Fallout 4

[Art Blade]

doesn't ring a bell but doesn't surprise me, either. Can't have been spectacular, I reckon

[mandru]

I did find all six of the bottled messages in my first play though FO4.

If I remember correctly I was exploring by following (as close as I could) the shoreline South and then West of Warwick Homestead and the FMS N. Star when I came across the first bottle.  It was either there or the seaward strip of beach North of Nordhagen (again exploring/scavenging) working my way along the sand spit to where it joins back into the mainland.

That unmarked side mission was a mildly amusing diversion but not so wonderful that I remember much about it other than searching for and finding the bottles. 

[fragger]

The message-in-a-bottle quests appear to be simple affairs that just point you towards small amounts of hidden goodies, nothing spectacular


I'm taking the same approach to the game this time around as I did last time - staying away from story quests until I've well and truly built myself up. Last time I didn't initiate contact with any factions until I'd reached around Level 70. This time I'm aiming for Level 100 first. I want to enter the story side of things perked up to the eyeballs I also plan to do Nuka-World pre-story as well so that I can bring some of those unique NW goodies into the Commonwealth theatre, which means perking up well before taking on the tough NW baddies.

[Art Blade]

 

[fragger]

Once again, I cleaned out the Castle before making Preston's acquaintance. Queenie bit the mud quickly this time, due to my having a souped-up, quad-barreled Missile Launcher inside my invisible rucksack or whatever my guy lugs all his stuff around in. Got a settlement going right away in there too. Unfortunately, all the egg-nests and other rubbish is still blighting the premises. It's early days though, so I'll be curious to see whether the presence of settlers will make all that stuff go away, or whether the Minutemen have to be in attendance to bring that about.

Part of the game plan is to have as many settlement sites populated pre-Preston as possible, except for one or two I don't like, namely Coastal Cottage and Murkwater Construction. I sent that smarty-pants robot Jezebel off to the latter because I didn't want her stinking up Sanctuary with her noxious presence, but when I went out there some time later, I couldn't find any trace of her even though the Workbench says there is one occupant present. There was a Mirelurk Queen right there, so with any luck Jezzo is now a rusting pile of attitude-laden junk at the bottom of a smelly swamp. I can but hope.

It should be interesting to see how many settlement-related quests Preston sends me on later, when I have almost all settlement sites populated already.

I've maxed out the affinities of most of the companions I've had. Some I can't get to yet, having stayed away from their respective factions, and I can't yet max Curie because I haven't met the Railroad and thus can't obtain a synth body for her. I think that's how it works - whatever the reason, Dr. Amari won't yet play ball, so I got Curie up to 499 points, then left her at the Mechanist's place until I'm ready to get back to her. When I do want a companion I take Strong, for several reasons: He's tough, he can tote a huge amount of scavenge and gear, and he's oddly endearing for a big green Hulk-like galoot. I also take him to keep him quiet, because if he's left at a settlement he never shuts up

And I'm still finding new places. Found a little laundry near the USS Constitution that had a good dollop of scavenge inside. I must have walked right past the flipping door a couple of hundred times and never noticed it...

[Art Blade]

entertaining read, fragger You must have been extremely busy to get that far without having started the main quest line. Nicely done, keep going And indeed, amazing how many "secret" or rather, hidden locations there are.

Funny to keep Strong as a companion so he doesn't sound-pollute settlements. When I had him around, he wouldn't shut up no matter what I did with him. Unfortunately, I didn't have the tools to remove his vocal chords (at least not without removing the spark of life, too) and I didn't have any suitable duct tape to roll around his head and seal his gob with because I certainly would have.

[mandru]

For the character development of Strong I've always felt bad that there wasn't a personal quest for him where he was able to have his much sought after "Aha!" moment regarding the meaning behind his quest for "The Milk of Human Kindness".

For me giving Strong that closure/enlightenment would have been an extension of finally being able to do something nice for FO3's Uncle Leo.  That is besides not killing Leo on sight which he appreciated immensely but that seemed hardly enough all things being equal.

Uncle Leo: "I'm Yelling!  And I don't know why!"

[fragger]

I never played FO3 so I don't know who Uncle Leo is, but I feel bad about Strong never finding his milk. In fact once when I dismissed him he said something like "Human not help Strong find Milk of Human Kindness" in a dejected tone of voice. I felt like a right bastard.

[mandru]

Uncle Leo was a randomly located (from game to game) super mutant who could be encountered in FO3.  Leo had slowly regained an awareness if not of his own previous life at least the morality of how he had been before being infected with the mutation causing Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV).  When he tried suggesting to the super mutant leaders he was subservient under that there had to be a better way to improve everyone's existence by working and trading with humans for the good of all he was deemed weak and defective and had to flee for his life from the other super mutants who had become determined to kill him.

Super mutants don't breed.  They're no longer male or female.  To propagate and increase their numbers (so they can destroy everything  ) they expose captured humans that are not killed and eaten to FEV.

