Fallout 4....

Speaking of games I spend more time in than I should, Fallout 4.

It's in game system of building is one of the central points of players coming back to 'faff' about with the game. I for one am grateful. It's not a perfect system and if you have OCD it will be a nightmare for you. Items can float and not fit 'perfectly'. For me this game gets a lot of leeway; It allows a lot to be done so it gets a pass on a lot of it's faults.

I've waffled many,  many,  many times(and then some going back over older posts) about my setup/playthroughs in the game....

Looking back at those old posts, not much has changeds except for my pottering about with them.

It's kept the game alive and given ongoing if sporadic enjoyment.

Enjoyment is enjoyment.

What is seen can not be unseen....

What can I say that'll add to the show and tell.... 

The notice board in The Castle on my main save is telling of my micromanagement and spare of a spare, hoarding mentality in games like this.

So 4th on the list is my Nuka world 'base'. The only 'base' outside the Wasteland and filled with all manner of gear and items that are 'expendable'.

It's a 3x3 Vault style structure(just like most of the rest). This one sits on top of the Nuka World Red Rocket.

That Suit and the chest of gear are the only real 'usables'. All else is for decoration.

So more items may be needed on the walls above the bed.

In another save the 'kitchen' is the same but different, as it is with all the 'main' player hangouts.

As with most of my 'encampments' this one has a lot of automated firepower. However with a Feral Ghoul spawn point near enough some external hard-points for preemptive defence is needed.

That's not to say I don't have settlers in my 'bases' but in this Nuka Red Rocket it was annoying to me after I'd fast travel back that so many settlers would be in 'my room' and sleeping in 'my bed'. 

The Castle and Sanctuary are communal and I get it. But places that are more personal need to be personal. So The Cottage has a sentry bot, Jezebel(who just stays as a sentry) and Strong who 'just' wanders about 'outside'. He used to use the chem station in my room there but I set up a few more just to keep him busy outside it(being a large concrete wall.....etc)

Yea that level of micromanagement and much much worse....

Fallout 4....

With all the talk of Cyberpunk problems on it's release, I am more than happy to have not pre-purchased it. Not just because of the torrent of bugs but that it's not the world that was as wide as expected. I've long since favored waiting and getting a patched out game with DLC/expansions at half price 6 to 12 months later. If a game is worth it, it'll be worth the wait.

A friend who had pre-purchased(about 8 or so months ago), has after 8 hours of gameplay bemoaned the pre-purchase and the product delivered. This from a guy who had massive hype for it and was disappointed(to say the least) when it was twice delayed. Twice delayed.... Imagine what it would have been if not!? Never mind now(devs are sorry is such a cliche these days).

Anyway, I was glad I'd nothing to do with the game...... It did get me thinking about Fallout 4, which for all it's own faults is still a great game experiance today. So I went back to it over the last few day's(just like this, this and this).

Back in 2018 I did a bit of a post going through my characters/play-through's. So today is again progress like this to this to this.

I've waffled so much before I'll not waffle on what small things I've altered and changed. My main is still my main(Railroad/Minutemen), my Institute char is still my Institute char; And my Brotherhood char is still my Brotherhood character.

My 4th character was supposed to live as a low level mess about(leather armour, pipe weapons etc.); but has now leveled to 40. Gaining so many quests/missions that it's a forest of map markers. Love it!

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Piper in a secret agent look is still cool.

Preston needs more than just the naughty chair!

Being in Fallout 4 is still a great experience.

As for this 4th character; I'll potter away for now without locking in any permanent decisions(I'm really just after the Ballistic weave from the Railroad). It's a big enough game to faff about with and not face any main or side story challenges.

Fallout 4....

A day or so ago I saw I still had Fallout 4 installed (even if I'd removed the hi-res texture pack; Maybe I was going to uninstall it and stopped for some reason). It's been a while since I last visited a character in Fallout 4. So I started it up and checked where I'd left my 4th playthrough's character. A mess about playthrough with no real aim or need to 'finish' content. I'd only just loaded the save back in Sanctuary for a moment when a settler ran up with a mission. Ghouls again, surprise surprise. Meh I decided to do it.

A Casual Carebear

A game I can still play and get a lot from. If I went to a 'main' character no doubt I'd spend a lot of time tweaking a base layout. Or redesign a more defensive settlement option that would then 'need' to be replicated to all settlements.....

Fallout 4....

One of the ongoing 'joys' of Fallout 4 is being able to load up a save and potter about with weapons, armour, settlements, building a far flung outpost, adjusting defences and just wandering the wastelands. On one such wander(gathering gear from enemy groups), I encountered two Deathclaws. It was a very 'I remember this place for some reason' kind of moment as I turned around and saw a Deathclaw swipe at me. I almost felt sorry for it.

A Casual Carebear

Fallout 4....

With all the latest buzz and kerfuffle about Fallout 76, I took another walk back into Fallout 4.

For 76, I've mainly been watching a playthrough and I'd have liked it as a single player game; But sharing all those materials with others is an added level of hassle I wouldn't want. Never mind asshats just being asshats. You know the type.... jumping everywhere around you, shooting everything in the hopes you'll PvP with them. Pish off!

So what have I been doing in my Fallout 4 universe's. Well, faffin about. Enjoying the game by just being in the game. I'm on Day 5 of my save game revisits. I now know I shouldn't have expected this to be a quick revisit. Noticing one thing leads to noticing another and before you know it I'm micromanaging settlements, readjusting defenses and being massively over detailed about having my characters setup/base/HQ/gear in a certain way. 

