Fallout 4 is fucking great

[Everlong]

Who else has it?

So far it's lived up to everything I could have possibly hoped for. I can tell I'll be putting a shit ton of time into this one, for sure.

[SlightlyJames]

Fallout 4 has pretty good from what I've played so far (About 15 hours last I checked). I think the gunplay is a lot smoother than previous installments and I think the increased focus on crafting does a lot for the exploration in the game. In previous games there was a lot less reward for poking about through the avalanche of junk in every building but it's oddly satisfying seeing a lamp and figuring out that it'll have copper and you need that for an upgrade!

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. has undergone a bit of a transformation in this game, now that Skills have been folded into the Perk Chart you have to look at your base attributes a lot differently. It's unfamiliar but it does seem functional, at the very least. I imagine this is intended as a way of streamlining certain aspects of the game. For example, instead of putting points into Lockpick skill and certain milestones (intervals of 25 I think?) giving you an increased ability to pick locks, they instead just have a 4-tiered perk that you can take and gain the ability to pick one higher difficulty of lock each time.

I think that their efforts in streamlining certain things have paid off in a lot of respects, even though I'm still a bit unfamiliar with the new S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system it seems quite functional and I appreciate the reasons for its inclusion. Radiation now has a direct influence on your moment to moment play, the consequence of becoming irradiated is a lot more understandable when you see a red mass depleting your max health while you're taking a swim. I appreciate small indicators like the + next to an item indicating you already possess one, the Magnifying Glass you can set to appear on items that hold a resource you're looking for. It's well thought out and does a lot to make the exploration more satisfying.

The story up to the point I'm at has been paper thin, other than the awfully fast tracked opening sequence pretty much all of my interactions have been "hey, go here and kill these things and come back". It's not an enormous problem and it's one that most people saw coming so I've long since made my peace with it but it is one of the largest flaws in Bethesda games.

The other one being, this game is buggy as fuck. I've gotten off lightly with only a few minor ones like gun view models disappearing and one very common subtitle glitch (Sturges? Tell her) but some of my friends have been having really shoddy ones like quest important enemies glitching through the ground and straight up crashes often enough. It's always a problem that has existed in Bethesda games, partly due to the fact they're still using the Morrowind engine for their games and partly because their QA department hasn't done the best job, historically.

The conversation interface has been gouged for the benefit of players using game pads, with the old system used on PC being replaced with a maximum of 4 options designed to replicate the face buttons of a controller. The keyboard equivalent they chose for this is the arrow keys, though the number keys would make a lot more sense and I haven't found a way to change it. Another offender of ill-thought controls are the base building features. There are some really odd choices in the way things function in that mode and it has been a very frustrating thing at times, especially when it's quest important.

I appreciate that system being included as, like the tweaks to the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system and things like that, they could easily have left it out entirely and still coasted on the fact that the game is Fallout, I just think it needed a bit more fine tuning. Putting aside the niggly interface I do feel that the base building is quite satisfying, I've grown quite fond of my little crafting room at the Truck Stop with a couple of sentries hanging out outside to keep my Power Armour and goodies safe.

The radio music is pretty much ripped entirely from 3, I can't say I like that. I was rather hoping for some new tracks I could come to enjoy that would give this game more of its own identity. I'm not a fan of the new DJ either, he seems purposefully bad. Hopefully there's a quest to replace him at some point.

Fallout 4 has been a really conflicting game for me, up to this point. It does a lot of things right and I am enjoying myself overall but there are a range of glaring faults both large and small that prevent me from thinking of it as a great game. It might crack my top 5 for the year if nothing else comes along, just.

[Everlong]

I think the gunplay is a lot smoother than previous installments

God, this so much. I always used to feel like if you weren't in VATS you were fucked. So much easier now.

Crafting is SO much fun and so addictive, not to mention just going through settlements and salvaging.

I'm not a fan of the new DJ either, he seems purposefully bad. Hopefully there's a quest to replace him at some point.

There is, it's all part of a quest out of Diamond City. Go to the Dugout Inn to trigger it.

The other one being, this game is buggy as fuck.

