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Fallout 4 - A Nuclear Disappointment

RedAssedApe

Banned
I've heard a lot of people on gaming forums say new vegas but it's always because the story.

ah...story factors a lot into how much i enjoy these games...bummer i never played it. hard for me to go back and play old games when i barely have time for the new ones
 
was new vegas > fo3 the concensus at the time? for whatever reason i thought people were saying fo3 > new vegas or just more of the same so i never bothered with that game

People who called New Vegas just an add-on or whatever for 3 are kidding themselves especially considering a lot of the improvements Obsidian made to the series didn't make their way to 4, highlighting that they did stuff Bethesda is incapable of doing.

Off the top of my head...

-world building is vastly improved
-main story isn't fucking awful
- a faction system that actually makes sense complete with disguises and 4 main branching paths for the main story let alone all of the minor factions you can influence along the way
-skills come up in dialog
-SPECIAL levels come up in dialog
-companions are better and actually fleshed out with 1 or 2 unique questlines for each
-iron sights added in
-going low intelligence affects what the Courier can say
-sped up opening means its easier to role play since you aren't locked in to a set backstory AND it drops you in to the actual game faster
-ammo crafting and recycling
-special types of ammo (armor-piercing, hollow point, dragon's breath, slugs etc.)
-no essential NPCs outside of 2
-weapon modding
-speech check system is better implemented as it isn't a percentage chance anymore
-skills are refined, no silly "big guns" category anymore
-hardcore mode added actual value to water/food and made stimpaks heal over time


I get that people prefer DC as a setting but when the world Bethesda created was as poorly thought out as it was and the capital wasteland wasn't even fun to explore thanks to the metro tunnels New Vegas beats it in pretty much every category for me.
 

RPGam3r

Member
In which ways exactly? The dialogue system? Perhaps, but there wasn't a whole lot of options or choice in the dialogue in fallout 3 either. The leveling system and perks? I talked about that in my post. Fallout 3 also had perks, fallout 4 just changed the entire system into a perks system rather than basing skills on usage. It's different, but I don't see that as being a regression. It's a bit simpler, but it also allows you to change your character and pick up new skills rather easily, instead of having to train up skills you'd been neglecting or start an entirely new character. Doesn't really seem like a regression to me.

Skills based on usage? I don't think Fallout 3 worked that way. Pretty sure you're allocated skill points with a bit of math based in Intelligence.
 
Most character models/animations are simply embarrassing in 2015/16.
Definitely.

What a steaming pile of shit the settlement system is. How about explain how some of it works via in-game tutorials Bethesda? Why do I have to google half of the functionality to use it properly? Why do I need a fucking perk to distribute my resources across settlements? Why do I need to wait for a settler to randomly come back to my settlement to cancel a trade route? The answer: the settlement system is a half-baked tacked-on turd to try and sell more copies of the game. I honestly said fuck it after battling with the system and having my crops glitch out for the 5th time and not be able to loot them. I'd rather go play Viva Pinata if I wanted to grow a settlement.
Honestly, I didn't have much of a hard time to figure out the Settlement stuff required for quests, but it's true that it's not really explained well ingame (and they could have included a manual or link to it anyway). I had to read up on the electricity stuff (conductors etc.). The whole system could be much better (in particular I want more things to build) but I still appreciate being able to customize my base of operations.

Why are there no percentages in the tooltips in most of the perks? "Has a good chance to occur!" is not a very fucking useful perk description Bethesda! People shouldn't have to conduct experiments on Reddit to figure this shit out!
That's very much a design choice? There are tons of games that don't reveal the actual numbers to the players. You are not supposed to know / what difference does it make if it's 3% or 7%?

The companions are just a nuisance and get in your way constantly, which is sad because I love dogs.
Good that you don't have to play with them then? I hated companions in F3 but use Dogmeat all the time in F4 (if only as a backpack and pinning down enemies), plus some of the others because their quests are neat.

Half the time I didn't know what my dialog choice wheel will actually say, so I stuck with the safe default answer.
Dialog options are: be a dick, be a sarcastic prick, be a decent person. And half the time they don't change the outcome of the conversation at all.
I anyway reload a save if I'm not happy with the outcome but it's true that the dialog system is a big step down from F3.

