Why you should be excited about Fallout 4

Some of the best gaming memories I have, have come from the Fallout series. From exploring the massive amount of content found in the Wasteland of Fallout 3 or the Vegas Strip in New Vegas, I can tell you that everyone's experience was different. I remember walking into my high school math class eager to talk about my encounter with a Death Claw or my decision to kill an important character. We would sit around all of first period talking about our Fallout stories. My Fallout journey started with Fallout 3 but the minute I stepped out from Vault 101, I knew this game was going to be one of the best gaming experience I've ever had. For all the people out there who haven' played Fallout (which I don't know why you be reading this if you haven't), it's a must have game in any gamer's collection. With Fallout 4 we're seeing a few returns that made the series iconic while completing revamping the franchise with new features that will completely change the way we see the Wasteland. For anyone who couldn't catch last night's Bethesda conference, I've put the video below. Skip to 1:24:00 if all your interested in is seeing the Fallout reveal.

 

Next Generation Console

Bethesda announced that they had spent over six working on Fallout 4. Pretty much since the end of Fallout 3, Bethesda didn't really take a break. Now let me show you why you should be excited to see Fallout on a Next Gen console. 

Attention to detail

Bethesda presented a bunch of concept art for the introduction of Fallout 4. Every single detail has been taken into consideration during the production of this game. Everything from the buttons on a console to the hair of an NPC or the dynamic lighting. The effort was pretty obvious when the presentation demo was shown. Now don't get me wrong, I understand It could've just been a showcase demo but they did a pretty darn good job. Besides, who would want to play ANY Fallout game in glorious 1080p with all it's dismemberment and gore? 

 Playing In A World Before the Bombs Fell

After hours and hours of exploring the Wasteland, players discover snip bits of information about life before the nuclear destruction. Most of the information came in the form of letters, easter eggs, and the remaining environment left for us to explore.Players were left to imagine a time before ghouls, death claws, and giant armored maniacs standing at 7 ft tall, roamed the land. But look now further ladies and gentlegeeks. Bethesda is here to the rescue. 

So peaceful, so nice, so green and alive

Everything seemed so vibrant back in the day. Even the robot shines!

Judging from the Bethesda conference, I'm pretty sure the introduction of Fallout 4 has to do with the world before nuclear bombs lay waste to the land. Everything seems so much more alive back in the day and these scenes scream Fallout to me. Was this what you imagined or were you expecting more? You know you're curious to know how the world was before it all...went...DOWN. 

 Character Customization

Bethesda prides themselves in providing a game unique to every individual gamer. No two games are meant to be the same and it's probably impossible for it to happen anyway. Bethesda empowered the player through choice but where I felt the last two Fallout games fell short was in the Character creation.I didn't really have A LOT of CHOICES to change how my character looked. Sure you can dress your character in goofy and funny attire but when it came to creating something that felt unique to me, it fell short. With Fallout 4, Bethesda created perhaps one of the best Character Creation modules ever found in any game. 

Click and Drag what you want to change

 Fallout 4 will now include a new sculpting system which lets the player customize any body part simply by clicking and dragging. The appearance of sliders has also been discarded in Fallout 4. Don't like the size of the nose? Cool no biggie, shrink it by dragging it closer to the center. The possibilities seem endless with something as optionful(There is no way this is a word but it is now) as this creation process. The parodies are coming ladies and gents. Prepare to see the Hulk, the Joker, and Jackie Chane roaming the Wastelands. I know what you were thinking and yes, of course you can play as a woman. Both male and female have the same degree of customization. The game even generates a child based on how you make the parents look. Necessary? No but freaking awesome. Create your significant other and yourself and take a glance into the future of how your kids are going to turn out. Scary as shit, I KNOW!

 

Talking and Voice Acting

NPCs react to every decision and display their emotions through their voices. The voice actors in this game truly deserve something amazing to honor the amount of work they must have put in to make every NPC have a voice. The emotions now not only show in the sound of their voice but also in their expressions. Something not truly realized in the last Fallout games. The conversation mechanic seems to have changed into something more streamlined and more efficient. This is the comparison between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4: 

Conversation Options in Fallout 3

 

Fallout 4 Dialogue Options

Albeit the conversation options seem a bit limited compared to other Fallout games, Fallout 4 is out to maximize your time but efficiently streamlining the dialogue into the game play. Gone are the days where you're looked into the NPCs' face.

