» Sun Nov 29, 2015 7:03 am Here's my quick rating on things in the game.
The open world: 7/10. Ruins feel like ruins. Cities feel like cities. Much better then what New Vegas was. Wars go on, there's aircraft in the air engaging ground targets and there's a wasteland of radioactivity filled with the most deadly mutants. And when I say wasteland I mean wastland. Wide, open space with the odd ruins and radscorps, bloodbugs and deathclaws. The place where you take your power armor. Which runs on fusion reactors by the way. You can only really jog when it runs out and you can't use AP or melee attack so save that armor for when you really need it. Fallout 3, to be frank, was utter [censored] in this regard because the paths were so freaking liner, especially on the main missions. New Vegas suffered from "Open yet empty". 4 has finally got the open world while not being liner or feeling too empty. It's freaking pulled it off at last. However, -3 points for still confining cities/towns/populated areas to loading screens. Basically that means you can't run on rooftops in between such areas and the wide world outside. Or, you know, head through unseen, none gated alleys and the like. Or holes in a wall. Seriously, thought we'd be past that by now. Morrowind did it long, long ago, why aren't games like this? That's why it's a whopping 3 points, because it's been done so long ago already and we've stagnated on this for about a decade now. If not longer.
Population: 6/10. Still the same old "not as many as their could be" treatment. But there's regular patrols out and about and it's a dangerous world. Still, I find it hard to believe that there's only ever the same old 10 or so people in the same town/city at all times 24/7 unless there's a quest trigger. About what could be expected. Another stagnated thing that needs to be improved upon in games like this.
Story: 6/10. It starts well and gets going mid-game, but when it comes to the end confrontation (avoiding spoilers) there's not really that much to say. I mean, the you know who are basically the Templars from Assassins Creed and there's no discussion of that. Nothing along the lines of "But you do bad things too, how is that bettering humanity" or anything like that. Infact, pretty much all of the dialogue options that aren't "push for outcome A or B" are always "quick comment here, followed by other things that are said regardless of the choice". Guess I been spoiled by Mass Effect on that regard. What makes this disappointing is that it's the same company that made M.E so I know they can do better. As for the story in general, same as in Fallout 3. Pick a side BUT it will be the same outcome, just in different flavors. Unless you join those Templar like guys, in which case I'm guessing they'd tell you to wipe out the others. Which reminds me, when you meet a "certain someone", the way you part when deciding not to join feels a little lacking. Far too business like. That would be ok if it was "generic villain here", but come on man, it's "certain someone". "You turned your back when my side is evil" at the end and then skipping right to "Let's just do this [censored] with no more conversation" just doesn't cut it in this day and age anymore. At least not with main characters.
Weapons and armor: 6/10. Mixed bag really. Weapons are good and have finally stopped looking like complete crap apart from pipe weapons. Which are supposed to look like crap anyway. Still have't found a sword, except for a special one that was in that Fallout 3 DLC. So that doesn't count because it's a special item. Most armor looks like "junk tech", but what I'm not seeing so far is the more high tech armor that isn't power armor. Where's my "Spec ops armor MK2" that Fallout 3 had? Maybe it only gets sold at higher levels? And I'd like to see it on more enemies.
