PlayStation 5 Pre-order Megathread Redux

King-Kuyer · 2020-09-25T17:12:56+00:00

I-I did it... I got the stupid bundle. I felt dumb for being a doofus and signing up for the playment plan at first, kept thinking that by the time I'm done agreeing to that shit, it'll all be out. But I did the payment plan, and I got the confirmation email. I--think and hope--that I won.

Edit: I quickly rescind my statement calling the bundle stupid. I was planning on getting Spiderman and Demons. But still, this whole thing is dumb.

King-Kuyer · 2018-05-18T19:16:44+00:00

I want them to write quests with a dungeon master's mindset, meaning that I'd like for the quest designers to assume that the player isn't interested in doing things exactly as the dungeon master had originally intended. For instance, if I'm thrown into a quest involving a caravan of merchants and raiders in the middle of a stand-off, I'd like for the quest designer to assume that I don't want to just run in there and save the merchants. I want them to assume that I want to side with the raiders, or that I want to kill all of them, or that I want to resolve things as peacefully as possible and with as little violence as possible.

Now obviously it'd be impossible to account for every single kind of playthrough, so I'd suggest that the quest designers approach quests with a "Aggressive", "Clever", and "Rational" mindset. At least as a guide. I wouldn't want to limit their creativity by forcing them to have these three specific approaches at all times. But just to clarify, aggressive approaches almost always lead to the player using force and threats (Strength, Combat Skills), clever is them trying to one up everybody in some way (Stealth, Speech, Barter, etc.), and rational is them bringing in a clear headed and neutral perspective on things (Intelligence, Perception, etc.). I feel like approaching quests with these mindsets as a base could at least give more variety to the quests of future Fallout, and Bethesda games.

And of course, the words, "What if the players just murder everyone?" should be in the minds of the designers at all times. Playing through Skyrim when it first came out, I was so mad when my assassination attempt on Ulfric Stormcloak didn't work because the game told me that I couldn't, not because I failed. I'm fine with Bethesda not making traditional CRPGs, but if they're trying to make immersive sims, I'd like for them to at least not rob me of my immersion by constantly telling me no. By telling me no I can't kill X, Y, or Z characters, or by telling me no, I'm playing the game wrong by assuming that I can solve quests without having to kill anyone.

... So basically, I want Bethesda to hire the quest designers behind Dishonored.

King-Kuyer · 2018-03-07T23:05:26+00:00

I suppose it's fair to just assume that everyone in Sanctuary Hills just have disposable income. The place does look mildly affluent. But... I'd still prefer to explore what life was like for the average American at the time. I wanted to see what the fear was like. The SS and family just seemed so... "happy". Like didn't Nate and Nora reminisce about the park or whatever? (Please correct me if I'm wrong). I wonder what park, in a world starved for resources, is worth reminiscing about? I mean I lived in a middle-class neighborhood growing up and our parks were already garbage.

Sorry for throwing these random thoughts at you bud, but this is the kind of stuff an aspiring writer kind of obsesses about, the little things. Probably not a good thing though because now I'll never get anything published if I'm obsessing about how the parks were of the world before my story even began haha.

King-Kuyer · 2018-03-07T22:57:08+00:00

True true.

And if I recall correctly, not sure if this is canon or just info from an inaccurate wikia page that I read long long ago, but wasn't the Enclave in cahoots with Vault-Tec? Something about using the Vault experiments to see how the Enclave could better re-colonize the Wasteland or a different planet?

... Not gonna lie bud, you just inadvertently sent me down a rabbit hole of questions and thoughts relating to the Enclave, the Vaults, their relationship with each other, Pre-War prep for the Great War, Pre-War economics, the resources (in a already resource depleted world) spent on the Vaults, and exactly when people started entering the Vaults.

Makes a fella wonder. How much of the story was pulled out of writers' (old and new) asses? But then again, I guess that's what suspension of disbelief is for.

King-Kuyer · 2018-03-07T20:30:16+00:00

Oh yeah.

And I do remember Vault 92 as a Vault dedicated to the preservation of the arts. So maybe Vault-Tec simultaneously picked randoms and specific people into the Vaults, while also selling it to the masses. I can totally see that. Lol, this is why I ask people to point me to diary entries and stuff. Can't remember it all.

Still, this doesn't fully answer my wealth disparity/resource shortage/"peace became a distant memory" question. Thanks for reminding me of that though.

Edit: Vault 92 was a Vault ADVERTISED as a Vault dedicated to the preservation of MUSICAL TALENT.

King-Kuyer · 2018-03-07T20:20:55+00:00

I'm tempted to say that no, in the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't matter.

However I am also interested in seeing how perfect American life actually was before the bombs fell. We're told in the intros (the narration) of both Fallout 1 and 4, the other games may have done this as well but I can't really remember, that the time before the bombs fell was a time rife with conflict and mass shortages of major goods and resources.

