Longknife

I'm a bit jaded with the Young Turks on the whole, but this is a case where I value Cenk's input, personally:

Review by one of my favorite Youtubers:

I finished the game and his criticism was completely justified, so i fail to see your point. I have criticised the game as well. That isn't really the point. Then what is? You seem to have quite a bit of interest in me following anything related to FO4.

I'll answer that if you answer me this: why do you care? Probably because this thread has people playing the game and discussing both the good and the bad, and then this thread has people who are not playing the game but seem obsessed with nitpicking all the bad stuff. It's a weird mix and a bit hard to navigate. The very mentality that suggests people need to play a game to provide any decent criticisms or opinions of it is the very same mentality that results in a culture of "buy now, regret later" purchases. I do not need to buy the game and play it myself to make judgement calls about many aspects of the game. My above spoiler has multiple people confirming that I've indeed drawn the correct conclusions about it, all without playing the game myself. Aside from that, months ago I made predictions about how cutting skills out is not as simple as skills being axed, but rather skills and perks would merge and become one another in a way resulting in a loss of perk quality, all while suggesting we may see perk ranks similar to that of Skyrim, and lo and behold the game is here and it has the exact same "u do the same as before but wif 20% moarererer damage hurrrdurrr" perks that Skyrim had. I suggested that damage resistance as a system is rather difficult to balance for when on a scale as large as Bethesda allows for, namely 80-85% being the cap. The result is that the game must either balance around those with sub-par gear and be too easy for those with excellent gear, or it must balance around those with excellent gear while being near impossible for those that aren't maxed out. Sure enough, this is a game where people both report that it's insanely easy and insanely hard, and I would definitely argue you would quickly notice a pattern in who thinks the game is easy and hard if you simply asked everyone how frequently they use power armor. And like any idiot could do, I predicted the dialog system would more or less be an atrotious downgrade where NPCs saw a drastic cut in the amount of topics they were capable of discussing, or best case scenario, navigation of conversation topics would become tedious as it'd need you to constantly thumb through a "show more" option when the old menu could display more. The latter didn't happen, and instead dialog is neutered. With the amount of Let's Plays on the web, this is not a day and age where you need to purchase a game to make an accurate judgement of if you'd enjoy a game or not. Only some aspects, such as the nonstop excessive looting that goes on in FO4 that's abysmally boring to watch but might be fun and engaging to experience, cannot really be judged from afar. You do not hear me trying to judge that, you hear me judging the quality of the story, something I have absolutely full access to. The fact of the matter is I am not a person who sees much use in endlessly praising something. I enjoy Dark Souls, I enjoy Binding of Isaac Rebirth, I enjoy Team Fortress 2, but you would never find me writing up praise of these games unless explicitly asked for. If something is good? Then good, it needn't be discussed as everyone is happy. I voice criticism. Criticism is how you can pinpoint problem areas of a title and suggest ways it can improve in the future. Just as you will not see court cases where a court examines if citizen #65 spent his day being a good productive individual but you will see cases examining if citizen #73 commited theft, I only focus on what can improve, not on what's already doing fine. It's what I do, and it's my right. I do not absolve myself of this right by wisely bowing out of purchasing a game before I've bothered to check if it warrants a purchase. And quite frankly, if you are suggesting that I should bow out of the thread because my big scurry "nitpick" posts are somehow disrupting your experience while browsing this thread, I would kindly tell you to get the **** over yourself. If you're "merely curious" as to why I write my complaints, there's your answer as to why I follow FO4: because I'm merely curious if my expectations for the game were right or wrong.

I'll answer that if you answer me this: why do you care?

I'm not too familiar with your spoiler, this is all I've HEARD being discussed around it:

I was very disappointed to discover this (heavy spoilers): That to me is the biggest disappointment and the biggest writing blemish on FO4. I have seen individual scenes in random side quests where the writing has been better than what I'd normally expect from Bethesda, but it's not enough to cover up for the fact that their overall story and continuity is still so abysmally disjointed and nonsensical. A real shame to see that, though not too surprising.

From what I've read, solo play might damned well be superior. There seems to be a bit of a problem in regards to armor and damage resistance. One guy noted that a fancy suit of Combat armor may give you 250 armor rating while a suit of power armor gives you well over 1000. The result is that the difference between being naked and wearing combat armor is about 15% damage reduction, whereas the power armor is either at 80% or touching on it. Kinda lame and means many armor choices are more or less aesthetic. Lone Wanderer, the perk which provides benefits to you when you travel alone, seems to give a flat damage reduction bonus if you lack companions. This means that a naked character with Lone Wanderer will actually have superior damage resistance than a character in full combat armor. It also makes it so that at least 45% damage reduction is possible without power armor. Top this off with all the complaints about companion AI and I don't think you're missing much. Simultaneously, if companion perks are indeed permanent once unlocked, Lone Wanderer remains on if you travel with Dogmeat. This means you can farm all the companion perks and then take Dogmeat, and viola you OP.

