Okay, I am going to try to make this spoiler-free, but I apologize if there are any spoilers noticed that I didn't catch. If you find some, PM me and I'll remove them.

Now I realize Bethesda might not actually see this post, and I really apologize to anyone reading this at how long this will be, but I just felt like I wanted to show my appreciation for what I believe to be the best studio out there right now. I just finished the Fallout 4 main storyline, and after the ending cutscene, I just sat back in my chair with goosebumps, with a combination of sadness, conflict, a bit of regret, as well as a sense of hopefulness for the future. NEVER BEFORE has a game moved me the way this game did emotionally, morally, and personally. Never. I've been a fan of Bethesda games since I started with Morrowind, and I personally have always loved their stories, but none have been THIS good.

I have to say that when I first heard about the game being set in Boston and the Commonwealth, as well as our characters (to quote a certain companion) being "pre-war relic"s and being voiced, I was a little skeptical. I loved the Capital Wasteland so much, I loved Fallout 3 so much, that I thought setting it somewhere else would never be able to compare no matter how good the future games were. I was wrong. The Commonwealth and the ruins of Boston are without doubt my FAVORITE wasteland to explore, period. I absolutely loved Fallout 3 and I love all the other games too, but the Commonwealth and Boston were just so interesting once I started exploring. I think part of the reason they affected me personally is due to the fact that the area, as well as Boston itself, resemble the area I live in and a nearby city.. so it really felt a lot more immersive to me.

Fallout 3's gameplay was great and NV really refined on that gameplay with better gunplay, more choices, and stronger faction gameplay. This made me wonder if Bethesda would follow up with Obsidian's development and create a game with shooting mechanics that can almost stand on their own, and they did. More choices? It would be an understatement to say that there are a massive number of choices in the game. Stronger faction gameplay? Yup, plenty of that too, and it feels far more immersive to me than even NV's faction play was as you actually feel like a part of these organizations. The thing about the previous 3D Fallout games that I never noticed until playing 4 was that they were relatively simplistic in customization and that they never really were very hard on normal settings (I rarely do the higher end difficulty because I'm playing a game, not a simulation ). Fallout 4 has killed me more times than I can count, and even at level 36 and with a heavily-armed follower, things are still hard especially if you get swarmed.

Graphically, this game really surprised me. From the E3 previews and screenshots I'd seen, the game looked really nice but I wasn't really overly impressed (though it wasn't a big deal to me as they still looked good and I was more concerned about the gameplay). From the moment I stepped outside of my vault for the first time, the graphics floored me. The screenshots and E3 footage really didn't capture how beautiful this game is. The lighting is arguably the best aspect of the game's graphics, though the shadows are really impressive, and I loved the way things were colored this time around (though I never was one to complain about/change the greenish tint of Fallout 3). The art style was really nice, almost entirely realistic but with just a tiny touch of cartooniness to make it feel more like I think the Fallout games have always been meant to feel. Also, this time around, the animations look and feel realistic to me. And though it's just a subtle change, the use of verlet physics were a very welcome change (even though I had to use TCL a couple times, jumping roof-to-roof in Boston felt really fun). The ONLY complaints I have about the graphics (and the entire game for that matter) are the slightly choppy facial animations, but they weren't bad enough to complain too much about in my book. Also, the textures in some places were just a little on the blurry side, but it really didn't change my immersion.

Then you have stuff like settlement building and armor/weapon customization. I found those features to be extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY addicting. It was a little annoying to be building something then run out of supplies, but that's more realistic than the games that just give you certain resources for free. It gave an added reason for me to explore and pick up the random crap I find in the wasteland. I also actually loved the fact that power armor ran off of fusion cores. The endgame in Fallout 3, and even NV if you do the Enclave remnant quest, made me extremely overpowered since I could just walk around in power armor all day. This made it so I have to use the armor wisely and sparingly. I also like the fact that power armor makes you basically a walking tank which, according to lore, is what power armor has always been meant to be. It really made the armor feel realistic, useful, and extremely valuable. Also, power armor-wearing raider leaders/champions? I LOVE that. It makes those chumps far harder to face if they have a high number of people swarming you. On that topic, AI was definitely improved and I felt like the NPCs really were true personalities.

Speaking of personalities for NPCs, the companions were amazing. Great storylines, and I love the fact that they're designed to make you feel like you're developing a real friendship with them as you explore. They're definitely far more useful this time around too instead of just being bullet sponges; definitely something I'd like to see even more expanded in future games. Even non-companion NPCs had some great stories. I actually felt bad for Travis during his quest, and was happy to help him. Also love the results of that quest. Such a small, yet impactful change.

