Legendary Stuff - My Main Problem with Fallout 4

[EpicLevelCommoner]

Yeah, Fallout 4's got plenty of problems (and a lot of bugs, even for a Bethesda game), but all in all, I'm enjoying it. The thing is, I'm not enjoying it as much as F3 and FNV, and for a long time I couldn't pinpoint why. But I think I finally have: legendary enemies (and the items they carry) are stupid. It's a subtle problem, but one that has a massive impact on my ability to enjoy the game. Once the GECK comes out, the first thing I'm going to look for, or make myself if I can't find it, is a mod that removes those stupid legendary enemies. But I really, really wish I could've played the game from the beginning without them. "Legendary enemies?" you say, with an incredulous sneer, "that's the least of Fallout 4's problems." To which I would reply "I disagree, and I'd like to explain why in this easy-to follow list, in an effort to reduce the potential number 'tl;dr' responses."

 

1) They add NOTHING to the game. They're just regular enemies that are slightly bullet spongier, and sometimes you have to kill them twice if you don't kill them before they "mutate." They don't behave differently than other enemies of their kind, and they don't have special attacks. There's already multiple tiers of each enemy, getting progressively bullet-spongier at higher levels, making legendary enemies serve no actual purpose whatsoever.

 

2) They break the immersion. There's no in-world explanation, or even mention of them, or why they have this dumb mutating mechanic. They're just a random, obnoxiously glaring reminder that you're playing a video game, and not actually exploring a post-apocalyptic environment.

 

3) They break the immersion (in another way). Legendary enemies always drop a legendary item. As far as I can tell, there aren't any specifications on which legendary enemies can drop which legendary items, leading to "Why was this gigantic radroach carrying a sniper rifle?" situations.

 

4) They're not even rare; you run into them all the time. This also means that legendary items are relatively common, making them feel much less special, and much less interesting, since there's theoretically an unlimited number of these "legendary" things out in the Commonwealth.

 

5) Legendary items make exploring feel pointless. When I played F3 and FNV, one of my favorite things to do was to search for unique items. There was more incentive to explore, because there was a chance you might find something cool in the ruins, or a mysterious cave, or some pre-war farmer's bathtub. In F4, there are unique items, but they don't look different from their non-unique counterparts*, and their special abilities aren't anything that can't be found on a randomly-generated legendary item anyway.

 

This is where I'm probably supposed to write an "in conclusion" paragraph, but I'm tired of writing this to do a good job of it (hence this opening sentence to it). The point I was trying to make is legendary enemies (and items) are a stupid, videogamey feature that actually detracts from the game. I'd argue that it might be the biggest problem with Fallout 4. It hurts the game in a way that's simultaneously huge, and very subtle. As Mr Plinkett of RedLetterMedia always says, "You might not have noticed. But your brain did." So if someone could make a mod that eliminated legendary enemies (and items) from the game, I would be extremely grateful, and I would wager anyone else playing the game with such a mod would discover they're grateful, too.

 

* - Yes, I know there are (very, VERY few) exceptions, like Kremvh's tooth, Lorenzo's artifact, and the cryolator. I also know that in F3, uniques looked identical to their normal counterparts, but they had unique abilities, which made them worth using for a change of pace.

Edited December 17, 2015 by EpicLevelCommoner

[Aintiarna]

I broadly agree with most of that. If there was a mod that removed RNG legendary items and replaced them with a good variety of uniques hand placed in specific locations New Vegas style, I'd use it. It would need a replacement though and not simply a removal. Making them all look unique would require a lot of work though.

[EpicLevelCommoner]

I'm sure plenty of people are going to create unique item mods, so all I want is one that simply gets rid of the legendary monsters. I can deal with only having access to the few legendaries that are already scattered around and the ones sold in certain stores.

 

Seriously, the more I think about this, the more baffled I get. Why did Bethesda think this was a good idea? The only possible explanation I can think of is maybe they were trying to appeal to Diablo or Borderlands players? Seriously. That's all I've got.

