Fallout 4

[legoless]

Guess Automatron got my hopes up. Wasteland Workshop was underwhelming to say the least. All this "flexibility" feels more like a step down from Hearthfire tbh.

[Kerr]

I just played through Automatron and was able to paint Codsworth pink and give him Assaultron legs so I'm pretty happy. And now because of Wasteland Workshop The Castle has a cat.

Going to be starting a new game tomorrow with a BOS character who uses pistol and maybe melee too. I might just wear the Silver Shroud outfit instead of any other outfit. Although I should really try out Power Armor, I never used it with my Railroad character, I always wore my Vault 111 Jumpsuit with armour over it, at the moment my Railroad character has fully upgraded combat armour over it because she's level 55 and that's just what happens. Then I had a hazmat suit for when I needed it. But a gunsligning Silver Shroud seems much cooler than a gunslinging Power Armor guy.

[Unionhack]

The Silver Shroud coat is a fantastic piece of armor once it's fully upgraded at level 45.

[Kerr]

Yeah, it is really good but I just liked the outfit I had my character in, wearing her Vault Jumpsuit with armor over it, the armor and jumpsuit getting gradually better due to crafting as the game went on. It felt appropriate.

[Unionhack]

Slaughtering Maxson and jacking his coat was the best decision I ever made. That coat is both fabulous and functional!

[Cassandra]

My character (still on my first) has pretty much worn the Silver Shroud armour since she first got it, and looks pretty awesome. There's something about wearing it that fits her: the mysterious hero from pre-war times, coming to save the Commonwealth.

Also, would you say that it's smart to carry around a hazmat suit everywhere? I've been doing it, but as someone who grabs every Jangles the Moon Monkey and biometric scanner they find, I'm beginning to feel like it's just taking up space.

[AKB]

The hazmat suit is fairly worthless. There are few areas where radiation is high and the relative risk of the location is low. By that I mean if you feel like the hazmat suit is useful, you probably just want to take power armor with you. High level component armor can also basically get the job done with leaded mods.

[CBR JGWRR]

Hey guys; I've been playing Fallout 4 on a borrowed Xbox One, but as with anything borrowed the time is up. So, I've managed to download Fallout 4, and my laptop is extremely below the spec. How do I go about lowering the graphical requirements to be about the same as Oblivion/Skyrim/Fallout 3/New Vegas? (as it can run those, even if Skyrim not well)

I've already found a pref ini from the internet, and the Ultra Low resolution textures mod (http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/ ... w%3D&pUp=1) and "insignificant object remover" (http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/ ... 9835&pUp=1) - and logic dictates this ought to do a lot of good, but what else can I do?

Financial difficulties mean upgrading -while the best solution- isn't going to be for a while...

[Baloth-Kul]

Automatron + Wasteland Workshop = Robot Gladiators.

I have a super deadly Assaultron in Hangman's Alley who slaughters captured raiders for settlers' amusement. Abernathy farm house slaughterhouses for radstags and brahmin. Nordhagen Beach and Egret Tours Marina have Mirelurk traps. I'm making a grand deathclaw arena for my home away from home, Spectacle Island. Murkwater has Super Mutant boxing matches--probably going to outfit one of my settlers with some armor and modded brass knuckles or somesuch, let them go to town.

Still trying to decide where to host robot v robot matches. I don't think the residents of Graygarden would approve.

[Kerr]

So I started up my new character, Ethan Mars and thinking about it, I probably won't go all the way with the BOS. Not just because I hate them but because I don't think it fits with the character I made. So I'll probably get to a certain point with them, a point at which I feel my character could no longer work with them (and before The Railroad go hostile) and then go with The Minutemen. I'll see.

But I will save, do the BOS endgame to see what happens and get the trophies and then reload, that's a given. And who knows maybe I'll end up liking Danse, barely interacted with him as my Railroad character because I never joined the BOS, but people seem to like him. I can't think of any companions I hung out with in Fallout 4 that I didn't like, my favorites are Piper, Nick and Deacon.

The game not only needs an easier way to organise your companions and find out where they are, it also needs to sort out notes better. Like my MISC section is a cluttered mess, if you don't see what a holotape is called when you pick it up, good luck finding it.

[Unionhack]

Danse has what I feel is the best personal quest in the game. You have to go far with the BoS to get it though.

Curie's still my favorite though. <3 Deacon's up there too.

[Baloth-Kul]

Guys, what are your favourite settlements?

