Fallout 4

[dbdynsty25]

If you got it from Steam and haven't player more than 2 hours you can get a refund. You can also flip it on the marketplace

Unfortunately I can't get a refund as I purchased it through Amazon w/ a gift card. But I may look into the marketplace. Had no idea. Thanks.

[Danimal]

If you got it from Steam and haven't player more than 2 hours you can get a refund. You can also flip it on the marketplace

Unfortunately I can't get a refund as I purchased it through Amazon w/ a gift card. But I may look into the marketplace. Had no idea. Thanks.

With the marketplace it depends if you can trade it or not, as not all games allow it.

[Danimal]

is this a FPS? or not? I saw some guy on twitch and he had it 3rd person view. Can you switch to 3rd person in this game?

Also what is so special about the series/game? The story ? Have never played Fallout games.

Saw this it might be helpful to you http://www.polygon.com/features/2015/11 ... line-4-3-2

[TCrouch]

Complete opposite reaction here. Games like this are what I spend the majority of my gaming time on, and this one is going to take some serious time to complete. When they dropped the available SPECIAL points at the beginning of the game, it required you to actually specialize in some skills and leave some others for later, unlike previous Fallout titles. I could always make a pretty good jack-of-all-trades wanderer in the previous games, but this time, there's going to be something you suck at.

I've started over like 8 times already trying to find my perfect configuration, and I can't find it. Eventually it clicked as to why they made it have no level cap whatsoever. They just want you to work for it, which makes sense. So after a while I settled into a non-VATS using, only 2 perception character with high INT/AGI/CHA. The high agility turns it into pretty much a straight-up shooter, and the charisma helps influence people. Intelligence helps experience point gain, and I was off and running.

Everywhere you go is so dense with things to do, it could take forever to even get down one street in a neighborhood. I got into the building aspect a bit, leveling most of the ruined houses on my old street, building up that settlement some before setting out, and then....just got lost in it. At this point I'm starting to wreck shop with some laser rifles and heavily modded pistols, but this game is just a masterpiece. The wife has been playing her own copy on the other TV, and it's kind of funny to see how wildly different our save files appear to be. She's wading around with power armor and blasting the crap out of things all the time (not sure where she's finding all these fusion cores), and I'm sneaking around in leathers sneak attacking everybody before they know it's even coming.

Absolutely loving this game.

[dbdynsty25]

After finding out I can't sell/trade F4, I just decided to play some more. And, what a turn of events. I guess if you play more than 90 min. it finally starts to click because I played for a good 2 hours straight last night and had an absolute blast. Finding my way to different hideouts and stealing their cores to keep my power suit rolling along. Terry, basically any place that has power (super market, hideout, etc.) has a core somewhere powering it, you just have to find it. Balancing that mission of mine w/ keeping enough ammo to take down the baddies was a chores, but it felt like a good balance. And yeah, firing up the pip boy on my tablet to sit between me and my keyboard/mouse is just awesome.

So yeah, I've flipped. This will take me a good 5 years to complete at my pace, but it's definitely turned enjoyable now that I got out of the basics of the game. Now it's on to crafting because I have ZERO idea how to deal with all of that. Youtube here I come.

[Diablo25]

Complete opposite reaction here. Games like this are what I spend the majority of my gaming time on, and this one is going to take some serious time to complete. When they dropped the available SPECIAL points at the beginning of the game, it required you to actually specialize in some skills and leave some others for later, unlike previous Fallout titles. I could always make a pretty good jack-of-all-trades wanderer in the previous games, but this time, there's going to be something you suck at.

I've started over like 8 times already trying to find my perfect configuration, and I can't find it. Eventually it clicked as to why they made it have no level cap whatsoever. They just want you to work for it, which makes sense. So after a while I settled into a non-VATS using, only 2 perception character with high INT/AGI/CHA. The high agility turns it into pretty much a straight-up shooter, and the charisma helps influence people. Intelligence helps experience point gain, and I was off and running.

Everywhere you go is so dense with things to do, it could take forever to even get down one street in a neighborhood. I got into the building aspect a bit, leveling most of the ruined houses on my old street, building up that settlement some before setting out, and then....just got lost in it. At this point I'm starting to wreck shop with some laser rifles and heavily modded pistols, but this game is just a masterpiece. The wife has been playing her own copy on the other TV, and it's kind of funny to see how wildly different our save files appear to be. She's wading around with power armor and blasting the crap out of things all the time (not sure where she's finding all these fusion cores), and I'm sneaking around in leathers sneak attacking everybody before they know it's even coming.

