Let's Follow Up: Fallout 4
Fallout 4 has been out for a number of months now. Since then, there have been somewhere around 3 patches, talks about the future DLC and season pass, and some more conversation about what was done right and wrong. Last time we spoke about it, I had only put about 13 hours into the game. I’ve now been playing it for about 80 hours, so I definitely feel like I know the game a little better. I’m here to talk about the experience, now that I’m good and settled. Time to kick the fires and light the tires, people.
More like Fallout: 4get-this-game, right? Right? Hello? Is this thing on?
This is a huge amount of story missions to program. Maybe we should focus on the less-is-more approach.
Fallout 4 has a story, and clearly somebody put a lot of work into thinking about how the various factions would meld with the overall narrative. Thing is, I don’t think it worked out. Giving the player four different factions to side with just means that you’re spreading the butter really thinly instead of giving us a nice pat right in the middle of the toast.Because the designers decided to work with 4 factions, they had to create leaders, foot soldiers, bases, and quests for all of them, meaning we just up with various radiant quests that have zero story impact or memorable rewards. Story isn’t really a huge part of why I play games, but there comes a point where Fallout 4’s story doesn’t feel purposefully sparse, like in Dark Souls, but more half-ass, like in Daikatana. I mentioned this in another piece, but the ludo-narrative dissonance in Fallout 4 is utterly insane, at least with the main quests. The designers actually did a really good job with the settlement defense quests, which are timed, so you have to hurry to deal with them. But the main quest will keep harping on in your face about how it’s so urgent that you find your son right the hell now, but you can piss off and build a giant wooden robot-house with flamethrowers for eyes in your settlement and nothing changes. It seems like all they would have to do is make things a little less urgent sounding, and then the issue just drops out.
Fallout 4 is an “action role-playing game”, but I feel like you could take serious issue with the back half of that statement. While yes, you level up, and there are quests to do and gear to be found, a lot of elements have been stripped out. I mentioned the speech system in my first impressions, but it’s also evident in the lack of gear, meaningful customization, and quests. Yes, you can modify your weapons, but almost all the mods make very little in the way of change. Almost every weapon has the same general set of modifications. There’s an automatic, semi-automatic, and shotgun options, damage increasing internal components, different stocks, and maybe a bayonet option.
Despite the large number of options for modifications, there's only two actual options on this screen: semi-automatic and automatic.
Most of the more interesting weapons are the legendary weapons, which you get from defeating legendary enemies. Some of the weapons do more damage to enemies who haven’t seen you, or fire two shots instead of one, but with seriously increased recoil. Maybe the developers were thinking that exploration should be more rewarding than modifying your weapons, but it kind of falls flat. What about an option that would let you overcharge your laser weapons to deliver a much more powerful shot, but with a massive cooldown time, or maybe the ability add a grenade launcher to an assault rifle? Basically, make things more unique, instead of giving all weapons the same treatment.
This kind of weapon can really change how you play the game. In this case, you might try to focus more on sniping and stealth, rather than running-and-gunning.
The same holds true for armor. Most of the modifications there are just “armor gets better.” There are some more interesting ones that reduce melee damage when blocking, or increase aim stability, but they’re far and few between. There’s also a very strong hierarchy of armor, which makes it really annoying when you upgrade your early-game armor only to find better pieces down the road. Maybe the different kinds of armor should offer different benefits that make them more viable throughout the game, like leather armor increasing movement speed, or metal armor dealing damage to anybody to melee attacks you.
There is also little to point to focusing on any non-combat perks. Lockpicking and hacking do little besides open safes that have the same assortment of items, or perhaps open a door that you’ll find the open button for later in the level. Usually these skills would open up new paths, or change how you play the game, but not in this case. It’s not much of an RPG if there aren’t roles to play, you know? Also, while we’re on the subject, why are the Lockpicking and hacking minigames the same exact ones that we say in Fallout 3/Fallout: New Vegas. Why is this game the same game with a new coat of paint!? Even the engine is the same engine as Skyrim, which came out 5 years ago!
All of the above is annoying, for sure, but my biggest bone to pick with Fallout 4 is actually the settlements. Settlements, and the making thereof, are hugely emphasized in the game. One of the first quests you get is a tutorial teaching you process, and if you spend any time with the Minutemen, you’ll end up building a bunch of them. Here’s my issue: there’s no point to any of it. Settlements offer no advantage, whether the inhabitants are happy or miserable. You can build shops that operate in your settlement that give you some money, but since there’s nothing to buy that’s better than what you find by killing legendary enemies, what’s the point? It’s a huge subsystem in the game, but at the end of the day, it’s a waste of time, resources, and developer hours. I didn’t ignore settlements in my first playthrough, either. I had a fair number up and running, they were all linked, had the required foods/shelters/etc., and I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. It’s frustrating that it’s such an emphasized part of the game with very little to show from it. Honestly, it seems like it should have been downloadable content, rather than a bullet on the back of the box.
Cool? Yes. Any impact on gameplay? Nope. I really can't understand why so much time was spent on this, rather than fleshing out the rest of the game.
Worth Playing?
No.
Honestly, nothing got better the more I played the game. The combat, as mentioned in the first impressions, is definitely the best it’s been, but everything else here is a downgrade from the earlier games. The story is half-assed, the RPG elements are nonexistent, and the settlements are useless. Maybe the next game will be better, this one certainly sold enough to warrant a sequel, but I doubt it. Going with the current trend of Bethesda RPGs, the next game will just start you off with power armor and a Fat Man nuke launcher.