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!

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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!

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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!

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Cait wasn’t the only one with a monkey on her back.

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. Last time was all about Preston, this time it’s all about Cait. It was supposed to be all about Nick Valentine, but yet again I got distracted and ended up going off in a different direction.

On the character front, I spent the perk points I had been stockpiling on cleaning up a few outstanding things. I took the third levels of both Hacker and Locksmith. No secret is safe from me! Although I specifically said I wasn’t going to, I also took the next level of Armorer. I really wanted to construct ultra-light armor.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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I got a new hat!

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. Before I begin, an embarrassing admission: I’ve been permanently banned from Reddit’s /r/fo4 for posting these diary entries. They were considered spam. I disagree, of course, but respect the decision.

I have no hard feelings towards the moderators. They’re just doing what they think is best. I will say that a one-strike-and-you’re-out perma-ban policy is harsh. It’s easier, to be sure, but it’s also lazy. People get better when they’re helped to get better; when they’re given a chance to do better.

I’ve been doing this site, in its current form, for over five years. I’ve produced hundreds of thousands of words of material. Almost nobody reads it. I earn nothing from it. Obviously I enjoy when people do read it – who wouldn’t? – but I don’t expect it. An audience would be nice, of course, but it’s not the goal or else I would have given up long ago.

For the little that it’s worth: I sincerely apologize if these posts have offended anybody. That said, back to the wasteland!

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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Seems like only yesterday!

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. I reached level 30 near the end of my last session, so thought a moment of reflection was in order. I’ve got a little over two weeks with the game under my belt; including several mini-marathon sessions over the holidays. I’d like to offer an overview of my character as she stands, the decisions I’ve made, and some of my thoughts on the game so far.

One of the more challenging aspects of this experiment in journaling has been avoiding spoilers. I haven’t been completely successful. For one thing, my son is playing the game as well, making it almost impossible to not get some outside intel. For another, I really enjoy the Fallout community. The memes, the let’s plays and sheer fun of immersing one’s self in something so many others love. I’ve kept all of that at arms distance, but it’s getting more and more difficult every day!

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

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All I know is that if I’d have said “No”, I’d have a lot more free time.

I continue my play diary of Fallout 4. After the epic battle with the Mirelurk Queen to retake The Castle, I assumed there would be some clean-up. Preston jumped on me right away to get things in order and report new settlement problems. A returning Minuteman veteran, Ronnie, also led me on a short adventure to reopen the armory.

I ended up spending the entire session working on various settlement quests, crafting and generally adding to the Minutemen empire of swampland and dirt farms.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead!

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