Characters are forgettable, except
Valentin, Piper and Dogmeat
.
You mean regarding companions? Would you say the ones in F3 are more memorable?

Random chance on conversation options is just fucking annoying.
That's the same in F3? It's a bit stupid that it now entirely depends on Charisma alone though. Though that also meant I would never fail to convince people in dialogue from very early on in the game (thanks to Charisma gear) which can also be seen as a negative of course.

Most of the perks are simply damage increases or a random chance to do something. Also, my thought when unlocking a perk, should not be: "Oh thank god, that was such a tedious part of the game!". I'm looking at you Local Leader Perk. There are others too.
I feel different about this but in general I like the ability system in F4 a lot. Especially coupled with no level cap.

Combat is not very enjoyable, I went with a melee build with some shooting mixed in. Using V.A.T.S with the Blitz perk caused all sorts of weird shit to happen, including clipping through walls or simply failing to attack properly. Same old press attack many times to win by shooting or beating a health bar to 0.
Obviously you seem to have a very unique and specialized built. Non-VATS gunplay is one of the biggest improvement compared to F3.

Crafting system causes you to horde everything you find. Which may not sound like a bad thing, but when paired with a terrible sorting UI and 500 different items that contain various different materials. Good luck finding a material that breaks down into the raw material you need. If I subtracted the amount of time I spent picking shit up, I'd honestly have about 5 hours less play time.
This complain I don't really get because I was already hording in F3 for caps. F4 gives me now an actual reason to go scavenge which is kinda what I like about post-apocalyptic roleplay - have to gather resources!
It's also a surprisingly pain-free system, just dump all the junk via one button press into the work bench and have it available for everything you want to build in all your settlements. That and you can highlight missing materials so that you instantly see which stuff you should scavenge in the wild.

Armour is limited and very boring looking.
I tend to agree with this. Although their layered armor system is a nice touch. That+mods+legendary item effects. Later on you get ballistic weave upgrades that allow you to mod more clothes.

Gun modifications are decent, but really just limited the variety of overall weapons.
I'm not sure there are much more weapon types in F3 but I love the Gun mod system in F4, especially coupled with the legendary loot as that allows me to use the special weapon I want by just transplanting the high damage mods etc. to it.

Definitely not the glitchiest Bethesda game I've played. I had 1 crash and my fair share of falling through the map or quests failing to progress properly requiring a reload though.
Yeah, I also had more problems with F3. Especially performance-wise on PS3.

Power armour; meh - annoying to babysit.
Nah sorry, the whole power armor system is neat compared to F3. Though I used them very rarely for most of the game as I was saving up on Fusion Cores.


Some of your complains are quite nitpicky considering the thread title. I was also disappointed that the game is not a big improvement over F3 but I came to terms with that after the initial reveal and as it's still a better game (story I haven't finished yet but the main one in F3 sucked a bit anyway).





edit: what's with the ban wave? I felt those short comments were just in reply to the thread title (as in, no, not disappointing to me, I liked it). On the same page we have people saying it's the worst game ever without stating why either...
 
Its my 1st ever Bethesda RPG and as ugly as the game is and I'm shocked at the numerous bugs, I just love exploring and checking shit out.

Witchers quests and NPCs were far superior but poking about in the ruins of Boston, clearing out enemy hqs and making my way across the glowing sea were more enjoyable than riding around on Roach the glitch-horse.
 
I gotta be honest: it's weird to see straight-up "fuck you" posts go by without a problem, but "I liked it" is bannable. I get the context--it's white noise--but I've seen way worse behavior, even downright trolling in other threads. I mean, how many Rise of the Tomb Raider threads have been shut down because people who didn't get it on the platform of their choice have to pile on and ruin things. Are they banned so easily? It feels like the threads get locked instead. "I liked it" is so benign in comparison.

100% agree and the reason I personally don't post on the site much anymore (can see that going by my post history) . There is no set rules, just guidelines and going off the whime of what mod sees your post and what mood they are in. It's scary man.

I loved Fallout 4 and have barely even seen half the content there. I agree that as an RPG it kinda faulters. As a FPS adventure with rpg overtones, it's pretty good.
 

