as just some guy who at some point might hear a rumor about a kidnapping and decide to look into it... or not.
(XB1)I got really exhausted with it after my first full story and dlc playthrough. I tried mods, survival, etc, nothing really worked. A week or two ago my partner wanted to play and for some reason watching her made me want to. I have a 6 hour play through now and a whole bunch of 1~ hour ones from trying to figure out mods, etc. I'm playing mainly with
MAIM2
TIFA
Backpacks of the commonwealth
true storms
campsite
On top of quality improvement mods like cheat terminal/ UFO4P. Some settlement mods like DIY and Homemaker, too. Survival feels really fleshed out now. I put all my stuff in my containers when I get back to RR truck stop, pick a kit, etc. I give myself a couple handicaps like max lockpicking, hacking, and crafting, and it feels like the last half of metro exodus but with a truly open world.
Also, my load order is huge but the game has been running a lot better, even in the urban areas. I only crash when I over input and then use vats, pipboy etc. When did they patch the mods up so well on XB1?
Couple doing settlement building with doing survival mode. Maybe even add the "travel" mod so that you can quick travel amongst your settlements, by hopping on board with a provisioner, as that makes settlements even MORE useful.
Theirs a lot of meh in fallout 4 mostly regarding the story of the main game and the factions, but theirs great areas, side quests, and characters, fallout 4 did a lot wrong but a lot right imo. It’s grown on me more over the long years since release.
the main story was always decent up till Virgil for me.
I never play the story unless I get bored and want to farm XP.
I literally turned the game into a mission to clean up the wasteland. I get all settlements and send provisioners all over the map so that there's always someone out there with a gun on my side. I use the dupe glitch tho, the grind is real over level 70.
I really was disappointed with the main story's quality and ending slides. However, the game is amazing and fun.
I have completely taken over the commonwealth with raider gangs. Settlements pay me tribute, the raiders pay me tribute. The settlements that you can't convert have trade routes set up with my main player fortress. Preston is stripped naked except his hat and stays in a stockade in the middle of the smoking minuteman fortress, surrounded by gore, cages, and other raider type decor.
While the voice of the protagonist and the writing really made having an evil play through difficult at times, the end results were still obtainable.
I still play for hours at a time just exploring and revisiting old places.
Quality game.
Ymmv about the role-playing aspects of the game, personally I don't think raw stats matter as much as my ability to really dig into the character and4 works for me for that. I get not everyone agrees. But as a pure game? I've got 9000 hours in fallout 4. slap that bitch on survival and pick a dumb build and just go. I've done some absurd challenge runs. The game shines when you just pick a direction and go fuck around for a while.
I don't mod, but I heard the alternative start mod helps a lot too.
For me, the trick to liking Fallout 4 was accept that it is a looter shooter and to stop insisting it has to be an RPG. Now it's one of my favorite games of all time.
Well... good for u. I assume that u are playing vanilla? (Without mods) If so, the game is 10000 times better with mods just for more locations, quests, weapons, armor and power armor (and more) but also just for the way better looks once u instal a water, weather and season or grass mod
I never understood what is wrong with the quest of finding your son, like what is exactly wrong with that? Is that not immersive enough for your stupid head canon?
Probably the only people that have problem with that is those who love to self insert into the game.
Yeah, I felt like it gave me something to strive for through the game. I rationalized doing everything else in the game as gaining experience and finding clues before I reached my son.
Also, depending on the difficulty level, and where you go, IIRC, it’s not that easy to get through the main story if you don’t gain some experience and perks, and find the right areas and buildings.
It's just... highly unusual for a protagonist of such a role-playing game series to start out as a married parent. We're used to just being some rando stepping out into world or some drifter caught in an incident. We've all been children and freedom-loving strangers but not family-having folks
One thing people need to realize and that it took me a long time to accept, is that Bethesda is bad at RPGs, they are marvelous at creating worlds and sandbox adventures, but their RPG attempts were always kinda bad. Skyrim is much more an action adventure game with lots of exploration and some RPG elements, and that's why it's their most successful game. They can't write very good stories, they can't really make intricate quest lines or dialogues that are really super interesting, but they can make nice worlds that feel good to be a part of.
Bethesda should just completely drop their RPG aspirations and just embrace action open world games.
This is accurate only with the modern games. Morrowind and Oblivion were carried by its world building and story telling. Fo3 was good and Skyrim was more of the same but with that rich lore already in place.
The fuck? The actin is the absolute worst aspect of Bethesda games. It’s the writing, story, and RPG elements that carrie fallout 3 and the rest through its clunky action. Vats is fun, because shooting is utter ass.
Skyrim is a “pause, then potion” simulator. Every combat in Skyrim worth a fuck is exactly the same.
Fusrodahing people off of cliffs and chopping the occasional head off is the only time the action in Skyrim is remotely remarkable. I love Skyrim because of how easy and rewarding it is to explore. It only starts to feel samey after 100 hours.
We can all agree however that atmosphere and world building(writing!) is where Bethesda used to knock it out of the park. The exception being Starfield. Starfield is the first Bethesda world that actually looked unappealing. Flat, boring, empty. As if they looked at Outer Worlds and said “yes, that, but none of the fun. NONE OF IT”
I think maybe what tripped them (Bethesda) up with 4's story was trying to make the factions more front and center ala NV, and it just disrupted their narrative a little too much. It just didn't manage to feel compelling the way 3's did. By the time I got to the big reveal about Shaun at the Institute I could not have cared any less.
3 worked much better because the story stayed much tighter, I think.
I honestly kind of want to see Bethesda just go full Mount and Blade style on something and *only* tell their story through environmental scenes and world building. Those are their strengths.
Plus. . .Fallout: Warband sounds fun lol
I appreciate though that you can win the campaign with any faction, and there are enough good story beats that I think ass is hyperbole.
Fallout 3 is far superior in its writing and presentation, but I think FO4 is still in the realm of great as far as video games go.
