I started playing this game again. I'm pretty far in at this point I'm guessing. I've pretty much gone with high science, medicine. Medium small guns and lasers at this point. With some speech. Speech hasn't really helped me too much so far although I do get those choices to use intelligence or perception quite a bit. My stats are pretty balanced with high int and perception. I've gotten agility and strength bonuses. The thing is as the game is getting more difficult I'm having trouble because I can't really use big guns or explosives that much. Or heavy armor. I seem to be stuck in the middle using midlevel armor and smaller guns. I usually just sell off big guns because I can't even carry them. Is it going to get easier? Or do you really need explosives and big guns and armor at high levels? I have the alien blaster but ammo is limited so I tend to be using the chinese assault rifle and laser rifles most of the time. I use a shotgun for close combat and I have a decent melee weapon although my melee svcks I seem to do quite a bit of damage melee.

I also didn't get dogmeat early on. I dont know if having a follower would help or not. But I had him my last playthrough and I remember him being kind of annoying and too much to manage.

Once you get power armour It will be a cake walk. (Not for me)

You could lower the difficulty.

I don't go with companions at all. Ruins the feel of the game to me.

I'd recommend turning the difficulty down or doing a drastic raise on your weapons next time you level. Make sure your weapons are in the best shape you can keep them in too.

I had a pretty high small guns skill my entire first playthrough, plus I always kept them repaired to close to max condition when possible. I was able to play on Hard difficulty doing that.

Good luck.

Yeah I think I'm going to pass on Dogmeat lol. Also how do you avoid the main story? I've never completed the game. I find myself trying to avoid teh main story on purpose which I'm not sure I like or not. I've read the main story is really short. Just exploring everything I can. I'm not finding it so difficult now. I leveled up a few times. Got some nice perks that are helping.
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It wasn't that the game was difficult. Hard to explain but I just wasn't killing guys fast enough and my aim in vats would miss a lot. I also wasn't doing enough damage. Since I started repairing my weapons to higher levels and got some perks where i get more crits and improved my skill it seems to be better.

My medicine skill is so high I rarely die. I always just pause and heal.

I'm level 11 now I think. Medicine nad Science are both at 75. Small guns and lasers around 50. Speech around 50. Lockpick around 60 I think. BArter i raised to 30. And a few other points scattered here and there. I've already been to GNR plaza went straight down to rivet city instead of exploring too much of the museums and dc too much yet.

Stats

Strength 7
Perception 8
Endurance 5
Charisma 6
Int 7
Agility 7
Luck 5

I just arrived in Rivet City. Going to quest there I think although I'm not sure if i should have done the GNR quest at the museums first.

Go do the GNR museum quest, because that'll take you to The Museum of Science. Inside there if you do a puzzle (walkthrough for it will be on the wiki or youtube) you get the XuanLong Unique chinese assault rifle. The puzzle is only short and with a guns skill of 100 this gun is ridiculously over powered, so with your guns skill it'll make things a lot easier with out completely ruining the game if you're trying for any type of realism.

I don't know how much logic of the game you have which is why I sort of explained the gun XD But if you have any more questions or want to know where anything is just ask

Yeah I'm trying to play the game pretty realistically. I just don't want to run through the main story too quick but some of the quests just seem to take you off the beaten path on purpose and its fairly obvious to me which ones are the main quests and which aren't. If i'm trying to find my father i'm going to just skip a lot of these. Like the nuka cola quantum quest. I went all the way out there. They give you two map markers the dunwich building etc.. Tell you to stay away. No quest or anything. I'm assuming they are just for exploring but have nothing to do with the main quest.

Right now I'm basically wearing recon armor. I have power armor but havent received training yet. I mainly use a combat shotgun and laser rifle. I have the chinese assault rife and a hunting rifle i use for alternates when im low on ammo which is rare. I have the fat man for my lone big gun. And a scoped 44 magnum. I have the shishkebab for melee. I also use mines and grenades sometimes. I ahve teh alien blaster when things get really tough but i rarely use it. I'm not finding the game that hard at this point. It was for a bit. But that seems to be rectified. It's just im not sure what i should be going for. I have high medicine so its not that hard to just buy a lot of stimpacks and heal alot.

