7 Days Until Fallout 4

[BanzaiCat]

I'm seeing a lot of poor reviews on Steam...well, more poor reviews than I thought I'd see (78% positive thus far). Lots of the complaints seem to center on a crappy/underwhelming storyline. Anyone have thoughts on that so far?

[SirAndrewD]

I'm seeing a lot of poor reviews on Steam...well, more poor reviews than I thought I'd see (78% positive thus far). Lots of the complaints seem to center on a crappy/underwhelming storyline. Anyone have thoughts on that so far?

The story is a bit underwhelming.  I do think it's better than the story in Fallout 3 however, but that's not saying much considering Fallout 3 was just cribbing the entire story from 2. 

The game is a lot more about open world building than it is about following a specific story to its conclusion.  It's less an RPG than it is an open world FPS with roleplaying elements. 

I like it, but it's not better than Fallout 1-2 or New Vegas.  It's a very different kind of game. 

Also, the control setup for PC is abysmal.  It might work well for a console, but it's absolutely counter intuitive and clunky for a mouse/keyboard interface.

[panzerde]

I'd be curious about this too.

Gonna try to just keep it at a shack with a bed, chair, and some defenses.  Maybe a container.

From vids I've seen, it looks like you can start getting followers moving in at some point.  Don't know what benefits that provides.

I think at this point I'll stick with Witcher 3 and give this a year or so to cook and iron out all of the stupid. First time I've ever done that with a Bethesda game, but this sounds like I won't enjoy it much.

[BanzaiCat]

I do think it's better than the story in Fallout 3 however, but that's not saying much considering Fallout 3 was just cribbing the entire story from 2. 

Hmm, okay. I do like Fallout 3, but I had lived near D.C. when I was a kid. I reinstall and play it every so often - in fact I've been itching to do that lately, but there's other things that have my attention right now.

I have 1 and 2 in my GOG library but I haven't touched them yet...I did play them way, way back in the day and barely remember their storylines, except something frustrating about a water chip and a limited amount of time to find it. I think that was F1.

[sandman2575]

Agree that the story is underwhelming. The beginning feels *very* rushed. It's hard to care about characters who you're clearly supposed to care about but meet their fate about 5 minutes into the game. And then there's the contrivance that you sign up for access to the Vault literally 60 seconds before the Apocalypse (what timing!) 

Befriending Dogmeat is case in point. You just walk up to him, and voila, he's now your companion. Um, okayyyy....  MGSV arguably went too far in the other direction, keeping D-Dog away from you while he was 'growing up' and getting trained for too long -- but at least once you got him, you were excited to have him. Here it's pretty anti-climactic.

[Grim.Reaper]

I guess that is why I am liking it so far....a number of these games nowadays seem like movies with a game built into it and you spend a ton of time in cut scenes versus blasting and doing things.  I am probably in the minority, but I don't need a huge storyline to keep me going...just give me enough information and I'll do the rest:)

[Rayfer]

I guess that is why I am liking it so far....a number of these games nowadays seem like movies with a game built into it and you spend a ton of time in cut scenes versus blasting and doing things.  I am probably in the minority, but I don't need a huge storyline to keep me going...just give me enough information and I'll do the rest:)

+1 I completely agree. I thought the stories in Fallout 3 and New Vegas were just fine, as were those in Fallout 1 and 2.  I look forward to 4....when I can afford it!!

[SirAndrewD]

Agree that the story is underwhelming. The beginning feels *very* rushed. It's hard to care about characters who you're clearly supposed to care about but meet their fate about 5 minutes into the game. And then there's the contrivance that you sign up for access to the Vault literally 60 seconds before the Apocalypse (what timing!) 

Befriending Dogmeat is case in point. You just walk up to him, and voila, he's now your companion. Um, okayyyy....  MGSV arguably went too far in the other direction, keeping D-Dog away from you while he was 'growing up' and getting trained for too long -- but at least once you got him, you were excited to have him. Here it's pretty anti-climactic.

I don't think the story is as awful as some do. 

It's not great, I feel there have been better stories in previous Fallout games.  But it's really just a means to the end of you doing things. 

There are problems with pacing, I guess.  I feel odd that 10 hours in I have two sets of powered armor, I'm a member of the Brotherhood of Steel and have several high level legendary weapons. 

Despite all that it's still harder than Fallout 3 or NV.  I'm letting the game be what it was meant to be, and it is different from the previous installments.

[glen55]

I'm seeing a lot of poor reviews on Steam...well, more poor reviews than I thought I'd see (78% positive thus far). Lots of the complaints seem to center on a crappy/underwhelming storyline. Anyone have thoughts on that so far?

I haven't even finished the intro, but I am already having problems with the story.  Without getting any more spoilerish about the first 10 minutes of the game than has already been done, when we get the early plot twist that brings in the Half-Lifey evil, controlling corporation vibe, it just doesn't ring true.  I don't mean in the way that stuff like that never quite rings true, I mean it's worse than that.  The dialogue is implausible based on the tiny dribs and drabs we already know; there seems to be an implication that nuclear annihilation is just another day at work for the corporate goons, just biz as usual. 

