FALLOUT 4

[Travis Sheldon]

Since I saw some movement in this thread, I decided to start playing on my PS5.

Since I've never played before, I'm going with vanilla version.

Want to get a feel for things before I go modding and changing things.

Only cleaned out the first town and still trying to get my Bethesda legs back under me.

Is VATS gone?

[Craig H]

Hold circle to bring up VATS.

[cwoy2j]

Also, VATS doesn't completely stop time like it did in the previous games. It slows things down but opponents still move.

[Contentious C]

God, if VATS were gone, I doubt I'd even play the game.  I'm the King of Cheap Shot Gauss Rifling from 200+ Yards.  It's what I typically try to speedrun: skip *every* possible location and settlement besides Diamond City, start working on little bullshit with Piper until I get her perk and level to 30-40, and then buy the first Gauss I can from any vendor who might carry it.

[Death From Above]

All the luck stuff that boosts criticals in VATS is so gloriously broken. 1% to hit normally? lol

[Craig H]

I had to turn off all mods because Far Harbor would crash every 10 steps or so. So without Wasteland Redux, I found tons of stimpacks. It also took me quite a while to finish up Far Harbor.

[Death From Above]

Heads up that there's now a version 2 of America Rising out which is the Enclave focussed mod, I'm not that deep into it yet but it's even more fleshed out than the original and feels good.

[Craig H]

I have spent 2 fucking days. 2 whole days. In Vault 88. What is wrong with me?

EDIT: Honestly, I just need to finish this game. I have played it twice as long as Starfield or Elden Ring. I'm simply astonished by the amount of content there is in FO4. It really does dwarf what's in Starfield, which is odd, because Starfield is in a fucking galaxy. The amount of stories and real, shit, I don't know what choice to make scenarios I have been involved in or stumbled into is insane. The only thing I could compare it to is the Witcher 3. There's honestly no reason for me to waste so much time in Vault 88 or keep defending this settlement or that settlement. I have the quest to go to the Glowing Sea, which I understand is the endgame or close to it.

Weirdly enough, there's still a lot I remember from my first time playing it that I haven't come across yet, like Strong, last flight of the USS Constitution, etc. Hell, I only just found my first super sledgehammer, which I didn't need because I have Atom's Judgment.

And it's by necessity because I'm playing with the Wasteland Redux patch, but I have the cannibalism perk which is great to constantly refill on health since Stimpacks aren't abundant. My Science and Chems are also high enough for me to make Stimpacks and Radaway, but finding mats for them like blood bags or glowing mushrooms aren't easy to find.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Craig H

[Contentious C]

Glowing Sea is pretty close to mid-game if anything. It depends a bit on how you've handled factions. 

I always got wrapped up in settlements for long enough that dissatisfaction would set in: knowing I *could* make them look grandiose but never managing to make it look in the game the way I saw it in my mind. 88 is one of the worst offenders in that respect, since the areas allegedly hook up but are fraught with little errors that make it impossible in the vanilla DLC. 

I suppose I could have started downloading pre-planned settlement builds, but that felt like a step too far.

[Craig H]

My god. I spent even more time setting up supply lines for about 3 hours.

[Contentious C]

How'd you do them?  I found myself generally pretty happy with a multi-hub setup.  Pick 5 or 6 locations on the map that aren't good for settlers - Murkwater; Mechanist, Hangman's Alley; the first Red Rocket; a couple others - and then only outfit them with robot settlers to act as the supply lines. Typically a good reason to do the Mechanist quest semi-early, even if it is kinda tough in a couple of spots.  Means you get jack in the way of happiness from those places, but you can cram more actual people into the places you want to put the work into getting bigger and happier.  I've seen a few crazy people only use Mechanist as the lone hub, but I can only imagine how godawful that would be if you actually tried to *do* anything inside the workshop zone.

Granted, I say this as the guy who got the Vault-Tec Rep killed outside Goodneighbor on my last playthrough and hasn't managed to ever get Lucas or any other high-end trader into one of my own settlements.  Best I ever did was Rylee.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Contentious C

[Death From Above]

On 11/27/2023 at 7:25 AM, Death From Above said:

Heads up that there's now a version 2 of America Rising out which is the Enclave focussed mod, I'm not that deep into it yet but it's even more fleshed out than the original and feels good.

