An Old Gamer's Gratitude

[michaelrym]

Hello everyone,

 

Principally I'm writing this to thank the people who created and maintain this portal. I'm a freelancer and thus almost always broke, but the moment my situation improves I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, and go Premium.

 

A couple of weeks ago I got myself the complete edition of Fallout 4, spurred by a Steam sale - the whole package cost twenty-odd dollars, and it was the first game I've bought for myself in years. I've always loved Fallout: I've played Fallout 1, 2, 3, NV, and Fallout Tactics. Fallout 1 and Tactics were the only games I ever finished. I play what I see is now called 'permadeath' (used to be called 'iron man', IIRC). Fallout 1 was short enough to replay it repeatedly until I got to the end without dying (although Dogmeat died near the very end on my victorious playthrough, which very nearly made me quit - but I couldn't stand the thought of playing the game from the start once again). I also finished Fallout Tactics, because I was forced to - I was writing the strategy guide to it. It definitely isn't one of my favourite Fallout games.

 

I love Fallout 4 so far (died 4 times so far, today I'll start a fifth attempt; I play exclusively on survival mode). I must say I've downloaded quite a few mods to help me get through to the end, and here I'd like to thank the creators of Vortex. Although it took me a while to learn how to use it, it really was worth it - it's an absolutely amazing tool.

 

A separate very big thank you goes to creators of the mods available here, I'm gobsmacked by how good some people are at this sort of thing. I've also picked up a lot of good gameplay tips on this site.

 

I'm not able to reciprocate by putting up a mod of my own, because I just don't have the talent and time to create and interesting mod. However, maybe a few people will find a couple of my observations helpful even though they might be irritating.

 

The first observation I've made here is that almost everyone is suffering from apostrophitis: an epidemic bigger than coronavirus. Apostrophitis won't kill you, but it might just prevent you from getting a job you want, when getting that job involves writing a letter or an email.

 

Apostrophitis is a disease that makes a writer stick an apostrophe before the final 's' wherever possible. I've noticed almost everyone uses the contraction for 'it is' - it's - instead of its. 'Its' is a possessive pronoun that means 'belonging to it'. Other possessive pronouns are 'his' or 'hers', and you wouldn't write hi's or her's, would you? So please remember: his, hers, its.

 

There is also no need for an apostrophe when using the plural of an acronym - for example, MREs. An apostrophe here - MRE's - indicates something belonging to the MRE. For plural, just put an 's' at the end without an apostrophe.

 

The other very popular mistake that struck me here is using 'effect' instead of 'affect'.

 

Employers nowadays look for any excuse to throw a resume they've received into the trash, and mistakes like that can cost you, believe me. Don't be angry at me and call me grammar Nazi - which I suppose I am, it's hard to be writer without becoming a grammar Nazi. I've really never pointed out this apostrophe business to anyone ever before, even though it makes my teeth ache, because I don't go looking for aggravation.

 

Once again, thank you all for a wonderful site and a truly extraordinary tool that makes modding games absolutely foolproof.

 

BTW, I was also struck by how poorly written Fallout 4 is - IMO, Fallout 1 and 2 are the best in that regard.

 

Got to go - I think that Vault-Tec guy is knocking on my door yet again.

[Oblivionaddicted]

Welcome.