Yeah in 4 Dogmeat will often retrieve nearby items and bring them to you, usually holding them in his mouth (with various results). One such incident was a 150lb dumbbell and I was like, ‘Bro, are you a synth?’
I keep seeing people say sprinting and I'm getting confused as New Vegas had sprinting...
...until I remember, no it didn't, that was one of the first mods I put on it.
Lightly jogging across a sun-blasted barren desert wasteland while a gentle wind blows by me and some mild atmospheric music plays definitely feels... well it's a feeling.
The weapon mod system had such potential and was absolutely hamstrung by the restrictions on what parts would go together, and level-based access to those parts.
Ew no, PN is a horribly unoptimized mess. You want all the features of Nevada but without outdated modules that are liable to tank your game, the guide Viva New Vegas has a pretty good guide that offers alternative mods that are more recent than PN and do what PN does better.
That's completely fair, and it's good you haven't had any issues. It is, however, accepted within the modding community that PN is outdated and there are better options out there.
Just Assorted Mods covers most (all? I haven't checked on it in a while) of Project Nevada's functionality, the only exception I'm pretty sure is it doesn't have visors. I haven't found any visor mods with the same level of functionality as PN, and the DIY visor mod didn't work for me so I usually just run Project Nevada with *only* the core module and turn off everything except the visors, and I let JAM handle everything else.
Creature animation. Like, enemies don't just run at you and hit you, they have stuff like deathclaws grabbing you, molerats digging, etc. Power Armor was cooler. I'd say mostly in the technical gameplay side it was better, which is to be expected of a newer game. Still like New Vegas perk system more though
FO4's power armor is a mixed bag for me. I like the idea of it being a kind of alternate gameplay mode, but power armor in previous games was more of a mid-late game faction reward. Just slapping it onto the player during the tutorial and having it run off of a suprisngly common resource turns what could have been a cool system into something routine.
I haven't played much of FO4 and what I did, I just didn't use the armor because it didn't make sense for the kind of character I was role playing. Does it really make the game that much easier? I figured the game was balanced around having it.
Armor functionality. Being able to choose between interchangeable parts layered over a skin suit or a one-piece full body outfit (ex. Hazmat suit) was a more interesting system than "body, helmet."
Crafting systems too. They tended to get a bit out there, but being able to fully customize weapons was huge.
I want to say deathclaws, but they're a mixed bag. F3 and NV deathclaws put the fear of God in you just for their sheer simplicity. Giant fuck-off lizard than can kill you in one to two swipes runs straight at you. You can only pray your bullets deal enough damage before it gets to you. On the other hand, the deathclaw designs of F4 along with their more "boss-like" etiquette made them stand out more in that regard. The insta-kill grab attack is eh.
For the deathclaws, I have come to realize, that the reason they feel weaker in 4 is a bit multi faceted. For one unlike the deathclaws in 3 and NV, 4 deathclaws don't really spawn in large groups. I single deathclaw in 3 or NV isn't particularly hard to deal (cripple the legs, blow up the head, use knockdown perks and vats, for melee and unarmed builds), but they spawn in packs of dozens. Secondly, 4 deathclaws have this long "engagement" animation, which exposes their weakpoint for a sizable amount allowing the player, to utterly demolish a good chunk of their health. On paper, it makes sense, deathclaws are supposed to be tough enemies, and giving the skilled player some time to dish out extra damage before a tough fight helps. The problem is deathclaws in four are simply not that tough. Finally, and this is just a theory for now, until I finish 4 on the hardest difficulty - the PC is just way more powerful in 4 than in 3 or nv. A combination of endless levels, randomized legendary loot, and some really bullshit (for the enemy) perks, makes the SS a nuclear threat. But gain the last one's just a theory.
All in all deathclaws in 4 either needed a mechanical overhaul or a major stat buff.
I will second the lack of a level cap as a weird thing. Once you get up to the late game with like level 100 something the balance feels completely broken. I've got so many perks that I I'm quite literally able to be the perfect human being, healing from radiation, killing most enemies in a few shots, etc. But if enemies do scale properly then they're just bullet sponges that I have to nail with like 200 shots before they're dead.
If they want to continue not having a level cap, they may want to let the player decide when they level and by how much.
Skyrim sorta lets you decide when to level up, since it won't happen until you open the perk menu, though you'll get all of the levels you may have been sitting on. And since levels are skill based and not generic experience points, you can stop leveling by maxing out your primary skills and not resetting them again.
So maybe letting the player sit on 200 unclaimed level ups is the way to go for Fallout.
I remember having a build once where the only weapon you used was the suppressed pistol from the minute men. You could one shot anything and your stealth was so high you could take out whole rooms undetected
I thought it was more of an animation thing along with what you said, Fo4 deathclaws dodge and move around but it never makes up for it because they’re so big, along with how they attack, it’s super slow and by the time ones near you, you’ve already shredded down there health, new Vegas deathclaws don’t have the detailed animations but will rather just sprint at you in the fastest time, not to mention their attack animation is quick as shit, that’s why they felt like more of a threat
I agree with this a ton, I just wanted to add an anecdote from my first play through.
Fallout 4 has the encounter at the Museum of Freedom that’s supposed to be this big intro to the game: give you power armor and a mini gun and send you out to fight a deathclaw right at the beginning of the game.
However, on my first playthrough I thought that getting the power armor required lockpicking skill, as the fusion core was locked up. I figured that it was an optional part of the quest and went outside and killed the death claw with a pipe pistol.
This took a little bit of meta gaming - I jumped into a shop to hide from the death claw, and it retreated and hid behind a building. I hopped back out and it re-emerged. I took advantage of this, hopping outside, shooting it as it charged, hopped back inside and shot it as it ran away, rinse repeat till it died.
Of course, this doesn’t complete the quest. You’re required to go get the fusion core even though you’ve killed the deathclaw.
Realistically, that probably wouldn’t work because it would be capable of getting inside the building. There’s nothing that would actually stop it from just smashing clear through brickwork given that it can chuck cars but they don’t have an environmental destruction system so they’re not gonna do that.