I'm going to narrow mine down to a top 3.

#3 - Boston Airport. I make it super BoS-y. Metal walls surrounding it, with wooden bridges, allowing a walkway from which to look (and shoot) over the walls. A couple sturdy concrete buildings functioning as a generator room, a sort of guard outpost, and a barracks. I have a bus near the gate, that functions as a sort of watch post. And stairs leading from the barracks, up to the second level of the airport. Convenience! It might not produce much (I believe it's presently pumping out 40 water, from those in-ground purifiers), but it's super cool as like a military outpost.

#2 - Spectacle Island. Big, isolated, and scenic, perfect for a personal home. I have a manor on the tallest hill, with a balcony overlooking the island, a view of the city (including the airport). A little shanty town for my companions. And an arena (work in progress) for me to fight deathclaws and stuff.

But my favourite space...

#3 - Hangman's Alley. What? Hangman's Alley, that scummy cramped settlement in the wrong part of town? Hell yes. It has an awesome ramshackle, clandestine vibe. The bottom of the multifloored sort of apartment complex I built is a bloodsoaked fighting pit, where I trap raiders to be slaughtered by an assaultron. It's grungy and brutal and I love it. It's like a mini Goodneighbour.

[Kerr]

The Castle, hands down, no question about it. It's not building a new settlement so much as it's renovating an existing structure. So I added a shack in the courtyard, build up the gaps in the walls added a gate, revamped the interior. Now I'm doing it all over again with my new character because I really love the settlement. It's where I send all my followers. Renovating and running a revolutionary era fort is really cool to me and it makes a tonne of sense for a thing for a group to do. Also it's the HQ of The Minutemen so I should take the time to make it look sweet. It makes me wonder what Europe is like in Fallout with its castles. Like I've been to Edinburgh Castle which was a really cool place to visit, it's build at the top of a hill and you can easily see how you could use the structure for defense.

I hope I get the quest to unlock Hangman's Alley soon with my current character, I want to build it up with this character instead of loading up my other character and doing it with her. But I have ideas on how I could build it up, hopefully I'm able to use the rooftops and those planters added in Wasteland Workshop should be handy. Might leave that chained door chained, that way nobody can get in and all the defenses can be focused on one part of the alley. So come on Preston, give me the quest to unlock it.
---

I'm sure Far Habour and other story DLC will add new weapons but a Gun Runners Arsenal style DLC might be a good idea for one of the DLC packs, just add a tonne of new weapons and weapon mods to the game.

Oh and the Alien Blaster is crappy even when you do use pistols. Righteous Authority is way better, Righteous Authority was already great with my rifles character. That weapon is amazing. I'm going to join The Railroad sooner than I would have with this character because I want to get that unique 10mm pistol so I'm hoping it's good.

[Unionhack]

You think that's good? I got a double-shot Gauss Rifle the other day and gave it to Curie.

She kills things faster than me. Fully charged it deals about 450+ damage.

My favorite settlement is probably my restaurant on top of the Red Rocket. That or Spectacle City. I put a lot of love into them.

[Kerr]

Well my first character, Charlie, she's level 55 at the moment and I have her carrying a lot of rifles. More than I need really. I have a Silenced .308 Combat Rifle, Silenced .50 Sniper Rifle (which shoots explosive bullets so I'm not sure how the silent part works,) Gauss Rifle, Righteous Authority and a Plasma Rifle. All of which are great. I'm not sure how much DLC weapons could improve upon what I've already got.

Although a lot of the appeal of GRA in New Vegas for me is that it adds new weapons, ammo types and mods of different tiers for a entire playthrough, not just a bunch expensive high end late game equipment. So it's really best when you start a new character with it installed instead of just adding that stuff in with your high level later game character.

[Vilhelm Valhalla]

[Deleted]

[legoless]

I'm on console, so I haven't been able to try Survival yet, but I've heard it is intense. Those of you who've played, how deadly is radiation? Is water much more of a hazard due to radiation, and if so, how would one manage to get to Spectacle Island safely?

You can just take the aquaboy perk, no?

[Vilhelm Valhalla]

[Deleted]

[Kerr]

You could use Aquaboy or you could just carry a Hazard Suit on your person. I really hope they end up making the difficulty options for survival mode individually toggleable.

[Dohva.]

Wow.