That's odd, I haven't had a single issue so far, and haven't really read too much about bugs on Reddit either.

There are some really odd choices in the way things function in that mode and it has been a very frustrating thing at times, especially when it's quest important.

Yeah, if I were to have a complaint with the game so far it'd be the conversation choices. They don't really give you enough to g ooff, and I'll often find myself choosing something and having the result being totally different than my intent.

I've put in about 30 hours so far and don't see myself stopping any time soon at all. This is the game I've been most willing to let suck my time away since Skyrim, which isn't surprising to me.

[Everlong]

PS anyone else playing this yet?

[EmperorWu]

Waiting for black Friday. It's going to rock my face off I bet.

[SlightlyJames]

The other one being, this game is buggy as fuck.

That's odd, I haven't had a single issue so far, and haven't really read too much about bugs on Reddit either.

You won't have read so much about it on reddit because it's taken as a given at this point, Bethesda has a long and storied history of being lax and letting bugs slip through the QA process. I've had a lot of issues since my last post with quest progress not triggering properly, dialogue not behaving the way it's supposed to and things to that effect. I've just watched it happen to a friend of mine on the quest "The Big Dig" where an NPC who was supposed to blow up a wall to progress just wouldn't do it so it was impossible to progress in the quest.

[Viazon]

I just got a PS4 this month so looking to get as many good games as possible. I have heard this is good. But the thing is, I have never played any of the previous Fallout games. Would that matter that much when it comes to playing this game?

[SlightlyJames]

I just got a PS4 this month so looking to get as many good games as possible. I have heard this is good. But the thing is, I have never played any of the previous Fallout games. Would that matter that much when it comes to playing this game?

@Viazon

It's an independent story, there may be the odd nudge or reference to Fallout 3 but all the other games take place far away from 3 and 4 so there'd be very little mentions to those. If you want a taste of the series without buying the full price game, play New Vegas but you don't need any prior knowledge to get what's going on.

[SortaCreative]

I'll truly never understand the appeal of this game.

It's just so bad. Combat is bad, movement is bad. PC port is bad. Bethesda are a sham. They're con artists. Sure the combat is smoother than Fallout 3, but it's just smooth shit now rather than rough, lumpy shit.

The one thing this game gets right is exploration. It's actually really nice to walk around. The UI was designed by a retarded alien. The skill up UI, while pretty, is horrendous. Good example is using the workshop: at first glance it appears you need to use WASD, the arrow keys and the mouse to operate the menu (YES BETHESDA I HAVE 3 HANDS). It doesn't tell you that shift will help you out.

It's dumb and I wish people would stop sucking Bethesda's dick so they actually bug test their games and stop releasing these MASSIVE OPEN WORLDS that are essentially broken, barren and piles of dog crap.

[SlightlyJames]

The UI was designed by a retarded alien. The skill up UI, while pretty, is horrendous. Good example is using the workshop: at first glance it appears you need to use WASD, the arrow keys and the mouse to operate the menu (YES BETHESDA I HAVE 3 HANDS). It doesn't tell you that shift will help you out.

@SortaCreative

...you don't need to use arrow keys?

A lot of the other stuff you said I agree with, there's really no excuse for the condition of their games on release. I've been irritated at the bugs I've encountered and from some of the stuff I've been reading I've been getting off lightly.

I wouldn't say I don't understand the appeal though, it's always oddly absorbing to roam around the wastes and just see what's going on. Like I said in my initial post, they've done a lot to make the exploration and particularly the scavenging aspect of the game a lot more fulfilling. The fact that it feeds into the far more useful crafting mechanics this game has make it feel a lot more worthwhile.

I'm enjoying the gameplay well enough, the guns feel good, unlike my time in 3 and New Vegas I'm barely using VATS because the gunplay is so satisfying. This is again done favors by the increased focus on crafting, I don't feel like I'm just taping assorted junk together to make my numbers bigger than the enemy's numbers. Becoming more engaged with the gameplay makes the upgrade system feel more meaningful and it makes the exploration side of the game feel more relevant for an overall more cohesive experience.

