Fallout 4

[Miramon]

Yeah I found that early quest “settlement” too. Inexplicably bad implementation. I can’t imagine anyone letting a skeletally thin quest like that into a MMO, much less a single-player RPG. For pity’s sake at least give the poor settler a name, a dozen friends, some plausibly large farm plots and a a lean-to or two, as opposed to a wilderness landscape full of evil dogs and a house that consists of a foundation and a dirty mattress.

Then I tripped over “Covenant”. This is also a pretty thin, weak, implementation, but it’s a dozen times better than the above quest. Yet the main story tells you to do the weaker one first. Why even bother with that? The player will probably trip over the Corvega (haha) plant anyway, after all, and they might as well just clean it out on their own instead of being directed through a quest that received 1% of the work it should have.

[Gordon_Bleu]

I will say this about the game: I haven’t had a crash yet!

[Bateau]

I just had idiot savant trigger when I turned in the farmers quest, I ranked up 2 levels! :D

How much INT do you have? I’m about to try a full luck build, anyone playing this way? If so, please post your impressions.

Here’s what I’m planning to get: http://www.nukahub.com/tools/special?build=7b.2.3.6.5.2.9

I’ll keep my 13h save just in case though :).

[jg93]

I also have one question when it comes to difficulty. I bumped it to Hard and I generally like how damage comes in (except when I got to Corvega and they started tossing endless streams of one-shotting molotovs and grenades), but everything feels like a ridiculous bullet sponge. Is this because my weapons suck and/or I’m under-leveled for an area (is there a way to tell?), or is Hard just very bullet-spongey?

I don’t necessarily need a level number, but some sort of color code to indicate I’m out of my depth would be nice.

Skulls will appear on the enemy names when they’re 10 levels higher than you. You probably are a bit low for corvega, but, the Hard difficulty does slightly increase enemy HPs as well.

[lordkosc]

How much INT do you have? I’m about to try a full luck build, anyone playing this way? If so, please post your impressions.

Here’s what I’m planning to get: http://www.nukahub.com/tools/special?build=7b.2.3.6.5.2.9

I’ll keep my 13h save just in case though :).

Int is at 1. :)

[Bateau]

How are you getting by without access to gun mods or hacking?

And slightly unrelated, does pacifying an enemy with charisma perks grant any XP?

[TurinTur]

I also have one question when it comes to difficulty. I bumped it to Hard and I generally like how damage comes in (except when I got to Corvega and they started tossing endless streams of one-shotting molotovs and grenades), but everything feels like a ridiculous bullet sponge. Is this because my weapons suck and/or I’m under-leveled for an area (is there a way to tell?), or is Hard just very bullet-spongey?

I don’t necessarily need a level number, but some sort of color code to indicate I’m out of my depth would be nice.

Hard shouldn’t be very bullet-spongey. Usually if you heat things in the head they die pretty fast. Though remember this isn’t a pure fps, this type of level-based games (because enemies have a level, you just don’t see it) tend to be kind of spongey feel.

[Scott123]

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?

Man I don’t want to keep bring up Witcher 3 but I can’t help it. I’m playing it right now and holding my finger above the trigger for Fallout 4 while reading this thread.

In the first couple hours of Witcher 3 there’s the frying pan quest. You run into a woman banging on a door to a house on the beach. You talk to her, and she wants her frying pan from inside. You go in and get it, and the quest is over.

But that’s not it. It’s extremely well written and voice acted (seriously I should look up who did the voice). Then the WHY. Quote from another forum I just googled.

‘Witcher 3 mild spoiler’

[spoiler]A mysterious pan borrower needed her pan to make ink, then killed someone before leaving in a hurry.

On my second playthrough I realized how likely it was Thaler who was the mysterious guest in question. We know the mysterious pan borrower was obviously involved in intelligence work, was trying to meet up with a Nilfgaardian secretly, wrote with frequent Thaler-style cursing, and left behind a silver monocle (a quest item no less). All leads point to Thaler. He was just returning from negotiating with Nilfgaardians when we first rescued him later on. With Tameria intelligence disbanded and its members hunted down, it made sense for Thaler to seek refuge while continuing his work at the nearby village White Orchard. [/spoiler]

Edits for spoiler tag as requested.

[Telefrog]

I don’t want to be that guy, but maybe you should put The Witcher 3 spoiler under a tag?

[Ponicus]

Having a much better experience than many here it seems. I was able to figure out crafting and building just fine from the tool-tip pop-ups in the upper left when getting the beginner Sanctuary building quests. I also figured out how to plant food just by skimming through the food recipes and it says right there Corn 0/1, etc… The walls, fences, floors, etc snap together pretty easily. Maybe it’s because I’m using a gamepad? So far having a lot of fun.

