Fallout 4: An Oppo PC Review

"wiffleballtony" (wiffleballtony) 11/19/2015 at 09:33 • Filed to: None

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By PC, I mean Personal Computer, not Politically Correct. I am not a professional proceed at your own risk.

As stated, I am playing on the PC, of my own design. I have put around 30 hours into it so far and I felt like sharing my feelings on my experience so far. I am playing at a pedestrian 1920x1080, Ultra Quality and full AA/AF. Relevant specs are AMD Vishera 8320 8 core at 3.5 GHZ, AMD 7850 2 GB and 8 GB RAM. This is by no means a beastly machine but it’s respectable for the resolution I’m using.

Graphics: Fallout 4s predecessors weren’t exactly juggernauts of visual fidelity. Fallout 3s graphical quality ranged from poor to adequate. Fallout New Vegas ranged from adequate to acceptable. Fallout 4 on the other hand is actually good looking. The Creation engine adopted from Skyrim does a good job at rendering the world. Textures are vibrant and clear. Environmental effects are convincing. Frame rates are smooth. The Commonwealth is a great place to explore as a result. However what continues to be a low point is the spotty quality on NPCs. This really only is noticeable during conversations.

Sound: I find this to be a traditional high point in the series. Bethesda continues to create amazing ambiance in the retro future through the radio in your Pip Boy and even just the ambient music. Weapon noises are satisfying. As is some of the inane NPC chatter.

Gameplay: There are a number of changes and additions in this sequel, some of them are good, some of them not so good in my opinion. The main fault I find in this area comes down to the lack of explanation as to the new features. The biggest addition is the introduction of player generated settlements. This gives the player opportunity to make a more visible impact on the environment than you could previously. Where that gets complicated is that there are a lot of things that can be built, but no real introduction on how to do so. There is also an in depth crafting system which allows modification to weapons and armor. At least most of it doesnt degrade anymore. Personalization is great and I love adding scopes to things. However, combining the settlements and modifications together and you’re turned into a human vacuum cleaner, slowly emptying the Commonwealth of its Wonder glue and Desk fans instead of exploring. The next big change is that Power Armor is no longer treated as equip able armor, it’s essentially a vehicle that runs off a finite resource. In theory this should make using Power Armor an occasion and special instead of just end game gear. In my experience, I just never end up using it, just like all those potions in Skyrim, because I’m always saving it for when I “really need it”, which never happens. That’s also because I don’t know that I need it until in 3 floors deep in a Super Mutant infested vault and it’s too late. Ultimately this just makes the game more tense. Then there is VATS, which no longer stops time. It slows it down to what feels like half speed. I suppose this is to add urgency, but it kind of removes some of the RPG element, most of the time I end up ignoring VATS and playing as a straight up FPS, more like Borderlands, which doesnt detract from the game in anyway. Also in VATS, critical hits are queued up not random. Commodities like ammunition and health items are in general less frequently found which makes the game feel more survivalesque. I haven’t experienced any major bugs, just the usual Bethesda oddities which are more humurous than game breaking. The perk system is much more transparent as you can see all of the perks you could get to. Ultimately, any of the changes that you don’t like are easily ignored and you can really play your own way.

Final thoughts: Best modern Fallout so far by miles. The Commonwealth is beautiful and you can make a difference out there. Fallout 4 feels faster paced and more tense than its predecessors. Definitely worth the money.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 09:44

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I’ve been having a lot of fun. My most-used weapon has probably been a double-barrel, but the sniper I’m carrying around has been steadily creeping up its percentage, and I love having a multi-crank laser musket. I need to go make a special tailored five-crank one... Also, have you cleared out Hubris Comics yet? Also also, have you found “Swan’s Pond?”.

wiffleballtony > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 09:53

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My favorite its a Tactical Sniper Rifle I found. Im sporting some Brotherhood of Steel combat armor I found in a National Guard outpost. Though I juggle like 8 weapons as I burn through ammo. I think I cleared Hubris Comics which I found en route to a quest. Thats where you find Grognak armor? Interesting place. I will look for Swans pond.

djmt1 > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 09:53

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I disagree, New Vegas is better.

