Fallout 4

[EgonSpengler]

I was thinking about starting a new game of Fallout 3, but I'm reading that it's incompatible with Windows 10.

 

[Disgustipated]

Speaking about playing as evil characters, a new RPG is coming out called Tyranny. I'm going to make a separate thread on it. It looks kind of interesting, although I'm not real big on high fantasy games. And I was a little disappointed in Pillars of Eternity. I just couldn't get into the game setting as much as I would have liked. But I did finish the game. I like to support Obsidian, but too bad Chris Avellone left. I'm just not sure they are as good as they were back in the New Vegas days. Avellone was a big part of some of my favorite games such as Fallout 2, New Vegas, and Planescape: Torment.

Anyways, the game does look interesting in choosing the evil/good route. I'm so much into Civ6 right now I may not get a chance to check it out until later.

 

[EgonSpengler]

After adjusting to the gameplay of Frost, I recommend it. It's a total conversion of Fallout 4, setting the player loose in Boston not long after the war. It's pretty brutal, using "survival mode" as the foundation for its gameplay and then making things worse for the player.

- You're no hero in this game. You begin with no additional points for your SPECIAL attributes (you start with 4 in each and can move them around) and almost everyone with any kind of weapon will kill you in 1-2 hits.
- Outdoor areas are irradiated beyond belief. Venturing above ground without a gas mask is not recommended, and a radiation storm will kill you in 2-3 minutes regardless.
- Weapons are much more damaging. A head-shot will instantly kill almost anything.

More tips for starting out:
- Use the start saves you can download with the mod. Regular starts aren't working properly yet.
- You don't really need Charisma, but the "Lone Wanderer" perk requires CHA 3, so don't drop it lower than that.
- After you arrange your SPECIAL stats on the computer, there are 3 doors. The middle door takes you into the subterranean world, which is hard but it's what the mod was best intended for. Go through the middle door.
- Ammo is very scarce and you'll have to win a few fights before you even find your first gun. Competent use of a melee weapon is mandatory.
- People occasionally have guns, which are deadly, but they actually have limited ammo in this mod. If you're pinned down by someone with a gun, you can sometimes get them to waste all their ammo. Of course, then they'll have no ammo to scavenge after you do kill them.
- After you're through the middle door, there's a pipe on a shelf under the radio. That's your weapon, at least for a little bit.
- Ghouls are essentially immune to damage, except for their heads, which are mostly 1-shot kills.
- Sneak around all the time, and use slow movement to cut down noise.
- Ghouls are blind, but have good hearing.
- One important, unwritten attribute of melee weapons is their reach. Longer weapons tend to be slower, but keeping a few extra inches of distance can be crucial in a fight. I've become best friends with a baseball bat, but ymmv.
- Scollay Square Station on the Green Line can be a really tough fight, but if you can get through it, there's some great loot and the subsequent couple of stations are actually a little easier.

 

[Disgustipated]

Sounds kind of interesting, but does it change the story?

 

[EgonSpengler]

Sounds kind of interesting, but does it change the story?

It utterly obliterates it. The stories, such as they are, are woven into the environment, to be found by the player at her leisure. In that sense, I'm reminded a bit of BioShock, where the player learns the story by finding those voice recordings scattered around the ruined city. In this mod, you play a random survivor of the apocalypse just trying to live another day.

The mod's setting is still greater Boston, but it's shortly after the war instead of generations later. Most of the humans you encounter are simply called Survivors, and can be or do almost anything. Some will attack you on sight; some run away from you; some just sit around their campfire and watch you, but will attack if you get too close. Some wander; some have tried to make camps. I have yet to find any friendly Survivors. There are no Super-Mutants, and lots of feral ghouls. I've learned of two factions, neither of which exist in the base game:

Spoiler :

"The Federation" in the subway tunnels and the U.S. Army above ground.

There are also Cannibals - I don't know yet whether they're some kind of organized faction, but they're not merely Survivors who attack you. They were heavily armed and armored, so I ran away as fast as I could and didn't learn much about them. I suspect they may be proto-Super Mutants. I've also seen Mutcrabs (proto-Mirelurks, I assume) and a radioactive bear (a proto-Yao Guai?).

