Gorrath said:
...
Looting interface is much better as is storing things. NO more trying to fill a container with unwanted junk and accidentally taking it all back out because there's 5 items in a stack instead of 6.
...
Thanks for triggering my PTSD.
Although, there was a work around. I usually tried to store items in containers per type, so you can simply add a single misc item to the apparel container, then filter it to only misc items while depositing stuff, that way, if you do hit "take all" then it will only take that single misc item, rather than the entire list. Christ, I've got far too many brain cells devoted to various work arounds to combat Bethesda's horrible interface design. They really do excel at creating some of the most quarrelsome interfaces in the business.
-----------------------------------
As for the game itself, I've not played it yet, although I intend to soon. With that said, I've read plenty of reviews/forum posts, so watch as I now talk out of my arse over a game I've never played.
The stuff I've heard kind of concerns me, but I have a feeling I'll likely still enjoy it enough. The wanton stripping of RPG elements is something that really bothers me. I was cautiously optimistic about the removal of skills, and how the perks-only system would effect things, but it seems role-playing in Bethesda is going to be much harder without copious modding. So the removal of skills seems bad enough, but they seem to have fucked around with S.P.E.C.I.A.L as well. Instead of defining your character's build like a quasi class, and remaining somewhat static, now they can be increased every level. So I guess we'll all end up with 10s across the board then, huh?
Apparently the karma system has been removed as well, which I have mixed feelings on. On one hand, trying to quantify morality, aside from being a rather iffy concept in and of itself, was always implemented poorly. You could receive karma for straight up murdering people with a sniper rifle from the next town over, so it's not like it's in self defence. Yet, if you try to take items out of any containers owned by their faction then the game will give you negative karma. Yet, if you loot that person's corpse you'll receive no change in karma. Kind of stupid.
But, on the other hand, from what I've heard there seems to be a definite decrease in the moral flexibility afforded to the player, especially in the main quest. Again, only going off of what I've heard from others, but it seems the removal of the karma system came with the assumption that people wouldn't care about playing as an evil character.
Oh, and essential NPCs. Jesus fucking Christ, why do they continue this bullshit. Morrowind would simply give you a message telling you that you've fucked up the main quest by killing someone essential, but you could still continue on your way killing who ever you want. With recent Bethesda games they seem determined to flag . How exactly is Morrowind's solution not superior, outside of
only being a paltry 99% idiot proof?
What I've seen and heard of the dialogue system seems rather bothersome as well. So now all dialogue will have a maximum of 4 options? From what I've heard, most of those four options seem to be rather formulaic: Yes, No, Sarcasm, More info. People predicted the voiced protagonist would fuck with the dialogue diversity a bit, but not this much.
I can't really comment on the actual story yet, but it seems their increased focus on story telling have rendered the character rather wishy-washy; riding the line between blank slate and fleshed out character. I really hate this sort of characterisation since it just ends up with the disadvantages of both approaches, and the advantages of neither. Too much characterisation to project your own ideas of the character onto them, and too much of a blank slate to be an interesting character in their own right.
Apparently we're searching for our missing son, which seems like a rather stupid way to go about it. The opening scenes are too brief to form any emotional bond with the character, so why should I care?
Being given power armour in what is ostensibly the tutorial section seems like a stupid move. I don't care if upgrading it means it's not at its full potential yet, the mere fact that you even get it that early just sucks the fun out of acquiring it. Also, what happened to power armour training? How do they train the character so quickly? I guess I'll find out soon enough when I start playing.
Oh, and I've heard troubling things about the quests. It seems with the limited role playing abilities I'll be either fetching stuff or killing stuff for most of the quests, so there's that.
Aside from that, it seems the game is a technical mess. I know it's Bethesda and getting a game to not set your computer on fire come release day is an accomplishment as far as they're concerned, but it seems they've really outdone themselves in technical ineptitude. So the lack of a FoV slider seems a common (and justified) complaint, but apparently it can be tweaked in the .ini file. Apparently they
somehow managed to fuck up the mouse controls (seriously, how did you even manage such a feat?). But, again, the .ini. It seems this game is a console port, which explains the reports of an interface better suited to a gamepad than a mouse and keyboard. When a game has an interface that's especially bad by
Bethesda standards, you know you're in for a treat. There seem to be plenty of reports of CTD, as well as physics that are tied to frame rate. So, if your frame rate exceeds 100, as with people wanting to make use of 144hz monitors, then you'll apparently encounter glitches that will freeze character movement when interacting with terminals, in addition to all sorts of physics issues. There are reports of fucked up optimisation (but just as many who claim it runs fine, so it seem I'll be flipping a coin to see which camp I'll be in).
Apparently left handed gamers are getting the middle finger here with the inability to map keys to the number pad, due to being reserved. And on that note, they've done the usual console-port-bullshit of mapping several functions to the same key, because it's not like I have an entire keyboard full of keys
oh wait.
Also, it's important to note that I don't accept the idea that the ability to mod the game absolves them of any amount of criticism in that area, nor do I accept "but you can fuck around in the .ini files" as an excuse for issues. One of the great things about PC gaming is the ability to do these things, but that doesn't mean that
having to do them for the most basic functions is an excuse for lazy developers.
On the positive side of things, from what I've seen, the environmental design is pretty good. I actually do like the more colourful aesthetic as well, despite people who actually prefer the hideous Fallout 3 colouring. The gun play is apparently much better, and the crafting seems much more extensive. The settlement building, while apparently having a shitty interface, is something I'll
probably like, or at least, not out right hate. The story is apparently better this time, but considering Fallout 3, that's not much of a consolation for the removal of most RPG mechanics.
Now, it might seem like I'm focussing on the negatives here, and that's probably because I am, but it's not like these observations have been limited to only a few people. A lot of these complaints have been fairly well represented among critical posts.
It seems the game is more heavily aimed (no pun intended) toward FPS fans rather than RPG fans, and as a fan of both genres, there will probably be plenty for me to like. Considering how much I liked Farcry 3/4, it's not like a more FPS leaning game is a deal breaker, and from what I've heard I still expect it to be better than the Farcry games. Even so, one of the worst things I can say about Fallout 4 is that it has significantly sapped my excitement for any future TES games. It's not like the stripping away of RPG mechanics is in any way a suddenly perceivable pattern, since it's been pretty clear for a while now, but I didn't think they would go
this far. I hope they don't go full action game with TES, as they've gone full FPS with Fallout.
