I think the point was that when it's an army of two, being put in charge is a 50/50 proposition without a lot of meaning.

Excellent post, much in line with my thoughts and experiences also. I'll add a few points.

FWIW I haven't really gone into the factions much beyond the introductory quests. Main quest is on hold at the "Find Virgil" point. Much like Skyrim, discovery within the game world topography is the main focal point on my first play through.

Regarding the speaking PC, it works OK, just not exceptionally well, and the short responses can get quite repetitive at times. And probably it can't help but put limits on the variety of directions you can take as a player. It does not feel like your dialogue really makes any difference to the stories in the long run. I do hope BGS will not repeat it for their next game.

Companions are significantly better written and designed than Skyrim. Yes, some of their banter does get old, but they react to the what is transpiring with much better specificity than ever before. Their AI still has flaws as you noted, but it is better, and some times it actually can add to the sense of realism, they can hardly be psychic. I do think BGS could have done more with their personal stories, making their episodes more lengthy and numerous, and not tied to quest completions or skill usage totally. The romance part is simply not unique enough between characters, kinda feels the same whether it's Piper, Cait or Curie. Dialogues may be different, but the steps are the same number, and frankly, easily predictable. How often you pick a lock is hardly relative. How kind or tough you behave should be the determining factors. I like that they change weapons on their own, it should also apply to their wardrobe.

The game engine. Hmm, I seem to remember Pete Hines saying prior to Skyrim that they would be using it for their next two games. We could expect a new one on the next go round, but probably that's something we should follow up on. It is showing it's age noticeably. Compared to FO3, FO-NV, and particularly Skyrim the game stability is yonks better. However my PS3 Oblivion release still rates as the best stability wise overall. Most of the bugs seem code related as opposed to engine limitations.

I'm having a great time with building settlements and crafting tools. However, one thing they should have dropped is finding armor, chemistry or weapons stations in practically every building of size you explore. Should be far less frequent to be realistic. The wonkiness of building construction is out and out weird, but I'll give them a pass this time, theres lots of room for improvement, and I'm sure the tool kit for this feature will be expanded greatly next year.

Fallout 4 is an excellent game, significantly different from what has preceded it. Lots of hours left to play here.

At the end of a bloody battle, the ground littered with mutilated corpses:

Avatar: What are all those things sticking out of my back? Crossbow bolts? *sighs* Iolo....

Dupre: I could use some food.

Iolo: I'm starving.

Agree with much of what you say OP.

Weapon modding however, is not really all that in my view. I think I'd prefer lighter modding, but better weapons like New Vegas gave us...perhaps even adding in pre-war schematics to build some of them from scratch, like a proper Marksman Carbine and an antimateriel Rifle. Ballistic weapon design is just terrible, and something verging on a distraction in this game. Also, I think it was a mistake to jettison ammunition types and reloading, so then we wouldn't have to rely on "magical" items like weird Legendary effects that are more easily implemented through non-magical means...like they used to be (AP Ammo, match barrels, etc).

Other than terrible ballistic weapons, overly simplified ammunition, and meh explosives, that are just too much of a break with previous games, it is a very good game.

I have become quite a fan of the settlement aspects of FO4.

I can empathize with this view. I was somewhat surprised to be offered leadership, just like that, but I think it does fit in with the narrative of that faction. You're basically the leader of aimless refugees. So "General" is nothing but an honorific that you have to give meaning through action. It mirrors the Colonial Army of the actual American Revolution quite nicely in tone. (Yeah, "Sergeant", huh? A hunter without a uniform? And where is your "squad" again? That's right -- a miller, his son, and two stable hands. Armed with rusty fire-arms and a few hatchets. And you'll be taking on the Royal British Legions. Mm-hmm...)

Yeah. This. I think it works well.

Heh! Pick up Spark's body...again...and toss the moonstone to gate back to Britannia. Yes, Lord British, another resurrection. Don't look at me like that! Incidentally, wanna see something cool??? Point this at that black rock over there...

No, a different engine would not work at all, nor would it solve any problems while adding many others. Pete has addressed this in interviews but anyone with coding background can state it without his input.

There are reasons that no other company has been able to equal BGS' products. One big reason is no other engine can handle a world with literally hundreds if not thousands of interactive objects.

Think about it this way. Bethesda has been very successful for over a decade and has made plenty of money for Zenimax. Just like they acquired Gamebryo when Emergent went bankrupt, they could easily use another engine... IF another engine could meet their needs for the games they make. You don't think they've looked? Heck, Pete was asked directly why they didn't use idTech 5 and he answered exactly as I have stated: idTech 5 (and other engines) may be good for certain games but it (and they) cannot handle worlds with hundreds or thousands of interactive objects. Creation Engine can do this, but other engines cannot. Name another game on the market that has this feature.

