Crispy's (Mostly Technical) Initial Impressions™ of Fallout 4

[ArchAngel]

There is no point in raising difficulty. Stick to Hard as higher difficulty just changes HP and damage.

Not true, survival difficulty slows down health regen a lot.

There is health regen in this game? The only regen I know is the one you have to unlock as a perk. I didn't even bother with raising HP through perk so far (I have over 300 stims and a lot of food items which do the healing as well) and health doesn't regen without it.

So if you don't really unlock regen, you are playing more hardcore mode than Realistic? )

He meant regeneration speed when using healing items.

 

[ortucis]

He meant regeneration speed when using healing items.

Healing items work like any other game. In-fact, you need a medic perk to make them work better (which I haven't picked).

The bigger problem is how many of them you get. You have food, you have stims and they both are everywhere. Higher difficulty culling the amount of healing items you find or can generate in the game world makes more sense than capping their regeneration speed, which works like in any other game.

 

[NotAGolfer]

Doesn't compute.
Reducing regeneration speed is a big deal in survival difficulty as it forces you to either retreat to heal or waste perk points.
I might still have more healing items than I need but they are no great help when those raider gunners, super mutants or worse, those bloody annoying bloodbugs are chopping away at my health bar far faster than I can regenerate.
Btw, I really like how radiation damage is directly reducing the health bar, elegant solution since there is one less hud element blocking my view. And what a view it is, this game is gorgeous.

 

[ortucis]

Heh didn't know you couldn't use healing items in Survival. I would play that difficulty if not for retarded HP increase and damage decrease for player.

But still, any difficulty lower than that still needs a cap on healing items you get.

 

[ArchAngel]

Heh didn't know you couldn't use healing items in Survival. I would play that difficulty if not for retarded HP increase and damage decrease for player.

But still, any difficulty lower than that still needs a cap on healing items you get.

Are you always this dense?
They do work on Survival but since they heal slower, enemy damage usually outdamages the healing if you just stand there taking damage and hoping your healing items will save you.

 

[ortucis]

Are you always this dense?
They do work on Survival but since they heal slower, enemy damage usually outdamages the healing if you just stand there taking damage and hoping your healing items will save you.

So what you're saying is that you suck at Fallout 4?

Considering you can spam stems and food items into you in inventory screen (which pauses the game), how much do you have to suck at Fallout 4 to still get killed by enemies?

This is what I said, there are too many of these items to heal and that should've been changed instead of retarded HP increase for enemies.

PS: Stems even stop time (Jet), increase damage resistance or damage done and there is a perk that removes side-effects even.

 

[ArchAngel]

Are you always this dense?
They do work on Survival but since they heal slower, enemy damage usually outdamages the healing if you just stand there taking damage and hoping your healing items will save you.

So what you're saying is that you suck at Fallout 4?

Considering you can spam stems and food items into you in inventory screen (which pauses the game), how much do you have to suck at Fallout 4 to still get killed by enemies?

This is what I said, there are too many of these items to heal and that should've been changed instead of retarded HP increase for enemies.

PS: Stems even stop time (Jet), increase damage resistance or damage done and there is a perk that removes side-effects even.

You are dense. No point talk to you.

 

[Lord Azlan]

Alright, I've actually put in something like ten hours into this game now so I feel I can give a more accurate initial impressions on it. But first, a disclaimer:

Anyway, Fallout 4 is retarded in a lot of ways, but it's still rather fun to play. It is fulfilling its role in my mind as a post-apocalyptic hiking simulator, and that's all I expected from and wanted in it. In that capacity, it's got some charm.

One thing I haven't experienced yet is even a single CTD. For that, I'm thankful, so far, because Skyrim (heavily modded, admittedly) was about as stable as Bradylama in a cotton candy factory. Load times are curiously long, especially for a 4.4GHz, SSD-equipped system. I think that'll eventually get fixed.

