Recent reviews by aFanofManyHats

I've got a lot of hours on this game after only having it for less than a month, and the only reason why I'd regret all that time is that it often got in the way of time with family and friends. I have played New Vegas and I did the main questline for 3, and I've spent several hundred hours in Skyrim, and, quite frankly, Fallout 4 is my favorite Bethesda title that I've played. Now, the game is hardly perfect, but it's strengths in many ways make up for its weaknesses for me.

So what's the common consensus on this game? Most people agree that the gunplay, weapons and armor mods, and graphics are great, but the story, characters, and RPG aspects are either bad or entirely lacking. I agree with the former, but I have my own opinions on the former. Many people dislike the voiced protaganist as it detracts from Bethesda's previous titles, and many people find it jarring that they actually hear their character's responses. The biggest problem, though, is the lack of options, with you only having four at all times. That's definitely a problem with me too, but I find the options to be diverse enough most of the time. It's fairly rare that I find an instance where I wish there were more options for my end. And I actually like the voice actors that they got for Nate and Nora. They have plenty of appropriate emotion and can be quite diverse in tone. I'd say my favorite thing about the voiced player character is that it makes my own characters feel like actual characters in the world, as opposed to some mute watcher. Skyrim had that problem more than New Vegas and Fallout 3, but still. Overall, the voice acting in general is quite improved from any of ther other Bethesda games I've played. Even the generic NPCs are semi-interesting, which is a far cry from New Vegas. In New Vegas, many of the characters had fairly flat, monotone voices, even when they were supposed to be expressing a lot of feelings. The updated animations also help to, overall, make the characters feel more alive and like actual people. Especially the companions.

The main story... I like most of it, except for the end. With the three "surface" factions, the Minutemen, Railroad, and Brotherhood of Steel, the very ending of the game is virtually the same. The events leading to it vary, but the final actions are basically copy-pasted, which is not the finest thing Behtesda's ever done. Less people would have been irritated with the main story if there had been more variety in the endings, especially if they had included an ending where there's a peaceful resolution among the groups.

Something else people dislike are the lack of options for character creation. The perks and S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system are very simple compared to previous games, and probably the biggest issue is how difficult it to have a 'bad' character. You can either play a good guy, which I prefer anyway, or more of an antihero. The main focus of the story is to find your character's son, which can be awkward if your character is not the type to have a child in the first place. If the story had not included Shaun and instead made it so you avenge your spouse and, by doing so, end up getting swept along in events bigger than you, I think that would have been a more neutral goal. Ah well. And I really don't understand the lack of a karma or reputation system. I think a reputation system at least would have fit, what with four different groups vying for your service and membership. Those are the two biggest problems I have with the game, honestly. Lacking execution in the story and lack of karma/reputation.

So, if you've read all of this, here's my final thoughts: Fallout 4 got a lot of the actual gamplay aspects right, but the more story/RPG aspects were either not fully fleshed out or discarded entirely. That isn't enough to make me dislike this game, though. The world and lore were plenty deep and entertaining to me, and the good parts of the story make up for the poor endings to me. So do I recommend this game? If you like action and adventuring a lot, and don't mind the problems I mentioned, then get this. If you prefer story and proper role-playing over... Basically everything else, get New Vegas.

I got this game in March of 2015. In December of 2015, I have logged in over a thousand hours. Not all of them were me actively playing, since I tend to keep it running in the background of my computer. My gosh, this game is fun. The weapons, the characters, the maps, the cosmetics- This game is the reason I got Steam in the first place. My best friend Cyros had already been playing for a few months and coerced me to get it. I don't regret it at all. The only major problem with this game really has nothing to do with the game itself, but rather it's community. TF2 has a large, versaitle community, with all sorts of different types of players. Unfortunately, the ones you come across most often in public servers tend to be rude, both to their team and to the enemy. I'm talking about those guys that make lewd jokes, racist comments, and are basically just a one big void of unintelligent, crude jokes.

Other than them, this game is fun. At least it's free to download, so you can just go ahead and give it a try. If you like it, yay! If not, that's completely fine!