Fallout 4, Day 1: Like Son, Like Father! · 9:28am Nov 12th, 2015
So in the wake of mounting peer pressure and my own desire to get gaming with a lovely story, I blew a few hundred bucks on two things: the Xbox One game console (which I'd chosen to ignore until a game came out that I simply had to own), and a copy of Fallout 4 (said game). Like any journal written in Post-Apocalyptia, I find it necessary to chronicle my endeavors for anyone who stumbles upon my irradiated bones in two-hundred years. Here's what I've got so far!
I tend to start my Fallout games with a well-balanced character with an edge toward diplomacy and tech, and this time is no different. Like my days in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, my character was a man whose name became Atlas - a name shared by a character in my Ikusa storyline. After the traditional tropes of everyone around me noticing the camera at my shoulder and therefore proceeding to die in the name of conflict, I began my trek out of Vault 111.
Learning the controls had been an easy feat so far. Learning the layout of the Xbox One controller, however, took me a while, simply because I didn't realize that the Back button of previous generations was replaced with what is essentially a View Swap button. So many wasted minutes pressing and holding every other button in the attempt to find the third-person perspective. But finally, I did! And promptly kept first-person as my preferred method because it is STILL damn hard to aim with the camera behind my back. By this time, I had developed a taste for radroach meat, stolen a bomb inside a wrecked house, and raided the contents of a safe, two coolers, and five bedroom dressers. My new striped suit is a welcome change from the colors of 111.
Enter Codsworth! The character I wanted to see the least! I spent some time catching up with him (after two-hundred-ten years in stasis, there were many ups to catch), during which we raided a few more houses and I collected my fourth discarded pistol. I hadn't yet discovered how to modify or repair my equipment, so all the extra weaponry is just wasted space as of yet. All my interaction with Codsworth led to a marker only a few hundred yards away. I thereby decided that speaking with Codsworth was Notsworth. I went on my merry little way, dragging a few dozen caps and enough sidearms for a standard survival party.
Enter Dogmeat! The character I wanted to see the most! He bit a molerat for me and waited patiently while I explored the new town-crafting system. THIS is where I spent most of my time: searching through all the different build-able items so I could build a Sims home in Post-Apocalyptia. After running around and gathering scrap, then walking slowly and using that scrap, I set up a couple steel walls to block a straight shot into the garage I had claimed as my home base. After all, if Fallout is good at one thing, it's placing raiders in my way at the most inconvenient of times. I'm expecting a...well, a raid to occur, sometime down the road. Then, thinking better of myself, I built a bed. The sleep was wonderful.
Dogmeat at my side, I meandered into the town of Concord and was instantly set upon by raiders. (See? SEE? Damn you, Beth, lemme'lone!) Thankfully, the skills I put in to charisma allowed me to talk all of them down via the business end of pistol number two. I was invited into a museum by a character whose name I forget, but I grab an energy weapon whose name I also forget before I go inside. More fighting ensued, where I finally got to properly practice sneak-attacks with energetic proficiency. Eh? Eh??
The man who invited me up, as well as his crew of survivors, naturally need my help to crack a terminal's five-letter passcode. I was able to decrypt the computer, but only after I re-sent a validation email, then changed the password to something with twelve letters, a number containing my last Fallout character's level, one Alpha Deathclaw, a pre-bomb photograph of Moira Brown, and two blood packs. This unlocked a lower-level cage door which contained a quest token, which I then hefted all the way up to the roof in order to pop it in like a battery into the back of some vacant power armor.
At this time, more raiders had arrived. But I chose to sit down at a nearby desk and listen to a couple holotape recordings I had gathered. Turns out I'm a good father. Who knew?
Oh, wait, the town in under attack again. Thanks to the power armor, I'm easily able to detach a minigun (!!!) and lay waste to the wastelanders. Of course, in my pursuit of survivors, I am soon set upon by a Deathclaw (!!!!!!). It appears that Beth ain't pullin' no punches this time around. No quarries to sidestep, no metro tunnel exits to avoid. This beast sees me, and instantly decides to have a can of sardines as opposed to the toughening meat of fleeing raiders. The can of sardines is a metaphor for 'me.' Send help.
After a few long minutes of bullet-storming, I finally bring the lizard down. The remaining raiders decide that I saved their lives, and rush forward to shake my hand. Unfortunately, my hand is still holding down the trigger to the minigun. Whoops. Uh, well anyway, Concord is saved.
I touch-base with the folks inside the museum. I'm paid for my blood before everyone decides to leave me among the dead. Tired, cranky, and smelling of oil, I crawl up the hill to my fortified garage, set down some of my equipment, finally discover how to modify my armor pieces, and lay down for a nap. My last thoughts before I fell asleep were groggy, but they were probably along the lines of "Anyone in D.C. or the Mojave Desert better start taking notes, because ain't nothin' can touch this."
It was at this point that I remembered that Dogmeat was injured in the battle in town and I had totally forgotten about him. Whoops.
The wasteland stretches before me. I now have experience with heavy armor, small and energy weapons, and really want to keep building walls and doorways instead of completing the main quest. It's been a wild day, but I'm certain things than only get better from here.
~Leo Atlas, the Animal-Neglecter
Yeah, there's a lot more surprises in store.
A lot more.
Suicide everythings.
3537428 Oh dear. This makes me want to get out of bed and play more. Stop it. That's bad for my health. You're being bad for my health.
3537437
Today I built a grand flying platform for my peeps to survey the land.
I also set a soldier on fire with an entire Apollo 18. It was not fun. He had mild skin irritation afterward.
More suicide things.
I now have set up a farming system in my town that will net me unlimited adhesives. No more looking for rare glues and duct tapes! Now I can mod the shit out of my gun. In fact, I modded my gun 19 times today FOR FUN just because I had so much adhesive. I'm the stickygod. Ask me how.
Somehow I managed to turn a handgun into a sniper rifle through modding alone. What is this game even? Can I turn a rifle into a FUCK U BAZOOK?
Today I got a follow from this guy from Leoshi, who I thought was already following me. I'd feel happy if I didn't feel so insulted that this one Leoshi person hadn't seen the glory and might that is KitsuneRisu earlier. I'm glad that he finally saw the truth and can now join my community as a scrapper. I will assign him a bed, and a fridge, and 39 toilets, because that's how I treat my settlers in the barren wastelands. Also I will make all his pistols into sniper rifle fuck u bazooks.
Dogmeat is proving useful as a packhorse. I don't know where he keeps all 18 of those laser pistols, but I'm sure he has the butt for it. I also found out that sole wanderer perks apply when you're travelling with Dogmeat because he is not considered a companion (you have zero respect for animals, obviously, and even Wadsworth has more rights than dogs.)
I found a horrible bug whereby sometimes a lot of your tasty veggies can't be removed or targeted. I decided to relocate my farms to a place far away from a bunch of other shit, and it started working again.
I also found out that one single free settler can work up to 12 plant simultaneously and NO MORE. Every plant gives 0.5 food with the exception of mutfruit which gives 1 food per plant, so the maximum a single settler can contribute in food points is 12 if you plant 12 mutfruit trees.
I also found out that wild corn and wild mutfruit cannot be planted because they throw too many parties at night and the settlers can't get any sleep.
I found out that there is no level cap. I was then not afraid to start spending the shit points on the character levelling.
I found out how important Charisma is.
I found out how much Mirelurks cheat.
Seriously, Bethesda, have you suicided EVERYTHING in the game?
God damnit.
Thanks for the follow.