I have to imagine 76's game flow as a multiplayer experience will be anything other than spending half the time in Fast Travel loading screens, and for that I am excited.
Xbox was the first time I played the game too. Got it on release day. Had almost all the dlcs on there except for dead money because I hated the challenge back then, but now its one of my favorites. Have fun!
The player character is exceptionally good at everything as a necessary gameplay contrivance, not as a plot point. It's a very common complaint about RPGs that stories become ridiculous when the player end up being the chosen one of several different factions all at the same time, Skyrim being a perfect example: you've simultaneously been chosen by magical entities to save the world by banishing a universe devouring dragon, to save the college of winterhold (and the world by proxy), to save the thieves guild and become an avatar of a daedric prince, to save the companions, to save solstheim (and the world, again), so on and so forth, and you always end up being the leader of that faction in the process.
New Vegas, in the vanilla game, takes some heavy steps to avoid this issue because besides ONE faction, you never actually raise to any ranks of leadership; in some cases you never even become a legitimate member of that faction because you are at the core a gun for hire. And rather than dump on you a single, all-powerful, ridiculously strong and versatile nemesis, the game gives you several options for rivals in the form of faction leaders who, depending on your playstyle and roleplay decisions, will naturally come to be your enemy. And they all have their own strengths and weaknesses, they feel natural and believable within the internal logic of the universe because they have flaws which make sense and aren't just "oh he's just insane despite being godlike".
Mr House plans ahead years in advance and is genuinely brilliant, and his position which is fairly retracted from the rest of the world which gives him an incredible advantage in terms of a tactical vantage point while simultaneously alienating him from the world to a crippling level, forcing him to rely on inherently difficult to manage outside forces.
Benny overvalues himself and takes more from House than he likes to believe. While he's effectively managed to pave the road to a somewhat viable plan for takeover, his motives are short-sighted and he fails to understand how he's been played for far longer than he's played out or anyone else.
The NCR as a whole is both rendered strong and weak by its nebulous nature as a massive force which is simultaneously driven and slowed down by its logistics and bureaucracy. By copying the ins and outs of the old world they are the most immediately recognizable and understandable faction but they are evidently also the most predictable.
Caesar is written as a cunning tactical genius who understands better than most the value of order and how to keep people in line, but his ongoing cult of personality comes at the cost of two things: a dubious ability for his faction to survive after his death (despite having built an entire chain of command to succeed him), and the fact that, without it, the legion returns almost immediately to a bunch of savage warmongers who are only in to kill and to rape and pillage, represented by individuals like Lanius. Their stability in the long term is questionable but their stability right now is exceptional.
Notice how I've managed to describe all of these without ever going into political ideals as well, because that would add an entirely separate set of stuff for the player to worry. The game strives on giving you options so that most characters will have something to ally with and something to oppose in the game, and it does so as naturally as it possibly can.
Even the other DLC, when they are still about this, ie a rivalry between the player character and actors of large factions who grow to either depend on you or see you as an enemy (so OWB is obviously excluded seeing as it's more of a fun romp for the sake of a fun romp and willingly severs itself from the serious political intrigue of the base game), manage to introduce this idea again: Dead Money doesn't give you one all-powerful character you have to either ally with or destroy, it gives you a set of them which all cover various aspects of what the player character can become based on player choice. Honest Hearts gives you two choices which are drastically opposed from one another both in terms of their practical approach to problem-solving and the ideals tied to them (one of which is still in my opinion a better Ulysses in every way).
When put in the front of all this, Ulysses is just a boring, singular creature of power who just kind of exists for the sake of giving you one, universal rival, and as a result of its attempts to encompass everything the player could possibly stand for, fails to really embody any of it. It's not even a problem that is unique to New Vegas or even to this genre, and it's an issue designers run into both in terms of gameplay and story every time a game with an emphasis on choice decides to stop accounting for them at a critical moment.
Ulysses would have worked much better in hundreds of different ways, but I think the best way to fix him would have been to base everything around Ulysses on the player's own allegiances, SPECIAL stats, skill levels, etc, instead of making him inherently this all-powerful, all-encompassing singular god who only finds an equal in you, even if you are purposefully playing the world's biggest chump with 1 INT, 1 STR and 10 LCK who only wins because of complete and utter bullshit every time and has no idea what they're doing.