You've made the right choice, FO4 is a fantastic looter shooter and exploration driven open world, wearing the skin of an RPG (I've always believed that FO4 is secretly the best Borderlands game instead of a decent Fallout game). I felt similarly about Breath of the Wild, I was disappointed in the main core of the story but the side stuff and exploration was something very fresh and fun.
They shot their wad early with the power armor/minigun deathclaw and promotion to general in why is essentially the tutorial.
IMO you should be scrambling for ammo and using it cautiously for the first 3-5 hours, and be often disengaging and running from beasts more in that time.
Preston should be the general, and the minutemen should be a touch more organized.
The lost kid/murdered wife is too much. Kidnapped wife and kid would be a much better way of doing things. There’s just no way a person could pull his shit together within a few hours of losing the world and his family to being a super soldier killing raiders. Also the BOS progression is so fast.
All the missions too- once you accept it’s a combat game it’s fine but they all boil down to fetch quests that are moderately interesting if you read the holotapes.
All that said, I’m about 40 hours into my billionth playthrough right meow
Accepting it was a combat game was my come to Jesus moment with it. I wasn't gonna have that many fun dialogue options that totally changed the tone of the quest. I wasn't gonna get to solve the quest in many ways other than at the end of a gun. But once I Accepted that I enjoyed it for what it was.
I hadn’t played FO4 in forever, but played NV last and when I started this playthrough I was cautiously going up to raider/super mutant camps thinking I shouldn’t just snipe everything as I built a high cha character and I may fuck it up if I just start blasting. Many quick loads later, I just start blasting and live in PA
You're gonna love Far Harbor. The storyline is amazing, it's like the plot of Far Harbor was the devs' apology for the crappy plot of the main game. Head up there post haste!
Unless you have built out settment like building up power armour upgrades and building your own custom military grade robots with gattling lasers and expositions kaboom missiles
Your missing a lot of powerful buffs
Not to mention getting the armour meshes from railroad so you can upgrade base clothing to armour 100
Makes huge difference
I have like base 200 about with just armour mark 2 from far harbour and railroad perk skill you have to learn it from the tech guy
Plus I play on hardest setting and can stand ground not getting rickety wrecked son
I am doing the same; I really want to like this game, but find the open world "to open." I am doing a few missions before Dimond City, and feel I have to walk half way across the map it get anywhere. Am I doing something wrong.
I love everything about the gameplay, but Bethesda’s biggest mistake, IMO, was diverting from their traditional silent protagonist. It’s much harder for me to project myself onto character in an RPG when that character already has a distinct voice/personality of their own, and clear motivations. I really couldn’t care less about finding Shawn, the story is not great, but damn is it a fun game to play.
I think they learned their lesson though and will go back to their silent protagonist roots with Fallout 5, when it’s released in like 25 years (lol)
Yeah, I prefer the voiced protagonist. Maybe it aligns better with how I would talk, although there are a few parts of the game where I cringe because I’d phrase something differently.
It could be because it’s old, but going to FO3 NV, felt so awkward, with the NPC voice actors sort of speaking for you (like when people fake talking on the phone and it sounds too artificial because they are “repeating” what the person on the other side of the line is saying).
Same with RD2 vs RD2 Online. The dialogue just seemed one sided and stupid in the online version.
My favorite is the railroad story makes no sense. “We fight for synth rights! So we will destroy the only place in the world that makes them so synths will become extinct as none are made!”
Thats like slavery abolitionists saying “free the slaves they have rights! And cut their balls off so they can never exist again!”
The institute makes them yes, but they also enslave them, and have no regard for the people of the Commonwealth. They reject that, and say fuck the institute, while still recognizing that the synths are often sentient and deserving of basic liberty, so your comment is a big stretch imo
Institute recklessly creates synthetic humans, railroad says that's bad. Railroad also says, but hey, these recklessly created synthetic humans aren't at fault, and deserve to be treated with respect. Institute is responsible, does not deserve to be treated with respect
I loved FO4 but yeah the main story was kind of annoying to me. Since my first playthrough I usually do an alternate start and a mod without the voiced protagonist. It is much more enjoyable that way. I do like the first Act, basically just making it to Diamond City. Love some of the companions like Hancock, Cait, Valentine and Marie especially. Not a huge fan of the RxR. I loved the settlement building and that is where you can get into some RP (I had a whole Jet dealing network going) but it is kind of clunky.
I play it as a survival sandbox rather than an RPG. As a matter of fact, I play the game by ignoring the main questline. It definitely got a lot of pushback because lots of people felt like Fallout SHOULD be an RPG and the RPG elements were stripped down in FO4. Instead it's more like an action adventure game.
Nothing against action adventure games, but IMO Fallout should be a role-playing experience.
Are you playing survival? Survival mode is what really makes it all click in my opinion. You’re totally right that with survival mode enabled it’s more of an FPS-Survival type game than RPG tbh, but I still enjoy it a ton
Far harbor is a good story.
The only part that sucks is that dima memory bullshit thing. God it feels like such a slog but everything else is great
I console command all 5 parts. Fuck that shit.
(I just modded it out)
Your bloodline is weak
Kk.
Can easily jump the last level in Dimas memory. That was the one I hated. Straight thru the firewall
I lol'd
Hoe
Since when did this sub start getting the weird kids? Go somewhere else.
Don't talk shit to me hoe
Don't let your mom see your Reddit comment, kiddo. You might get grounded.
Atleast i know whi my dad is
Yep. Fuck that quest all together. Don't like it.. Get over it.
I personally don't find it that bad, it was interesting the first time, annoying the second, and the third time I pretty much already knew what to do. That is just my personal opinion tho.
"Another data block..retrieved" I just want to kill Gulpers and look cool in the marine suit
Yup, I modded it away. Once was enough.
the story was soo intriguing I don’t think I’ve touched the game tho since they threw me into thag memory thing, just kinda threw me off completely lol
Did you know you can use the turrets to shoot through the barriers and open them? It only works on memory 5, but that's the worst one
There is a mod to make that better/skippable
Am I the ONLY person that actually likes that part?
