I finished my first and I wanted to make a second run excited to start from scratch once again for a fresh experience, try a different gameplay style and even choosing a female to spice things up. Unfortunately it felt short of that, it's basically redoing the same thing, same quests and even the gameplay doesn't change drastically much with the perks that the tree has to offer. Add to that the fact that npc and the world don't react to your character skills, the rpg feeling is totally amiss. I guess I will wait few months to see if mod can fix this but I doubt it. In a way it's a shame as the core shooting gameplay is quite fun and I like it, instead it is what drives it that it's lacking at this point.

Welcome to FO4 my good chum

that's why I always wait for mods, before starting a second playthrough in those games

Try a playthrough with only power armor and melee and BOS faction. Then play a playthrough with sniper weapons, little or no armor, and minutemen faction. I guarantee it will feel different.


Of course the quests are the same. I assume in about 10 years there will be randomized amazing dynamic and fluid quests but we are a way away from that. Right now we have (clear this) or (kill that guy).


With the dlc; GECK; and mods the game will feel fine. Just be patient

Care to point me to the games that change radically on your second playthrough.

well first of all I didn't do much of it, only few hours as the interest to carry on dimmed quite fast. Few games actually grant a radical second playthrough but exists, anyway that wasn't my point as I did not make any comparisons.

If we want to compare to something though, let's stay in Beth territory I can make few examples:

in FONV you could try to play an idiot and see all the funny convos, or you could play around with factions and allegiances, or try a survival specced character and use all the buffs available with the crafting.

in FO3 one could choose to play the game as good or bad character more effectively.

in Skyrim you had several type of playstyles, melee dps, 1 hand and shield, ranged, magic etc. Undoubtedly lots of variations, of course the Skyrim comparison is a bit unfair but both claim to be rpg.

Off the top of my head:

Minecraft

ESO

The Witcher 2

The Sims 1 - 4

Mass Effect 1

Morrowind

Dark Souls 1

Borderlands 2

I found that I was able to thoroughly enjoy a 2nd run through by thinking about how my character was approaching the Commonwealth differently. First guy was all about the minutemen and rebuilding settlements and getting them on their feet. He ended up going BoS. Boy did he regret that decision.

2nd run through had been "screw you all, I'm building an empire; if I rescue your ass, you're now working for me." She's more melee, going Railroad line, has ignored all but one minuteman quest, is getting different settlements and companions, and always asks for payment. To her the BoS and Institute are [censored]s encroaching on her turf.

When I play a 3rd run through I'm going with an old scientist type who will make up for his frailty with heavy uses of power armor and heavy weapons; he'll go heavy in the int and cha trees. I'm going to dress him smart all of the time outside of PA, he's out to rebuild super clean villages and towns. He will be total institute all the way and will run around with the robot companions.

Seems like we may have to dedicate to a single faction and ignore the others to get a more varied feel out of it. Changing up combat styles could help too.

lol this way my exact aim and approach but at the end it didn't deliver. The core play stays the same and no matter what metagame one can build it doesn't stack up with the repetitiveness of the gameplay and the static world around. I guess I played a lot of this game and I need to put it to rest. I am guilt of doing/seen all in my first playthrough.

Yeah, I left at least half undiscovered. 2nd run through has had plenty of new things and there's still vast areas I haven't touched

I was never able to really replay F3 or FNV differently :/ FNV had the problem with the faction stuff being very 'late game'... you still had to play like you did before, before finally being able to side with the Legion for example

and the Legion didn't even offer anything different... just a few more side quests, but that was it?

I agree about Skyrim ^^ having different types of characters, being able to play an archer, a mage, a warrior a.s.o. made it way more replayable than any other Fallout game will ever be.

But even there... you already knew the locations, the quests, the enemies... it was still more of the same.

And I actually feel like I will have fun in my second playthrough in F4... the fact that there is a completely different voice actor, when you play as a woman, is already way more to justify a second playthrough, than we had ever in older Fallout's before ^^

Not to mention that there are unlimited ways to build your settlements, which may get fun, if you concentrate on that aspect in a playthrough

not exactly, right from the start you could help the powder gangers instead of goodspring, or make one of their inmate become Prim mayor. Also all side quests offer a different way to complete them which involve favoring one faction instead of another.

