Fallout 4: a rant and a review

Well I ordered the disk version of FO4 because my internet speed isn't exactly super fast, but I just found out that the disk only contains 5GB out of 25GB so now I have to wait for the other 20GB to download. While I wait several hours for that to finish I decided to write this thread giving my general thoughts on FO4. How could I give my thoughts when I haven't even downloaded FO4 yet? Well the truth is I have already downloaded it. I got sick of waiting for FO4 to arrive in the mail and decided to download a "test copy". Hey don't judge me, I already paid for the game.

According to Bethesda, the reason for not including the whole game on disk is due to piracy concerns. But what exactly did not including the whole game on disk achieve when people have been downloading the full game illegally since day one? Anyone who wants to get the game for free can easily do it. The people buying FO4 will be people who respect Bethesda for the great games they make and want to give them money so they can make more great games. That is why Bethesda games are some of the only games I actually pay good money for. So I feel like it's a pretty big slap in the face to gamers who bought the disk version expecting to get most of the game.

It wouldn't have been so bad if they at least warned people and made it very clear how much of the game would be on the disk, but they were extremely vague about it and didn't give exact details because they knew people would just buy the Steam key if they had to download most of the game either way. I mean what is the purpose of having a disk at that point? Why not just send the booklet and poster, the disk is completely redundant when it contains such a small fraction of the game. If they were worried about people not having blu-ray drives why not just include multiple DVD disks?

Anyway, that's the end of my rant, now onto what I think about FO4. I'll start with the good stuff because it definitely outweighs the bad stuff. Fallout 4 is no doubt an amazing game and I don't have as many complaints as I was expecting to have. Bethesda has really listened to their fans and learned from the modding community. They try to underplay how much the modding community has influenced the features in FO4 but it's clear many new features were inspired by mods. For example building your own settlements, layered armor and clothing, sprinting ability, destructible environments, etc.

All of those things and much more have been possible in FO3 and/or New Vegas for a long time thanks to mods. The thing which I think Bethesda really did well was to incorporate the best ideas from the modding community, the types of things that feel like they should have been in the game all along. Bethesda has taken those types of ideas and then improved on them and put their own spin on them in some cases. For example I think the settlement building functionality in FO4 is much more advanced than what you can do with mods in FO3 but at the same time it's more elegant and easier to use because it's well integrated into FO4.

The end result is that now modders don't need to create mods for any of those things because it's already been done for them. And it's not just the large things like settlement building, the small things are also just as important. For example the weapon recoil and weapon overheating make a huge difference to the gun combat and make it much more immersive. It's the type of thing you don't really notice when it's there but when you take it away you suddenly notice there is something lacking. However, I think the minigun might be the only weapon in FO4 which actually heats up when fired so we may need a mod for the rest.

The other main aspect of FO4 which I find very impressive is the sheer scale of the world, and also the huge range of items which can be found throughout the world. More importantly, the items are actually useful because FO4 has an advanced crafting system which allows you to utilize the material and components found in those items. The weapon modding system is also very advanced and adds a lot of variation to the weapons you can create. The weapon modding idea was probably carried over from New Vegas but Bethesda definitely improved on it quite a bit and put their own twist on it (they didn't make New Vegas).

I was initially worried about things such as the new speech system and the new perk system but I have actually found myself liking them. The voiced player character actually helps add to the effectiveness of the story and the short dialog options aren't too hard to predict. It's also pretty amazing how much of an important role your companions can play in shaping the way the story is told. As for the new perk system, I think it does actually help to make a more specialized character who is good at certain things but bad at others, the wide range of perks seems to make it work without skills.

Another nice feature is the ability for characters to have different body shapes, and again it's one of those features you expect to be there because it's realistic and adds to the immersion factor. Open world games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are much more influenced by an evolutionary drive than any other type of game because at a very basic level they are a simulation engine trying to create an entire living and breathing world. Adding features which make the game world behave more like the real world is usually a good thing for games like that, so they head in that direction.