The dialogue system in this game is unbelievably bad and it really strips the companions of any character.

The vast majority of the sides quests follow the same formula of speak to quest giver, go to location, kill boss, press button/grab item, return to quest giver.

The way the game utterly strips you of control in the final act is insulting to say the least. The most powerful person in the Commonwealth reduced to a lackey again.

Plus exploring isn’t worth it. You never find anything worth more than all the ammo & stimpaks you used to clear a place out.

I think Fallout 4 is a very good game but it’s a shit Fallout game.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 09:53

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Quite. I got it for xbone last night, and it's very fun.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 09:57

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I’ve been mostly wearing light leather and using ambush tactics, which has been mostly fine but made the fight against Kidnapper Baldy (whose name I forget) harder than it ought to have been. Thanks, Combat Shotgun! Yep, Hubris Comics contains the Grognak outfit and axe, and is tied up in the Silver Shroud quest stuff. Swan’s pond is right in the middle of Boston Common, and contains... “ Swan ”. If you want to be surprised and possibly pee your kilt, don’t read the link, just go there.

jariten1781 > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 09:57

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I’m playing on the Xbone and only have 5 or six hours in so far...but there’s some super obnoxious bugs that drive me nuts.

I play unarmed (for whatever reason I’ve played 3 and NV unarmed so it’s stuck) and they added (at least I think they were added, if they were in the old games they didn’t have these problems) these kill animations where you break peoples necks or chuck them on the ground and pound their face.

They’re flawed in and of themselves because you’re vulnerable during them so if the game decides to choke kill a raider while you’re in the line of a turret or whatever you’ve just become a bullet sponge. Before I could sprint out staying in front of the turret or other enemy’s fire, take the guy out, then get back to cover. Now I have to draw them over and around behind cover before I can dispatch them or risk it going into that animation which is likely death or at least will cause me to waste a healing item...it’s slowed things down a ton.

But worse...about one of five times it kicks into that animation your guy becomes locked afterwards. Only thing you can do is cycle in and out of Pip-boy. Only way to clear it is cycle third person view a bunch of times then it’ll give you control back.

Kinda heart breaking...

wiffleballtony > djmt1 11/19/2015 at 10:00

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I loved New Vegas, played it through twice.

I’ve been using Dogmeat and his dialog is excellent.

I don’t remember any of the side quests in any of the games being terribly rewarding. I always found exploring to be the best part. As for the gear, sometimes you’ll find something great, sometimes you dont.

wiffleballtony > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 10:02

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I’ve been avoiding most of the storyline so far. I haven’t done any Silver Shroud stuff, came across Hubris by accident. I’m playing largely a sniper.

wiffleballtony > jariten1781 11/19/2015 at 10:04

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I always felt they did a crap job of unarmed. The fact you couldn’t target body parts was an instant non starter for me.

djmt1 > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 10:05

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I’ll be honest. I don’t really use gear. I have 30+ fusion cores so I just roll around in fully upgraded power armour punching things to death. The game is a lot less tense this time around but then again I play unarmed in Fallout anyway and this play style is a lot more fun in 4.

wiffleballtony > djmt1 11/19/2015 at 10:08

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That’s pretty funny actually. I have a nocturnal punching glove that I found that would be great for unarmed.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 10:08

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Summary: Hubris Comics, if you read all the terminals therein, was involved in the process of attempting to create a movie based on a popular radio series based on a comic. The whole thing was finally starting to gel in a typical Hollywood nobody-satisfied kind of way when the bombs fell. On the top floor is a prop silver tommy gun and a silver-gray trenchcoat/fedora ensemble. In that area you can pick up a “Silver Shroud radio” signal. The long and short of it is, you can wear the outfit and end up doing a mysterious comic book hero avenger type series of quests as The Silver Shroud.

