Fallout 4’s announcement was a breath of fresh air after years of game trailers with exponentially long delays. It was the first time in the video game industry that we were experiencing multiple year periods between the announcement and release.
When Bethesda put up a countdown clock on their website in June, we had no idea that what we were going to be shown would release in November of the same year.
I think the whole industry changed its outlook on announcement windows from how much hype came from not just the announcement that a new Fallout was coming for the new console gen, but the excitement that we’d actually be able to play it within only a few months.
IMO the RPG elements were not as nice after having played The Witcher 3 just a few months prior, but the feeling of being the wanderer in a wasteland was still very cool and I enjoyed the building additions.
The Pip Boy might have been a bit of a flop, but the application itself was still a cool novelty addition to the game for 2015. I do wish that second screen applications had grown and gotten better, but it appears they needed to be good from the start for wide adoption.
The colour palate was massive improvement over the beige green and browns from the PS3/360 generation, I still have no idea why so many games used to have no colour to them.
There aren’t that many games that have as much of a mod scene like Bethesdas games, if you don’t already have the game and are going to buy it, get it on PC if you can. Also make sure to buy the GOTY Edition with all the DLC, as there are many mods that are dependent on all of the content.
I would also avoid the Creation Club and get accustomed to the NexusMods page, you should download and setup Vortex Mod Manager which handles mods fairly well.
In order for mods to work on the PS4, within Sony’s required limitations, mods themselves on consoles can’t be much more than short in code length. So the Creation Club which was designed for consoles does not host the same quality in library.
Fallout 4 got an 88% on OpenCritic with one reviewer saying this;
Bethesda has created another game you can lose your life in. New experiences just keep coming, and you always have another perk to unlock. ~ Game Informer
The game with all DLC is -75% on Steam at $9.99 for the next week, even cheaper in my region with AUD.
I’m playing it for the first time now. I still prefer New Vegas, but 4 is pretty good. I’d recommend this modding guide:
https://themidnightride.moddinglinked.com/
Tons of fixes and tweaks.
I spent ages at the beginning building up my first settlement like a fortress, only to discover that enemies spawn randomly inside, so there’s no point in building walls and stuff on the outside edge. That was disappointing.
I’ve definitely gotten tired of the settlement mechanics by level 60. Adding more settlements doesn’t really help, and it’s just more work to set up supply lines, feed, and defend all of them. If I play FO4 again I’ll probably only have sanctuary.