The game is in a "playable alpha" stage. I've encountered a couple of graphics glitches (one Survivor was wearing a helmet from one of the DLCs that the mod couldn't render properly), one or two remnants of the base game that haven't been cleaned up yet (on the way to Vault 111, I ran across a Mr. Handy who greeted me as Codsworth greets the main character in the base game); but only 1 game-breaking bug (while sneaking through a subway train, I fell through the floor of the car up to my knees and couldn't move). On the whole, it's ready to play.

The dev just posted a new update late last night that introduces Far Harbor assets and a Sanity system; gun accuracy has been decreased but the effects of the gun Perks have been increased; and explosives have been made more dangerous. I'll be starting a new game tonight.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Frost v0.2: New game. I decided to check out the Red Line this time. Lots of ghouls, but I made it all the way to Harvard Square station and ran into a poisonous ghoul that I killed, but not before it poisoned me. Dammit.

 

[Lohrenswald]

So like what's the deal with the raider gang thing I've vaguely heard about nuka-world?

Is there like an alternate good-guy route?

 

[EgonSpengler]

So like what's the deal with the raider gang thing I've vaguely heard about nuka-world?

Is there like an alternate good-guy route?

There is. But know that this expansion is really more of the same. Some nice level design, a large area with lots of little nooks and crannies to explore. Poor storytelling, poor base-building. It sets up a pretty cool environment that the player cannot really do anything with.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Really my main issue with Fallout 4 is that there are 10 million feral ghouls everywhere

It sets up a pretty cool environment that the player cannot really do anything with.

I mean I know fallout 4 isn't fantastic and I'm not trying to be apologetic but is there any game where the player can really do anything with the environment?

 

[EgonSpengler]

I mean I know fallout 4 isn't fantastic and I'm not trying to be apologetic but is there any game where the player can really do anything with the environment?

Well, pretty much every strategy and building game. This is the Civ forum, after all. Fallout 4 sets up the expectation that the player can really have an impact on the Commonwealth.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Well, pretty much every strategy and building game.

lol, you got me
dunno why I didn't think of that

 

[cardgame]

My worst bigger picture criticism, since we seem to be on the topic, is that this game, like seemingly every other game, doesn't have a viable pathway to being a bad guy. Sure, you can kill innocents and whatever, but you can't join a raider gang, and have a secret pirate hideout, or anything of the sort. There's no content down that path.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Well you have the institute and the followers of atom, and maybe even the brotherhood of steel I'd call bad guys, and you can join them

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah I nearly completed the game as a BoS dude and I did finish it with the Institute and there were big differences and lots of content. They also both had awesome bases that you eventually own though I don't think you change anything in them or give orders.

 

[EgonSpengler]

lol, you got me
dunno why I didn't think of that

I'd have liked to have seen a strategic layer to the Settlements game. They make you a General of the Minutemen, but you can't have them patrol roads or dispatch them to defend settlements or clear raider camps. You can become an officer in the Brotherhood of Steel and assume leadership of the Institute, but you can't do anything with either. There could be a Super-Mutant like Dr. Virgil who retains some of his intellect and gathers a horde of greenskins, or someone like The Humongous or Thulsa Doom who assembles a particularly large group of Raiders or religious fanatics. You could negotiate with, defend, or conquer, independent towns like Diamond City and Goodneighbor. You could even have a power-struggle among factions of the Brotherhood or the Institute.

They've built this incredibly promising stage upon which nothing much happens.

 

[Arakhor]

That's because it's a Bethesda game. Thinking back on my time with Skyrim, I'm much more nostalgic for the simple wandering and exploring (albeit with Frostfall and so on enabled), then I am for pretty much any of the quest lines.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Yes, they're very good at making enormous settings with lots of little things to see and explore. I can't remember how many hours I put into Fallout 4, but it was a lot, and I still haven't seen everything. If they could team up with a company that can write really good, interactive stories, or create a strategic layer, they'd be an unstoppable force for freedom and justice. Or oppression and violence. Whichever.

 

[Lohrenswald]

That's because it's a Bethesda game. Thinking back on my time with Skyrim, I'm much more nostalgic for the simple wandering and exploring (albeit with Frostfall and so on enabled), then I am for pretty much any of the quest lines.

Yea but I really like the lore in the elder scrolls, not as much in fallout but it's still kinda cool
So like the quest lines aren't often that involved, but the things the characters say in them can be pretty interesting for example

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I like Fallout's lore quite a bit. I can't get into fantasy lore. :-(

 

[Arakhor]

Fallout absolutely is fantasy, unless you'd rather use the term "sci-fi softer than gypsum".