First day in Commonwealth (Fallout 4)
My first day in the Commonwealth.
The game starts off like the usual from the trailer, in the year 2077. The game also takes you through the usual create-your-character-and-name-it walkthrough. You select your SPECIAL stats, and off you go. You’re out of the introduction in about 20 minutes give or take, before you can roam around the wasteland as you desire. The game will also try to guide you if you’re completely lost and don’t know what to do.
It’s a win/win for both newcomers to the Fallout series and experienced players from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.
Your Vault, Vault 111, gives you a brief introduction as to what the purpose of this Vault really were. To survive 210 years without aging, there is really one way of doing it. However, the game is new so I won’t spoil anything.
Performance
The game itself runs rather decently, given it’s a Bethesda title and engine. I run it at 4k resolution on a 980 GTX card, and I get from 30-60 frames per second (FPS) with everything set to ultra quality, with nVidia Shadowplay capturing every move I make.
The graphics itself could have been better, but they look nice and in the limited playtime I’ve had with the game, there are some nice weather effects happening randomly(?).
Exit of Vault 111 into Commonwealth
Another screenshot with nice lighting effects.
God rays by the Red Rocket gas station
Gameplay
If you’ve played either of the two previous Fallout games and you liked it, you’re in for a nice surprise. The are very similar.
Dialogues
There are a couple small annoyances with the controls itself, and Fallout 4 reeks of being a console title. I really hate it when developers forgets about the PC platform (hello Rockstar?) and even more when the controls stinks of being limited to 2 axes and 4 buttons. The mouse is virutally useless in dialogues. It feels like it’s an afterthought, a nuisance. However, the game is playable once you learn a couple of tricks. There seems to be at least some developers at Bethesda caring for the PC gamers.
For the dialogue, I’ve found this not documented(?) feature to press numbers 1-4 for the 4 options in dialogue.
1 - UP
2 - LEFT
3 - RIGHT
4 - DOWN
Mnemonics for talking in Fallout 4
No need to open containers to see the contents
This is really a killer feature. In previous games the character knew if any container was empty or not, and thus it should know the contents of the container too. This is really awesome in Fallout 4, you’ll get the contents of a container the moment it comes into openable distance. However, this also feels like an aid for console players, but I think I’ll let this one pass.
Container contents are available for inspection without opening.
This feature giver a very smooth gameplay. Most of the time used in previous games went to scavenging for loot and the screen for transferring items were the most used screen for me.
Power armor
Power armor is available very early in the game, and even without the heavy armor training perk, which was required in the two previous games. The backside of the coin is that the power armor is actually a limited resource, due to the power requirements. The power in the armor will deplete unless you refill it. An other nice thing about the power armor, is that it’s feels like an exoskeleton and not just another wearable armor-thingy. It even got a HUD.
Power armor – Check
Minigun – Check
Top of the roof – Check
What could be in the end of the alley here?
And a nice closeup of the power armor.
Closeup of power armor
This concludes the first day in the Commonwealth.
PS: No arrows were taken in the knee.
