CT Phipps' review of Fallout 4
- Thread starter CT Phipps
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SarcasticGoodGuy
*R O T T E N*
I'm going to start my own type of review format - the SGG format.
And it will be glorious.
DirtyOldShoe
Some kind of lucky
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
CTPhipps does the DOS review of Fallout 4
Because I was challenged in the proper Raider fashion. This is a review of Fallout 4 extensively with each section graded on a 1-10 scale.
Fallout 4
Combat 10/10: Fallout 3 and Fallout: NV are two of my all time favorite games and the benefit of this is due to the fact they're just amazingly fun to play. "Oblivion with Guns" isn't quite right but a pretty good comparison. In general, just wandering around the Commonwealth, shooting shit, is never going to get old and I've had an immense amount of fun doing it. Far more so than I've had with just about any other Next Generation release save The Witcher 3. DA:I was close but it got to the point I really stopped liking it. Kudos, also for making VATS bullet-time versus stopping directly.
Skill Progression 8/10: I don't like the change to the SPECIAL and Perk system. I give it an 8/10 because it functions perfectly fine but the loss of them affecting conversations and the ability to build up your character in a wide variety of ways is noticeable. Basically, the Lone Wanderer and Courier had to be good at some things but the Sole Survivor can be good at EVERYTHING.
It also reduces the replay value as there's no reason to do one kind of Sole Survivor over another. I don't feel like the Super Genius, Super-Charismatic Gordon Freeman build is necessary compared to my Super-Charismatic Dextrous Gunslinger.
Voice Acting 7.5/10: This is one of the major failures of the game as the Sole Survivor male is always acting like he's discussing the grocery list save when he meets Kellog or is the Silver Shroud. "Dull Surprise" is a TV trope and it describes the character pretty well. I mean, the whole "I hate newspapers" thing also doesn't really give him much to work with but it's still bad. The female Sole Survivor is MUCH better but I tend to play male.
Companions 11/10: Hands down the best collection of Companions we've got and I didn't think you could improve over New Vegas. Piper, Nick Valentine, Danse, Hancock, Curie, Cait, and Preston are the best but I didn't think there was a bad one. Even my lesser favorites like Strong, X-99 (I know that's not his number but I'm lazy) and Deacon were entertaining. My only regret is that there were perhaps TOO many.
Settlement System 9/10: I had difficulty rating this thing because it's something which is clearly very enjoyable and perfect for players who like building things. I also can't lie and say I didn't build a Sanctuary Hills with a bunch of Large Wooden Shacks on the scrapped mansions and filled them with Nuka Cola merchandise. The thing is, I didn't want to do anything to any other settlements and didn't much care for sprucing up the Castle or Starlight Drive-In. I admit, I did have a lot of fun making one room metal shacks from hallways with doors on them which I made a line of. It's basically a refugee camp.
But my Sole Survivor is a bit of an asshole. There's just too MUCH of it.
Factions 9/10: The Factions are an up and down thing because the Institute is a jumbled mess but they've got a sweet ass pad underground and I love the whole Raygun Gothic aesthetics they've got going. I ended up siding with them as well because I love SCIENCE even though I can't for the life of me figure out what the fuck they're on about. The Brotherhood of Steel is a 10 out of 10 as well with its revisions being wonderful and making great villains for my playthrough. The Railroad was decent but not really awesome and the Minutemen much the same as well.
So I give it an 8.5 with a + .5 for the power of the ATOM CATS.
Main Quest 8/10: The Main Quest is a pretty draggy sort of thing with a lot of plot holes and weird moments. Like, for example, how does Virgil know how to build a teleporter and how does Sturges? How does a dog track a man down by his cigar smoke with no formal training? What was the point of Synth Shaun? Why is Shaun evil? What are the Institute's goals? Why can't everyone just get along? Even so, it was entertaining throughout and there were some genuinely awesome moments like the Kellog confrontation and the destruction of the Prydwen.
Sidequests 10/10: The Side-Quests, sadly, blow the main quest out of the water. Cait's need to get herself clean of Chems is touching and a great lead in to romance. Vault 81 was great even with the Molerat disease. Curie becoming human was wonderful. Then there's the Silver Shroud, Last Voyage of the USS Constitution, meeting the guy who murdered all of your loved ones on the Yangtze, and Beerbot! There were a few clunkers but these were minor in comparison to the enjoyment of these.
