TomJ
Still Mildly Glowing
This will be a bunch of musings I've had about games in general, but FO4 takes center stage in this...
There isn't any way on a story/entertainment level that Fallout 4 excels in or even does more than OK in. I find the game play mechanics OK, they get they job done, no matter to what extent the hacking and lock picking bugs me.
For example, if I want to play a game with a story and enjoyable world, I can just go play Dragon Age. I've put more than 100 hours into Dragon Age Origins and I might be maybe halfway through the main story. It's story and world is well developed enough to border on being excessive. At least I think the story is a bit excessive in its length. If I want to mindlessly shoot things or do random hilarious quests, I can just play Saints Row whichever (I prefer 2). And if I want to think and scheme, i can play CK2.
Bethesda game worlds look pretty, but they don't feel like they're alive. Oblivion world felt more alive and was more engaging and it crashed every 15-20 minutes on a good run. I'm just throwing Oblivion in as the last more than OK game Bethesda made, i haven't played enough of Morrowind to have an opinion and everyone seems to love it, at least in my friend circle. Skyrim was the only thing that had anything of interest really going on in it. Morrowind was mentioned, but it was mentioned as a past tense thing. At least in between crashes, I got the sense that Tamriel was a world, more things were going on than just the Oblivion crisis. More things are going on in the Dragon Age universe outside of whatever the crisis de jure is. A mod team could have crapped out FO4 in half the time given the chance. Nothing is happening in the world outside of Boston. I know communication sucks, but literally nothing interesting is going on in the world. The world is empty and dead. There are raiders because there has to be, ghouls because there has to be, random critters because there has to be, there's drama between the Minutemen and Gunners, but it never gets talked about. I predict right now that a Minutemen/Gunner conflict will feature in a future DLC. Its would be like giving the Mage's Guild quest line out as DLC but YOLO, Godd Howard I love you, near perfect...I'm losing coherence to the almighty meh of FO4!!!
Please don't try hold of New Vegas as salvation, I have my own issues with that game. And before you guys ask,
1) I didn't like the setting. I used to live in Nevada and I know how empty it is, I don't need to be reminded. Also the world just felt under developed and I know there was a short development time. I already adjusted my opinion to include that.
2) The main quest seemed like a series of fetch it quests. As boring as FO3's, just with more memorable smaller factions. And I also don't see why I was supposed to be the hero or even care about what was happening with the factions vying for Hoover Dam. Settlement building and building your own faction would have fit in that game more than 4.
3) The game didn't do much to get me to feel invested in the main factions. I had more sympathy for the Kings and Followers than I did for anyone else. I would have liked to do something with them.
Although, I did like how the towns felt more unique and thought out. I can remember people in the towns. The companion quests were fun and it made me like them more. Especially in a game that was relatively devoid of side quests. But this isn't a thread to discuss what I liked/disliked about FONV, its my gripes with FO4.
There isn't any way on a story/entertainment level that Fallout 4 excels in or even does more than OK in. I find the game play mechanics OK, they get they job done, no matter to what extent the hacking and lock picking bugs me.
For example, if I want to play a game with a story and enjoyable world, I can just go play Dragon Age. I've put more than 100 hours into Dragon Age Origins and I might be maybe halfway through the main story. It's story and world is well developed enough to border on being excessive. At least I think the story is a bit excessive in its length. If I want to mindlessly shoot things or do random hilarious quests, I can just play Saints Row whichever (I prefer 2). And if I want to think and scheme, i can play CK2.
Bethesda game worlds look pretty, but they don't feel like they're alive. Oblivion world felt more alive and was more engaging and it crashed every 15-20 minutes on a good run. I'm just throwing Oblivion in as the last more than OK game Bethesda made, i haven't played enough of Morrowind to have an opinion and everyone seems to love it, at least in my friend circle. Skyrim was the only thing that had anything of interest really going on in it. Morrowind was mentioned, but it was mentioned as a past tense thing. At least in between crashes, I got the sense that Tamriel was a world, more things were going on than just the Oblivion crisis. More things are going on in the Dragon Age universe outside of whatever the crisis de jure is. A mod team could have crapped out FO4 in half the time given the chance. Nothing is happening in the world outside of Boston. I know communication sucks, but literally nothing interesting is going on in the world. The world is empty and dead. There are raiders because there has to be, ghouls because there has to be, random critters because there has to be, there's drama between the Minutemen and Gunners, but it never gets talked about. I predict right now that a Minutemen/Gunner conflict will feature in a future DLC. Its would be like giving the Mage's Guild quest line out as DLC but YOLO, Godd Howard I love you, near perfect...I'm losing coherence to the almighty meh of FO4!!!
Please don't try hold of New Vegas as salvation, I have my own issues with that game. And before you guys ask,
1) I didn't like the setting. I used to live in Nevada and I know how empty it is, I don't need to be reminded. Also the world just felt under developed and I know there was a short development time. I already adjusted my opinion to include that.
2) The main quest seemed like a series of fetch it quests. As boring as FO3's, just with more memorable smaller factions. And I also don't see why I was supposed to be the hero or even care about what was happening with the factions vying for Hoover Dam. Settlement building and building your own faction would have fit in that game more than 4.
3) The game didn't do much to get me to feel invested in the main factions. I had more sympathy for the Kings and Followers than I did for anyone else. I would have liked to do something with them.
Although, I did like how the towns felt more unique and thought out. I can remember people in the towns. The companion quests were fun and it made me like them more. Especially in a game that was relatively devoid of side quests. But this isn't a thread to discuss what I liked/disliked about FONV, its my gripes with FO4.
)