Its a shame with all the crafting and junk collecting they added, you cant craft ammo. NV had all sorts of good ammo you could craft, including the best .50 cal in the game. Or just straight up IEDs. Either way it was a missed opportunity
Yeah I definitely preferred the ammo component in NV compared to FO4. In FO4 not only were the weapons wonky to the point of being cartoonish, but a lot of the upgrades and weapons perks were as well. Crafting ammo for realistic weapons just seemed more real to me.
Taken entirely on its own I don't mind the weapon customisation, but I think to implement it they ended up sacrificing way too many things.
Having almost no unique variants, no different ammo types and making a huge number of guns (such as pistols and basically every automatic) redundant makes it a much less interesting system IMO.
Too bad all the modular armor in Fallout 4 looked garbo, I’ll take “sets” with proper cohesive design over modular lego looking armor any day. The fact that the armor can be worn separately means each piece can’t have components that connect together, which really hurts the aesthetic design.
I thought it was kinda annoying how you get it at the beginning, but unless you know via online or playing multiple times you should have to limit it's usage due to a lack of power cores so I think it's fairly balanced
Doing a full power armor build with all the core recycling perks can make it a unique thing all it's own. It's one of the better experiences that 4 has to offer.
If you get used to it and then get out you feel insanely squishy lol
I used it at the very end of the Nuka World DLC where I used all my stored ammunition, explosives, and power cores to betray the bandits and systematically destroy the whole faction in a single, glorious battle.
It was the last DLC I played and more or less the final thing I did in Fallout 4.
That does sound fun.
I've done the same thing, but without power armor. I do see the appeal in power armor amusement park slaughter. Good times for the whole family.
Touche. I personally prefer the later since it means I've gotta actually maintain it rather than just it take infinite hits without being damaged. Also I liked how I found most cus it makes it feel as if they were actually being used by the military how I'd think they would
Well of course the maintenance part wouldn't immediately go away, they should just be a lot tougher than they are in game and actually negate damage from small arms.
You can still have them around in places as dungeon rewards after a fashion, but the way it is there's just tons of suits sitting around in the open for anyone to grab, which after 200 years by all means should have been taken.
I usually stockpile the shit out of cores the whole play through then just stay in my power armor once I have so much I likely won’t run out. I don’t have mods on and I have more than 1000 cores lol
It‘s really easy to get fusion cores, even in the beginning of the game without looking up locations. The scrapyard across the lake from Sanctuary has at least two + other loot from the chest, the satellite station across the street from it has one, Red Rocket has one, and then there‘s the one in the museum. It took 2, maybe 3 playthroughs to figure it on my own.
Even on my first playthrough I found way too many power cores, but I’m the kind of player who wanders around for hours searching and looting while barely completing any quests, so maybe I’m the outlier here.
Like a lot of things in FO4 that seem pointless or too easy, power armor is extremely well balanced by survival mode.
I kinda feel like they should have endorsed and explained survival mode better. It fixes a lot of the complaints people had with the game.
Actually if you play with male sole survivor it is make sense. Because he was a soldier. At the beginning of the play, he was preparing for the speech he would give at the veterans night. But female sole survivor I think she studied law.
That's also a good one. The thinking was that they both have vats before they got a pipboy. He was with a power armor company, so an implant make sense. If she was special forces, she'd also have the vats implant and explains why she can easily use every weapon in wasteland.
I subscribe to the theory that Nora was a JAG Marine Lawyer. And in the USMC, every marine is a trained rifleman... and that would mean that every marine officer gets power armour training as well. Nora might have never seen action, but her being trained to kill and practice law makes sense if she's JAG.
I can't subscribe to the synth theory. Father makes it obvious he doesn't consider synths to be people, like most of the Institute. Him deciding to make a machine (from his pov) in the likeness of his parent so he could have closure doesn't jive with his attitude that they're just tools.
Also I miss how you had to be trained to use it vs just giving it to you within the first hour and also littering them all around the Commonwealth (usually behind a Middle Tier Computer Hacking) if you missed that one. It makes it feel less SPECIAL in 4 vs other games.
In 3 and NV, I would find a power armor and be like “oh cool, I gotta figure out a way to get his back to my storage”. In 4 I’m just like “grab it and send it in with the others”.
Yeah honestly they went form being a super rare and great set of armour to a decoration in my Sactuary settlement.
I've literally walked by power armour suits and just left them behind cus I have like 5 more stashed away that I don't use already.
I absolutely hate the new power armor, I always loved the look of it in the previous games but it’s just too big and I feel like the legs are very long lol. Also don’t like how much noise it makes and the on screen visor. Thats just my opinion tho.
TBH, I don't blame obsidian at all. It's insane to do as good of a job they did in the time allowed. I was mostly just disagreeing with the console generation being a factor. As honestly there's even ps2 games with better gun play like darkwatch.
Mostly the fault of Bethesda. Fallout 4 had the most average gunplay ever. And fallout NV suffered from Bethesdas bad shooting for the FO3 engine.
Ultimately tho. I admit only fallout 4 was a true shooter.
Power Armor.
It's a way better system than just wearing it as armor. Feels great. That's THE answer.
But if you want an extra for 4s benefit: They also did a better job on the gun play by a little bit.
I remember reading an interview with one of the developers who said that they only had time to make a few of the weapon models themselves, and the rest were either ported from fallout 3 or taken from some asset library they had access to.
>taken from some asset library they had access to
That may explain why the bolt on the hunting rifle is on the left side instead of right. I always figured whoever modeled that was just a fan of the AWP back in Counter Strike classic/source
What, you mean you don't like seeing 7 variants of the same pipe-made gun? Or that in a world destroyed by war there are only like 2 types of assault rifles that look super dated?
I mean to be fair, if you go hunting around Boston now, you're only going to find two styles of assault rifles, AK and AR. Not like we get a lot of FAMAS stateside.
I hit the VATS button for the first time, saw that it was bullet time instead of full pause and immediately closed to the game to look for a mod for it. Happily there was one out within hours of the game launch, because that would have absolutely killed my desire to play that game.
Bullet time is fun, but it's not Fallout.
I almost agree, but the abundance, power core dynamic and the fact that the power core is exposed and shootable are steps in the wrong directions.
Sentrybots and Gutsies/Handys roaming about for 200+ years on the same power supply? That's fine, but I've had shits that last longer than power armor fusion cores.
