Fallout 4

[EgonSpengler]

I'm kinda shocked how Skyrim seems so much more interesting of a game when I'm for once not min maxing and just play.

Maybe it's my childhood spent playing tabletop RPGs, but I've never been interested in min-maxing. Even in single-player games like this one, I tend to sort of roleplay.

I'm several hours into Fallout 4 now (60? 70?), and I've no idea where I am in the storyline. I think I'm supposed to be building something that will help me find The Institute. I've spent a lot of time just exploring and doing side missions. I walked across the bottom of Lake Cochichuate last night, but couldn't see very much. I'm going to try fitting the bright headlamp to my armor and see if that helps.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Someone recently told me about "level 4" settlement vendors. Does anyone know if they're worth recruiting?

Also, I've found my new favorite weapon: "Spray n' Pray", a .45 Tommy gun that fires explosive rounds.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I swapped Dogmeat for Piper and cleared out Copley Square last night. It's funny seeing a location I know so well recreated in miniature. Everything in this game has been scaled down from its real-life counterpart (I assume the same is true for Washington DC in Fallout 3, but I noticed it less). Anyway, lots of dead Supermutants, mostly by way of "Righteous Authority" with a side-dish of hand grenades. I was unable to save the Library staff. Does anyone know if it's possible? I heard the fighting but I didn't blaze through the Supermutants to reach the people, so by the time I got there, it was all bodies everywhere and I just had to finish off the leader.

I am fairly confident that you cannot save the library staff. The battle you hear when you first enter is not the supermutants killing the staff, it is the supermutants fighting with the protectrons that are wondering the halls. I believe the library staff is already dead, no matter what you do.

 

[EgonSpengler]

That's a bummer. Seems like the library would be a natural thing for either the Minutemen or the Brotherhood to want to preserve.

I also couldn't save the guy from the Memory Den when he gets kidnapped by the gangster. There were two red-colored Charisma checks in the dialogue that I failed, so maybe that was the only chance. I tried twice, and then moved on to other things.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

That's a bummer. Seems like the library would be a natural thing for either the Minutemen or the Brotherhood to want to preserve.

I also couldn't save the guy from the Memory Den when he gets kidnapped by the gangster. There were two red-colored Charisma checks in the dialogue that I failed, so maybe that was the only chance. I tried twice, and then moved on to other things.

My first play through, I couldn't save him even though I passed the charisma checks.

My second one, I did manage to save him.

I am not sure if I picked different dialogue options that allowed me to save him or if it was just because I instantly went into VATS and performed one-shot kills using McCready's bonus so the fight ended before it started.


Side note:

I still haven't finished my first play through. I stopped playing it only because I got the permanent blurry-vision bug that is basically game-breaking on consoles. The bug has been known since November and is fairly common but they don't seem in any rush to patch it. It wasn't even mentioned in the patch notes for the latest patch, which is really disappointing.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Someone recently told me about "level 4" settlement vendors. Does anyone know if they're worth recruiting?

Well I got two of them, the Vault Tec Salesman and the woman at the radio station. I also invested a Perk and 3000 caps in my vendors. I think it's been 3 or 4 in-game days and so far, I haven't really seen any advantage. Maybe it's supposed to be a long-term thing. Maybe I'll go to Diamond City for a week, sleeping and gettin' busy with Piper, just to see if anything changes.

I still haven't finished my first play through. I stopped playing it only because I got the permanent blurry-vision bug that is basically game-breaking on consoles. The bug has been known since November and is fairly common but they don't seem in any rush to patch it. It wasn't even mentioned in the patch notes for the latest patch, which is really disappointing.

I've found a couple of mission-breaking but not game-breaking bugs. So far nothing like that blurry-vision thing.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Well I got two of them, the Vault Tec Salesman and the woman at the radio station. I also invested a Perk and 3000 caps in my vendors. I think it's been 3 or 4 in-game days and so far, I haven't really seen any advantage. Maybe it's supposed to be a long-term thing. Maybe I'll go to Diamond City for a week, sleeping and gettin' busy with Piper, just to see if anything changes.

Ah, thanks for this info! I've had the Vault Tec salesmen forever but didn't realize he was meant to be a vendor. Right now he just mopes around my settlement and complains. lol I'll have to assign him to a stand.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Ah, thanks for this info! I've had the Vault Tec salesmen forever but didn't realize he was meant to be a vendor. Right now he just mopes around my settlement and complains. lol I'll have to assign him to a stand.

Yes, his mood improves dramatically if you give him a job. I think he has to be working a level-3 Trading Emporium to provide special value (although, like I say, I haven't seen it so far, so what do I know?).

 

[BirraImperial]

Anyone knows any good, essential mods by now? I know about the dialog one, but would like to know if you guys have experienced others...

