Fallout4

Is anyone planning on playing this? It's available tomorrow.

Are you going to be playing, Rowan?

Haven't bought it yet, looney. Fallout3 was one of my favourite games but could never replay it on Windows7. Just want to hear some impressions of the game before I pull out my credit card. Besides, still have a lot of leaves to rake. Starting a new game would totally destroy that ambition.

Yes, games tend to do that

My copy should be available for download then...is it really tomorrow?

I thought the game was being released on November 10th, but I could be wrong.

Steam allows you to download the game now; it will get unlocked on the 10th (or 11th). I downloaded it just now, so it will be ready to play soon!

Mentats, anyone?

Reviews are getting posted now.

That review seemed pretty darned positive.

I really hope the game is as good as Fallout 3.

Well, all the advertising is saying that it's their (Bethesda's) most ambitious games yet. They pulled developers off other projects to work it. The Fallout franchise has really turned into a profitable venture for them. I have three wishes for this game:

1. That the character development tree is easier to track and more meaningful then F3
2. That there is some actual gauge for character alignment progress other than "cutsie" Fallout Boy illustrations
3. That the main quest arc isn't as brief as past Bethesda games

Is that too much to ask?

I am!! It's preloaded on Steam and I'll be sitting here at midnight, ready to go.

It's here.....

see you in a month or so

But do try to stop in to give us your impressions of the game.

Don't forget to stock up on iguana on a stick and crispy squirrel bits.

Have fun!

I pre-ordered Fallout 4 on PlayStation - unlocked at midnight, just in time for the day-one patch installation to kick in. So I went to sleep!

Luckily, I've got Wednesday off for the sole purpose of playing the game. Can't wait!

Have fun and let us know what you think of it

So, first off, the character creation screen is pretty cool.

You can choose a male or female character from a married couple who are standing in the bathroom of their home, presumably admiring themselves in the mirror. You can customize your character to quite an extent but I didn't bother too much, with the exception of some makeup changes, since in the pre-generated faces I found a sultry dark-haired vamp who looks just about perfect for a roaming hero in the post-war wasteland. I'm amused by the thought of her tooling around with her perfectly groomed hair and her over-the top makeup; Chanel-red lipstick and 1960's-style cat eyeliner.

I was also amused by "my" hunky husband (who I had also customized a wee bit so that he could keep up with his trophy wife) making comments like, "absolutely gorgeous" or, "beauuutiful" while my character applied her makeup at my commands.

I quit at that point because my laptop seems to want to cycle down its battery and charge it up again, so more later once the game actually starts.

Very entertaining descriptions and info, hagatha. We will wait to hear more.

It rained today.....NO RAKING!! Credit card out, a long download, and I'm in the game. Carrying a lot of junk weight. Haven't found a store to unload anything.

It was just meant to be that you didn't have to rake today.

Man, what a time suck. I've spent the last two and a half hours just building things in my two settlements.

I seem to be carting around lots of crjunk, too. And I have a doggie. But the doggie is really not much good in a fight, at least so far.

I guess you can store stuff in containers and come back for it. I'm going to find one in the Museum and fill it with the really borderline stuff I've found.

The game runs flawlessly, though I am finding the interface a bit clunky.

As far as gameplay goes, so far the game is...Fallout. Again. And that is very much a good thing.

Another wet day. When will that raking get done? I guess I'll send out my robot to do it.

Ahh, Rowan, rain is God's way of telling you to play games

I'd like one of those robots, myself.

So, what type of character are you playing, everyone? Brawn? Brain? Sneaksie?

So far I'm fairly evenly balanced in points: Brawn for extra toting abilities, brain for extra experience points, sneak to be able to unlock some of those difficult locks. Once I find a shop to trade I'll probably lean toward sneaking and perception...and luck.

Yes, that's what I need, a store. And then sneaking and picking. Though there is a certain amount of satisfaction in blasting away at things in this game.

EDIT: Okay. How do I use the crafting benches? The interface allows me to scroll through a list of items, but I can't do anything other than that.