I like them too. I don't understand why some players have problem with them.

And I like the main factions too, but their side quests are very similar to each other, and to other factions side quests, so they are very repetitive and some of them repeating even. I'm not sure if I want to repeat something boring, that is also given as task in the other 3 factions. And it is a real problem if I want to roleplay somethig specific - there is no faction for that.

So I would prefer if the factions would be more combat/stealthy/IQ divided or atleast their quest givers would be divided that way - so I could pick up that kind of quest I prefer generally or in that moment.

If the main factions were meant to be shallow, then they shouldn't have so many side quests or to have them more meaningful - not clearing of buildings that will repop short after anyway. I would be happy with them to be connected to the main quest and for roleplay to have minor factions with a lot of more specific side quests.

The engine was novel, for a while. I used to like the fact that every asset in the game was interactive. Nowadays, as this engine struggles to keep up with the times, I don't think being able to put a basket on an npc's head is worth the tradeoff anymore. As the years roll by, the cons of Bethesdas engine are outnumbering the pros, and nowhere is that more apparent than on the PC. Its clunky and inefficient, its buggy and unreliable. You need to exit the game and mess with a launcher just to change resolution or shadows.

This engine is a relic of years gone by. It doesn't belong in 2016. Heck, it doesn't belong in this decade. Fallout 4 is the most stable Bethesda game to date, but that isn't saying much. The engine is spluttering and coughing like a clapped out Pinto trying to compete with Ferrari's.

Its true, no other engine allows you to run around on tables, scattering bits of junk onto the floor. But that hasn't been a selling point to me for years, and I'll happily trade that in for an engine fit for the modern era.

It's not like a much better looking game came out this year that has no interior/exterior load times!

1. Too bad this is not true. Settlements don't provide anything unique. No unique gear, companions, quests or anything. Settlements provide the same things you would get from just exploring normally (which you still need to do in order to gain access settlements). Settlements are so tacked on that every time I used the feature it felt like I went from Skyrim 2.0 to steam early access.

2. If you only play bethesda titles and you completely shut down your brain when you play, then I guess one could say "combat works".

3. Whatever floats your boat.

4. I guess you right on this one. It was really challenging to defeat that deathclaw at lvl 1 with my hard earned gear.

5. Do you seriously play any other games? Get required materials, have required perk and press button is as bare bones as it gets. Is it too much to ask something new?

This is what dark messiah did back in 2006: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfxutd2RDxM

Are.. are you being sarcastic?

1. Your spouse was murdered and your son kidnapped. If you wish to roleplay at all in a roleplaying game, you're forced into playing through the main quest as quickly as possible because there's no justifiable reason to just completely ignore Shaun while you're out hunting for adhesive.

3. Factions that matter? You become "leader" of the Minutemen after, what, two quests? And even then you're not actually the leader. You're still following Preston's orders. You also become head of the Institute or one of the highest ranking members of the Brotherhood of Steel in no time at all. There's no meaning in that.

This game is just as bad as Skyrim was in terms of factions. Bethesda should have paid attention to the way Obsidian handled factions in Fallout: New Vegas instead of pretending like that game never existed.

I agree with all of this, except the two first has not had much bugs, and companions works, bonus for being able to equip them.

Con for not being able to tell fighting style, it also look like they have problems selecting weapon, a bleeding shotgun is awesome but not at 100 meter.

Bonus for not fixing the SKyrim exploit of having them pick up stuff on ground then carrying an ton

Dialogue system again and yes it get worse as Bethesda games are dynamic and has lots of content. You will frequently end up in situations where the idiot system lock you out, yes something as simple as not being able to discuss an quest after accepting it. Yes you learn it fast, its still nagging and the lack of information is obvious.

But it has real gameplay effects, as you have to deliver quests in the order the game want even if the first one has serious game-play effects: you will tell BoS about the bunker hill operation unless careful.

In short its an clunky system, it might work well in an pretty static and story based game with good writers. The companion discussions are done well as lots of work are put into them and they are linear.

And yes the full dialogue patch is pretty much required to be able to have meningfull dialogues, it also shows how much padding who is added to get the 4 options.


Interface, pc keybinding is an mess was it complete random, at least they managed to enhance the useful size, waiting for some mods to fix the rest.

Yes, you only need the base item then you can do that you want,

exception is the sturdy and heavy armor models.

Had also been practical to craft uniforms/ clothes to differentiate settler functions.

Making new weapons are only relevant for gearing up settlers.

Yeah and I think it's a nice way of the writer playing with the crazy expectations of players. People even fall for it and write "what a bad game I can become Genaral of the Minutemen in 2 only simple quests". Even with knowing fully (again Preston explains to you that the title is meaningless) what's going on.