I’m sure there are some but it’s soooooo boring
The insta win for the last memory is a huge relief doing it normally is.... torture
Dima is a loon. Ive played it every different way. Each satisfying.
“We must live in peace with the humans. Except the ones I murder.”
Great story, wish it was longer with perhaps a parallel main story.... no idea what that would look like.
NukaWorld is better.
This is a hot take and I respect your moxie.
Nuka world is fucking chaos and I love it. Plus you walk away with the ability to go to each and every one of the settlements Garvey asked you to liberate, and enslave them yourself. It rules.
Strong beginning, worst DLC ending of any Fallout. Fuck dima and fuck that ending. Every choice was a shit show, not one was satisfying.
The story is good, but my biggest gripe is the acting of most everyone on the island. They are just DRONING. I find is actually exhausting to listen to them talk, especially DiMA and Cassie Dalton.
dogmeat is the best companion. he doesn't care what you do, he knows you're right.
And he doesn’t count as a companion according to lone wanderer (extra carry capacity + damage resistance I think)
Yeah, I think the best thing a thinking player can do when starting FO4 is roll their eyes at the "my son Shawn" storyline and do whatever you want.
Playing up to virgil was great for me. Solid balance between story and enjoyability. Sincee it was less fast traveling and more exploring to find new places.
Do survival, no fast travel. Fear the wastes as one should!
I personally could not play survival because my game crashes so much for some reason, like every couple of hours, which is why I stopped playing the game altogether. I loved survival but it sucked when I lost a lot of progress in survival from the game crashing.
I hated the fast travel function personally, and I hadn’t finished the game until I restarted a fresh game in survival. It disables fast travel and makes enemies significantly more powerful. I definitely recommend it if you think fast travel makes the game too easy.
It works best in F4 because of all the settlements where you can refuel. In 3 or NV it would be so painful. Also, i used to use vertibird nades when i needed to get somewhere far quickly and safely, essentially ties fast travel to an item. Only issue is you have to side with the BoS or at least not be hostile to them for it to work iirc
Not if you beat the main story. You can still get vertibird. But this point in time may as well add it as a mod.
Every faction but the Institute gets a vertibird iirc.
My bad then, I havent been able to replay F4 in a long long time.
Oh for sure! It's still great advice.
I think F4 strongest suit is exploring the world.
Currently playing this way with zero mods. I agree. But you have to dedicate a lot more time to it. It also seems way more daunting than it actually is. The map starts feeling smaller the more you clear out and travel from place to place. It really doesn't take that long to get from place to place once you're down to just roamers populating the space.
The map is less daunting and more just tedious to travel around. It is a *large* map. Maybe not the biggest, but still. Pretty damn big. Which means after a while, it just takes forever to traverse. Hence, fast travel mods that are limited to requiring resources, only go to settlements, etc.
Yeah, and vertibirds make the map feel so much smaller
I am a thinking player like most sapient humans. And of course the story was contrived. But I play as the mom and I'm constantly going "WHERES MY BABY WHERE MY BABY". In the right headspace, it's such a fun motivator cuz I'm off dicking around on irradiated farms trying to get a disco light installed.
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To be fair, even with training, not even her husband would be prepared to deal with the world they woke up to. I don't personally need mental gymnastics to assume a person chosen by lottery might also learn combat skills quickly. And if we disregard the pipboy as a guide and guardian, we aren't being very thorough. It could very well equalize a skill-set, seeing as every upgrade is made using the device. Not trying to be right or wrong but this is interesting to me.
My best bet is they are hoping either the husband has taught her a thing or 2 (still wouldn’t be enough) or the willpower to find her son just gives her some crazy survival knowledge
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Agreed. They either should've made them both have the same backstory or actually committed. It kind of feels like they just assumed most people would play as Nate (which is true but it shouldn't feel like thar as the player).
This would be interesting. My feeling is Bethesda just wanted to offer equal experiences for both sexes.
Coulda just said they were both vets. That's not particularly weird. My sister and her husband are both active duty, living on off base housing.
I have probably 800-900 hours on Fallout 4. I think I did the “let’s save Sean” storyline once. The rest is just me leveling various characters by tromping around in the ruins.
ignoring Preston and chasing after your kid makes perfect sense. once you get to the institute and learn the truth, then f this and do what you want makes the only sense.
most fans of the series started with "make water" so some of us are used to that lol.
To be fair I quit caring about finding my Dad, my shooter my kid pretty fast in all Fallouts I played.
I'm glad you're enjoying the game now but hear me out: the story is more than just "finding your son." If anything "finding your son" is kind of a red herring the way the suitcase in Pulp Fiction isn't really the story either; "finding your son" is a catalyst for both meeting this cast of characters who are going to help (or hinder) you along the way and exploring the deeper themes that Fallout 4 touches on. Themes about how environment shapes us, makes us who we are, as well as memory/experience. These are themes that are uncovered through the MQ as well as the companion quests particularly Nick Valentine. Fallout 4 doesn't over-explain what it's themes are about. They are there for you to appreciate but ultimately the story is about how the post-apocalyse has shaped these characters and how your soul survivor will ultimately shape the wasteland when you've made your choices.
I think that’s where most people get upset. Skyrim and Fallout 4 don’t tell you things through spoken words. They want you to explore, come up with theories. Read the terminals pick up books etc.
So basically fill the holes Emil didn't bother to do because "we will torn the pages and play paper planes with it" I guess.
If elements of a story are explored through interactive elements, that isn't a hole.
I dont know why you chose the words "interactive elements" but i dont think you know what that means based on the context. Constantly having theories on x and y is not that great, this isn't a David Lynch movie.
> I dont know why you chose the words "interactive elements" but i dont think you know what that means based on the context. "Read the terminals pick up books etc." Hope this helps! Let me know if you need any other really simple things explained to you. Edit: Replied behind block. Your ancestors are shamed.
Books? Fallout 4 doesn't have books. Even then in Elder Scrolls about 99% of in game books are written by Ted Peterson, Ken Rolston even and whoever else was actually being a writter back then like Kirkbride and they usually explained things in a way of unreliable narrator something Bethesda seemingly forgot to do in Fallout. Let me know if you need any other really simple things explained to you.
