Fallout 4

[Drem]

I usually end the night doing a little town building. It's pays off once you have trade routes and stores set up because they start earning you money

I decided to stop going east, that big sinkhole is my limit right now. Went down to Cambridge instead and started helping the Brotherhood. Way easier than what I was trying to do. Fuckin Stingwings.

When do more weapons start showing up? Do I have to level up or progress thru the story? I see tons of sweet shit on the loading screen. Revolvers, 9mms, cryo weapons, etc, but all I ever find are pipe weapons and hunting rifles

My build is pretty weak right now, finally starting to put points into damage perks. Mostly took utility perks, local leadership, the one that increases stimpak/rad-away, defense, and crafting stuff so far

[Zanchief]

harder enemies have better loot. You will soon fight enemies that all have Combat Rifles and have more .45 ammo than you know what to do with.

A few things you may not know about modding. You can remove a mod and put it on a weapon you have. For weapons there is a material cost, but for armor there is none. I took the two levels of scrapper perk so I usually scrap my modded armor weapons, but it may be more cost effective for you to remove the mods before selling weapons. You have to consider that a mod only works for the same weapon. For example a 10mm may have a short scope mod, but it can't be removed and added to a hunting rifle. The higher the enemy the higher the mods they will have too. So if you don't have all the perks like gun nut and armorer you will need to pay attention to the mods from the weapons you loot. To detach a mod, just select the first value available, or any other with the smallest mod requirement.

You should pick a type of weapon (Pistol, Automatic, Rifle) and take, at least, those perks to increase your damage. It will make a big difference. Each type will have weapons of quality so none are necessarily better than any other. I heard the last rank of melee is bugged though (Bathesda).

Double Barrel shotgun does a lot of dmg and you should have some already. Slow to reload in real time, but it reloads very quickly in VATS.

[Drem]

Ya the crafting system is pretty self-explanatory. Haven't taken scav perks tho. I usually keep a couple of the mods I like to switch out (sights) and sell the rest. Pocketing all my armor for now because I've noticed I basically pick up every single thing I come across except fire extinguishers. I started putting perks into pistols. They're just at 40% damage bonus so far. Also I've gotten lucky and found combat shotguns right off the bat both times. I also modded a hunting rifle into a fairly decent sniper. Ammo isn't a huge problem so far as I've trained myself over the last two Fallout games to use melee wherever possible. Only thing I haven't found much of is .44, but I've never seen a weapon that uses it, either. I just can't use automatic weapons, I tear through ammo if I do.

Now that Sanctuary and the farm are set up and have shops I'm trying to fight the urge to waste any more time building crap. Turned it on late last night to go party with Paladin Danse but I don't remember what happened, too tired, passed out on the couch and woke up back at the police station

[Zanchief]

You may, or may not have, turned on a rocket while he was under it.

[Drem]

We were headed towards ArcJet. I think I must've died somewhere

So I'm only as far east as Mass Fusion Containment and down to Cambridge going south. Already have 50 locations. I've barely scratched the surface of it, too. I feel like the map is a lot more dense than their last few games. Lots of neat stuff w/o map markers, too.

Edit: Just finished ArcJet. That swarm of synths was awesome. Danse was a gangster, he killed everything one or two shots. Gave me his rifle, told me I was decent for a civilian. And holy crap, quest XP is OP. I got over half my level from finishing that. Maybe I'd be lvl 30 too if I ever did quests. Damn

[Zanchief]

That's a fun quest. I agree with the density. The closer you get to Diamond City the denser it gets too. For a while I was always stopping at any named location but I had to stop because I was unable to continue the game it was so slow. So much content. I really like the addition of the perk magazines. Much better than a few skill points you don't always need. It makes collecting stuff useful without being overpowered. Fun to see them all displayed on a rack too.

[Drem]

Yeah man the magazines and comics are great

I'm almost lvl 20. Didn't realize settlements capped out so small (16 for Sanctuary....) so I've lost interest in all that. I got traders set up bringing in a few hundred caps every in-game day, and huge mutfruit farm at Abernathy for roughly 6 to 700 caps a day if I feel like picking it....

They just give you so many settlements. It's really overkill. You could end up spending all your time doing that, and have all your missions or exploring interrupted with attacks on your 35 settlements.... lame.

Finally got a combat rifle and a good .44 revolver. Game changer.

