Fallout 4 PC discussion

[Albuquerque]

The interiors haven't upgraded much since FO3, I agree. The exterior can be really pretty when they want it to be; the increased rendering complexity + draw distance within the city is at least one example. I remember a LOT of empty facades as backdrops in FO3 when you got into downtown DC, also with disparate loading zones (the whole city was non-contiguous; you couldn't wander from one end of the city to the other without hitting one or more loading zones.)

I really love the radiation storm effects when it hits, and the whole Glowing Sea area is a fantastic and moody backdrop. The transition isn't half-terrible, either.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Mornings, evenings, mist, fog and nuclear rain are all environmental effects that help the game look better and on occasion, stunning. The same was true in Fallout 3. Most people remember boring grey sky on grey ground but I played the unmodded version a couple of months back and was shocked to see blue skies and glorious sunsets and sunrises.

It's funny, some games I remember looking better than they really are but modern fallout is one of those franchises where a revisit often pleasantly surprises me in places.

It's nails atmosphere for me and fallout is heavily about atmosphere.

 

[homerdog]

I've noticed that the game can't properly render transparencies when there are multiple transparent objects overlapping (smoking vertibird in the water). That is simply fucking lazy for a 2015 game. My pet theory is that Bethesda really doesn't know much about modern rendering techniques at all. I mean that there is simply nobody under their employ that knows how to write the necessary code.

It peaves me because I strive to be really good at my job, and as a result I am really good at it. They are coasting with this bullshit. They can't say it's for performance reasons because the game should run at 1000fps on my rig with these graphics. The only reason the game looks any good at all is because NVIDIA gave them the volumetric lighting code.

 

[swaaye]

It's like how Morrowind only looked remotely impressive because it had pixel shader water. And Oblivion had that horrifically ugly pea soup distance terrain that they hid from all pre release videos and screenshots. And Skyrim's dragons pivoted around in the air like a giant kite. Hehhehehe

At least their games have improved incredibly amazingly from a debugging standpoint.

 

[Bludd]

Bethesda's iterative development: make game with x amount of features, make new game with x+n amount of new features where almost half are new and buggy and almost half are old and improved and the rest are removed features.

 

[tabs]

Well you assholes keep throwing money at them for it.

 

[Bludd]

Well you assholes keep throwing money at them for it.

You can love something and also criticise it, you know.

 

[tabs]

It was said with light hearted intent, but people's love of the game wasn't what I was getting at.

I just wonder what will motivate them to do any better apart from voting with wallets. Selfishly I want them to make a higher quality product that I will enjoy but I can only see one way that happens.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I just wonder what will motivate them to do any better apart from voting with wallets. Selfishly I want them to make a higher quality product that I will enjoy but I can only see one way that happens.

Sales and revenue are probably the only things that would get Bethesda to change their priorities in terms of engine modernisation.

But, and I hate myself for saying it, the greater majority of Fallout 4 players are probably not playing a Bethesda RPG for the quality of the graphics. It's going to be gameplay and game mechanics. It's a shit reason to be sure but you can bet your arse that Bethesda know it. Judging by sales, graphics are not that big a deal. If they were their RPGs would sell way less until the graphical mods appeared but sales show a different story.

And to give them some credit, it does look better and boy is it the most stable game I've played from them. Perhaps engine stability was the focus for the engine to support Fallout 4. With that largely done perhaps graphics will get more attention for the next game.

 

[tabs]

You misunderstand me perhaps. I was commenting in response to Bludd, who was talking about bugs and missing features. I play games with basic art and technical prowess and enjoy them for the gameplay. My days of staring at walls to see if there is parralax mapping on the bricks are long over.

I suppose I just find the combination of the janky animations, physics, dialogue system, user interface, poor movement, poor gun / magic / weapon play, lack of interaction with the story, CTD's (I have no idea if FO4 has this issue but every other of their games have had it) and yes... rather dated graphics all contribute to my feeling that I'd rather play and spend my money on something of higher quality.

It is true though that Elder Scrolls / Fallout games seem to scratch an itch that few other games do. The feeling of just being able to wander off in a random direction and discover some story is really appealing when you're in the mood for it. In those moments all the problems I mentioned tend to be easily overlooked.

 

[Bludd]

It was said with light hearted intent, but people's love of the game wasn't what I was getting at.

I understand, I didn't mean to be overly aggressive towards you.

 

[Bludd]

It is true though that Elder Scrolls / Fallout games seem to scratch an itch that few other games do. The feeling of just being able to wander off in a random direction and discover some story is really appealing when you're in the mood for it. In those moments all the problems I mentioned tend to be easily overlooked.

Take the STALKER series of games. They were pretty broken and buggy, but the atmosphere and sense of dread and uncertainty you felt when walking in a field in total darkness, while hearing animal (monster) noises and not knowing if you are going to walk straight into a phenomenon of the Zone which maybe could implode you, totally overshadowed the brokenness and other problems.

 

[tabs]

It certainly did. I was completely sucked in to the first STALKER game, and it remains some of my fondest gaming nostalgia. I remember some events in that game as if I lived them rather than played them. Unfortunately for me the magic was almost completely gone with the sequels. I feel similarly about Oblivion and subsequent Bethesda open world games. I never played Morrowind.

A new and compelling experience can make up for a lot of problems. After that though, I expect a hell of a lot more QA.

 

[swaaye]

Fallout 4 got me to install STALKER again. What a classic game SoC is. Look up AMK Autumn Edition.

 

[Kaotik]

the game gets too easy easily, no matter the difficulty setting. All you need is Kneecapper's thisandthat-weapon (autofire speeds, if it's you can mod it to that) and all the legendary deathclaws in the world are as harmless as a newborn puppy, you can shoot and melee them and they can do nothing but try to claw their way towards escape / you / something else

 

[homerdog]

Spoilers ahead:

I didn't know what to do at the Battle Of Bunker Hill. I don't really care about freeing the synths but I didn't want to return them to the Institute, so I reported the op to both the Brotherhood and the Railroad and let shit hit the fan while I watched. The Railroad won the battle but I told Shaun I wanted out of the Institute afterwards. Now I'm going to war with the Institute with my Minutemen army and the Brotherhood at my back. Great stuff!

Also Piper hopped in one of my old T51 power armor suites and won't get out

 

[Kyyla]

Fallout 4 was a fun ride. But it's painfully obvious Bethesda can't write a coherent story. Stick to your strengths I guess.

 

[homerdog]

I finished it at mid 70s level. It was a great game.

 

[Davros]

Is there any reason to confine playing after that and can you continue playing

 

[homerdog]

You can keep going but it's pretty boring. Need some DLC. But by the time DLC comes out I will have moved on. That's the problem with DLC.

Of course people would complain if they released DLC so soon after launch, but I've gotten more than my money's worth already and would be perfectly happy to pay for more high level content.

The game needs more types of enemies. Mudcrabs get old.