PaxVenire
Wasteland Peacemaker
Inspired by this post on the Fallout 76 General forum, I'm curious to know what you guys liked about Fallout 4. This could be lore wise, concept wise, gameplay wise, mechanic wise, aesthetic wise, anything.
If you didn't like a single thing about the game or haven't played it and don't care to, that's fine too, but I'd ask that you please refrain from bashing the game in this thread unless it's to constructively criticize something you like about the game. For example, I liked the idea of Synths as a new race introduced to Fallout, but not it's execution, and I'll elaborate on that below.
While I know a lot of us have problems with Bethesda's games, we've heard the negatives a million times over, and I'd like to see more constructive negativity than pure animosity.
I will give a list to start off of the things I liked about the game.
![t-3000.jpg t-3000.jpg](https://www.nma-fallout.com/data/attachments/27/27304-0f1e0308a9ea75906249bd1cc494715b.jpg?hash=Dx4DCKnqdZ)
If you didn't like a single thing about the game or haven't played it and don't care to, that's fine too, but I'd ask that you please refrain from bashing the game in this thread unless it's to constructively criticize something you like about the game. For example, I liked the idea of Synths as a new race introduced to Fallout, but not it's execution, and I'll elaborate on that below.
While I know a lot of us have problems with Bethesda's games, we've heard the negatives a million times over, and I'd like to see more constructive negativity than pure animosity.
I will give a list to start off of the things I liked about the game.
- I liked the idea of seeing the Fallout universe in the pre-war era. Though in-game, the execution was lackluster, forced a premade protagonist onto you, and rushed the segment so that you enter the Vault only 3 minutes after you sign up for it, the idea of the protagonist being a pre-war civilian being thrown 200 years into the apocalypse was a rather engaging idea. With some tweaking of the opening to the game, I think a half hour introduction sequence like Fallout 3's that allows you to live pre-war life and perhaps engage in some skill checks roleplaying before the bombs fall would be great. I don't mind tutorial introductions like the Arroyo museum and Fallout 3 vault sequence, SO LONG AS YOU CAN SKIP THEM on subsequent playthroughs.
- I liked the idea of Vault 111. Harkening back to this video in which Tim Cain explains that the original purpose of the Vault experiments were to prepare humans for a trip to the stars on a colony ship, I think Vault 111 encapsulates that kind of experiment perfectly, though I know it wasn't purposeful from Bethesda. In execution, the Vault seemed to be more of an afterthought to get you to the future, the Overseer's terminal reads like a stereotypical mad scientist talking about his cryogenic pods but that's about it when it comes to that breakthrough of a technology in the game. Not even the Brotherhood of Steel is interested in the fact that a vault holds technology capable of perfectly preserving a man for 200 years. I also think the cryogenic weapon in the cabinet is a bit much, but a Vault who's purpose is to test freezing is very much in line with the Fallout universe.
- I like the idea of the Minutemen. Settlements around the region uniting together to form a faction of militiamen ready to defend their towns and trade routes is a really cool idea. The execution in-game is not good, I don't care for uniforms like Preston's that look like 18th century colonists and I hate the idea of a laser musket as it seems like too silly of a weapon to be of practical use in a world where automatic laser weapons are accessible. The player being the General is also extremely contrived for the sake of power fantasy, the Minutemen in my opinion should be an established presence, not something you have to build. I also think the idea of the Minutemen belongs in a story that takes place in a much earlier timeline where settlements are just starting to form into a post-war state. I think I could see the West Coast having a similar sort of settlement relationship before banding together as the NCR.
- I like the idea of Synths. It introduces a cool new race into the Fallout universe to toy with, whether its Gen 1, Gen 2, or Gen 3. Sure Gen 3 Synths might as well just be human, but it gives a new flavor of roleplayability for future entries or tabletop games. Same with Gen 1s and 2s, sure they're just robots the same as the Mr. Handy and Protectron, but it gives the world more variety of robots to be encountered. I personally think the concept of Synths also fit great into the aesthetic and themes of the Fallout universe. In-game, I think they look and sound a bit too silly, however. I think it would be a lot more scary if the Gen 1s looked not exactly but similar to the T-800s and the Gen 2s looked not exactly but similar to the T-3000s from the Terminator franchise.
![t-800.jpg t-800.jpg](https://www.nma-fallout.com/data/attachments/27/27303-3bcbe20e15c568c3deceaae28d58857b.jpg?hash=O8viDhXFaM)
![t-3000.jpg t-3000.jpg](https://www.nma-fallout.com/data/attachments/27/27304-0f1e0308a9ea75906249bd1cc494715b.jpg?hash=Dx4DCKnqdZ)
- I loved the Glowing Sea. That area of the game is the only true part of Fallout 4 that looks visually striking to me, the rest of the game being either too vibrant and colorful or too dark in the literal sense where I can barely see. In-game the area feels like the only true dangerous and post-nuclear wasteland in the map. I think the way the ruination was presented in the Glowing Sea is what all of Boston should've looked like. The actual city that was the target of the nukes should've been the glowing sea with settlements building on top of the ruins like Adytum in the Boneyard. It seems the Chinese missed their mark in Fallout 4 and landed their entire payload on the poor town of Medway, MA than Boston proper.
- I like the Gunners. I think as far as raider factions go in Bethesda Fallouts, the Gunners were pretty cool. In the game's lore, they're ruthless, versed in tactics, well equipped, and disciplined, modelling themselves after the military which to my knowledge their origins aren't talked about much, so they very well could be descendants of soldiers.
- I liked the concept of the Institute. The idea of scientists going underground and conducting experiments isn't new or groundbreaking in Fallout, but if handled with more care the Institute and their Synths could've made for some great antagonists. I really liked the clean 1970s sci-fi look to the facility. It seemed out of place to me at first for Fallout, and it is, but that's the point I suppose. They were supposed to be one of the most advanced facilities even before the war, so 1970s looking aesthetics being localized to just them is fine with me. Unfortunately the CIT we got in Fallout 4 was nowhere near what it had the potential to be. Their grand plan for making Synths that replace people and spread paranoia, throwing FEV mutants on the surface, killing the Commonwealth Provisional Government, and unfreezing the player character in the first place is what I can really only describe a nonexistent. The whole Kellogg part of the Institute seems extremely careless for such a secretive organization.
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