Absolutely loving this game.

I might snag this one after I finish Rise of the Tomb Raider (which is a blast). Sounds like this one is a beast.

[sportdan30]

When you die in this game, do you lose everything on you? Meaning, if I let my son roam around and loot, will he lose the items if he's killed? He's huge in to Minecraft, but not necessarily a big FPS gamer. But, I'm thinking he might enjoy the building aspect.

I don't know. I suppose this is a game that I could play for many months and just do little things here and there.

[dbdynsty25]

When you die in this game, do you lose everything on you? Meaning, if I let my son roam around and loot, will he lose the items if he's killed? He's huge in to Minecraft, but not necessarily a big FPS gamer. But, I'm thinking he might enjoy the building aspect.

I don't know. I suppose this is a game that I could play for many months and just do little things here and there.

You can save virtually anytime...so you just go back to your last save. So your son can go wander around for a month and you can always come back to "your" save point.

[RobVarak]

10 hours in. So good. I'm reminded of something I concluded in Fallout 3. If it takes a nuclear holocaust to get the Ink Spots and Bing Crosby back on broadcast radio, I might just be all for it.

[sportdan30]

Ended up trading in GTA 5 last night for $33. A friend from work gave me a $10 off coupon, so I snagged this game for roughly $25 or so.

In any case, I went in last night thinking I'll just toy around and play for a half hour or so. Well, I ended up playing for 2 and half hours when it was all said and done. I did a lot of exploring, rummaging through houses. It seemed like whenever I would let my guard down, I'd get spooked by some crazed flying insect and would have to quickly react.

I headed over a bridge to I guess part of the city, and was attacked by another type of flying insect. Well, they kept killing me and injuring my dog. I was getting frustrated because I was all out of ammo, until I realized this isn't a linear style game. I can avoid these pesky things by going around a different way.

I really enjoyed my time with the game, and while I probably won't play it daily, because of all the good tv, sports, and other games, it's really a pretty cool experience. I still don't really know what the heck I'm doing really. I don't understand the crafting part of the game, and I am amazed at how much crap I can carry. I'm pretty much eating all the disgusting food just to stay alive!

I'm looking forward to reading up on some stuff in order to better my enjoyment of the game.

[TCrouch]

Those bloodbugs are nasty at first. You have a much better chance if you sneak (click the RS) and get the first shot off, as they might not find you right away. Down one with a few good shots, and then you can drop the second.

But how you assign your SPECIAL points in the early game dictates how difficult it will be. If you've got crap for Agility and crap for Perception, you're a combat-limited character. If you boost the hell out of Perception, fights like the bloodbugs are easy because you just tap L1/LB to go into VATS and unload a few shots into one, and a few shots into the other. Fight is done "RPG style" and you don't ever have to manually engage--but your action points regenerate over time, so it's not unlimited.

Agility helps when you actually have to go manual, so having the two combined means you can mop up any fight you get into like a normal shooter. The downside is, when you take those, you may not be smart enough to do heavy crafting, or charismatic enough to get people to do what you want them to do. Unlike Fallout 3 or New Vegas, there's just not enough points to go around so you have to intentionally give yourself a weakness or two at the start to not be a jack-of-all-trades toon, which is pretty difficult to play well as in all situations, whereas a specialized starter toon may excel at some areas and struggle in others.

For the record, this is what I started as after an absurd amount of research into the perk trees to know my "optimal" build:

STR 3
PER 3
END 2
CHA 6
INT 6
AGI 6
LCK 2

That gets me the armorer perk, locksmith perk, toughness perk, local leader, science, and moving target--as well as any perk prior to that (sneak, gun nut, etc.). Then I'd work my way up to 5 endurance for aqua boy (breathe underwater and water radiation doesn't hurt you anymore) and 8 agility for quick hands (all guns reload faster).

Also keep in mind you get a free SPECIAL point when you go back home by reading the "You are SPECIAL!" book under a dresser in the baby's room. Then pretty early on, you get a bobble head which gives you a free point in perception. And glasses that you find in the starter vault boost your perception another point. So most of the builds that I tested in the first day were -1 or -2 PER, and 1 point shy of something else I wanted (I used the book on agility on my "final" build character).