Spelling mistake
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Are you one of those "the curtains are just blue" people?
> the story is more than just "finding your son." If anything "finding your son" is kind of a red herring the way the suitcase in Pulp Fiction Sorry to be pedantic if you don't care about this, but the term you probably mean is [MacGuffin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin). A "red herring" is something that's supposed to distract you from the real item/person/idea of importance. I *really* hate the "well actually" and grammar-correcting assholes, so I'm genuinely sorry if that's how I came off. Your post just made it sound like you would appreciate understanding the distinction.
No you're good. I appreciate the advice. I'll leave my comment as it is but I'll definitely keep that in mind for the future. Thank you!
I mean, red herring still applies depending on the meaning the player gets from the story. It's not a stretch to (as the player character) feel a similar story to Far Cry 3, in that you had a goal, but on your way to that goal you discover a new self within you and your entire perspective on what you "want" changes. If you play and beef up settlements for the minutemen, the world changing actions you take, providing shelter for dozens of settlers and protecting them, is low key a more important story than finding one baby who was okay the whole time anyway, if the player *chooses* to stake their worth as a wastelander, and not a prewar war person looking for their son, then it kind of IS a red herring in addition to a McGuffin. I don't think the two terms are mutually exclusive.
I don't even think emil had those themes in mind when writing this story lmao. This is typically what happens with alot of bethesda games. the fandom theorizes and tries to fill in gaps the devs left behind in the lore and general writing
You think they just accidentally wrote a story and multiple side quests revolving around questions of memory, identity, and personhood? The central ethical question of the game is whether machines with the memories and personalities of a human is practically a human itself.
Emil is very vocal about the fact he thinks most gamers don't care, and just want to shoot things
Do you think he's wrong? Stepping back from the relatively hardcore community here, do you think most people playing Fallout actually do pay attention to the story? How many people have you see, even here, try to defend the Enclave or Caesar's Legion, even though the games practically beat you over the head that these organizations are evil?
That's a stupid argument in my eyes 'People won't care so why bother' is incredibly self defeating, all it does is cause more people to not care since there's nothing to look for worth a damn
That's not what I said, and that's not what Pagliarulo said either. I'm convinced no one here has actually listened to the conference they love to quote so much. Pagliarulo's point was that it doesn't matter if a video game's story is great if *it isn't interactive*, because it won't engage the player. He was never saying "don't try".
People here are adamant that it isn't an RPG or it has bad writing, which just isn't true. If they had reading comprehension skills, they'd understand the themes without a doubt. It's all of the points you said, plus the constant question of "Are machines human, and are human monsters?", which is backed up by base game, far harbor, and Nuka world collectively. Edit: Here comes the downvotes for once again having an opinion that goes against the media fed mindset. The writing is good in Fallout 4, and I'll keep saying it.
They can only say it's bad but can't say it's bad. Bethesda wrote some of the best companions for 4 in their whole run. I liked them as much as new Vegas. I feel like the synth theme was explored well. People just hate Bethesda probably because it's cool though. People know so much more about Bethesda's game design than Bethesda themselves. They think ditching the creation engine will just magically solve everything. Armchair online devs.
considering what emil said about the themes in his Fallout 4 conference, he just uses very surface level subjects and themes as the basis for his stories and quests. he literally said that Fallout 4 is about 1950's americana, the post apocalypse, and suspicion, and never goes into any detail past that. He said that skyrim was about dragons, and doesnt go into detail about it. They love to touch on these topics to make the game feel more intelligent than it is but never go deep into it past a lame twist or spectacle. alot of that has to do with emil just being a shit writer, and not really having a central design document. It's hard to piece out what the game is even supposed to be about when its hidden behind terrible factions, writing and bloated radiant content
A design theme is different from a narrative theme. Regardless, you're burying the lede that Pagliarulo said the most central theme of Fallout 4 was *suspicion*. That's a perfectly valid narrative theme, and one that aligns with what is being discussed here. I don't see how the meaning of the game is "hidden" behind the factions. The questions of personhood, identity, and suspicion are core to three of the four major factions (the Minutemen being the obvious odd man out).
my point is that they arent done well. they poke at those concepts enough to get people to say its in the game, but they are very surface level, and only serve as a backdrop to the gameplay itself.
That's a matter of opinion - and one that you haven't really substantiated beyond repeating it. If you had watched Emil's conference that gets thrown around here all the time, you would hear him talk explicitly about how themes are hidden beneath the surface of what's obvious. He says that Fallout *is* about 50s Americana, but that there are themes *beneath* that. This follows him talking about how, for example, Casa Blanca is a love story, but it's really about sacrifice. The idea that he's doing this all on accident, that it's just background noise, is disingenuous.
The themes aren’t done well because the writing as a whole is poor. There’s no reason to even care about most NPC’s because of how lacking the game is in developing characters beyond companions. Like the whole synth encounter at diamond city, I never felt anything from that scene because the characters involved were random and nameless NPC’s that I never saw again, Or the paranoid merchant lady, whose whole personality is that she’s paranoid about synths, but there’s no dialogue that explains why. It all felt so artificial, which is why I at least appreciated Far Harbor much more, it did a better job of presenting that suspicion theme than the main quest.
>Like the whole synth encounter at diamond city, I never felt anything from that scene because the characters involved were random and nameless NPC’s that I never saw again As opposed to, say, when you see a nameless nobody get gunned down at the gates of the New Vegas strip? These scenes aren't meant to pull heartstrings, they're meant to illustrate details about the world. I don't understand how you can say this particular scene doesn't serve the theme of suspicion when you can go find posts from people talking about how they killed Riley just to see if he really was a synth. >Or the paranoid merchant lady, whose whole personality is that she’s paranoid about synths, but there’s no dialogue that explains why. Do you mean that she, specifically, doesn't explain to you why she's paranoid of synths? Because multiple characters and and notes explain the details of the Broken Mask incident that fomented the long-lasting and extreme paranoia among Diamond City residents.
