This is the first ever Bethesda (First Party) game I've completed. If you don't know what that means: It's a fucking tall order, and the obstacles were certainly there. Innumerable are the times I'd start a playthrough of their previous games; Fallout 3, any Elder Scrolls, but not Starfield. I'm not playing Starfield. Every attempt at a playthrough was met with a Toy Story esque ending: I leave my toys behind, never to be played again, or unearth one for a few minutes, only to give it back to the forgotten.
Fallout 4 is painful. It's a game that, once again with Bethesda, they do not get it. The writing is ass, the gameplay systems are wonky at best and the stability is as bad as my ADD-addled goldfish memory. "It just works" is a stretch, but it's still the truth. The painfulness of Fallout 3 radiates (hah) through 4, with its forceful decision making and RPG mechanics that dumb down what could make the game enjoyable. Dare I mention New Vegas here? I just did: It's inevitable to do the comparison. The adopted brother is doing much, much better at school than you are, 4.
But I'm not ultimately here to compare with New Vegas. I'm here to assess Fallout 4 as is. As is, being, that I did not install a single mod on it, not even performance enhancers. Bethesda shipped a game, and I shall play it. Simple as. Was it regretful, that I refused to modify my game so that it wouldn't crash or softlock on silly occasions? No. I knew it was just part of the Bethesda experience. I was prepared for it.
I will, however, go back on my word to say that I will compare this game with Fallout 3, as it is impossible to review Fallout 4 without mentioning Fallout 3 if you've played Fallout 3 already, even if it is but an inch of it, like I did.
Let's start with Fallout's loved(?) RPG system: It's a mess. Bethesda really thought that simplifying the stats and perks to be melded together would make gameplay more enjoyable. I don't know who's smoking what, but it stinks bad. It's a system that warrants less importance to stats while... increasing... stats. More of the same ol' is provided to you: Would you like a crumb of increased damage? Of course, you can vary your gameplay: Simply increase your damage output for a certain weapon type of choice by a slight percentage. That's variety, right? My character is now raised as a damage dealer, rather than be a damage dealer, or perhaps even a damage dealer, maybe with a side of "I pay less at shops now". Fallout 3 did that, too, by having both stats and perks assigned to dealing more damage. Instead of dealing with two types of points systems to further increase your DPS, you get one. How innovative. Oh, but there's more than just combat for these perks, right? You get to put points on being able to craft more damage dealers, or perhaps bypass certain points of the game so you can get to deal damage earlier. Oh, but what about those "unique" weapons, which cannot be scrapped but they do more damage! I'm feeling the variety on this game, oh my! I'm oversimplifying my explanation of the problem, but I guess that makes two of us, now.
How about the writing? I'm sure Bethesda learned from their problems with assigning threads of fate to your main character, right? Nah, it's still there. My playthrough was intended to be "Just this person looking for their son, while avoiding unnecessary trouble", but of course, it's the wasteland: You're expected to run into trouble. But what about trouble that you could, you know, prevent by yourself, by decisions that only you could affect? Perhaps you know where I'm going with this if you've played this game already. This review is as spoiler free as I'll try. I might spoil a few things, but I'll serve these as warnings for what you might get into, if you wanted to play the game for yourself.
Factions are, once again from 3, single minded. The one track mind is the easiest track mind to write when you can let the bigger mind do the tracking (that's you). Factions are resolute and unyielding. If they have an opinion, you're not talking them down on it. Diplomacy is never the option. You start the game learning about the Minutemen, who are just kinda there because they want to protect and, uh, serve, I guess. They're like an NCR lite, they just aren't big enough to become the NCR yet. Then, you got the Brotherhood of Steel. Oh hell yeah, the Brotherhood of Steel! The guys you see on the box art! They're so cool and prevalent within the Fallout lore! I can't wait to... reads script be very racist with them? Go listen to what the important and nonimportant NPCs have to say, it's the only thing on their mind. Also, you've heard the meme about the Minutemen wanting you to go save a settlement for the nth time, right? The Brotherhood of Steel are ten times worse, oh my fucking god. Then you have the Railroad, who try to be secretive but fail massively and are here to be Understood or Misunderstood, no middle ground.
At last, there's the Institute. Again, this is a spoiler free review, so I can't say much about them. They're the boogeymen who kidnap people, or whatever. It doesn't seem to happen under your watch, so they're very mysterious. I will be honest and say that pre-discovery of what the Institute is, they were a good source of motivation of going through the game. After that, well...