But I fight manually a lot, I never use VATS. My buddy did this instead:

STR 4
PER 6
END 4
CHA 2
INT 4
AGI 7
LCK 1

And basically nobody likes him, but he can kill absolutely ever-f'n-body. So whereas my toon may talk his way through things, his is using VATS to clear a room like James Bond, and then mopping up with a few shots afterward. That's what makes Fallout so amazing, that every play style you can think of could work.

I read about one guy using nothing but Charisma and Luck, and not fighting anything. Just treating it like a Telltale game, talking his way through everything and hiring people to do the fighting for him instead.

Yeah, I know, I put way, wayyyyy too much into this, but this is a game I waited 5 years for. Fallout is just an incredible series, IMO. One of the best ever. And the fact that it broke GTA5's concurrent users record in the first day tells me I'm not alone. When you really invest the time into getting exactly what you want out of a Fallout game, there's almost no peer to it. But the problem for most guys is the intimidation of doing that (or the tedium, depending on their perspective). It sure as sh*t isn't for everybody, and I'm not going to try to convince somebody that doesn't want the game to get the game.

But there are ways to make it more enjoyable for you. And if combat was killing you, you might want to back up and start it again and boost AGI and PER to at least 6 or 7 each, and you'll find the bullets actually go where you aim and most fights can be over through VATS usage alone.

[sportdan30]

Thanks for the summary Terry. It certainly explains a lot. I'll have to double check where I have all my perks set at this evening. I know I have Strength around 6 or 7 (too high?), Perception and Endurance somewhere in the middle, with Intelligence and Agility probably in my third tier.

When I receive a "level up" perk, I've been simply adding to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. wherever I see fit. I haven't really focused on the other skills as of yet (the chart below the top line). Is it ok to proceed in that manner?

Stupid question, but besides fast travel, can you assign a spot on the map and travel there with the help of a marker system (I know GPS wouldn't be available), or something that allows me to know exactly how to get from point A to point B? I know there is a N,S,E,W directional, but didn't know if there was something I'm missing to make it a little easier.

Also, are there markings available that you can assign to certain areas that you have already explored? I worry that I'll be walking in circles and thus exploring the same areas over and over.

[RobVarak]

Thanks for the summary Terry. It certainly explains a lot. I'll have to double check where I have all my perks set at this evening. I know I have Strength around 6 or 7 (too high?), Perception and Endurance somewhere in the middle, with Intelligence and Agility probably in my third tier.

When I receive a "level up" perk, I've been simply adding to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. wherever I see fit. I haven't really focused on the other skills as of yet (the chart below the top line). Is it ok to proceed in that manner?

Stupid question, but besides fast travel, can you assign a spot on the map and travel there with the help of a marker system (I know GPS wouldn't be available), or something that allows me to know exactly how to get from point A to point B? I know there is a N,S,E,W directional, but didn't know if there was something I'm missing to make it a little easier.

Also, are there markings available that you can assign to certain areas that you have already explored? I worry that I'll be walking in circles and thus exploring the same areas over and over.

I think you can only fast travel to the landmarks. You can set a point on the map and use the compass on the screen to navigate toward it. The compass will also show upcoming landmarks (grayed out if undiscovered).

There's also a perk that will let you go into VATS to see a path to the nearest objective, but I haven't tried it out.

I don't think there's a way to mark already-explored areas. My workaround if I'm in a confined space is to turn on every radio and open every Nuka machine as sort of a breadcrumb trail. Far from perfect, but it's helped a few times.

[TCrouch]

You could do nothing but adding to the SPECIAL traits, but all that's really doing in most cases is unlocking perks, with some "base" bonuses for each one.

With Strength, you just increase your carry limit and melee attack damage. Perception lets you see red markers on your compass for enemies, and the higher you go, the further away you can see them. It also directly affects accuracy in VATS. Endurance is your health pool and how much you drain action points by sprinting, etc.

So while you're giving yourself a minimal buff by doing it, what you're really after with the SPECIAL traits are finding your sweet spot for the perks you really want. You could worry about bumping up Agility to 10, increasing your accuracy with firearms, but why not spend the points on sneak attacks, giving you 2.5x damage when unseen? Or a 20% (or 40% at the next level, up to 100% at rank 5) damage boost with your chosen weapon type? Or the ability to hack terminals or craft better mods on that gun, turning a 13 damage pistol into a 25 damage pistol that can hit from 200 yards away? That's where the perks come in.

So you COULD do nothing but add to SPECIAL, but you'd be missing most of the fun stuff that you can do in building a character. I guess the flip side is, when you decide to invest in perks, you can pretty much unlock anything you want, as everything would be available. But there's no level cap, so you could do it whenever.