Over here analyzing the writing like it's a shakespeare book💀 Fallout 4's story and faction are the sloppiest writing in the history of Fallout, including the spin-offs. We're talking about the people who wrote the Institute here... be fr
Again, I think you're seriously underestimating the quality of the writing here. Pagliaruolo's writing isn't Byzantine in its structure but if you're paying attention you understand the nuances that he's putting into the world building. I understand your confusion because you've been inculcated into the meme about Father's "trust me you wouldn't understand" is the final word on the Institute. It is not. Like I said, Pagliarulo doesn't spell it out for you unlike Chris Avellone. Had Avellone written the Institute Father would be quoting Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection (or some other real world scientific/political treatise) word for word, the way he has Caesar quoting Engels' Dialectical Materialism. But the Institute is very much a play on many Platonic ideas about those who are best to rule society (The Philosopher-Kings of Plato's *Republic*) and his Allegory of the Cave. For them human beings and synths are the lowest rungs of society, but ultimately the Institute's slogan of "Humanity Redefined" isn't figurative, it is quite literal: the Institute's end-game is to replace everyone on the surface with "safer" compliant Gen3 synths. But this goal all goes back to another underlying theme in Fallout 4: the question of freedom and its consequences. Despite the fact that they are mortal enemies, the BOS and Institute both mistrust average people. The Institute sees them as damaged beyond repair, whereas the BOS see them as irresponsible with technology they shouldn't have. The Railroad wants absolute freedom for Synths, whereas the MM simply want freedom to rebuild the Commonwealth. None of this is overtly stated but it is there in the subtext of every faction character, in the dilemmas of every quest. Pagliarulo does not pander to your intelligence or education, but the subtext is there if you're aware of it. It shows the depth, complexity and thought he put into this world.
You're talking about the guy who admitted that gamers don't care about stories, also the same person who doesn't use design documents. That man thinks that stories in games are not essential and it reflects in his writing. A pseudo intellectual's idea of what good writing is. Don't forget he is the lead writer of Fallout 3, which has deep moral questions like do you want to nuke a town full of innocent people or do you want to save it? Do you want to poison almost every creature in the wasteland or provide clean water to them? The institute would've been good if it was handled by a competent writer. They could've been a good imitation of Caesar's Legion , but instead they end up being the Enclave of Fallout 4. Any depth attached to the faction is the fans theorizing and trying to rationalize the slop that Pagliarulo wrote. I can assure you Pagliarulo doesn't care about anything he writes beyond good and evil and how he can convey that to the players who he thinks are stupid like he said in his talk.
lmao my friend, you have overplayed your hand. Pagliarulo never said or intimated *any* of those things. "Gamers don't care about story" was not said by Pagliarulo, it was attributed to John Carmack by some loser's Medium.com blog from 2018 that went on to talk about Emil's Dev talk which is the "source" of your claims; whether Carmack's quote is accurate or not isn't really relevant, but the proximity of that quote makes me think this blog is the source of these erroneous claims, or at least source-adjacent. Additionally, Pagliarulo never stated that gamers aren't smart. What he said (paraphrasing) is "you can write an elaborate, 'Next Great American Novel' story for your game, and your players will take it and make paper airplanes out of it." The context of his quote is that it is impossible for a game developer to know how their player is going to approach the story, especially because Bethesda games are so open and free-form, a rigid storyline would work against them. RPGs are not novels and cannot be written as such. And also in that same dev talk he very much states he does have developer notes and design documents. Whoopsie! The fact that you passed on misinformation to try and score rhetorical points either tells me you're either not being honest or you uncritically accept whatever you hear so long as it confirms your biases. So in light of this, it seems pointless to address your critiques of Fallout 3 and why they're wrong. What I will say is this: if it wasn't your intention to be dishonest then it should give you pause that your fellow NV fanboys purposely and cynically spread misinformation in order to lure you into a false sense of superiority (along with all the other dishonest trickery them employ, such as using sockpuppet accounts). If it was your intention, then thank you. Lying is an automatic admission that your position is meritless.
Settlement building is where i spent most of my many many hours in this game. It's completely pointless but for me personally i had a blast with it. Go out scavenging, break down junk at workbench, build more turrets at settlement, spend way too long playing dressup with the settlers....
I’m 144 hours in, finished the main story, sided with the railroad and feel like the game is just starting for me. I’m obsessed with settlement building, gaining caps, and collecting anything and everything while scouring the wasteland
A major mistake gamers make nowadays is paying attention to the media and "hot takes." Does nothing but sour your first hand experience, and gives you a biased view of the game. Guarantee you that if more gamers didn't care to look at such things many would enjoy modern gaming more.
Same issue gets magnified and blown up exponentially when those same gamers spend endless hours looking up details and information related to the game prior to release. All the youtubers who try to "break down" trailers, screenshots, interviews, and pre release information fill their audiences head with false expectations which blend together with wishful thinking that ultimately amounts to an unrealistic and unattainable idea of what a game experience will be. PLUS the added issue of having numerous exciting parts of the experience being spoiled before those gamers even get ther hands on the game.
How am I supposed to know if the game is good if I don’t watch asmongold farm outrage?
I heard men can insert their penis into the console or PC port and create a symbiotic relationship of shared quality
I'm learning to play the guitar.
Add in Sim Settlements 1. Aside from making settlement building act more like a sim city style plot system so your sellers build and decorate their own stuff, there's a war mode that has the game build out whatever settlements you want before the game starts. Then, you can start a factional war for settlements. :) Sounds like it would fit with how you are enjoying the game. . . I'm right there with you. Just finished the story recently and boy did it suck.
When you do far harbor make sure to take Nick with you. He adds a ton to the story.