I'm far enough into this now that I'm pretty comfortable calling it one of the two absolutely essential mods for adding content, along with Sim Settlements 2. The first version of the mod was fine but this is just a much more refined and better version with improved custom graphics as opposed to using existing assets, new unique locations, etc. If you're looking to do an evil playthrouhgh this is the one. The Enclave as always are the "ends justify the means" faction with the added bonus of having clear goals instead of the Institute's "we're building synths because... uh, we're building synths". An oil rig base, new Enclave equipment, a really well done mission chain including proper integration with the main story so you can't progress past certain points until it's lore appropriate, solid voice actors, the opporunity to do just enough scummy shit to remind you that you're not the heroes without beating you over the head with it every second, this is just great.

I just do my Fallout 4 modding through the in game menu but if you're a Nexus person here is the link you have no excuses: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/75767

[Craig H]

21 hours ago, Contentious C said:

How'd you do them?  I found myself generally pretty happy with a multi-hub setup.  Pick 5 or 6 locations on the map that aren't good for settlers - Murkwater; Mechanist, Hangman's Alley; the first Red Rocket; a couple others - and then only outfit them with robot settlers to act as the supply lines. Typically a good reason to do the Mechanist quest semi-early, even if it is kinda tough in a couple of spots.  Means you get jack in the way of happiness from those places, but you can cram more actual people into the places you want to put the work into getting bigger and happier.  I've seen a few crazy people only use Mechanist as the lone hub, but I can only imagine how godawful that would be if you actually tried to *do* anything inside the workshop zone.

Granted, I say this as the guy who got the Vault-Tec Rep killed outside Goodneighbor on my last playthrough and hasn't managed to ever get Lucas or any other high-end trader into one of my own settlements.  Best I ever did was Rylee.

I found a video where a guy showed 3 good ways of doing supply routes and I went with the constellation version which I guess is like the multi-hub setup. That video also talked about having everything go to the Mechanist, which seems bizarre. He thinks it's the best for him.

[Contentious C]

We saw the same video, then.  I was just as flabbergasted as you by that.  I suppose what I'm doing is a little between Community Hub & Constellation.

A couple of other channels that occasionally have reliable content are Grey Gaming and the mostly-retired-but-ridiculously-useful Skooled Zone.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Contentious C

[Craig H]

The reason I thought I was near the end game when I had to go to the Glowing Sea was that I had spent a fuck ton of hours doing quests and some of those were bigger quests that I figured had to be part of the main story. I’m now at the Institute, while aligned with the Railroad, and a character I won’t name wants me to attack Bunker Hill. At the same time it feels like I’m on the verge of leading a freedom revolt at another location. Oh, and I’m also spilling the beans on what the Institute wants me to do.

So, uh, how long is this game FFS? If I’m not close to the end now then I don’t know what to expect because there are starting to be too many story threads getting tangled up.

But it has been a fantastic story and I’d put this on par with the Witcher 3 for one of the best worlds and stories I’ve played.

[Contentious C]

Bunker Hill is pretty much where things streamline.  It's arguably the single biggest point of no return in the game.

[Craig H]

I think I broke it and probably need to reload a save. I went to Bunker Hill, met up with a Courser, killed him, that kicked off a big fight, killed the white synths, went down in the basement, fought my way through there, found the synths hiding down there, but nothing happened. I’m supposed to meet up with a character at the CIT ruins so I suppose I’ll do that just to see what happens. Weirdly enough, I also killed a bunch of brotherhood dudes and after every one I killed, they never fought back, they just stood there and took it. 

Also, Tim can fuck off with his endless quests of putting MILA sensors all over the commonwealth.

[tbarrie]

5 hours ago, Craig H said:

I think I broke it and probably need to reload a save. I went to Bunker Hill, met up with a Courser, killed him, that kicked off a big fight, killed the white synths, went down in the basement, fought my way through there, found the synths hiding down there, but nothing happened. I’m supposed to meet up with a character at the CIT ruins so I suppose I’ll do that just to see what happens.

Hmm. You may have broken it, yeah. I've never tried killing that courser immediately. 

5 hours ago, Craig H said:

Weirdly enough, I also killed a bunch of brotherhood dudes and after every one I killed, they never fought back, they just stood there and took it.

Well, that's the Brotherhood. When you're hunting them for sport and run into a randomly spawning group and you pick them off one by one, the rest just stand there. Even fucking Raiders are smart enough to go on high alert and (usually futilely) try to find the person responsible when one of their buddies suddenly takes a bullet in the head. But not those Brotherhood bozos.

