Fallout 4 opinion blog

 It is impossible to point to a title that has been more anticipated in the last few years. The announcement of Fallout 4 caused euphoria in many, and in others, it raised some concerns, but regardless of attitude - the game was on everyone's lips. After taking over the rights to the brand, Bethesda made this post-apocalyptic world one of the most recognizable universes among video games, and although these developers can be accused of various things, if it were not for them, we would probably never set foot in any crypt again. Not everyone liked the changed formula in Fallout 3, but a moment later we got New Vegas, which gave fans hope that the "classic Fallout storyline" is still possible. Hopes that some people also transferred to the "four". In Fallout reality, I spent a good several hundred hours throughout the series (and paradoxically, the top of this small ranking is not at all "three" or its extension), so as such I have an understanding of the subject after all and - honestly? At the time of the announcement of Fallout 4, I was terrified of what it would be. I was scared watching the first and subsequent trailers. I was scared when I installed it. I was afraid when I started to play ... and I was afraid when I ended. In the latter case, though, the fear was due to entirely different reasons than at the beginning.

The adventure in Fallout 4 begins as befits a real Fallout - with character creation. A short, relatively atmospheric intro puts you in the right mood and we see it - the main character and the protagonist. When standing in front of the bathroom mirror, we have the opportunity to accurately model the appearance of the protagonist and in this place, without unnecessary wrapping around the bush, we must admit that the wizard is absolutely amazing. By dragging individual parts of the face, we are able to create virtually any character. The tool works fantastically, is very intuitive, and allows for an infinite number of combinations, and it has been known for a long time that the process of creating your own alter ego in the virtual world is one of the greatest attractions for RPG fans. Going further, we get the option to choose the initial statistics, but due to the fact that this is a much more complex issue, I will discuss this aspect a bit later. For now, let's focus on what happens to our hero when we finally "accept" what he looks like.
This time we do not start as a child in a crypt, a descendant of the hero who lives in a small village, and no one sends us on a mission to the surface to save the inhabitants of the shelter. In Fallout 4, the story begins just before the great war, i.e. in 2077. The opportunity to see the reality before the apocalypse is a real treat - and although everything around it seems overly plastic, it has its own unique charm. The idyll does not last long, however. A moment later, a TV announcer announces that the first atomic bombs have been struck, and we and our family rush to a nearby vault, which we are happily admitted to. However, there is a slight surprise waiting for us - we find ourselves in the cryogenic chamber. We only come out of hibernation after 210 years and we have to face a dramatic situation right away - our son is kidnapped. Without thinking too long, we set off in search of a descendant.

The beginning of the main plot intrigued me a lot. The diagram may be a bit similar to what we know from "three" (we looked for a father instead of a son), but the way it was presented meant that the story simply sucked me in. Vault 111 is not particularly big, after a few minutes of hanging around in the corridors, I finally came to the surface, ready to be drawn into the rest of the plot, but ... I quickly realized my hopes for a captivating story were illusory. What was served in Fallout 4 is mediocre at best, and although there is an unexpected twist from time to time, after the first excitement about the search for the missing son, the spell is broken. The story turns out to be clichéd, without any panache, often with only loosely connected and meaningless threads. There are several endings to the main plot, but the one that happened to me after joining the Brotherhood of Steel was probably one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had in my gaming career. I don't want to reveal anything, so let me put it this way: “we've seen it somewhere before”, but - worst of all - we don't feel that we've changed anything. Someone died, we destroyed something, someone survived and that's it. The narrative is conducted in such a way that it is difficult to empathize with the role played and let yourself be absorbed by the events, but ... Exactly. I would be lying if I said that Fallout 4 never impressed me once.
I will return for a moment to explore the world, which is exactly where Fallout 4 shines brightly. Interesting locations with their own, unspoken history are, of course, not all that awaits us while traveling the next kilometers of the Community. Sooner or later, the goal of every traveler is also collectibles, and these are really a lot - comics, books, retro games, or figures that improve our statistics are difficult to find, but finding them gives great satisfaction. It is different from the hero's equipment. Just as the aforementioned collectibles do not spill from the screen, the same cannot be said about the other items. In Fallout 4, weapons, medicines, and armor are falling from the sky on us. This applies to both ordinary "garbage" and much better equipment. Take, for example, the "Fat Man", which has always been one of the iconic weapons, winning which gave a huge advantage in fought duels. This time I came across at least a dozen of its copies, and at different stages of the game, and you can also forget about running out of ammunition. While traversing the "newest" wastelands, we get the feeling that the apocalypse never really happened, and instead, there is hardware prosperity in every corner of the community. We have too much of everything and after a dozen or so hours of gameplay, I stopped picking up even the most powerful items - which was once completely unthinkable in the series.
This ubiquitous prosperity is also associated with another, in my opinion, even killing some "fallout magic", solution. It's about power armor, of course. Winning it was always a specific culmination of our efforts in a series, a great prize that you simply dreamed about when passing by members of the Brotherhood of Steel. This time we get our first copy within the first fifty minutes and if we play everything properly, we don't have to part with it for most of the fun. As if that was not enough, the multitude of parts of the armor and its skeletons knocks you to your knees. While traveling the world I came across at least a few pieces, some I brought back to my "base", and the rest after some time I simply stopped paying attention. One thing has to be admitted to Bethesda - the power of the armor itself was absolutely sensational. The moment we enter it (it no longer replaces ordinary armor, but functions similarly to a vehicle) and we start to run, we even feel a few hundred kilograms heavier and almost indestructible. Of course, it was decided to limit this reliability of the steel - the new proposed mechanics are based on the patent that power armor needs special fusion cores, which are initially rather difficult to find. Honestly, it works very well and balances the gameplay properly, but don't worry - the longer we play, the easier it is to find fuel. Cores not only lie in all sorts of dungeons but can also be found in some super mutant outposts or simply bought from selected traders. As "wasteland sweepers" we run as much as we want. If it were not for the fact that the armor reaches us so quickly, I would have absolutely nothing to complain about this aspect of the game.