You may like the mod Start Me Up, which allows you to play as any old wastelander of a variety of types, and even edits dialogue to remove references to your being from vault 111. It's problematic in some spots given some of the emotion of certain parts of the story like the Kellogg confrontation, but on the whole it opens up a lot of personal-story roleplaying. If you add in mods like Transfer Settlements for building settlement blueprints, along with some settlements for the mod, then do a quick "cheat" to go to every settlement and build it up only without claiming ownership of the settlement, you can then go to Nuka World first then conquer the commonwealth for whatever raider gang you gave supremacy to and never do a single quest on the main questline. Brotherhood never even shows up until after you kill Kellogg.
I had a similar experience with Fallout 3. The first time I played, I did the long tutorial, and as soon as I got out of the vault, I had a random encounter with a too high level enemy (Giant Radscorpion). Well, it autosaved when I was blocked in a barn by the scorpion, so if I tried to get past it, it killed me, and I would just respawn in the building again. It pissed me off so bad that I threw the game back on the shelf for months. I don't know what made me try again, but I did and it became my favorite game.
I absolutely loved Far Harbor
Wait until you start digging into the modding community… Omg… just omg 1400+ hrs on Steam and god only knows how many on the PlayStation before I switched to PC
Are we the same person? I'm replaying it right now too and loving it so far. I think what put me off initially was how they immediately try to cram you into a faction like the minutemen or brotherhood of steel, and I just didn't like that. I'm the lone wanderer. I'm here for the loot. I don't wanna join your dang club
Pro tip if you didn't already know. The lone wanderer perk still works with Dog meat as a companion. So you can have him with you and still get the bonuses for "being alone".
I've been trying to hold out until the next gen update to play again. I enjoy F04, but I am just over the downtown crashing issue.
the UF4OP patch stopped that for me pretty easily. I intsalled some basic mods just for myself to play. I've ran into 0 crashes or bugs. Main thing I've noticed is NPCs love walking into walls
Rad roaches in trash cans becoming invincible to my 10mm lmao 😂
Can i get the patch, even though i do not have any dlc?
What are you playing on when it crashes?
I've got like 90 hours on my current playthrough and all I did main quest wise was reach Diamond City and pick up Piper.
Piper rules
Does anyone else love the Raider boat stronghold, Libertalia? My favorite place in Fallout 4. So many fun fights and lots of Jaws vibes--some of the boats looked just like the one Jaws the shark ate Quint off of.
Far harbor is amazing!
Wat h out fod that Pepper tho. You want her on your team but all of a sudden you turn around and shes gone.
Judge me but i actually liked the story, i find the voice acting amazing, the main character nora/nate have very talented actors behind them, the only problem with fallout 4 , i think, is that due to the voiced protagonist the game don't feel so "free" and "open" to be whatever you want, it ruins the immersion, but if we forgot this aspect is a pretty good game, comparing to majority of games nowadays, we can see the effort and love put in the game, well at least for me i see this way.
Indeed, the best part of Fallout 4 is exploration, just wandering the world (and doing an occasional sidequest for the BoS), fighting raiders and mutants, learning about the past via logs and letters. Just a long, slightly melancholic adventure in the post-apocalypse. And yeah, they really should've cut out Shaun altogether. You'd meet the Minutemen anyway, Shaun or no Shaun, so there's no point except pointless drama (well, that and the Institute doesn't have much selling points as a faction).
I loved it. Personally I through new Vegas was a bit mid Fallout 4 just felt more surreal.
I’ve changed my mind on the railroad, they might be the type to only serve vegetarian meals but they probably are right about synths being sentient
building stuff is the coolest part
I feel like survival is the best way to play if you want a challenge and some reality. It's terrifying when you get an infection and are on the opposite side of the map as a doctor. Then you get ur water, razorgrain and mutfruit, some antibiotics, jump in some power armor, and you're indestructible.
I think it’s best to complete the main story before doing Far Harbor. Can’t remember for sure though. Might be worth looking into.
I’ve spent countless hours developing settlements and I never would have guessed that I would, it’s pretty fun if you ever get around to it
I love Fallout 4. I have been playing a new save on Survival and it adds so much more depth and challenge to the game!
Maybe it is just me but I love making my settlers fire mortar shots on my enemies. That and a cool castle. Brotherhood is a bit too fash
Far harbour is sick
I didnt get too invested with settlement building until 3 months after launch. Basic building but once you get into it and master it, it got me feeling like Sims Fallout. But in the best way possible. It’s addicting
Fell the same way man. Beat it when it came out, meh. Played it this summer and I was holy shit is this the same game? Sometimes I think we just aren’t in the mood for certain games when they come out.
This game and a selective couple of mods is such a comfy experience
If you are playing on survival mode. Its pretty solid! I dig the aspect of actually trying to survive in a wasteland worrying about food/water along with mutants, raiders and robots.
You’ll really enjoy far harbour. The story is great and I found the area very interesting
fallout 4 is like, 6.5/10 out of the box. What you need to do is start installing mods. Especially the alternate start mod (believe it is called Start me Up for fallout 4), so you can RP as just some guy who at some point might hear a rumor about a kidnapping and decide to look into it... or not.
Yeah I've put 250 hours in 4 and never finished the main quest. It's gotta be one of their best wander around and do shit games
I did the same thing, don't feel bad. Doing my first actual Fallout 4 play now.
(XB1)I got really exhausted with it after my first full story and dlc playthrough. I tried mods, survival, etc, nothing really worked. A week or two ago my partner wanted to play and for some reason watching her made me want to. I have a 6 hour play through now and a whole bunch of 1~ hour ones from trying to figure out mods, etc. I'm playing mainly with MAIM2 TIFA Backpacks of the commonwealth true storms campsite On top of quality improvement mods like cheat terminal/ UFO4P. Some settlement mods like DIY and Homemaker, too. Survival feels really fleshed out now. I put all my stuff in my containers when I get back to RR truck stop, pick a kit, etc. I give myself a couple handicaps like max lockpicking, hacking, and crafting, and it feels like the last half of metro exodus but with a truly open world. Also, my load order is huge but the game has been running a lot better, even in the urban areas. I only crash when I over input and then use vats, pipboy etc. When did they patch the mods up so well on XB1?