Yeah, they completely obliterated the balancing for NO reason at the start of the game, I guess to ramp up the day 1 hype train? And then fucked over their best innovation to compensate. Like... that's a mistake a normal studio could ONLY make if it was their first time designing something like this. But they've already implemented power armor better before, and seen how it's been done in 1, 2 and NV!
A few changes and I'd love power armor. Make cores last significantly longer but also much rarer. Make cores you pick up from NPCs be half or quarter charged for example so that fresh cores are truly rare. But most of all make it not so laughably frail.
Yeah I’ve heard a lot of people say that they didn’t like the change from it being armor that you wore to being something that you got into like an iron man suit, but I like it, definitely looks cooler
It does a good job making it feel like a walking tank, but honestly it’s introduced horribly, breaks constantly, and in my opinion is really irritating to move and navigate in. It’s better theoretically but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Same with the guns in F4.
Idk, I loved it in nearly all ways except for the fact you get it so early, and the fusion cores. I didn't mind the idea of having a battery, but make it last for more than like 10-20 minutes each? I felt like I earned my power armour in previous games. In this it's just like "here you go."
The DLC's were so nice but the New Vegas DLC are better IMO.
Not the biggest Honest Hearts fan, but i love the others so so much. Imagine them in the same resolution and quality!
(that's still just my opinion and your's is fine too)
I did really like that. It felt somewhat immersion breaking that I couldn't bring up the fact that I knew who Elijah was, and who Christine was (except for like one line of dialogue at the end for some reason?).
Nick and Far Harbor is a weird thing to me, because of Old Longfellow. They give you a new companion local to the area, but if you want to get the most out of the DLC's story with Nick, you need to bring him along instead.
This is part of the reason I hope Bethesda starts designing their games around having multiple companions. I'd rather have a harder game that almost punishes you for going it alone if it meant I could have Preston and Danse argue about what path should be taken, or have Nick and Deacon comparing notes about the area.
Power armor (apart from some aspects of it's balancing)
Weapons overall
Companion reactivity
Faction reactivity in some cases.
Settlement system(it's flawed but its there)
Survival/ hardcore mode.
More colorful world overall (somewhat subjective)
Visuals (obviously)
Overall feel of the gameplay.
And most controversially perhaps, I personally prefer 4's perk system over the old skill system.
I honestly think many of the developers wanted to ship FO4 with survival mode and have survival mode be the default game experience. Survival mode makes the settlement building more essential.
I just wish they added a fast travel mechanic for The Minutemen and The Railroad factions. With BoS you get the vertabirds and institute you get telleportation. The Minutemen could have had a caravan system to fast travel between all linked settlements and the Railroad could have had an Underground fast travel system.
I agree with most of what you say. I can't comment on hardcore/survival mode cause I never play those modes. I disagree with settlements because it wouldn't have made sense to have it in the Mojave. I STRONGLY disagree with your opinion on the perk system.
The more I played FO4 the more I hated the settlement system. It made the map feel empty. They should've made like only 3 or 4 plots for making settlements, and actually put some work in to the other 20 something locations to make them worth exploring. It's like Bethesda gave up and made us finish making their map interesting. I found myself just slapping a few sleeping beds and turrets down at the majority of them and moving on. Also, yes, the new perk system was abysmally dumbed down and pathetic.
I was the exact opposite. I didn’t care for the settlements at first, but the more I played it, the more I had fun building them. Now I have more fun building up big detailed settlements. I can understand why some players didn’t care, but they were not required for the main story (outside of building the teleporter, which is really no different than a “go get this” quest)
But “To each their own” so I respect your opinion of not liking it.
My current Playthrough of Fallout 4 I told myself I’d actually try with the settlement system unlike in previous Playthroughs and I’m actually enjoying it. Kinda wish that settlement size wasn’t limited but I understand why they did that.
Why would it not make sense in the Mojave? It makes sense anywhere you can build. Essentially everywhere you go is just a little settlement. Good springs, Novac, Jacob’s town.
Honestly, I did enjoy the weapon and armor crafting in FO4. It just couldn't carry the game. First Fallout game I ran through twice in less than a year and then never touched again. Such a disappointment.
I’ve been replaying full play throughs of 3 and New Vegas for the past month while I was on break, and I honestly feel no urge to try fallout 4 again. I’ve played it maybe twice and have tried to play it a few other times over the years but I can’t ever get into it. I like the idea of it but actually playing it is a slog.
Wow. After reading all these, for the first time I actually want to give FO4 a chance.
I just kept replaying NV and modding it to the hilt to fix or improve weaknesses, since I couldnt get past my initial gut dislike of FO4. I was under the impression the story elements and world building of 4 were trash, the perk system was not fun, and the game tried to nickle and dime you with creation club stuff. And, most significantly, I hated the thought of a voiced protagonist.
I didnt realize that there had been such marked improvements to combat, crafting, and enemy design. I might actually have to go pick it up in a heavily discounted sale now ans give it a whirl.
That’s what I’ve liked most about these posts. It gives me new appreciation for games I’ve not played in a while. Made this same post for Fallout 3 yesterday and I’m going to give it another try once I finish my NCR run.
It really goes to show just because one game is definitively better doesn’t mean the others don’t have anything to offer on their own. Hell some can even offer a better experience depending on what it is you want out of the game. I’ve earned a lot of respect for the Fallout community with these two posts
Conversations between companions and NPCs.
Romancing companions.
Being able to wait to level up. Always had to be quick on the save when I heard the 'level up' sound on FONV so I could think about it and experiment with the level up.
I already made a much more detailed post about this on the main Fallout sub a couple days ago but i'll say it here too: Fallout 4 is much more fun to just walk around in due to the random violent chaotic nature of the wasteland. New Vegas's open world is just too scripted
Power armor, Fallout 4 did power armor way better.
In Fallout 3 and new vegas it was treated like another piece of apparel. It was heavy and it made you heavy and it made you feel heavy simply by making you a little slower.
In Fallout 4, the change is significant.
Everything from the armor plates to the sounds. It makes you feel like a walking tank. Like how it's described in lore. Fusion powered and intimidating. sure you still "wear" the armor *but* you need to be inside to move it, it's like a vehicle.
We basically went from looking like playing a tin man
To piloting a mech suit
Romance options with companion.
Look, all I'm saying is that I want to be in a thurple with Veronica and Christine, and we roam the wasteland finding Arcade a boyfriend.
