I would love to deconstruct this. I feel kinda bad doing so because the author is clearly delusional, but y'know why not prove why this is wrong one piece at a time.
Many people criticize Fallout 4 for removing skills. But it really hasn't. The skills are still there
I'm sorry, I forgot that skills are still there. Because skills in previous games were TOTALLY just about getting static combat bonuses, and occasional mini-games. It's not like having ranks in skills would unlock dialogue options, or new ways to solve quests. Fallout 4 DEFINETELY hasn't butchered them.
five canonical endings (including the "peaceful" ending).
4 official endings, 3 of which share exactly the same ending clip, and none of which have any long lasting impact.
And Shady Sands from 1 has 5 different endings. The very idea of making new games in a series is that they are supposed to expand upon previous installments, and have more content. A game having the same amount of end-game effecting decisions overall, as the first installment had for a small area near the beginning is really quite pathetic.
What is different about this Fallout is that there is no ending slideshow. That does not matter. A slideshow portrays future consequences, but Fallout 4 gives in-game consequences that the player must live with
The Idea of the Future Consequences, is that the actions don't just have an impact in the here and now, they have actual long-lasting effects, and everything in the game-world will continue to exist after your adventures, and change and evolve. Everything existing purely for the sake of being portrayed in the game and shortly after the game isn't Fallout, the idea is that these towns will change, and that they wont just remain perfectly as they are so that you can go and fuck around in them.
Since the game does not end after the main story finishes, the player might have to endure frequent attacks by the remnant of the Institute or Brotherhood.
Translation: Even after you defeat the bad dudes, you will still suffer attacks from them, because petty vengeance that will achieve nothing is far more important than actually surviving after your home is destroyed, and we need excuses to keep Radiant Quests available.
Beloved companions might be dead and no longer available.
Is that supposed to be saying that "If you fight the Brotherhood/Railroad/Institute, you will no longer be able to access companions from that faction", because that is kind of a given. No actual shit there.
And yeah, 3 companions are no longer accesible based on the ending you choose, boohoo, it's not like EVERY OTHER FUCKING COMPANION IN THE GAME is invincible.
Oh and, Nicky Valentine says "I'm dissapointed that you chose the Institute, but I'm still cool with travellin' with ya", because apparently Bethesda doesn't want to be too punishing to players who want to buddy up with a guy who hates the faction you sided with.
Take Covenant for example
The background meshes with Diamond City history
So what you're saying is that Diamond City and Covenant happen to be connected by one character, and that is supposed to be some new and revolutionary thing?
Fallout 1 established that there were trade routes between Junktown and Shady Sands, and that pretty much every town is connected to each other through caravan companies
Fallout 2 showed a very specific trade path connecting 5 different towns, as well as heavily implying that Exiles from Vault City consistently wind up in New Reno, Making it so detonating a Nuclear Power Plant will wipe out another nearby town, Made the Enclave have connections with Gecko, New Reno, ECT., Showed a Power Struggle between 3 different towns, ect.
Fallout New Vegas connected each of the DLC locations back to the Mojave, and made it so that the DLCs were built around a plot point back there(Lonesome Road being built around the Courier who denied the job to deliver the Platinum Chip, Honest Hearts around The Burned Man legends from Legion, ect.)
Towns being mildly connected to each other, means absolutely jack sh*t. 1,2 and New Vegas established this as the f*cking standard. The fact that it's even considered remarkable that one person from one place happens to be connected to the events of another place shows just how poor the game is at world building.
Relates to the goals of all four main factions
A quest built around Synths, in a game that practically is built entirely around Synths relates to factions which are built entirely around Synths. No Actual Shit there.
has a choice of two radically different endings, with significant in-game consequences.
You know, I reckon the first two games got it all wrong. Consequences don't rely on long-term impacts, or the ability to permanently fuck up future quests if you make the wrong choice, no, Consequences is an issue of whether or not you can use a town as your own personal workshop.
Potentially getting access to a workshop doesn't count as consequences. It counts as getting slightly different rewards.