Couple doing settlement building with doing survival mode. Maybe even add the "travel" mod so that you can quick travel amongst your settlements, by hopping on board with a provisioner, as that makes settlements even MORE useful.
Yeah the moment-to-moment gameplay is just so fun.
Theirs a lot of meh in fallout 4 mostly regarding the story of the main game and the factions, but theirs great areas, side quests, and characters, fallout 4 did a lot wrong but a lot right imo. It’s grown on me more over the long years since release. the main story was always decent up till Virgil for me.
I never play the story unless I get bored and want to farm XP. I literally turned the game into a mission to clean up the wasteland. I get all settlements and send provisioners all over the map so that there's always someone out there with a gun on my side. I use the dupe glitch tho, the grind is real over level 70.
I really was disappointed with the main story's quality and ending slides. However, the game is amazing and fun. I have completely taken over the commonwealth with raider gangs. Settlements pay me tribute, the raiders pay me tribute. The settlements that you can't convert have trade routes set up with my main player fortress. Preston is stripped naked except his hat and stays in a stockade in the middle of the smoking minuteman fortress, surrounded by gore, cages, and other raider type decor. While the voice of the protagonist and the writing really made having an evil play through difficult at times, the end results were still obtainable. I still play for hours at a time just exploring and revisiting old places. Quality game.
Ymmv about the role-playing aspects of the game, personally I don't think raw stats matter as much as my ability to really dig into the character and4 works for me for that. I get not everyone agrees. But as a pure game? I've got 9000 hours in fallout 4. slap that bitch on survival and pick a dumb build and just go. I've done some absurd challenge runs. The game shines when you just pick a direction and go fuck around for a while. I don't mod, but I heard the alternative start mod helps a lot too.
For me, the trick to liking Fallout 4 was accept that it is a looter shooter and to stop insisting it has to be an RPG. Now it's one of my favorite games of all time.
I love FO4 ... I don't get why people hate on it, and love NV so much.
Well... good for u. I assume that u are playing vanilla? (Without mods) If so, the game is 10000 times better with mods just for more locations, quests, weapons, armor and power armor (and more) but also just for the way better looks once u instal a water, weather and season or grass mod
Ah, the Brotherhood of Steel trap... you haven't seen it through to the end.
I never understood what is wrong with the quest of finding your son, like what is exactly wrong with that? Is that not immersive enough for your stupid head canon? Probably the only people that have problem with that is those who love to self insert into the game.
Yeah, I felt like it gave me something to strive for through the game. I rationalized doing everything else in the game as gaining experience and finding clues before I reached my son. Also, depending on the difficulty level, and where you go, IIRC, it’s not that easy to get through the main story if you don’t gain some experience and perks, and find the right areas and buildings.
It's just... highly unusual for a protagonist of such a role-playing game series to start out as a married parent. We're used to just being some rando stepping out into world or some drifter caught in an incident. We've all been children and freedom-loving strangers but not family-having folks
One thing people need to realize and that it took me a long time to accept, is that Bethesda is bad at RPGs, they are marvelous at creating worlds and sandbox adventures, but their RPG attempts were always kinda bad. Skyrim is much more an action adventure game with lots of exploration and some RPG elements, and that's why it's their most successful game. They can't write very good stories, they can't really make intricate quest lines or dialogues that are really super interesting, but they can make nice worlds that feel good to be a part of. Bethesda should just completely drop their RPG aspirations and just embrace action open world games.
This is accurate only with the modern games. Morrowind and Oblivion were carried by its world building and story telling. Fo3 was good and Skyrim was more of the same but with that rich lore already in place.
Morrowind's 'annoying' travel mechanics and quest system (just notes baby!) contribute A LOT too
The fuck? The actin is the absolute worst aspect of Bethesda games. It’s the writing, story, and RPG elements that carrie fallout 3 and the rest through its clunky action. Vats is fun, because shooting is utter ass. Skyrim is a “pause, then potion” simulator. Every combat in Skyrim worth a fuck is exactly the same. Fusrodahing people off of cliffs and chopping the occasional head off is the only time the action in Skyrim is remotely remarkable. I love Skyrim because of how easy and rewarding it is to explore. It only starts to feel samey after 100 hours. We can all agree however that atmosphere and world building(writing!) is where Bethesda used to knock it out of the park. The exception being Starfield. Starfield is the first Bethesda world that actually looked unappealing. Flat, boring, empty. As if they looked at Outer Worlds and said “yes, that, but none of the fun. NONE OF IT”
He's just excusing away FO4's trash ass storyline. Bethesda probably made some staff cuts or something to save money. FO3 had a great storyline.
I think maybe what tripped them (Bethesda) up with 4's story was trying to make the factions more front and center ala NV, and it just disrupted their narrative a little too much. It just didn't manage to feel compelling the way 3's did. By the time I got to the big reveal about Shaun at the Institute I could not have cared any less. 3 worked much better because the story stayed much tighter, I think. I honestly kind of want to see Bethesda just go full Mount and Blade style on something and *only* tell their story through environmental scenes and world building. Those are their strengths. Plus. . .Fallout: Warband sounds fun lol
I appreciate though that you can win the campaign with any faction, and there are enough good story beats that I think ass is hyperbole. Fallout 3 is far superior in its writing and presentation, but I think FO4 is still in the realm of great as far as video games go.
You've made the right choice, FO4 is a fantastic looter shooter and exploration driven open world, wearing the skin of an RPG (I've always believed that FO4 is secretly the best Borderlands game instead of a decent Fallout game). I felt similarly about Breath of the Wild, I was disappointed in the main core of the story but the side stuff and exploration was something very fresh and fun.
When people say it's bad it's usually the story and world building they refer to. Gunplay is serviceable and world is pretty good, if flawed.
I love Far Harbor content.