[madmongo]

The main problem here, in my opinion, is that Fallout 4 is a shooter, not an RPG game. It has just enough RPG elements in it that it can kinda sorta claim to be the successor to the Fallout RPG series. But as an RPG, it's horrible.

 

Everything is based around it being a shooter. The quests are brain dead, and hold your hand every step of the way. God forbid you should actually have to think about something. Nope, it's go here, shoot this, go there, shoot that.

 

Legendary creatures and weapons are just another shooter thing. From a shooter's point of view, they are great. They are more powerful weapons that you can try to get and more powerful creatures to kill. From an RPG point of view however, they are incredibly stupid. They break immersion just by their existence. They defy physics (even more than RPG games in general defy physics). Totally ruins the RPG experience.

 

I think they made it this way to appeal to the shooter crowd of players, and my fear is that this is going to make the game more popular and increase their profits. Then we'll be stuck with Fallout being just another shooter from here on out. I can tell you one thing for certain. I won't be buying FO5 unless they turn it back into an RPG.

Edited December 18, 2015 by madmongo

[BadReplicant]

Seriously, the more I think about this, the more baffled I get. Why did Bethesda think this was a good idea? The only possible explanation I can think of is maybe they were trying to appeal to Diablo or Borderlands players? Seriously. That's all I've got.

Possible it was easier for them? Less time designing the world and being thoughtful about where these "legendary" pieces are found. The gear itself is "mutant slayer's shotgun" "mutant slayer's metal right arm" The game design altogether is piss poor. I think removing these stupid legendary enemies will only leave you with a handful of unique items.

 

Legendary creatures and weapons are just another shooter thing. From a shooter's point of view, they are great. They are more powerful weapons that you can try to get and more powerful creatures to kill. From an RPG point of view however, they are incredibly stupid. They break immersion just by their existence. They defy physics (even more than RPG games in general defy physics). Totally ruins the RPG experience.

I can totally picture my braindead nephew getting pumped about killing a legendary so and so. They are a stupid addition in every way. Another design choice hinting at Bethesda gutting the Fallout franchise.

[gamefever]

Legendary Weapons just feel like cheese.

 

Back when I was playing Fallout 3 and FNV I would be searching around for interesting mods to use.

I'm sure that based on endorsements of "Cheese Legendary Mods" that did essentially the same as the Fallout 4 weapons like explosive mini-guns how many mods of those are there probably hundreds of different versions but no avid modder ever took those seriously let alone would install something like that for an immersive play of TTW/Fo3/FNV modded.

 

Whats worse is that the games balanced around those Legendary Drops. In any serious Overhaul of the game all the weapons would be more effective but wow now here's the thing I see a lot of early balance overhauls but these just don't appeal to me and I got wondering are these guys seriously balancing the game against Legendary weapons too?

 

Those and the enemies have got to go and the weapons need way more damage, Perks have to be Re-Done. More of the damage needs to be front loaded into the weapons as well that's in addition to a flat increase of 50%-200% more base damage.

 

Its pathetic there is no reason for players to start above a END 1...

 

If you haven't noticed I prefer to play Fallout games as Shooters and I like them to be brutal and feel vicious...

 

This game doesn't offer a Splinter Cell level of damage, so there is just no reason to invest in END or use power armor really.

 

Needs 100-300% increase in Radiation,

Extra Weather Options, Rad Rain...

-Not happy with the Weather Overhauls so far...Weathers last too long and are very frequent

Need Snow...Its freaking October in BOSTON for crying out load.

 

Most game mechanics need tweaks honestly for the sake of difficulty.

 

I could give two farts about RPG, unless its a rocket propelled grenade.

 

All of that stuff of course and your RPG will come in time but I really hope the guys that appreciate a difficult shooter are still modding and will consider Fo4.

 

OF course there are people that wont realize that the group that really likes the Fallout mod scene is more interested in "Gun Porn" than anything else, so I will likely get to see a lot more of the game play stuff I'm wantin to see.

[ekRapid]

Pretty much describe thoughts on them. Tthey don't blend in with the world and break immersion, they make for a bad design choice.

Best thing you can do is get rid of them through mods.