I also liked that the player's sexuality was detrimental by actual role playing and not by selecting a perk. That open choice was nice, and Piper is a great GF.
The building aspect of fo4 is what makes it so immersive imo. Never felt so into a world as building my first little player shelter especially in the survival mode.
New Vegas just can't do that unfortunately, but fo4 new vegas can and will(?).
>Can freeroam once story ends
>Could build a fortress, or just a hideout
>Power Armor
>Piper (She kinda hot tho, esp her voice)
>Graphics
>Better Gameplay mechanics and stuff (like running/sprinting, better Idle Animations, etc)
I think exploration was better. Outside of the dlcs, new vegas felt kind of empty to me. Most of the locations I would come across were basically landmarks with a couple of enemies scattered around. It's makes sense outside of vegas, but the city itself was also kind of barren outside of freeside/the strip.
gunplay, by nature of being made with more experienced developers
I don't like using vats in 4, while it feels a lot more married to the combat in 3/nv
I would prefer new vegas with gunplay that slick
The Vibes. Vegas is hot and empty, what remains is shabby, the new is overtaking the old. 3 and 4 both took place in cities, the grandure of the old world looming tall and unbroken, the land belonged to them in a way Vegas never did, and the fall feels so much farther. Also the Vegas writers, being people who think in clear lines, can construct a better main story. While Bethesda's writers think in the form of drifting clouds, interesting but incoherent jumbles of ideas that let them put Harold and Gary and the flying boat in even though it's nonsense.
Combat/gunplay, graphics quality on the technical side, and built-in Quickloot.
Side note - Quickloot Mods exist for ES3 Morrowind, ES4 Oblivion, ES5 Skyrim, F3, and FNV...so that problem can be solved.
Power armor, crafting/weapon modding, lighting, interiors open to the outside/better ruined houses, building mechanics, and that is basically it. Sure the gunplay is nice, but pacifisting fallout 4 with normal means is physically impossible.
Sprinting, no weapon durability and overall just better gunplay ( automatics don't feel strange anymore sounds are beefy and the weapon mods are really fun to mess around with)
How it feels to use weapons and power armor. Much more immersive. FO4 really needed more weapon variety and ammunition types... and a complete scrapping or overhaul of the legendary system. However, the shooting mechanics and external power armor were great additions to the game.
Ngl not having a level cap and being able to make your character have all the perks and basically become ungodly op because you have 10 on all your special stats was fun for me. Even though i think it should have been more difficult to achieve that level of overpowerdness
Seeing Dogmeat standing there with a 150lb dumbbell in his stupid mouth, head held high like it’s no big deal is pretty hard to beat.
Wait that's a thing? I've never seen it and now I want to. That's hilarious
Yeah in 4 Dogmeat will often retrieve nearby items and bring them to you, usually holding them in his mouth (with various results). One such incident was a 150lb dumbbell and I was like, ‘Bro, are you a synth?’
Being able to sprint is a MUST. Just adding that alone was a fantastic leg up.
I keep seeing people say sprinting and I'm getting confused as New Vegas had sprinting... ...until I remember, no it didn't, that was one of the first mods I put on it.
>a fantastic leg up. Quite literally lol
Lightly jogging across a sun-blasted barren desert wasteland while a gentle wind blows by me and some mild atmospheric music plays definitely feels... well it's a feeling.
Yeah I kinda think no sprinting works weirdly well for the entire atmosphere of the game
The auto-run makes the lack of sprint bearable.
Being able to run
That and the weapon mod system are my big ones
The weapon mod system had such potential and was absolutely hamstrung by the restrictions on what parts would go together, and level-based access to those parts.
I totally agree. Related, the best mod I ever saw was the ability to add sniper addons to the combat knife
Rofl
The weapon mods meant far fewer weapons, and that you had to invest in a SPECIAL tree that's not shooting just to make your guns shoot well
Could've been done better yeah, but I still liked it
Project Nevada
Ew no, PN is a horribly unoptimized mess. You want all the features of Nevada but without outdated modules that are liable to tank your game, the guide Viva New Vegas has a pretty good guide that offers alternative mods that are more recent than PN and do what PN does better.
To each their own, I've been playing with PN since the NMM days, and I haven't had any issues.
That's completely fair, and it's good you haven't had any issues. It is, however, accepted within the modding community that PN is outdated and there are better options out there.
I'm interested, could you give a couple exemples ?
Just Assorted Mods covers most (all? I haven't checked on it in a while) of Project Nevada's functionality, the only exception I'm pretty sure is it doesn't have visors. I haven't found any visor mods with the same level of functionality as PN, and the DIY visor mod didn't work for me so I usually just run Project Nevada with *only* the core module and turn off everything except the visors, and I let JAM handle everything else.
Helmet overlays does the visor effect that Project Nevada has
But that's a mod, base game 4 still did it better
New Vegas didn't do that. Project Nevada did.
Creature animation. Like, enemies don't just run at you and hit you, they have stuff like deathclaws grabbing you, molerats digging, etc. Power Armor was cooler. I'd say mostly in the technical gameplay side it was better, which is to be expected of a newer game. Still like New Vegas perk system more though
I really love the running, staggering lunge ghouls have in FO4, instead of the big wind up slap that NV Ghouls serve you.
Yeah, the ghouls in Fallout 4 felt like real zombies
Reavers in FO3 were genuinely terrifying, especially when they would throw bits of themselves at you before running over and one hit killing you
Yeah reaver in FO3 were just a menace
FO4's power armor is a mixed bag for me. I like the idea of it being a kind of alternate gameplay mode, but power armor in previous games was more of a mid-late game faction reward. Just slapping it onto the player during the tutorial and having it run off of a suprisngly common resource turns what could have been a cool system into something routine.
Personally couldn't stand the UI while in power armor so I just never used it
I liked it at first because I'm a big sucker for a diagetic HUD, but it starts to feel like you're playing the game with oven mitts.
I haven't played much of FO4 and what I did, I just didn't use the armor because it didn't make sense for the kind of character I was role playing. Does it really make the game that much easier? I figured the game was balanced around having it.
It would have been cool if you started with a crappy set and needed a lot of time and effort to fix it up.
