Romanophile
Fou
How do you feel about Dogmeat Mk. IV? What do you like and dislike about him? How would you ameliorate him?
Before I commence, I’d like to admit that I’ve never directly played Fallout 4, I just watched my amigo play it, so my opinions probably aren’t worth much. Still, I’d like to do my part for the thread.
So first off, I’m getting the impression that he’s invincible; I have yet to see him expire. I really dislike that, because keeping him alive throughout the previous games (and Arcanum) was a fun challenge. There’s no drama when he’s in severe danger, much less when he’s gone since he can’t expire in the first place. From what I understand, he regenerates automatically, so the only reason why I would heal him is if I were impatient.
Second, there doesn’t seem to be any consequences of dragging him around other than that you’ll have to trade him to acquire a new party member. Arcanum had one consequence where you couldn’t bring him in trains, and there was a very minor one in Fallout 1 where clicking on him would annoy Katja, but even so, think of the potential that they wasted. What if somebody was allergic to canines? What if he smelt something funny about somebody (a Synth)? What if you had to chase him because he was wandering to somewhere interesting? Maybe features such as these exist somewhere, but from what I’ve seen, he’s just cannon fodder and a packmule.
Third, for some reason he now has an inventory, and from what I’ve read, a very large one too (he can carry several flamers). I know that Bethesda is going to defend this decision with ‘It doesn’t have to make sense! It’s a vidya game! Duh!’ but that doesn’t mean that they had to ignore common sense. Were it up to me, I would make the inventory optionable: make it a backpack that the protagonist could purchase from a store, and cramming it would encumber him.
Fourth, according to my friend, there’s no way to empower him using narcotics. All that you can do is inject him with stimpaks. That is quite disappointing, because I have fond memories of drugging him up and being impressed by how he made short work of raiders and gangsters. It’s quite unfortunate, because boosting him could really give him an edge that he di’n’t have before.
Finally, even though it might be considered cliché at this point, I’m not upset about having a canine companion again. I do think that it was lazy to just copy his name, but that’s not a major complaint. He’s cute (especially when he crouches with you), and it’s satisfying to see him tear up people, but I really wish that they had implemented him better. I like the idea of him.
As I’ve said, I’ve never played this product, so you are more than welcome to correct me.
Before I commence, I’d like to admit that I’ve never directly played Fallout 4, I just watched my amigo play it, so my opinions probably aren’t worth much. Still, I’d like to do my part for the thread.
So first off, I’m getting the impression that he’s invincible; I have yet to see him expire. I really dislike that, because keeping him alive throughout the previous games (and Arcanum) was a fun challenge. There’s no drama when he’s in severe danger, much less when he’s gone since he can’t expire in the first place. From what I understand, he regenerates automatically, so the only reason why I would heal him is if I were impatient.
Second, there doesn’t seem to be any consequences of dragging him around other than that you’ll have to trade him to acquire a new party member. Arcanum had one consequence where you couldn’t bring him in trains, and there was a very minor one in Fallout 1 where clicking on him would annoy Katja, but even so, think of the potential that they wasted. What if somebody was allergic to canines? What if he smelt something funny about somebody (a Synth)? What if you had to chase him because he was wandering to somewhere interesting? Maybe features such as these exist somewhere, but from what I’ve seen, he’s just cannon fodder and a packmule.
Third, for some reason he now has an inventory, and from what I’ve read, a very large one too (he can carry several flamers). I know that Bethesda is going to defend this decision with ‘It doesn’t have to make sense! It’s a vidya game! Duh!’ but that doesn’t mean that they had to ignore common sense. Were it up to me, I would make the inventory optionable: make it a backpack that the protagonist could purchase from a store, and cramming it would encumber him.
Fourth, according to my friend, there’s no way to empower him using narcotics. All that you can do is inject him with stimpaks. That is quite disappointing, because I have fond memories of drugging him up and being impressed by how he made short work of raiders and gangsters. It’s quite unfortunate, because boosting him could really give him an edge that he di’n’t have before.
Finally, even though it might be considered cliché at this point, I’m not upset about having a canine companion again. I do think that it was lazy to just copy his name, but that’s not a major complaint. He’s cute (especially when he crouches with you), and it’s satisfying to see him tear up people, but I really wish that they had implemented him better. I like the idea of him.
As I’ve said, I’ve never played this product, so you are more than welcome to correct me.