[TheWombat]

At the end of Faulkner, though, you’re provided with gratification and satisfaction for having put up with unreliable narrators, odd dialects and everything else. You can see why it was done that way.

In Fallout 4, I’m not sure that gratification awaits, or if the payoff will be worth it. And no, I can’t see why it was done this way.

Oh, sure, that’s very true. But the difference is, I’m not expecting Faulkner (or Joyce, or Melville, or Proust) here; I’m expecting a cheesy sci-fi adventure, and that’s what I get. I’d be pissed if Absalom, Absalom was this sloppy, but the alternative history WWII sci-fi I read? Not so much.

[TheWombat]

I’m finding a lot of cool stuff in the wastelands, and I still haven’t made it to Diamond City. The way mobs pop up and are often pretty damn tough–even molerats–is nice, as it makes exploring a bit more interesting. In New Vegas, as long as you avoided the cazadors and deathclaws, you were pretty ok. Here, the damn molerats will burrow up from the ground and gnaw on your nads.

[Timex]

Oh, sure, that’s very true. But the difference is, I’m not expecting Faulkner (or Joyce, or Melville, or Proust) here; I’m expecting a cheesy sci-fi adventure, and that’s what I get. I’d be pissed if Absalom, Absalom was this sloppy, but the alternative history WWII sci-fi I read? Not so much.

Yeah, this is where I’m coming at the game from as well, and I’m enjoying it… although on some level, I think maybe I’m easy. I think I tend to focus on what most games do well, as long as there’s something to enjoy.

In terms of controls, I strongly suspect that the game is just focused more on being played with a gamepad, because on my PS4 I’m not really having any significant issues doing anything.

I’m finding a lot of cool stuff in the wastelands, and I still haven’t made it to Diamond City. The way mobs pop up and are often pretty damn tough–even molerats–is nice, as it makes exploring a bit more interesting. In New Vegas, as long as you avoided the cazadors and deathclaws, you were pretty ok. Here, the damn molerats will burrow up from the ground and gnaw on your nads.

Of all the monsters in this game, you know what I hate most? FREAKING BLOATFLIES. They are infinitely annoying.

[Shellfishguy]

I’m finding a lot of cool stuff in the wastelands, and I still haven’t made it to Diamond City. The way mobs pop up and are often pretty damn tough–even molerats–is nice, as it makes exploring a bit more interesting. In New Vegas, as long as you avoided the cazadors and deathclaws, you were pretty ok. Here, the damn molerats will burrow up from the ground and gnaw on your nads.

Yeah I love the way the molerats will burrow around and pop out to take a bite at you. Fought a legendary molerat yesterday and it was a pretty epic battle on what looked like a grain elevator, it ended when I hit him with a molotov and he flung his flaming body at me, missed and fell about 50’ to the ground, dying on impact. Watching him hit the ground, followed by the Ching! of xp earned was glorious.

[stusser]

I’m enjoying the hell out of Fallout 4, but I didn’t come into it expecting a revelation-- it is a direct sequel to Fallout 3, which I also enjoyed. That’s what I expected.

I hoped the story and RPG choices/consequence would match up to New Vegas, but sadly they do not.

I guess the moral to the story is I really need to play The Witchers 2 and 3-- I haven’t even played 2 yet. Got both of them in my Steam backlog. Will do, post-fallout.

[Scrax]

I’m enjoying these nice little moments too!

Has anyone found the molerat with the beeping sound? Beep Beep Beep beepbeepbeepbeep! BOOM!!! Took me three tries to figure out what the heck was going on.

Also took my first Fatman to the face. It was epic.
Some people care

I got an achievement for it.

My first Radscorpian surprise encounter scared me so bad that I yelled and spooked the dog.

[Shellfishguy]

LoL yeah Scrax, I found that little molerat too.

RPS has a nice little guide of good things to know. Really glad to find out about the sorting options.

[Oghier]

I also have one question when it comes to difficulty. I bumped it to Hard and I generally like how damage comes in (except when I got to Corvega and they started tossing endless streams of one-shotting molotovs and grenades), but everything feels like a ridiculous bullet sponge. Is this because my weapons suck and/or I’m under-leveled for an area (is there a way to tell?), or is Hard just very bullet-spongey?

I find Hard to be just right, and I don’t experience the “bullet sponge” issue. One headshot from stealth kills everything without a skull or a star by its name (bosses and legendaries). Outside stealth, a short-range shotgun blast in VATS has the same effect.

Right now, I’m tooling about at level 14, with a nicely modded hunting rifle, shotgun and suppressed 10mm pistol. Sneaky sniper gameplay is very effective.

[TurinTur]

Can you sell the magazines that gives you a bonus after reading them?

[Bateau]

LoL yeah Scrax, I found that little molerat too.

RPS has a nice little guide of good things to know. Really glad to find out about the sorting options.

I guess we solved the mystery behind Razgon’s stormtrooopers.