You've kind of summed up why a lot of criticism aimed towards Ulysses doesn't tend to be as damning as it may be in another game. Ulysses is about giving the player a universal rival in a game series where such a character has never been done before, in the Bethbyro subgenre, where such a character would be exceedingly hard to construct given the vast amount of player choice.
I don't really understand comparing him to the numerous faction leaders, as the DLC explores, for the most part, an entirely different set of themes than the main game. The faction leaders are all immensely well written in their own ways, as is Ulysses - in his own way. I think whether or not this way was ultimately satisfying is worth discussing, but dissecting the inherent faults with a super unique and creative approach to character development in a western RPG just seems strange.
Keep in mind that part of what makes Ulysses great is how he lightly touches on the meta of the series as a whole. As you said before, the player being unreasonably good at everything tends to be a gameplay contrivance and not a plot point - but why isn't that worth exploring? NV is all about the player making actual, tangible effects on the world around them. It would be downright bizarre to ignore the fact that they're literally gods while you do this.
It's an idea worth exploring but LR does it awfully.
The same way the Institute creating artificial humans while putting their extremely flawed creator on a near godlike pedestal (and alienating him from any position of power in the process) is an idea worth exploring but done awfully. That same idea was done much, much better the same way that addressing the player's insane power via their opposition to an equally, if not more powerful antagonistic force who is completely aware of their own strength has been not only done better, but done better twice by Chris Avellone himself.
I guess that's where we're fundamentally disagreeing. While I personally like Ulysses, I can concede he's a flawed character in terms of writing and the ideas attached to that writing were executed poorly. But I still think he's a very worthwhile addition to the New Vegas narrative.
Again I want to emphasize that what makes Ulysses so great is his presence in the Fallout series itself, especially in a Bethbyro game. Those games often detach the player character from the world and interactions with characters one-to-one so much that a character like Ulysses typically isn't impossible, nor are the ideas he explores. The fact that New Vegas manages to pull it off at all, as flawed as it may be, goes towards why he's so loved by some, I think.
Ulysses simply isn't as flat as you try to make him out to be, even if some of his depth could come across as artificial or forced. He's flawed, and the attempt has been done better, but it's such a unique combination of writing talent and thematic build-up that it kind of reflects New Vegas' as a whole. A flawed idea, executed poorly at times, that still excels at what it fundamentally set out to do.
And let's not forget, NV didn't get a great deal of time to get all this stuff done.
They gave us an insane amount, with so little time
"it's a DLC, they could have released it whenever"
True, but it could only work because of the base game,
Non-fleshed out base game = DLC can't make the most of it.
I'm still not so sure how Ulysses is supposed to be this ultimate mary sue character?
Please don't tell me you are basing this on his SPECIAL stats because that's really really dumb and he's hardly the only boss in fallout 3/NV to have maxed out stats.
It's obvious that he's a powerful NPC for the sake of having a satisfying boss fight at the end of all the buildup to lonesome road, and that his stats aren't a reflection of his character's actual in-universe ability.
Gaius Magnus , for example, also has maxed special stats for the same reason. If he's so LCKly how did a nuke get dropped on his head?
From a story perspective, I'm still not seeing the Mary Sue element? Ulysses actually comes off as a slightly inferior version of the Courier.
He interacts with many of the same characters and walks many of the same roads as the Courier, but never overcomes them with the same sense of finality that the player character does.
He's a gifted Tribal Scout working for one of the most powerful factions in post war America. Those are his strengths. He can read weather patterns, travel long distances, and has some knowledge of first-aid. All skills that a tribal scout should realistically have.
He's hardly a living god who spends his days punching deathclaws to death with his bare hands.
His mastery over the Machines of the Divide doesn't come from his amazing knowledge of pre-war technology, but from the pre-war military systems marking him out as the last surviving American in the divide, and thus top of the chain of command by default.
This wasn't because Ulysses is super special and great at everything, it's because the AI systems recognised the American Flag Ulysses had painted on the back of his jacket.
