Content opportunities missed by Bethesda

[Veladarius]

Note - there are spoilers in this for those that have not played through most endings.

 

After playing through FO4 a large number of times through most variations (except Nuka World and Far Harbor which I only did a few times so I won't go into those) I have come up with a list of content that should have been done but was completely ignored. Some of it is mid game content but there is also a good amount of missed opportunities after the various endings. These are not organized in any particular order and may overlap.

 

- Eliminating the Gunners

While MacCreedy has you go and take out one of the major Gunner outposts in order to kill off the two Gunners that had been harassing him there is still a lot to be done with them.

1- Campaign to retake Quincy - Once the Minutemen were in a dominant position within the Commonwealth they should have gone and retaken quincy from the Gunners. The fall of Quincy and the Minutemen in general was constantly brought up while rebuilding the Minutemen but nothing was done to make up for it. Once taken and repaired it would easily be one of the larger settled cities in the Commonwealth.

2- Campaign to take out Gunner Plaza - Once Quincy was retaken this would be the next step in eliminating the most organized threat to Uniting the Commonwealth.

3- Campaigns to take out the Gunner strongholds - This could be done at any point but if done once the Minutemen were of sufficient strength then the Gunners there would be replaced with a Minutemen outpost.

 

- Taking over the Gunners

This could be something done by either the Brotherhood of Steel or the Institute to help 'secure' the Commonwealth after the ending. Both the BoS and Institute could see the Minutemen as a threat and use the Gunners to eliminate them and help in securing any supplies or keeping the settlements in line to end the Minutemen for good. This would require taking the Castle from the Minutemen if it has been restored or taking it to use as a means to remind the people know who is in charge.

 

- Commonwealth government

This would greatly depend on who came out on top ultimately at the end.

--- The Railroad would likely have to ally themselves with the Minutemen and could possibly set up some settlements that would be places safe for synths to stay or be moved through. Would lead to the Minutemen backing the government

--- The Institute could use the Minutemen (through you) as well as Diamond City to form a government where they were ultimately in control. This could be done either because as Director you want to help the people on the surface or keep them under your thumb.

--- The Minutemen would have to have enough settlements active to be able to do this and if the Institute or is destroyed and possibly the BoS they could get the backing of the major 'cities' (I hate calling Diamond City and Goodneighbor a city as they have next to nothing really). If the BoS is still active they may want to try to make demands and lead to the fight between the BoS and Minutemen.

--- The BoS could call the Commonwealth together and unite them under the BoS though this would likely require the elimination of the Minutemen as a display of power and convince the settlements and cities to join them.

 

- Institute post victory

The Institute under your guidance could help the surface and try to convince them that they are not something to be feared any longer, especially if the Minutemen are of sufficient strength and an alliance between the two is made. On the other side you could decide to ignore the surface and leave them to their fate (and step down from the Minutemen as General). Or you could use the Gunners to remove the Minutemen as the last threat to the Institute by having the leadership replaced with synths. Since you are in charge you should be able to dictate the direction the Institute takes.

 

- BoS post victory

The BoS could bring the Commonwealth together mainly as a means to support its operations there. While the people get protected from bandits, supermutants and such they Commonwealth would need to supply the BoS with the materials and provisions it needs to make something more permanent and secure the entire airport area and fortify it so the Prydwen could either land or return to DC.

 

- Railroad post victory

The Railroad would likely want the assistance of the Minutemen to help secure and help any synths that escaped the Institute before its destruction. Having some settlements be waypoints for moving synths overseen by the Minutemen would help in this especially if the Minutemen have eliminated the Gunners and their bases could be used to do this out of sight of the rest of the people.

 

 

Some more minor things:

- Reclamation of the rest of Vault 88

I know some mods already do this (I believe) but with the expansion it could take in more people especially if it is expanded in such a way to accommodate them.