Okay, so after not playing Fallout for a grip, I came to an entirely new Survival Mode. Chloe was overweight by like 250lbs, most of that ammo! It took me some time to figure out what the hell was going on.

Aye, so now that the update is here, I can finally, finally start my survival mode playthrough. Same character because I'm attached as hell.

[Vilhelm Valhalla]

[Deleted]

[Baloth-Kul]

Far Harbor is in the process of downloading. Bring on the weirdness! And that one critter that really, really looks like a Chaurus. If that was intentional, it's super cool.

[Kerr]

I'm playing Far Harbor and I'm mostly liking it so far.

To talk about mechanics for a bit, spoiler for a thing you do during the quest "Best Left Forgotten." Not massive story spoilers but I want to talk about a part of it from a mechanical perspective. Also I mention the set up to a quest but mention none of the details.

Spoiler:

That puzzle section was terrible. Especially the fifth puzzle which took me about half an hour. Portal you are not Fallout 4.

Having to be in first person for settlement creation is annoying but it's so much worse for these puzzles. You could have used a different set of mechanics altogether, it's a virtual world, Fallout 4 already has Pip-Boy minigames and the hacking/lockpicking games which use different mechanics. The puzzles are fine from the perspective of what you have to do to solve them but the interface you have to use to do so is just so tedious and makes it take forever. I don't know how they made this section and thought it was alright.
---

And a totally unrelated quest, there is a neat mystery quest in a hotel which you should check out. I liked the quest but it did kinda feel like I was just following quest markers rather than finding and putting the clues together on my own which was kind of disappointing. Still despite that it ended up being pretty enjoyable, probably one of Fallout 4's best quests. And it's nice to have any side quest in Fallout 4 which isn't one of the boring ones that either are radiant or may as well be. Install one MILA and you've installed them all. Which isn't a problem unique to Fallout 4, Skyrim was the same with some interesting side quests with the Forsworn, Deadric Princes, etc. and then a tonne of dull radiant quests. I don't understand the appeal of infinite crappy quests and most quests in the game being those boring quests, give me finite well made quests any day.

I understand there are games where that's the entire appeal, Borderlands, Diablo, etc. And if you like that sort of thing cool, you don't need to like the same things as I do. But I don't like it and I don't want Fallout or TES to be like that.

[Baloth-Kul]

@Kerr;

Spoiler:

I found the change of pace nice, at least. It's heartening that they were trying something new, something puzzley, but it was ultimately pretty underwhelming. Wasn't so much a matter of intelligence as it was patience.

I agree with you on Brain Dead. I *just* stumbled onto it and completed it, myself. Fun, I like the aesthetic, but ultimately pretty quick and uninvolved. ...I did know there was going to be a case of impersonation, when the scientist mentioned voice modulators. But it was pretty slam dunk. Creepy guy who obviously isn't the murderer, despite accusations that it is. Lovers scorned. Embezzling. Give me a CHALLENGE, Bethesda!

[Kerr]

@Kerr;

Spoiler:

I found the change of pace nice, at least. It's heartening that they were trying something new, something puzzley, but it was ultimately pretty underwhelming. Wasn't so much a matter of intelligence as it was patience.

I agree with you on Brain Dead. I *just* stumbled onto it and completed it, myself. Fun, I like the aesthetic, but ultimately pretty quick and uninvolved. ...I did know there was going to be a case of impersonation, when the scientist mentioned voice modulators. But it was pretty slam dunk. Creepy guy who obviously isn't the murderer, despite accusations that it is. Lovers scorned. Embezzling. Give me a CHALLENGE, Bethesda!

Mid Main Quest spoilers for Far Harbor.

Spoiler:

It was a nice change of pace even if the execution left something to be desired. I would love for Bethesda to have more puzzles in their games.

I just finished the cyberspace puzzle for Best Left Forgotten, it was the last thing I did. I've been helping out Far Harbour and the synths a lot, got a diving suit for my troubles. I am hoping the armour I get for finishing the last cyberspace puzzle is good. Not sure how things are going to play out in regards to the main quest just yet, I'll see. I'm liking it so far. Nice to have Nick with me. I know I don't want to wipe out Far Harbor or the Synths but the Children of the Atom... I don't know. I'd prefer to talk them out of it, let them worship radiation by themselves and leave everyone else alone. But they are actively planning on killing everybody else on the island and they murder anyone who tries to leave their cult, one way or another I need to put a stop to that. Wouldn't be the first sinister cult I stopped in a Fallout game.