Okay, like I said I picked up the game a few days ago. After spending quite a few hours playing, here are my impressions so far.
I'm carrying too much to be able to post...hold on...
*drops empty paint bucket*
There, that's better. Now, onto the review. Okay, so this is actually my first Fallout game. I'm not sure why I never got into it before. I guess it's one of those games that just always had bad timing or just wasn't catching my attention.
I must say, I'm loving it so far. It could be better of course, but it is very addictive. I really like the setting. I find the world interesting and like the concept.
It's like a jack of all trades game. Part RPG building a character. Part strategy building up settlements. Ever-so-small part military sim with upgrading weapons and sneaking around looking for headshots or getting into a good position.
Part of my problem with RPG games is wanting to start over and try new things. I have two characters going. The first was a stealth sniper build who was very weak health wise, and the second is more of a stealth melee who is very tough health wise.
The game is very hard to put down. I spent several hours just building up the settlement at Sanctuary. I love RTS and "building" type games, so this is no surprise. I also like exploring and looting everything I can find.
The combat is fun. I always seem to end up with stealth characters. I don't know, running and gunning just seems so boring, though I may make one eventually.
I wasn't sure what to think about V.A.T.S at first, but it is fun to play with. It doesn't always seem accurate though. Sometimes the damage is not what it promised, or it tells me I have a clear shot when I end up hitting a wall or something. Other than that it is cool. I don't always use it, but it's nice for a change and gives the game a bit of a turn-based feel.
I'm sooo glad they got rid of regenerating health. It had no business being in Skyrim. At least now, you have to take a perk to get it.
I'm not crazy about having a family. My characters are usually loners. Having a wife and son doesn't really sit well with my character. I'm just not much of a family guy. So, it makes it feel less like a character I made, and more that I'm playing a predetermined character. I haven't even bothered taking companions with me that much. I'd rather just do it myself.
The conversation system is cool, but I don't always feel like it says what I expected. Talking to some characters seems to take a while if they are busy since we have to wait for them to stand up or whatnot, but that's a minor complaint.
I will say that this game is a bit buggy. I've had merchant mules on my roof and in my bedroom, characters sitting in thin air, and crashes galore. At one point my guy glitched completely and said he was crippled even though he wasn't. This ruined the third person camera completely (not that I use it much), but more importantly, ruined my aim. I had to throw a molotav cocktail at myself and then heal to fix it.
The perk system is cool, though I'm not always crazy about having to wait until certain levels to take a perk. This can mean memorizing where a master safe is for later or not being able to concentrate as much on a certain skill. I can understand some of it was for balance, but I'm not sure what to think yet. I often end up saving perks until I need them or can do a good test to see if I like them.
I play on normal difficulty. Honestly, survival mode sounded cool, but then I heard it turned enemies into bullet sponges. Ugh. I hate having to shoot people in the head a hundred times. I was hoping it would be more like the hardcore mode from New Vegas. Oh well. I won't be using it, so that's disappointing.
I haven't done that much of the story yet. I'm not big on story in Bethesda games. I made it to Diamond City and did a few missions, but mostly I've been doing side quests.
I'm playing the PC version with an Xbox 1 controller.
Anyway, I'm sure there's more that I forgot to say, but that's good enough.