Companions

A BIG highlight that game plays and trailers seem to be covering is the fact that you have a canine companion.

Can I name him? Or is he still Dogmeat?

 Companionship was one of the biggest and best features found in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. All over the Wasteland you could find a willing traveler who would risk their life for you and attack with all their might. I'm assuming that the companion feature is still something we can look forward to in Fallout 4. I don't want to solely be tethered to my dog but nothing against it. Bethesda did add a little bit more use to your canine best friend and it comes in the form of a point and fetch feature.

Why the hell are you feeding me a wrench?

Find something interesting but too lazy to go get it? No big deal, send Dogmeat to go fetch it for you. In the demo, the cursor lite up over multiple objects including the wrench that Dogmeat is holding his mouth so it does seem pretty useful at times. 

Crafting System

The crafting system in previous Fallouts depended on schematics and the player's repair skill. While Fallout 3 did a decent job of using the lootable objects around the world, New Vegas realized the feature more fully by having upgrades for almost every weapons. That was until Fallout 4 was announced. With over 50 base weapons and 700 different modifications, Fallout 4 will truly give the player the ability to play to their style.

Close quarter combat type gamer?

Range type gamer?

The new crafting system makes use of the "useless" junk we find around world. It's unclear if there is still a schematic system, which I assume there still will be, but the fact that these things aren't pointless anymore really adds to the world exploration. That mug that you found in an abandoned cabin could help you create a better sniper scope.

Crafting System

There's one aspect of the crafting system you should definitely be looking forward to. The ability to upgrade and customize your own power suit.Those same useless items can be used to upgrade everything from the weapons you use to the armor you're going to wear. Not "useless" anymore huh?

 

Construction and Building

Personally one of my favorite features is the new construction and building aspect of the game. Completely new and unique to Fallout 4 is the ability to delete the world around you and create a settlement. I'm sure there's going to be some kind of restriction on where these can be made but for now let's just hope it can happen anywhere.

Before

After

I can only imagine the amount of hours this sole feature will add to my game timer. The construction of settlements will be a meta game where players are encouraged to grow and maintain the settlement. As the settlement grows, people will begin to arrive including vendors.

Reminds you of Spongebob's stand no?

 As the creator of the settlement you can create a source of food, water and even power generators. These power generators can have wires running to them which can connect to various applications such lights, terminals, and turrets.

Made in game using the power generators and lights

Defense is going to be a big part of the settlement meta game. Raiders and bandits will attack your settlements with varying degrees of frequency. It's up to you to make sure your turrets are powered and your settlers are armed. The system is so deep that you can even set up caravans to travel between settlements. Of course this is all optional but it's going to completely change the way players invest their time in the Wastelands of Boston.

Ever wanted a house by the beach?

Weapons

V.A.T.S (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) is one of the iconic features of the Fallout series. The ability to slow down time and pin point damage on your enemy really makes for a gory, disgusting, satisfying slaughter fest. V.A.T.S is here and ready to make another appearance in Fallout 4.

Before

After XD

According to the conference, players will have more control when using V.A.T.S in Fallout 4 but I don't really see how that's possible. Unless I can focus on shooting an individual eye, then the difference between the old V.A.T.S system and the new one, are probably very subtle. None the less, the return of this feature is definitely noteworthy. We should just call ourselves DeadEye from now on.

Oh yeah, you can use V.A.T.S inside your power armor.

Modding Community

Last but certainly not least is the incorporation of the modding community into the Xbox One. Any mods made on PC can be easily transferred into your Xbox One copy of Fallout 4 (This was announced at the Microsoft press conference so I'm assuming it's not going to be on ps4. Sorry Sony fans). With a modding community almost as big as Skyrim, you can expect this game to be around for years or even decades to come. The side stories, the super powers, the costumes are all going to be endless. Bethesda is joining Microsoft in trying to end the gap between PC gaming and console gaming and in return we received this glorious announcement. 

Microsoft Press Conference

I haven't been this excited for a game in a very long time. I'm so excited that I might just dust off that old Ps3 and go for a play through of Fallout 3. Just some extra news for you guys. The release date for Fallout 4 is November 10th, 2015. And a real life pip-boy comes with the collector's edition of the game with a working app that acts as a second screen reflecting real in-game stats. Of course the app is still free but the idea of having is Pip-boy is just so freaking sick.

Collector's edition

Written by Bryant Del Toro 

Most photo credit goes to Bethesda as they are screen captures of the E3 Press Conference. 

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