If you think that nations of people can judged solely on what is portrayed in their media, then have some bad news for you buddy. I also feel like she/he's underestimating the education of western countries. The thought of someone never hearing about Malaysia is pretty strange to me. I mean if he/she was posting from Burkina Faso or something, ok, but Malaysia's not exactly an unheard of country. But yeah, if anything all that post has showcased is that you've never left Malaysia, cause traveling to another country and experiencing it's culture firsthand is not even remotely close to what you'd experience watching documentaries. I also consider it a tad bit unfair to view it in a light of Western countries being inconsiderate or rude, as if they've no interest in learning about other countries while other countries make that effort. Nah, the simple answer is that some countries are "louder" than others and make those resources readily available while others do not; no one's at fault, though the disproportionate knowledge of various cultures is of course not ideal. If a man says "2 + 2 = 4" and you beat him up and kill him, this does not change that 2 + 2 does indeed = 4. Violence is just something ignorant ****s resort to, and sadly every country, culture and religion has it's fair share of ignorant ****s. AND THAT'S WHY WAR.... WAR NEVER CHANGES.

Those sound way too interesting for a Bethesda game. Needs more plotholes. And societies composed of children.

The spoilers I saw don't discount some of those as being possible but I haven't really gotten far enough to know. All I'll say is that when I first saw the intro in that E3 preview I pretty much guessed what "the twist" might be. It's not even a clever twist, I'm just frustrated that I didn't get to discover it myself...sometimes I hate the internet. Without saying too much, none of what he listed is correct. However, I will say the actual twist is about as creative as the ones he listed; it's certainly nothing outrageously original or clever, and I think when you find it, you'll perhaps groan at it and think "really bethesda" rather than "OH **** THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING." Like I said, at this point I'm more interested if certain story details I've come across are undeniable plot holes or if they get addressed somewhere along the way, problem being I don't know where to look for my answers.

What's most bothersome to me is more that I want to know the story, but my issue is that currently, there are details of the story that just seem absolutely asenine and have seemingly no explanation. Thus I'm left sitting here questioning if that issue was addressed and answered in a main quest I haven't seen yet, OR if Bethesda's writing is just that asenine and the game does have plot holes left and right. I dunno which is the case, so here I am waiting for either a thorough Let's Play or a very concise summary from a trusted source that either explains some of the details I'm not understanding OR at least confirms "it DOESN'T make sense, Bethesda derped again." It's driving my curiousity nuts while I wait.

I fully expect him to have embraced evil and I'll be conflicted since he's working with the people who killed his mom. For 5 seconds before I shoot the brat. Are you people just guessing or did you guys look it up?

Yeah, I actually do like Metacritic user score averages just because between all the rabid fanboys and the rabid haters, an average usually does come out that gives you some idea of the game's quality, and lord knows the "professional" reviewers aren't gonna tell you anything but to throw your money at the developers. Having said that though, it's difficult to find that guy that actually argues his points and gives a fair, calculated review instead of just a 10 or a 0.

Is this normal for new releases...? http://imgur.com/AmpUpsQ EDIT: If it wasn't clear, that was a sincere question. I don't really follow how metacritic reacts to AAA titles and the like on release.

Yes. I was here holding back my gut reaction to challenge the man to fisticuffs, giving him benefit of the doubt that he meant FO3 does have nice random encounters and the exploration could be considered superior to FO:NV's even if the rest of the game is inferior... ....But now that the gloves are off... :D

