#it just frustrates me that fo4 has a lot of wasted potential

[earwig5]

it’s kind of crazy that both fallout new Vegas and fallout 4 have the same driving force for the first half of the narrative (find the guy who wronged you and make him pay) but Benny is so much more memorable and narratively interesting than Kellogg.

It’s a matter of a strong character foil versus a weak one, in my opinion.

Benny and the courier are very much alike. They are both ambitious people who are willing to do anything possible to stack the odds in their favour. Honestly, Benny and the courier are the same card, reversed.

The Sole Survivor and Kellogg are also intended to be character foils. The game tries to convince us of this with the scenes in Kellogg’s mind, where we see that he ‘isn’t so different’ from our protagonist after all. But we don’t know anything about Kellogg other than his backstory. How can he parallel the protagonist if we don’t know which traits he has? Which traits the two of them share?

(As a side note, I wish Fallout 4 had touched way more on the ‘Man/Woman Out of Time’ thing. The protagonist being frozen in the past + Kellogg being functionally immortal would’ve been really cool to explore! Especially in the context of grief!)

In the end, I think the reason Benny is a more powerful character foil is that he doesn’t disappear from the world when you kill him. The chairmen can mourn him, House will comment on it, and even NPCs across the Mojave will talk about Benny’s death!

In Kellogg’s case, the protagonist is basically the only person who knows he even existed! Once he’s dead HE’s DEAD! He disappears completely from the narrative! As soon as you leave fort Hagen, the game doesn’t bother looking back.

that’s why Benny is a more haunting force for new Vegas; particularly an independent courier. You are Benny’s legacy because you are what he leaves behind whether he likes it or not. People remember him as the couriers victim. Meanwhile, nobody remembers Kellogg at all. The memory of who Kellogg was dies with you, and you can choose to forget him.

[swindlefingrs]

this is wonderful, boy I wish I could clean that place (why do you betray me Sony)

@chocochipbiscuit replied to your photo “Charlotte gets Nuka-World cleared out and finally stakes a claim for...”

I LOVE THIS. Nuka World just had so much wasted potential :'(

Ayeeeee thanks! Sony really fucked up FO4 mods by not allowing for external scripts on mods. I barely got Glory’s Grave to work on PS4. 

And yeah, Nuka World coulda been rad and I hold to the idea that the player’s selected faction shoulda taken over that space. Playing it post-game is pretty silly considering the time your Survivor took putting everything back in order. Maybe it fits better with a new Survivor? I dunno, it’s just not the same kind of fun I had with Far Harbor. Don’t get me wrong, I like Gage as the amoral raider who looks like an old shoe. The areas were interesting, the new clothing was cool, but I just felt like the storyline fell short for me. Also, I’ll never stop being salty that Cait has nothing to say if you take her there.

@uglehcat replied to your post “@orcteeth replied to your post “Today in motorcycle maintenance:...”

I CANT UNSEE THE FISH

@orcteeth replied to your post “@orcteeth replied to your post “Today in motorcycle maintenance:...”

Very nice. Not too big but still powerful. I want a motorcycle but can't ride a regular bike. You'll have to keep me updated so I can live vicariously through you.

Once I saw the fish, I couldn’t unsee it. It’s been years and I still hear “GLOMNOMNOM” every time I look at that dumb bike.

I’ll totally keep up with the updates, kind of helps keep me working on this thing instead of putting it off. Tomorrow I’m gonna see about getting the fuel out and hope I don’t have to take off too many body panels to do it.

@sorrelchestnut replied to your post “@sorrelchestnut replied to your post “Here’s one for you and I’m a...”

Your comment in the tags about different Sole Survivors and how they fit differently to Deacon is one of the reasons I find Charlotte so fascinating to read about, bc she pretty much could not be more different than Whisper, but she and Deacon still work so well. Like you said, it really just reminds me how multifaceted of a character he is, that so many different characters can fit together with him and still feel real.

Yooo and Whisper is what made me think of the comment (as well as a few other Deacon x Survivor fics I need to sit down and read on my reading list). I like to think about how people together can amplify or nullify certain behaviors or characteristics with each other - for better or worse.