Meowster

Member
I've heard a lot of people on gaming forums say new vegas but it's always because the story.
The story is the main reason but they added more perks, developed companions that gave you perks as well, a customization option for your weapons, hardcore mode, and the factions system. All of those were huge improvements compared to the original Fallout 3 IMHO.
 

Acorn

Member
They really dropped the bomb (pun unintended) with that ending or lack thereof. People say that Fallout 3's was bad but at least it told you the outcome of your actions, the futures that would await based off how you reacted to things, you could see how the Wasteland grew. This? Nothing. I didn't even want to go back but I still enjoy playing it. Hopefully a DLC (lol) will put in a proper ending someday.
I'm hoping they address the totality of your choice in the dlc. It improved Fallout 3 alot. Point lookout, The Pitt and the enclave vs bos dlc were very good and added alot the other two not so much.

Although it shouldn't be like that, reminds me of me3 in the ending.

I feel like them not knowing where they were going with dlc 1 caused they not commit to any definitively explained ending.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I was entertained, but I expected a lot more from it, just just a better looking Fallout 3.

Main disappointment for me was the dumbing down of the RPG elements.
 

tuxfool

Banned
In which ways exactly? The dialogue system? Perhaps, but there wasn't a whole lot of options or choice in the dialogue in fallout 3 either. The leveling system and perks? I talked about that in my post. Fallout 3 also had perks, fallout 4 just changed the entire system into a perks system rather than basing skills on usage. It's different, but I don't see that as being a regression. It's a bit simpler, but it also allows you to change your character and pick up new skills rather easily, instead of having to train up skills you'd been neglecting or start an entirely new character. Doesn't really seem like a regression to me.

Quest structure, Dialogue system, choice.

Writing is almost as bad as previously. Story is nonsensical (yet an improvement).

What they improved was the world design (less themeparking like Rivet City), control scheme and ability to make use of junk (that creates its own set of problems).

I'd recommend this video as it explains everything clearly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnmKlmW7vqY

I'd also recommend the authors other videos.
 

Ric Flair

Banned
In my opinion, it ended up being a rather shallow RPG experience but a fun FPS/exploration experience. It'd make a fun game if advertised as a borderlands type of game, but as it stands it's the least fun I've had expecting a fallout experience. I've never finished the game. The settlement building is really fun, though. When mods come out I'll give it another shot. Really the biggest let down is the conversation system and awful story (lol bethesda).
 
I agree with the OP 110%. This game just didnt do anything for me, and i loved 3 and Skyrim. Theyre formula just doesn't do it for me anymore.

If anything, it might have been interesting to get to explore that pre-nuked world for a bit. Nope, you get 5 minutes.
 

HotHamBoy

Member
was new vegas > fo3 the concensus at the time? for whatever reason i thought people were saying fo3 > new vegas or just more of the same so i never bothered with that game

The mainstream did not appreciate NV as much because it did seem like much more of the same, like a 75 hour stand-alone expansion. But it was absolutely the better game in everyway. The differences weren't huge, but they were for the better. If you liked FO3 you should love NV.

I felt the same about Bioshock 2. It got slept on because it didn't have the story Bioshock 1 did, but in terms of gameplay it was much better and much more fun.
 

QaaQer

Member
After playing Fallout 4, I immediately went back New Vegas and it's sad that Fallout 4 is nowhere near close to being as good as New Vegas.

Apparently that contract and that screwed Obsidian out of the bonus and almost sunk the studio because of an 84 metacritic also had a clause that would have given them a second game if they had hit 85.
 

Maximo

Member
Fallout 4 wasn't bad far from it, its just nothing about it stood out to me.
Characters were forgettable.
Average gameplay.
Dialogue was barely passable.
Average graphics.
Average animations.
Average story.
RPG elements were heavily stripped from previous fallouts.
Only decent part about the game was the sandbox itself but with so many sandbox type games and RPGs like the Witcher 3 coming out the bar has been raised, game would have been better a few years ago but now it just feels like something churned out by Bethesda.
 
Overall? I enjoyed my time with Fallout 4. But, most of that time I also felt let down.

