While I love Fallout 4 and the many new additions to the game there is just something missing, possibly the most important element of the entire game - That post apocalyptic feel.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Where i think they went wrong was the game is just too colourful. I understand they got a lot of criticism for the lack of colour in Fallout 3 and that green hue so, they listened to the fans and made the change which is good on their behalf really. personally the colour pallette on Fallout 3 never bothered me, infact I really liked it because I didn't treat the game like COD, i knew the setting and the theme and the reason they stuck to a limited and de-saturated look. It worked perfectly.

Fallout 4 on the other hand is far too colourful, it almost looks like a toy world, there are too many different colours and the colours are far too vibrant and bright. it doesn't look like it's been ravage by nuclear bombs and 200 years. 200 years, lets just think about that for a moment.

Also the weather, the sunny weather and clear skies clean the game up far too much, when the game gets misty and dull it looks great, the game feel smuch better and I'm much more immersed in it so, i'll be downloading a mod for that (I'm on console) as soon as one becomes available.

Also another part of the game that ruined the post apocalyptic feel is just how 'normal' it all feels too normal. I know there were shops/stalls in Fallout 3 but, it seems like they produce 'new' items and regardless of how realistic it is, this is a game and they can bend the rules to emphasize the feel and effect of the game and i loved how everything felt 'borrowed' on Fallout 3 and, well the entire series.

When you're travelling around or raiding building the items don't feel as worn and torn as the did before and the game focuses far too much on moving foraward, they didn't make use of the past enough or have enough terminals with interesting stories from before the bombs fell or during the attadk.

They pushed the technology too far in this game and they didn't keep the old 1940-1960 version of the future at all. As much as the Assaultrons are cool, they don't fit and EVERYTHING to do with the Institute doesn't fit at all, they pushed the technology so far that it actually surpassed what was available before the war and it seems as though the world won't be 'post apocalyptic' for much longer at that rate.

I loved the feeling of the world beeing stuck, frozen in time when the bombs dropped butl, they thew it away!!!

The look of the guns and some of the tech and enemies just look far too Mass Effect or another generic future looking game with guns when they had such a strong theme before.

What a waste!

I realise this is a big reason why I didn't instantly become immersed when I loaded up the game on November 10th and at first i couldn't put my finger on why.

The music as well really crushed 50% of the game because the music is a massive thing, it's half of the game. The radio is great (could have done with a few more stations, competiting DJ's maybe?)

it's the ambient music that ruins it. They changed the feel and tone completely when Fallout 3 and New Vegas was on the money. it doesn't seem as doom and gloom and barron and lonely sounding. The strings are a terrible addition to the game and the music is just far too Skyrim-y. Why did they do this?!!! i doesn't fit at all and it's annoying.

I'd love to have the ambient music of Fallout 3 back.

And the people are genrerally nowehre near as doom and glook as they were in Fallout 3 and I loved that tone, it really set a great feel. So much so that when I swapped back to Oblivion I felt surprised again that the people on oblivion were being nice to me and I realised what a smart and immersive change of tone between the two games existed.

There are quite a few more little details thatI could niggle away at but, i'll leave it at this.

I hope this explains that strange feeling everyone seems to be having with the game as I've seen a lot of people saying they feel sometning is missing and they don't know what. Well I think this is really what is missing and I'd love to see Bethesda maybe change it and patch it up a bit with either a patch or with the upcming DLC. That owuld be a brave and commendabl move ont heir behalf and lets face it, they do and have listened to us so far and they made all the changes we asked for whether good or bad and they haven't recive the credit they deserve for that.

All in all I love the game but, these changes would really make the game much better. The voice acting was amazing compared to past games, shame about the dialogue options and changes in the world...

Well their it is. Does anyone else agree or feel I've explained the missing 'feel' of the game that was hard to pinpoint?

I think it looks about right. After 200 years people would have cleaned up and rebuilt some. The radiation would have mostly dissapao, any "nuclear winter" event would have passed, and ironically, with so few people and industry, the environment would have healed.

