I was part of the VGU community when I was playing FNV and FO3, then I kinda dropped off to play and mod me some Skyrim. I have spent the
last 3-4 years on and off playing it.

When Fallout 4 was announced I was excited but first I needed an upgrade of my rig.

I have that now, but I am hesitant in jumping into Fallout 4.

I have done my fair share of browsing (as much as I could to avoid the spoilers).

But I want your honest opinion of the game (Spoiler free please).

1) Is the game playable without mods?
2) Knowing Bethesda, is there an Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch?
3) Hows the modding scene thus far since the GECK has been released?
4) Hows the new engine? Is it riddled with problems like Skyrim?

1. To me, yep. In comparison, I dreaded FO3 and FNV without mods.
2. There already is. However, it's much less impactful than the previous iterations: I purposely am running fine without it.
3. Chaotic, especially with mods being released on consoles. Lots of s*** slung on both sides. That being said, there's quite a lot of new stuff to take in despite similarities to older stuff. For one, art assets are now done almost completely differently, so don't expect the same quality of guns or stuff like that for a while.
4. A few, but much less crash-prone than Skyrim for quite a few people. However, there's stupid shadow problems which make even the best computers just not work. That's entirely a game issue.

1. Yes. Other than testing my own mods, I have used zero mods so far. FO4 is easily playable without mods.

2. Yes. Arthmoor released one a while ago. I'm not using it and my game is fine (other than a few known bugs)

3. Ugly lately with the recent console drama. I've talked with a lot of big youtubers such as Gopher, Al, mxr, and others... they all seem to believe the future is bleak for FO4 modding. They are not getting the same amount of attention when they did Skyrim videos. Truthfully speaking FO4 game itself is pretty dull. Sure, it has enhanced gameplay, new features such as settlement building but the story and dialogue comes up real short.

4. Yes better than Skyrim but again it has horrible shadow problems as dazzerfong mentioned. It's technically the same engine with new lighting features but again comes up real short compared to other modern game. But again, since the story and dialogue was so lackluster Gopher told me he could care less about the engine. He wanted a real Fallout game over better gunplay etc.

If I gave a score for FO4 it would be 6.5/10. If you have faith in the crumbling modding community go and buy the game. You should at least get 60 hours of gameplay which is pretty good.

Best quote that I've read was "Good game but not a Fallout game". I think that accurately depicts what FO4 is IF you compared Fallout 4 to 1,2, and NV.

For comparison sake, my opinions on my previous titles.
Skyrim 9/10
FNV 9.5/10
FO3 7.5/10

With how bad imho fallout 4 was, and many other youtubers seem to think the same. The game wont last very long due to RP limitations and the voiced protaganist. A lot of the mods now are either decent mods, Good incentive and idea mods executed poorly, and last the "slutty" mods which I still cant understand why people install such things, like go watch some porn or something at least.

I've said this in a few places already, but here goes:

Fallout 4 has great gameplay. But that's it. I didn't care about the story. I tried. I really tried. On paper the premise seems so intriguing. And there are even little glimpses of whimsy that give a tiny glimmer of hope. But eventually you find yourself saddled with the CHORE that is the main game/quest progression. (Let it be known that I am currently typing this with the game on in the background because I had to take a break and find something more interesting to do.)

As far as bugs are concerned, the biggest challenge I face was just getting the game to run smoothly. After that there really hasn't been much of anything.

And for mods... I play with some eye-candy (as in ReShade and ENB... not the slooty mcbooty stuff). There are also some good mods for enemies: Leveled Spawns, Super Mutant Redux, Raider Overhaul, etc. But yeah, it's pretty much all aesthetics at this point.

In order for the modding for this game to thrive it will take some REALLY creative people to peak interest with some good writing and creative navigation around the deadset portions of the game. But with the current hostile climate and the affinity to give more attention to the aforementioned slooty mods, my expectations are pretty low...

Something that I should have had before playing.

The game is still fun and I believe you will enjoy it to a degree. Just keep those expectations low!

nichoice wrote:

1) Is the game playable without mods?
2) Knowing Bethesda, is there an Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch?
3) Hows the modding scene thus far since the GECK has been released?
4) Hows the new engine? Is it riddled with problems like Skyrim?