I wish there were a manual for the same reason. Here is what I came up with after much trial and error:

For example to make beds:

1) Go to any house and clear a room to make space. Hit R to scrap the old furniture.
2) Hold V until the crafting bench comes up. You don't have to be at the bench itself.
3) Scroll with the arrow keys to the furniture icon. Hit E. Choose any one of the bed styles and hit E again. A red bed should appear if you have the correct junk in inventory. Swivel this red bed around the space you've cleared. When it turns green you can drop it in place.
4) Make another one if there is room or exit the crafting screen. The beds will look normal coloured but I have not mastered putting them in place neatly.

I haven't figured out how to update armour or equipment. This is one part of the game which I have never used too much in the older Fallouts. I'd rather just find, steal, or kill for.

Thanks. I'll try that.

I can make health items. I also made a calibrated pistol grip, but it (or the modified pistol) appears nowhere in my inventory and it used a LOT of resources, which now seem to have vanished down a hole.

If I remember correctly I saw a MOD section in inventory. Would it be there? I haven't modified anything so I've ignored this.

Yeah, the big drawback with Fallout 4 right now is the lack of documentation and the trial-and-error crafting interface. Reminds me of Minecraft (and not in a good way). Feels like a last-minute addition to the game that they didn't have time to introduce properly. But I'm enjoying the story and the world, as usual!

The world is as cool as in any Fallout game.

As usual, I'm just wandering around taking in the sights and dying frequently. Looking for another power cell for my power suit, mostly. But also trying to get those levels up so I can select better lock picking and gun skills.

I'm actually thinking that rifle skills (as in sniper) would be better for sneaking than pistol over the long run, like Denton in Deus Ex, sniping at soldiers from the rooftops of New York and then fading away.

We have perfect weather for gaming here on the Wet Coast - a massive storm blasting rain at the windows and howling around the roof. Almost feels as though the roof will blow off! But that's what you get for living on the water.

Stealth and Power suits always seemed a little odd to me. I just picture me attempting to skulk past some raiders *clunk, clunk, clunk, metallic scraping sound, clunk, clunk, "Don't mind me, just sneaking through" clunk, clunk, clunk.*

No dice.

Hitting R does not clear the room of furniture.

Hitting V only bring up third-person view.

Not sure what to do now, but this is clearly gimped.

EDIT: Now I'm starting to feel as though this game is holding me hostage. I have a community with a falling happiness level because I cannot craft anything. I feel that I can't go on with the game doing what I WANT to do because of this. I really want to have fun, not spend all day trying to work this out. Why is it so difficult?

I have somehow, by mashing R and V and Enter and a bunch of other keys, (and I really don't know how) managed to call up something that allows me to hit "R" and destroy things. Great. I went around Sanctuary wrecking buildings and trash. Great. I have stuff for crafting. Great.

Now I have some empty rooms. Okay. Fine. But...

In that same mode, I have somehow (again, mashing R and V and bashing them multiple times) called up the crafting menu in that now-empty room.

I see options for building houses, furniture, decorations, etc. I can scroll along this menu of selections. But I cannot do anything with them. Hitting R does nothing. Hitting V does nothing. Hitting Enter does nothing.

Nothing does anything.

Any help appreciated, because this sure ain't what I bought this game for.

Check the bold type above. Good luck. I'm not fond of the crafting and modifying which I haven't learned yet either.

BTW About your junk: Go to the crafting table and choose Transfer. Put all your junk items there including what you scrapped earlier. This will lighten your load and it will still be available if you pull up the crafting screen with V.

What I said above works only in the first town, my home town, for me. Maybe it will work in other areas that have the crafting tables nearby. Will have to see. Doesn't really matter as I can fast travel back for now.

Aha. I wasn't hitting the E key.

That will help. Now I can get outta Dodge (or, Sanctuary, as the case may be) and get on with it.

Another question: does the stuff you put into the crafting table get used for component parts? Or does it just get stored there?

EDIT: Ok, now I can make things. But I understand you can also break down weapons and armour. Wonder how to do that?

And does anyone know how to string wire for electrical stuff?

You set up power pylons. There are short ones and tall one in the power section of the workshop menu. You'll find them under Connectors. After you build it, just click on it, and you'll see an option at the bottom that says Attach Wire. I don't know what key it will be for you, since I use a controller. You hit the key to attach the wire and then connect it to your generator that you built. If it's too far away, the wire will have a red outline to tell you you can't do that. If it's a white outline, you're okay. Then you can just string pylons along like lightpoles where ever you want electricity. The pylons and such can carry electricity to places through the wire and wherever one is, they can power things, like lights.