Have you been toward the glowing sea?

Just to add to previous post. This is 200 years AFTER the bombs initially fell. Plant life, even though radiated, will start to re-grow. The atmosphere wouldn't have taken much of a hit, especially 200 years later. Keep in mind, depending on what the bombs ACTUALLY were and where they fell, will also impact the surroundings; i.e. housing.

I understand your point, but the fact that this is all 200 years later - kind of kills the bleak, green tint that FO3 had.

There HAS to be survivors, there has to be surviving plant life and fauna - otherwise; what a bleak, lonely existence.

yeah 210 years is quite a good run for the world to start resettling. Plants would regrow and the sun would still shine. The different colours of light aren't destroyed by nuclear bombs...

Please don't quote me, since I am NOT a nuclear physicist....BUT....just look at Chernobyl. Plants are still around and flourishing, animals are still around, the sky is the same as it always was..Radiation does not always have physical mutations.

I understand completely what you're saying and I agree. Whether it was specifically because of the colors, the atmosphere, the tone or the general vibe of Fallout 4 I cannot say, but Fallout 3 was the most post-apocalyptic feeling game in the franchise for me, personally. The subways, the tone, the theme, the struggle to survive, it all accumulated and as opposed to New Vegas or Fallout 4, 3 was the best in my opinion.

Yeah, that's the biggest immersion breaker for me. After 200+ years, the whole country would be an old growth forest again, at least the parts not directly in the Glowing Sea. Instead all you see are snags and stumps. And the cities and towns would be covered and overgrown with all sorts of vines and trees and bushes. More of a woodland simulation, than a wasteland.

Yeah TalonMerc I actually liked the subways too, they ahd a spooky, dead atmosphere to them.

And I think some people missed my point and misread my post, I stated I don't care whether 200 years have past and how realistic it SHOULD be, I don't care if life would have moved on, just like in movies you can bend the truth just to get a point across and set the feel.

The game really does suffer for it and if the 200 years thing bothers people so much then I think they should start setting the games only 10-20 years after the bombs dropped because we're just getting so far away from 'post apocalyptic' that it might as well be 'generic trashy shooter number --'.

Do you know what I mean? I hope I explained it better this time, sorry!

I thought Fallout 3 was stupidly, Hollywood-cliche post-apolalyptic, and made absolutely no sense. Fallout 4 feels much more "right" to me.

I'm not looking for your typical post-apocalyptic atmosphere as pointed out above, I'm looking for the atmosphere of a Fallout game. And I'd say Fallout 4 does it well enough over Fallout 3.

Pretty sure only 3 had a post apocalyptic wasteland feel, 1,2, tactics and 4 were a "Post-Post-Apocalyptic" feel.

I'm actually a fan of the color, there's no reason for there not to be any color, unless the bombs somehow sandblasted everything to make it dull looking!

As for the plantlife and what not, well Fallout functions on SCIENCE! not Science.

4 does get the Fallout feel more than 3 ever did.

There would be much more plant life and after 200 years fully rebuilt societies. Fallout looks more like 10-20 years after the war. If you head into the Glowing Sea I think you'll find what you're looking for.

sorry for quoting you ...?but yea that's a great example of how an area completely destroyed by radiation can still be habitable..obviously not for humans, but the area surrounding it is full of plant and animal life...a show called River Monsters with Jeremy Wade, allowed him to go there and try catching some fish in the water surrounding the power plant..very interesting episode, made me think of Fallout when I watched it..

New vegas was the same, more bright and vibrant. Where fallout 3 was very dark and bleak. I like it though, like humanity's rebirth or something.

Spunky Onion, I agree with you 100% and great post! You said pretty much everything I wanted to, so thanks for saving me the work. Lol While I'm having fun playing F4, it really does lack that post nuclear war feeling that F3 had and I have my fingers crossed for a mod / patch / something to bring that vibe back.

The glowing sea doesn' count, it's not THAT much like Fallot 3. it DOES look like it more but, it's empty, I hate the constant radiation and there's just nothing to do there.

