Fallout 4: I did my best for the Commonwealth

**This Blog Contains Game Spoilers**

My goal for my winter break was to finish playing Fallout 4. I really enjoyed the game but I felt like until the main story was done, I could not enjoy any other heavily story based games. So I was ready to move on and complete the game. I was successful in my goal but little did I know the game could continue after you completed the main story quests. Both Fallout 3 and New Vegas ended the moment you did the main story, so I was rather caught off guard when I could keep playing. I like playing games with as little spoilers as possible, so even though the game has been out for years I managed a complete blind play through (of all three Fallouts I have played).

I have decided since I have completed the main story that I would be done with Fallout 4, at least for now. I have all the DLC packs for the game and I played through Far Harbor and Nuka-World. I have not done Automatron, so maybe one day if I go back to the game I will play through that. Otherwise I am not sure what my goals would be to return to the game? I have played a total of 6 days, 5 hrs, 15 mins. As for achievements I have unlocked 52/84, 61% of the achievements. Obviously I could go back and work on those. Not sure how many I could actually complete because some of the achievements are probably only able to be completed depending on your play style and what factions you chose. So I am not sure how many more I could actually get done, but that is definitely an option to go back and try and do the ones I can.

I did not care for settlement building. It was a cool idea (and I know a lot of people enjoyed it) but I found it incredibly annoying and time consuming. I hated when I would be in the middle of clearing out a vault or working in Nuka-World and/or Far Harbor and “X Settlement needs your help” would pop up. I am not going to go running out of the vault I am in the middle of and warp to a settlement. By the time I was done doing my thing, I failed the settlement. I placed fortifications up when I could, guns and stuff but it was never enough unless I wanted to spend hours and mass amounts of resources to make each settlement impenetrable. That just was not fun for me. So I definitely wouldn’t go back to the game for any of that type of game play.

Bobble heads? Yeah, I could potentially hunt down all the bobble heads in the game. I only came across nine of them in my play through, so that leaves me eleven more I could go out and hunt for. I did that in Fallout 3, I made sure to hunt them all down before completing the game. That was a fun challenge. I never took the time in New Vegas to get the snow globes. I am in the minority when I say I did not enjoy New Vegas very much. That was so many people’s favorite Fallout but I just couldn’t get into it as much. I put 69 hours into it, completing two of the DLCs. In Fallout hours that really is not a lot. For Fallout 4, I have 166 hours into it and still some potential game play left. I don’t have the hours I put into Fallout 3 because Steam would never record them for whatever reason. However I know I put a crazy amount of hours into it, way more than New Vegas. I played about halfway through it at one point before life got in the way. By the time I wanted to go back to it I needed to restart the game. That time I did a full play through. I spent time finding all the bobble heads and did a lot of side quests. I wish I had had the DLCs because I regret not doing any of them. One day I will buy the DLCs and replay 3, it was definitely my favorite of the three I have played, Fallout 4 being in second place.

Another option I could do is just wander the wasteland and find all the locations. I am sure I barely scraped the map. I do really enjoy the little side quests and stories you find on the computers, notes, and tapes. So I would not mind doing something like that.

Anyone else really enjoy the DLCs Nuka-World and Far Harbor? I put a lot of hours into the DLCs.

Nuka-World reminded me of Disney World. You had the different areas within the world to clear out like the Galactic Zone, Kiddie Kingdom, and the Safari Adventure areas. Each offering different enemies and challenges while you complete the little quests. I enjoyed going through each area. I never “100%” the missions because I was not going to let the raiders over take Nuka-World. I tried really hard to do a good guy approach to my play through. I know an option is to kill the leaders but when I originally played Nuka-World, I was low level and did not have the right stuff to do so. That is definitely something I could go back and do if I pick up the game again.

Far Harbor was really fun too. I liked teaming up with the different factions on the island. Again, playing the good guy I found reasonable ways to make everyone live together peacefully on the island. It was not exactly easy, but I enjoyed the struggle of doing just enough for each faction to trust me and then make them see that they could live together without murdering each other. One of the missions I really liked was Brain Dead, the one in the robot vault under the hotel. Just found the murder mystery element fun to figure out for a bunch of brain robots. Also was just a good change up instead of having to clear out a vault like usual.

I recently went to Greenport, New York and saw this on a distant dock. I tried getting closer but the area was closed to the public. I am sure I missed out on some great raider loot stashed in there. Reminds me of the raiders harbor set up in Libertalia.

What faction(s) did you choose to align with? For most of the play through I aligned with all the factions. I knew I wouldn’t end with the Brotherhood of Steel but I aligned with them to do some of their quests. Kind of enjoyed doing the ones given in the police station where you went to clear out areas and find a component they wanted. Simple enough tasks to do on occasion. My main faction was The Railroad. I liked doing their quests and I got more on board with their ideals of saving the Synths. I followed The Institute up until they wanted to destroy The Railroad, then I did the quests to help arm the synths who wanted to escape and bring down the Institute. I was very caught off guard when I learned my son was now “older” than me and running The Institute. This almost made me align with them and go through with their plans, but I chose The Railroad over my son and his mission. It was a difficult choice, but I think I made the best one I could? How did you feel about that ‘mind blowing’ turn of events? Were you spoiled before your play through?

Overall I really enjoyed Fallout 4. I thought it was a beautifully done game. My play through was 100% blind and I really enjoyed not knowing what would happen next if I made the wrong choices with the factions. There is still a lot of game play left untouched, so maybe one day I will go back and explore more. What do you recommend? Anything I missed that was your favorite and worth putting more hours into the game?

I highly considered playing Fallout 76, however I do not like that I have to pay a subscription to be able to have private maps with my friends. I get they want their money, but I honestly find it ridiculous. So for now, I will not be spending money on it. I like the idea of multiplayer, it would add a new element, I just do not want to play with random people online who could mess up my enjoyment. I know some people would disagree with me, but to each their own.

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