Fallout 4: First Impressions

It’s a Bethesda game! That’s what I said when the NPC I was speaking with suddenly winked out of existence. It’s what I said when I spent a few minutes trying to figure out where a quest related NPC had gone, only to realise they’d somehow gotten stuck on an inaccessible rooftop. It’s what I said when my weapons suddenly became invisible and a truck fell out of the sky.

Buying a Bethesda game on release? You’ve either got to be very brave, or very stupid. Mostly stupid. Fortunately, most of these bugs and glitches are more amusing than irritating and can usually be solved by a save/reload or by exiting the area. What wasn’t so amusing was when my 25 hour save corrupted and crashed my game on every restart. Fortunately I had a back-up. It’s a Bethesda game – always have a back-up.

Unfortunately, those solutions didn’t solve another game breaking issue – every time I venture near a particular location, my game crashes. Something of a problem considering several quests pass through the area. I’ve had to use console commands more than once to cheat my way around it. It appears to be a common problem from what I’ve seen online. They better patch that shit asap.

I’ve now sunk 60 hours into Fallout 4. I’ve explored over 150 locations, I’m just shy of Level 33 and I’ve completed numerous quests. So I figured it was time to drag myself away and write up my initial impressions. I must admit, I didn’t go into Fallout 4 with the highest of expectations. I was sure I’d enjoy it. For all the issues I had with Fallout 3 and Skyrim, I still put hundreds of hours into those titles.

 

In many ways, Fallout 4 is exactly what I expected it to be. But I’m also pleased to say that it’s actually surpassed my expectations in areas I didn’t expect. The game opens with a character editor which is easily the best Bethesda have yet released. What follows is a short ‘prologue’ which builds to your introduction into the wasteland.

The initial few hours of Fallout 4 aren’t its best. Although I liked the opening prologue, the ‘starting’ area is rather bland to look at and not particularly interesting to explore. I limited myself to the north-west area of the map, but very few locations proved worth the time or trouble to investigate, and the only quests I was being offered were repetitive settlement related missions.

Eventually, however, I pushed south into the urban wasteland. And that’s when the game really began to come to life. Although I can’t say the writing and dialogue is all that fantastic, the game already has far more character and charm to its world, people and quests than either Fallout 3 or Skyrim. The quest/character aspects were the two biggest areas I really wasn’t expecting much from, but they’ve actually left me pleasantly surprised.

I can honestly say I’m having fun with the quests in Fallout 4. I feel invested in what I’m doing and why. It’s strange, because I expected to enjoy Fallout 4 more for the random exploration element, but instead, I’m actually enjoying it more by following the various quest lines. That said, I’m still only a little way into the ‘main’ quest so there’s still a lot to see and do. Hopefully it holds my interest all the way through.

Okay, it’s time to talk about the dialogue system. I’m not that bothered by the voiced protagonist, but the dialogue ‘wheel’ is pretty shit. A lot of the time it’s rather vague with its options so you never really know what your character is going to say. It also totally ruins the ‘speech check’ aspect with a silly colour-coded ‘success’ chance to persuade or intimidate. I don’t know why the dialogue system was changed when it was perfectly fine as it was.

But this ties into another major issue. With a voiced protagonist and vague dialogue options, you don’t really feel like you’re playing as your ‘own’ character. As much as you might ‘build’ one character to be different from another in terms of stats, there’s not enough flexibility or complexity to the dialogue options to really forge a unique personality.

You could argue that this time around you’re essentially playing as an ‘established’ character, but that’s hardly the case at all. All the dialogue responses in Fallout 4 are generally short, bland and personality free. As a result, Fallout 4 feels less like an RPG than perhaps it should.

This is also true of the quests. The vast majority of the quests I’ve played have nearly entirely revolved around ‘go to location – KILL EVERYTHING’. To be fair, I’ve had a few non-combat related quests, and I was even able to talk my way out of a potential ‘boss’ fight using the shitty colour-coded dialogue options. But still, Fallout 4 feels more like a open-world FPS than an RPG. Fortunately, the FPS aspect is much improved.