My Main was an experience and discover everything neutral/good doer, siding with the minutemen and railroad. Complex beyond all when adding in the DLC's.

Both my Brotherhood and Institute playthrough's were less complex due to the nature of those organisations. But there was still a lot of leeway as the stories played out to be "complex". Both didn't do a lot with settlements unless it was in their interests(Unlike my main who was the opposite).

I guess I did a lot more akin to roleplay with those than my main.

Take my institute character. Once the game progressed far enough, she cleared all the settlers from Sanctuary initially to Red Rocket but then onto The Castle. Finally keeping Codsworth, X6-88, Ada and Jezebel as sentry guards(and Dogmeat of course). The only character playthrough I used console commands with to alter the game; first to physically move Mama Murphy(left her in red rocket), and second to add in a ton of Nuka World shock collars for companions, because of course she would track her subjects. 

I got that idea when my main started to hand out Pip-boy's form Vault 88 to her companions.... One thing leads to another.

The Institute characters "base" not much changed, just tweaked:

The amount of tweaking of things that don't really matter to gameplay is colossal, on all my saves.

Decisions that only matter the the player and the character via game role-play more so than anything else. 

The fact that I got the game and created things before other DLC came out, necessitating redesigns and makeovers only adds to the "work"; I could spend all day/week doing up posts detailing things never mind what version of change management it was at.... Projects on projects. My past posts do detail a lot.  Enjoyable at the time and even now but such a time sinkhole!

I might just do up another post with my last "mess-about-with" character. I'm not even sure about how to classify that playthrough, neutral /non involvement, maybe...

Some things are universal for playthrough's. Like adjusting the companions looks. 

Or always saving the clean comfy pillow's for my own bed.

Or putting a bowler hat on Codworth.

Or a tux on Piper or Longfellow. And/or arming them with a hilariously large shredder mini-gun....

Outfitting everyone!!! Everywhere!!!!

There is meaning in the madness..... It's better to have settler guards in combat gear, just to help in combat.

Or Mama Murphy in a Hazmat or Space suit.... Just for fun.

I almost forgot about this.

All this and a thousand hours of gameplay..... I think I got my monies worth.

Indoor blacksmith's furnace next to 2 high pressure 200 year old welding tanks.... What could go wrong! In Fallout 4 nothing can go that wrong; But I know there still like that in that save game, still there and not adjusted. Just look at the hose running under the tool chest.... It all needs to be redone...... Nah sod it. Time to let go....

Till next time.

Fallout 4....

Finding myself faffing about with Fallout 4 on my different characters and their settlements has lead to far too much micromanagement, tweaking and adjustments today.

Fallout 4's quirks can be interesting:

Extreme weights?

Fallout 4....

Just a quick nostalgia look at my main playthrough settlements and "bases". A roam looking at the scenery....

Fallout 4....

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking the high res pack is more "subtle" than expected. 
A video worth watching on the subject:

Many A True Nerd

Fallout 4....

With the addition of the 55+ GB of high definition graphics data added to the game I checked today to see what the difference was. Oddly enough I was surprised that I had a hard time telling if things had changed. With the 50 plus gig's of data you'd think that there would be a massive overhaul of everything.

What I did notice with a kick ass PC and a 1080 Nvidia card is that there are small improvements or should I say more subtle enhancements. Particularly with items that you wouldnt' normal take a closer look at. The colours are also a little more vibrant, particularly with lighting. Not that Fallout 4 has looked bad but the colours in the post apocalyptic wasteland are brown with a washed out dull tone so maybe it's my eye's focusing too much on whats not really there.


Playing the game now with the new patch I do like it, it seems to show more, I can't quite put my finger on it.

I've tried to compare my old screenshots to the newer ones I've just taken with the HD patch and I'm hard pressed to tell which is which.

Yes the light/time of day/weather is different not to mention the angle of the screenshots but....

OLD

NEW

_________________

OLD 2

NEW 2

Fallout 4.... Official High Resolution Texture Pack for PC

 

Next week will see the Fallout 4 Official High Resolution Texture Pack for PC weighing in at a hefty additional 58 GB's!! Plus recommended PC Specs of Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required), Intel Core i7-5820K or better, GTX 1080 8GB, 8GB+ Ram.


Bring it on Bethesda.... I'm glad I got my new PC!

Fallout 4....

Sometimes you return to a game after a while away and get a moment you never saw before, the light makes it look almost 'nice'.

Faffing around and readjusting settlements is all well and good but I'm not a glutton for punishment:

I'm in the middle ground... Somewhere....

Fallout 4.... What is seen can not be unseen....

Fallout 4.... Done and dusted....

I've completed my playthrough's of the latest DLC, Nuka World, on both my "Brotherhood" and "Institute" characters which completes all three charecters. Doing so has brought a reversal of those characters interactions with the general commonwealth.
My Brotherhood character was pro Minuteman but went full on Nuka world to the end, then reversed course and can no longer speak to Preston. Whereas my Institute character was more in tune with wiping out Nuka world from the start and in doing so has gotten more interaction with the Minutemen and Preston than ever before which I never thought would happen.
They have both been interesting playthrought's and I'm not about to reload and redo from a previous save, they are where they are and I'm ok with that. I felt I played both properly with their perspectives on the storylines.

With both finished I did find myself going back to my "main, main" playthrough and updating a lot of settlements etc. With no more DLC coming there will be no incentive to revisit the Brotherhood or Institute characters again. Indeed with no more DLC there will be no more real reason to go onto my main, it feels like an abrupt end. Mods may be the way forward for further gamplay.  Time will tell.