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[Mister Apoc]

excluding New Vegas


Fallout 4 is seen, generally speaking, as being inferior to Fallout 3

I have never played Fallout 4 yet, but I always wondered what were the main reasons it never got the same amount of reception that 3 got?

is it because it was merely a similar copy to 3 or was it because it didn't have the same atmosphere as 3?

what were the main reasons it didn't live up to the greatness of 3

 

[Spukc]

The world felt boring.

 

[PuppetMaster]

I like FO4 a lot.

People mostly hated the simplied or dumbed down dialog trees.

 

[Koala Driving a Ferrari]

Fallout 3 was an RPG. Fallout 4 is a shooter with some ultra light RPG elements tacked-on, set in a disappointing game world. Fallout 4 improved on the combat of F3 and then threw all of the good parts that RPG fans loved from F3 and FNV in the bin.

That said, if F4 is taken on its own merits, it's an objectively good game. So your experience may vary.

 

[AEREC]

it did for me, surpassed it even.

 

[1morerobot]

I love them both.

 

[Krappadizzle]

The writing.

 

[JaxBriggs]

I felt the actual gameplay (shooting, etc) was an improvement but the dialogue and speech options were dumbed down big time.

Overall I thought the gameplay for FO4 was smoother but the atmosphere and story took a few steps back.

 

[General Lee]

I hated FO3, it was incredibly ugly, even more so than Oblivion. FO4 I've spent hundreds of hours in and enjoyed the heck out of. It's not really a good RPG by any stretch, but there's a lot of fun to be had in its open world. The basic gameloop is solid, but there's certainly plenty to gripe about outside that. I think most people hate the game simply due to the lackluster RPG elements.

 

[Koala Driving a Ferrari]

The writing.

Yeah that was admittedly pretty poor... even by video game standards.

For the record, I like Fallout 4 and think that it's a good game.

I think that Bethesda game studios have been massively outclassed this gen in terms of open world game design and development. They're going to die next gen unless the proper amount of investment is spent on the studio for ES6. CDPR ate their lunch and I don't see them having any kind of response to them.

 

[Ailike]

For me it was the way the game was set up.
Personal anecdote: After 3's intro, you are placed into the world. You have the obvious town you could go to, or you could explore.
With 4, I did the first setpiece, and then was introduced to base building. I was instantly overwhelmed. I thought "Is this necessary? Do they expect me to do this with this crap UI? What do I even need to do?" And I just...stopped. I didn't even go out into the world because collecting bits and bobs to build something clunky and obtuse didn't seem fun even though I looooved 3. I regret never getting back into it, and I guess I still can, but not before I watch a guide or read a FAQ or something to learn how much the basebuilding is required or if I can completely skip it, which I'd prefer.

 

[Anustart]

I played 4 a hell of a lot more than I did 3. I really didn't care much for that one.

New Vegas still the best though.

 

[Diablos]

Fallout 4 feels like an unfinished mess. It’s even worse on consoles because it doesn’t even feel proper compared to PC. Easily one of the most forgettable games this gen.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Why exclude New Vegas? Easily the best Fallout game since FO2 and should absolutely be in the conversation. Bethesda could and should have learned a lot of lessons from NV and they actually went in a worse direction writing wise.

 

[Gtagentleman]

I loved every bit of Fallout 4 because I just love to explore virtual worlds that reward you and keep surprising you with new stuff, I loved having the gas station as a home, collect stuff and weapons, modify them and a lot of power armor to travel.

I think that a TON of people just keep doing the same auto-generated "Another settlement needs our help" shit missions because they thought that those where main missions and after some time they got bored, labeled the game as shit and moved on to other games.

Veteran fans however probably found the choices and narrative stupid and I dont blame them, they are right.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I like FO4 a lot.

People mostly hated the simplied or dumbed down dialog trees.

It’s inferior to FO3 in almost every single possible way

 

[Koala Driving a Ferrari]

It’s inferior to FO3 in almost every single possible way

I concur. That said, I'm the guy with a 5ft Fallout 3 standee next to my gaming rig.