If I get annoying, just tell me, but this was exactly one of my concerns I'd been voicing for months. I suspected that Bethesda was either going to take a note from New Vegas or take a note from Skyrim when making this game. The perks they've shown are stupidly similar to Skyrim, with the whole "20% cooler" pattern where a perk doesn't really unlock any new abilities, but rather makes an existing ability 20% better. And as you said, half of the perks do things that skills could. I heard Bethesda supporters argue "skills are a boring system that should've died out years ago." Yes, they are boring. And they're essential. Skills do the boring basic work so that the other systems can shine through. But when skills suddenly have to crash at perk's house, then suddenly the the quality of perks drop. Let's think this through a second: In New Vegas you got a "generous" amount of SPECIAL stats to make your character with. You got enough to customize your character plenty, and the game actively discouraged you from getting more SPECIAL stats by making the Intense Training perk always inferior to alternatives (example, +1 Agility provided faster reload speed and like 2 action points, but in the same time it takes to get +2 agility perks, you could get Action Boy for ~15 action points and Rapid Reload for 2-3 times the increase in reload speed; Intense Training was a beginner's trap and only useful for unlocking the ability to take additional perks if you REALLY wanted them). Every level you got skill points, and every two levels you got a perk. FO4 by comparison? In one level, you can get a perk that's functionally a skill, such as increasing your gun nut perk level. You could basically compare this to dumping ~20 stat points directly into Science only. Then comes the next level. You really want that fancy perk that actually does something, but unfortunately you lack the SPECIAL for it. Now you've put a level in that SPECIAL stat, and again you didn't actually get a perk. Now you've leveled up again and STILL you don't have access to any meaningful perks; you either spend the perk on a SPECIAL or on a skill, but actual perk perks? No. Eventually you finally get one, and after you get that one, it won't be long before you again find yourself dumping perk points into skills and SPECIAL. The result is that this only provides the illusion that the system provides more perks and more interesting content while skills were cut. In reality, skills and perks (and to a lesser degree SPECIAL) were merged, and the resulting product is just as much a skill as it is a perk; skills have become more like perks in a way, but the quality of perks has diminished because they too have become more like skills. Likewise, a big problem with Skyrim was that all those "20% cooler" perks were essential. If you did not take those, you did not deal sufficient enough damage to kill the enemies your level, or you didn't resist enough damage to live. You HAD to get them. There was nothing optional about those 20% cooler ranks, they were practically required, unless you wanted the game to feel like a visit to the dentist to get your teeth pulled. I have my worries this will be similar here, and that by the time you're level 30 or so, you'll find skipping those ranks is not an option, or at least very painful to skip. What's weirder, at level 1 in Skyrim, you were proficient in every weapon and armor type. You could use any of them and manage kills. By level 30...? You can only use the ones you perked, anything else is useless to you. I much prefer it when perks feel like....yknow, perks? In New Vegas if I perked up shotguns, I used shotguns BECAUSE they were so versatile that they typically performed better. But if I find myself out of ammo, can I use a rifle or laser competently? Yeah I can, it's just not nearly as sure-fire, reliable and effective as the shotgun. The weapon type you perked was the one that could kill the enemy in 2-3 shots while the non-perked did it in 5-6. This was enough of a difference to matter. Skyrim? The one you perked killed the enemy in 10 swings, the one you didn't killed him in 50. It was insane. I firmly believe a character should feel MORE capable as they level, not less, which is exactly what Skyrim did as your skills seemed to shrink as you leveled. If Fallout 4 will be similar honestly depends on how they handle leveled enemies; if they changed this system and made enemies far more stagnant in level, this could not be a problem, but if it follows Skyrim's playbook, those 20% cooler perks are nothing more than permission to continue playing the game the EXACT same way you've been playing, except now you need 20% more damage to kill enemies with 20% more HP. But I'm done ranting, question time: You said Agility makes you better with pistols for example. Does agility as a SPECIAL stat itself actually do anything for them, or is it rather that you need agility to gain access to the perks that actually help pistols?

I checked in on the Fallout subreddit, some guy was assuring everyone he's an old school, hardcore Fallout fan and that this game is the best of the bunch. That awkward moment when he goes on with his description and makes it blatantly obvious he thinks FO3 and New Vegas are the only existing Fallout titles.

You do realize that you're not obligated to play this game, right? If he's like me, his interest isn't so much in Fallout 4 itself, but potential future titles. New Vegas is my favorite game of all time, Bethesda is a company I've followed since Morrowind. Sadly, FO4 appears to be the title that's gonna make me bow out. I'm not even purchasing, though I will watch a Let's Play. Unless it wows me and/or unless there's a surprising backlash where the game gets mixed reviews and people demand some old features back and Bethesda is forced to listen, then that's it for me: I'm basically done with Bethesda and they'll be categorized in my mind in the same group as EA and Ubisoft. Perhaps good news for people like yourself though, cause it'd mean I've given up on any hopes that criticism actually matters to this company. If this game type interests you, knock yourself out and I hope you have fun. I'm not here to rain on anyone's parade, I'm only here because I do think they could do better and I would like to voice ways I think they can do better. His story is much the same, I'm sure.