But yeah I think people are STILL misreading teh 200 year thing I stated and realism thing. it doesn't matter! The game IS NOT anywhere near realistic anyway. It just doesn't look or feel post apocalytic enough anymore.

Fallout 3 and New vegas were much better for that and New Vegas was probably borderline. I hope the DLC is more like the older game but... I doubt it. Fallout 1 and 2 were nothing like 4 so i don't know wherethat comment came from. ￡ a vegas were not black sheeps in regards to loo and feel, they were more like the old games than 4. It seems the game is just becoming a modern, 'fixed' world game and becoming completely rebuilt, it's pointless, there are tons of generic future shooter out there, they had something amazing, and awesme concept to play with and instead they steer it to please COD fans and for all the new fans, it seems to work.

Shame...

Eh, no.... I find it quite post-apoc. The city ruins, debris everywhere, etc - feels very disaster-y. I certainly don't have any issues with the color (yes, I used a "remove the green" mod for FO3, and then later used a mod that let me alter things like color saturation & contrast. Made it look a good bit closer to how FO4 looks, actually.) It feels more post-apoc than FO:NV did - that game seemed more "western"-ish to me.

(Also, aside from the Institute gear - which should be shinier-n-newer - I don't think the other tech/etc in the game is outside the previous games' styles. Other than the retcon-discontinuity of having the guns look different than they did in FO3, they still seem appropriate for the setting.)

Yeah man, totally agree with you there about New Vegas. That was something that bothered me quite a bit about it.

Don't get me wrong Fallout 4 DOES feel post apocalyptic but, it's jus tlost a lot of the feel for me because they added carttoonish over vibrant colours. i'll be modding them out hopefully if someone creates such a mod?

Do you know if one is already available?

Crysis 3 is a good example of how an abandoned area would really look like after 200 years ^^

but I wouldn't want a Fallout look like that :/ there are already enough 'green' games

what they've done to Downtown Boston is so immersive <3

buildings fallen into each other;

highways, trains, planes, that crashed into buildings, connect the roofs;

whole city parts are flooded

you feel completely lost in there ^^ it's just so well done

I really can't stop talking about how much I love the world they created

but I agree on the part that there could be a bit less sunshine... they've could easily make the game look a bit 'darker'

200 years since the bombs droped I hope humanity started rebuilding I imagine that started a few years after the bombs droped.but if thats not enough op just go mucking about the glowing sea gor a bit.

Yeah I completemy agree with you on downtown Boston, it's absolutely awe inspiring! The look of it, it's soo well designed and thought out and it's easy to get lost. It's exactly what I wanted when I played Fallout 3 and went through the small destroyed city buildings.

They couldn't have done a much better job on Bost, it's just so good and very post apocalyptic. the first time I went there I'll never forget. i was completely lost, it looked huge, it was getting dark and I catch a glmpse of a supermutant and he says 'huh, someone there'? And his nuke start beeping as he runs around, searching for me.

of course at that point i didn't know it was a nuke. I saw the red flash for a split second. Hid and went down a tiny alley and prayed! Lol. The atmosphere was amazing and I'll never forget that experience!

I just wish the colour pallette suited the theme better and yeah, the weather. Really changes the mood of the game. You can't deny under the sunshine the colours are very cartoony. Even when it's dull they are too vibrant. I could live with the colours if there was a saturation bar in the options so you could de-saturat the game a bit.

*sigh* Read my posts

Exactly. Way too much color in F4. I use high quality, expensive ass Benjim Moore paint on my house and after 10 years, it needs new paint. So, let's add a nuclear war, plus 200 years of radiation, rain, sun, and any other element...I highly doubt it'd be all vibrant and colorful. Just sayin'

Yep, that's exactly the point I was trying to make. I mean look at clothes and materials as well. They fade over time and it takes merely one decade to fade a little bit. 200 years would make the whole place look desaturated and seeing as everyone keeps mentioning '200 years' well... stick to your theories. 200 years would de-saturate EVERYTHING!