I kinda liked it tbh. It scratches the "explore everything" itch for me in a way that few other games do. It's shit as an RPG, though. The writing is generally bad, but I will stick up for one aspect. Once you get to The Institute, the writing quality picks up tremendously IMO, because The Institute is a brilliant parody of the US. Is it an intentional parody? Up for debate. But it functions very well as one.
When you get to The Institute, the people there treat the Synths as not actually sentient despite the fact that a 5 minute conversation proves that that's untrue because they need to behave that way to not collapse under the weight of what they're doing. They need to treat the people on the surface like pieces on a gameboard for the same reason. People disliked this aspect of The Institute because it's not really satisfying to confront them, but I loved this- you can't confront them with the full weight of what they're doing because their egos just can't handle it. Even the one person who's helping the Railroad isn't really confronting the full weight of it- he doesn't seem to really be treating the Synths as human either, he's just uncomfortable with mistreating them, and when he's confronted with the Railroad doing what they would have to do in order to fight for the cause he says he cares about, he can't handle it. It all feels like really pointed parody to me.
I loved the way the institute was portrayed, and it makes a great metaphor for imperialism.
Most of the people in the institute really aren’t “evil” per se, they are just profoundly insulated from the consequences of their own choices. Out of sight out of mind. Just like the technologically advanced imperial core. And of course to enable that, they work with people who really are evil, like that mercenary dude (forget his name) do actually do their bidding out in the field, so they can preserve their insulated existence.
Yeah. Don't get me wrong, it's not nearly as good as the other Fallouts (EDIT: Except Fallout 3. It's better than FO3, but I know that's not really what you mean). I just enjoy it when I don't compare it to them.
And tbf, for all of Bethesda's many, many flaws, I do like wandering in FO4 more than in NV.
It just started feeling like a looter shooter to me and that's fun but takes something away from the tone for me. It shouldn't be serious but characters should matter more
I kinda liked it tbh. It scratches the "explore everything" itch for me in a way that few other games do. It's shit as an RPG, though. The writing is generally bad, but I will stick up for one aspect. Once you get to The Institute, the writing quality picks up tremendously IMO, because The Institute is a brilliant parody of the US. Is it an intentional parody? Up for debate. But it functions very well as one.
When you get to The Institute, the people there treat the Synths as not actually sentient despite the fact that a 5 minute conversation proves that that's untrue because they need to behave that way to not collapse under the weight of what they're doing. They need to treat the people on the surface like pieces on a gameboard for the same reason. People disliked this aspect of The Institute because it's not really satisfying to confront them, but I loved this- you can't confront them with the full weight of what they're doing because their egos just can't handle it. Even the one person who's helping the Railroad isn't really confronting the full weight of it- he doesn't seem to really be treating the Synths as human either, he's just uncomfortable with mistreating them, and when he's confronted with the Railroad doing what they would have to do in order to fight for the cause he says he cares about, he can't handle it. It all feels like really pointed parody to me.
I loved the way the institute was portrayed, and it makes a great metaphor for imperialism.
Most of the people in the institute really aren’t “evil” per se, they are just profoundly insulated from the consequences of their own choices. Out of sight out of mind. Just like the technologically advanced imperial core. And of course to enable that, they work with people who really are evil, like that mercenary dude (forget his name) do actually do their bidding out in the field, so they can preserve their insulated existence.
Did you play any of the other ones?
Yeah. Don't get me wrong, it's not nearly as good as the other Fallouts (EDIT: Except Fallout 3. It's better than FO3, but I know that's not really what you mean). I just enjoy it when I don't compare it to them.
And tbf, for all of Bethesda's many, many flaws, I do like wandering in FO4 more than in NV.
It just started feeling like a looter shooter to me and that's fun but takes something away from the tone for me. It shouldn't be serious but characters should matter more
I think I just got to the Institute before I logged off 4 years ago. I guess I should go back if that's the genuine peak of the game.