Outside of a few quests that have really pulled me in, I haven't been wowed by the story. There have been some impressive set pieces and some things that have made me really interested, I'm compelled to continue at least and I'm having an alright time doing it, from Bethesda that was all I was really expecting.

I'm not going to be heralding this game as anything fantastic but it is one of the better games I've played this year, it's not New Vegas but few games are.

[SortaCreative]

The UI was designed by a retarded alien. The skill up UI, while pretty, is horrendous. Good example is using the workshop: at first glance it appears you need to use WASD, the arrow keys and the mouse to operate the menu (YES BETHESDA I HAVE 3 HANDS). It doesn't tell you that shift will help you out.

@SortaCreative

...you don't need to use arrow keys?

Yeah by holding shift. Doesn't tell you that though.

Gunplay is okay. It's not great. It feels like it has no weight. It's a fine game but let's be honest, two games came out on the 10th - Fallout 4 and Legacy of the Void. Legacy of the Void is polished to a fine sheen while Fallout 4 is polished enough to point a camera at the robots crotch when i'm talking to the NPC next to him.

http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/fallou ... /1900-727/ - for contrast. Don't believe the hack IGN reviews. IGN's review is great. The spend the entire review cupping the games balls. In the last paragraph they go "hey this game has some crippling performance problems and bugs across the board.... 9.5/10!!"

Play this instead

[EmperorWu]

That's what I've been playing, and I don't regret it. LotV is the shit. I had a few issue the first couple days with the online, but the singe player was flawless day one. Wish more developers gave enough of a shit to release a fully working game.

Put this shit on full screen, turn up the volume and get hyped!



This video still gives me goosebumps.

[prophet]

I was always going to pick this up, figured I'd wait a bit before buying it so they can fix any bugs/glitches. Looking forward to it!

[SlightlyJames]

I wasn't really feeling the need to continue for a while but I've played some more in the last couple of days. This game really gets on my nerves at times. I've said it already but the way conversations work is really stupid. For some reason they decided to have it so that NPCs will initiate dialogue with you when you get near, but it's in an awkward state of partially in-conversation and partially still running around. To actually properly lock into the conversation you need to wait painstakingly for the first couple of lines to end.

As someone who tends to read the subtitles and skip to the next line of dialogue, this is horrible as I can't skip the opening exchange. The reason for that? The skip dialogue button is the shoot button. More times than I can count I've tried to get to the point in a conversation and ended up shooting someone in the face because the wonky game doesn't fully consider me to be in the conversation, despite the fact the NPC is chatting away at me.

Speaking of shooting people in the face, get out of here with essential NPCs. If I want to end Preston's life so that boring motherfucker stops approaching me with randomly generated fetch quests, let me do it, none of this immortal "lie down for a few seconds to shake the bullets off" nonsense. This is a role playing game, let me do it. It's bad enough that the character is voiced, which removes me from the experience, don't limit me in my actions as well.

The conversations have been gouged to only ever offer 4 choices. This means that for unique, quest relevant options they had the wonderful idea to automatically trigger them when you talk to someone. The problem with this is that I didn't want to reveal this optional piece of sensitive information to this person. I was talking to them for a different quest but the game decided without any input from me to mouth off about their huge plans.

The game's "streamlined" design has obliterated the role playing from this game. The main story was becoming quite intriguing despite itself and I was getting into it, but the game just strong armed me into an endgame allegiance I didn't want or ask for. God fucking dammit.

[prophet]

WHY DOES EVERYTHING KILL ME IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!

[Everlong]

WHY DOES EVERYTHING KILL ME IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!

What level are you at/what style are you playing? Have you been upgrading weapons/armor?

[Messiah]

Fallout 4 is the truth.

[Chewy]

Love it, unlike the previous one where by about level fifteen you were God,this one is still a challenge.

Into my second playthrough now, didn't get anywhere near playing all the quests.

Love the random missions, the kid in a fridge is funny as fuck.

Think it's awesome, although the voiced protagonist I can live without, sort of removes the immersion for me since I usually play as a complete psychopath.