Here's a decent post on Reddit explaining electricity probably a bit better than I do. *lol*

https://www.reddit.com/r/fo4/comments/3siuxl/electricity_and_you_how_to_power_your_settlement/

At this site you will find some "How to ..." hints and tips for all kinds of problems.

Aha again. SO, I've have one very happy settlement. Plus I've set up a new one at the Red Rocket, with food and water and soon I guess there will be a radio tower for new people.

So, I've been on a wander through Cambridge. Always wanted to go there. Many buildings to explore.

I'm considerably hampered by my weight restriction, even with a partner, though I'm loathe to allocate any further Strength points. Gotta get those rifle points, those lock-pick points, the hacker stuff.

Okay, my cat is telling me to stop typing. She just sits on the keyboard. She allows me an hour or two of uninterrupted play, and then she figures it's her turn for attention. You cannot, you absolutely cannot, fight Raiders with a cat sitting on your keyboard.

Love this

My girl is definitely a 21st century cat. She sits in my lap and watches bird videos on my tablet. Very cute. The SPCA shelter I got her from had a laptop playing videos for the cats. She grew up with electronics, like many children.

So...Fallout 4. After about 20 hours of play I'm provisionally saying I love it. It's a new locale, with some new crafting ideas, but the premise is still pure Fallout. They know what we like, and they don't mess with it much. I can see myself spending many winter hours at my keyboard.

Haven't played for 2 days. Yard work called. Just could couldn't craft a fancy modded rake. But now that chore is finished. Wasteland, here I come!!

Love it so far - which isn't very!

No, I'm not very far in, either, just sort of poking around in Cambridge and starting the Minuteman quests. I just took on a tribe of Raiders in an auto plant(?). I was trapped in a bunker, but then realized I had two level-up points unassigned. Add one more Sneak and one Rifle, and voila. Dead Raiders. Mr. Handy is surprisingly handy in a fight, though he claims otherwise.

So...any bets on whether that stuttering, goofy radio DJ is a ghoul? Or a Super Mutant?

What, no Three-Dog?

Edit: OK, just read the tweets from Todd Dellums, guess I'm behind on the happenings around Fallout 4. Too bad they left him out, although if the setting is in a completely different area it would make sense since he's pretty much relegated to the capitol.

No Three-Dog. Too bad.

And I REALLY miss Peggy Lee singing "Why Don't You Do Right." That stripped-down early version of the song became my favourite in New Vegas. Actually, that very cool DJ in New Vegas reminds me a little of Little Stevie's (aka Steve van Zandt)Underground Garage. But maybe as we explore other stations will pop up?

I do wish they would expand the number of songs on the radio, though. It's just the same ten or so songs being played over and over.

I'll wager a mod will pop up that will allow you to load songs. I think they have that available for FO3.

Yea, I always enjoy the older tunes while walking the wasteland. Adds to the ambiance

That DJ is suspiciously fond of Butcher Pete. So maybe he's a ghoul.


Then again, he's also fond of Mighty, Mighty Man, which would suggest Super Mutant.

Conan's Fallout 4 themed opening to his show.



Conan's Apocalyptic Show Opener

I don't like the power armour. I just hate clunking about. I have found three sets so far but I've left them in Sanctuary. I've got a varied combination of modified leather and metal pieces. I love my sniper rifle. I've survived raiders and super mutants with this gear. I'm sick of being weighed down with junk. For the time being I'm not picking up every little thing that I find. Got 3 bobble heads so far. How do you holster your weapon? Can't find those instructions.

I've been wandering around a lot and exploring. Got several quests. Found many locations and have stopped to explore some and hope to come back to others. Hope I remember them later in the game. How do you undo a custom location? Earlier I made one by accident but don't know how to remove that useless marker from my map.

Made it to level 13. See you in the Wasteland. Don't shoot me.

I've never done a custom location. Didn't know you could.

I haven't found a sniper rifle yet, but I'm looking. That would suit me just fine. I have a couple of good pistols now, upgraded ones. Good for close-range Raider hunting.

I also got tired of carrying around junk. I know you can tag crafting items and there's some search function attached. Anyway, I now travel fairly light.

Edit: so...still doing nothing but exploring. Found a few magazines. Discovered the truth about the vaults.