 

[vypermajik]

For me there didn't feel like a sense of urgency to press the story forward. Also technologically, it was underwhelming.

 

[WaterAstro]

For me, a lot of story elements didn't make sense and broke my suspense of disbelief.

I really don't dig Bethesda RPGs anyway.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

I liked Fallout 4 a lot. The city looked better than anything in previous Fallouts, the gunplay was better, buliding houses/settlements was cool and flying around in the Power Armor was lots of fun. Other than the weak main story, the only thing that was missing for me was being able to drive around in vehicles. That option is long overdue, IMO.
Fallout 3 was more revolutionary at the time and I think thats why people remember it more fondly. Though it has been many years since I played FO3, I can remember I hated having to traverse the dark, dank subways to reach certain areas.

 

[Dargor]

In my case it was because it felt more like a shooter than a RPG, but I still liked it well enough to finish it.

 

[Alex]

I thought it was much better. Not as good as New Vegas but still very good.

I don't personally care if they clip the RPG lite features, though. Didn't care in ME either. These games, in this form, are action adventure they're not rpgs and the window dressing hinders more than helps for my tastes.

Now if they wanna go back to the CRPG roots with Fallout I'd be down with that but I'm glad when these FPS diet RPGs drop the nonsense

 

[Ichabod]

I've sunk countless hours into 3 & 4 and thoroughly enjoyed both for their own merits. Really looking forward to seeing what comes next.

 

[LOLCats]

Story was really not that great. Gameplay is really good though.

For me its Fallout NV > FO4 = FO3.

I feel FO3 story was better than 4, but the gameplay in FO3 was crusty even when it came out. They are equal to me, but i have put way more hours into FO4.

Fallout NV story was so good for me that i can ignore the polished crusty gameplay.

 

[Ridaxan]

I like FO4 a lot more than FO3. I enjoyed the gameplay a lot more.

The game felt a lot less janky than 3, but not by much. The dumbed down dialogue trees are a bit of a pain, but not enough to make it less enjoyable for me.

I really enjoyed the fact that we finally got a voiced protagonist though.

 

[BigTnaples]

Fallout 4 is fantastic. VR should be amazing.

 

[SimpleCRIPPLE]

No Rivet City.

 

[Triteon]

Looking back on it now I think i liked 4 a little more than 3 overall.

Its missing alot of rpg elements, there is little character choice or character building in the game and while that bugs me alot i cant deny that its prettier and that the action gameplay is significantly better.

The main story is about equal in nonsense to 3 but at least they tried to give the factions and the companions some character. I found it worth playing just for Nick amd Curie alone.

That being said it was very much a disappointment after NV. I was hoping Bethesda might have taken a few more ideas from obsidian into 4.

 

[Grinchy]

Survival mode is awesome on it. I actually like Fallout 4 a lot, but the story and the way it unfolds is what is a letdown. Choices no longer matter. You have 4 dialog options that all lead to the same place every time. I think that's what bothers most people compared to something like New Vegas.

 

[Koala Driving a Ferrari]

Uh...There are posters in here that are legitimately suggesting that F4 was superior to F3. Okay, it's time to shutdown NeoGAF. Cleanse it with nuclear fire 🔥😃. Goodbye cruel world.

 

[Dub117]

I own FO3 FO4 and New Vegas, and NV sucked me in until i beat it. I just couldn't stop, and I even am about halfway through replaying it. Neither 3 nor 4 did that to me. 3 got me to buy NV, and NV got me to buy 4, but NV was the best in my opinion. Coming from a video game fan but not necessarily a Fallout fan, NV had something the other didn't. I still haven't played FO4 since the first time i put it down.

 

[CaptainLoveline]

Fallout 4 felt more like a shooter than an RPG, they had significantly improved gunplay but watered down the role playing aspects. The main story was incredibly disconnected from the rest of the game, like there's supposed to be urgency but the player can just straight up break that by doing sidequests and exploring elsewhere instead.