An equally interesting option seems to be the possibility of upgrading the aforementioned armor. At special stands, we not only decide on the color of individual steel elements but also add amenities such as jetpack to them. There are quite a few combinations, and the workshop in which we assemble and improve weapons is even more impressive. The number of components that can be added or improved is scary at times and - given that the game offers no meaningful introduction to this matter - it is initially overwhelming, but through trial and error, we quickly get what it is all about, having fun with this perfectly. Importantly - the introduced changes do matter, so it is not only art for art's sake.
Although I do not fully believe what I am writing, I also spent quite a good time building my own settlement - another, a new element introduced in Fallout 4. We transform the rubbish collected during an exploration into raw materials, we also process the immediate surroundings of the town and provide the right amount of wood, steel, concrete, and electronics, we can start building more houses or fortifications. Entertainment is moderately profitable in terms of experience points and at times it may even seem secondary, and acquiring the necessary elements takes a lot of time, but when I was already starting to build a "place", I did not leave this mode for several dozen minutes. And this is despite the fact that the very mechanics of placing individual objects are extremely inaccurate. I can't fully explain it logically, but despite all my flaws, I just liked this aspect of the game. And since there are quite a lot of options as part of playing Bob the Builder, I will certainly spend a lot of time on "mayor" my settlements.
Just as the creation of settlements and modifying equipment can be considered surprisingly complex, the same cannot be said about the character development system. Unfortunately, this is another key element of RPGs that the new Fallout has been brutally stripped of. Although SPECIAL is still functioning, it has almost completely lost its importance due to the new progression system! From now on, we can add points to the statistics with each level gained (unless we decide to invest them in perks), so nothing stands in the way of making our hero "Mr. Perfect" with almost perfect parameters in each category. Unfortunately, the famous "skills" that determine, for example, how well we deal with a specific type of weapon, are gone. The aforementioned perks try to close this gap somehow by offering various bonuses, but how their board is designed leaves a lot to be desired. One is that the whole thing is extremely illegible, two - the vast majority of it completely does not affect the way we play. Aside from isolated cases, such as the ability to increase the life of fusion cores, perks have such imperceptible benefits that I just forgot to spend points on the most of the time. A little celebration for every RPG fan, that is, the promotion to a new level, in Fallout 4 is simply of minimal importance. I ended up playing at level 36, and to be honest I didn't feel any more powerful about it than at, say, the tenth level.

The development of the hero is not helped by the fact that even investing in SPECIAL is not overly profitable. Apart from unlocking individual perks, high charisma or intelligence practically does not change anything - for example, an attempt to persuade and so depends on the role of dice and we can convince someone as well, having 1 point invested in this parameter, if we are lucky. And this leads to an unpleasant conclusion - no matter how we "layout" the statistics, in the end, we will play in an almost identical way. Simplification of this type in Fallout is simply a scandal.
With scandals - it's time to do what pisses players off from the very moment of the premiere: graphics and errors. As for the visuals themselves, I have to admit that they are much better in action than I expected. The game looks tragic at times, but most of the time - especially in open spaces and with adequate lighting - the world looks pretty good (yes, despite its "colorful" nature!) And I do not intend to complain too much about this element. The animations, however, are a completely different pair of wellies - I haven't seen similarly stiff figures for a good few years, and although such ghouls can throw left and right surprisingly agile, the rest of them apparently swallowed a broomstick. I don't even want to mention what the facial movements look like - in a game in which every dialogue has been presented in a somewhat cinematic perspective, it is simply not acceptable for the characters' faces to look like stone. Unfortunately, this is the case here.
PROS:
great character creator;
slightly smaller than expected but still a huge world to explore;
nicely made locations that encourage exploration;
atmospheric sound setting;
lots of side quests to complete and collectibles to find;
a nice shooting model and an interestingly modified VATS system;
well-made mechanics of power armor;
the crafting and settlement building system takes a lot of time and gives a lot of satisfaction;
the main plot and additional missions have their glimpses ...
CONS:
... but most of the time they are cliche and shallow to the pain;
record number of worms;
image smoothness problems;
tragically banal system of dialogues;
shallow character development;
"Too much shooting, too little talking";
completely unintuitive interface;
the world around us rarely evokes any emotions;
animations and some textures stopped at the stone age.