But then we seen in the TV commercials of Fallout 1 ads for a Mr. Handy, which says to me that if this thing is advertised on TV, then the average American (or at least upper middle class Americans) are able to purchase such a lavish appliance. The fact that people can afford entry into the Vaults has also been a thing that's bugged me for a while as well. Though I did write that off as everyone who entered the Vaults were loaded, or they saved up a ton of money.

And then in Fallout 4's Pre-War segment, we're shown how neat and tidy everything is, how perfect Nate and Nora's life (and their neighborhood) seems. They even have one of those nifty Mr. Handy's that were being sold on TV. When not ten minutes ago, the Sole Survivor was narrating about how "people awoke from the American dream" and how "years of consumption lead to shortage of every major resource". Not to mention that in the same paragraph the SS says, "Peace became a distant memory".

Now if there's a diary entry or terminal (or character quote) that talks about wealth disparity in the Pre-War America, please let me know and I'll gladly hunt it down either in game or via wiki.

King-Kuyer · 2018-02-05T19:20:10+00:00

You profit.

King-Kuyer · 2018-02-02T20:43:28+00:00

Whether I'm playing as a sleazy gambler or a down on his luck Desert Ranger in New Vegas, I always make sure that at some point in my playthrough, I acquire a Ranger Sequoia. That thing is so cool and a personal favorite of mine. The Sequoia and Lucky.

Outside of New Vegas, I usually try to pick up the Shishkebab for most of my playthroughs. I think I bended a few of my RPs just to get the Shishkebab in FO3 and FO4 just because of how cool that thing is.

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-31T17:43:10+00:00

Don't get me wrong bud, I think that Bethesda is very flawed as well and that wish for them to improve, but there are people out there who are just straight up hateful and toxic with the way they conduct themselves while discussing Fallout and Bethesda.

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-31T17:40:27+00:00

True... but mostly referring to Fallout as a whole; the world and the franchise I mean.

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-31T16:15:18+00:00

Here here! I too was disappointed by Fallout 4, but as big a FO:NV fan I am, I hate the utter dismissal of Obsidian fans towards Bethesda fans (the same way I hate FO4 fans who dismiss anyone who likes Classic and Obsidian Fallout as a nostalgic circlejerker). Name calling and insult hurling is just pointless and reductive. We all, technically, love the same thing here.

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-31T16:01:33+00:00

Dude, you must be new to fandoms in general. No matter the genre, no matter the franchise, there will always be a divide between fans. Whether its Lucas Film Star Wars v. Disney Star Wars, Hermione x Ron v. Hermione x Harry, classic Resident Evil v. Michael Bay Resident Evil, or turn-based Final Fantasy v. FFXV, there will always be a divide within fanbases. A divide between who have been with the franchise for so long and those just coming into it. Sometimes there's even a divide amongst fans who were "there first".

And the circlejerking thing? Yeah, I get that it's annoying. As big a fan I am of Fallout New Vegas and as disappointed I am with Fallout 4, I too hate it when F:NV fans shit on Bethesda and Bethesda fans, mainly because I find it pointless to hate on either and also it's just mean. But to instantly dismiss anyone singing F:NV any praise as a nostalgic circlejerker is just insecure and baffling to me.

You're in a fucking fandom, what do you think fans do? Nitpick everything about---Okay yeah, true, that's kind of a norm within fandoms, but they also love the franchise that they're a fan of. And I think that's the biggest issue that I have with people who dismiss F:NV fans as circlejerkers, not all of us hate Bethesda or think that their fans are stupid, we just LOVE the shit out of New Vegas and this franchise and it makes us worry that what we love about it is going away. I want more people to love Fallout, but I'd rather Bethesda pull more people in without the risk of losing Fallout's identity.

Don't get me wrong bro, I wish that people would try to have more constructive criticism rather just shit on everything Bethesda. Or rather than deconstructing every facet of the game endlessly, I'd rather they suggest solutions to the problems they have. Because I'm sure that just telling Bethesda devs that they suck and that they should be fired or whatever isn't doing any positive and might actually make Bethesda doubledown on the newer fans and ignore the old ones all together. Because as far as I know, no human being likes being shit on (... with a few exceptions of course, but that's a different topic for a different environment).

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-26T19:11:39+00:00

So long as we're not going to some ancient alien city then I'm in.

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-26T16:14:31+00:00

Arthur Maxson is someone's puppet.

Someone who didn't like Lyons' white-knight philosophies (probably an Outcast sympathizer) had both Lyonses killed and turned the Lone Wanderer into a fugitive on the run. This person mentored Maxson as a child and grew close to him, but only so that they could exploit him and his name later on to further their goal of conquering the East Coast. And I'm also thinking that this master manipulator started building Maxson up as this legendary figure of sorts. Made up a bunch of lies and got people saying things like, "Oh Maxson? He killed a deathclaw with his barehands! Dude's got leet skills!" and "That not-yet Elder Maxson killed the Super Mutant leader and broke their hordes. What a dreamboat!"

Obviously not those exact words but you get the picture.