Much like Fallout 3, the writing is a case of Yes vs. No. Do you want to do this thing and not add your own ideological nuance to it? Go ahead, Fallout 4 is great at doing that. Just do what's told in your path, and I'm sure you'll do just fine. Pick your favorite faction and listen, don't debate.
Ah, but what about the gameplay? It's surprisingly easy to be extremely overpowered. I have, mind you, completed one DLC story mid-playthrough, which has made me very, very strong, with big weapons and increased levels (not that that has done much). By the time that happened, I was getting bored really quick, and playing anything other than the main story has become more and more of a chore. The loop is ultimately stale. At the beginning of the game, you do get a great sequence of events, teaching you the things you can do, like handle settlements, have companions and dealing with Power Suits. I've done one of those things (it's the Power Suits) eventually and, other than requirements for some quests, handled settlements. Initially, it felt like a good gameplay loop: Explore, scavenge, fight, settle. It had more or less one more point in the loop than 3's, so that meant the game had a bit more variety put into it! Eventually, you realize that it's extremely optional and optimizing settlements doesn't lead anywhere storyline-wise. If you like to craft and manage these settlements, I'm obliged to tell you that the functions for that are frustrating at times, but still functional enough that you can have some fun with it. It's not my cup of tea, but I know it'd be a delicious cup for some. And so, we're back at the tediousness of Fallout's open world loop: Explore, scavenge, fight. It gets tiresome fast and, without any very remarkable landmarks, you tend to forego the exploration part of the game and, once you get very strong (and you will), you will want to forego scavenging. Where does that leave us?
Also, for some reason, the devs really wanted to make your character go through a slight cutscene if you ever wanted to handle a computer. It wasn't like that with the other games, so why here? You don't even do a funny slow walk to a door if you wanted to pick one, so why only computers? Why am I being pissy about it? It's because I softlocked at least a number of times equal to double digits because of that decision. (<-) Sarcasm: It's great for making you want to play more of the game. Oh, and the occasional game crashes, too. That was to be expected. Thank god for the decently implemented auto-save feature.
Fallout 4 is a game that I've had to fortify my resolve to, at the very least, beat it. I made it my goal to play nothing but that until I got to the end of one playthrough, lest I open another game and send the toy to the box at the end of the storage room. It's a sign that Bethesda will never learn, but we never know, maybe they will with their next iteration... which is what I would never had said, even pre-76, and we all know what happened with that game.
Fallout 4 is painful. It's a game that, once again with Bethesda, they do not get it. The writing is ass, the gameplay systems are wonky at best and the stability is as bad as my ADD-addled goldfish memory. "It just works" is a stretch, but it's still the truth. The painfulness of Fallout 3 radiates (hah) through 4, with its forceful decision making and RPG mechanics that dumb down what could make the game enjoyable. Dare I mention New Vegas here? I just did: It's inevitable to do the comparison. The adopted brother is doing much, much better at school than you are, 4.
But I'm not ultimately here to compare with New Vegas. I'm here to assess Fallout 4 as is. As is, being, that I did not install a single mod on it, not even performance enhancers. Bethesda shipped a game, and I shall play it. Simple as. Was it regretful, that I refused to modify my game so that it wouldn't crash or softlock on silly occasions? No. I knew it was just part of the Bethesda experience. I was prepared for it.
I will, however, go back on my word to say that I will compare this game with Fallout 3, as it is impossible to review Fallout 4 without mentioning Fallout 3 if you've played Fallout 3 already, even if it is but an inch of it, like I did.
Let's start with Fallout's loved(?) RPG system: It's a mess. Bethesda really thought that simplifying the stats and perks to be melded together would make gameplay more enjoyable. I don't know who's smoking what, but it stinks bad. It's a system that warrants less importance to stats while... increasing... stats. More of the same ol' is provided to you: Would you like a crumb of increased damage? Of course, you can vary your gameplay: Simply increase your damage output for a certain weapon type of choice by a slight percentage. That's variety, right? My character is now raised as a damage dealer, rather than be a damage dealer, or perhaps even a damage dealer, maybe with a side of "I pay less at shops now". Fallout 3 did that, too, by having both stats and perks assigned to dealing more damage. Instead of dealing with two types of points systems to further increase your DPS, you get one. How innovative. Oh, but there's more than just combat for these perks, right? You get to put points on being able to craft more damage dealers, or perhaps bypass certain points of the game so you can get to deal damage earlier. Oh, but what about those "unique" weapons, which cannot be scrapped but they do more damage! I'm feeling the variety on this game, oh my! I'm oversimplifying my explanation of the problem, but I guess that makes two of us, now.