They do FEV experiments with captured animals as well.  One of the mash ups they came up with by mixing animals and humans was the Centaurs from FO3 and earlier FO games located on the West Coast.

[fragger]

Ah, okay, Thanks mate

The Super Mutants and the FEV is yet another cool back-story aspect of the game(s), of which there are heaps. One of the things I love abut FO4 is the myriad side- and back-stories I come across, whether pertaining to currently living people or those who have passed away but revealed via terminals, holotapes and notes. Some of those stories are touching, some are dramatic and some are funny, and overall I think it helps give an impression of a rich tapestry of existence before and after the war. All in all it's a meticulous conceptualization for a mere video game world.

From what I can gather from online critiques of the game, many long-time Fallout fans believe that #4 is the weakest of the series, bashing it for not being enough of a RPG. I couldn't give a fig myself - I love it to bits I also didn't realize until recently that the original Fallout game (and FO2) were not first-person affairs at all but isometrically-viewed, scrolling strategy-like affairs which looked like this...

Spoiler

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... and that the franchise didn't go first-person until FO3.

[Art Blade]

I'm not familiar with 1+2 because I started with FO3 and therefore 1st/3rd person view. I liked it a lot but FO4 in my opinion is way better. I don't have to explain the "why" to you guys. Those people who complain about it not being so much of a Role Playing Game.. I think they should play something else, then. I think it is a great combination of being not too much of an RPG and being not too much of a FPS. I like the balance. And I think you can play very nicely a role in it. Maybe not so much of a parent who lost their spouse and child, that's indeed what it wasn't for me. But simply ignore that and you've got one of the best open world games I can think of.

[fragger]

Totally agree with everything you said there, Art. The game suits me to a tee - not too RPG-ish, enough of a shooter to make it fun (with good mechanics), huge cast of characters with generally above-average voice acting, lots of varied situations, plenty of places to explore, large array of weapons/armour modifications, and many other things to do. And it certainly is open-world - I think it's one of the sandboxiest games I've ever played. Almost complete freedom of action to go wherever you want, to do whatever you want, whenever you want to. Most missions will even let you walk away and come back to them later, without locking you into them. Some lock you in by dint of their very nature, but most don't, especially the side ones.

And almost never is there any time pressure. The only occurrences of time pressure are when a settlement is being attacked, which is actually quite seldom. And even then, there is no countdown timer or any of that stuff, and you're given more than enough time to act. Otherwise, the game doesn't care how long you take to do anything. Sometimes I've spent a whole couple of game days just building a settlement - and you don't even have to do very much of that if you don't want to.

Having played through a few times now (not that a game ever really has to end), the most exhilarating moment of a new playthrough for me is when I first emerge from Vault 111 and I know I have an entire game world ready for me to plunge into however I see fit.

For me, that is what open-world gaming is all about - freedom.

[Art Blade]

absolutely, fragger. And there is something the lack of which I appreciate to no end: phone calls and radio messages. Just think "Hurk" or simply FarCry5 and you'll instantly know what I mean. I hate it when you keep hearing voices from no idea where that state the obvious, tell you down to the very last detail what to do and if you do what you were told (actually, simply play the mission) they freak out with enthusiasm because you did. It is almost like the mandatory YouTube/facebook/any-social-media line, "don't forget to hit the like-button" and essentially, "I'll kill you if you don't subscribe" type of mentality. When I was watching FC5, most recently D_B's mars streams, I SO wanted to beat Hurk (and all the other people talking into the game) to a pulp with increasing force and satisfaction after every consecutive punch, gngngngn... I can't stand that "lead you by the hand" principle which translates to being dragged around on rails while at the time being blindfolded, handcuffed and wrapped up tightly in a straightjacket with a red clown nose-shaped gag in your mouth. Really. Thanks, but no thanks.

[mandru]

An unmarked location I recently learned of that I don't recall reading about here on OWG is in a spot that's a stone throw from Bunker Hill.  There's no telling how many times I've walked past it leaving it undiscovered until now. 

When you leave Bunker Hill through the small East side gate and set out to the South East (on the street that runs down to the Anchor Monument) there is a mid-block cross street before reaching the water front.  If you are leaving Bunker Hill the turn will be to the right.  If you are coming from the waterfront (and the Anchor Monument) you can see a large Grey Tortoise cigarette advert painted high up on a building side and that is where you turn left.

As you go West on this new street there will be a small white painted house front on the right that may have a ghoul or two that will attack you from the front porch.  There is a duffel bag concealed at the far end of the porch after you come up the stairs and the front door will be shown as "Abandoned House" when you examine it.

I'm not going to spoil what's inside other than to say that in addition to the luxurious free roaming allowed in FO4 another thing I admire about the game is all of the documenting glimpses into the lives of various people from all walks of life at the time of the war and the struggles (their successes but mostly losses) of the survivors after the bombs fell.

All of the surrounding lore that can be ferreted out (if you care to dig for it) really adds to the overall immersion value of this game for me. 

[Art Blade]

I just went there to see what it was and it was a familiar location. Three tapes can be found there. 'nuff said