Casual Reviews – Fallout 4

/ sevenflorins

Once I watched a movie that is viewed by many as a classic. A monumental moment in cinema history. It involves spaceships…I like spaceships. It involves an excellent score…I like soundtracks. It involves a rogue robot…done. Sold. Take me on this epic adventure! Bring it!

Almost three hours later, I had finished a mostly silent film whose pace rivals that of the most terrifying creature on planet earth…the sloth. Not to mention, a giant space baby.

2001: A Space Odyssey left me feeling very lost, with little connection to the characters. It was long and I didn’t care about most of the scenes, beautiful as they were.

Fallout 4 has done the impossible. It has recreated this experience and expanded it to 30-40 hours of main-story-only gameplay.

Environment

Building off of the previous games, Fallout 4 has created a world. I mean, the apocalyptic landscape Bethesda has created is truly staggering. What to say about the environment? Holy cow dung. It is full of so much crap that politicians seem to spew ponies and butterflies when they speak. I can’t begin to describe everything you can find in this game because I haven’t even scratched the surface of what is out there.

Characters in Fallout 4…let’s see…there are a lot of them. And they all have something they want, need, or collect…more about that in gameplay. Most of these characters have backstories and different tales to tell you. Many of them want to tell you about themselves, and I did not always want to take the time to listen. If I had any desire to spend my days listening to every human I run into ramble on about what may or may not have happened to them in the past I would visit the local nursing home instead of playing a video game. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good side quest with backstories that are engaging, such as ones found in The Witcher III or even Persona 4. But Fallout 4’s characters were so unbearably boring I couldn’t even tell you why I was doing what I was doing. This became painfully obvious when my wife wandered in after she was finished working in her studio for the day.

“Uh…I’m uhh…well…someone told me something and then an objective popped up on my map here…sooo…here I am…”

But, let’s remember, I had an eerily similar conversation with my wife about one of my addictions…Diablo III. Gameplay saved the day in that case, so what about this time?

Gameplay

There is a lot to do. A LOT. If that is your thing, then this game is for you. If you love Skyrim I would imagine you would enjoy this experience. I enjoy a game with lots to do, however, there is a fine line between being a questing hero and a golden retriever. Some games toy with this line like a cat with a mouse. Many blunder and stumble across like a drunk attempting to walking the line. A few very special games walk this line with the grace of an Olympic gymnast.

Fallout 4 is the fighter jet blasting over the line on full afterburners.

Let me explain: I made the mistake of making eye contact with a woman. She explained something to me. At the time I was paying attention, but I’ve forgotten now because it was as boring as an art gallery to Helen Keller. But this was early on so I was trying.

I had to get something for her.

I got it.

She needed another.

I got it.

She needed another.

I got it.

She need….

This went on quite awhile. Before I knew it, the time I had allotted to myself to play had been taken up by…this. There’s no story there. Honestly, there doesn’t feel like a point. The only rewards I’m getting are experience while doing the pointless bidding of someone else. I don’t come home from work, dive into comfy clothes, and turn on my system to replay my day at the office.

Replay Value

If you like Fallout 4, my brain can’t fathom how many hours you could sink into it. I hardly mustered the strength to even try and finish (which I did not). I wanted characters with real stories…I wanted to get awesome items…both of which are present in Fallout 4. But those moments are so few and far between that a child whose birthday is on February 29th has more cause to celebrate.

For myself, I am done. I can’t go back. The thought of opening Fallout 4 fills me with more dread than the next Star Wars movie. Sure, it’s destroying something from my childhood that I love, but at least there’s something there to destroy.

Online

Nope

Conclusion

It took me a long time to write another review, and I blame Fallout 4. This game actually made gaming feel like work and I don’t know about you guys and gals…when I game, working is the last thing I want to be doing. This game has gotten amazing reviews and the only way I can understand this phenomena is that to most main stream game reviewers…it is a job. Maybe it doesn’t register that its work because to them…it’s work already.

I believe the best game experience to compare would be Destiny before The Taken King. Destiny was so brutally stingy with anything enjoyable that there was no reason to continue playing unless you could play all day. Fallout 4 is exactly the same. There are plenty of awesome things which I am fully aware are out there, but they are unattainable because I don’t have a TARDIS. I’m afraid until I become a Time Lord, Fallout 4 will only collect dust on my shelf.