Radiation and Healing 10/10: An odd thing to vote on but I love the changes to Radiation in the game as it really helped make the much more interesting. The depiction of the Glowing Sea, the water, and the fact your character is constantly juggling his Health versus his radiation exposure really made it a much more prevalent threat. Food, Healing, and the rest was also much improved because of the "gradual healing" mechanic even if it's still pretty easy to work around.
Exploration 8.5/10: I'm not going to lie that this was underwhelming at times. Boston itself is fine. There's the Swan Pond, Combat Zone, Spectacle Rock, the Racetrack, and the Lighthouse on the West Coast of the Map but the East is mostly empty farmland. The Settlements are the worse as they have nothing to them but more areas to build. Still, there's a surprising lack of Fallout 3's atmosphere and Fallout: New Vegas' quirky settlements.
Romances 9/10: Romance in Fallout is controversial but I really liked these short little romances you have in Fallout which may not be Bioware level (but are better than the shitty ones in Inquisition) or CD Projekt Red but are pretty damned good. I was genuinely touched by my romances with the Sole Survivor's Rand Al'Thor power trio. I would have liked more polygamy acknowledgement but, otherwise, kudos to the group. I would give it a 10 out of 10 if you had a wedding or a "give ring" moment.
Music 10/10: It's the soundtrack of Fallout 3 plus more songs so it's got that going for it. Honestly, I don't much care for the ambient soundtrack and would prefer silence and the Wasteland but the best part of the PipBoy is I don't have to listen to the soundtrack.
Graphics 9.5/10: They've solved the fact the people in the game don't look like they're radiation mutants and are actually physically attractive now. They're not up to the Witcher 3 levels but I think it's still pretty damn good. There's also a lot more color and vibrancy to everything, which helps compensate for the fact almost the entire map is swamp.
Enemies 9.5: It's basically a retread of the enemies in Fallout 3 with a lot more robots so I'm going to say I very much enjoyed them. Sadly, I'm going to remove 1 point because Raiders aren't nearly as fearsome in this game and the Super Mutants have a shitty nonsensical origin. Then I'm going to give back 1 point for the fact you can fight the Brotherhood of Steel and they used them as enemies instead of the Enclave. Plus Raiders in Power Armor! FUCK YES! Then I'm taking back .5 points for the fact the Gunners are shit and there's no Slavers to kill. I'm ambivalent about the fact Feral Ghouls run now but I like the fact they come in Bubblegum Flavors now. Bloated ones are also disgusting and terrifying.
Lore 8.5/10: The incorporation of Arthur Maxson into the game is a major point in the game's favor and I like the fact they chose to build on the Institute and Commonwealth introduced in F3 rather than draw from the West Coast or New Vegas. However, I did think the game was lacking in references to the established lore of F3 and could have used a lot more, For example, no mention of the Lone Wanderer is BS.
Then there's the fuck ups with Jet and Power Armor.
Freedom 8.0: This is an area the game is pretty damn ambivalent about despite the fact you can side with four factions. Sarcastic is the only time your character tends to emote and that's why I almost had to got through the entire game hitting that button constantly. However, the game seems to box you in way too much for a Bethesda game. I was a Professional Hitman and Sex Fiend who barely liked his father in Fallout 3 when I wasn't a bisexual Mad Scientist who lusted after Moira Brown's mind and craved her father's approval. Here? I can't imagine anyone but the Sole Survivor.
Longevity of Enjoyment 9.5/10: It's not Fallout 3 or New Vegas but there's a lot more enjoyment than the majority of games out there.
Overall 9/10: Well, it doesn't seem to be a 10 out of 10 review as I expected but then again, I gave my 10 out of 10 review when I had just finished the main quest and was still high from having a New Fallout game. Time a tendency to make your new release reviews a bit more critical. Even so, I really really loved the game.
Because I was challenged in the proper Raider fashion. This is a review of Fallout 4 extensively with each section graded on a 1-10 scale.
