I'm Really Losing Interest - Is this game even worth finishing?

[spirited123]

 

For years people have complained about the dumbing down of Bethesda games. And its never really bothered me. I always understood the complaints, and even agreed with them at times, but the games were so magnificent in other areas that it didn't really affect me. The world(s) just pulled me in.

 

Fallout 4 is the first time where I've felt the sting. The shallowness of the rpg elements are too great to ignore, it permeates throughout the game and I can't escape it. Every time I interact with another npc its there, a constant reminder that the guy I created is a stranger to me, doing things and saying things I didn't want him to say and do. I have no control over this guy, and I have no emotional attachment to him. The combat is great. but it isn't enough to cover up this games shortcomings. This is the weakest Bethesda game I've played, it doesn't have its own idenity because ot borrows so many ideas from other games. If I want to play Borderlands, or Rust, or Dragon Age, I'll play those games because they do what they do much better than Bethesda ever could manage.

 

I play Bethesda games because they're Bethesda games, but when they stop being Bethesda games there goes any reason I have for playing them. Blizzard have got the whole 'copy a feature from other games and make it work in ours' thing down, thats what they exel at and they've been doing it for years. Bethesda, you are not Blizzard. You can't do what Blizzard does, so just stick to your strengths. Which is making Bethesda games.

I agree. Beth never made AAA games, the animation was lacking, the writing was lacking, the people always bat s*** ugly and the games were buggy as always. But a Beth game was a Beth game, you can have a lot of fun and play days non stop expect if it crashes. That means something was done right about the game after all.

 

You know when a dev makes a follow up to game series and the game is so odd or/and bad the fans don't count it exists, then another one comes up and it resumed it goodness?

Let hope this is the case with this one.

 

 

I don't think thats going to be the case here. Bethesda's games have spiralled downwards in terms of rpg features. I think even the most staunchest of fans would have to admit that fact. And that downward spiral isn't going to change anytime soon, especially as their games hit it so big both critically and commercially.

 

I think streamlining just happens when you get so big. An unfortunate side-effect of success where the pressure from investors, the board of directors, focus groups and other external influences just gets too much that you begin to lose control of your own game. I think thats whats happening with Bethesda. Too many of these features are so obviously tacked-on, that they couldn't have happened organically during development. They're ideas they were told to implement.

 

Fallout 4 is the jumping off point for me. I know what path Bethesda is headed down, and I've stuck with them until now. But this is the point where I get off.

Edited December 19, 2015 by spirited123

[Boombro]

I will wait for TES6 and see what happens.

[SayinNuthin]

I will wait for TES6 and see what happens.

 

Care to bet on the absolute certainty of yet more 'kill-Paarthanax' situations where you are lumbered with a bunch of either-or utterly unpalatable decisions? I haven't gotten past initial contact with The Institute and The BoS and I can clearly see where this is going because there is no option to simply come out and ask the NPCs the questions that would be uppermost in anyones mind (assuming they weren't a complete psychopath)

 

This is a role-play fail that renders the scenario implausible, immersion breaking implausible and they just keep on doing it..

 

So I think I'm off back to the Mojave where I can use some less embarrassingly implausible firearms and do Someguy's Better-angels mod. And meantime have a poke around in the Skyrim CK for when we get the GECK, but for the O.P.s question..

 

Sadly not moved to seek out the endgame in Fo4. And betray the Brotherhood.. again, Kill Mr House again, sabotage the Boomers and wipe out groups that might be an asset to humanity struggling to emerge from barbarism.. again.

[Hoamaii]

I can't shake the feeling that Bethesda's best achievement with F04 was their marketing campain.

The game itself COULD be fun and I'm not denying I'm having fun at times but the implementation, UI and game mechanics are so sloppy, lazy, inconsistent, and (of course!) buggy that I keep wondering if anyone there actually cared about that game.

The "old game engine" excuse for conflicts and bugs is no longer an excuse at all. That engine is their choice. If you decide to build a house on sand, don't later blame the sand for cracks in the walls. What I mean is if modders have effectively managed to master that engine and work around its limitations for years with the CK alone, why can't Bethesda do it too?