- Reclamation of the other Vaults

There are a number of vaults in the hands of raiders and thugs that could be turned into viable settlements similar to vault 81

- Eradication of the super mutants

My theory on the origins of the Commonwealth super mutants lies with the Institute seeing as they are different from the ones in DC (commented on several times by the BoS) so there should not be an unlimited number of them

- Elimination of the major Raider bosses

Notice how most of the larger groups of raiders have a named leader? If these could be eliminated it would weaken the raiders overall and possibly drive them out of their major encampments leaving just small groups left to roam around. The major raider camps would then be occupied by the major faction in charge.

While the Railroad does this with a particular gang Glory wanted to go after, after the destruction of the Institute if it is done via the Minutemen you will get those missions but Glory is treated as though she is dead

- Institute informants

If you look in the computers in the SRB you will find a list of the people that have been reliable in providing locations of synths, on this list is all of the merchant caravan leaders working for Stockton at Bunker Hill.

- The Mechanist's Lair

After the defeat of the Mechanist it should be possible to use the facility there to augment the Minutemen or BoS with bots to be available for patrols or be used as an Institute base of operations due to its advanced medical and industrial capabilities.

 

 

 

Bethesda left a lot on the table in FO4 just as they did with Skyrim and I think some of these would have made much better DLC's than most of what they released.

[Yuni]

... honestly I think a lot of the problems with Fo4 come from them focusing so much of their time and money on the settlement system. It took them SO long to release the creation kit for it compared to other games... so long to bug fix just about everything. I think there was a lot left on the cutting room floor because the majority of the budget was that weird settlement system, honestly... after watching the Extra Credits episodes I have, I almost fell like the Settlements are a victim of the Sunk Costs Fallacy.

[Content Consumer]

so long to bug fix just about everything

 

...what?

[Yuni]

 

so long to bug fix just about everything

 

...what?

 

 

I didn't mean they fixed all the bugs. I meant there have been numerous bugfixing patches over a long period of time that broke mods and other things over and over. -.- I meant 'just about everything' NEEDED a fix, not WAS fixed. xD

 

Point is they spent a lot of time on the settlement system, and less time making actual game.

[LukeDuke]

^ Those were mostly updates to mods menu in game and now CC, bugfixing was over with patch 1.7 I believe or 1.8, but playing even today without UFO4P is a chore for me.. So the truth is that they did not fix a shit, only introduced more bugs every update so modders had more to do lol (like broken random encounters when you have all dlc's installed without UFO4P - they still did not fixed it! but introduced CC cuz they love their fans so much haha) 

 

And I agree with you Velararius, they focused too much on shooting aspect (which while better than in FO3 is still not that great) and settlements system..

[Ernest Lemmingway]

This is the same complaint I've had about FO4 since it was released. Given how poorly Bethesda handled mod theft for console mods, the six month wait for a beta of the CK (has a finalized version ever been released?), and the countless bugs that they never fixed and the additional ones introduced through patches, I've given up on ever playing it again. I'm still pissed off at myself for ordering the SE and tend to vent by vilifying the game, but it still stands that this was a very poor game in terms of content. It's a cross between a shooter and settlement manager game, neither of which are genres I particularly like, not a genuine RPG and not really Fallout.

 

Kudos, Veladarius, for detailing what has got to be the biggest failing for FO4. If this game were soup, it would be plain hot water with no seasonings.

[Veladarius]

I use a bunch of mods to get past the settlement construction so I just go in, clear it out or do whatever task needs done, strip the settlement and load a blueprint. I watch the population and when it gets to a certain point I set up a supply line and later I shut off the beacon. most of my settlements have a defense rating anywhere from 1000 - 2000 so I rarely hear from them. Leaves me time to wander around and explore / kill wherever I go and collect power armor. each faction should have far more quests and content yet we have a DLC that lets you build a ball track?

[xenic]

I would love to see a mod that expanded on the institute victory. It seems to me that would have been a better ending for the Commonwealth.

[Jazzman]

Oh well, despite the tremendous amount of time the paid devs might have spent onto Beth's settlement system, they are still stuck in Neanderthal compared to kinggath's Sim Settlement system, I dare to say. And kinggath is one of us, a free man.

