Jimmy and Curie, hitting the road!

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4 on the PlayStation 4. Last time, I traded in Nick for Curie and today we painted the town. When I get a new companion, I like to travel with them until they idolize me. I consider it a gift to them.

I also did a little spring cleaning. I cleared out my inventory of useless gear and, using the Chemistry and Cooking Stations, converted much of the rest into more useful items. Crafting items earns very little experience, but crafting hundreds of items is a different story. I jumped a couple of levels after my craft-a-thon and got a couple more from quests. Including the perk points I’d been hoarding, I had six to spend.

For all those people that see a super-mutant and just wanna bop them a good one!

As I had to deal with a “sea monster”, I took the first rank of Aquagirl. It seemed odd because the first rank eliminates rads from water and allows you to breath underwater. The second and final rank makes you invisible in water. It seems like it should have been three ranks, but I’m not complaining.

I also took two points of Luck, raising it to 9 and the first rank of Critical Banker. Having an extra critical hit in my pocket has definitely come in handy. Finally, on a whim, I upped my Agility one point to 9 and took the first rank of Blitz. Stabbing people from far away can’t be a bad thing, right?

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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The U.S.S. Constitution seen breaking the horizon during a radiation storm.

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. I moved the story forward today a bit and found my second favorite quest of the game so far (it’ll take a lot to top The Sliver Shroud from Day 13): Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution.

The Constitution has always fascinated me. The ship was launched in 1797 and christened by George Washington. It was the third frigate to be built for the fledgling U.S. Navy. Built in Boston, she is the oldest active commissioned warship in the world. She was never bested in battle and, in fact, is the only active ship in the U.S. Navy to have sunk an enemy vessel. She received her nickname, “Old Ironsides” from her pitched battle with the Guerriere, a British frigate, during the War of 1812 when the British became convinced that their cannon shot were bouncing off her hull.

In the Fallout universe, apparently, the ship was heavily modified for reasons. Who could argue that strapping rockets to a 300-year old wooden ship is a bad idea? Well, I suppose somebody could argue that, but they would be wrong.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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An even betterer gauss rifle!

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4 on the PlayStation 4. As I move forward, I’ve made a decision to knock off all the fast traveling. Well, maybe not all, but most. I may still do the odd quick trip to dump gear or defend a settlement, but other than that, it’s me and my walking shoes, baby!

Fallout games tend to devolve to fast-travel-a-thons after a while. Get an assignment, fast-travel to the closest place, run to the assigned place, fast-travel back, wash, rinse, repeat. Walking takes longer, but it’s the only way to see the amazing number of non-quest locations, unmarked easter eggs, staged scenes and lush landscapes.

One side-benefit, shared with upping the difficulty level, is that I’m getting a lot more gear. One legendary raider I decapitated dropped my new baby: an explosive shielded gauss rifle. After some basic tinkering I’ve got a rifle that does 217 points of base damage plus 15 points AOE explosive damage. With my perks, that’s over a 1,000 points of damage on a sneak attack! I’ll miss my Endless gauss rifle and never having to reload, but and extra few dozen points of damage seems more than worth it.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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All the robots came out to help me celebrate!

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. I reached level 60 near the end of my last session. As I did on Day 17, when I reached level 30, I’m going to take a few minutes and reflect on my current position and my thoughts so far.

I’m still working on, and mostly succeeding in, avoiding spoilers. With the initial rush of interest settling down, it’s become easier. The die-hard fans will continue forever, as always, but I’m able to research specific problems (it’s a fallout game: there are problems!) without too much risk of spoilers. Still, with my son playing and videos of my favorite Let’s Players piling up, I’m thinking getting through the story sooner than later may be wise.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead (although not as many today as usual)!

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The Awareness perk: like taking a peek at somebody else’s underpants.

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4 on PlayStation 4. Today, uncharacteristically, I actually moved the story forward a bit with the help of Nick Valentine.

Since pushing my difficulty level to “Hard” I’ve definitely seen an increase in the number of legendary enemies and corresponding legendary loot. The actual quality of the loot doesn’t seem to have risen dramatically, but more random draws overall definitely means more good (as well as not-so-good) loot. If nothing else legendary items do sell at a premium, although it’s not as if caps are difficult to come by in the game.

I did reach level 60, so expect the next installment to do be a character overview as I did on Day 17. I used my perk point to purchase “Awareness”, which is definitely nice to have, but far from necessary. You can see an enemies level, specific armor ratings and resistances but, so far at least, no “secret” weaknesses.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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Now my Gauss Rifle never needs to be reloaded. Ever.

