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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