A console gamer friend at work was looking at it and complaining it looked "dumbed down" I thought that was PCGMR talk. As someone who's been watching every spoiler, it's very difficult to describe the difference, but all I can say is that you should expect more FPS'er than RPG. From the streamers and videos I've seen, the combat often seemed like that of Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4, whereas the RPG elements seemed more about the fact that....I remember one guy fought Super Mutants that had skulls next to their names. I believe the skulls were to explicitly announce this enemy was out of his level range. Sure enough, his damage was terrible vs. the Super Mutant and they did pretty heavy damage to him. It didn't feel like RPGs in the sense of your stats unlocking a perk like And Stay Back! for shotguns for example, but rather more like one in the sense that certain enemies just have far too much HP for you to tackle until you get enough 20% damage perks. (which I loathe, but that's another story) Aside from that, if anything is "dumbed down," it's all the story and dialog, though that was already dumb before so it's really just the dialog that's been severely neutered. I feel like when I loved Oblivion and started with FO3, I saw more potential in FO3 because of how expansive the dialog system was (comparatively). This new dialog system has reverted back to the days where each NPC has one line of dialog describing them and not much interaction available. And the story elements...? I've seen the ending for the main story and all I'll say is don't hold your breath; this is standard Bethesda-quality writing, nothing's changed. If people want examples of two very small sidequests that showcase the writing to expect...? (these have no relation to the main quest) I realize I probably come across as bias cause quite frankly, my money is on this title being disappointing (GOTY and a top seller no doubt, but I expect buyer's remorse), but just trying to give some more grounded and critical examples of some blemishes I've seen so people know what to expect.

I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be "cool." Half the ORIGINAL CHARACTERS DO NOT STEEL out there on the internet have mismatching eye colors "cuz kewl." Also, just because I feel "responsible" for casting doubt about lip-synching and Dogmeat's AI, this came up on reddit and seems relevant; it's another guy summing up his first six hours and he specifically mentioned Dogmeat and answered a question about lip-synching: And then when someone asked "how's the character animation overall:" Source is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/3ryz1h/some_thoughts_about_my_first_six_hours_ingame/ Overall the lip-synching sounds like perhaps people just saw bad clips, though Dogmeat does seem to legit be "hurrrr I'm on fire hurrrr." In a way it's no surprise; in both FO3 and New Vegas they couldn't really figure out where to center Dogmeat and Rex's "position," which resulted in them blocking doors and stuff (did see FO4's Dogmeat doing this again in one clip) and at times they would run some weird stretches. That seems to be par for the course. Wasn't trying to scare anyone off or something, merely warn about newer problems I've seen in spoilers, but most of them seem to be hit-and-miss sans Dogmeat being derp, which isn't a huge loss. Is motion-capture what they used in past titles? I simply recall never really having issues with the lip-synching in any of their past games, now suddenly it seems off here and there, so it's obvious they changed methods, just dunno from what to what.

Personality: ESTP ("The Entrepreneur") Variant: Assertive Role: Explorer Strategy: People Mastery Honestly though I've long stopped caring about these kinds of tests cause I've know gotten three different results from it over the years I've run into this one, so yeah. The idea you can categorize people in 16 different categories is also total horse****, but I'm sure we all knew that and just enjoy taking these for the fun of it.

I played Isaac Rebirth: Afterbirth and continued to wonder why everyone hates on Maggy. She's like one of the best characters and hands down the most reliable. :c Also I play TF2, both casually and competitively.

Oh here. Just for the giggles, the fact someone made this video proves I'm not making it up when I said some footage features Dogmeat just not giving a damn or reacting when he gets lit on fire:

Yeah sorry, if you wanted spoilers or more footage I would link, but it seems Bethesda really cracked down on the leaks. They were getting posted to sights like Insagram and Vimeo to avoid copyright takedowns like on youtube, but now even those are gone. Even one of the subreddits has agreed to ban any leaks, and from what I hear some guy streamed the game for 8 hours yesterday, it got uploaded to google drive, ALREADY taken down and now people are trying to reupload it. Pretty crazy how aggressive Bethesda is with these leaks, seeing as how they're all over the place and on some pretty obscure websites now. Strangely, if you want some leaked footage, currently the only stuff up is on Youtube, and I doubt that stays long. The clips available though do have some beginning game spoilers and are mostly devoid of conversation. Only good they would do if I showed you is you would be able to determine for yourself if you feel I'm right when I say "this game is far more first-person shooter than RPG" or not.