It's a decent game, but it shouldn't have been called a Fallout game.

 

[HerpDerpstreit]

The two biggest things that killed it foe me was the fact that you are put up against a

Spoiler

deathclaw

inside the first hour. This in itself would have been fine if the objective became escape or survive but it became kill it, and the fact that was even possible that early was disappointing.

Then to be immediately followed by the "look we kind of put Minecraft in your fallout game" base building mechanic being forced on you was too much. I checked out and haven't gone back. Maybe if there is a pity to switch I might give it another go but it started off pretty silly IMO.

 

[Mohonky]

-Weight limits are annoying as shit

-Aesthetically.....boring

-shooting is only ok

Dunno what the other things are that didnt click, I played the shit out of Fallout 3, but after that New Vegas and 4 didnt do anything for me. Just kind of felt like more of the same I suppose.

Also the stupid township minutemen stuff was annoying.

 

[DarkArterialGore]

I think it was a case of one game to far on a shit game engine, so I blame the penny-pinching bosses at ZeniMax and Bethesda for the lack of real investment in a new modern open world engine.

I haven't even looked into any of the dlc for F4 since finishing the main game because I've just had enough of Gamebryo's flat graphics, gross feeling kinetics of movement and atrocious character models who are incapable of displaying any emotion.

Since CDProject usurped them Bethesda really needs to reinvest some of the massive Skyrim profits into creating a completely new open world engine from scratch, considering it's they only type of game they make you'd think it would would be best for business in the long run. Sure they will probably lose some features in the first game on a new engine but I'd take great graphics, smooth texture-streaming and proper animations over the Gamebryo ability of dropping a spoon on the ground and it still being there when you come back later.

Hopefully they'll surprise us with something new for the next Elder Scrolls game.

 

[Taliban Stan]

The setting wasn't as iconic, although it was a lot better than New Vegas.

I think they introduced too many systems that are really cool ideas but ultimately don't go anywhere. Settlements are the big thing. You can invest a lot of time and effort into them but they don't really do anything. It's a cool system but nothing really comes from it. It's not like you get to a certain point of size or money making and now there's like some ultimate wasteland realtor faction questline or something. You're basically just pumping numbers that don't mean anything in the larger game.

Settlements tie into something else I think they went wrong with and I'll blame Skyrim for this: they got a lot of popularity for people making houses full of cabbages or rolling a million melons down a hill. I think with the next game, they maybe went to far in devoting studio resources to stuff that allows for weirdo YouTube videos but maybe doesn't actually make the game better... maybe actually makes the games worse with the diluted attention.

I don't think it's bad, but I feel like the kitchen sink was thrown in and the game is like cooler on paper but worse to play because of it. I *hope* that when the next FO or ES comes out it feels like Super Mario World and Fallout 4 seems like Mario 3 in that a lot of crazy ideas were in the predecessor and the follow-up expanded on the great stuff, focused the good ideas that the predecessor went to far on, and got rid of the bad.

 

[TitusTroy]

I liked F4's story better then Fallout 3 but I agree that the settlement crap bogged down gameplay...good idea but ultimately wasn't utilized to its full potential and felt more annoying then fun

 

[Phatosaurus]

F4 was a much better game than F3 ever was. It's downfall was gutting out the RPG elements and the awful dialogue system. Playing it modded with a silent protagonist and a better dialogue interface helps with the latter.

 

[xviper]

Fallout 4 is good game and one of the best games of 2015

the reason why people say it's bad and a huge disappointment is because they hyped the fuck out of it, no game has ever received as much hype as Fallout 4, not even GTA 5 was that hyped

they expected FAR TOO much from the game, so it was obvious that it won't live up to the hype and will be considered a disappointment

we may see another Fallout 4 situation with Half life 3, if HL3 gets announced, it will be insanely hyped and there will be no way it could live up to the hype and then people will blame Valve and say that they fucked it up

Cyberpunk 2077 could also suffer from this, almost everyone loved Witcher 3 and consider it the best game in the last decade including me, so it's normal to expect nothing less from Cyberpunk 2077, personally, i don't think Cyberpunk 2077 will be as good as Witcher 3, so i'm lowering my expectation at the moment until i see some videos of the game

 

[Shifty]

Fallout 3 didn't have an NPC disguised as a key plot character whose true purpose is to fill up your quest list with procedurally-generated bullshit.