(And to be fair, I've always assumed that if I wasn't Hidden when I started killing them the rest would become hostile and start fighting back. But maybe not.)

[Craig H]

I did it. Finally beat it. I feel like I’m good with the good ending I got and it’s time to go back to the first Spider-Man game to beat that before I potentially get 2 for Christmas.

Great game though, even if it repeatedly crashed the closer I got to the end and combat was a no brainer. I was just in heavily modded PA the whole time and acting like One Punch Man. Only time I used a Gun was to take out turrets I couldn’t reach with my fist.

[Craig H]

I also realized this morning that Starfield is the first BGS game I actually finished and FO4 is now the second.

Despite a 100+ hour playtime for this playthrough, there was a lot I skipped. Far Harbor was the only DLC I did so I completely skipped Nuka World. I also didn’t do much in Diamond City because I did a ton there the first time I played the game when it came out. As much as I wanted to replay the USS Constitution, I left it alone preferring to not sully my memory of my favorite and funniest quest ever from just about any game.  I didn’t find any UFOs or seek them out. I left Vault 88 very barebones. And I didn’t really do much after what I did to the Institute aside from listening to the final tape from Shaun and visiting the heavily irradiated and underwater remains of the area where the CIT and Institute was.

One thing I’m unsure of is young Shaun. I don’t recall coming across any lore from terminals that said synths age, so I assume just like in Westworld, the age and size you’re created at is  what you will remain as until you’re destroyed.

I did think that they could have gone with a really evil ending that is basically ripped off of Westworld, although I guess if it actually happened then you could accuse Jonathan Nolan of ripping off FO4, which I learned from playing this he kind of did. I suppose it only makes sense for him to be the co showrunner of the FO series. Anyway, it would pretty evil to discover the Sole Survivor is actually a synth and after making it to the institute and taking it over, you set out to turn the world into what you want. Instead of the good ending and everything that comes with that, the endgame for the evil path would be going from one key point on the map after another and killing, kidnapping, and taking over the Commonwealth with an army of synths leading to a final battle against a combined Minutemen and Brotherhood. They ultimately lose, you win, time jump to where you’re older and bored of this sterile synth life so you execute a command to turn synths onto one another. You join the fight and it becomes a battle to see who is the last synth standing. Like I said, totally ripped off of the Westworld series, but it would be an interesting direction for a FO game to go in if you wanted to take an evil path. 

Sadly, it seems like after FO3 and I guess FONV, BGS/Todd Howard doesn’t have much interest in a completely evil path.

[tbarrie]

27 minutes ago, Craig H said:

One thing I’m unsure of is young Shaun. I don’t recall coming across any lore from terminals that said synths age, so I assume just like in Westworld, the age and size you’re created at is  what you will remain as until you’re destroyed.

It's a subject of debate. But in my mind, talking about "aging" as one thing is inaccurate - children growing to maturity and bodies slowly breaking down leading to inevitable death seem like different processes to me. I find it entirely plausible that the Institute couldn't duplicate the former; I find it considerably less plausible that they'd find a way a prevent the latter.

And there is some clear lore that synth Shaun won't mature - some background characters at the Institute can be heard talking about how it's sad that he'll be a child forever. Which is taken literally would mean synths don't age in any sense, but of course humans use "forever" to mean "your entire life" all the time. (My dental office talks about promoting habits that will lead to teeth which last forever. This seems unlikely to literally occur.)

So on the question of whether synths age in the bad sense, there's no clear answer in the game. My stance is that they do, not only because of how hard it would be to prevent that - the laws of thermodynamics are a bitch to circumvent - but because the game is clear that no medical test can distinguish a human from a Gen 3 synth. I don't see how you could make tissue that duplicates human tissue so thoroughly but that didn't age. (I also dismiss the idea that synths don't need to eat, even though there's apparently info in a terminal somewhere saying they don't.)

27 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Sadly, it seems like after FO3 and I guess FONV, BGS/Todd Howard doesn’t have much interest in a completely evil path.