I'm playing on normal difficulty. It might even be worth it to bump it to hard. My main concern is getting the full experience while playing it realistically at the same time. I'm struggling deciding what quests to do and not do. It seems like a lot of them just take you off the beaten path for the sake of it. I could just explore everything and just go traversing the wasteland aimlessly but it doesnt seem to work with the story.

IIt almost seems like the game wants you to completely abandon the main story and make yur own story which I don't really like. I havent finished the game though so I don't know. I havent really seen the big picture yet.

You're thinking way too much into it, my friend. It's a free range game, so do pretty much whatever you want and have fun doing it. Pick the quests that you want to do and don't worry about the others. Iv never done all the quests with one character. But I just play for the enjoyment of the game.

I hate to say this, but if this is how you feel, Fallout might not be the game for you. Its an RPG. The whole point to make your own character, go anywhere, do anything. At the same time I'm confused. You say you are avoiding the main quest, but then say that you don't want to abandon the main story???? I don't know, maybe you could explain better?

But anyway, about some other stuff. No quest is trying to take you "out of the way" on purpose. I think that you may be thinking this because the main quest up to where you are all takes place in DC. However, the main quest is only a reallllly small part of the game. Just because stuff isn't in DC doesn't mean that the game is taking you out of the way for no reason. But even if you are only considering the main quest, later on it takes you to the opposite corner of the map multiple times, so don't be so sure that only DC matters.

And you'll never get Power Armor training unless you go about halfway- 2/3ish through the quest, so if that's something you are shooting for, you need to go farther into the main quest for sure. I'm open for any questions you may have.

If your on pc then MOD MOD AND MOD!! arwens realism tweaks is especially good

Ah okay well, if you are playing realistically the best thing to do is put yourself in every situation you are faced with. For example the dunwich building, they told you not to go in there and all though it isn't for a quest would you listen? This game will take up a LOT of time if you want, full and realistic exploration. Also try to limit weapons, I mean, who can walk around with a shotgun, laser rifle, CAR, Hunting rifle, a fat man AND an alien blaster, while using them all effeciently. I won't tell you how to play, just advice on ways that I've enjoyed

I actually really like the game. I just think if you in any ways obsessive about having to explore everythign and everything it can get to bea bit much. I usually don't play games as big as this for multiple playthroughs. I'm an older gamer. So when i play through the game I want to get the full experience is all.

Ok, I get what you are saying. Fallout is a huge game, and I'm not sure there is any person who can claim to have seen it's entirety and I can understand wanting to get the full experience but not having to obsess with everything. My suggestion would be to not worry about it too much. In my opinion the freedom/variance of Fallout is the full experience. Don't worry about hunting down every unique weapon or finishing every quest, just do the ones that interest you. Roam the wastes for a while. The whole "Lone Wanderer" aspect really is the trademark experience of the game. Stumble upon some random quests, locations and encounters. Ignore ones that you aren't interested in or take you too far away from the beaten path, and follow up on ones that intrigue you. As long as you like what you are doing and who your character is, you're good. I feel like the reason why most people do multiple play throughs is because they want to experience the game as a different character, so as long as you like the one you've made for yourself, there is no need for multiple play throughs.

interesting comments so far...i don't use heavy armor or heavy weapons, i play a sniper/somewhat stealthy character, i carry a plasma rifle, hunting rifle, sniper rifle, blackhawk pistol. raise my luck and small arms and energy weapons skill to 100, and take the finesse perk, better criticals, toughness, cyborg, commando, action boy...and this is my special stats at level 20 or so.
S-5
P-9
E-7
C-5
I- 9
A-9
L-8