Enemies/combat: 7/10. I'm being a little generous with this one. First of all, the legendary monsters. Ok, yes, we know they're tough. The question is why do we automatically know they always carry a single special item on them? Why not randomized with none special sometimes, single special often and more then that rarely? At least Skyrim puts it's stuff in chests and was more random with it. The larger issue is that there's rarely legendary monsters with mobs. Yes, it would make the game a bit tougher, but that can be balanced out in a variety of ways, not to mention we get a companion to draw fire plus the power armor, missiles, fatmans, etc. 2 hits from a fatman downs a Behemoth in 2 shots. A missile launcher only requires a little more ammo, which I save for such monsters. And raiders tend to go down in only a few hits from a pistol. End result? Fight over before it gets a chance to get into high gear. It's a simple case of being prepared well and not having fun/drawn out fights because you're that prepared. Not equipped right? Prepare to tough it out or run. Both have their place. And that's where things start getting fun, once a fight is in full swing. Cover actually matters this time around and you can peek from corners by aiming at a corner. It becomes a cat and mouse game if you're not in some really good armor and you need to flank, hit and run, toss grenades on the walls or set mines. And best of all there's a really big siege at one point where the enemy keeps on coming. My only real complaint is that there need to be more large scale fights like that on a more random bases and not just a scripted event. Past games have done that already and the solution is actually quite simple. Settlement of X defense/population combined with player level should result in Y enemy strength/number of troops. Hoping there'll be a mod that does that at some point. There's also "random settlement attack" but in my whole day and a half of playing (one full day and half night then another half day), I only ever had one. And nothing even showed up when I got there. So I just moved on. And yes, "higher difficulty" can add more health to them, but then you risk dying very quickly so it's not ideal. Nor does it add more enemies when they show up. I personally play on higher difficulty settings but can see the other side of the fence.
Building settlements: 6/10. 2 complaints. First, there's a quest where I had to use the "magic rubble remover" to clear a passage. It was quite literary "we need to clear this rubble" and then using "scrap rubble in a second". Which just broke all immersion. At least don't put me on a quest and in a conversation when I need to do that! They could have let time pass as big things are cleared or something. Second, "junk tech". Let's be honest, most of the stuff looks like poop by high tech standards. Especially the gens. That's perfectly fine to begin with, but just why am I still having to use the same old "junk generators" at later levels when there's other high tech bases already running on really high tech stuff that doesn't even need wires above ground to get power? Obviously just an added feature which got implemented into the quests later down the line in development. "Magic rubble remover" being proof of that. It's a nice feature, but nothing that hasn't been done in Ark. I don't really have any complaints other then that but it feels like they could have done more with it. Artillery facing south and firing north also takes away from the immersion, along with "Relay dish inside a building yet still receives transmissions". If we get a quest to make sure beds are under roofs I don't think it's too much to expect a little more immersion with these things as well.
Graphics: 7/10. It does what it does. It does what it needs to do. And it doesn't need to do more then that. Content of the game is what matters, not just looks, and that's where the focus has been.
Keybindings: 4/10. Is it really too much to ask for full control of custom keybindings and for the numpad 0 key to be used for jump since I use arrow keys? Is it REALLY that difficult to do? Geez... At least I got to set movement to arrow keys, which can accidentally reply to just start conversations! Just do what M.E did, movement to select then push interact, which I set to end because it's right above the up arrow. At least I got to change the controls at all, but honestly, a definite area that I expected more in. Shame on you Bethesda. Not everyone can use default controls or gamepads. Tends to happen when you play your own way for life. A game is meant to entertain. Being forced to play with different controls is like being forced to use your left hand instead of your right. Which would make it not fun and not desirable to play at all. Fortunately I at least got to change things my way in terms of being outside of conversation/construction mode. Which is the most important part. Still, same mistakes as made in Skyrim. Stagnated on it now. Why has this not changed?
Companions: 7/10. This is where immersivenes shines. It's just a shame it's the only place it does, apart from the small scale random fights (seriously, we need larger ones too). When not moving around or when left somewhere of your choice, they will do all sorts of things. I've had Dogmeet put up his forepaws through those circle hole things at the Rocket gas station. Cute as heck. If he's not doing that then he'll mender about. A pacified (not eliminated but calmed down animal) will sit or lie down and pant with its tongue hanging out. Ever seen a mutant dog do that? That animal perk can also help with rad scorps. The other, human like companions will do things like stand at that spot, take a seat and so one. Though I have yet to see someone read a newspaper/comic while doing so. Unfortunately they'll still little more then pack rats with a little added firepower. Though you can order them to hop into power armor. They don't take rad damage in the wasteland when not in it though, even when you're obviously at 10+ rads and about to cop it. So again, immersive breaking there.