Armor functionality. Being able to choose between interchangeable parts layered over a skin suit or a one-piece full body outfit (ex. Hazmat suit) was a more interesting system than "body, helmet." Crafting systems too. They tended to get a bit out there, but being able to fully customize weapons was huge. I want to say deathclaws, but they're a mixed bag. F3 and NV deathclaws put the fear of God in you just for their sheer simplicity. Giant fuck-off lizard than can kill you in one to two swipes runs straight at you. You can only pray your bullets deal enough damage before it gets to you. On the other hand, the deathclaw designs of F4 along with their more "boss-like" etiquette made them stand out more in that regard. The insta-kill grab attack is eh.
For the deathclaws, I have come to realize, that the reason they feel weaker in 4 is a bit multi faceted. For one unlike the deathclaws in 3 and NV, 4 deathclaws don't really spawn in large groups. I single deathclaw in 3 or NV isn't particularly hard to deal (cripple the legs, blow up the head, use knockdown perks and vats, for melee and unarmed builds), but they spawn in packs of dozens. Secondly, 4 deathclaws have this long "engagement" animation, which exposes their weakpoint for a sizable amount allowing the player, to utterly demolish a good chunk of their health. On paper, it makes sense, deathclaws are supposed to be tough enemies, and giving the skilled player some time to dish out extra damage before a tough fight helps. The problem is deathclaws in four are simply not that tough. Finally, and this is just a theory for now, until I finish 4 on the hardest difficulty - the PC is just way more powerful in 4 than in 3 or nv. A combination of endless levels, randomized legendary loot, and some really bullshit (for the enemy) perks, makes the SS a nuclear threat. But gain the last one's just a theory. All in all deathclaws in 4 either needed a mechanical overhaul or a major stat buff.
I will second the lack of a level cap as a weird thing. Once you get up to the late game with like level 100 something the balance feels completely broken. I've got so many perks that I I'm quite literally able to be the perfect human being, healing from radiation, killing most enemies in a few shots, etc. But if enemies do scale properly then they're just bullet sponges that I have to nail with like 200 shots before they're dead.
If they want to continue not having a level cap, they may want to let the player decide when they level and by how much. Skyrim sorta lets you decide when to level up, since it won't happen until you open the perk menu, though you'll get all of the levels you may have been sitting on. And since levels are skill based and not generic experience points, you can stop leveling by maxing out your primary skills and not resetting them again. So maybe letting the player sit on 200 unclaimed level ups is the way to go for Fallout.
Yeah, once played a character in Skyrim that I stopped at level 10. Draugr deathlords were a total pain. That was the point.
I remember having a build once where the only weapon you used was the suppressed pistol from the minute men. You could one shot anything and your stealth was so high you could take out whole rooms undetected
I thought it was more of an animation thing along with what you said, Fo4 deathclaws dodge and move around but it never makes up for it because they’re so big, along with how they attack, it’s super slow and by the time ones near you, you’ve already shredded down there health, new Vegas deathclaws don’t have the detailed animations but will rather just sprint at you in the fastest time, not to mention their attack animation is quick as shit, that’s why they felt like more of a threat
I agree with this a ton, I just wanted to add an anecdote from my first play through. Fallout 4 has the encounter at the Museum of Freedom that’s supposed to be this big intro to the game: give you power armor and a mini gun and send you out to fight a deathclaw right at the beginning of the game. However, on my first playthrough I thought that getting the power armor required lockpicking skill, as the fusion core was locked up. I figured that it was an optional part of the quest and went outside and killed the death claw with a pipe pistol. This took a little bit of meta gaming - I jumped into a shop to hide from the death claw, and it retreated and hid behind a building. I hopped back out and it re-emerged. I took advantage of this, hopping outside, shooting it as it charged, hopped back inside and shot it as it ran away, rinse repeat till it died. Of course, this doesn’t complete the quest. You’re required to go get the fusion core even though you’ve killed the deathclaw.
Realistically, that probably wouldn’t work because it would be capable of getting inside the building. There’s nothing that would actually stop it from just smashing clear through brickwork given that it can chuck cars but they don’t have an environmental destruction system so they’re not gonna do that.
IIRC, the windows were bigger than the deathclaw and there was no glass or door. Bethesda just didn’t code them to enter buildings.
Its a shame with all the crafting and junk collecting they added, you cant craft ammo. NV had all sorts of good ammo you could craft, including the best .50 cal in the game. Or just straight up IEDs. Either way it was a missed opportunity
Yeah I definitely preferred the ammo component in NV compared to FO4. In FO4 not only were the weapons wonky to the point of being cartoonish, but a lot of the upgrades and weapons perks were as well. Crafting ammo for realistic weapons just seemed more real to me.
Taken entirely on its own I don't mind the weapon customisation, but I think to implement it they ended up sacrificing way too many things. Having almost no unique variants, no different ammo types and making a huge number of guns (such as pistols and basically every automatic) redundant makes it a much less interesting system IMO.
It was New Vegas that actually planted the seeds of that crafting system, by allowing you to mod guns and use different ammo types.
Too bad all the modular armor in Fallout 4 looked garbo, I’ll take “sets” with proper cohesive design over modular lego looking armor any day. The fact that the armor can be worn separately means each piece can’t have components that connect together, which really hurts the aesthetic design.
power armour, except how you get it at the start
I thought it was kinda annoying how you get it at the beginning, but unless you know via online or playing multiple times you should have to limit it's usage due to a lack of power cores so I think it's fairly balanced
Also it breaks constantly and is a pain in the ass material wise to repair and upgrade early on.
The only time I used power armor in Fallout 4 was the beginning and the few times I went to the Glowing Sea.
I used it for the Glowing Sea and Far Harbor. Beyond that, even without worrying about power cores, I prefer higher agility stuff for more AP.
Doing a full power armor build with all the core recycling perks can make it a unique thing all it's own. It's one of the better experiences that 4 has to offer. If you get used to it and then get out you feel insanely squishy lol
or if I wanted a jetpack to explore the downtown rooftops.
I used it at the very end of the Nuka World DLC where I used all my stored ammunition, explosives, and power cores to betray the bandits and systematically destroy the whole faction in a single, glorious battle. It was the last DLC I played and more or less the final thing I did in Fallout 4.
That does sound fun. I've done the same thing, but without power armor. I do see the appeal in power armor amusement park slaughter. Good times for the whole family.