I had a good laugh when they fixed the Sleep screen in the latest patch - I swear I heard "Oops!.." in my mind when I saw that. That's not even a bug - just someone who did not proof-read their scripts as usual. That sleep screen has been here in ALL their games - how could they goof that on release?!..

For me, F04 introduces essentially ONE new idea compared to other titles: the settlements - though I personally have no interest in playing Sims in Fallout, I gave it an honest try. But even that is awfully implemented, terribly shallow and completely unrewarding. The game encourages you to painstakingly build defenses for hours - and when you do... it's only more of the same. Raiders and Radscorpions will continue spawning inside walls or right under turrets, destroy stuff they never even got close to and dead looted bodies will never clean up. Has anyone at Bethesda actually PLAYED this much advertised, new feature they're so proud of?

All Bethesda games, I've played Vanilla on console before I played them on PC (essentially because of the release bugs) and all of them were a lot of fun in their Vanilla forms despite the numerous bugs, glitches and mistakes. But in FO4, every hour I play I keep bumping into plain stupid annoyances: animations worse than FO3 or Skyrim, overlapping UI, key conflicts, sloppy AI, sound glitches, stats inconsistencies, locked FOV, different items showing identical, unreadable names lost in 'dot-dot-dots' (and showing the same ground object), navmesh issues... the list in endless.

The trouble is these are NOT bugs. These are the results of lazy and careless design and implementation, nothing else.

Bugs I was expecting, but this obvious lack of interest for their own game actually surprises me. Whether we liked them or not, Witcher 3 and MGS5 did show that their designers still cared a lot about their work. Fallout 4 doesn't.

So I don't know what an ES6 might be like if any comes out but I have strong doubts. It may be the same Bethesda signature but it can't be the same designers and devs than it was 12 or even 4 years ago. These inspired teams have either moved on or just got bored. And, regrettably, it shows.

[Boombro]

 

I will wait for TES6 and see what happens.

 

Care to bet on the absolute certainty of yet more 'kill-Paarthanax' situations where you are lumbered with a bunch of either-or utterly unpalatable decisions? I haven't gotten past initial contact with The Institute and The BoS and I can clearly see where this is going because there is no option to simply come out and ask the NPCs the questions that would be uppermost in anyones mind (assuming they weren't a complete psychopath)

 

This is a role-play fail that renders the scenario implausible, immersion breaking implausible and they just keep on doing it..

 

So I think I'm off back to the Mojave where I can use some less embarrassingly implausible firearms and do Someguy's Better-angels mod. And meantime have a poke around in the Skyrim CK for when we get the GECK, but for the O.P.s question..

 

Sadly not moved to seek out the endgame in Fo4. And betray the Brotherhood.. again, Kill Mr House again, sabotage the Boomers and wipe out groups that might be an asset to humanity struggling to emerge from barbarism.. again.

 

Skyrim quests more impact on the world than Oblivion quests however, and I believe in a second chance. I they are getting new writers. Let hope that is good news.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Boombro

[Nebrule]

I just fired Skyrim back up after 6 months, with my 980 and some updated textures, it still on par with FO4 if not beyond in some respects. Literally and ascetically... it's like comparing a magazine to a 2000 page novel. ES is so much deeper it's stupid.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Nebrule

[Boombro]

I just fired Skyrim back up after 6 months, with my 980 and some updated textures, it still on par with FO4 if not beyond in some respects. Literally and ascetically... it's like comparing a magazine to a 2000 page novel. ES is so much deeper it's stupid.

That because it a fantasy world. They tend to be much deeper in world building.

[Hexxagone]

Bethesda spent 3 years on Skyrim, making the world and quests. I have a feeling that Bethesda only took 2 years to make Fallout 4s world/quests and thats why its inferior. The other year they spent on the stupid settlement system and bug fixing before release.

 

I truly belive that the settlement system is the reason why this game is lacking in major areas. They simply spent too much time and resources in it.

[Boombro]

But fo4 world is highly detailed with more buildings models. Specially the city ruins.

[Hexxagone]

You mean the ones that are boarded up??