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!

(more…)

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…)