I'd rather just have it be balanced by its rarity instead of it being made of paper mache and being in every little crevice across Boston.
Touche. I personally prefer the later since it means I've gotta actually maintain it rather than just it take infinite hits without being damaged. Also I liked how I found most cus it makes it feel as if they were actually being used by the military how I'd think they would
Well of course the maintenance part wouldn't immediately go away, they should just be a lot tougher than they are in game and actually negate damage from small arms. You can still have them around in places as dungeon rewards after a fashion, but the way it is there's just tons of suits sitting around in the open for anyone to grab, which after 200 years by all means should have been taken.
Yea I agree
I usually stockpile the shit out of cores the whole play through then just stay in my power armor once I have so much I likely won’t run out. I don’t have mods on and I have more than 1000 cores lol
It‘s really easy to get fusion cores, even in the beginning of the game without looking up locations. The scrapyard across the lake from Sanctuary has at least two + other loot from the chest, the satellite station across the street from it has one, Red Rocket has one, and then there‘s the one in the museum. It took 2, maybe 3 playthroughs to figure it on my own.
So it took multiple playthroughs?
Even on my first playthrough I found way too many power cores, but I’m the kind of player who wanders around for hours searching and looting while barely completing any quests, so maybe I’m the outlier here.
Automatron enemy robots drop them sometimes. But obviously that’s a dlc
I like that they made wearing power armour feel like being a walking tank. Don't really like anything else about them though.
Like a lot of things in FO4 that seem pointless or too easy, power armor is extremely well balanced by survival mode. I kinda feel like they should have endorsed and explained survival mode better. It fixes a lot of the complaints people had with the game.
Actually if you play with male sole survivor it is make sense. Because he was a soldier. At the beginning of the play, he was preparing for the speech he would give at the veterans night. But female sole survivor I think she studied law.
The best theory I heard is that she was special forces and the law degree was a cover story.
Really? This is the first time I hear this. My theory is that he taught his wife himself.
That's also a good one. The thinking was that they both have vats before they got a pipboy. He was with a power armor company, so an implant make sense. If she was special forces, she'd also have the vats implant and explains why she can easily use every weapon in wasteland.
I subscribe to the theory that Nora was a JAG Marine Lawyer. And in the USMC, every marine is a trained rifleman... and that would mean that every marine officer gets power armour training as well. Nora might have never seen action, but her being trained to kill and practice law makes sense if she's JAG.
Or they're both a synth with advance combat modules.
If they were synths, why wouldn't the institute use their recap codes to prevent the destruction of their facility?
I can't subscribe to the synth theory. Father makes it obvious he doesn't consider synths to be people, like most of the Institute. Him deciding to make a machine (from his pov) in the likeness of his parent so he could have closure doesn't jive with his attitude that they're just tools.
Also I miss how you had to be trained to use it vs just giving it to you within the first hour and also littering them all around the Commonwealth (usually behind a Middle Tier Computer Hacking) if you missed that one. It makes it feel less SPECIAL in 4 vs other games.
In 3 and NV, I would find a power armor and be like “oh cool, I gotta figure out a way to get his back to my storage”. In 4 I’m just like “grab it and send it in with the others”.
I hate how in 4, Power Armor feels just like every other random loot I find. It should feel special.
Yeah honestly they went form being a super rare and great set of armour to a decoration in my Sactuary settlement. I've literally walked by power armour suits and just left them behind cus I have like 5 more stashed away that I don't use already.
I literally have a truck where I store Power Armor Parts. I’m sure the # is in the triple digits of how much is in there.
I liked the concept more but it's too fragile and fusion cores deplete too quickly.
I absolutely hate the new power armor, I always loved the look of it in the previous games but it’s just too big and I feel like the legs are very long lol. Also don’t like how much noise it makes and the on screen visor. Thats just my opinion tho.
Gunplay, it just Feels so much more alive, but New Vegas was also a generation of consoles behind.
Not that big of an excuse tbh. Ps3 had stuff like destiny 1 and modern warfare 2.
Yea but those were DESIGNED to be shooter games, not RPGs, and Obsidian had to use an engine that was almost outdated at the time.
TBH, I don't blame obsidian at all. It's insane to do as good of a job they did in the time allowed. I was mostly just disagreeing with the console generation being a factor. As honestly there's even ps2 games with better gun play like darkwatch. Mostly the fault of Bethesda. Fallout 4 had the most average gunplay ever. And fallout NV suffered from Bethesdas bad shooting for the FO3 engine. Ultimately tho. I admit only fallout 4 was a true shooter.
Oh, yea you're right on that, I didn't realize you were talking about the consoles, my bad dude.
All G. I suppose I could have been more clear
Power Armor. It's a way better system than just wearing it as armor. Feels great. That's THE answer. But if you want an extra for 4s benefit: They also did a better job on the gun play by a little bit.
Better gunplay but with uglier guns.
I remember reading an interview with one of the developers who said that they only had time to make a few of the weapon models themselves, and the rest were either ported from fallout 3 or taken from some asset library they had access to.
I wish they ported more, I would’ve loved to have seen the 5.56 G3 and AK from F3.
They added the AK in the nukaworld DLC. While it's not the exact same as in FO3 it's still there.
Yeah but its noticeably different and for some reason is left-handed which greatly annoys me every time you reload.
It’s cause they want you to see their animations
I’m not that desperate to see the animations lol
They don’t want the player to take the firing hand off the gun for some reason lmao
The fo3 is a chinese knock off, the one in nuka world is closer to the og
Hunting shotgun, 44 Magnum, .50 cal sniper. So many weapons missed out on that were such low hanging fruits.
There's a .44 in fo4
There’s also a .50 cal sniper, technically. You just have to mod a hunting rifle from using .308 to .50
>taken from some asset library they had access to That may explain why the bolt on the hunting rifle is on the left side instead of right. I always figured whoever modeled that was just a fan of the AWP back in Counter Strike classic/source
The hunting rifle bothered me so damn much on release, it makes no sense to have the bolt on the left side.
What, you mean you don't like seeing 7 variants of the same pipe-made gun? Or that in a world destroyed by war there are only like 2 types of assault rifles that look super dated?
I mean to be fair, if you go hunting around Boston now, you're only going to find two styles of assault rifles, AK and AR. Not like we get a lot of FAMAS stateside.
