Fallout 4: The Good

Bethesda Game Studios made sure that even for melee players that the game made opponents accessible even at distances that made no sense at all.

Many in the community of players wanted better combat mechanics and they got it.

Goal: Achieved!


On the antagonist side of things, there was a vocal part of the Fallout player community that didn't want to see hide nor hair of the Enclave, which had been the major antagonist group in Fallout 2, 3 and a remnant group (that the player could recruit to help) in FNV.  Still the Enclave had its West Coast base destroyed in FO2, it's East Coast base destroyed in FO3, and FO4 being a decade later shouldn't see much if any organized Enclave activity.

These players got their wish and got The Institute, instead.

Goal: Achieved!


Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks (the actual company made to own Bethesda Game Studios) did pay attention to what modders were doing with FO3 and FNV.  In particular FNV was seeing entire revamps of the game to the point where the base game wasn't even the main feature, and a new idea was taking its place: resettling the wasteland.  Mods that allowed for boarded over homes to be re-opened, refurbished and then put on the market for settlers appeared, as well as the ability to defend and cultivate these areas against wasteland threats.

FO4 not only featured these exact, same elements, but they became a core part of playing the game.  In particular one faction, the Minutemen, required that you spend most of your time doing this so that the faction could grow larger over time.  This is a theme that starts to change the Fallout franchise as the timeline moves past the post-apocalypse and gets into the post-post-apocalypse or rebuilding phase of humanity.  After 200+ years this is not unreasonable for the game world, as such, which can't remain in the unstable conditions of the post-apocalypse forever.  The New California Republic is expansionist (although we don't know what happened after FNV it is likely they now have a new border), the rise of Caesar's Legion (though likely not to outlast the man) shows that even raiders and bandits can be organized although a new culture wasn't established making them short-lived but on the cusp of something enduring, and the Brotherhood of Steel's East Coast Division had to deal with Project Purity and the opening of the Brotherhood to new members, and reconciling the old Outcasts to bring them back to the fold, meaning that the Brotherhood has a real established base on the East Coast that can mount a major expedition and support it.  This is no longer just the post-apocalypse.

The Institute, no matter what path is chosen for it by the player the organization will continue on its old ways of being insular, doing what it wants, and not giving much of a damn for anyone else.  Culture inside The Institute doesn't change even when leadership does...and that is if it survives FO4.  As 3 out of 4 possible outcomes sees The Institute destroyed, it is unlikely it survives the return of the terror from the past known as the Sole Survivor... a terror it had a hand in creating and forming by the actions The Institute took.  The Sole Survivor, however, remembers the pre-Great War era as a living thing, and knows the process of how things used to work, and where they failed.  To succeed requires a central culture that people understand and accept, and that means building trust between people to  form something coherent.  Of the endings the Minutemen ending features this (more or less), and the various DLC add-ons (particularly Contraptions) now makes the construction of equipment to turn raw materials into items on a production line basis as a feature.  Manufacturing is returning to the wasteland and only stable communities can support them.

In making FO4 Bethesda Game Studios decided to move the time period of the franchise forward and begin experimenting with many aspects of the game.  While much in the way of RPG mechanics were scrapped, building mechanics replaced them.  These could have blended very well to allow the PC to choose different ways to recruit settlers or give new opportunities to even the worst people of the wasteland to lead a better, more productive live and better defend themselves while doing it.  Leadership roles is something that Bethesda Game Studios just can't seem to figure out be it in The Elder Scrolls franchise or FO4.  Leaders have a lot to do, and can't be adventuring all the time...that is the point of being a leader, after all: you can start to DELEGATE tasks to people you recruit, train and equip.

This was on no one's wish list so it wasn't a goal, as such.  But for understanding what it means to be a leader and building game mechanics to move from RPG to factional leadership, Bethesda Game Studios has failed.  But to have the ideas of modders included, well that is an achievement and should point to a good direction for the franchise.  That cannot be overlooked as a good thing.


Speaking of recruiting individuals to your cause...some time must be spent on companions.

In FO3 and Skyrim the majority of companions were just fighting followers with little to no backstory.  Obsidian  understood that companions must have mechanics behind them and have a backstory that they could present to the player over time.  They made that a feature in FNV and even had a couple of companions that could understand the Karma the PC had built up and judge them on it.  You could have a recruitable companion that wouldn't join you because you didn't meet their standards.  Yup!  That was refreshing to see.

Skyrim from the TES franchise, had lackluster companions, except for Serana from the Dawnguard DLC.  The horrors she was put through were something that made me sit up and take notice, and understand just how the Lore played a major part in the lives of everyday people.  Yes you can do the DLC 'both ways', but the redemption of Serana's humanity had a real and deep feeling to it that is rare in RPGs of the modern era.  Hell it was rare in RPGs of the paper, pencil and dice era, and would take an extremely skilled GM to pull it off.  No, this is one of the few characters that Bethesda Game Studios actually took time in looking at and designing, and kudos to them.

The Fallout mod community had members that liked the idea of companions with deep background to the point that they started making up new companions that also had standards that the player had to meet, and a few would even offer side-quest companion missions so that the PC could get to know them better and learn more about them.  What that meant for gameplay is that players who got used to the standard way of doing things in the wasteland would have to change their priorities to take a liked companion into account.  Over time this could have a major impact on game play and what the player would choose to do for the entire game.  A well crafted NPC with good mechanics behind it could sharply change the direction of a PC and give the player new viewpoints on events as seen by an in-game character that they could relate with.

FO4 took that to heart with a few of the companions in the game.  Cait, Nick Valentine, Strong, and CVRIE all had companion based missions that were involved and involving, and often more compelling than the overall main mission of the game.  Finishing these missions felt like a real, personal accomplishment far more satisfying than the main mission of the game: there was a positive influence that could be understood and achieved with great trial and tribulation involved.  The first time I got Cait's mission was with a relatively low level character and it was no cakewalk but did feel as if something real had been achieved for the PC and Cait.  Too bad Bethesda Game Studios didn't follow through on full backgrounds and proclivities for the companions... Paladin Danse, in particular, would follow the Codex for his interpersonal relationships.  Period.  The Brotherhood has strong feelings about these things and woe unto those who violate the Codex.  Thus the idea of all companions swinging both ways and being OK with polyamory...well...work needs to be done on this human relationship deal.

Still this was something that wasn't specifically asked for, but the community did gripe about.

Goal: Not fully achieved, but way better than Skyrim (save Serana from the Dawnguard DLC for Skyrim) and FO3.


These are the general pluses and good things that happened in FO4.  For the minimalist wish list deal, FO4 delivered, often in spades.  The good will bought by a stable game cannot be denied.

The next parts will have to be broken into smaller, more manageable bits.

Doing a 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' sort of analysis isn't, perhaps, the best way to review FO4, but what we have seen in the game does break out into those categories and they are not short like The Good.  I may end up expanding on The Good, as well, but that is a topic for another day.