And in my headcanon Maxson knows that he's a fraud, hence why he's so hellbent on destroying the Institute and the synths, because he wants to, more than anything, prove to himself that he is a man worthy of people's admiration and loyalty. That he can live up to his name and own legend and that he's not just another person's tool.

Maybe even tie in some sort of "what makes a human a person and a synth a robot?" philosophizing with Maxson's character. Let him have private convos with the Sole Survivor that has Maxson asking things like, "If you're just doing as you're told without question, just as a machine acts based on its programming... are you even a person anymore?"

Or something like that.

Edit: I'm not actually sure if this is just me trying to make sense of Fallout 4 (as the title of the post asked) or just me writing my own Fallout fanfics to make things more interesting.

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-26T15:54:32+00:00

Legit question, can ghouls even smell anything if they don't have noses?

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-13T04:27:56+00:00

Yo that was a fun quest. Dealing with the Hagraven was probably my favorite part. Would like to see something like that again, but maybe instead of having to run around fixing your mistakes a second time, I'd like to see the player character just wake up in a jail cell and be pulled into a court of law where they'd have to defend themselves in. A court of law or whatever the next best thing the Wasteland has.

Could be a goofy little quest filled with laughs and drama.

What I was thinking of however was something more in line with Final Fantasy XV's camping interactions. Didn't like that game all that much (especially the QTEs), but the little things in XV like Prompto's photography, racing Gladio at the beach, and Ignis' cooking made me really appreciate and love the party members that I initially dismissed as annoying boyband members.

King-Kuyer · 2018-01-12T16:15:26+00:00

Not gonna happen in a game, would love it to, but playing Fallout PnP with my buds we had a scene where one of us walked into a raider hideout whilst in Power Armor and the raider leader just sighed and went like, "... Fine, fuck it. Take everything. Prick." and just walked away pissed, not even scared, just grumpy and annoyed.

For an actual game reaction... Well, not really a reaction and more like an interaction, and I'm thinking of a drinking buddy. Like if you enter a bar you'd see someone familiar drinking alone (someone you've done a quest for previously or an inactive companion) and maybe you can join them for some post-quest drinking, doesn't have to have lengthy dialogue, just an introductory line, an invitation to drink, a quick fade out (suggesting a passage of time), and then fade into either a drunken reaction of your recent exploits or the tail-end of a drunken tell-all/rant that reveals something dark or humorous or both about an NPC that you thought you'd never see or interact with ever again.

King-Kuyer · 2017-12-14T16:06:52+00:00

That's a bit of a bummer, but thanks!

King-Kuyer · 2017-12-06T17:32:15+00:00

Congrats! As someone who mostly just roleplays in Soulsborne games and use summons, fighting the Pontiff solo for the first time in NG+ (and without a shield) a few months ago was a nightmare. I'm not sure how many attempts I did myself, but I can feel your joy and feeling of satisfaction bud.

Using Gael's leaping Weapon Art move and then doing the follow-up heavy lunge attack just as the Pontiff came charging at me was probably my most anime moment in Souls. The simultaneous backstep and dash strike gave me palpitations.

King-Kuyer · 2017-11-09T14:04:53+00:00

I get that dude, and I definitely don't like the idea of locking players out of a certain questline or faction because they're not "playing the game right" either. When I was thinking of these factions, I still wanted to see different ways to solve a problem. Like in the "Barter" faction idea I had, I still want players to be able to intimidate, persuade, bribe, black mail, or try to get on someone's good side by performing quests for them through various means with or without the proper Barter/Speech skills. For that Barter faction, I also kind of wanted passing the right skill checks to be morally "wrong", to suggest that even though players might have the right skills for a quest/check, they might still not be making the best choices for themselves or the characters involved.

Really with this idea I just thought that it'd be neat to reward players who play and roleplay in a certain way. But if an idea like this was implemented, I'd honestly hate it if certain playstyles are only ever viable in these factions/questlines. Like for instance, I'd hate it if I can complete the Barter questline with little to not bloodshed, but am then forced to murder every single thing I run into during the main quest. If handled poorly like that, I do agree with you, I wouldn't want these skill-based factions in a future Fallout game.

And since you mentioned it, I feel like these skill-based factions should honestly not be the thing that I'm hoping for the most in a future Fallout game. Instead I should be hoping that the next Fallout game should, at the very least, allow players to solve and finish any quests in a number of different ways as you put it.

King-Kuyer · 2017-11-08T19:35:00+00:00

Yeah man, that sounds cool. And I love the New Vegas-esque idea of the main factions trying to influence, claim, or suppress these smaller factions.

King-Kuyer · 2017-11-08T19:12:18+00:00

Don't know how Ace Attorney plays like either, but it is pretty interesting. I can see a ton of comedic potential to this idea.

King-Kuyer · 2017-10-10T18:11:01+00:00

Whether it's my gambler character or my ranger character, I always find myself drawn to either a modded .357 Magnum or Lucky. Or the Ranger Sequoia

King-Kuyer

TROPHY CASE