Does one ignore settlements entirely?
No, because your pretty much forced in to Settlements when building the teleporter. Don't say something is an option when it's not an option.
Create one main settlement? Create a network of settlements?
So apparently Minecraft now has serious consequences for actions, because you can now choose between building impressive structures, and building practical bases.
If you focus on creating one main settlement, you create one main settlement, if you focus on creating a Network of Settlements you create a Network of Settlements. That kinda goes without saying.
It's literally creating the Minuteman faction from just two existing members.
Correction: It's literally just completing a series of radiant quests, until eventually the faction grows. Do you do any of the logistics?, Or organizing any of them?, Or the recruiting?, Nope, you complete quests and watch them grow.
Watching Plot Points change as you complete certain objectives is the standard for pretty much every game. This sh*t isn't special.
Earlier titles gave the character an origin, or a job title, or a family.
Yes, but they handled it very differently
Job Title: Obviously you are talking about New Vegas here, so let me prove why this isn't a Potato Potato issue here.
Taking a job as a Courier is pretty standard by the time of New Vegas. There are tons of other Couriers, it's implied to be the kind of job that anyone with a gun can pick up, and it literally shows nothing about your character other than you picked up a job at some point.
Being a well-regarded military hero, does show a lot. If you are special enough to give a speech at the Veteran's Hall, clearly you did something special during your service. Not to mention that it means that you are well-regarded by the public, which some types of characters almost certainly wouldn't be.
Having a Law Degree does show us a lot. Spending 2 years of your life studying a certain proffesion shows us a lot about your interests/ambitions. You're average person doesn't just figure one day "I'm gonna go get a law degree", and picks one up at the nearest Gas Station. It shows commitment, knowledge in a certain field, ect., this is nowhere near comparable to a Courier job.
Family: Fallout 3 forced you to have a father. How special, it's not like every human alive has a father. Fallout 2 forced you to have a Grandfather/Mother/Grandmother/Unknown Father, same logic applies.
And just because you have certain relatives doesn't actively define you. Your personality and character traits don't decide who you are born to. Having certain parents/grandparents isn't an active decision, and doesn't show anything about you. Marrying and having a kid however, is an active choice. You actively chose to get married to her, you actively chose to have a kid with her. There is some level of difference between having a parent forced upon you, and having a kid/spouse forced upon you.
It's not a classic decision tree RPG, but a simulationist RPG where one can simply ignore or postpone the story and go off and do one's own thing.
Why seperate doing one's own thing from continuing on with the story?
In Fallout 1,2 and New Vegas you could go around basically just fucking around and come across the story nonetheless. The story was designed in such a way, that you could complete it without following linear lines. Fallout 4s story was designed in such a way that Doing Ones Own Thing and Progressing in the Story are separated. There are tons of Essential NPCs, and there is a fixed route you take to get in to Institute, so you have to follow the story EXACTLY how it was intended, with no alternative routes. The fact that you HAVE TO Postpone the Story to do one's own thing speaks wonders about the game.
Just because Fallout 4 is not the classic 1990s era RPG does not mean it's a weak RPG. If you happen to prefer the classic RPG style, more power to you, but that does not negate the RPG-ness of Fallout 4.
Translation: If you happen to prefer the style of RPG that Fallout was originally DESIGNED AROUND and the developers thought it would work as, more power to you, but that doesn't change that Fallout 4 completely strayed from the roots/formula of the series.
Fallout 4 is a true roleplaying game, inasmuch as any computer game can be true roleplaying without a human gamemaster.
So basically, what you are saying is that Fallout 4 is as close as you can get to a game of D&D without a gamemaster.
I'm sorry, but that implies that Fallout 4 is just as close to a Tabletop RPG as Fallout 1/2, games that grant you the ability to know what you're character will say/do, games that let you make tons of decisions and don't force you down a certain path, and games that have huge amounts of character building/stats. If the author thinks 1/2 are even comparable to 4, he is clearly delusional.