EDIT: Some of those old songs are surprisingly naughty.

I listened to the classical channel for a while and really enjoyed a huge gunfight with Super Mutants to the Ride of the Valkyries. And there is something ineffably sad about shooting Raiders in a ruined city while Swan Lake is playing in the background. I did appreciate the Peer Gynt piece during a particularly long sneaking episode.

So where in the wasteland is everybody hiding? I'm getting a little tired of the Minuteman quests. I've kept Dogmeat for company. Reminds me of a dog I had in Skyrim. Although I'm a lover of classical music I tend to keep the music off as it is sometimes distracting. Like my combat armour but hate the power armour. It just kills the sneaky atmosphere for me.

Rowan, I turn music off in lots of games for that very reason. I hope you find some company soon.

The actual game music (as opposed to radio) is pretty darn good. Very atmospheric.

I'm busy building settlements, but am about to ditch all my extra stuff and go for a prolonged explore, do a few quests and get my level up a bit more. Ended up on the beach recently and ran up against some seriously tough enemies -- had to run for it repeatedly. Man, I hate those [blip] flamethrowers. Now where can I get me one?

I've managed to find three Bobbleheads and lots of magazines. Still haven't really decided on a favourite weapon and am carrying around far too much weight as a result.

I can't find my doggy. I left it in Sanctuary and it seems to have wandered off(?)

Hagatha, look here for Dogmeat in Sanctuary.

Hagatha, I hope you and Dogmeat are soon reunited!

Thanks, Rowan

I think I might have scrapped the doghouses, but something tells me I would have saved at least one. I guess I need to do a search, and send him somewhere smaller.

I have to get back to quest-solving instead of roaming. I'm not really getting anywhere. I did manage to get all the way through the Museum of Witchcraft, though, and that was...fun. Having a Mr. Handy around is way better than a squishy human. Makes a much better decoy. I feel far less guilty leaving him...it...to get smacked around while I hide and shoot from the shadows.

A warning to anyone who uses Nexus for their mods, the site has suspicions that they have been hacked so it's probably best if you change your password.

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/?

rockpapershotgun

Thanks. I haven't installed any mods yet, but it's good to have a warning.

I've met the Minutemen, BofS, and the Railroad. I've done mostly Minutemen quests (not the castle on the hill quest). I would like to do as many quests for each faction before I make a final decision for which faction to join. What is the point of no return where I have to choose?

I've been wondering that myself. I'm currently doing Minuteman and Brotherhood quests, and some of the Diamond City and Good Neighbour quests as well.

Oh, and every now and then I remember that I really, really, really need to find my son... who will be about thirty-five by the time I get around to finding him (although I suspect that his age and who he is will be a major plot point).

I had a son??? Dogmeat kinda replaced him. Hagatha, you awakened a guilty conscience in me.

Yeah. What sort of mother would spend years exploring old subway tunnels looking for magazines instead of going straight for the rescue?

I've been travelling with Strong. At one point he obviously really approved of me, but then I started lockpicking and put on a suit of power armour, and now he's back to making disparaging comments about me being just like the other humans. So I guess I'll go and get my Doggy for a while.

Dogmeat always bares his teeth when I ask him to carry extra equipment. I probably shot him accidentally too many times.

Poor Dogmeat

Oh. That could be part of it, I suppose. I definitely shot Strong more than once; heard a noise, turned around, saw an approaching Mutant, and blammo! Oops. The dog always makes me feel guilty when he gets hurt. I've decided to let him hang around Sanctuary for the rest of his life.

I seem to be specializing in sneak and non-automatic rifles, with pistols as a back-up. For that reason alone Strong makes little sense as he doesn't sneak. Nick is probably my best bet for companion.

I use Curie as companion. No complaints about having to carry a lot of stuff. And she gives a quest as well.

I just recruited Curie, too. I love the way she talks about bagging evidence every time we raid a Mutant base, and asks whether we shouldn't leave corpse examination to the coroner.

I sure am sick of running out of carrying room, though. Time to dump all my extra weapons. I use a sniper rifle and a combat rifle. In fact, the combat rifle I use was one I found very early in the game and I've never found anything as powerful since. I'm almost level 38, so I will soon be at 5 levels in rifle, enough to bag just about anything except the nastiest Deathclaw Alphas.

