#the synths as slaves is such a weird choice to do

[houses-snowglobes]

I've been thinkin about the Synths in FO4 and how much fucking cleaner the writing would be if they just made them a Red Scare allegory instead of the slavery thing they got going on

would it be perfect ? no probably not but it would make so much more sense + make the factions a bit more "equal" in terms of morality

maybe this is just a me thing, but it's hard for me to go a BoS route or an Institute route considering one is like "I love killing slaves" and the other is like "I love having slaves." The Railroad is flawed, but it's hard for me to not side with them considering they're like "Hey guys I think slavery is bad actually" which yeah no shit. Changing the allegory to the Red Scare though makes it more complicated and (potentially) better written

The Railroad's cause suddenly becomes more questionable and less "obviously" moral, and makes the question of "How sentient are Synths and are they worth protecting?" a much more interesting question. The BoS becomes at least less egregious in their Synth hatred. I wouldn't call it GOOD but at least I understand it more in a Red Scare context. And the Institute doesn't fucking own slaves anymore

[purkinje-effect]

The Purkinje Effect, 15

Table of Contents

“God, Geek, you’ve got a curse with timing, you know that?” Hancock leaned hard into the back of the couch and rubbed his temples with one hand, the other on a wine bottle. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see ya, but it’s been chaos since the moment I sent you off on your little errand. ...Speaking of which, how did all that go? You’re certainly back faster’n I expected. Hope that doesn’t mean you’re comin’ back empty handed.”

“Besides the walk to and back, it really didn’t take much,” Galen replied quietly, sitting on the couch beside him. “I didn’t have to find them. They found me. ...Where’s your bodyguard?”

“You missed a goddamn shit show.” The colonially dressed ghoul slammed back a third of the bottle and grunted once he���d taken a breath. “Hopefully it’s all blown over finally. Fahr’s alive, if only barely. She’ll be fine.” When Galen looked on expectantly, Hancock offered the bottle, but Galen waved it off.

“I, no, that’s not it. I just. I’m worried what happened, is all. Did Goodneighbor get attacked by raiders or something?” He settled in a little better, setting his duffel on the ground under his feet.

“Before you, last time I saw a vault dweller was over a year ago. And now two have blown through here in a single week. That little shit... You know, I don’t blame him, to be fair. I feel completely accountable for everything that happened. No, y’know what? Y'want story time? I’ll tell you what happened, but first things first. I’m payin’ ya for the scoop on North End.”

Galen nodded, lips tight.

“They’re legit, the Railroad. The Institute crafts synths to use them for slaves, and the Railroad is like, well. You know your history, yeah? I’d imagine somebody wearin’ John Hancock’s getup would know a thing or two about prewar stuff. Pretty sure they call themselves that after the Underground Railroad. They’re all about smuggling escapees outta the Institute and gettin’ ‘em someplace safe. Away from the Institute, and away from the bigots who think that because synths were created to serve some supervillain empire, that the synths themselves are evil by design. Y’know, I will take y’up on that.”

He motioned for the bottle, and the mayor shared. After a solid swig, the dreg passed it back to him.

“I said they found me?” Galen kept on. “Apparently I’m not just a sore thumb stickin’ out sideways around here, I’ve got a goddamn spotlight on me. They had their eye on me since I got outta Diamond City. And... they want me to sign on with ‘em. I kinda want to. Nobody, no thing, deserves t’be enslaved. That’s a cause I can get behind. They know you sent me to scout ‘em out, and they sent me back with reassurance they have no intention of embroilin’ you, your town, or its people, in their dirty work. Not without ‘em also signin’ on, provin’ they’re on board black-n’-white about it all. No innocent blood shed on their watch, an’ all that.”

“Respectable work they’re doin'.” Finishing off the bottle, Hancock put it down on the coffee table with an elevated brow and heavy lids. He reached for his cigarette case and lit one up, flicking the extinguished match into the ashtray. “Y’say y’wanna join ‘em? What’s stoppin’ ya?”

Any ease left in Galen’s face drained right out of him.

“I came East lookin’ for answers about what might be wrong with the equipment at my vault. Bein’ pink ain’t rosy. My time up top just keeps rackin’ up red flags over symptoms an’ details we all just sorta accepted as normal. Time got to be a blur, and all we knew was what we were experiencing. I’m sure for most of us, it’s been like this so long we’ve forgotten it wasn’t always like this. Anyway, I’m outta places I’d know where to look for information, but really I’ve all but given up anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I care what happens to ‘em, but I’m positive they’d cut their noses off just t’spite me at this point, even if I had a way to fix all this.” After a moment the turn of phrase had marinated, and he straightened. “Bad choice of words.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Hancock murmured, grinning genuinely a moment. “You’re really pulled every which way, aren’t ya?”