 

On the bigger picture I must confess that already in Winter 2015 I've got that strange feeling to be an alien in the Commonwealth, actually not contemporary w/o bending backwards, thus no integral part of the whole as it still was the case in F03 (or FNV for that matter). Consequently I've skipped that nation building thing completely after the encounter with Shaun on the roof of the C.I.T, leaving the civil war business to those who have it encoded in their virtual role genes. I mean, what am I (thanks to my RPG skills)? General of the Minuteman, chief assassin of the Railroad, 2nd in command of the Outcast/Brotherhood, overseer of Vault 88, the overboss of all raiders in Nuka World, director-elect of the Institute, patron saint of all water pumps in the Commonwealth and wearer of the Captain's hat in Far Harbor. That are a few fuckin' ego jobs too many even for a trained moron like me, I'd say. Thus my pack of eight is exclusively focused on its own survival and the rest might go to hell if they must or continue causing always the same trouble happily ever after. I'm not the prophesized errand girl, the harbinger of doom, Sister Salvation, ey.

[Veladarius]

I tried out the Sim Settlement system and wasn't a fan of it. My settlements are fortresses and little can withstand more than a moment or two against them. Usually I show up (on the rare occasion they call) and I just sit and watch the laser and fireworks show. I use the Transfer Settlements mod so I only need to build them once and already have saves for every settlement in the Commonwealth and Far Harbor.

 

 

As far as being boss of everything goes Skyrim is guilty of the same thing. 

 

Some other scenario's I could see happening:

- you become a merchant boss and get the settlements organized and working with the larger 'cities' and would help the settlements set up defenses

- you and the railroad don't destroy the Institute but instead take it over and make a 'change in leadership and direction'.

- The BoS would go on a campaign to take over the various settlements and cities to secure their position there and ensure they have sufficient supplies and such. The Minutemen would fight against them, the railroad would go underground further and the Institute would fight against them (with or without you in charge).

- The Institute, under your direction, could ally themselves with anyone (except the BoS) or no one and either stay underground or take over the Commonwealth 'for the good of the people'

- The Minutemen under your command could ally themselves with one other faction and go after the other factions or just leave them be, your choice. Optimally they would be against both the Gunners and BoS since both want to take over the Commonwealth

- you could join the Gunners and work your way up in its ranks, maybe even stage a coup and take command yourself.

- you could just become a mercenary for hire and choose a general grouping to work for, either for the people in general, against the various factions or for a few of the factions (though the opposing factions would see you as hostile at some point). Heck, you could instigate conflicts between factions and have them do most of the dirty work and hire you for various missions from both sides.

- become a bounty hunter and hunt down raiders and super mutant bosses and clear the locations they have taken over. You could arrange to have whatever major power take over the site for larger ones and smaller ones would just stay cleared unless they are not patrolled occasionally by some major group

- You could become a raider and take over the smaller groups (bribery, coercion or charisma) and be a hindrance to the main groups. Set up a drug or slave trade.

- finally you could just be a nobody (minor mercenary?) and do odd jobs and favors for settlements, people or different factions but never get involved in the main conflict itself.

 

This would be a real RPG.

 

Some other things:

- There should be more established settlements around

- Diamond City has a huge amount of wasted space inside and out, it needs filled.

- Goodneighbor should be larger, there is nothing there for the most part.

 

 

For the record I believe that FONV is worse than FO4. FO4 has all the same things FONV does but bigger (except DLC's FONV wins there) and FONV is guilty of the same things as FO4 except it is empty for the most part.

 

[sen4mi]

... honestly I think a lot of the problems with Fo4 come from them focusing so much of their time and money on the settlement system. It took them SO long to release the creation kit for it compared to other games... so long to bug fix just about everything. I think there was a lot left on the cutting room floor because the majority of the budget was that weird settlement system, honestly... after watching the Extra Credits episodes I have, I almost fell like the Settlements are a victim of the Sunk Costs Fallacy.

 

When I look at the Creation Kit UI (and think about some of the other things I have seen), I think the problem has to do with how people work together.

 

Specifically: I can see lots of evidence of business priorities which were not about forming useful gaming abstractions for their content creators but which instead were about fixing the worst of the worst problems they were facing.

 

I am not sure that there's any easy solutions here.