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4 on PlayStation 4. I finished with the Railroad (or, more specifically, they stopped giving me missions) and spent some very frustrating time trying to make my ungrateful settlers happy. I gave up trying. Jerks.

I’ve also decided that things have been a bit too easy, so I upped my difficultly level from “normal” to “hard”. I haven’t seen a huge difference in gameplay yet, so I may bump things up to “very hard” soon. One thing that might have been affected is the quality of legendary drops. My first one after making the change was a “Never Ending Gauss Rifle”. This little gem still consumes ammo, but never needs to be reloaded. As soon as I could, I replaced my standard gauss rifle with it.

Two more levels today. I took the third rank of Strong Back allowing me to run when overloaded (at the cost of Action Points). I had planned on taking the last rank next, but got side-tracked back into settlement-ville and, to support an experiment I’ll explain below, raised my Charisma by a point to eight.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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Some people complain about the weapon names, but what else would you call an Improved Targeting Boosted Agitated Improved Automatic Laser Pistol? An ITBAIALP?!

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4 on PlayStation 4. Family has come and gone for the holidays and I finally have uninterrupted access to my TV (at least until Monday, when I have to go back to work).

I mostly continued with the Railroad missions and gained several levels. I’m fairly happy with my character as-is, so I’m focusing now on some of the annoyances. Firstly, I upped my Strength by one point, to six, allowing me to spend an additional two points on Strong Back. I’ve enjoyed the extra 50 pounds of carry weight immensely.

I also took the third and final rank of Better Criticals and the second rank of Demolition Expert. As enemies have increased in strength I’ve found the need to introduce multiple Assaultrons, Sentry Bots and Deathclaws to big piles of mines. With the second rank I can craft cryo and frag mines and grenades. I also get a 50% damage bonus with explosives and a throwing arc with grenades al a Uncharted.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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My new chit-chat suit. Strong, my eyes are up here!

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. I’m making progress even with TV access limited by family holiday visits. As I promised, I finally rescued poor Nick Valentine. He had been waiting for the better part of an (in game) year, but didn’t seem any the worse for wear. I immediately began ignoring him again.

I did some spring cleaning of my gear and created a new high-charisma talky-chatty suit. With Agatha’s Dress, a jaunty newsboy cap and some fashionable glasses, my Charisma is boosted to 12 for those important persuasions. I also did some minor improvements to my armor and weapons.

I spent all those perk points that I had stockpiled on day 21. Firstly, I finished off settlements by taking two ranks of Cap Collector (allowing me to build emporiums) and the first rank of Medic (allowing me to build medical facilities). I also upped my Luck to six and purchased two ranks of Better Criticals as my criticals were feeling a little anemic. Later, when I reached level 51, I added another point to Endurance.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

(more…)

A terrible future where mutant cows sneak up on innocent settlers.

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. Last time I begrudgingly decided to go with the flow and do every settlement quest that came along. I continued doing that much longer than any sane person would.

I was actually getting into it for a while. My companions seemed to enjoy it, I was still getting the odd (but increasingly rare) new location to explore and I was finding many things I missed in the old locations. Then I traveled to the Super-Duper Mart and was ambushed by a weird, stray behemoth. That put a bit of a damper on things.

One benefit to my adventuring: I gained six levels and am now level 49. I was so set on trundling through the missions I haven’t spent a single perk point… I’m seriously debating skipping new skills and just maxing out Luck. Maybe a point or two to Endurance or Strength?

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

(more…)

Yeah, that’s the good stuff.

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. Or at least I tried. Last time I swore – pinky swore – that I was going to finally rescue Nick Valentine. I had every intention of doing so: I went back to sanctuary to pick up Piper. I wanted to be clear that despite my recent tryst with Cait, she’d always be my number one lady. We hit the Diamond City Market to stock up and things went south from there.

The distractions were extended, but profitable. I gained no less than eight new levels in this marathon weekend session, bringing me to level 43. I took the fourth ranks of Gunner, Science! and Armorer to max out my crafting capabilities, but remain sadly unimpressed with Armorer. I also worked on my core a bit and raised both Strength and Endurance by a point each for the carrying and the sprinting. I also took the first rank of Demolition Expert, so that I could craft explosives (and put all the lunchboxes I’ve been finding to good use) and the third and final rank of Ninja, for those sneaky strikes. Finally I took the last rank of Sneak, although I’ve yet to truly understand how it works.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

(more…)