They call me The Wanderer

[FatherJack]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3IlHBBGCIw[/youtube]

You've probably all seem the TV trailer by now, but I did notice it looks a lot nicer than some of the earlier footage and hope it's representative of in-game visuals, although it likely isn't as there's some live action stuff in there.

Available from midnight tonight, can Fallout 4 beat its predecessors in terms of epic or perhaps bonkers quests?

Are slightly crazy engineer ladies, cannibal towns, crap superheroes, ghost vaults, chinese invasion simulators or radioactive cola bottle hunts your favourite? Or do you prefer some of the quests from the other games like blasting ghouls off in rockets, recuiting Fisto the sexbot, being a supermutant's gimp for the night or becoming a porn star?

[Dog Pants]

I don't remember any of those quests from Fallout 3. Are they from New Vegas or 4? Because they do sound fun.

As I mentioned in the daily thread, we were talking about open world games on Friday night. I really struggled to point out why I didn't like Fallout 3, Skyrim, or Oblivion. Everything I came up with was countered by someone and made me think maybe it wasn't that. I settled on too much travelling - nothing interesting and it's a chore, too much interesting and it's too distracting. I think I didn't like the combat much either, the weapons just felt flimsy and the bad guys took ages to kill. Someone feel free to tell me why I'm wrong about that too though (seriously, because I want to like these games).

[Roman Totale]

I don't like the look of what they've done with the dialogue options in this latest installments - seems like a big step back. In all honesty nothing about this one has gripped me, so it will be interesting to see what the reviews say (although people who haven't even played it yet are gushing about how it's the game of the year).

[buzzmong]

Best quest was in Fallout 2, having to get various sexual aids for an old Ghoul, awkward and funny as hell due to conversations with other npc's

[Dog Pants]

That's good AIDS, right?

I've reinstalled Fallout 3 and I'm going to mod it up to something with decent combat to see if that's my beef. If I can get the fucker to patch.

[FatherJack]

I don't remember any of those quests from Fallout 3. Are they from New Vegas or 4? Because they do sound fun.

Fallout 3:
slightly crazy engineer ladies - Moira Brown of Megaton Craterside Supplies asks you do some research for her Wasteland Survival Guide (named after Wasteland, the 1988 Apple II game that inspired Fallout) http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Wasteland ... de_(quest)
cannibal towns - The residents of Andale are hiding something http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Our_Little_Secret
crap superheroes - AntAgonizer's and the Mechanist square off in Canterbury Commons http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Superhuman_Gambit
ghost vaults - Vault 106, not actually ghosts but psychoactive drugs pumped into the ventilation system http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Vault_106
chinese invasion simulators - a Tranquility Lane possible ending http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Tranquility_Lane
radioactive cola bottle hunts - Find lots of Nuka Cola Quantums for an NC-obsessed lady in Girdershade, or the man who is trying to get in her pants http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Nuka-Cola_Challenge

New Vegas
blasting ghouls off in rockets - some ghouls at the REPCONN test site think salvation can be found via a rocket trip to the promised land http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Come_Fly_With_Me
recuiting Fisto the sexbot - one of three special-interest "escorts" you agree to find for a pimp in Freeside http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Wang_Dang_Atomic_Tango

Fallout 2:
being a supermutant's gimp for the night - lose an arm wrestling match to Francis at Broken Hills bar and this is your fate http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Beat_Fran ... mwrestling
becoming a porn star - fulfill a number of critera at the Golden Globes pornography studio http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Porn_Star

As I mentioned in the daily thread, we were talking about open world games on Friday night. I really struggled to point out why I didn't like Fallout 3, Skyrim, or Oblivion. Everything I came up with was countered by someone and made me think maybe it wasn't that. I settled on too much travelling - nothing interesting and it's a chore, too much interesting and it's too distracting. I think I didn't like the combat much either, the weapons just felt flimsy and the bad guys took ages to kill. Someone feel free to tell me why I'm wrong about that too though (seriously, because I want to like these games).

I remember one reason for you not liking Skyrim as you were limited to just one resurrected minion instead of vast skeleton army, which if a little specific, is a valid reason. The games promise limitless freedom, but as that demonstrates, don't actually offer that.

They give freedom of movement in spades, such that many lose interest as they are not really sure what they are supposed to be doing, or get distracted by something on the way and forget. Even a simple quest to go to a specific location can take hours as you can bump into various people or monsters on the way or spy interesting-looking buildings - each of which can add hours of exploring or questing to sidetrack you.

It can create a different experience depending on the player and the fact you didn't recognise those quests evidences that you were either unlucky, uninquistive, or too travel-weary to discover what some would call highlights of the game.

The combat can be tiresome when it seems ineffective, you can of course lower the difficulty or spend more skill points in specific areas at character creation with certain weapons in mind, but these detract from the feeling of freedom as not only are you steered towards a certain way of moulding a character, but you also veer clear of enemies you find too tough - which in turn limits your exploration.

I think it's flawed but works kind of logically. When you first meet the fire ants they are terrifying and kill you pretty easily. There is a quest to go into the depths of their lair and confront ther queen. You don't expect to be able to complete that quest at level one. In New Vegas there's a short way to the titular town - but you'll have to be very sneaky or very lucky to make it past the well-named Deathclaws. You're free to try of course, it's an open world game, but you aren't necessarily free to succeed.

[Dog Pants]

I do remember some of those quests now you mention it. I don't think my charisma was high enough in Fallout 2 though, I ended up as a fluffer. The invasion sim in F3 was interesting, if a bit of a slog at times. You're right about Skyrim and my army of the undead, that really did bring out the fourth wall - especially since I killed NPCs who could do that. Not so much in Fallout 3 because my only expectation was to wander about and find interesting shit. The distraction thing was definitely a part of it. It started to become tiresome, despite me wanting to find interesting shit in the desert. I think maybe I always had a feeling that I should have been doing something else and that I was procrastinating. I don't know, like I say I struggle to put a finger on it. I'm also wondering if it's just Bethesda games - I loved wandering about in MMOs finding little easter eggs, to the point where having to fight monsters on the way puts me off playing them. Maybe if I could mod all the monsters out...