How about the writing? I'm sure Bethesda learned from their problems with assigning threads of fate to your main character, right? Nah, it's still there. My playthrough was intended to be "Just this person looking for their son, while avoiding unnecessary trouble", but of course, it's the wasteland: You're expected to run into trouble. But what about trouble that you could, you know, prevent by yourself, by decisions that only you could affect? Perhaps you know where I'm going with this if you've played this game already. This review is as spoiler free as I'll try. I might spoil a few things, but I'll serve these as warnings for what you might get into, if you wanted to play the game for yourself.
Factions are, once again from 3, single minded. The one track mind is the easiest track mind to write when you can let the bigger mind do the tracking (that's you). Factions are resolute and unyielding. If they have an opinion, you're not talking them down on it. Diplomacy is never the option. You start the game learning about the Minutemen, who are just kinda there because they want to protect and, uh, serve, I guess. They're like an NCR lite, they just aren't big enough to become the NCR yet. Then, you got the Brotherhood of Steel. Oh hell yeah, the Brotherhood of Steel! The guys you see on the box art! They're so cool and prevalent within the Fallout lore! I can't wait to... reads script be very racist with them? Go listen to what the important and nonimportant NPCs have to say, it's the only thing on their mind. Also, you've heard the meme about the Minutemen wanting you to go save a settlement for the nth time, right? The Brotherhood of Steel are ten times worse, oh my fucking god. Then you have the Railroad, who try to be secretive but fail massively and are here to be Understood or Misunderstood, no middle ground.
At last, there's the Institute. Again, this is a spoiler free review, so I can't say much about them. They're the boogeymen who kidnap people, or whatever. It doesn't seem to happen under your watch, so they're very mysterious. I will be honest and say that pre-discovery of what the Institute is, they were a good source of motivation of going through the game. After that, well...
Much like Fallout 3, the writing is a case of Yes vs. No. Do you want to do this thing and not add your own ideological nuance to it? Go ahead, Fallout 4 is great at doing that. Just do what's told in your path, and I'm sure you'll do just fine. Pick your favorite faction and listen, don't debate.
Ah, but what about the gameplay? It's surprisingly easy to be extremely overpowered. I have, mind you, completed one DLC story mid-playthrough, which has made me very, very strong, with big weapons and increased levels (not that that has done much). By the time that happened, I was getting bored really quick, and playing anything other than the main story has become more and more of a chore. The loop is ultimately stale. At the beginning of the game, you do get a great sequence of events, teaching you the things you can do, like handle settlements, have companions and dealing with Power Suits. I've done one of those things (it's the Power Suits) eventually and, other than requirements for some quests, handled settlements. Initially, it felt like a good gameplay loop: Explore, scavenge, fight, settle. It had more or less one more point in the loop than 3's, so that meant the game had a bit more variety put into it! Eventually, you realize that it's extremely optional and optimizing settlements doesn't lead anywhere storyline-wise. If you like to craft and manage these settlements, I'm obliged to tell you that the functions for that are frustrating at times, but still functional enough that you can have some fun with it. It's not my cup of tea, but I know it'd be a delicious cup for some. And so, we're back at the tediousness of Fallout's open world loop: Explore, scavenge, fight. It gets tiresome fast and, without any very remarkable landmarks, you tend to forego the exploration part of the game and, once you get very strong (and you will), you will want to forego scavenging. Where does that leave us?
Also, for some reason, the devs really wanted to make your character go through a slight cutscene if you ever wanted to handle a computer. It wasn't like that with the other games, so why here? You don't even do a funny slow walk to a door if you wanted to pick one, so why only computers? Why am I being pissy about it? It's because I softlocked at least a number of times equal to double digits because of that decision. (<-) Sarcasm: It's great for making you want to play more of the game. Oh, and the occasional game crashes, too. That was to be expected. Thank god for the decently implemented auto-save feature.
Fallout 4 is a game that I've had to fortify my resolve to, at the very least, beat it. I made it my goal to play nothing but that until I got to the end of one playthrough, lest I open another game and send the toy to the box at the end of the storage room. It's a sign that Bethesda will never learn, but we never know, maybe they will with their next iteration... which is what I would never had said, even pre-76, and we all know what happened with that game.