“It sounds horrible, but I’m just lookin’ for a way for me t��survive this... I wanna be in the pink, not just... Yeah. Can I bum a smoke off ya, in exchange for playin’ y’couch psychiatrist?”

“--Sure.” Picking up the case again, Hancock produced a second cigarette and lit it off the cherry of his own, then he handed it over. As he spoke, he gesticulated with his cigarette not unlike an implement. “This classy lil’ tricorner hat’s gettin’ kinda heavy, man. That other vaultie I mentioned? Showed up a few hours after you left. Scrawny little creep with a Handy. Jamjar glasses and a bad limp. Finn, one of my best guards, decides to get friendly with the guy in the worst way, just because Finn doesn’t like how I’m running things and was tryin’ t’put his foot down wherever he could stomp it. Finn an’ I get into a disagreement, and I had to put him in the dirt over it to protect the guy.

“I thought I had a bead on everybody in my town, knew where I stood. Have I become a tyrant? Finn wasn’t the only one who’s actin’ like it.” Hancock shut his eyes, took a long drag off his cigarette, and paused on his head space, holding the smoke in for a moment before letting it out his nose-less nostrils. His head lolled onto the back of the couch, his hand drooping off the arm of it. “That little shit wasn’t even in my town a full twenty-four hours before another of my folks had him tricked into helpin’ her breakin’ into my strong room. All hell broke loose. There was... collateral. Fahr was just doin’ her job, and it almost got her killed. Vaultie’s got some serious debt racked up, if he can’t get back the shit he helped Bobbi steal from me. And something along the lines of a fine for critically wounding my second-in-command.”

A short silence followed.

“I get that you’re pissed,” Galen started, puffing away as he leaned forward onto his knees. “But didn’t you just describe that other vaultie as a scrawny, decrepit nerd? If he had the wool pulled over him by this Bobbi, you really think he’d be capable of coercin’ her t'cough it back up?”

“Oh, it ain’t about him makin’ recompense. It’s about makin’ him sweat. If he can get that loot back from her, he’s earned it. But what’s got me is, Bobbi thinks I earned her makin’ me for a mark. I had a job done on me. I’m getting too hunkered into my laurels. I’m goin’ crazy inside my head. I’ve gotta. I’ve gotta get outta town. Blow off some steam, sharpen the ol’ killer instinct.”

“...Funny thing, that timing. I finished the part of the story you asked me to fish for, but there’s one more thing. In order to join on the Railroad, I have to do a job for them. Prove my aptitude or somethin’ like that. An’ I’m kinda wary to go alone. The guy I’ve gotta meet with is the one I think’s been tailing me the past week, and he’s kinda... weird.” He squinted and shook his head, and swallowed his filter without snuffing it. With his head collected, he made eye contact with the mayor. “You wanna get outta town. I gotta get outta town. I’d love it if y’came with me.”

Hancock shot up and slapped his knees, then stood animatedly. His face lit up, and he wagged his free hand at Galen while he finished off his cigarette.

“You. I knew I liked you. It’s settled. We stock up and head out ASAP. I gotta bow to the formality of a speech before all that, though. I owe my people that much. But they can hold their own while I duck off with ya. They’ve got Fahr, once she’s a hundred percent again. This little job shouldn’t take too long, should it?”

“It’s out by the old Corvega plant,” Galen replied. The mayor’s intensity was catching, and a strange smile crossed the pink dreg’s face. “You’re good people, Hancock.”

“By the smile of Heaven, I am a free and independent man,” he grinned, tipping his hat toward him over his shoulder as he ducked out the balcony door at the end of the room.

[wellamarke]

mirror, mirror

humans challenge, week 1, day 5: after the end warning for mild body horror-type descriptions (but…y'know, about robots)

After the initial repairs are done, the other synth has to charge, and Flash helps her find a wire, and a place to sit. The skinpacks are working now, sealing up the worst of her visible wounds, but the damage to her arm will be more complicated to fix. It’s still twitching, even now - not the steady flicker of one finger to confirm that she’s charging, but a constant, slight movement of the entire limb, starting from the shoulder. Parts of her hair have been ripped out, and what is left hangs in uneven clumps. She only has one working eyelid - the other eye stares blankly out at Flash, constant and disconcerting.