Fuck you Preston Garvey.

 

[wakuboys]

If you want an indepth explanation of Fallout 4's faults, look no further than the 3 hour long review No Todd's No Masters.

As to why F4 did not live up to Fallout 3, the answer is direction. The first fallout games were heavily about roleplaying, F3 focused more on combat, added a more linear story, and made the game more accessible to a wider audience. I think Bethesda just did that again from F3 to F4.

 

[Assanova]

For me it was the way the game was set up.
Personal anecdote: After 3's intro, you are placed into the world. You have the obvious town you could go to, or you could explore.
With 4, I did the first setpiece, and then was introduced to base building. I was instantly overwhelmed. I thought "Is this necessary? Do they expect me to do this with this crap UI? What do I even need to do?" And I just...stopped. I didn't even go out into the world because collecting bits and bobs to build something clunky and obtuse didn't seem fun even though I looooved 3. I regret never getting back into it, and I guess I still can, but not before I watch a guide or read a FAQ or something to learn how much the basebuilding is required or if I can completely skip it, which I'd prefer.

This is EXACTLY how I felt. The instant I saw crafting and base building, I immediately thought “not this sh*t again” and stopped playing it. I absolutely hate crafting and base building, and I wish games would stop trying to force it in. It seems like unnecessary busy work. I just want to play the game and move the story forward. Is that too much to ask for?

 

[MaKTaiL]

Too much focus on crafting. Large parts of the world were made into building grounds and not much was going on in those places.

"Cool, that location might have some interesting secrets or even some new side quests to do."

"Oh... It's just another place to build stuff."

 

[tareqsalah1]

For someone who has never played a single fallout game, would i enjoy fallout 4? I have no time to play 3 or new vegas so im just going to jump into 4.

Also is it worth getting the goty edition for 30 or just play the base game for 15?

 

[Assanova]

For someone who has never played a single fallout game, would i enjoy fallout 4? I have no time to play 3 or new vegas so im just going to jump into 4.

Also is it worth getting the goty edition for 30 or just play the base game for 15?

Do you love Minecraft? If the answer to that is “no”, then you will not like FO4.

 

[tareqsalah1]

Do you love Minecraft? If the answer to that is “no”, then you will not like FO4.

Lol i tried to get into minecraft a thousand times and couldnt.

I dont know, there is something about fallout austhetic and style interest me. I saw the trailer for 4 and its dlc's and was intrigued. I wanna go to nuka cola

 

[Malcolm9]

For someone who has never played a single fallout game, would i enjoy fallout 4? I have no time to play 3 or new vegas so im just going to jump into 4.

Also is it worth getting the goty edition for 30 or just play the base game for 15?

It's a good game, just go for the base game and get the extras if you enjoy it.

The base/settlement building stuff is mainly optional apart from a tutorial section fairly early in the game. It's pretty straight forward but it has depth if you want to get more involved.

 

[Flux]

If Obsidian were allowed to work on a "spin off" like new Vegas, I think that would be the best fallout game. The gameplay is sound, the ay power armour is handled is interesting, it just needs more than four dialogue options where the end result is always yes or no to a quest.

 

[asocirev]

I didn’t like the forced character backstory and weak dialogue options. The world was big and fun to explore but I never felt invested in anything.

 

[120v]

i think a lot of the letdown is the game not only had to follow up Fallout 3 but also Skyrim - one of the most successful games of all time - and NV - one of the most critically acclaimed RPGs of all time

i don't give bethesda a pass on some of the bone headed design decisions, but when you think about it was pretty much destined to disappoint.