Good
- I though the graphics were fine - and some of the atmospheric effects were fantastic (the first time a radiation storm hit - incredible).
- The combat is significantly improved and feels weighty and enjoyable. In particular, shooting legs off ... everyone ... never got old. Did the other games let me do this? I can't remember.
- Some of the locations were enjoyable to explore (
that hospital with a deathclaw at the bottom, the Glowing Sea was an interesting idea
).

Average
- I don't care much for the dialogue system, but I don't think it's outright bad.
- I wish radiant quests were identified differently, I did like five total across multiple factions and felt like all my time doing them was wasted time.
- Base building holds no interest at all for me, and I felt like that also was wasted time. I'm almost certain it was an internal tool for prototyping/creating content, and they decided to flesh it out (and I reckon modders will have a field day with it).
- Don't encourage me to pick up everything and then enforce encumbrance. Make junk weightless and it'd be a non-issue.
- Exploration felt mostly worthless - there was nothing interesting I ever stumbled upon that wasn't forced on me in the main quest.
- I think I found one game holotape. Way to hype that up, guys.

Bad
- The story. OK, so it's Bethesda, but after seven games do you think they could perhaps give it a real shot next time? I finished three of the four main faction endings (all but Minutemen) and
they're all exactly the fucking same. Kill every other faction. Come ON
.
- Quests in general. Go here, kill something. Go there, kill something else. Why can't I talk my way out of things? There were perhaps a dozen times total over a 95 hour playthrough where I had the option not to murder everyone.
- UI / tutorials were awful. There were numerous times I had to Google something because there was no in-game explanation.

I've played every mainline Bethesda RPG since Arena, and it's great because the core concept is still the same, except they've now tacked on crafting. Also, it's fucking awful because the core concept is exactly the damned same. Comparing it to Witcher 3 (easily my favourite game of 2015) is probably unfair, since they try to do different things, but IMO Bethesda need to have a serious look at what it is they want to deliver. If it's an open world RPG with tons of quests and content ... look at CD Projekt RED. If it's a completely open sandbox game, look elsewhere but don't expect me along for the ride.
 

5taquitos

Member
Apparently that contract and that screwed Obsidian out of the bonus and almost sunk the studio because of an 84 metacritic also had a clause that would have given them a second game if they had hit 85.

Wut

Seriously? That stings even more...
 

Broank

Member
I played the shit out of it and absolutely love it. The building stuff is a brilliant Idea and I hope they continue expanding it. Finally a game that let me build a giant concrete pyramid base and equip all my settlers with synth armor and gas masks! lol

The world is a big step up imo which is great. Lots of graphical density, colorful crazy locations. Goodies and stories to find tucked away in every corner and a ton of interesting buildings and various dungeons. imo the general atmosphere, premise and main story are the most compelling of F3/NV/4. Some great moments along the way.

A lot of companions were surprisingly great too, it's hard for me to decide who to take on missions or who my favorite is.
Maybe Deacon since it was funny seeing him disguised spying on me everywhere my second play through and he has reactions to seemingly everything.

F3 and NV were two of my favorite games of all time and I explored every location and did every quest there was to do in those. F4 will probably be my GOTY like those were.
 

Omadahl

Banned
I will agree with most of what you're saying, especially the plot and the tacked on settlement. I had to watch freaking tutorials just to learn how to do half of the crap and after 40 hours of building I looked back and felt empty. The end game left me completely unsatisfied and I probably won't go back. Bethesda is no longer a day one sale for me.
 

Mensrea

Member
I probably have a different opinion, because it was my first Fallout.

All the fallout lore was unknown to me before 4, and exploring and learning about the Fallout mythos was a really great experience for me. I had a wonderful time. I feel like the quests and story were weak, but exploring the glowing sea when the sky is alighted with a radiation storm was pretty incredible.

Based on the opinions here I should play New Vegas next?
 

Acorn

Member
Overall? I enjoyed my time with Fallout 4. But, most of that time I also felt let down.

Good
- I though the graphics were fine - and some of the atmospheric effects were fantastic (the first time a radiation storm hit - incredible).
- The combat is significantly improved and feels weighty and enjoyable. In particular, shooting legs off ... everyone ... never got old. Did the other games let me do this? I can't remember.
- Some of the locations were enjoyable to explore (
that hospital with a deathclaw at the bottom, the Glowing Sea was an interesting idea
).

