I feel I should make this clear, this is not a rant/hate post. Apart from From Software games, the most fun I've ever had playing video games has been spent in the wastelands of Fallout. Something about the world, the characters, and the random NPCs causes the real world to melt away and I experience a level of immersion that no other game has been able to provide.

That being said, I cannot get into this game for the life of me. I wont get into the details, because I don't want this thread to derail into a why F4 svcks thread (those aren't my feelings and I want to keep this thread positive).

So I ask the community, what do you love about fallout 4? What keeps you playing? Etc. (please no spoilers)

Thanks in advance.

Exploration and freedom in a dynamic interactable world only matched by ES

The freedom to explore, the atmosphere of world, the fun little questlines and some same fun combat for once ^^

Settlements and No Level Cap

Being able to continually improve my character and build settlements really does it for me. Its a slow labourious process for sure but there are 30 to build (I will have 28 to build thanks to storyline choices) and its very satisfying to change a ruined site into a thriving community.

Loved the story BTW But I can only do each decision once each way, settlements I can keep changing and improving.

Speaking as someone who just went back and played FO3 for the first time when my PS4 was down for repairs, I love the color palette and the density of encounters, environments, and just 'stuff' in FO4. The grey-on-grey bleakness and sparse wasteland of 3 was tedious to me and I had no problem putting it down.

When I shut it off.

JK. The gun combat is great, much better than FO3/FONV. Much better than other fullblown FPS.

Epic to just stroll through downtown Boston, trying to get to Goodneighbor to sell some gear, and then a little dust-up against some raiders turns into sprawling continuous 30 minute fight involving raiders, super mutants, mirelurks, gunners, feral dogs, more raiders., etc.,

Felt like Odysseus trying to sail home to Ithaca.

I love to just explore and walk around and pick up items and I really like meticulously decorating my Diamond City "Home Plate" apartment.

Its perfect (imo) and I'm working on other ideas like making an armory featuring every weapon in the game, a toy store with as many toys as I can find, a nuka-cola museum and a clothing shop that has every single outfit in the game available for display.

I may also make a kitchen store that sells culinary items, a hardware store....I have no idea what I might do but lots of building to do and lots of time to spend in Fallout 4 whacking ghouls and raiders with Daddy Sledge? (lol) and looting everyone and everywhere to build my post apocalyptic dream world

• The music. All of it from the haunting, melancholy, and epic background music to the various radio broadcast music (Diamond City, Radio Freedom, Classic Station) to Magnolia's live performance at The Third Rail, and even to the silly background music that went with the Silver Shroud broadcast...I loved it all. Well, all except "Butcher Pete" -- that's a song you can leave off the next installment, thanks.


• Voiced characters, especially the Sole Survivor. It really set the tone for me to hear her voice. She was acted SO WELL. Bravo!


• Use of well-known actors for vocal acting work. I love when Bethesda slips these gems in.


• Expanded character customization of gender, face, hair, and body size. Would love to see it further expanded in the next Fallout release (something closer to "Black Desert's" character customization ability)


• An actual backstory for the main character. Again, really established who she was and her motivations for me. I enjoyed that.


• Companion romancing. My favorite function of the whole game. I want it expanded in Fallout 5 to allow for a little more advlt-like interaction (a kiss, a touch, hand holding, hugging, lying in bed side by side) and for you to be able to hook your companions up to each other and NPCs, too (a matchmaking function).


• Outfitting and arming companions and NPC settlers. So much fun to play dress-up with them, and it also messes with the Gunners if you make everyone in a settlement dress in Gunner clothes (they actually pause in attacking, as if confused by seeing another Gunner come at them, or they don't attack that location any more at all). Sadly, doesn't work that way if you dress everyone as Raiders, though. Would like to see that added to next release...sort of a 'camouflage' function for the settlers.


• The random silliness. From dressing in Grognak's costume to the Silver Shroud's outfit, from DJ Travis' cute goofy/shy comments over the radio to the sarcastic comments from player & companions (especially between MacCready and Nick Valentine, who apparently loathe each other), from Dogmeat playing with a teddy bear to the veiled references to other series (Dunwich-Cthulhu references, for instance). It all works for me. Want more of this sort of fun to balance out the seriousness portions of the game!


