So, this is probably the most disappointed I’ve been at a release for years, and as I was walking to work today, I was pondering why.
Its just so bland! Now granted, I am still in the starting areas, having spent an hour running around Sanctuary, looking for a carrot or anything else to give my people food. No idea why I have to do this, but there it is. Now, the reason I do this, is because some guy told me to find food for them, and I thought fine - I’ll do it! Now, that wouldn’t leave that much of an impression on me normally, but when I look at my magic map, I see a stormtropper at Sanctuary, and it says 25 percent. I don’t know what that means, but I guess its bad - 25 percent of stormtroppers are there? Secondly, in my workshop MODE, I see food is red - that can’t be good! What does that mean? They don’t get enough food I’m guessing, but, IT DOES NOT SAY SO ANYWHERE! Let me check the manual - oh, nevermind, there is none.
So, food is in red, stormtroopers are coming - I guess I better do this base thing then, because otherwise my people are going to…die? I DONT KNOW!
Finally, after finding 4 food, I gave up and went on the QUEST I was supposed to do. Minuteman told me to go to a group of settlers and help them out, because they had raider issues - I would have to ask them the particulars.
Nice, I think - a community of settlers, probably like the first town in Skyrim - remember that one? It had a blacksmith, whose son had helped me escape. They were beholden to the local Jarl, and were troubled by the dragon rumours. The town also had a store, that had been robbed, and where the daugther led me to a bridge, and pointed out in the beautiful night, that this is where I had to go to find the item they had gotten stolen. I later found out WHY the item was stolen, and it was pretty cool! Everything had a reason, and a WHY.
Witcher 3 - Started out in a small village, with a nice inn, because thats where farmers congregate. The inn had much grumbling, because of the war, and all that follows. I understand this - I see where I am, everything has a place, a reason and a WHY - There is THOUGHT behind the place. It might just as well had been a real village they had digitized, from the medieval ages.
Back to my quest - I travelled, oh, 3 minutes and found Settler. No, not a “group of settles”, but ONE MAN, pretending to be “Settler”. He didn’t have a name, he was just "Settler. " Why? Where did he settle from? What was he doing? Fuck if I know - Settler told me, raiders raided him, and I should go find them. WHY did the raiders raid Settler? Because he was dirt poor - He had a shack with no walls, a liceridden matrass, and that was it. I didn’t see why ANYONE would raid him. Now, he MIGHT have been a hoarder, having a secret stash somewhere, but there was no clue to - He might have been rich, but there was no clue to it anywher. Hell, if this was Skyrim, I would have thought he was a VAMPIRE, because who else would live out here, all alone, defenseless?
Hey - remember that nice old lady in Skyrim, who lived alone on the river bank? Well, there was a REASON, and a WHY, as to why she was there - hell, there was even a secret basement, and letters, and all kinds of stuff, that told me all about her. She had a garden as well, so that she could survive, or trade items with the nearby village, or fish in the river.
Settler? He was obviously plumbed down here, by a designer, who thought that this was appropriately far away for the player to walk. He is also raided by raiders, because thats what Settlers are being done. Nevermind that I have no idea what he has settled, or who he is, or why, or anything - Its just a quest god dammit, it doesn’t have to have a backstory.
This is what I see - Things put down by a guy sitting on a chair in front of a computer because - thats what he is paid to do, so he will do it. He has probably played a ton of games, and understands that in Mad Max worlds raiders are gonna raid, and settlers are gonna settle, but that is as far as he ever thought.
Does Fallout 4 has a loremaster? I Know Elder Scrolls does and hey, I can tell a difference between the two games.
So - that to me, is why I don’t like Fallout 4 at all so far. Its not just the atrocious UI, the dense base building, the non-existant tutorials (I have had NO input on VATS at all - the game just never tells me about it), the poor AI, or anything else that is obviously wrong with the game - its that its so bland, and has zero idea of its own world, or thought put into it.
Settler? Really?