I felt the same way OP - I got bored of FO4 faster than any fallout so far for more or less the reasons you mention. Couldn't stand to play a second time (I replayed FNV 3 times before any mods came out). You can only roleplay the same type of character with slight deviations (do-gooder to sarcastic do-gooder) and most quests are linear and just involve shooting anything that moves with no real alternatives. I really miss skills affecting quests/dialog. Not only they offered various alternative ways to complete quests but they also helped in roleplaying a lot.

Unfortunately if you wait for mods to change this, you will be disappointed. Mods can only do that much. I don't see how they can add depth, dialog choices, extra branching and consequences with impact etc at least not in a seamless way. And of course any attempt will not be voiced since I don't think any modder will hire the npc or pc voice actors all over again.

Sounds like lack of imagination on your part if you ask me, if just changing gender is "spicing thing up"

What perks did you choose differently, because some of them add gameplay that is only possible with the perk.

Like the robotics expert which can allow you to hack enemy robots and make them your companions like assualtrons.

Or deciding to not select the crafting perks like gun nut or science which completely changes how you treat weapons you scavenge as you can remove mods from guns you wouldn't be able to craft and add them to your own. Which is a bit tedious but has allowed me on my second play through pick some stealth perks instead of crafting perks. That choice alone has completely changed how I play the game.

Really ? In my case I decided, for a new game, to wait before investing in gun nut/armorer, and actually realised it made little difference. For instance, I've found a 10mm with suppressor before I enter the Museum of Freedom. And there's many mods I've found when I didn't even have the level to take the required perk to make them on my own.

This is the outcome of removing choice from the player. You have 1 way to play through available to you, with absolutely no repercussions for doing the exact same thing but being a sarcastic [censored] about it. There are even points in the game where initiating conversation has locked you on a course, I can remember a few times where I'm looking at the conversation wheel and none of the 4 choices are something I want to say, because all 4 are just a different way of agreeing with the person I'm talking to, and their is NO option to end the conversation at that point and tell the NPC to go kick rocks.

This is even with the mod that actually shows what my character is about to say, instead of that vague nonsense in the vanilla game.

It sounds like you were expecting a sandbox and got a themepark. I'm in the similar boat. I do have to say its an outstanding themepark, and I do enjoy it. Hopefully the DLCs go more sandbox where I can step off the rails.

It sounds like you expected Fallout 4 to be an RPG instead of an FPS with some shallow RPG elements. Needless to say, it would have been better to plan ahead and try to squeeze out a 2nd run through self-restriction and missing content on purpose.

Too bad you can probably count the number of SPECIAL / skill / perk checks in FO4 on one hand. This is still the area where the room to maneuver is the biggest though, given how limited and rigid are the other aspects of the game.

the difference is right there in your post. when you don't have the perks, you rely on scavenging the weapon mods from pre made guns rather than making them your self. Which means you don't need to collect half as much adhesives or oil for weapon crafting, you pay more attention to guns you might other wise just ignore. It also changes avenue of where you get your xp, if you were like me when using the crafting perks you modified stuff as much as possible for the xp and extra caps when selling to vendors.

congrats on your luck finding good mods quickly, I just found my first 10mm suppressor after 24 hours on my second play through.

Hmmm why was one of my posts containing wiki references deleted again? Is it against the rules to quote the wiki?

Sad thing is you cant play charismatic manipulative genius or a dumb as nails meat head because nothing in the game recognizes it. You can have an INT of 10 but its negligible because outside of perks/crafting it never comes up. You cant school Shaun on biology or robotics. You can somewhat be a smart ass but thats it, CHR is only useful for bartering and even the lines seem empty of any charm or humor

The Mods being real petty today mate. But I agree with the point you made. This game is one bland bowl of gruel dialogue/story wise.

Yeeeah... a link, two, three or a small handful... most people deal with that. But if I stop counting individual links at around 50 and there's still more, you are "advertising" for the site you are always linking to. I dunno, maybe you are an admin at the wiki or maybe you have a lot of time on your hands since you profess to dislike the game yet post a ton. Whatever, huge linky text blocks is not useful - it's annoying.

Edit: sorry for the confusion, just saw your post, got called away before I posted this

If it's the post I'm thinking of, it might be because the mods have seen you spam it numerous times in other threads.

I made 3 different characters and they all felt mostly the same. For me it's due to the limited dialogue options, lack of moral decisions, very few sidequests that aren't the randomly generated "go here, kill everything" lack of karma and related NPC reactions, the fact that skills and perks don't add any dialogue options or alternate ways to finish quests, etc...Combat style means little to me so that's not a factor. *sigh*