I've always had a soft spot for Duke Nukem Forever despite it's many flaws.
It's just a very unique and interesting game imo, and especially love the non-combat sections where you're just fucking around in a strip club or whatever.
I've always had a soft spot for Duke Nukem Forever despite it's many flaws.
It's just a very unique and interesting game imo, and especially love the non-combat sections where you're just fucking around in a strip club or whatever.
Re: the plot. I feel like the first two acts were just serviceable and the third act was surprisingly good. I like the four major factions' quests intersecting and the way you juggle loyalties. I like that you infiltrate the Institute and have an actually good reason for not being able to just destroy them immediately (at least if you're Railroad, I don't actually know about the Minutemen and BOS), rather than "the main NPCs are essential and you are not allowed to kill them yet for no in-universe reason". And as dumb as the Institute is, I like that when you meet them, they're just extremely cloistered and operating off the assumptions they absolutely need to never examine. Why are they so certain that Synths have no real consciousness despite all the very obvious proof otherwise right in front of them? Because they need to believe that or else they're monsters. It feels like shockingly human writing for Bethesda.
I feel like a lot of the "this is bad writing" crowd expects everyone to be logical. I've seen people complain that the Insitute is badly written because even though it's obvious synths have some form of free will they act like they don't. They behave like that because their way of life would collapse if they had to confront this fact. Same reason they just fuck around above ground, they consider the world above to be a lost cause so any damage done to it in service of their lives is justifiable. Every single atrocity is acceptable because it's out of sight and its purpose is to create a literal utopia. The phrase "Mankind Redefined" is not in reference to synthetic beings, but about their entire way of life changing. The food supplements, labour done by "robots", near-limitless energy etc.
I really think that a lot of people just didn't get it. Not that 4 is a deep game or anything but it's just not really looked at in any way. I've seen people complain that you can't call a truce between the Railroad and the Brotherhood so I tend to ignore a lot of what people say tbh. I've seen people complain that Father never explains why the Institute do what they do but they seem to miss the fact that he does "explain" it. He doesn't go on a long speech or anything, he just invites you to look around. The Institute is the justification for everything so he doesn't need a speech, he simply states;
And I think that's pretty good writing. I'm sure there are plenty of people in the US right now who think the exact same thing about all the suffering around the world.
As for destroying the Institute for the BoS and Minutemen. You can technically do it the second you reach Father. You can fucking blast him the moment he walks in. No one in the Institute, BoS or Railroad are tagged as essential. Killing a named character also spawns a couple of synths that will attack you as well. Wiping out the Insititute on your own will create a rather daunting sight if you're not prepared to fight your way out.
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. And I found all of that so effective- I HATED the Institute in a way that I never did the Enclave in 3. The Enclave didn't make me feel anything, they were just enemies in a shooting gallery. But the Institute were human in a way that makes me deeply uncomfortable. They're the US in microcosm.
EDIT: Though I did dislike that you couldn't make the PC comment on ANY of this. Even when Shaun is on his deathbed and asks you why you're destroying the Institute, all you can say is a nonspecific "this is all wrong". It would be nice to be able to use that moment to actually express the contempt I felt for that character and for the whole Institute. I had this whole speech in my head where I was like "I want you to know, all this time pretending to think the Institute was great, and bonding with you? I hated every minute of it, you're monsters."
Oh shit, also! I forgot the DLC. Far Harbor was not perfect by any means, but the writing was, again, shockingly good for Bethesda. Having to juggle the three factions, especially knowing what Arcadia had done in the past, was really interesting. And the fact that they raise the idea that the PC could be a Synth because they don't remember anything before the start of the game became my new headcanon, it was such a good piece of meta writing.
I should say though, my one time through Far Harbor I didn't realize that you're apparently supposed to bring Nick Valentine with you, so I might have missed some stuff.
Yeah, fallout 4 has way better writing than Bethesda are given credit for, especially considering how hollow fallout 3's main quest line was.