By now I've probably made it pretty clear I'm big on realism and immersion, which brings me to the things I don't like about FO4, or rather the things I think are lacking from FO4. First, and most importantly, is that they didn't include the famed hardcore mode introduced in New Vegas. In hardcore mode one must eat, drink, and sleep to maintain their health. This is a very simple yet powerful feature which is perfectly suited for Fallout games because there are many different food items to be found around the world. More importantly, it's realistic and immersive.

It makes the game more challenging and it exemplifies the fact that the wasteland is a harsh place to live, it's a game of survival and staying alive should require eating and drinking. The only thing food does as far as I can tell is heal you, so it's basically just an alternative to stimpacks. Which brings me to the very basic damage and medical system. Crippled limbs is about as complicated as it gets, but just use a stimpack and you'll be good as new. You don't need a brace to heal a broken bone, you don't need a bandage to stop blood loss, you don't need sleep to heal crippled limbs.

On that note, the weapon and armor damage system is very simple, in fact it seems to be totally non-existent, even though it was in FO3. There's no repairing damaged weapons with other similar weapons because the weapons and armor just don't seem to get damaged. Again this is just another basic feature which is expected to be there because it's realistic and it adds a new level of depth to the game. It's not clear why Bethesda made some immersion features so advanced but simplified or ignored other important immersion features. I feel like maybe they invested too much time in some things and didn't have time for other things.

Those are the major issues in my mind, luckily my remaining criticisms are mostly minor things I can look past. One of those minor things includes the new user interface (UI). It looks pretty good and has some cool new features like exploring containers just by looking at them but on the other hand it seems to be optimized mostly for consoles and can be quite annoying to use on PC. Like, where is the scroll bar man? And why make several keys do different things at different times, that is totally confusing. It probably works on a controller but not on a keyboard.

I think FO4 would have benefited by incorporating the karma and faction status system that was in New Vegas. It doesn't look like you can be liked or disliked by different groups in FO4 the same way you could in New Vegas, which is ashame, because that was one of the most praised features in New Vegas. Overall, it seems like karma plays little to no role in FO4 because you are basically forced to role-play a father searching for his son, so it's hard to be evil when the story is pushing you to be a good guy, which makes it harder to play as the character you want.

Lastly, it seems like the game is too fast paced near the beginning. Your thrown right into the action, you get a power armor and minigun almost instantly, unlike FO3 where you had to complete a bunch of quests and get power armor training before you could even wear power armor. I know they had their reasons for giving you the power armor so early but I still would have liked to earn it. Now I could complain about the graphics but they aren't that bad, the new volumetric lighting does look awesome, and there will be texture patches anyway.

All those negative points are definitely outweighed by the positive points in my mind. The game just offers so many places to explore and so many different things to do, that it makes the things we cannot do seem small in comparison. Nevertheless, there are things I would like to do which I can't do, but I'm sure modders will fill my needs. That is the true beauty of Bethesda games, they are made to be modded and they provide us with the tools for modding them, instead of trying to prevent modding like many other games do. Now my download is almost finished so I'll see you in a few years.

It took an hour to finish downloading updates and the disk seemed like it stayed at 99% for 20 min. Great game though.

Even though I have played this "series" since FO1 , I do not think I will like FO4 . The way my son talks about it , Bethesda tried to turn it into Fallout Sim City...

Ahh so its this way?

I wont be buying it. I dont have free quota to give away to game I buy. They can seek losses elsewhere.

sad, because Im an ethical torrenter...

a reply to: Gothmog

The base building stuff is optional , personally I'd rather explore than build bases but it's there should I choose to use it.
If you enjoyed Fallout 3 then you'll probably enjoy 4 , it's much the same in that the wasteland is filled with stuff to find and do but with better graphics and shooting model.

I'm at over 20 hours put in now and still havin a blast , not built a base yet.

You can choose how much you sim city. You by no means even have to do it. I am pretty sure you can complete the primary quest and not build one thing.


I however built a kickass garage(on top the red rocket) and filled it with my BOOTY,Loot and swag. Plus all my suits of power armor look badass all lined up. Your seattlments get raided from time to time by raiders,mutants and synths.