Oh, I think you can be pretty evil in Fallout 4. You can side with the Institute, who are cartoonishly evil, or the Brotherhood, who are pretty racist. (Fantastic racists, admittedly, which is less odious than real racism. But that's a pretty low bar.) There's a fair bit of the game devoted to helping settlements, granted, but it's all completely optional. I've had playthroughs where the only settlements I controlled were ones where my PC needed a bed so she killed some settlers and took over the settlement. It's true that the dialogue trees don't give you the option to express a lack of interest in finding your son, though, so if you're playing a complete jerk who doesn't care about their kid at all you have to at least pretend. But then, the dialogue options are one of Fallout 4's biggest weak points in general.

 

[Craig H]

Now that you mention it, I do recall the first time you meet synth Shaun behind the glass that father tells you he’s a prototype. Maybe they figured something out but it’s entirely unproven because Father is also not going to be able to see the project through. When Shaun asks you to not leave him I let him come with me and accepted him because I thought what would a parent do, but I was half expecting BSG to throw in a video that would say, “hah hah, you fool, that was a test and you failed, he’s our real fail safe and he’s going to rebuild the Institute, lol good game well played!”

[Craig H]

Oh yeah, there is a terminal entry talking about how synths love those Fancy Lads snack cakes, but they can’t get fat. So they do eat, but they eat like Alf, minus eating cats although I wouldn’t be surprised if they also ate cats.

[tbarrie]

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

Now that you mention it, I do recall the first time you meet synth Shaun behind the glass that father tells you he’s a prototype. Maybe they figured something out but it’s entirely unproven because Father is also not going to be able to see the project through. When Shaun asks you to not leave him I let him come with me and accepted him because I thought what would a parent do, but I was half expecting BSG to throw in a video that would say, “hah hah, you fool, that was a test and you failed, he’s our real fail safe and he’s going to rebuild the Institute, lol good game well played!”

That would make more sense, honestly. Father going from "Synths are just tools, not people, and it's ridiculous to think otherwise!" to "Can you accept this synth as a child?" certainly didn't make much sense. Some have interpreted this as an attempt to give him more character depth, but if so it didn't land for me.

And I still disagree that synths can't get fat by eating, despite the terminal explicitly stating that. But I suspect nobody wants to participate in an argument on exegesis of Bethesda games.:)

Edited December 13, 2023 by tbarrie

[Casey]

Next gen update comes out two weeks from today.

Quote

Bethesda Game Studios is releasing a free Fallout 4 update for download on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. 

This free update includes native applications for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, Performance mode and Quality mode settings, as well as stability improvements and fixes. Experience up to 60 FPS and increased resolutions!

Fallout 4 players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will also receive a free update with stability improvements, login and quest fixes .

To download the update on a next-generation console, you must own Fallout 4 for that device.

UPDATES FOR PC PLAYERS

We are also releasing a free Fallout 4 update for PC players! Experience Fallout 4 on your next-generation PC with widescreen and ultra-widescreen support, as well as fixes to Creation Kit and a variety of quest updates. 

Players with PC versions of Fallout 4 on Steam, Microsoft Store and GOG will receive stability, mods and bug fixes. For Japanese and Chinese language players on PC, Bethesda.net login issues have been resolved, fixing access to mods. 

Alongside this exciting update, Fallout 4 will be available to purchase on the Epic Games Store. 

Fallout 4 will also be Steam Deck verified.

EVEN MORE CONTENT!

There's even more content in the Fallout 4 updates, including the following free Creation Club items!

 

Enclave Remnants
Enclave Remnants brings the Pre-War cabal, The Enclave, into the Fallout 4 storyline. In this new quest, “Echoes of the Past,” can you stop The Enclave from spreading their dangerous ideology and gaining a foothold in the Commonwealth?

 

Along with workshop items and the Enclave Colonel uniform, we are including the following previously released Creation Club content: 

• Enclave Weapon Skins
• Enclave Armor Skins
• Tesla Cannon
• Hellfire Power Armor
• X-02 Power Armor
• Heavy Incinerator

Makeshift Weapon Pack
Ever thought a piggy bank would make a great weapon in a pinch? This weapon pack includes a variety of unconventional objects that have been transformed into deadly weapons, such as: a baseball launcher, a nail gun and a piggy bank.

Halloween Workshop
Leftover from an ill-fated Halloween party, thrown by the New England Technocrat Society, these 38 new Halloween decorations include witches, cauldrons, ghouls and more! Decorate for Halloween or make your settlements spooky all year round!

 

Edited April 11 by Casey