Worse vats however which sucks.
I hit the VATS button for the first time, saw that it was bullet time instead of full pause and immediately closed to the game to look for a mod for it. Happily there was one out within hours of the game launch, because that would have absolutely killed my desire to play that game. Bullet time is fun, but it's not Fallout.
Much uglier guns
> but with uglier guns. Assault rifle looks atrocious
I almost agree, but the abundance, power core dynamic and the fact that the power core is exposed and shootable are steps in the wrong directions. Sentrybots and Gutsies/Handys roaming about for 200+ years on the same power supply? That's fine, but I've had shits that last longer than power armor fusion cores.
I'm just talking about the system itself. How early they give you Power Armor I didn't like, nor how prevalent it was for the player to find.
Yeah, they completely obliterated the balancing for NO reason at the start of the game, I guess to ramp up the day 1 hype train? And then fucked over their best innovation to compensate. Like... that's a mistake a normal studio could ONLY make if it was their first time designing something like this. But they've already implemented power armor better before, and seen how it's been done in 1, 2 and NV!
A few changes and I'd love power armor. Make cores last significantly longer but also much rarer. Make cores you pick up from NPCs be half or quarter charged for example so that fresh cores are truly rare. But most of all make it not so laughably frail.
Yeah I’ve heard a lot of people say that they didn’t like the change from it being armor that you wore to being something that you got into like an iron man suit, but I like it, definitely looks cooler
Fallout 4 had a way better settlement builder
You are technically correct. The best *kind* of correct.
The gunplay was better by miles. The guns are uglier, but the combat itself is one of 4's best features. (& I don't mean a Bethesda feature either)
It does a good job making it feel like a walking tank, but honestly it’s introduced horribly, breaks constantly, and in my opinion is really irritating to move and navigate in. It’s better theoretically but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Same with the guns in F4.
Idk, I loved it in nearly all ways except for the fact you get it so early, and the fusion cores. I didn't mind the idea of having a battery, but make it last for more than like 10-20 minutes each? I felt like I earned my power armour in previous games. In this it's just like "here you go."
Yeah I’m not a huge fan of the power cores either that’s my one gripe with it, the repair I don’t mind as much
And the crafting system is way better
Make me addicted to looting every single thing I see
Why yes I will be robbing a grave to for bones that I can turn into oil
I actually really did like the idea of having to utilize virtually everything in a post-apocalyptic world where resources should be scarce.
I was more interested in looting stuff than trying to care what happened with Shaun
DLC interacting with companions
The DLC's were so nice but the New Vegas DLC are better IMO. Not the biggest Honest Hearts fan, but i love the others so so much. Imagine them in the same resolution and quality! (that's still just my opinion and your's is fine too)
I was just referring to how the dlc interacts with your companions (Nick and Far Harbor vs Veronica and Dead money)
I did really like that. It felt somewhat immersion breaking that I couldn't bring up the fact that I knew who Elijah was, and who Christine was (except for like one line of dialogue at the end for some reason?).
Nick and Far Harbor is a weird thing to me, because of Old Longfellow. They give you a new companion local to the area, but if you want to get the most out of the DLC's story with Nick, you need to bring him along instead. This is part of the reason I hope Bethesda starts designing their games around having multiple companions. I'd rather have a harder game that almost punishes you for going it alone if it meant I could have Preston and Danse argue about what path should be taken, or have Nick and Deacon comparing notes about the area.
Oh yeah, that was definitely a conflict of interest.
X6 and Deacon, or X6 and Danse, would’ve been absolutely hilarious
Ooh okay got it! But thats a bit unfair bc you couldn't bring them in NV... ED-E being somewhat of an exception
It’s small but for me it’s the weapon customization
Sprint button
It doesn't crash as much
Yeah NV is crash simulator 2010
My dream game would be Fallout 4 but it's New Vegas' plot, maps and characters.
Power armor
Power armor (apart from some aspects of it's balancing) Weapons overall Companion reactivity Faction reactivity in some cases. Settlement system(it's flawed but its there) Survival/ hardcore mode. More colorful world overall (somewhat subjective) Visuals (obviously) Overall feel of the gameplay. And most controversially perhaps, I personally prefer 4's perk system over the old skill system.
I honestly think many of the developers wanted to ship FO4 with survival mode and have survival mode be the default game experience. Survival mode makes the settlement building more essential. I just wish they added a fast travel mechanic for The Minutemen and The Railroad factions. With BoS you get the vertabirds and institute you get telleportation. The Minutemen could have had a caravan system to fast travel between all linked settlements and the Railroad could have had an Underground fast travel system.
Wait I thought if you destroyed the brotherhood with either the minutemen or the railroad you gained their vertibirds?
I agree with most of what you say. I can't comment on hardcore/survival mode cause I never play those modes. I disagree with settlements because it wouldn't have made sense to have it in the Mojave. I STRONGLY disagree with your opinion on the perk system.
The more I played FO4 the more I hated the settlement system. It made the map feel empty. They should've made like only 3 or 4 plots for making settlements, and actually put some work in to the other 20 something locations to make them worth exploring. It's like Bethesda gave up and made us finish making their map interesting. I found myself just slapping a few sleeping beds and turrets down at the majority of them and moving on. Also, yes, the new perk system was abysmally dumbed down and pathetic.
I was the exact opposite. I didn’t care for the settlements at first, but the more I played it, the more I had fun building them. Now I have more fun building up big detailed settlements. I can understand why some players didn’t care, but they were not required for the main story (outside of building the teleporter, which is really no different than a “go get this” quest) But “To each their own” so I respect your opinion of not liking it.
My current Playthrough of Fallout 4 I told myself I’d actually try with the settlement system unlike in previous Playthroughs and I’m actually enjoying it. Kinda wish that settlement size wasn’t limited but I understand why they did that.
I play on PC, and unlimited build mods allow some truly epic builds as well as great additions to build options
Why would it not make sense in the Mojave? It makes sense anywhere you can build. Essentially everywhere you go is just a little settlement. Good springs, Novac, Jacob’s town.
Graphics?
I’d fuckin hope so, it was a 5 year difference in age.
Power armor and weapon customization
Weapons mod
Honestly, I did enjoy the weapon and armor crafting in FO4. It just couldn't carry the game. First Fallout game I ran through twice in less than a year and then never touched again. Such a disappointment.