Fallout 4
Combat 10/10: Fallout 3 and Fallout: NV are two of my all time favorite games and the benefit of this is due to the fact they're just amazingly fun to play. "Oblivion with Guns" isn't quite right but a pretty good comparison. In general, just wandering around the Commonwealth, shooting shit, is never going to get old and I've had an immense amount of fun doing it. Far more so than I've had with just about any other Next Generation release save The Witcher 3. DA:I was close but it got to the point I really stopped liking it. Kudos, also for making VATS bullet-time versus stopping directly.
Skill Progression 8/10: I don't like the change to the SPECIAL and Perk system. I give it an 8/10 because it functions perfectly fine but the loss of them affecting conversations and the ability to build up your character in a wide variety of ways is noticeable. Basically, the Lone Wanderer and Courier had to be good at some things but the Sole Survivor can be good at EVERYTHING.
It also reduces the replay value as there's no reason to do one kind of Sole Survivor over another. I don't feel like the Super Genius, Super-Charismatic Gordon Freeman build is necessary compared to my Super-Charismatic Dextrous Gunslinger.
Voice Acting 7.5/10: This is one of the major failures of the game as the Sole Survivor male is always acting like he's discussing the grocery list save when he meets Kellog or is the Silver Shroud. "Dull Surprise" is a TV trope and it describes the character pretty well. I mean, the whole "I hate newspapers" thing also doesn't really give him much to work with but it's still bad. The female Sole Survivor is MUCH better but I tend to play male.
Companions 11/10: Hands down the best collection of Companions we've got and I didn't think you could improve over New Vegas. Piper, Nick Valentine, Danse, Hancock, Curie, Cait, and Preston are the best but I didn't think there was a bad one. Even my lesser favorites like Strong, X-99 (I know that's not his number but I'm lazy) and Deacon were entertaining. My only regret is that there were perhaps TOO many.
Settlement System 9/10: I had difficulty rating this thing because it's something which is clearly very enjoyable and perfect for players who like building things. I also can't lie and say I didn't build a Sanctuary Hills with a bunch of Large Wooden Shacks on the scrapped mansions and filled them with Nuka Cola merchandise. The thing is, I didn't want to do anything to any other settlements and didn't much care for sprucing up the Castle or Starlight Drive-In. I admit, I did have a lot of fun making one room metal shacks from hallways with doors on them which I made a line of. It's basically a refugee camp.
But my Sole Survivor is a bit of an asshole. There's just too MUCH of it.
Factions 9/10: The Factions are an up and down thing because the Institute is a jumbled mess but they've got a sweet ass pad underground and I love the whole Raygun Gothic aesthetics they've got going. I ended up siding with them as well because I love SCIENCE even though I can't for the life of me figure out what the fuck they're on about. The Brotherhood of Steel is a 10 out of 10 as well with its revisions being wonderful and making great villains for my playthrough. The Railroad was decent but not really awesome and the Minutemen much the same as well.
So I give it an 8.5 with a + .5 for the power of the ATOM CATS.
Main Quest 8/10: The Main Quest is a pretty draggy sort of thing with a lot of plot holes and weird moments. Like, for example, how does Virgil know how to build a teleporter and how does Sturges? How does a dog track a man down by his cigar smoke with no formal training? What was the point of Synth Shaun? Why is Shaun evil? What are the Institute's goals? Why can't everyone just get along? Even so, it was entertaining throughout and there were some genuinely awesome moments like the Kellog confrontation and the destruction of the Prydwen.
Sidequests 10/10: The Side-Quests, sadly, blow the main quest out of the water. Cait's need to get herself clean of Chems is touching and a great lead in to romance. Vault 81 was great even with the Molerat disease. Curie becoming human was wonderful. Then there's the Silver Shroud, Last Voyage of the USS Constitution, meeting the guy who murdered all of your loved ones on the Yangtze, and Beerbot! There were a few clunkers but these were minor in comparison to the enjoyment of these.
Radiation and Healing 10/10: An odd thing to vote on but I love the changes to Radiation in the game as it really helped make the much more interesting. The depiction of the Glowing Sea, the water, and the fact your character is constantly juggling his Health versus his radiation exposure really made it a much more prevalent threat. Food, Healing, and the rest was also much improved because of the "gradual healing" mechanic even if it's still pretty easy to work around.