Fallout4

120 thoughts on “Casual Reviews – Fallout 4”

  2. Well, of course the addict will give positive ratings to any new batch of heroin. 😉
    Corporate game development has long been following the drug dealer approach, and it further flourishes on the misery that is created in the world what destroys people’s standards and self-respect.
    …
    And that’s it. Lucky for you I’m not in the mood for writing essays.
    Lucky for everybody, really. 😛

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  3. YES someone who finally agrees with me. Fallout seemed tedious and just not interesting enough for me to devote mass amounts of time. Well-done!

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  4. I liked Fallout 4, I actually love it. And I felt like it was TOO SIMILAR to Fallout 3, which is nothing wrong but I wish it made me feel what Fallout 3 made me feel, I gave it my Game of the Year because I enjoyed it so much but sometimes I wish Bethesda Game Studios would made Fallout 4 a little bit different. I agree that Fallout 4 seems tedious, but I hope the DLC this month clears it up a little.

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      • I haven’t played Fallout 4 since January because it felt so tedious after Main Quest and the other quests you got. Even down to the railroad’s quests were tedious, I still love it. Just waiting for something MORE to keep me playing.

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    • PART 2, I think Fallout 4 suffers from what Skyrim suffered, after the main quest and after the guild quests in Skyrim, Skyrim felt a little tedious but the DLC made it not feel tedious if that makes any sense.

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      • Amen, man. That’s the same way I’m thinking, Fallout 4’s similarity to F3 is really worrisome. Even down to the same songs played at GNR is played on DCR. The Far Harbor DLC looks to be the Point Lookout of F4 DLC’s but it worries me, were you bored with the DLC of 3? The only three DLC’s I enjoyed were Point Lookout, Broken Steel and the Pitt.

        I brought myself F4’s Season Pass to give it a shot, let’s see how it goes.

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      • I think if you liked those, you’d likely be happy with the others. I did like Broken Steel and Point Lookout. I enjoyed The Pitt to a lesser degree as I felt it was a great idea that just wasn’t complete. Fallout 3’s DLC wasn’t bad necessarily; it just didn’t stack up as well to the New Vegas DLC in my opinion.

        Except Dead Money. I hated that one.

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      • Dead Money was bad, I just hated to die every time the collar went off or you went off and there was a radio nearby. I liked all of Fallout: New Vegas’s DLC, except dead money.

        The Pitt was good but I was hoped for a full-fledged game to be take place in Pittsburgh, instead of a small DLC but it is what is.

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  5. thing thing about fallout games, for me at least, is that there really is no reply value. And that’s mostly due to the incredibl amount of time you put in to play it once. I’m not a completionist, but I tend to get sidetracked by side quest after side quest, so I end up putting 100+ hours in the first time around. I can’t imagine I’ll ever go back and play through the main quest again. I’ll play through the dlc but I just can’t imagine starting over again.

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  6. I’ve been too afraid to admit to myself all that you have written because I was more hyped for this game than any in the past few years, because I loved Skyrim soooo much (I still play the shit out of it today). But it really has disappointed me too. My first 24 hours was a blast, mucking around with the settlement building mostly, and getting into the main story line, but after having a break from it and going back I can’t seem to grasp the fun any more. But instead all I keep thinking is I could get so much more entertainment out of The Witcher 3. Fallout 4 really does feel hollow in comparison to The Witcher (character & story wise, the fallout world is definitely NOT hollow as you have mentioned haha). Thanks for the honest review.

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  7. I agree, Fallout 4 has its share of problems.
    But when I’m reading your Gameplay section, I never felt like I was working while playing the game.

    From what I’m reading from your review, you’re referring mostly to radiant quests that NPCs give you. Yes, those are pretty much the same thing and loop often infinitely. But those are just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the interesting content is left for you to explore. I’m talking about locations such as Dunwich Borers and Pickman Gallery, and those are just the ones that come off the top of my head.

    “Working” in a game like you’ve described looks more like getting all the collectibles from an open-world game. First example that comes to mind is collecting all the flags from the first Assassin’s Creed. Yeah, that kind of busy work that’s only here as something to cross from your check list.