Now IF they come around later and explain that away in a plausible fashion, we could be having a brilliant plot on our hands.  But it doesn't seem to me that's where we're going - it seems to me as if we are going to dive into implausibility, and that stuff is going to be done for stylistic effect rather than to make sense.

[W8taminute]

I guess that is why I am liking it so far....a number of these games nowadays seem like movies with a game built into it and you spend a ton of time in cut scenes versus blasting and doing things.  I am probably in the minority, but I don't need a huge storyline to keep me going...just give me enough information and I'll do the rest:)

+1 I completely agree. I thought the stories in Fallout 3 and New Vegas were just fine, as were those in Fallout 1 and 2.  I look forward to 4....when I can afford it!!

I'm finding the story compelling enough to keep me interested.  Don't understand the poor reviews for the game.  Sometimes you have to detach yourself from the previous titles and take the latest iteration for what it is and for me at least F4 is entertaining.  Every item you pickup and I'm specifically talking about junk items has a use in the various crafting stations.  I'm really enjoying how they managed to include options for building up and improving your base so that your inhabitants are kept happy.  Sort of like what you do in State of Decay. 

No...no...this is a good game.  Well worth the day one price of admission in my book.

[Nefaro]

I do think it's better than the story in Fallout 3 however, but that's not saying much considering Fallout 3 was just cribbing the entire story from 2. 

Hmm, okay. I do like Fallout 3, but I had lived near D.C. when I was a kid. I reinstall and play it every so often - in fact I've been itching to do that lately, but there's other things that have my attention right now.

I had also been itching to play some Fallout again, so this conveniently showed up at the right time.  Just a bit perturbed that they still didn't both putting much effort into the PC port once more. 

I have 1 and 2 in my GOG library but I haven't touched them yet...I did play them way, way back in the day and barely remember their storylines, except something frustrating about a water chip and a limited amount of time to find it. I think that was F1.

Fallout 1 is the game with the annoying time limit.  I'd recommend just playing Fallout 2 since they removed that in the sequel (listening to their customers back then) and it has a bit more all-around.

I actually started up a new Fallout 2 campaign a month or two ago.  The initial "Trials Dungeon" can be hairy if you don't start off with some Melee skill, so be aware.  For a game that came out in .. 1998(?).. I was still enjoying it after I got rolling.  It's truly one of the best RPGs ever made.  But occasionally having to backtrack through completed multi-level dungeons/areas can be an annoying waste of time, even when your character is running.

[Kushan]

I think the main problem for me with the main story is the lack of urgency I feel in doing it. I'm almost 20 hours in and loving the game overall for the mot part. I've encountered a few minor bugs, bodies going flying off and dropping from the sky, followers occasionally getting stuck, non-hostile NPC's spawning right in front of me, etc. but nothing game breaking. New crafting system is driving my OCD on looting everything in sight through the roof.

For the most I like the new follower AI. When your in town crafting or at vendors, they will go and find a place to sit, or wonder on their own a bit. I've got into a few fire fights sooner then I had intended when one of them did this on a mission while I was trying to hack a terminal. But it brings a little life into them rather then just literally following you everywhere.

Haven't messed with the building aspect yet. Since i left the first town you can build in I havent had the need to return

There are problems with pacing, I guess.  I feel odd that 10 hours in I have two sets of powered armor, I'm a member of the Brotherhood of Steel and have several high level legendary weapons. 

I felt this as well. My first thought was why wouldn't I bring the power armor with me. But the trade off to power armor is that it actually requires power in the form of fusion cores, and those things don't grow on trees, especially early on.

[sandman2575]

Well, it happened. I'm hooked.  8)

Now about 18 hours in. The crafting system is badly explained and unintuitive (plus buggy), but now that I understand it, I'm kind of obsessed with it. Especially when it comes to upgrading your weapons -- there are a lot of cool gun-smithing things you can do. I've also begun to spruce up Sanctuary, which winds up being more fun than it should be ("clean up this mess and make something new" sounds pretty meh on the surface, but it's cool.)

I think what hooked me was "learning to stop worrying and love the open world," rather than get hung up on the 'main quest' and character development. Decided I'd make the trek from Sanctuary to Diamond City, and this is where the game really came alive for me. It's a fantastic environment. I thought Skyrim had a terrific environment but this tops it. Got side-tracked on the way into the Cambridge Police Dept. quest -- which I highly recommend for anyone looking to upgrade their weaponry. 

There's a huge amount of depth here. Just tons to explore and tons to do. I'm officially impressed now.  :)

[BanzaiCat]

I also heard that there is no more repairing of weapons, that they do not wear out like they did previously. If that's true that's kind of awesome also.

[TacticalWargames]

Still prefer the first two Fallout games to 3 and so far 4. Most likely nostalgia. However I am a sucker for isometric and turn based.