Also, Nick Valentine, a character requiring a little advancement in the main quest, is a great companion. He likes it when you terminal hack, a lot. OTOH, he disapproves of cannabalism. BOOOO

wiffleballtony > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 10:12

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I’ll go back there and actually look at the terminals. I almost never read them, I just look for door open prompts or turret disables etc.

Jayhawk Jake > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 10:15

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The main story ended up being disappointing. Interesting concept, nice twist in the middle, then really nothing happened.

jariten1781 > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 10:16

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That doesn’t bug me too much. If you’re not killing them in a single flurry you’re going to die anyway. If I need to take out legs or whatever because they’re too high level for a single run I’ll draw them across mines.

Jayhawk Jake > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 10:16

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Did you know you can name your weapons?

My go-to gun is Righteous Authority, which is a gun you get from Lieutenant Danse. It now lights enemies on fire and 4 hits fill the crit meter. I also have a nice .50 cal hunting rifle called ‘Wesley Snipes’

Jayhawk Jake > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 10:17

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How did I miss that?! I went in Hubris Comics but didn’t find the outfit. Or maybe I did and sold it...I hope not

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 10:36

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The terminals always have some kind of psychotic thing going on. In ArcJet Industries, the whole company was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy until they miraculously landed a contract for a mars rocket engine. Many failures and lies later, they actually had a working booster ready to go - then the bombs fell. In vaults, there’s usually a lot of description of the vault experiment and just how things went wrong. Vault 114, for example, had the vault experiment of “cram a whole bunch of Boston Brahmins together in shitty living conditions after promising them luxury, and make sure they don’t have a strong leader”. Unlike a lot of the experiments, that one didn’t appear to have resulted in the vault melting down into chaos, though there was a skeleton of somebody who’d been jammed in a locker...

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jayhawk Jake 11/19/2015 at 10:38

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I have Righteous Authority, but I’ve honestly been using a combat rifle more since I haven’t modded the hell out of it yet. I did just get “Science!”, though... I really should make my dream laser musket and call it the Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jayhawk Jake 11/19/2015 at 10:40

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The outfit is on a mannequin. Because it’s a quest item, it’s actually sale protected, probably until you start the quest line. The silver tommy gun prop is behind the test screen. There’s also a picture of the Silver Shroud (which I haven’t found yet) and a script.

Jayhawk Jake > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 10:46

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Did you read the terminals in Vault 114?

That might be my new favorite Vault experiment: Take Boston’s mega-rich elite, give them shitty living quarters, and make the overseer and inexperienced leader who has a problem with authority.

Jayhawk Jake > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 10:47

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I must have overlooked a lot of stuff there. I’ll have to go back. I finished the main quest last night and I’m currently debating whether I want to continue this save or make a new one focused on settlement building.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jayhawk Jake 11/19/2015 at 10:53

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And yet... almost nobody appears to have died. Apart from the skeleton in a locker.

spanfucker retire bitch > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 11:05

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Best moment ever in a Fallout game has been in Fallout 4 (and I’ve put in over 250 hours collectively into Fallout 3 and Fallout: NV).

I was about 15 hours in (I’m about 30 hours in total as well) and I was assaulting a Gunners base in power armor. After I took out the outer guards, I entered the pre-war ruin and what just happened to come on my Pipboy radio at that exact moment.

Mother. Fucking. Flight of the Valkyries. I then spent the entirety of the song mowing down Gunners mercenaries with my 5mm Minigun.

I don’t throw the word “epic” around very often due to how overused it is, but those few minutes in that game were truly epic. I probably couldn’t recreate that moment again if I tried.

wiffleballtony > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 11:07

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I’ve noticed that each Vault is basically a science expiriment. Seems to be a theme. I think I was in ArcJet, was it full of Super Mutants?

Apart from what happens to your character at the beginning of the game, the saddest thing I ran across was an underground shelter in a junkyard. Inside I found two skeletons on a mattress, supposedly hugging on another. And behind a wall I found two graves where they buried their kids. Marked with a baseball glove and a teddy bear. Hit pretty close to home.

wiffleballtony > spanfucker retire bitch 11/19/2015 at 11:11

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For me it’s hard to find a specific moment. These games really all have this grand adventure and exploration vibe to them. Love it.