I have lots of Fat Men and other large automatic weapons in storage, and I would give them to Strong but...he's gone. I left him at the Starlight Drive In colony, but he obviously wandered off. I guess I'll have to try the Tower and see if he went back there. The rat has a TON of my stuff on him, too.

Hagatha, sounds like Strong needs GPS.

I was worried that perhaps he'd eaten some of my colonists and been "removed," but all seems well at the Starlight.

I just found a bomb shelter in a train carriage in the south east. What a sad story that was. And I emptied a second boy's school that echoed Lord of the Flies. I love the way this game gives you these little vignettes and glimpses into the tragedy that unfolded 200 years ago.

Mme Curie seems to be sweet on me.

EDIT: I seem to be spending more time tending to my communities than I do finishing quests. And I can't figure out what I'm carrying that's so heavy. I've dumped all but essential gear and STILL have 250 pounds of stuff.

But I am enjoying the ride. As with all Fallout games, the exploration is soooo addictive. I still haven't uncovered much of the lower part of the map. But with almost-maximum Rifle and maximum Ninja, I can take out the most powerful 'bots and Deathclaws with my trusty PACS (combat shotgun). Once I figure out how to upgrade it, it should be wicked powerful.

I found my "baby". Not what I expected. May affect the final faction decision. Won't tell more.

Thanks for not spoiling. You're still having fun, though?

We had company for a few days so I haven't played for a couple of weeks.

I am really nowhere in the overall main plot, I think. Time to really get at it and do some quests instead of messing around forever (that's what happened in Skyrim -- I played for over 400 hours and only just scratched the main quest before my laptop died). Not that there's anything wrong with aimless fun. It's just that I have over 100 un-played games in my library.

As long as you are having fun, that's all that counts

I finally decided to follow the main plot because I was getting bored with the repetitive faction quests. It got to a point that I was being sent to the same old locations and repeat what I had already done many times over. The faction quests seem to be restricted to just a handful of locations. If they opened up more locations it would have been a bit more entertaining. I know there are many places that I have not explored or entered just because there hasn't been a quest associated with it.

Back to the main quest. Haven't finished that yet. Still haven't decided on which faction to which to give my ultimate loyalty but I am leaning toward the Railroad group.

So, Rowan, at what point do you have to decide which faction you will join? Is it Storming the Castle, in the case of the Minutemen?

I, too, have stopped taking quests from the factions, as every time I rescued a new group I had to build a town, with all the running around that involves. And yes, the repeat cleanouts of the same locations is getting old. I'm doing some other, minor quests at the moment.

Hagatha, I don't know at which point you give your ultimate decision of membership to a faction. I have stormed the castle but this does not affect anything else. You can find your son and still be friends with all factions. You can find the Institute and do quests for them still without consequences. So I think the big decision must be very close to the ending. I even accepted a quest for a big fight at Bunkers Hill. I had synths, BOS, and railroad guys all fighting each other. I didn't want to fight anyone so I just let the groups go at each other. All I contributed was shooting out turrets. Now I'm back to normal with everyone being my friend.

Hm. I think I'm REALLY behind in the main quest. Better get at it.

I have been thinking some time now of trying out Fallout but am concerned that the controls might be too much for me to handle. I am definitely a pc guy and don't really like to use multiple fingers to play a game.

My top RPG's that I enjoy are "Elder Scrolls (Morrowind and Skyrim), Witcher 1 & 3, KOTOR 1 & 2, and Dragon Age (all of them).

So how would the controls of Fallout4 compare to those type games and how much of a learning curve would the game require for me? I don't really care to build cities and create armies etc but like the simplicity of just having the main quest along with the side quests that are thrown in as in the games I cited above.

Oldman, all keyboard controls are listed here. However, you do not use all of them all the time. The most common ones are W for forward, Q for VATS (great for sniper attacks), Space for jumping, and I for inventory. I feel that it is very similar to Skyrim as the mouse is used with these controls.

Thank you for the info Rowan. I think I will definitely get the game in time but now I have just downloaded Rise of the Tomb Raider which will be keeping me busy for a while. But I may be seeing what all the fuss about Fallout4 is.

Oldman, Fallout 4 is a lot of fun. The game world is exceptionally good. Something for you to look forward to.