My power armor breaks all the time and needs repair.


The game reminds me lots of fallout 3 my personal favorite of the series. I didn't care much for the wacky style of New Vegas.(the hardcore mode was cool and Sad it's not on 4 I looked for it stright away)

Sorry to hear that about your PC master race machine. Popped it in my ps4 was playing in 15minutes.


a reply to: Gothmog

a reply to: Gothmog

It's amazing.
The settlement building is wonderful.
Oh and the nexus is full of mods already...some I have already used .

My son has been playing since the day 1 release at midnight. Before that fateful night that he sent his wife to pick it up at gamestop, and made sure she was there early () , he was doing a second by second countdown . For a month.I keep telling him , people need this thing called SLEEP. But he did the same with Witcher 3. So , I guess he will make it....

You know, that power armor in the start sucks compared to the power armor you can have.

There were things that turned me off at first but I grown to love the game.

Do you really want them to remake the exact same system every time?

Might as well play Call of Duty 53.

ps: I do miss the faction, I guess if its been removed that sucks, cuz I'm not helping BOS, NO MORE!
FREEEEEDOM!

originally posted by: boymonkey74
a reply to: Gothmog

It's amazing.
The settlement building is wonderful.
Oh and the nexus is full of mods already...some I have already used

.

Ah , nexus. My one weakness. One of the first members. 255 mods installed in Skyrim.....

I think there is no full game on disc because they have to ship those discs days or weeks before release date and they fear the full game would be available on torrent sites days or weeks before release date.

a reply to: gosseyn

Or just get with the times and bow before Lord Gaben and use steam as your main platform

The only complaint I have with FO4 (on the xbox1)
is that the faces in the game are not even as good as skyrims.

Seems they didn't use all of the graphic capabilities of the new console systems when they made it because DA inquisition's characters faces look very real when talking, but FO4's do not.

Other than that....I love the game so far. I only have maybe 15 hours into it,
and because I never played any of the other fallout games although I do own FO3
(never played it for more than an hour or two and the graphics were buggin me)
it has a high learning curve, but I like that. It is a challenge.

If I were to rate this game so far I'd be giving it an 8/10.
They could/should of ampped the graphics up a little.

Perhaps they will when more patches come out.
That is what they did with Skyrim.

I went to the store.

I walked to the electronics section.

I pointed at the display case and said, "I want one of those Fallout 4 games for PS4"

I went home, put it in my console.

I was told it required a 500-ish update. I have a 5 gig connection (slow).

I went to make food, and 40 minutes later I was ready to play.



This is why I have a console for games, and use my computer for things like recording audio and video/photo editing.

I dont get the bitchin' about the download I bought it on steam, 25 gb took me what?


Maybe an hour.

Now I don't have to worry about ever loosing or scratching a disc.

The coming mods are going to be sick. 2016 going to be good

originally posted by: Gothmog
Even though I have played this "series" since FO1 , I do not think I will like FO4 . The way my son talks about it , Bethesda tried to turn it into Fallout Sim City...

That's my reason for not buying so far.... everyone saying how clunky, cumbersome and stupid the settlement building is.
I hear that you can essentially skip it and it's not integral but others saying it is very important and you'll need later in the game

a reply to: Lysergic

I dont get the bitchin' about the download I bought it on steam, 25 gb took me what?

I think the problem is for people with download caps , 25 gig may be most or all of their monthly usage allowance so in effect they're having to pay more for the game.
I think it's wrong , if you buy a physical copy it should contain the full game not part of it.

originally posted by: gosseyn
I think there is no full game on disc because they have to ship those discs days or weeks before release date and they fear the full game would be available on torrent sites days or weeks before release date.

Even if that's the case they could have included 3/4 of the game on disks and hen require the last part to be downloaded from Steam. That's basically what I was expecting so I was pretty annoyed to discover I still had to download most of the game.

How do i turn this person in for openly admitting to stealing software, does anyone know?

Oh, and who would i turn them in to?