1) The game is playable without mods, and depending on your rig, you may get fps dip in large city areas.
2) Yes.
3) Still on it early days so imo nothing as huge as some huge Skyrim mods so far. But I could see the voiced protagonist being a problem for future huge DLC-sized quest mods.
4) Kinda.

maybenexttime wrote:

1. Yes. Other testing my own mods, I have used zero mods so far. FO4 is easily playable without mods.

2. Yes. Arthmoor released one a while ago. I'm not using it and my game is fine (other than a few known bugs)

3. Ugly lately with the recent console drama. I've talked with a lot of big youtubers such as Gopher, Al, mxr, and others... they all seem to believe the future is bleak for FO4 modding. They are not getting the same amount of attention when they did Skyrim videos. Truthfully speaking FO4 game itself is pretty dull. Sure, it has enhanced gameplay, new features such as settlement building but the story and dialogue comes up real short.

4. Yes better than Skyrim but again it has horrible shadow problems as dazzerfong mentioned. It's technically the same engine with new lighting features but again comes up real short compared to other modern game. But again, since the story and dialogue was so lackluster Gopher told me he could care less about the engine. He wanted a real Fallout game over better gunplay etc.

If I gave a score for FO4 it would be 6.5/10. If you have faith in the crumbling modding community go and buy the game. You should at least get 60 hours of gameplay which is pretty good.

Best quote that I've read was "Good game but not a Fallout game". I think that accurately depicts what FO4 is IF you compared Fallout 4 to 1,2, and NV.

For comparison sake, my opinions on my previous titles.
Skyrim 9/10
FNV 9.5/10
FO3 7.5/10

This sums it up perfectly

Thank you all for your honest reviews of the game but it all seems very disheartening to read.

Having read everyone's comments I am more concerned with regards to the modding community.

And I am quite surprised that not everyone is using Arthmoor's unofficial fix, I mean that is a good thing right? It means that the vanilla game isn't riddled with game-breaking bugs as bad as its predecessors?

Though the DLCs aren't all out yet, so maybe there is hope?

Yes some DLCs are suppose still come out. No one knows how many but I'm sure Bethesda will detail their future plans for FO4.

Honestly, people are a bit disappointed with DLC lately esp when compared with Witcher 3's DLC. Far Harbor was a step in the right direction but some people wonder if it's too late.

Currently, there is 3 more DLCs lined up. Nuke World and 2 more wasteland workshop.

Far harbor was great but it still suffers from the fact that all the loot in fo4 feels like crafting ingredients....

And almost no really unique weapons .....

It's a bit sad, sure, but there's always room for new talent. Some people here are dreadfully pessimistic: it's almost as if the only modders worth mentioning are the old ones

dazzerfong wrote:

It's a bit sad, sure, but there's always room for new talent. Some people here are dreadfully pessimistic: it's almost as if the only modders worth mentioning are the old ones

It's almost like people just assumed modding died with FNV. Like, CK just came out. Give it a year and we'll have some Someguy level mods again. Jeez.

Let's hope we get some of mods like J3X's motorcycle and Ermeso's vehicle mods. Also looking forward to Someguy's drunken fits of modding.

1.Game's playable without mods, but there's not really a good selection yet anyways as far as stand out quality quest mods and overhauls go.
2.There's already an unofficial patch.
3.The modding community is overall at a cancerous state right now between console players stealing mods and a lot of bickering.
4. The engine's alright, but it has a fair share of problems that'll make you shake your head.

Ironhide11183 wrote:

With how bad imho fallout 4 was, and many other youtubers seem to think the same. The game wont last very long due to RP limitations and the voiced protaganist. A lot of the mods now are either decent mods, Good incentive and idea mods executed poorly, and last the "slutty" mods which I still cant understand why people install such things, like go watch some porn or something at least.

oh please Skyrim was no exception either that game lacked so much the games before it had and its the most popular game on the Nexus to mod i got that game at launch played it for an hour literally didn't touch it for three years till the mods could fix it