You can only travel to "official" places that you've discovered. You can set a marker on your map but it's just a nav tool. A "bread crumb" option (it's in perks) that will show you a trail to your quest target, but that's about it. I've made a habit of discovering someplace, traveling back home and unloading all my crap so that I have as much free carry weight as possible, and then diving into the new location to loot away.

I cannot recommend the phone/tablet app enough if you're having exploration issues. Prop it up in front of you, leave it on map (local map is best) and you can glance at it as you move around in real-time, watching sections of the map uncover. You'll see places you haven't explored as ends of a building that have a fog-of-war effect on them. That's about as close as you can get to marking territory, but that doesn't tell you if you emptied everything out of a room you were in. Just have to make sure you do that as you go through each room.

[sportdan30]

A lot to think about when it comes to perks.

Thanks guys. I like your suggestion Rob.

In order to drop off all of the inventory I have collected on my exploration, do I first need a settlement/house for that? Or is there another area in the neighborhood I can drop my stuff? I imagine I'm getting close to going back "home" to build a new protected residence.

I tried setting up my iPad last night, but it would not connect with the PS4 for some reason. I'll try my phone later this evening.

[TCrouch]

Make sure you have the app turned "on" at the bottom of the gameplay settings (it's off by default).

your neighborhood IS your first settlement. The workshop there in the main building in the center, just go into transfer mode and dump all your crap there. The Red Rocket station right outside is another one, but try to keep all your stuff in one to start with. Until you get charisma 6 and the local leader perk where you can connect settlements to share resources, you just end up confusing yourself if you have 400 steel in one place, and yet can't build a chair in another because that steel isn't present.

[Danimal]

I tried setting up my iPad last night, but it would not connect with the PS4 for some reason. I'll try my phone later this evening.

Had the same issue on the PC. I did the following and it worked.

1. As Terry just said make sure the option is on in the game settings.
2. Exit the App
3. Exit the Game. I mean shut it down completely not into some power save mode
4. Start the Game
5. Start the App

[sportdan30]

I'll have to try the app again this evening. I did switch the app to "on" in settings, and closed the game out as well, but perhaps I didn't shut it down completely. Tonight will be a good test as the system is completely off and will boot up normally.

[RobVarak]

I noticed tonight that you can craft a fast travel point. No idea how it works, but it's something to keep an eye on. The entire settlement game is just crazy deep.

[TCrouch]

You create the welcome mat and drop it anywhere in the settlement to fast travel back to.

It doesn't allow you to drop it out in the world, sadly.

[TCrouch]

When you start finding legendary enemies and getting legendary gear, this game changes almost to a Diablo-style loot-fest. Every run I seem to find 3 or 4 of them now, and the last one I killed dropped a legendary arm piece. By itself, it wasn't all that impressive, but it had a hell of a secondary ability on it---any time I am sneaking and stay still, I cloak like a predator. Firing a weapon doesn't uncloak me, so now I've got a stay-still cloaking ability to go with a silenced night-vision recon sniper rifle. Holy crap, it became a sniper game all of a sudden.

Clearing entire bases of super mutants who are wildly spraying into the general area, but never seeing me. I killed one legendary "skull" guy with nothing but sniper shots and he never saw me, just ran around flailing the entire time. It was hilarious.

Then I found more legendary weapons that do 50% extra damage to humans (making it a 100 damage gun every time I hit a human with it), and all sorts of other crap.

Here's a tip for tinkerers, though--if you find "special" weapons on guys, the ones with the longer names--first, take that weapon and mod it to base level by replacing all of its components with the simplest version of it. That will store the mod it had for you. Then, if you have a preferred gun of that type, you can simply swap to that mod without having to make it. This is especially handy if you find a mod you cannot craft yet or cannot find the components for. When it's on you or in the workbench storage, it uses that mod instead of requiring you to make it again.

[RobVarak]

Yeah, I got one to drop a leg piece that increases the sweet spot for lock picks.

Also, don't miss the miscellaneous side quest to investigate the Pickman gallery. It's pretty damn funny and there's some great loot there as well.

[RobVarak]

Dead on.

[TCrouch]

That was priceless

[sportdan30]

That video was hilarious. Love the old man part about the bobble heads.

If I wasn't married and had kids, I could see this game taking over my life after work and on the weekends. I'm really happy I gave this game a second chance. Now, I'm struggling of which game to play, TR or FO4, all the while having not touched FIFA or NBA 2K in the last week.