Victor, I've only just emerged from Vault 111; I truly have not seen enough to let me create or express an informed opinion of FO4's gameplay, either in itself or in relation to Bethesda Softworks's games generally.

It's probably safe to say I'll have an opinion at some point. First, though, I have to help Geralt finish a daring art heist in the initial bit of Witcher 3 DLC....

Oh, and while it's true that faces in Fallout 4 look better, dear God, please don't let characters smile. Facial animations are -- how can I put this? -- still sub-optimal.

The term "death-rictus" comes to mind.

I have no trouble waiting for that informed opinion, Flat. Sorry to read that Bethesda didn't quite nail it with the NPC smiles but at least it sounds like they've moved on from the bad caricatures of previous games in some respects. The cruelty shown by them towards the older in-game presences always got me wondering what bad experiences the artists had suffered at the hands of their elderly relations.

I'm still hoping to enjoy the new adventurers of Geralt over the Christmas period but real life is making that increasingly unlikely. It gives me pleasure to know that you are enjoying yourself in his world though.

The game is a truly massive time sink. I've played for roughly 7 hours now and I'm still in the first main area scavenging and hoarding junk. I'm enjoying it for the most part but it does feel a little too non linear and open ended from the get go. Difficult to know what and where to go at the beginning. And because it is a wasteland, the world feels decidedly empty.

light487 wrote:I'm enjoying it for the most part but it does feel a little too non linear and open ended from the get go. Difficult to know what and where to go at the beginning.

If only it were TES and not Fallout, light487. What you describe would be just my cup of tea... and slice of cake.

So....I uh, have 30 hours in so glad I got veterans day off and that I regularly have Tuesdays off, gave me a ton of time (maybe TOO much time) to play it.

So far I am enjoying it a great deal (obviously), like I said a few months ago, I have spent the majority of my time building a settlement, and I am up to 24 food 60 water, 128 defense, and 20 beds. Just finished building a market/bar with all 6 vendor types and a bunch of tables and seating for the rest of the populace (I have 15 total, but I hear that you can only have 10+ your charisma stat per settlement, so that kinda sucks but hey MODS!). However nice the aspect is, its is VERY basic, I hate the way the snapping system works, it tries to snap to things too heavily and you cant place things where you want them hardly, my house I built for myself has gaps around the walls because I couldn't make the ceiling in line with the walls. They should have made the placement of object more like Wildstar, where you can place anything wherever you want, and scale it up or down. That way even though things collide and clip through each other, you aren't nearly as limited with your building plans. Also, even though I have 2 groups of tables and chairs (both of different type) they only go to one group, leaving half my building empty. But if they implement this feature in the next Elder Scrolls game and refine it (it will probably get vastly improved with mods and DLC though) then the next TES game will be amazing. Also, you can give your settlers and caravans whatever weapons you want, as long as you give them the weapon and 1 ammo for it, they will never run out. Also, don't piss them off, if you aren't wearing your power armor and it is nearby, they will go for it and beat the crap out of you with it.

So far I am level 18 and have earned over 10k caps and gotten a ton of loot, found maybe 7 or 8 more possible settlements (although some are tiny and not really worth building up). the map feels massive so far, I have maybe only explored 30-40% of the fast travel locations, and found a ton of little loot spots in-between.

The gun customization is amazing, and like people above said, collecting junk actually has a point now as you can use it to upgrade weapons and armor with a ton of options.

All in all I think its great, I don't give numbers but I highly recommend it, though I have been hearing of people on the forums with the game not starting or crashing. Luckily I have experienced neither, but I had to turn off wetness because for some reason when I had it on, when it rained everything would turn white like you were looking at an infrared scope.

Also ignore any user reviews you see that seem to hateful or fanboyish, the metacritic user score for it is VERY low because some people can't get it to work, or they think its too much of a change from the last two games, or they think the graphics suck (when I don't really think they do). But, haters will be haters, a lot of people hated Skyrim when it came out, but look at its ratings and consistent playercount now lol

Alright, I need some sleep......

Hey MrPerson, about building, you should always start with floor boards. Then, all the walls will snap to the floor and you won't have gaps! And if the floor is irregular, there are floor blocks that can be used to adjust the height (third block from the left in the wood floor build menu). I hope that helps!
GG.

Hmm. That's useful. =)

Also applicable in the real world. Build floor first. Put stuff on it later. Not the other way around.

quill18 has uploaded a pro tips video that explains a few obtuse settlement features. Seems like it could be helpful to check that out.

Gazz wrote:Hmm. That's useful. =)

Also applicable in the real world. Build floor first. Put stuff on it later. Not the other way around.

Not always the case, when building wood shacks for storage/whatever I built walls first and use the lower 2x4's as a frame for concrete poor or just put some cross beams in and slap some plywood on top... Make sure you use pressure treated wood of course!

I've just read that FO4 sold over 12 million copies the first day... can that be even possible?

Nice review, MrPerson -- thanks!

MrPerson wrote:Also ignore any user reviews you see that seem to hateful or fanboyish, the metacritic user score for it is VERY low because some people can't get it to work, or they think its too much of a change from the last two games, or they think the graphics suck (when I don't really think they do). But, haters will be haters, a lot of people hated Skyrim when it came out, but look at its ratings and consistent playercount now lol

It's being reported that Fallout 4 has sold 12 million copies, bringing in around $750 million dollars...

...on its first day after launch.

So I assume the Bethesda/Zenimax folks aren't feeling too bad about Metacritic right now.

Edit: /highfive Lum

light487 wrote:The game is a truly massive time sink. I've played for roughly 7 hours now and I'm still in the first main area scavenging and hoarding junk....

I've been wanting to pick up FO 4, but the line above is why I hesitate. I've read/seen reviews where the scavenging and hoarding is so much a part of the game, they wonder why they're even doing it....

How is it though? If it has real purpose and is enjoyable, that's all I need, but if it's a bother... then that's a huge part of the game that's going to be a bummer.

Bethesda games are time sinking machines. That's a fact. Of course, you can do the main questline and don't do anything else along the way and then you end the game in a speedy manner. But that's not how Bethesda games are to be played at all...

Also: /highfive FF!

TWELVE MILLION IN ONE DAY???????

This game must be horrifyingly good to have that many sales so fast. I wish I could try it, but my dad won't let me play M-rated games.
I must study their methods to duplicate their success...

--IronDuke

IronDuke wrote:TWELVE MILLION IN ONE DAY???????

This game must be horrifyingly good to have that many sales so fast. I wish I could try it, but my dad won't let me play M-rated games.
I must study their methods to duplicate their success...

--IronDuke

Actually from the article I read that is how many copies were SHIPPED not sold, there is a difference. I don't know how many were sold, but I imagine a ton of them were.