- The gunplay is decent, as reported. I play on Hard, contemplating going to Survivor, and my 10mm and even shotgun aren't cutting it. Weapon mods, while rather derpy (heavy frame?), do and will come in handy.
- The concept of setting up camps and establishing some rudimentary form of civilization through construction and management of resources is one actual good idea from Todd & Co.

Anyway, I'm not completely unhappy that I paid for this thing, if only for the fact that I can use it to really test my two new 970's. Which I bought for playing Fallout 4 on Ultra, yes. Which I play to test the cards, ...which I bought to play it.

Fuck you, it's my money.

Appreciate the disclaimer. I accept it's your money. But if you paid £40 or the equivalent for this game I worry about the gamer. The whole circus around Fallout 4 is a good example of what Frank Herbert labelled "Spannunsbogen", the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of reaching out to grasp that thing. Although I admit he could be in error. But this word perfectly describes the consumer relationship with Fallout 4 and something Bethesda was relying on.

I submit if this game was not called Fallout 4 and did not have the Pipboy and some other Fallout related jazz - it would be a poor shooter.

Charming is not a word I would associate with the game. Words I would choose are Retarded, Cosmetic and Shallow.

In my 20 hours or so playing time the game feels a lot like DLC. Half price and you would get some respect. Full price and you just killed the franchise.

 

[NotAGolfer]

Are you always this dense?
They do work on Survival but since they heal slower, enemy damage usually outdamages the healing if you just stand there taking damage and hoping your healing items will save you.

So what you're saying is that you suck at Fallout 4?

Considering you can spam stems and food items into you in inventory screen (which pauses the game), how much do you have to suck at Fallout 4 to still get killed by enemies?

This is what I said, there are too many of these items to heal and that should've been changed instead of retarded HP increase for enemies.

PS: Stems even stop time (Jet), increase damage resistance or damage done and there is a perk that removes side-effects even.

U sure you even played the game?
You can't spam jack shit, after maybe 2 or 3 molerat chunks or whichever healing item you consume your (targeted) health bar is full and everything else you eat is wasted. Only that it isn't full, the HP amount you heal is just a target threshold you will reach slower the higher the difficulty level. Healing over time, first Bethesda game that actually comes with that obviously necessary feature out of the box.

 

[King Crispy]

Charming is not a word I would associate with the game. Words I would choose are Retarded, Cosmetic and Shallow.

In my 20 hours or so playing time the game feels a lot like DLC. Half price and you would get some respect. Full price and you just killed the franchise.

First of all, the "franchise" has been dead a long time. I can accept the criticism of contributing to the raping of its corpse, perhaps, and for that I do feel the odd pang of guilt, but Tim and the boys all seem to be doing fine now so whatever.

Secondly, your assertion that the percentage of the amount that gets paid for the game equates to the respect or lack of for the person purchasing it is laughable. You yourself put 20 hours in. You either:

- Pirated it, which means you're a loathsome thief and a hypocrite
- Paid some amount less than full price which still makes you a hypocrite
- Paid full price for it without wanting to admit it which, again, makes you a hypocrite

Lastly, why did it take 20 hours of playing the game for you to conclude that it's "retarded, cosmetic and shallow"? Something doesn't add up here, pal.

 

[an Administrator]

How is stealth mechanics?! Did they add something new like cover system? Or just the same old [Hidden] system?!

 

[King Crispy]

It's exactly the same as it was before, AFAICT.

 

[Lord Azlan]

Charming is not a word I would associate with the game. Words I would choose are Retarded, Cosmetic and Shallow.

In my 20 hours or so playing time the game feels a lot like DLC. Half price and you would get some respect. Full price and you just killed the franchise.

First of all, the "franchise" has been dead a long time. I can accept the criticism of contributing to the raping of its corpse, perhaps, and for that I do feel the odd pang of guilt, but Tim and the boys all seem to be doing fine now so whatever.

Secondly, your assertion that the percentage of the amount that gets paid for the game equates to the respect or lack of for the person purchasing it is laughable. You yourself put 20 hours in. You either:

- Pirated it, which means you're a loathsome thief and a hypocrite
- Paid some amount less than full price which still makes you a hypocrite
- Paid full price for it without wanting to admit it which, again, makes you a hypocrite

Lastly, why did it take 20 hours of playing the game for you to conclude that it's "retarded, cosmetic and shallow"? Something doesn't add up here, pal.