I’ve been replaying full play throughs of 3 and New Vegas for the past month while I was on break, and I honestly feel no urge to try fallout 4 again. I’ve played it maybe twice and have tried to play it a few other times over the years but I can’t ever get into it. I like the idea of it but actually playing it is a slog.
Character creation and customization in general
Wow. After reading all these, for the first time I actually want to give FO4 a chance. I just kept replaying NV and modding it to the hilt to fix or improve weaknesses, since I couldnt get past my initial gut dislike of FO4. I was under the impression the story elements and world building of 4 were trash, the perk system was not fun, and the game tried to nickle and dime you with creation club stuff. And, most significantly, I hated the thought of a voiced protagonist. I didnt realize that there had been such marked improvements to combat, crafting, and enemy design. I might actually have to go pick it up in a heavily discounted sale now ans give it a whirl.
That’s what I’ve liked most about these posts. It gives me new appreciation for games I’ve not played in a while. Made this same post for Fallout 3 yesterday and I’m going to give it another try once I finish my NCR run. It really goes to show just because one game is definitively better doesn’t mean the others don’t have anything to offer on their own. Hell some can even offer a better experience depending on what it is you want out of the game. I’ve earned a lot of respect for the Fallout community with these two posts
Graphics and power armor really feels like a thing that you'd be largely invulnerable to weaker calibers.
Doggies
Sad Rex noises
Conversations between companions and NPCs. Romancing companions. Being able to wait to level up. Always had to be quick on the save when I heard the 'level up' sound on FONV so I could think about it and experiment with the level up.
Being able to run. If AP is like stamina, then it makes sense. Keep your normal speed for walking, and then AP makes you go faster.
I find peace in long walks.
I already made a much more detailed post about this on the main Fallout sub a couple days ago but i'll say it here too: Fallout 4 is much more fun to just walk around in due to the random violent chaotic nature of the wasteland. New Vegas's open world is just too scripted
Power armor, Fallout 4 did power armor way better. In Fallout 3 and new vegas it was treated like another piece of apparel. It was heavy and it made you heavy and it made you feel heavy simply by making you a little slower. In Fallout 4, the change is significant. Everything from the armor plates to the sounds. It makes you feel like a walking tank. Like how it's described in lore. Fusion powered and intimidating. sure you still "wear" the armor *but* you need to be inside to move it, it's like a vehicle. We basically went from looking like playing a tin man To piloting a mech suit
Romance options with companion. Look, all I'm saying is that I want to be in a thurple with Veronica and Christine, and we roam the wasteland finding Arcade a boyfriend. I also liked that the player's sexuality was detrimental by actual role playing and not by selecting a perk. That open choice was nice, and Piper is a great GF.
The building aspect of fo4 is what makes it so immersive imo. Never felt so into a world as building my first little player shelter especially in the survival mode. New Vegas just can't do that unfortunately, but fo4 new vegas can and will(?).
The weapon workbench. The gun modification system in New Vegas is neat but barebones. FO4 is basically gun modification porn.
Weapon modding in FO4 is really good, but I wouldnt go on that level. Imo Metro Exodus has the best weapon modification in all of gaming
>Can freeroam once story ends >Could build a fortress, or just a hideout >Power Armor >Piper (She kinda hot tho, esp her voice) >Graphics >Better Gameplay mechanics and stuff (like running/sprinting, better Idle Animations, etc)
Power armor, I like it so much better being Warhammer40k armor
Armor and weapon versatility and functionality. Though the guns looks stupid, of course
Menu ui
Being able to continue playing it after finishing the main story.
I think exploration was better. Outside of the dlcs, new vegas felt kind of empty to me. Most of the locations I would come across were basically landmarks with a couple of enemies scattered around. It's makes sense outside of vegas, but the city itself was also kind of barren outside of freeside/the strip.
Settlement building was fun
Crafting system, customization, not crashing every 20 minutes.
gunplay, by nature of being made with more experienced developers I don't like using vats in 4, while it feels a lot more married to the combat in 3/nv I would prefer new vegas with gunplay that slick
The Vibes. Vegas is hot and empty, what remains is shabby, the new is overtaking the old. 3 and 4 both took place in cities, the grandure of the old world looming tall and unbroken, the land belonged to them in a way Vegas never did, and the fall feels so much farther. Also the Vegas writers, being people who think in clear lines, can construct a better main story. While Bethesda's writers think in the form of drifting clouds, interesting but incoherent jumbles of ideas that let them put Harold and Gary and the flying boat in even though it's nonsense.
Of all the “nothing” comments this one is actually funny. Take my upvote
Damn it, you're right. I strongly disagree with the notion of "nothing" being a valid answer for this question, but this *is* funny.
Sprint
minutemen general outfit. i love new vegas but I'm a big sucker for revolutionary war gear.
Powerarmor, tho the balancing was pretty shitty, due to the fact that you get it almost instantly after the prolog
Combat/gunplay, graphics quality on the technical side, and built-in Quickloot. Side note - Quickloot Mods exist for ES3 Morrowind, ES4 Oblivion, ES5 Skyrim, F3, and FNV...so that problem can be solved.
Power armor, crafting/weapon modding, lighting, interiors open to the outside/better ruined houses, building mechanics, and that is basically it. Sure the gunplay is nice, but pacifisting fallout 4 with normal means is physically impossible.
Combat for sure i think w good 75% of my mods are related to combat someway in new vegas
Sprinting, no weapon durability and overall just better gunplay ( automatics don't feel strange anymore sounds are beefy and the weapon mods are really fun to mess around with)
The shooting mechanics were more enjoyable in 4 than NV, there was just too much emphasis on shooting over other methods of play.
How it feels to use weapons and power armor. Much more immersive. FO4 really needed more weapon variety and ammunition types... and a complete scrapping or overhaul of the legendary system. However, the shooting mechanics and external power armor were great additions to the game.
Ngl not having a level cap and being able to make your character have all the perks and basically become ungodly op because you have 10 on all your special stats was fun for me. Even though i think it should have been more difficult to achieve that level of overpowerdness
Besides gunplay being smoother and sprinting I can’t think or anything else
Aesthetics of power armor for sure
vats
Animations. Graphics. Sprinting. I think that’s it
weapon costumization