With a few tweaks to combat with regards to movement and aiming and the introduction of a cover system, Fallout 4 has some pretty enjoyable action. It’s even more fun when random NPCs get involved leading to entirely free-form ‘set-piece’ style moments. And that’s in addition to some rather enjoyable scripted set-pieces as part of quests.

V.A.T.S is no longer a combat ‘pause’ more a ‘slow down’ which I’m a little torn on, as it forces you to make quick decisions regarding targeting, especially when dealing with fast moving enemies. The result? I’ve rarely used it because I’ve found it less dangerous and more efficient to target things manually. The new system doesn’t really enhance the combat experience. If anything, I feel it detracts from it.

There have also been changes to the level and perk systems. Everything is now tied to your S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats, with multiple ranks per perk. Once again, it sees Fallout 4 shift even more from an RPG to an FPS with ‘upgrade points’. Although I didn’t mind the new system, I can see problems arising in terms of replay value, because like the dialogue options, it’s a reduced system that doesn’t allow for such extensive character customisation.

 

At only level 24 or so, I was already hacking or picking ‘Master’ locks and terminals despite only a handful of points in the corresponding perk trees. I’m not fond of the term ‘dumb down’, but in the case of Fallout 4’s dialogue and skill systems, it seems entirely appropriate.

I can see this shift away from RPG style dialogue and stats is going to be a serious issue for many. Combined with a heavy emphasis on combat, and Fallout 4 is moving ever closer to something like the Far Cry series, at least in terms of gameplay. Fortunately, from what I’ve seen so far, Fallout 4 has improved in the areas of characters and quests. But it does feel a little like one step forward, two steps back.

One element of the game I just have to cover is the settlement management. I’ve probably put something like 20 hours into this aspect of the game alone. Despite its irritatingly fiddly menu system, it’s a system I’ve become sadly addicted to. It’s like playing The Sims crossed with Minecraft as you scrap and build various structures, furniture and items in the world. It’s a system with surprising depth, allowing for a nice degree of creativity. The only downside to this system (aside from the UI) is the Settler AI, who sometimes get stuck on scenery or simply refuse to do the jobs you assign.

Speaking of AI, enemy AI is better in the sense that they’ll toss grenades your way or take cover, but still dumb in the sense that jumping on an object barely a foot off the ground will totally baffle them. And then we have the companions, who like to step in front of you just as you’re throwing a grenade, causing it to bounce back and hit you in the face. Or they get stuck on something and run against it on the spot. Because of course they do.

What I do appreciate is how your companions interact with the world, other NPCs and even comment on what you’re doing, or give opinions related to your current quest. It’s much better than endlessly recycled ‘stock’ phrases, although I’m sure there’s a limit to it. But from what I’ve seen, Fallout 4 has a pretty neat and varied selection of characters to travel with, and will likely prove to be a highlight of the experience. If only they could fix their bloody pathfinding.

What else? I really like the weapon modification system, although I’m concerned by what feels like a very limited variety of armour and armour modifications. Hopefully, there’s a lot more to come. Oh, and though I like the settlement management, it does feel kind of pointless. They’ve made it so ‘optional’ for the player, that they’ve also rendered it largely redundant. It’s still f**king fun, though.

Graphics! During the day, when outside, Fallout 4 can look great! But at night, and in certain interior environments, it looks like f**king ass. It’s flat, ugly and it frankly doesn’t look a lot better than a modded Fallout 3. It’s visually inconsistent, to say the least. Some areas look fantastic, others look like shit. But I’m sure there will be mods to tweak/improve the visuals so it’s not a major issue.

Aside from the expected bugs and glitches, technical performance is fairly solid. I’ve got everything set to Ultra and I maintain a stable 60FPS, although in some areas it can dip a little, but it’s only temporary.

Okay, time to wrap this up. Fallout 4 will likely prove divisive based on what I’ve played. But personally, I’m quite enjoying it despite my issues and the occasional bug/glitch. My main concern is replay value with such a limited dialogue/skill system. And I’m yet to see a good 60% or so of the map. I hope the southern wasteland areas are far more interesting than the north. The urban stuff is great though.

I’m also concerned a little by the lack of proper unique side quests, but we’ll see how that goes. I don’t expect to have a review up until late November/early December. In the meantime, I’m sure I can put up a few related filler posts. Just remember – it’s a Bethesda game!