I dunno - New Vegas was voted in the RPG Codex all time list. So the franchise could at least be seen to be on an upward trajectory.

I am lucky to be the favourite uncle to a teenager who seems to have lots of cash and primarily been gifted Fallout 4 on PC as its the 'latest thing'. I was around his place quite a few times that week and manged to spend a lot of time on the game.

I was sorely tested by my "need" to have this game but I resisted the temptation. I think it needs to go down to half price before I get it.

I did not purchase it a full price as I wanted to make a statement to Bethesda that they need to improve their performance regards consolisation of PC games - I think this makes me madder than the fact its not RPG. I cannot understand why so many PC users bought this game at full price. Console retards I can understand.

My nephew - I was watching him play - was level five at one point - but had not figured out how to level up. On another day I saw he had levelled up and spent all his points on attributes only. He did not realise you could spend points on perks - or that you could fast travel either.

There are lots more like this - which is a sign of what it is come to.

My 20 hours? After 5 hours I rolled another character. I play real slow and explore everything, deliberately avoiding the main story line.

My summary? A lot of people will buy it and play because they want to enjoy the Fallout universe. There is a lot of hope.

But deep down most will realise that despite the Pip-boy, SPECIAL, dogmeat, radiation, Brotherhood of Steel and everything else - it's barely a competent shooter.

Me - I am waiting to see how low the price will go next month on the Steam sales.

And, isn't everyone a hypocrite

 

[King Crispy]

My 20 hours? After 5 hours I rolled another character. I play real slow and explore everything, deliberately avoiding the main story line.

Then you're playing it for the exact same reasons I am. Almost sounds like you're having fun at it, too.

My summary? A lot of people will buy it and play because they want to enjoy the Fallout universe. There is a lot of hope.

Anyone buying this game based on an expectation that it has anything in common with the original Fallouts is a moron.

But deep down most will realise that despite the Pip-boy, SPECIAL, dogmeat, radiation, Brotherhood of Steel and everything else - it's barely a competent shooter.

Those things were thrown in to attempt to appeal to the original fans. It didn't work, at least in my case. I resent seeing Dogmeat's name used. SPECIAL is nothing like it used to be.

But, the game is Good For What It Is™, a post-apoc hiking sim. Skyrim with guns and mutants. I'm glad you agree with me on that.

 

[King Crispy]

Interesting tweak to enable true multicore support in the game. You have to do this every time you launch it, but you can make a batch file that you execute from the console.

I took out the tmTa one and the thighprocess one because they were or are apparently already enabled, but I think I'm seeing more usage of my cores so far in my limited testing.

http://gearnuke.com/fallout-4-heres-toggle-multithreading-pc-improve-performance/

Can't hurt, worth a try.

 

[Gerrard]

spideynut71
Microsoft should have been proactive and convinced Bethesda to make this game one of the first DX12-based games for both PC and X1. What a missed opportunity…

 

[Jools]

How is stealth mechanics?! Did they add something new like cover system? Or just the same old [Hidden] system?!

[Hidden] Like Crispy said, it's exactly the same as before. It looks vaguely less OP'd than in Skyrim, though. The brackets widen and tighten to display your level of "hidden-ness". "Hidden" turns into the usual "Caution" and "Danger", according to the situation (read: "you've made someone suspicious" and "they're actively looking for you", or something like that).

 

[Akratus]

I dunno - New Vegas was voted in the RPG Codex all time list. So the franchise could at least be seen to be on an upward trajectory.

 

[Lord Azlan]

I dunno - New Vegas was voted in the RPG Codex all time list. So the franchise could at least be seen to be on an upward trajectory.

Nice post - where did you get the quality ratings from? Personally i would put F3 a bit higher.

But my franchise trajectory was about the 3D fallouts - I would not compare F1 and F2 with the Bethesda ones.