I've also, for some reason, never used the drugs in these games out of some strange moral reasoning. So this guy is a total addict. He kills and steals from everyone he can, constantly seeking out his next fix. Unfortunately tho I got high with Mama Murphy in Sanctuary and she ODed and died in front of everyone. I wanted a drug buddy and figured since she used Jet for her visions that maybe she could show me a thing or two. Pretty rough day for the community. But, the world looks a lot prettier on Jet. And I don't need power armor anymore

[Drem]

I definitely need power armor again. I've been roamin around in a suit of T-60 (still can't find the right leg tho) and it makes a huge difference. I took out Swan first try. Mirelurk Queen was a total bitch tho. It kept spitting acid that would basically one-shot me. Took a lot of creepin around up top where it couldn't hit me. If I get out of the suit I can hardly take 5 ghouls at once. In the suit I swat em like flies. I'm lvl 25 now, found a bunch of great legendary weapons (sniper that shoots an extra bullet every shot? ok). After this much time and exploration I definitely think this is my favorite Fallout

Jay, there isn't exactly a Dark Brotherhood but I did find The Railroad, which has a bunch of people named after Thieves Guild characters in Skyrim (Mercer, Maven) and is trying to free synths from the Institute. I had totally forgotten about how they vaguely introduce the Railroad and the Institute in Fallout 3 when you helped a lady in Rivet City find that runaway android and helped it reconstruct its face and run away from the Institute. I don't think they even called them synths in FO3

[Jay]

I havent played this game in probably 3 weeks now. Don't care anymore.

[Zanchief]

Getting to be a chore like Skyrim was. It's just such a slog to get through all the repetitive quests. I'm still playing it, and enjoying it for the most part, but I stopped playing Hearthstone because of this and I'm starting to regret that decision.

I feel like I'm so far away from finishing it too. I need to clear the deck for new games that I'll be picking up during the holidays too like Bloodborne.

[Drem]

I wanna talk shit but even when I'm playing Witcher 3 I see a lot of shortcomings in areas Bethesda nails (the loot saturation that forces you to pick and choose, interface in particular, alchemy) and a lot of areas Bethesda just can't seem to comprehend (animations, water, quests, AI) so I play it for the exploration and call it good. Witcher 3 is great but it feels more like Dragon's Dogma than Skyrim so I'm not gonna compare them

Taking a break for a bit tho. Lvl 25 and just got the 100 locations achievement. Still haven't started the main quest

[Jay]

Yeah usually I go side quests first then plow through the main quest. In the case of FO4, I did some side quests, got sick of "go here, clear it, come back" type quests so i plowed through the main quest, beat it with the minute men. Stopped caring after that.

[Drem]

I just turn it on, pick a direction, and start walking. Bethesda doesn't know how to write interesting quests anymore so I embark on my own. I usually do not track quests because I end up with a new one every fucking time I walk past someone. I may or may not eventually do the main quest. I'm probably a horrible father and should start looking for Steve or whatever his name is

[Drem]

at about 90 hours on xbox, lvl 35, too many awesome little stories to write about. still loving the shit out of this game.

everything from diamond city up is cleared or explored except the library and the subways.

absolutely sick of doing settlements. gonna let everyone die and just keep one spot going at Nordhagen beach

so much cool stuff under the water in this game. some stuff pointing to future DLC in my opinion.

still haven't started the main quest :/

[brinstar]

surprise car repair bill pretty much precludes me nabbing a PS4 with my tax return dollars so it looks like i'll be sticking with the PC a little longer

i'm only kinda lukewarm on FO4 (still can't shake the "everything is brown and nothing matters" from FO3), but i did see my brother play some witcher 3 the other day. JC3 still on my radar too. i think whichever of those three dips under $40 first i'ma scoop on steam

[Drem]

Sucks about your car :/

Everything matters tho, that's the best part. If you're into looking in little corners and shit for secrets like oldschool games then you'll love it. Lots more color than FO3, I daresay it's more beautiful than Skyrim because it isn't as washed out. Lighting effects are tits

Witcher 3 is so good. I have a couple games I've got in the queue but I'm really tired of playing 17 games at once so I'm trying to beat FO4 before I dive in. I mean I play arcade games (Trials Fusion, Worms) and Battlefield 4 and Forza 6 in between but I try to only play one serious story-driven game at a time these days. Maybe at some point I'll go back and beat some of the 700 games I haven't finished.....

I think arcade games are on point these days, I almost have more fun with them.

[Zanchief]

Just finished this yesterday with two of the factions. Meh. Need to do one more than likely never play it again. Some of the companions are fun, and it's fun to make cool buildings, but there are just so many bugs it's frustrating to deal with sometimes.

