FO4 Roleplaying: Possible to ignore the big quests?

[NNS10]

What I (and I assume many others) really liked about Skyrim was how it was possible to ignore any number of the big questlines in the game and just create a character, give them a backstory, and then throw them into the gameworld and there would still be stuff to do. Don't want to be the Dragonborn? That's fine. Heck, even install "Skyrim Unbound" to turn off all the Dragonborn features and you'll still have stuff to do. Don't want to be involved in the civil war? That's fine, ignore it.

 

It was very feasible to just ignore most of the game's big quests and just pull in the ones related to your character's roleplay. Even then, there were a lot of populated cities/towns with problems that needed solving. Granted, there were still limitations that I was unsatisfied with. But compared to FO4, Skyrim seems to have much more freedom.

 

However, I haven't put a whole lot of time into FO4 yet and am probably only about halfway through the main questline. However what I've seen so far is a bit concerning. I'm hoping those that have put more time into FO4 and have a better understanding of the FO4 world can provide input into my question.

 

What I've noticed so far is that unless I'm tied into one of the main questlines, there doesn't seem to be a lot to do. Settlements? Tied to Minutemen. But that's not too big a deal. However, Brotherhood of Steel? Gotta finish Act 1 of the main questline. Cities with stuff to do? So far I've only seen Diamond City, and there doesn't seem to be much to do there if you're not doing the main questline. I've heard of Goodneighbor but haven't been there yet, and from Youtube videos I've watched about mods, apparently Goodneighbor is pretty dead too.

 

For those that have played FO4 tons and know the full gamut of what's in the FO4 world, am I missing something? Have I just not played enough and therefore haven't been exposed to the areas that would make a freeform roleplay more possible? Or is my initial impression correct and FO4 simply isn't suited to that type of thing? If it's the latter, that may explain why the game doesn't seem to have as much activity as you'd expect...

[Veladarius]

Generally the quests fall into one of these categories:

- faction quests - the railroad seems to have a bit more diversity as well as more quests than the other factions (if you don't include the settlements with the minutemen)

- settlement quests - you can do these without joining the Minutemen but you will still need to fortify their locations as you will still get notifications when they are attacked.

- DLC - Far Harbor is the best one as there are a number of side quests available in it, the others not so much.

- Follower quests - I have not played them all but choose your followers carefully as their reactions to your actions can vary by quite a bit between them.

- Mini quests - typically very short, usually given by npc's telling you something. You can think of these as single act plays

- City quests - there are a few quests available in Goodneighbor or Diamond City that have multiple parts but they are rather few and you have to ask around to get them. Most involve going someplace and killing whatever is there or get something. You know, typical Bethesda quests.

 

Beyond that most areas are either empty or have group of (insert enemy type here) making an area their home. Overall there isn't much here for free form roleplay, closest thing to it is finding locations where there are no/few enemies and going through reading terminals or looking at how people spent their last moments though some of these are rather grim.

 

Fallout 3 for me had the most potential for free form role play as there were plenty of locations and quests not involved with the main story and a lot of places to explore.

FONV to me was pretty much the opposite, a lot like FO4 but more empty.

 

Typically I level up a bit and fix up a few settlements then go get a follower and work on raising their affinity. With some followers just getting them is harder than whatever quest they have (if they have one). Take Nick to Far Harbor, you can get his affinity all the way up just by going through the quests there.

[dult]

Erm, not exactly what you're looking for I don't think, but the mod Start Me Up: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18946/? has a version that changes the dialog to remove the "concerned parent" lines from conversation, and lets you start from various start location. I haven't tried it(already using silent protaganist, and figured I should get around to actually making it through one of the main questlines before I used something like that), but it's pretty highly rated(And has a patch for said silent protaganist mod, which I highly suggest http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20097/? for immersion purposes). 

Between the two mods you won't be able to completely ignore the main story, but it makes it a whole lot less odd feeling to go do whatever, rather than the main quest.

 

As for other quests.... yeah, in my experience there isn't too much in terms of random quests. I think as far as exploration goes the game's one of their better ones, but you'll have a hard time just being whatever sort of person unless said sort of person likes running around, building lots of things, scrapping lots of things, and getting in scraps with lots of things. That said, I've had fun playing it with Pilgrim, a pip-boy flashlight mod, a survival options mod(Lemme save dammit!) and playing in survival mode. Becomes a bit like the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.

[DigitalP]

On my current playthrough. My character is a bit of a bitch. 

 

Her first step was to check out all the former military bases and locations for maybe some semblence of law and order. She was after all married to a vet so would know to check out these locations first. Either to get help, find a safe place or supplies. Once it became clear Codsworth was actually telling the truth about it being 200 years since the war I basically turned started a murdering spree throughout the commonwealth and refused to help anyone. Danse was killed on site. I've got the mod where you can get to the Institute through the tunnels for when I eventually become a raider and can't make the teleporter.

 

So yeah. I'm on my own. Every single mother fucker who I asked for help always wanted something in return. So well fuck everyone. I just go from place to place killing as I go. Vault 81 is the only exception because of shared circimstances. 

 

My trigger for returning to the main quest was hearing Kellogs voice on a holotape at University Point.........So well Diamond City here I come. My son could still be alive or at least the guy who took him is still alive. 

So yeah with the right mods it's very possible to seriously role play the game. 

CIT Tunnel entrence and bountiful boards make it all possible. 

[NNS10]

I've got the mod where you can get to the Institute through the tunnels for when I eventually become a raider and can't make the teleporter.

 

What's that mod called? Couldn't find it.

[DigitalP]

 

I've got the mod where you can get to the Institute through the tunnels for when I eventually become a raider and can't make the teleporter.

 

What's that mod called? Couldn't find it.

 

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21761/?

 

The fight with Kellog will take place here if you don't fight him at Fort Hagen so it's possible to be a complete and utter arsehole in the game and not help any faction and still finish the main quest. 

[NNS10]

 

 

I've got the mod where you can get to the Institute through the tunnels for when I eventually become a raider and can't make the teleporter.

 

What's that mod called? Couldn't find it.

 

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21761/?

 

The fight with Kellog will take place here if you don't fight him at Fort Hagen so it's possible to be a complete and utter arsehole in the game and not help any faction and still finish the main quest. 

 

 

So is that considered a shortcut to finish Act 1 to kickoff the rest of the game (e.g. BoS)?

 

[DigitalP]

 

 

 

I've got the mod where you can get to the Institute through the tunnels for when I eventually become a raider and can't make the teleporter.

 

What's that mod called? Couldn't find it.

 

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21761/?

 

The fight with Kellog will take place here if you don't fight him at Fort Hagen so it's possible to be a complete and utter arsehole in the game and not help any faction and still finish the main quest. 

 

 

So is that considered a shortcut to finish Act 1 to kickoff the rest of the game (e.g. BoS)?

 

 

 

Yes and no. But what it does do is give you the option of whether you decide to help anyone or not and still find your son. AFAIK you can still end up destroying the institute simply by getting kicked out. 

 

As far as lore goes why not? MiT has one of the largest and most well known tunnel systems in Boston let alone the United States so it's pretty clear that even just hearing the word "Institute" the Sole Survivor would very much click on and think. "Do they mean CiT/MiT"? 

 

And even the university itself publishes maps of the tunnels. 

 

https://twitter.com/mitlibraries/status/669244314610962432