 

[Wolfbeckett]

The proper mod tools haven't been released yet, so the good stuff is still in the wings for when the GECK happens.

 

[EgonSpengler]

There are some mods I'd like to try, but I haven't gotten around to it. Frankly, if installing a mod is more work than clicking a button, I don't bother with it and just start playing. The Civ V screen where I have to remind the game which mods I'm using every time I start up a saved game (yes, ffs, I want to use the same mods) is almost too much aggravation.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

There are some mods I'd like to try, but I haven't gotten around to it. Frankly, if installing a mod is more work than clicking a button, I don't bother with it and just start playing. The Civ V screen where I have to remind the game which mods I'm using every time I start up a saved game (yes, ffs, I want to use the same mods) is almost too much aggravation.

I'm right there with you.

Plus, it's going to be even longer for mods to come to PS4 (which I play it on) than either PC or XBone per the developer's statements on the matter.

 

[EgonSpengler]

A bug warning: When approaching Virgil's Cave to give him the serum, being dressed in power armor causes Virgil and his robots to suddenly become hostile and start shooting at you for no reason. You just have to come in wearing regular armor and run for the cave so you don't take too many rads. During other visits, the bug doesn't trigger and you can wear your full Iron Man suit.

Some other tidbits I've discovered. Not plot or location spoilers, but gameplay tips that one can figure out or stumble upon for oneself, if you prefer to be surprised.

Spoiler :

• Last night I went for a little walkabout from Virgil's Cave. It turns out there's a lot of stuff outside the square border drawn on the Pip-Boy's map.
  
• I installed sensors in my power armor helmet. The jury is still out on how much they help spot things from further away. I haven't noticed a big difference.
  
• I put targeting scanners in Piper's helmet and that definitely helps. If your companion has targeting scanners, you get the benefit of it on your display. You can shut them off by having your companion remove the helmet. I dunno about other modifications - most seem like they'd only effect the wearer.
  
• You can't shut off your power armor's power-slam. Any leap from a sufficient height will trigger a BOOM, and anyone nearby will take damage and react accordingly. I jumped off a balcony while visiting some folks, just as a shortcut instead of taking the stairs, and ended up in a gunfight with the whole village by mistake.

 

[Zack]

Wear a hazmat suit instead of power armor.

 

[EgonSpengler]

So I tried a new game using Survival Mode, and found that it didn't add a lot that was fun or interesting.

Pros: Everything is more dangerous, and doesn't just have more Hit Points. Stimpacks don't heal you right away. Combat is dangerous and I couldn't just wade through a pack of Raiders the way I routinely do in the regular game.

Cons: Managing food and water is just tedious; so far, no survival game I've played has figured out how to do this in a way that isn't a drag. Not being able to save your game whenever you want is aggravating and caused me to quit playing for the night more than once (I suppose some might say this is a good thing ). Not being able to use fast travel enables some features that were kind of pointless before, but those features aren't actually fun, so I didn't care.

After dropping that game, I went back to my original savegame and did the Automatron DLC. There's a new storyline that took 5 or 6 hours, and you can build robots for your settlements, which was more fun than Survival Mode.

"Far Harbor" is due pretty soon, and is supposed to be a sizeable expansion.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

I actually like Survival Mode, but I have two problems with it:

1.) It should also make ammo/stims more scarce. Before I even left Sanctuary for the first time I already had a pile of ammo and medicine that has only grown since then.

2.) Not being able to save anywhere is basically unacceptable in a game with as many bugs/crashes as this one, I have had the game just randomly CTD more than once taking an hour+ of my life with it.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I actually like Survival Mode, but I have two problems with it:

1.) It should also make ammo/stims more scarce. Before I even left Sanctuary for the first time I already had a pile of ammo and medicine that has only grown since then.

2.) Not being able to save anywhere is basically unacceptable in a game with as many bugs/crashes as this one, I have had the game just randomly CTD more than once taking an hour+ of my life with it.

I saw a mod that slashed the number of Stimpaks and Bobby Pins. It didn't mention ammo, but I agree with you. When I started playing the first time, I kept that security baton for a while, thinking it would be handy to have a melee weapon. It wasn't. I'm practically drowning in ammo, and routinely use full auto weapons.

I haven't had too many stability issues with FO4, although when I reopened my original, non-Survival game and played the Mechanist storyline, it did crash once. I certainly would have been p'd if I hadn't saved it shortly before.

 

[cardgame]

I think I had ~80 stimpaks before I uninstalled.

 

[Zack]

you quit playing because there's lots of stimpaks?

that's not a new thing for fallout anyways

 

[cardgame]

nah, just general feeling of the game wasn't satisfying to me.

Which is also not a new thing for Bethesda anyways.