• New S.P.E.C.I.A.L. menu design & functionality made it so easy for me to track what sort of player I wanted to be. I really liked this idea.


• Power armor. As a beginner-style player, this really helped to keep my frustration levels down when it came to fights. I felt I actually had a chance, especially as my grand tactics in battle come down to 'stand still, point, and shoot biggest gun you have'. I'm not sophisticated enough to run around and dodge things. Power armor balanced that out for me.


• Scrapping junk, weapons, and armor to their raw components for use elsewhere. Most useful function in the whole game. Want it expanded in Fallout 5 so you can scrap EVERYTHING, including dead bodies (hey, you can collect bones and cannibalize them, right? so why can't you strip them, too?).


• Building settlements, having to come up with creative designs to fit the location. I loved this idea, despite the fact the function itself needs some serious tweaking by Bethesda. Still, building up settlements provides the much-needed 'hope' that the story needs. Now, if only they would allow a DLC alt. ending where the settlements actually tie-in to the overarcing plot...


• Discovering new vaults & exploring them. I love seeing what next despicable thing Vault-Tec was up to with these vaults.


• Searching for magazines. Want more selections, too!


• Being able to swim without drowning. In Power Armor, if you fall into the ocean, you're dead in seconds without this ability. Thanks for adding it!


• Weather. I love that you finally put weather into the game. The rad lightning is awesome (if not sudden and dangerous). I love seeing the water droplets on my Pip-Boy or my HUD screen in the Power Armor when it rains. I'd love to see more winter weather, however, as current scientific models of climate change post-nuclear war indicates a significant global temperature drop for at least 500 years after the fact, not a warming (as all the Fallout games seem to indicate). More snow, less dry wasteland.


• New mutated animal species and upgraded mutations. The Ragstag, Brahmin, seagulls, dolphins, and the insect species in Fallout 4 are probably the closest to scientific fact for radiation mutation in animals in a +200 post-nuclear war time frame. I wonder why you didn't include bird, more reptile, and amphibian species, however. Fish, too. Would be neat to see these, Bethesda.


• Plant-species mutations. The Mutfruit and mutated fern, wild species of corn, siltbean, etc. are great additions, and I like that you can eat them all and suffer some penalty for that. Post-nuclear war +200 years, however, would not be so desolate, even within ground-zero areas (Chernobyl, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and many islands in the Pacific have proved the resilience of flora when dosed with radiation). Our movie-driven ideas of a Mad Max post-apocalyptic world would only happen in areas where desertification were already an issue prior to the bombs dropping (especially as climate change as a result of nuclear war would only hasten the wind currents of the world, causing more precipitation, not less).

Hmmm hard to say, which is weird. For me it's the gunplay that stands out, IN the fallout universe. Obviously the gunplay in,for instance, FarCry is better (though not by much anymore IMO) but the world isn't nearly as interesting. Fallout 3 was more "wow" for me after a slow adaptation period, but I have a far harder time putting 4 down. Same for Morrowind and SKyrim for me. I'd say all three "new" *(haven't played the older ones) have something unique:

FO3: atmosphere and setting. It does the best job of depicting a desolate wasteland where you are almost all alone. not necessarily the most realistic scenario after 200 years, but there you go. It made an impression on me at the time.

FONV: factions and choice.

FO4: a combination of both plus vastly improved gameplay. Also world-building, and voice acting and graphics (NOT the actual quality per se, but art style) are also greatly improved. However, factions and choices are way more limited than NV (though better than in 3) and the atmosphere is much too bright and lively for my taste - but this is personal preference. I preferred the wasteland feel of 3 more, though that sometimes felt too gray and boring at times as well.

• Exploration Factor


• Building Settlements


• Great Companions / Interesting NPCs that have some depths


• The freedom to go where I please


• And lately... being able to ride a Vertibird (helps when you are over-encumbered! LOL) I also just love the view. The Commonwealth really does look different from above!


• Did I say building settlements? LOL


• Oh and crafting! Love the whole new crafting setup

And I agree with Ladysashi - the music is really amazing in FO 4.