Exploring the wastes was so amazing, as I mentioned earlier. There are so many memorable spots that gave great views and just made me sit back and think "This is simply amazing." I hope this won't be considered a spoiler (I don't think it will be), but my favorite location so far has to be the crashed monorail train in downtown Boston. I came across it while exploring and so I looked for a way to climb up to it. Sure enough, I was able to get up there and when I did, I just imagined what happened to the poor people. Things like that, especially with things such as the board sticking out one of the doors adds such an emotional impact to a location that otherwise would just be a nice view. Again, things like that are what I hope to see in future Bethesda games.

The story.. oh boy, the story. I know I'm probably not gonna get everyone agreeing with me, but as good as the previous games' stories were, this was by far the best in my book. It was personal, immersive, and chock-full of moral, emotional, and even some physical dilemmas like the kind you'd see in the original two games and even in NV, which is one of the things I really enjoyed. It impacted me hard and personally as a player and like I said, after finishing the story I just had goosebumps and a mix of emotions that I can't really describe. In my honest opinion, this isn't just the best Fallout storyline, but the best storyline Bethesda has ever done if not one of the best in the entire genre. THIS is what future Bethesda titles need to be like story-wise. More personal stories tend to be more emotionally impactful and immersive. The voice-acted PC was one of the best choices they could have made in my book, it felt even more immersive, yet also quite cinematic at times.

If I could offer any suggestions for future DLC or even the next Fallout game (which we don't need for quite some time considering how much content this one has lol), my main suggestion is this: with the way Boston was opened up, a Dying Light or Brink styled parkour system would actually add a really nice touch to navigation. Maybe some sort of grapple gun or something to go between buildings. Nothing too fancy, as the game doesn't need anything extremely complex in that aspect, but I've found myself jumping roof-to-roof in Boston at times and I come JUST short of being able to get to the next building so I end up falling to my death. A simple grab feature would really be nice in that type of scenario as it would feel more like I didn't just intentionally jump to my death.

Other suggestions:

-Perhaps adding Advanced Power Armor Mk II like the Enclave had in Fallout 3, as well as maybe some new designs would be nice.

-Please do a DLC like The Pitt, Point Lookout, Honest Hearts, Lonesome Road, etc where we go somewhere aside from the Commonwealth. I love the Commonwealth but I'd also love to visit another environment to break things up a bit.

-Maybe adding some more endgame to certain factions where you can see the gradual impact of your final choices in the MQ would add an extra touch of immersion.

-It would be awesome to see the Minutemen grow large enough, perhaps in a DLC, to gradually take out certain threats in the wasteland for good.

-Underwater exploration would be really cool. Can't say much about my idea of how this could go about due to spoilers, but this would just be a cool feature. Granted, it would be nice if our power armor could run, even if slower than normal, underwater.

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To conclude, as much as I LOVE Bethesda's previous games, this game went above and beyond in every way, exceeding my expectations. They really weren't kidding when they said it is the most ambitious Bethesda title yet. I'd argue it's my favorite Bethesda title at this point. I can't express how good of a game this is, nor can I really express the gratitude I have towards Bethesda for not caving into the public pressure and actually taking their time to develop the best game they've done yet. Not only this, but I appreciate that the game wasn't filled with microtransactions or other moneygrubbing tactics. Bethesda, you guys rock, thanks for one of the best games I've ever played. Looking forward to playing through the game again and again, and I can't wait to see the ideas you have for DLC content.

Anyways, again, sorry for the length of that. I tend to ramble when I have a lot on my mind or when I'm passionate about something lol

It's nice to see some positivity in the forums. <3

The X01 Power armor is the Enclave looking armor in this particular iteration. Keep an eye out for it!

For similar spoiler-free reasons, after some 130 hours, I've reached some 'big choices' in the main quest and it's doing my head in (in a good way).

I don't know how long it will be until I reach the end, but it's a terrific ride so far.

I suspect it would be possible to bang through the main quest-line as reviewers would need to do,

but having trodden the Boston wasteland for such an extended period really raises the stakes.

Great post. Very well made and well thought out points and suggestions.

Wouldn't mind seeing a lof of your ideas implemented in patches and expansions.

You talk a lot of sense, you have my respect and admiration.