Jayhawk Jake > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 11:14

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It never went fully operational. I don’t think there were even any residents.

Jayhawk Jake > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 11:18

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That’s the whole point: the Vaults are all a different social experiment. There was actually a movie treatment written which revealed that it was Vault-Tec’s CEO who set off the first bomb to start the war that ended it all in order to fulfill his own prophecy of a nuclear holocaust.

If you find the vault list on the Fallout wiki it tells you all the experiments of the 113 known Vaults (114 was a surprise in this game, it wasn’t supposed to exist).

There’s a few simple experiments, like Vault 101 from FO3 which was simply a vault that would never be opened. There was one vault in FO3 populated entirely with clones of a man named Gary. There was apparently one vault with 99 women and 1 man, and a sister vault with 99 men and 1 woman.

Arcjet is overrun with Synths, not mutants, btw. You go there with Paladin Danse after meeting him at the Commonwealth police station.

spanfucker retire bitch > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 11:20

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I shit my pants at Swan’s pond, but I luckily managed to trigger Swan without being seen.

Let me tell you, a 6-crank laser musket is no fucking joke. Especially when you’re hidden and you get a bonus multiplier for a sneak attack.

Swan didn’t know what was coming.

FazeRacer > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/19/2015 at 11:21

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Kellogg kept killing me so I finally got pissed off and used a Fat Man on him. My level was a little low for that fight.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > wiffleballtony 11/19/2015 at 11:23

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ArcJet was full of synths. Whichever is full of super mutants I haven’t visited yet. Regarding grim little tableaus, there are a lot of suicide ones, and a couple where somebody just drank themselves to death or similar. On the other hand, there are some great little comedy ones. Like a teddy bear sitting on the john with spectacles and a newspaper.

As to science experiments in Vaults, it’s quite explicit, all the way from at least Fallout 2 if not 1. The water chip failure in 1, I think, was an engineered scarcity scenario. 111s experiment was long-term cryo, one of the vaults in 3 was plugging people into a simulation in suspended animation, another in 3 was based on human experimentation (east coast/capitol “dumb” Super Mutants), another was a radiation test (deliberately defective vault door), another was a plant experimentation-but-mostly-control vault that went tits-up, another was a “needs of the many” vault requiring a sacrifice once per year, and of course 101 was an authority and isolation experiment. There were a good number of control or semi-control vaults, but the really fucked up ones are the ones you encounter a lot, because they’re mostly unplundered. The one under New Vegas was mostly a control.

Penny-Arcade did a guest strip series which is alluded to in New Vegas and can be assumed semi-canon, in which a vault experiment was based on isolating a single guy with several crates of puppets.

wiffleballtony > Jayhawk Jake 11/19/2015 at 11:24

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Guess I haven’t been there. I’ve only ran across a couple Synths and haven’t met Danse yet.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jayhawk Jake 11/19/2015 at 11:27

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If I remember correctly, the Gary vault was supposed to be a cloning experiment, but not of quite that form. It just ended up that Gary clones (degenerating with each generation - c.f. “Ha Ha, Gaaary”) dominated the rest and tribe’d together, continuing to duplicate.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jayhawk Jake 11/19/2015 at 11:30

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It may not have been fully operational as a proper Vault-Tec operation, but I think it did end up functioning as a shelter in some capacity. There are some signs of being lived in that I think extend past the raiders, gangsters, and riffraff. The crew manifests for different sections were funny if a bit sick: Family with five kids + single dude, young couple with dog (to be denied) in with a couple with kids, and so on.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > FazeRacer 11/19/2015 at 11:33

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Considering I’d got my first Fat Man only a little earlier in the base, and had Valentine carrying it for me... combat shotgun it was. I’m quite sure power armor would have settled Kellogg’s hash, not to mention a minigun, but despite having some 30 cores, I didn’t really feel like going to get a set.