 

[Akratus]

Personally i would put F3 a bit higher.

 

[Cthulhu_is_love]

What's wrong with Fallout Tactics? I felt it was around 40-45 on this scale, but never worse than Skyrim with Guns.

Rest seems roughly accurate, except the Skyrim mod is the same quality than the Oblivion mod. (which means 0)

Also PoS wasn't from Bethesda which means its an amazing game.

Spoiler

...

 

[Lord Azlan]

My 20 hours? After 5 hours I rolled another character. I play real slow and explore everything, deliberately avoiding the main story line.

Then you're playing it for the exact same reasons I am. Almost sounds like you're having fun at it, too.

My summary? A lot of people will buy it and play because they want to enjoy the Fallout universe. There is a lot of hope.

Anyone buying this game based on an expectation that it has anything in common with the original Fallouts is a moron.

But deep down most will realise that despite the Pip-boy, SPECIAL, dogmeat, radiation, Brotherhood of Steel and everything else - it's barely a competent shooter.

Those things were thrown in to attempt to appeal to the original fans. It didn't work, at least in my case. I resent seeing Dogmeat's name used. SPECIAL is nothing like it used to be.

But, the game is Good For What It Is™, a post-apoc hiking sim. Skyrim with guns and mutants. I'm glad you agree with me on that.

I don't and did not compare F4 with the original titles.

I certainly did not enjoy my brief time with it as you did.

I believe Skyrim and even Oblivion are better. Fallout 3 is better. NV is better.

What we have here is a con. If you enjoyed any of the previous games, Fallout 4 allows you to play a non-competent shooter and whilst you do that you can "pretend" to be playing a Fallout game, that you are in the Fallout universe. That you "get it".

I think Bethesda put just enough Fallout content to con enough people to make more than enough money. Smoke and mirrors or whatever the saying is.

The positive comments about this one are mostly not about quests, not about the story, not about interaction with characters.

Those people talk about how it is a great shooter or they can build a chair for granny drug addict. Or that the armour and weapon modding is cool.

Fallout 4 is not a fallout game. As a hiking sim - I think the others are better. What sort of hiking game leads to you hearing gunshots every couple of minutes? It's a shooter.

 

[King Crispy]

Skyrim is better

Not really.

Oblivion is better

lolno.

Fallout 3 is better

You're on fukkin' crack.

NV is better

Better RPG, yes. Better hiking sim? Debatable.

What sort of hiking game leads to you hearing gunshots every couple of minutes?

An atmospheric one.

It's a shooter.

Shooters don't allow for the kind of free-form, purposeless walking around this game does. It's not a shooter. The gunplay is ancillary, just like the swords and magic were in Skyrim. It's a hiking sim in which you can LARP a derpy vault dweller looking for his father, middle aged son, probably still thawing out. Seen him?

 

[Akratus]

Crispy how can you say Fallout 4 is better than skyrim? They're the same games, except Fallout 4 is a shooter that handles it's lore and setting assbackwardly.

Shooters don't allow for the kind of free-form, purposeless walking around this game does.

Oh now I see why, you're a retard.

List of definitely NOT shooters. (Crispy approved(TM))
-Borderlands
-Borderlands 2
-Borderlands: The Presequal
-Rage
-Far Cry 2
-Far Cry 3
-Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
-Far Cry 4
-The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Trilogy
-Planetside 2
-Destiny
-Crysis 1
-Metro series
-Mass Effect series

 

[King Crispy]

I never said Fallout 4 is better than Skyrim. I'm saying it's not a shooter, because it's not.

In shooters, the focus is always on the combat. If you're not fighting, you're leading up to a fight or recovering from one. In shooters, there are generally very few areas you can walk in without being harassed almost immediately. In games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim, you can wander around (if you're relatively careful) for hours, just collecting shit, looking at shit, talking to dumb NPC's, and completing "quests". Does that sound like a shooter to you?

Some of the examples you provided are not strictly shooters, such as STALKER. Even the Far Cry series blurs the lines.