Apparently I have a lot of feels about this because I just keep talking about it (and ultimately why I enjoy OC x Canon pairings so much). Bless you for humoring me.

@notactuallyaduck replied to your post “@sorrelchestnut replied to your post “Here’s one for you and I’m a...”

I absolutely adore how much -work- is involved. It's nice to see that it's not always defeat of a common enemy, fall into each others arms~ Like that's all relationships in general take. And the fact that they do work hard at it, even if they take breaks, is just more respect for each other. And themselves.

Ngl I think the common enemy thing gets them there and keeps them there, because when push comes to shove they’re both very dedicated-to-the-cause people - they just show their dedication in different ways. I dunno man, I just know how much work relationships are, even the easy ones, and I think there’s something kind and beautiful in two (or more) people putting in the work for each other. 

For me, a “good” relationship isn’t one without conflict or frustration, but one where conflicts and frustrations are worked on together, where someone’s not left doing all the emotional labor, and where everyone feels heard and understood and appreciated at the end of the day. That’s what makes me feel the feels.

[noctomania]

Fallout 5 predictions

From what I've seen, read, and experienced in the past, here are my predictions for Fallout 5:

1 It won't be for several years, I'd say 5 or more. Granted technology is much different even within the past 5 yrs, so this could be entirely off, but based off Bethesda track record, and if the rest of my predictions are true, I'd say this number isn't too far off.

2 they must be building a new engine. 76 was built with the same engine as fo4 and new vegas was on the same engine as fo3 so that seems to be their limit. besides, i still hold that i believe 76 was a proof of concept for online play since online/multiplayer has been a request of fans for a long time. that said...

3 i suspect fo5 will have some sort of online capabilities. howard has said they like to keep the nunbered releases single player but that they are looking at social elements for fo5. that and it's unlikely they would entirely throw away everything they did for fo76. it obviously wasn't as successful as maybe they hoped but they're likely still going to try to glean something from it so that endeavour wouldn't have been an entire waste. I wouldn't be surprised however if the social elements are much more limited and are entirely separate from the storyline. Perhaps it would even just be a dlc.

4 as for location i highly doubt it will be anywhere outside the us, for various reasons. Particularly since China is one of the major international locations that fans have been wanting to see and getting visas for a whole scouting team might be difficult and potentially expensive. Besides that there are areas in the US that we've not seen so much, including the Deep South. I read an article that suggested potentially New Orleans which i don't think is a bad guess. Bethesda likes locations that are landmark (Washington dc, fenway, vegas strip, hoover dam), and have played around with swampy areas here and there already. It also provides a strong culture to tie to elements, and undoubtedly quite a bit of lore to play with. The only other region they haven't really dabbled much (they've touched coastal both west and east, metropolitan, desert) in is the Midwest but... it's the Midwest...there ain't much there to model a game around. Not to say that it would be impossible, just probably not likely and would probably be preferred for one of their intermediate games since it would be simpler. While Texas may be a consideration, I'd also say that is unlikely since they hit the southwest in new vegas across cali, nevada, and Arizona.

5 I reckon they are going to work on base building since that had some advancement in 76 with c.a.m.p. or whatever it was. idk if it will look exactly like that, but clearly they're playing with the base building since it didn't really "just work". that i would be most excited about because i reckon the most time i spent with fo4 was base building and i love base building. I've never been as much a fan of just basic crafting, but when it involves building a space then i get excited. I'm hoping they have more variety of elements, more space to build in, fewer limitations, and generally a better system that is closer to "just works", bc stg sometimes i got so frustrated.

things I'd like to see:

- transportation besides click and go fast travel. would a teensy bit more immersion hurt? i could see carriages at least. i wouldn't be surprised if it still doesn't happen tho.

- as i said before im banking on a better base building system

- better character customization, particularly hairstyles. this has been an issue for me in many games tho bc am picky. fo4 did a lot better in general but the hair still left me wanting. different clothing might be nice too.

i can't really think of much else right now.