Average
- I don't care much for the dialogue system, but I don't think it's outright bad.
- I wish radiant quests were identified differently, I did like five total across multiple factions and felt like all my time doing them was wasted time.
- Base building holds no interest at all for me, and I felt like that also was wasted time. I'm almost certain it was an internal tool for prototyping/creating content, and they decided to flesh it out (and I reckon modders will have a field day with it).
- Don't encourage me to pick up everything and then enforce encumbrance. Make junk weightless and it'd be a non-issue.
- Exploration felt mostly worthless - there was nothing interesting I ever stumbled upon that wasn't forced on me in the main quest.
- I think I found one game holotape. Way to hype that up, guys.

Bad
- The story. OK, so it's Bethesda, but after seven games do you think they could perhaps give it a real shot next time? I finished three of the four main faction endings (all but Minutemen) and
they're all exactly the fucking same. Kill every other faction. Come ON
.
- Quests in general. Go here, kill something. Go there, kill something else. Why can't I talk my way out of things? There were perhaps a dozen times total over a 95 hour playthrough where I had the option not to murder everyone.
- UI / tutorials were awful. There were numerous times I had to Google something because there was no in-game explanation.

I've played every mainline Bethesda RPG since Arena, and it's great because the core concept is still the same, except they've now tacked on crafting. Also, it's fucking awful because the core concept is exactly the damned same. Comparing it to Witcher 3 (easily my favourite game of 2015) is probably unfair, since they try to do different things, but IMO Bethesda need to have a serious look at what it is they want to deliver. If it's an open world RPG with tons of quests and content ... look at CD Projekt RED. If it's a completely open sandbox game, look elsewhere but don't expect me along for the ride.
I felt like crafting caused the unique weapons to be basically nerfed from 3. Where's my terrible shotgun equivalent? Or gob(?) sniper rifle? Too many of the shitty pipe pistols and the drops were just like 10 useless effects cycled.
 

Omadahl

Banned
I probably have a different opinion, because it was my first Fallout.

All the fallout lore was unknown to me before 4, and exploring and learning about the Fallout mythos was a really great experience for me. I had a wonderful time. I feel like the quests were weak, and the story, but exploring the glowing see when the sky is alighted with a radiation storm was pretty incredible.

Based on the opinions here I should play New Vegas next?

New Vegas is considered, at least by quite a bit of Gaf, the best. I would agree. Actual factions and amazing writing.
 

Acerac

Banned
It's a good game, I can get why people like it... but as the op said, it just doesn't work as a Fallout.
 

Spinifex

Member
I probably have a different opinion, because it was my first Fallout.

All the fallout lore was unknown to me before 4, and exploring and learning about the Fallout mythos was a really great experience for me. I had a wonderful time. I feel like the quests and story were weak, but exploring the glowing sea when the sky is alighted with a radiation storm was pretty incredible.

Based on the opinions here I should play New Vegas next?

For all the shit Fallout 4 gets, playing it makes it EXTREMELY hard to go back to New Vegas. It made me appreciate the progression Bethesda has made with their 10+ year old engine.

If you can get past it though, New Vegas is amazing. Dozens of laugh-out-loud moments for me, superb writing.
 
For all the shit Fallout 4 gets, playing it makes it EXTREMELY hard to go back to New Vegas. It made me appreciate the progression Bethesda has made with their 10+ year old engine.

If you can get past it though, New Vegas is amazing. Dozens of laugh-out-loud moments for me, superb writing.

Heh, the first thing I did after playing Fallout 4 for 10 hours or so was reinstall New Vegas, download a bunch of mods and replay the game for the third time. I feel like the gameplay holds up relatively well compared to Fallout 4 and the dialogue and quest design are indeed on a different level and make most engine shortcomings tolerable.
 
For all the shit Fallout 4 gets, playing it makes it EXTREMELY hard to go back to New Vegas. It made me appreciate the progression Bethesda has made with their 10+ year old engine.

If you can get past it though, New Vegas is amazing. Dozens of laugh-out-loud moments for me, superb writing.
I feel like New Vegas holds up fine to be honest. I played it for the first time this year, managed over 80 hours in one playthrough and it actually has faster load times on 360 than Bloodborne or Witcher 3.
 