I can see the writer of this quest smileing all day long about it. At least I do everytime I read that stuff.

Crafting in Skyrim was better imo.

With the crafting system introduced in the game, I find it to be far superior to virtually every other game I've played that includes crafting (barring crafting-specific games, like Minecraft). What I love is that, while each individual piece you may upgrade on, say, a gun has a small effect, combining multiple elements that do the same thing has a massive effect. And it's not just DPS.

I started with a standard pipe rifle. I modded in a long barrel, a reflex scope, a much better stock, and then a bayonet. As I found "better guns", I stuck with my own rifle in the end. Even firing .38 rounds, I used it well after level 20. Nothing else gave me the same action, accuracy, or controlled fire-rate I could get from my own, custom gun. When the damage just became outclassed, I re-purposed the chamber to fire .45 ammo. Bam -- back in the game. Ammo might be a bit more valuable now, and my character is still lethal with this thing.

I put the same love into my original laser musket (making it a sniper weapon). Then I kitted out a killer .50 sniper rifle I stumbled across. Alright, decided to repurpose the laser musket with a very short barrel and spread muzzle -- when I crank it all the way to 5 and fire this thing at close range, the entire screen turns red. My actual shotgun is now tucked away in chest of memories back in Sanctuary. I adore this system.

How does any of this make it good crafting system?

All you do is combine materials together and you have your desired end result.

You don't need to discover any of the recipes and you don't need do anything special. All you do is just press one button.

At least in skyrim you could try to combine different ingredients together to try to see if they had any common properties to make potions of.

No that's not how crafting in skyrim was, crafting in skyrim was combining materials together and you have your desired and result. That's literally all crafting systems are. Even in games like Minecraft, Terraria and Starbound crafting amounts to just combining things together, sure Minecraft has an almost trial and error system of if things don't combine it clearly doesn't work and there aren't any recipes shown though I could be wrong about that.

The only "discover" recipes in Skyrim was by unlocking perks in smithing. That's it. Maybe with alchemy sure but with alchemy you couldn't fail with a potion and unenchanted amounted to bring enchanted weapon to workbench, unenchant. That's it. Fallout 4's crafting system isn't any different from other crafting systems.

If people keep insisting on calling the crafting system "modding" then when the actual "MODDING" hits the consoles discussions will get very difficult.

___________________

Modding means you have modified the actual game, as in you have changed the way the game is.

You insert a new Texture that's a mod.

You insert a brand new armor or gun....That's a mod.

You install a new quest series, that's a modification.

You are modding the game.....Means you are currently altering the way the game is.

You are modding a gun....Means you are currently working in programs to create or alter a gun in the game or going to add it to the game.

_______________

Obviously it would be wise to not use the words Mod, Modding, or modifying to mean something else.

Well it is a far better game than Skyrim in all aspects except music. In comparison to Fallout 3 and New Vegas though, I don't think there is anyone who disagrees that this horrible imitation of Bioware's dialogue system should not be in a Fallout game.

And @illuknissa as well:

This is part of it, but the thing I like the most is that the game doesn't simply add "damage" to your weapons or "hitpoints" to your armor -- it affects the way things actually perform. Even though the first few mods I added to my rifle didn't affect the damage at all, it greatly increased the weapons accuracy and decreased its kick. That's what I was aiming for: a semi-auto with pinpoint accuracy at range. I could pull the trigger quickly to cause damage up close and bash effectively, but I could also carefully aim at longer ranges and squeeze off each shot with precision. Even though a full-on combat rifle I found nearly doubles the damage I could cause per shot, I could drop things more quickly with my pipe rifle because the action was so smooth. (Whereas the combat rifle bucked like a mule with an attitude. I could land the hurt once, but it took me much longer to line up the next shot.)

Skyrim's crafting was fun, but it basically just increased the amount of damage each weapon caused / damage each piece of armor blocked. I like having to decide whether to trade-off adding more physical protection, or adding reinforcement to help against explosions, or increasing my carrying capacity, or decreasing the weight of the armor -- you can't just have it all. In this regard, it's far more intricate and immersive than Skyrim's "increase damage by 20%"

It's 2016. I think the human race can handle this. I'm pretty sure. I'm, like, 87% sure.

Although mods that alter the in-game weapon and armor mods will have interesting descriptions. Can't wait to see the first "Mod Mod":

This mod mods the mods you can find around Fallout 4. It mods in additional mods, and mods the way mods mod your weapons and armor. You can find the mod's mods at any trader that sells mods. If you have a problem installing the Mod Mod, or wish to mod the Mod Mod to mod its mods, please contact the Mod Mod author about your Mod Mod mod.

You obviously don't work in anything resembling a customer service position...