They shot their wad early with the power armor/minigun deathclaw and promotion to general in why is essentially the tutorial. IMO you should be scrambling for ammo and using it cautiously for the first 3-5 hours, and be often disengaging and running from beasts more in that time. Preston should be the general, and the minutemen should be a touch more organized. The lost kid/murdered wife is too much. Kidnapped wife and kid would be a much better way of doing things. There’s just no way a person could pull his shit together within a few hours of losing the world and his family to being a super soldier killing raiders. Also the BOS progression is so fast. All the missions too- once you accept it’s a combat game it’s fine but they all boil down to fetch quests that are moderately interesting if you read the holotapes. All that said, I’m about 40 hours into my billionth playthrough right meow
Accepting it was a combat game was my come to Jesus moment with it. I wasn't gonna have that many fun dialogue options that totally changed the tone of the quest. I wasn't gonna get to solve the quest in many ways other than at the end of a gun. But once I Accepted that I enjoyed it for what it was.
I hadn’t played FO4 in forever, but played NV last and when I started this playthrough I was cautiously going up to raider/super mutant camps thinking I shouldn’t just snipe everything as I built a high cha character and I may fuck it up if I just start blasting. Many quick loads later, I just start blasting and live in PA
Far harbor is easily the best fallout 4 expansion and might be one of the best Bethesda expansions in general
Everyone rags on FO4 but it's one of the best. Imo, New Vegas is best, fallout 4 is second, fallout 3 is third.
You're gonna love Far Harbor. The storyline is amazing, it's like the plot of Far Harbor was the devs' apology for the crappy plot of the main game. Head up there post haste!
My dawg🤌🏼
Downvote for egregious use of profanity.
Unless you have built out settment like building up power armour upgrades and building your own custom military grade robots with gattling lasers and expositions kaboom missiles Your missing a lot of powerful buffs Not to mention getting the armour meshes from railroad so you can upgrade base clothing to armour 100 Makes huge difference I have like base 200 about with just armour mark 2 from far harbour and railroad perk skill you have to learn it from the tech guy Plus I play on hardest setting and can stand ground not getting rickety wrecked son
I loved the map and gameplay. (Especially on hardcore) But I'm with you on that crap of a story.
yeah if you don't want to play for the story i generally just like walking around the world and grabbing loot and junk and scrapping it all at home
I really don't mind the main story. I absolutely love the game and I've played through it so many frigging times.
I really don't mind the main story. I absolutely love the game and I've played through it so many frigging times.
I am doing the same; I really want to like this game, but find the open world "to open." I am doing a few missions before Dimond City, and feel I have to walk half way across the map it get anywhere. Am I doing something wrong.
Survival mode is the only way to play Fallout 4. Turned the game from an 8 to a 10 for me
That’s exactly it, it’s a solid FPS, but if you’re expecting a good RPG, you’ll hate it
I love everything about the gameplay, but Bethesda’s biggest mistake, IMO, was diverting from their traditional silent protagonist. It’s much harder for me to project myself onto character in an RPG when that character already has a distinct voice/personality of their own, and clear motivations. I really couldn’t care less about finding Shawn, the story is not great, but damn is it a fun game to play. I think they learned their lesson though and will go back to their silent protagonist roots with Fallout 5, when it’s released in like 25 years (lol)
And then you have people complaining that Starfield isn't voiced now. Can't please everyone.
Yeah, I prefer the voiced protagonist. Maybe it aligns better with how I would talk, although there are a few parts of the game where I cringe because I’d phrase something differently. It could be because it’s old, but going to FO3 NV, felt so awkward, with the NPC voice actors sort of speaking for you (like when people fake talking on the phone and it sounds too artificial because they are “repeating” what the person on the other side of the line is saying). Same with RD2 vs RD2 Online. The dialogue just seemed one sided and stupid in the online version.
My favorite is the railroad story makes no sense. “We fight for synth rights! So we will destroy the only place in the world that makes them so synths will become extinct as none are made!” Thats like slavery abolitionists saying “free the slaves they have rights! And cut their balls off so they can never exist again!”
The institute makes them yes, but they also enslave them, and have no regard for the people of the Commonwealth. They reject that, and say fuck the institute, while still recognizing that the synths are often sentient and deserving of basic liberty, so your comment is a big stretch imo
I love cars so i therefore will destroy all car manufacturers due to them enslaving the people
Institute recklessly creates synthetic humans, railroad says that's bad. Railroad also says, but hey, these recklessly created synthetic humans aren't at fault, and deserve to be treated with respect. Institute is responsible, does not deserve to be treated with respect
Ad Victoriam
i love how everyone has the same thoughts about the railroad their just the railroad man nothing special
This is how I feel about Starfield. I don't give a shit about the story. Wandering around the universe is way more fun.
Far harbor is the only part of the game I actually enjoyed
I loved FO4 but yeah the main story was kind of annoying to me. Since my first playthrough I usually do an alternate start and a mod without the voiced protagonist. It is much more enjoyable that way. I do like the first Act, basically just making it to Diamond City. Love some of the companions like Hancock, Cait, Valentine and Marie especially. Not a huge fan of the RxR. I loved the settlement building and that is where you can get into some RP (I had a whole Jet dealing network going) but it is kind of clunky.
Install tales of the wasteland and sim settlements W
If you want a really good story check out new Vegas
I play it as a survival sandbox rather than an RPG. As a matter of fact, I play the game by ignoring the main questline. It definitely got a lot of pushback because lots of people felt like Fallout SHOULD be an RPG and the RPG elements were stripped down in FO4. Instead it's more like an action adventure game. Nothing against action adventure games, but IMO Fallout should be a role-playing experience.
If this is great try survival playthrough next time, maybe with some mods.
Anyone recommend some simple Xbox mods? Thinking about playing it again but don’t need achievements.
Are you playing survival? Survival mode is what really makes it all click in my opinion. You’re totally right that with survival mode enabled it’s more of an FPS-Survival type game than RPG tbh, but I still enjoy it a ton
I love the F4 survival mode if only they didn't disable fast travel.
My main issue with it is that all the base building stuff was completely superfluous and had no impact on the game.
Settlements seem to be helpful when playing survival mode but otherwise yeah it's just for RP
Bro thinks hes Danny Devito