It's hard to decide between MGSV and FO4 which is the bigger disappointment of 2015. You hit all the major points about FO4, OP, including one of the laziest endings you'll ever see in your life and key characters being completely oblivious to everything that goes on around them. Bethesda's RPGs have been watered down and "streamlined" to the point where you can barely even call them RPGs anymore.
 
Posting Kid in a Fridge.

After FO4 I felt worse than the kid.
Is this a mod or something?

And I thought F3's world-building and story were terrible. It's a game about roving bands of scavengers trying to make their way in the world and yet you were the first person to hear the kid? He's in a friggin junkyard (as evidenced by the piles of tires around him). No one....I just.....

Wow.
 

Iorv3th

Member
I loved skyrim even though it had it's share of problems. Fallout 4 however I feel like I just can't get into. I agree with a lot of your post OP.

I think my main problem is aftering coming off TW3 and having all the quests for the most part feel substantial to the world building and story, fallout 4 feels very barren and empty. I know there is some story in there, but it doesn't drive me to explore the world or move on with the main quest. All feels kind of secondary, which for an RPG is disappointing. If the gameplay was good I wouldn't mind, but it feels like more of a FPS than an RPG.

I really hope they change things up for the next game and hopefully change the engine as well. Feels like they had some good ideas, just not the right tools.
 
MGSV was a huge disappointment for me, despite how good it is, because my expectations were sooooooooooooooooo high for that game. Still amazing game though overall.

Fallout 4 on the other hand was a great game for me, partly because I wasn't expecting much, I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't like it because of that alone though, I genuinely find it to be a fun game, really enjoyed FO4, not a big FO fan overall though (didn't like 3 at all, didn't play NV).
 
MGSV was a huge disappointment for me, despite how good it is, because my expectations were sooooooooooooooooo high for that game. Still amazing game though overall.

Fallout 4 on the other hand was a great game for me, partly because I wasn't expecting much, I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't like it because of that alone though, I genuinely find it to be a fun game, really enjoyed FO4, not a big FO fan overall though (didn't like 3 at all, didn't play NV).

How can you say you aren't a big Fallout fan overall when you haven't played 1, 2 or New Vegas?
 

tuxfool

Banned
Is this a mod or something?

And I thought F3's world-building and story were terrible. It's a game about roving bands of scavengers trying to make their way in the world and yet you were the first person to hear the kid? He's in a friggin junkyard (as evidenced by the piles of tires around him). No one....I just.....

Wow.

How has he not starved after 200 years? How is he not Feral? Why does he just shrug it off like he was there for 5 minutes? Why is he not surprised that the world has changed so much around him?

5hCVMIv.gif


Just a small subset of questions that floated in my mind when I first met him.
 

vocab

Member
Thank god we have you to vet what people find good.

I'm not telling people whats good, I'm telling people it's the weakest, and most shallow fallout game because it is. Fallout 3's birthday party has more "choices" than a majority of Fallout 4's quests.

If people think Fallout 4 is good, I fear what Fallout 5 or even the next TES game will be. It's okay to criticize games to help make them better, but people just seem to be fine with what they got.
 

Mr_Moogle

Member
Fallout 4 is my first real shot at playing through a FO game. I'm liking it. The combat is excellent and the game world is atmospheric. The game deserves credit for having some truly awesome weather effects and explosions. Those mini mushroom clouds look amazing.

I agree with the criticisms about the dialogue wheel though. The whole system feels very shallow. I had a lot more fun with the dialogue in games like KOTOR, Mass Effect etc.
 

WarpathDC

Junior Member
I'm enjoying it despite the inordinate amount of time I spent correcting Bethesda's typical lack of optimization with this engine. Now it looks and runs gloriously. My main compliant isn't even valid, I just wished it was in DC again somehow. I loved killing mutants at my local metro stop. I'm sure Bostonian's are having a great time though. Also, the initial 10 hours is a pain in the ass with underpowered weapons IMO.
It gets better



fuck you shadow maps and godrays
 
Also even the gameplay wasn't fully improved as they took steps backward by removing special ammo entirely and adding in exceedingly dumb ideas like the way criticals work now.
 
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