Exploration 8.5/10: I'm not going to lie that this was underwhelming at times. Boston itself is fine. There's the Swan Pond, Combat Zone, Spectacle Rock, the Racetrack, and the Lighthouse on the West Coast of the Map but the East is mostly empty farmland. The Settlements are the worse as they have nothing to them but more areas to build. Still, there's a surprising lack of Fallout 3's atmosphere and Fallout: New Vegas' quirky settlements.
Romances 9/10: Romance in Fallout is controversial but I really liked these short little romances you have in Fallout which may not be Bioware level (but are better than the shitty ones in Inquisition) or CD Projekt Red but are pretty damned good. I was genuinely touched by my romances with the Sole Survivor's Rand Al'Thor power trio. I would have liked more polygamy acknowledgement but, otherwise, kudos to the group. I would give it a 10 out of 10 if you had a wedding or a "give ring" moment.
Music 10/10: It's the soundtrack of Fallout 3 plus more songs so it's got that going for it. Honestly, I don't much care for the ambient soundtrack and would prefer silence and the Wasteland but the best part of the PipBoy is I don't have to listen to the soundtrack.
Graphics 9.5/10: They've solved the fact the people in the game don't look like they're radiation mutants and are actually physically attractive now. They're not up to the Witcher 3 levels but I think it's still pretty damn good. There's also a lot more color and vibrancy to everything, which helps compensate for the fact almost the entire map is swamp.
Enemies 9.5: It's basically a retread of the enemies in Fallout 3 with a lot more robots so I'm going to say I very much enjoyed them. Sadly, I'm going to remove 1 point because Raiders aren't nearly as fearsome in this game and the Super Mutants have a shitty nonsensical origin. Then I'm going to give back 1 point for the fact you can fight the Brotherhood of Steel and they used them as enemies instead of the Enclave. Plus Raiders in Power Armor! FUCK YES! Then I'm taking back .5 points for the fact the Gunners are shit and there's no Slavers to kill. I'm ambivalent about the fact Feral Ghouls run now but I like the fact they come in Bubblegum Flavors now. Bloated ones are also disgusting and terrifying.
Lore 8.5/10: The incorporation of Arthur Maxson into the game is a major point in the game's favor and I like the fact they chose to build on the Institute and Commonwealth introduced in F3 rather than draw from the West Coast or New Vegas. However, I did think the game was lacking in references to the established lore of F3 and could have used a lot more, For example, no mention of the Lone Wanderer is BS.
Then there's the fuck ups with Jet and Power Armor.
Freedom 8.0: This is an area the game is pretty damn ambivalent about despite the fact you can side with four factions. Sarcastic is the only time your character tends to emote and that's why I almost had to got through the entire game hitting that button constantly. However, the game seems to box you in way too much for a Bethesda game. I was a Professional Hitman and Sex Fiend who barely liked his father in Fallout 3 when I wasn't a bisexual Mad Scientist who lusted after Moira Brown's mind and craved her father's approval. Here? I can't imagine anyone but the Sole Survivor.
Longevity of Enjoyment 9.5/10: It's not Fallout 3 or New Vegas but there's a lot more enjoyment than the majority of games out there.
Overall 9/10: Well, it doesn't seem to be a 10 out of 10 review as I expected but then again, I gave my 10 out of 10 review when I had just finished the main quest and was still high from having a New Fallout game. Time a tendency to make your new release reviews a bit more critical. Even so, I really really loved the game.
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DirtyOldShoe
Some kind of lucky
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
My wife and me on the last two days of my posting here.
SarcasticGoodGuy
*R O T T E N*
Later tonight I might address each of your points. But I have stuff to do at the moment.
Nice use of xkcd
Looks like you tried hard to keep it from 10/10.
EDIT: And a 11/10 score in the "review" makes it lose credibility IMO.
EDIT: And a 11/10 score in the "review" makes it lose credibility IMO.
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@CT Phipps Wait, so does 10/10 mean perfect?
Prone Squanderer
A bit of a Sillius Soddus.