I didn't read all of that(sorry) but i agree with your sentiment, i was really plesantly surprised with alot of things in the game like the writing, voice acting, world, the depth of base building and especially the companions. Oh man they are a step up from the soulless pack-mules we got in Skyrim!

I generally tend to steer clear of the 91879 lb. hype train that Bethesda builds up before a game release after being just extremely disapointed with Oblivion, that i thought was going to be Morrowind with good combat and some new hyper advanced AI that lived their lives. I generally expect a few things from new Beth games: 1)Something in the previous game is going to be either removed or integrated into something else 2) The story/writing will be horrible 3)Lots of bugs 4) Huge world with laid back gameplay.

So while my expectations weren't really that high i am really impressed with alot of the game, also it's really feckin fun.

Hell i don't even mind the removal of skills, i think the new system works pretty much the same except that there's nothing regulating how good you are at aiming your gun. You're just never bad at using a weapon, you only get better and i think limits roleplay. An improvement for people new to gamer or RPG's for sure, not so much us who like to roleplay a certain concept like say a lawyer with very little combat experience.

I even like the new dialogue system. While 4 can be limiting at times i think it's an improvement over the old system. For the most part you'd get maby 4-6 options, atleast 2 of which were questions and the dialogue very rarely branched and it felt more like you were having a conversation with a information console.

In FO4 it flows better, and while you generally have less options at once you get to speak more often, ask more questions in a way that isn't awkward. The dialogue just flows better and can even branch a little after you ask a question, changing your other options based on the new information.

Only real beef i have with it is the description of what you are about to say is often done really, really poorly.

You should play fallout 2 next.

i agree with everything you've said, i'm really happy how this game turned out. sure, there's things that annoy me and things that could have been better, but i didn't expect to like this game more than i liked fallout 3 (was never a huge fan of nw). i'm especially impressed by the main story line, the environment and *gasp* the voice acting - i didn't think i'd particularly enjoy any of that. i still think morrowind is bethesda's best game, but i partly blame nostalgia for that.

i'd personally love to be able to explore pre-war boston in some way. i have no idea what kind of story would fit into that, but it was refreshing to start the game before the bombs fell and get a glimpse at what the ruins used to look like.

I know right. I don't understand why there is so much hate after so much has gone into this game to make it a very, very special addition to the fallout franchise. Am loving every minute of it.

the guy just got done riding a cadilac and now you want him to try out a go cart, fallout 4 makes fallout 1 and 2 along with NV look like junk

Lol good anology. I love the past games but Fallout 4 blew them out of the water for me.

My god. I'm on vacation all this week and I mush have played a good nine hours today, and I'm still gong back and forth between Sanctuary and Diamomd Town. I can only imagine how many hours it's gonna take me to do everything there is to do.

I love this game.

Its finally good to see a positive post. Sadly forums just tend to be the dumping ground for people who hate the game and want to vent all their anger, while the vast majority of people are too busy playing the game to post their positive view of the game.

Thankfully this thread also hasnt been hijacked either.

Not to mention its nice to have the same opinion as someone else

Thanks, Hines.

140 hours and still loving the game so thank you Bethesda for a good time sink.

If I didn't think the game had potential I would of joined the ranks of haters on metric. I don't think the game is anywhere near as bad as the haters make it out to be.

But it's far from perfect or even good for that matter. Once the game breaking bugs are fixed and most the critical bugs are fixed and some minor changes are made I think the game can achieve a "good" rating. But to release the game in its current state was a bad move.

The game engine is outdated and creaking under the strain and the AI is never going to be fixed to the point where it feels like it's decent. It's a limit in all beths games. With DL and mods I think this can be the game it was hoped to be to a certain extent.

Praise is due when it's due. Right now Beth have a lot of work to do and a lot of lessons to learn before they get a pat on the back.

I don't hate Fallout 4, but I am upset Bethesda Game Studios didn't add back the armor and weapons degradation system in Fallout 4 like in Fallout 3 and Obsidian Entertainment did in Fallout: new Vegas, I wish all NPC's were killable this includes the Player Characters (PC's) companions, the dialogue wheel looks terrible, and I just hate level scaling of loot and NPC's.

Those are 4 reasons why I did not purchase Fallout 4 and will stay away from Fallout 4 forever because of those, mods that bring and remove those features don't even tempt me to purchase and play Fallout 4.

Maybe, just maybe there will be one day where I will give in and just purchase Fallout 4.

I'm in complete agreement. For all it's flaws this is another Bethesda title that will provide me with 90% of my gaming life. I take my hat off to their achievements here. Couldn't have asked for better really.