[Drem]

I haven't used any companions. Gave dogmeat the boot soon as I saw the perk for extra carry weight and damage for not having a companion. All he did was fuck up my sneaking, get in the way, and fall off ledges.

Haven't done any faction quests either. Honestly haven't really done any quests at all. And the few that I have done (Minutemen, BOS) don't encourage me to do any more. Still got like 1/3 of the map to clear tho. I just feel like that motherfucker in The Walking Dead. I clear.

[brinstar]

Everything matters tho, that's the best part.

Haven't done any faction quests either. Honestly haven't really done any quests at all. And the few that I have done (Minutemen, BOS) don't encourage me to do any more.

this is exactly what i'm talking about tho, i ran around and did so much shit in FO3 that none of it felt connected at all and as a result i never really got engaged - so fairly or not, that's cramping my enthusiasm for FO4

problem is as excited as i am for JC3 i know it's also prone to the same "there's so much to do that none of it matters" feeling because i felt it with JC2

i mean if i'm gonna dive into an epic sprawling open-world sandbox game i might as well try a property i'm unfamiliar with, which means grabbing witcher 3 (or hell, the new xenoblade chronicles looks interesting)

[brinstar]

upon further reflection i had the same problem with morrowind and skyrim too

so either it's a bethesda problem or maybe open-ended sandbox games just aren't for me?

[Zanchief]

Lack of connectivity has always been a problem with Bathesda games. I wish decisions in one part would effect other parts, but they don't.

[Drem]

I guess when I say everything matters I mean the world design. Item placement. The cool backstories on the computers. Manually pulling boxes off high shelves and finding a jet or buffout inside. The weird holotapes. None of it is involved with quests, but I like pretending I'm just some dude in a post-apocalyptic world, and I wander around aimlessly finding stuff. I mean I love games that focus on loot (too much time in Diablo 3) so...in that sense these games are phenomenal and there's nothing else like it. They're really relaxing and have a great atmosphere. And I got lots of memories sittin around with buddies exploring and having hilarious shit happen randomly. But yeah, if you're playing for quests or a storyline you're playing the wrong games because they phone that shit in

If you didn't like Morrowind tho you probably won't ever like Bethesda game, because that game had it all. Great quests/lore and all the other stuff I still like about their games

[brinstar]

i can grasp what you mean when you talk about the in-game lore and the detail of the world itself, that kind of stuff is just bonkerzzz in its depth. even as far back as morrowind i'd collect so many damn books and read them all and enjoy the mythologies etc - but without a seriously compelling main quest line or engaging side quests it just never went anywhere for me

hell to this day i don't think i've ever actually finished a bethesda game, although i did come close with FO3

i think zan nailed it though. nothing's connected. i could save one little shantytown from evil marauding bandits and they'd call me the greatest hero who ever lived - until i get to the next shantytown a half mile over, where no one has ever even heard of me. i could slaughter every last living creature there, and the NEXT shantytown a half mile further down the line would greet me with "hey stranger welcome to fartsville enjoy your stay". telling me my actions are important and then providing zero evidence of such is a sure way to make me bored with your game

[Drem]

i just get that old Everquest feeling from these games. i probably play them in a really weird way because it sounds like mostly everyone else just mainlines the story and writes it off. but i try as hard as i can to never fast travel, put it on the hardest difficulty so you die all the fucking time in the beginning, and really get immersed. and every time they put a new game out i fall in love all over again

what's really fucking with me about the quests in FO4 and Skyrim are the radiant things. i did maybe 13 minutemen missions saving settlements before i realized it starts repeating. i fucking hate that. i do quest lines because i want them to end at some point so i can feel like i accomplished something and maybe get an achievement on top

[Zanchief]

Each faction have a series of looping quests similar to the guild quests in Skyrim. I hated those two.

Brin, New Vegas is the best of all the things you're talking about since it has the strongest main story (by far) and actually has a pretty robust faction system. Actions do kind of consequence when they're with one of the factions (probably about 10 in total).

I'm pretty much done with this game. Got all three ending, started dicking around with my town, then I had a bunch of annoying bugs like walls I couldn't place and stuff like that so it took the wind out of my sails with my interest in that stuff. Moving on to Bloodborne now.

I'd rank Fallout 4 as the worst fallout game. I haven't played Tactics, but I heard that one kind of stinks though. I'm hoping they put some effort into the DLC. They often make great DLC.