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    • I actually did think of Assassin’s Creed while writing this review and what you’ve mentioned is why I haven’t gotten around to reviewing one. I am envious that since you enjoy Fallout, your $60 is going to go far in gaming time.

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      • I did enjoy it, but felt a bit let down in the end.

        I did not expect much from the main story quests, and thankfully I was right.
        I was hoping that other side quests would kick in and get me to dive in the game. You know, like the Assassin’s guild quests from Oblivion, the Thieve’s Guild quests from Skyrim or the Replicated Man from Fallout 3. But meh… I had fun exploring, sure. Still, that wasn’t enough to make me go for a near-100% playthrough of the game, unlike what I did with Skyrim and Fallout 3.

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  8. I haven’t tried Fallout4 as of yet. Perhaps in a year or so when maybe there is some DLC added in. The settlement idea I think has potential as I have a builder mentality when I’m not out exploring. Actually I had just picked up Skyrim for the first time the Steam Xmas sales because it was finally at a price I was willing to pay for a single player game. Now, with all the DLC, the vanilla version of Skyrim gave me probably 100+ hours of interesting stories and areas to explore. Then I got into the Modding seen. I have to say I’ve put in over 700 hours on Skyrim and it still has a lot of play/replay value to me. To each their own. From what I hear from frinds who have played FO4, they are yearning for more than the bare bones play you have described. Sooo…I’ll be waiting I guess. Skyrim still holds my attention more than any other game at the moment though. I figure I can easily invest another 400+ hours before I get too bored with the replays. Excellent and honest review in my opinion, it just makes my decision to wait untill they release more DLC for the game easier before I make the purchase. In my opinion though, they way over priced the game with expectations vs what you really received in the end.

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  9. Were there a lot of bugs that happened while you played? I know from huge games like these it can be an issue.

    Also, what do you think of Bethesda using a similar but modded game engine they used for Skyrim for Fallout 4?

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    • It did come with its fair share of bugs but I was willing to forgive them if the game had been fun. And by using the same engine it felt to me a little stiff for a game now days. Nothing was very interesting about the characters.

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  12. This made me laugh a couple times which is great. Thanks for that! But i definitely agree with you. The game was boring for me as well. I feel like everyone got caught up in the hype whirlwind and chose to look at it through rose colored lenses… hardcore fans don’t like saying a game they’ve been waiting forever for is cruddy.

    Awesome for those who legitimately enjoyed it though. I’m glad someone did xD

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  13. I could never get into Fallout and I never quite knew why. I think you may have hit the nail on the head for me. Fallout does feel like you are spending not very much time fighting, but more or less just doing bitch work. I quite liked the world and the lore behind it all, but it wasn’t enough to keep me going.

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      • I’ve only played New Vegas, I loved the whole new world after the nuclear war of the US and China. It really does speak to us in the modern day today. It’s the world of evolution on a grand scale, kill or die… or die of radiation poising anyway. :l

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  18. Ooof, that’s a low score. Your review does sound familiar to when I played Fallout 3 however – plenty of content but a lot of it doesn’t feel particularly meaningful.
    I’ll probably pick it up at some point, but I’m happy to wait for the “complete edition” which will inevitably make an appearance next year.

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    • It was a low score. I debated and debated about if I should raise it because their are elements that make it better than say…Destiny before Taken King…but in the end, I put the game away and never came back and wasn’t close to finishing it. It was simply a waist of money for me. That ultimately was what dropped it so low.

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      • I tend to be an RPG fan. I think I’m just too casual for Fallout 4? I don’t have that kind of time especially when the characters are so boring. I loved The Witcher III. There was story, and characters that weren’t bland. Mass Effect for sure I love. Even Persona 4 Golden which is the longest game I’ve possibly ever played was great. Because of actual character development I think.

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      • Yep, character development is definitely important to me in story driven games.
        You’ve mentioned the game already but Mass Effect 2 is probably my favourite RPG. Not a huge cast of characters but every one of them had their own story and was fleshed out.

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      • Currently wading through The Witcher 3 myself. My gaming time is limited at the moment and its not the easiest game to play in small chunks but its been pretty good so far.
        Would you recommend sticking to the main story line first, or are the side quests important to do as you go?