Immersiveness: 5/10. Most of this stuff has been done in Oblivion. Which was made long ago. All they've really done is add companions doing a little more then stand around like lemons and add small scale random fights, which again, has already been done long ago. My gripe isn't just the fact that there's not more then what's there, it's the fact that we're talking about the same company and that I know they can do better then add "Just a little extra touch" with every game they make. Doing that with Oblivion was one thing because it was a newer environment that the company was less experienced at at the time, but there's been no less then 4 open world games made by them at this point. It just feels like it's something on the backside instead of being at the forefront. And those little touches should have been in the games between this one and Oblivion. Oh, and power armor that's out of power can be fast traveled. I got no problem with that when it's being fast traveled to a very safe location (say in a city or cleared settlement). My gripe is when one can easily fast travel it to a hostile area and get cheap to get around using reactor power or to quickly drag in a powered down suit for added armor. Even on survival mode. Seriously, it's cheap. At the very least I avoid doing that. The easy solution to counter that would have been fast travel options for only cleared cities/settlements with power armor stations. Since you can't just place one anywhere, it would give people a reason to actually travel through the waste to do more then fast travel between already visited areas and in other words, basically get immersed into the game and risk fighting deathclaws and radscorps. In short, "playing" the game. Not just getting things done quickly. That reminds me, you can fast travel to areas in the wasteland without power armor. So... I just somehow magically reached it someone without taking any rad damage? I actually would have preferred having to go on foot in the "red zones", but give me an ability to avoid radiation/monsters to reach quest destination then I'm going to use it. I don't like using it, but I do. And now that I reminded myself that I do, I'm going to do my damn best to try and not do that because I was doing a playthrough. It's like giving someone homing bullets in a FPS. You won't want to use it, but you're going to use it because it's there. And better yet, why does a companions power armor never run out of power?
Quests: 6/10. Go here, kill them, talk to named NPCs. Rinse. Repeat. But at least it's not a case of "Go to this dungeon, grab dragon shout, look chests" like Skyrim did and we at least get to talk to some people that are actually there and in the area. That's pretty much how it goes outside of main quests. Claiming settlements is however a case of "talk to generic NPC and head to X place to kill Y raiders". They could have done what the faction leaders did in that area and gone with "random quest here". Unfortunately in most cases it's all about just killing at X location anyway. But hey, it's Fallout, so about what could be expected. Just still waiting on a open world game that adds variety I suppose. The one good thing is that the way it goes about it is varied. Charisma is still mandatory to be diplomatic. Unfortunately Charisma is still a [censored] trait because you can't do a "Talk your way to victory" like in Undertale. Nor can you really sneak your way there unseen without killing anyone as killing is forced upon you.
Replayability: 6/10 Based from the comments of "Different methods, same results" by Danse, I can already tell that's it's a case of "Do the same main quest with each faction except Templar like guys". Yes, it's good to do things in different ways. No, it's not good to have the same end result regardless. End of story. Maybe you'll make Synths look better when joining X faction or get more tech with Y when it comes to a few added quests, but it's going to be the same old case of "Join faction. Get strong by claiming areas. Do same end result with different characters". In games like this I think it's crucial to not only be able to do that, but also affect the entire direction of how things will end and have the option to influence end outcomes. We're pretty much forced not to change our minds near the end. And [censored] did I want too. Something "Drag this "certain character to safety first and THEN do the quest there". As well as having the option to "Become a double agent at the last second" or "Kill everyone except certain characters of my choosing".
Overall: 7/10. It's better then the other Fallouts. Closer to what Morrowind is in terms of Elder Scrolls. But still falling a little short off the mark to deserve a title like that. It's getting closer though, especially with that wide, radioactive wasteland. Felt a bit like Red Mountain in Morrowind, only less hilly, which is a good thing. I'd just like to have more control over what happens ultimately as well as make the most of "certain" moments. And be able to alter outcomes in mid quests. It's supposed to be a game of player choice and getting to do anything you want after all.
Ok, yea, that wasn't quick. I got carried away. XD
So yea, make your own spoiler free reviews here.