You seriously think Preston is an improvement over the likes of Arcade, Raul, Cass, Boone, Veronica?
Then it should be 9 right? Unless your scale starts at 10.5.
Jogre
So Old I'm Losing Radiation Signs
Everyone knows that Fallout 4 is a near perfect bethesda game.
CerberusGate
I should save my game in a whole new slot
The only way 4's companions could improve over New Vegas is if they all covered themselves in pitch and threw themselves off the Grand Canyon.
I have some bad news for you then... You have been wrong repeatedly and have been proven wrong as well.
CerberusGate
I should save my game in a whole new slot
IIRC, on some post around here somewhere, he said 10 means he enjoyed it immensely rather than being a proper score.
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
If I had any respect for the idea of a 10 out of 10 rating being a nebulous perfect game and all things removed from it, I'd care.
Oh yeah:
1-5 = Bad and unenjoyable
5 = Average and unimaginative
6-7= Better than Average and Fun
8-9=Very Good
10=Loved it.
But if it makes you feel better. Companions as a 10 out of 10.
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Prone Squanderer
A bit of a Sillius Soddus.
If I had any respect for the idea of a 10 out of 10 rating being a nebulous perfect game and all things removed from it, I'd care.
The majority of people rate a game by what's good and what's not, not purely by how much they enjoyed it.
Ok that at least gives us a scale to work with, but it's not a very good way of rating things. I love playing Cyberia, but it can rightly be considered a bad game due to linear gameplay and unfair difficulty. By your rating though I'd have to rate it 9/10.
Doesn't make me feel better in the slightest. There's no way you can expect me to believe you seriously think Preston is a good companion.
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
Actually, that's exactly my problem with the 10 out of 10 being some Platonic ideal of a video game. Flawed video games get unfairly maligned score-wise that people assume they're not any good when they're actually successful at their primary objective of entertaining the gamer. Basically, I like to rate things from the view of how much good they bring to my life. Then again, this is partially why I skip IGN and other professional reviewers and go independent for my gaming news.
Mankind Divided, for example, is a damn near perfect game which is SHIT in length. While Fallout 4 is a underwhelming game which is hundreds of hours of enjoyment.
I actually briefly considered ditching scores altogether from my website but figured it was necessary as a shorthand.
Preston has a very good story arc where you have this idealistic young man who wants to be a Minuteman and he finds himself grossly undermined by the reality. Then he's forced to witness this deeply traumatizing and horrible event in the Quincy Massacre and decides to die in battle. The fact he's a suicidal character but one who is ashamed to admit it until much later in your relationship really moved me. I also am very pleased to have a major supporting character in a Triple A game be Black. I also like the ending for the fact I played a morally ambiguous character so I got to see him undermined by my work with the Institute before I finally broke him with the fact I played a Raider appeaser.
Danse, Cait, Piper, and Nick Valentine are the characters I'd compare to Boone, Veronica, and Rose of Sharon Cassidy.
Tabitha isn't a companion...
...and yet despite that, Preston is still not better than Tabitha. Tabitha is like... i don't know... 13.5/10
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
Deleted that line.
Was referring to Lily and notably I liked Lily a lot and her plotline. It really brought home the horror of what the Master did to the people in his Master Race. I'd also give the Companions of New Vegas a 10 out of 10. I just like the ones of Fallout 4 a SLIGHT bit more. Hence the 11.
I admit, though, from this score it seems like I consider Fallout 4 a 9 out of 10 game than a 10 out of 10.
Maybe I was generous due to the high of a new Fallout game.
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CerberusGate
I should save my game in a whole new slot
It's on record thanks to @Crossfire so don't bother deleting it.
I take it you got taken in by the hype? Rookie mistake as someone trying to review anything.
You're actually better off removing review scores. All review scores tend to do is justify love or hate for a game rather than being a proper assessment of an experience with many publishers only using such scores for advertising at best. It is generally impossible to quantify an experience for a single game in numbers, let alone multiple games of varying genres.
Your point on rating things from the view of how much enjoyment it gave you would work better if you articulated what you got from it rather than assigning some arbitrary number to said enjoyment. All that does is give a false or a not completely honest account of said experience.