His obsession with symbols and their meanings actually played out for him in the end.
Like a lot of these criticisms seem really contrived? Especially when you start saying stuff like ~he knitted you your own version of his coat~ does it not make more sense that Ulysses had more than one coat? and just painted (because the jackets are painted, not sewn) the symbol you represent on the back of one of them for you?.
The dude is obsessed with the player character. Hastily painting up one of his coats, and recording a message for you while brooding over the confrontation he's about to engineer doesn't seem like JIGSAW killer level contrivance to me.
Its kind of a silly thing to say too because heaps of Fallout characters give you unique armors, clothing and copies of their own outfits. You generally do not begin to question their tailoring capacity.
Genuinely wondering if we'll see Bethesda sneak some cheeky bit into a terminal log mentioning the dramatic achievements in nanoparticle physics made in September 2077 that was applied to all clothing and fiber in the country allowing for instant adjustment and tailoring of apparel to any user.
Wow Nick Valentine must be some kind of master with a sewing machine to completely reproduce his Faded Trench Coat for the Sole Survivor. He even managed to faithfully recreate all of the damage and patchwork just for you!.
I suppose it's a little different considering Ulysses actually does have an in-universe reason to create a personalised Duster just for your character, but even then I don't see what the big deal is. The design he paints isn't even a masterpiece that would have taken days of loving craftsmanship to produce. It looks like fairly basic stencil work.
So, @asXas , care to explain?
Fallout4⚡情報局
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/otyahanabi-steambowy/imgs/a/c/ac50e5ce.jpg
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/otyahanabi-steambowy/imgs/a/b/ab2f6d67.jpg
Funny aswell you can just cheese that fight by picking the tape up and moving it out the blocked door before its blocked and use it there, the Catclaw is stuck and you can kill it from above.
Think we'll see even greater character customization in 76? I wanna adjust my body type more so the fat option actually makes you fat, and not just wide.
@ScumBunny I refuse to say anything!
I kinda wanna see a Fallout companion/quest giver in a future game have an incredibly striking outfit and weapon, some antiquity from history or super customized rad-lookin get up. After completing their quests, they give you a copy of their rad attire that they mention they spent days crafting.
When the player equips it, it's some shoddy imitation of what they wear, with stat boosts that don't even compare to the real thing.
Any mods to add the cut Institute power armor?
it wasn't cut it never existed, it's just concept art.
and yes there is a mod that recreates the power armour on the nexus
Tbh having nine holes to see through is stupid
https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/18315-4-1473599698.jpg
I'd think they'd go with Cameras if anything.
honestly, I would be astounded if 90% of people in the wasteland weren't good at sewing.
clothing maintenance seems like a pretty basic staple skill most people would pick up.
so i started my first ever play through of fallout 2 and all i can say is
LOCAL MAN HAS NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT HE'S DOING
fallout 2 walkthrough:
run from the mens
shoots the mens
melt the mens
hope that helped!
I'm planning on running a Fallout RPG at somepoint in the future, but struggling on finding information on some of the less referenced/visited areas in the setting and, as a non-American, some of the themes/history inherent to the places.
Wondering where I'd look to go about making my own Fallout "region", (have been thinking Florida/Cuba for the locales in Florida and the heavy Communist history of Cuba being able to provide some interesting metaplots) and what factions are most or less present where, and the spread of things like the Super Mutants, Deathclaws, and other Fallout staples.
Also if anyone has any ideas I can steal, I'd be all up for stealing repurposing those too.
aloha smoothskin
have a group of people that live in Holy Land and are religious zealots, but get everything about christianity wrong
Dude, you're in Australia. Why just not adapt Fallout to a local setting? I'm positive Fallout universe Australia is just Mad Max with even worse venomous giant critters than you already have. Just imagine navigating a forest of dead trees while avoiding murderous drop-bears, fleeing motorized gangs of raiders on a lucrative water run, defeating the inevitable local flavor of super mutant to become the champion of (off-brand) Thunderdome or leading a tribe of locals to take out a building sized clock spider.
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fallout series v whatever 76
