Well it's done, I've finished the game. It was worth every penny it cost, yet it's not perfect. It took me 6 months to finish Dragon Age Inquisition, but it took me only a month to finish this. And not because it has less content. But Because this game is much better. I just kept coming back for more until there was no more. While with Dragon Age I always came back reluctantly to do some chores, that's why it took very long to finish.
But enough about DAI, I don't want to compare it to that anymore because it's just not fair. They're not even in the same league. So let's see how it compares to Fallout 3 and NV then. Well if you are into RPG elements then you'll be disappointed. Otherwise it's more of the same, but better. You still earn XP, but there are no longer skills to spend on, instead there are perks. Each of which gives you an ability or improves something. Basically they can be considered skills just as well, because there are perks that define how hard lock can you pick, and how hard terminal can you hack. While others improve your ability to craft specific mods. So it's not bad. In fact it feels much more streamlined than F3's system, and much easier to figure out.
I was a fan of VATS in F3, and NV, because it allowed you to avoid the sluggish gunplay. But since in F4 the gunplay is improved by a huge margin, the VATS feels completely unnecessary, and any perks you use to improve your VATS performance is just wasted, since you can do fine, if not better without VATS. Because the gunplay is now done well in the game, it no longer feels sluggish or annoying, it's just like any good FPS.
But thankfully the game is not turned into a Bioshock Infinite because of this. It still remains a true RPG, and not an on rails shooter.
The game was and is criticised heavily for it's engine, and graphics. But honestly I don't feel it's deserved. Yes there are occasional glitches, but no more than in any other recently published triple A game. I played the game for about 60-70 hours in total, and only encountered one physics related glitch where a radscorpion catapulted into the air. Apart from that only the usual stuff that happens in every damn game almost.
And the graphics, is just not that bad, there are some very good looking places in the game. And I don't think we should be disappointed by the graphics. It's damn good for a game that is this open.
If the criticism is warranted for something it's loading transitions. That is sometimes not even an engine issue, but a level design one. Numerous times there are small areas cut off as a separate sections. That just doesn't make sense. The engine handles huge areas flawlessly, then why is a basement of a small building has to be a new area, with a loading transition?
And the loading times sometimes are very long, especially when you transition between huge areas.
The atmosphere is great, especially at the beginning of the game. But about halfway trough the story starts to get shallow. It no longer impresses, and the sense that there are forces bigger than you at work here is completely lost. Because no matter what faction you ally yourself with, it seems you're their go to guy for everything.
And without spoiling anything specific on the ending I just have to tell that it's the most underwhelming ever. I was like: "That's it? This would've been a side quest even in F3."
And even though you can ally yourself with any of the four major factions in the game, and play out the endgame with any of them. There are only two separate endings, the other three are carbon copies. The biggest problem is that no faction has a clear agenda, just some vague idea like "the benefit of humanity" but you just can't see what their plan is and how they want it to benefit anyone.
And the radiant quest system? It's bullcrap. Some of them are even bugged. That will keep sending you to the same place over and over again. But even if it's not bugged, they're so repetitive that you'll have had enough after 2 or 3 of each. And of course you can't clear out areas that are part of the radiant quest system. They'll constantly be re populated with enemies.
The map system is so fracked up, the world map feels too cramped. After you discovered a lot of places you won't even be able to see the quest marker on it. And the local map is even worse, even at the largest view, you can barely see anything but the room you're standing in, so it's totally useless.
I've finished the game with a tank character, but i plan to re-start it with a ninja stealth character without power armour. The ability to use different play styles and the exploration certainly gives the game replay value after finishing the story, but there is definitely no point to keep doing radiant quests after the main story is finished.
There seem to be some balance issues with weapons in the game, as the damage shown on each weapon seem to have a very weak relation to the actual damage they do. Often I can kill the same type of enemy with a 50DMG gun faster than with a 120DMG one. So the number is only good to measure how much benefit a mod will give to the weapon but not the actual stopping power. For example I can one shot kill a turret with a 70DMG 10MM pistol, but I can't do the same with a 150DMG Laser Pistol. And I thought mechanical things should be more resistant to ballistic attacks.
Well that seems all that I wanted to say about the game. There is one more thing left however.
The settlement building option. It just feels tacked on at the last minute to the game. It feels unrefined, and out of place. Like they just opened their internal levelbuilder partially. And called it a day. Many of the nuances are not explained and the building materials available to you are very limited and all ugly ass. Which made me completely ignore this part of the game, above what's minimally required to progress the story. I think the biggest mistake they made is that each settlement has it's own workshop supply, and what you store in one workshop is not automatically available at others. I know that it would break immersion, but that you have to learn what material you need to build something, then go to the other settlement, and then manually transfer all into your inventory, then go back and then build the thing you wanted is just too much hassle. Yes I know there is a perk that you can use to set up "trading" between settlements, but I was already half into the game when I learned about that, with a character that has 1 CHR. And you need a minimum of 6 CHR to be able to unlock that perk. And even then the game doesn't explain how to set up these trading routes exactly. So no. I keep to my original assessment the whole build shit option feels tacked on.
It would be somewhat better if settlers would actually start building things without you, but this way that you have to build even the most basic things yourself it's just not a good system.
Let's summarize things:
+
- Atmosphere
- First Half of the main story
- Graphics at a few places
- Modding system
- Much improved gunplay
- Many interesting places to explore
- Well detailed areas
- Some funny sidequests
- Great variety of enemies to shoot at.
-
- Bad dialogue system (no matter which option you choose the outcome is exactly the same, unless it's a persuade option)
- The world map is too cramped
- Underwhelming ending, with carbon copy style.
- No clear agenda for any of the factions
- Shallow story after the "big reveal".
- Balance problems.
- Radiant quests
- Loading times and transitions between areas
- There aren't many real side quests that I could find.
Scoring card:
graphics / realization: 8/10
story / atmosphere: 7/10
gameplay / controls: 9/10
overall impression: 8/10
Of course there are tons of mods already out for the game, but I was never a big fan of modding the gameplay on a first play trough. Unless it's something absolutely blatantly idiotic that needs immediate fixing.