SilentRiC
First time out of the vault
It's no secret that the 'Gamebryo' engine that the modern Fallouts run on come with a few issues that soften the challenge and gameplay in general. Some, not all, of these can be remedied via mods but not all of us have this option due to playing the games on consoles (I'm currently limited to a laptop) and even so, this still falls into the category of self imposed limitations.
Of the top of my head, some of these gameplay softening issues are:
-Fast Travel
-Enemy Radar Blips
-Quest Markers
In Skyrim, another major example was the location markers on the radar that highlighted nearby new locations before you'd actually discovered them. Fallout doesn't have this but we still have the 'New Location Discovered' messages that occasionally pop up before you've actually spotted the easily missed door in the side of a mountain; it's rare though.
So a commonly proposed solution is "If you don't like them, just don't use them!" but I personally don't think this cuts it. I recall reading somebody's account of them trudging through dangerous territory en route to their destination (it was in Farcry 3 but it's the same situation) and the thrill this provided. They went on to recount how the thrill was diminished significantly when they remembered the fact that they could just click on 'Fast Travel' any time they liked.
In theory all we need is a little will power and we can tailor the game to our preferences but in practice I find that I'm constantly aware that my struggle is entirely optional. The same goes for quest markers - I tend to view an objective's location on the map first and then switch to a different active quest so that I can navigate without knowledge of its precise location. The game isn't designed with this in mind though and so I often find myself toggling between marker and no marker so that I can get a better idea of where to look. This definitely impedes exploration and I find that if I can muster the patience, my experience benefits greatly from the more organic approach.
Enemy radar blips can't be avoided if mods are not an option and I wish this weren't the case. The few times that enemies have genuinely surprised me have been a real thrill and something of value is lost when you don't have to fear what's around the corner because your compass tells you the coast is clear. Some may say "Just don't look" but I find that physically impossible, peripheral vision being what it is.
So there's my question - is self limiting really an option and does it cut it as a solution? I think it's a poor solution at best because, not so much because I shouldn't have to "gimp myself" but because I'll always know that I have the safety net of just using the standard features. This isn't even limited to modern games - I found that Fallout 1 made it far too easy to become rich and powerful and that I had to stunt my barter skill to compensate. The greatest example, though, is the auto save feature that has been a standard fixture of games for decades now. Having to retread old ground because you ran out of HP/lives at the last stretch is never enjoyable but knowing that this was what you'd be stuck with if you died added a hell of a lot of pressure that was ultimately rewarding when overcome. Again, some might say "just don't save often" but when you don't use it and die, you feel like your screw up was not saving more frequently rather than dying - that's my experience anyway.
Thoughts?
Of the top of my head, some of these gameplay softening issues are:
-Fast Travel
-Enemy Radar Blips
-Quest Markers
In Skyrim, another major example was the location markers on the radar that highlighted nearby new locations before you'd actually discovered them. Fallout doesn't have this but we still have the 'New Location Discovered' messages that occasionally pop up before you've actually spotted the easily missed door in the side of a mountain; it's rare though.
So a commonly proposed solution is "If you don't like them, just don't use them!" but I personally don't think this cuts it. I recall reading somebody's account of them trudging through dangerous territory en route to their destination (it was in Farcry 3 but it's the same situation) and the thrill this provided. They went on to recount how the thrill was diminished significantly when they remembered the fact that they could just click on 'Fast Travel' any time they liked.
In theory all we need is a little will power and we can tailor the game to our preferences but in practice I find that I'm constantly aware that my struggle is entirely optional. The same goes for quest markers - I tend to view an objective's location on the map first and then switch to a different active quest so that I can navigate without knowledge of its precise location. The game isn't designed with this in mind though and so I often find myself toggling between marker and no marker so that I can get a better idea of where to look. This definitely impedes exploration and I find that if I can muster the patience, my experience benefits greatly from the more organic approach.
Enemy radar blips can't be avoided if mods are not an option and I wish this weren't the case. The few times that enemies have genuinely surprised me have been a real thrill and something of value is lost when you don't have to fear what's around the corner because your compass tells you the coast is clear. Some may say "Just don't look" but I find that physically impossible, peripheral vision being what it is.
So there's my question - is self limiting really an option and does it cut it as a solution? I think it's a poor solution at best because, not so much because I shouldn't have to "gimp myself" but because I'll always know that I have the safety net of just using the standard features. This isn't even limited to modern games - I found that Fallout 1 made it far too easy to become rich and powerful and that I had to stunt my barter skill to compensate. The greatest example, though, is the auto save feature that has been a standard fixture of games for decades now. Having to retread old ground because you ran out of HP/lives at the last stretch is never enjoyable but knowing that this was what you'd be stuck with if you died added a hell of a lot of pressure that was ultimately rewarding when overcome. Again, some might say "just don't save often" but when you don't use it and die, you feel like your screw up was not saving more frequently rather than dying - that's my experience anyway.
Thoughts?