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      • Okay, I enjoyed the side quests personally because many of them had interesting characters. But as long as you feel leveled enough I don’t think your will be missing anything crucial.

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      • Thanks. I’ll definitely do the side quests at some point, but I’d rather stick to the main quest for now instead of worrying about finding missing frying pans 😉

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      • Haha yeah, at points I also gave up side quests because I was so interested in the main story. I take it by your profile photo you’re excited about No Man’s Sky?

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      • I am indeed 🙂 Not the sort of game I would normally play, but HelloGames have been so vague about what NMS actually is, I can’t help but be intrigued.

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  19. I loved Fallout 3 and New Vegas (to a lesser extent, but still really enjoyed it).

    Fallout 4 I had two major gripes with: the lack of ways to solve problems that didn’t end in a firefight and the fact that character builds didn’t matter if you play long enough.

    I was super excited for this game, but at about the 25 hour mark (which is nothing in the grand scheme of a Fallout game), I felt I was playing out of a sense of obligation because I wanted to like it. Like you said, it started to feel like work. So I just stopped playing,

    I’m glad that it’s been as successful as it has because maybe the next game can afford to take a step back toward the formula 3 and New Vegas established, but my fear is that with 4 doing as well as it has, this is the new formula going forward.

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  21. I never bothered with the movies 2001… I read the books, so the drudgery was amplified. It wasn’t any more interesting than what you described. Your comments made me laugh.

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  22. I must admit I am hooked on this game but only to watch others, for them to make it there own with this game I am sure I could not do that. For me a lot of the quests are the daily grind like back in the day I played WoW. Yuk, good game gone bad where at one point all the quest felt the same collect 20 of this for 1g etc. Good review 🙂

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  23. I respect your pov. It’s not for everyone. I loved every flout game. This was by far the best. One of the best games ever made. You do have a staggering amount of quests and exploration. It’s not story driven, but the compelling ability to rebuild a fallen world, to make it better is the driving force. If you love to explore and to collect. This is for you x 1000. If you want a story driven game that had depth, maybe fallout 4 is not what your looking for .

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  24. That’s how I felt about Witcher 3. I just could not get into it. I was wandering around trying to find things to do to go up a level just to do a side quest . I just could not stick with it and wasted $60 on it. The reviews were so great I was looking forward to it

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  25. I did enjoy this post a lot, and before I read it, I didn’t really think about how long it takes to accomodish anything in Fallout. BUT I do love the game and the main reason I enjoy it is because of the creative element of being able to build, decorate, and establish the shelters. As a woman gamer, I think the parts of my personality that I get partially from being a woman, do affect my gaming- I tend to be drawn to ceafting, gathering, decorating, and to all things shelter related. So I enjoy that I can go out, clear and area, take all the loot, and go break it down to add to my supply lines. To be fair, I’m still fairly new to open world games, and I absolutely LOVE being able to wander around and explore.

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    • That’s awesome that you’ve seemed to find a niche gaming that really suits you. And I’m glad there are games out there for that. Diversity in gameplay types only makes gaming stronger even though I’d rather shove a thumbtack in my eye than play some of them. I wonder, do you play Minecraft at all?

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      • My husband and I played that when we were trying to find games to play together. We got really into it for a little while and read articles and even bought a book or two lol but I find it too boring. If I was an engineer, I’d probably have a lot more fun playing. Minecraft did make me realize my women tendencies because Greg would mine and I would craft, farm, decorate, and cook haha. I’m really alot more drawn to games that have beautiful graphics because I feel like I’m walking through art and I appreciate it a lot more. The pixel style art is cool to look at but I don’t enjoy it as much as ESO or Fallout. I feel like I’m re-writing my latest blog post on here haha.

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      • I’m actually not sure what either of those games are, I pretty much only know about the games my husband buys or finds that he thinks we will both be interested in. But I think I would still appreciate it if it wasn’t super realistic. I’m eagerly waiting for No Man’s Sky to come out. I love the exploration aspect of games too. As a side note, I’m getting really into The Division right now and it’s catching me off guard because I thought that I wouldn’t like it in the begining. I was pretty much just giving it a chance at first but now I’m enjoying it a lot and I’m really trying to figure out why. It’s hurting my brain trying to figure out why I like it.

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      • For me it’s the loot. Diablo III too…anything with loot that’s done well has the potential to addict me. And because I can play it with a friend. No Man’s Sky seems like it would be a good fit for you.

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      • I’m thinking that it’s the constant action, there’s no time to get bored. But I’m still trying to figure it out. Diablo is really fun but I do get a little bored eventually because half the time it’s hard to tell what’s even going on in the game, you’re just clicking buttons over and over really and using as much powers as possible.

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  26. Good review. Overall I thought Fallout 4 was a poor addition to the series, more generic open world shooter than RPG now. Sure there’s lots to do but there’s no depth, no meaningful choices, the characters are awful and the storyline trite and unengaging. And the shooter mechanics themselves are still very lacklustre.

    I liked the exploration element, but that’s about it really. I still sunk 80 hours into it because I wanted to finish the main quest for my review. I might revisit at some point in the future if I come across some interesting mods that improve the gameplay and RPG aspect.

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  27. Great read! I love the honesty!

    I’m big fan of Elder Scrolls and a good fantasy story, so it’s tough for me to get into post apocalyptic/sci-fi unless it includes piloting giant robots. XD

    I think this is a common challenge with open world titles, keeping the quests interesting. As much as I love Skyrim, even I get bored of some of the mundane side quests.

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  28. Fallout 4 was my first fallout experience and possibly my last. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it to some extent I just found it to overwhelming and it didn’t engage me enough to make me want to keep going back to it. I couldn’t care a rats ass about my missing son

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  29. I probably spent more time settlement building than anything else and even then if I’m being honest that was a bit of a chore! And If Preston asks me to save another settlement I swear to god I’m going to…

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    • I think gamerswifey also agreed with you about settlement building being the best part. I’m not as much a builder myself. So I guess the take away is if you like settlement building, that’s the one niche that might really enjoy Fallout 4. And I feel you about Preston…do it yourself man…do it yourself.

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  33. I enjoyed the time I had with this game. I found the shooting to be fun (for once) and on looks alone the world felt interesting enough to make me wanna explore it. That being said, as soon as I finished the main quest line, the game disc left the console and is sitting on the shelf ever since. I wished that the game was more like an actual rpg instead of just a shooter in which you level up from time to time. Player choice is basic at best and, as you mentioned, the characters don’t feel rounded at all. Also the questlines are just plain lazy. This game should learn a thing or two about about the witcher 3.

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  34. You know what? I have to agree with you. Its basically chewing gum for your thumbs. Its fun, then looses flavour really fast but I cannot help popping another stick in my mouth (ok, enough with the chewing gum thing…) but seriously, i find myself reaching for F4 just to kick back an hour or so, just to keep Preston happy…

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  35. To be clear, I have barely touched the previous Fallout games although I own them, and I’m coming to the franchise very, very late, but I ADORED Fallout 4.

    I put in over 100 hours before I finished the main story and then when I feel up to it I’ll go back for the DLC. I think there were a lot of contributing factors – I had just been laid off when the game came out, I wasn’t expecting a ton with story because my expectations had been set that Fallout games are about “doing what you want”, and I took a massive break within the main story because I was afraid of pissing off the faction I wanted to stick with…but I loved it. I was also quite surprised how much I ended up enjoying exploring places (partly because I absolutely loved real-world Boston when I was there in high school) and compulsively collecting junk, which I’d argue is a big sticking point for a lot of people. 🙂 I can understand why you could see it as empty, and I think there are specific points that keep people playing. I want to replay it to see the other factions’ endings, mostly, but I’ll likely do DLC and more exploring on my original character. Even after over 100 hours I still have a ton of the map unexplored, and that boggles my mind.

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  36. “The only rewards I’m getting are experience while doing the pointless bidding of someone else.” Great point!

    I shared the Fallout 4 trailer with my significant other a while back, who then gently told me: “But… you’ll never complete Fallout 3!”

    I put about 50-60 hours into Fallout 3, and didn’t scratch the surface. An amazing game technically, no argument, but I just feel with these open world games that it’s the same missions and objectives over and over again.

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