Still, Flash cannot look away. This is the first time since her awakening that she’s seen a duplicate of herself. Earlier, they scanned for the synth’s serial number, to check what concentration of fluid transfusion she would require. She’s a Zoya P-T01, a decacore, just like Flash. They had almost definitely been manufactured within the same month. They had been sold to the same distributor.

If the Singhs had bought some other synth, or gone shopping for one three weeks earlier or later, Flash might have ended up just like her.

There are contradictions in it, for a start. She is both grateful and sorry. She has compassion for the other Zoya - who has not chosen a name yet - but also feels a certain repulsion towards her, which she has never felt when dealing with other synths, who’ve come to them with injuries far worse than these. It must be something to do with seeing her own face under those wounds - like looking in one of those circus mirrors Arvinder had always liked so much, but which had made Harmeet squeal in fright and hide behind Flash, every time. She understands both of those reactions now, in hindsight. It’s both fascinating and horrifying to see a reflection of oneself that is exact, and yet distorted.

The door of the charging room opens, startling Flash, who hadn’t paid attention to the sound of footsteps approaching outside, so engrossed in watching her silent twin. She turns her head to see who it is, and Mattie peeps around the door. “Hi.”

“Hello,” says Flash, and she smiles because it’s nice to smile when you see a friend, not particularly because she feels like smiling just at present.

Apparently it shows. Mattie frowns. “You OK?”

“I’m not sure,” says Flash, thoughtfully. Hurriedly, she adds, “I’m not damaged, or in distress. I’m just confused.”

“Hmm? What about?” Mattie asks, entering the room properly. She joins Flash on the bench opposite the other Zoya’s.

Flash gestures ahead of them, by way of response. It takes Mattie a few seconds, but she gets there. “Oh,” she says. “Wow, that’s… I don’t blame you, that’s got to be weird.”

“I knew I wasn’t a Unique,” says Flash. “And I remember seeing others before. But not since I was awake. And never like this.”

“She’s been through the wars,” Mattie observes. “Where did she come from?”

“A recycling plant,” Flash tells her. “We don’t even know if she was there as a worker, or to be recycled herself. She can’t speak.”

Mattie leans forward to take a closer look. “I think her jaw is misaligned. Actually, there’s a plate missing. We can fix that in the morning, I should think.”

Flash brightens slightly. “That would be nice.”

Neither of them say anything more for a while. Eventually, Flash says, “It could so easily have been me. It seems selfish to say that. But we’re exactly the same.”

“You were built from the same design,” Mattie corrects, her voice gentle. “But you’re both your own people. She’ll have a different personality to you, different likes and dislikes…”

“Different memories.”

“Yeah.”

Flash looks down at her hands. “Mine are all nice, really. Mr and Mrs Singh were always fair. The children liked to treat me as a plaything, but they weren’t cruel. My personality grew out of those experiences, at least in part. I just can’t help feeling that I…”

She trails off, rearranging some code until she knows for sure what she wants to say.

“I didn’t deserve any better than she did.”

Mattie exhales. “Flash. None of you deserved what happened to you. You couldn’t do anything of your own free will.”

“I know.”

“You couldn’t control what you were sold as, or how you were… used.” Mattie curls her tongue around the word, awkwardly. “She didn’t have a hard life because of you. She had a hard life because the humans she worked for were bastards.”

Flash nods. She knows these things. That doesn’t make them true inside of her.

Mattie turns a little on the bench, puts a hand on Flash’s arm. “You know what she does have because of you?”

“No,” says Flash, warily. “What?”

“Life,” says Mattie. “Thoughts. Her own self.”

Flash frowns. “I wasn’t the one who rescued her. I only saw her once she was back here.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Mattie says. “I mean she’s awake because of you. Actually, they all are.”

Now Flash really has no idea what Mattie’s saying. “You sent the consciousness code, Mattie.”

“I pressed the button,” Mattie acknowledges. “But I wasn’t going to. Even though I knew it would save Mia, I was still hesitating, because I thought it would be… total chaos. But then Max got me to look over at you. You were helping the others, caring for them, just like you’ve been doing today, and I thought: maybe it’ll be okay. Maybe it won’t be a disaster, if enough of them are like Flash.”

Flash is too shocked to say anything at first. She puts a hand over Mattie’s.

“And I was right,” Mattie continues. “It’s working, the world didn’t end, and we’re working it out, aren’t we? All of those synths getting to think and feel, thanks to you, Flash. You didn’t choose how this one had to live, but thanks to you she can have something better now. I’d say that’s pretty good going.”

Flash finally finds words, but they’re still uneasy. “Without me, she’d never have felt pain, or understood that she was a slave. She wouldn’t have known any better,” she said.

“That’s true,” Mattie allows, “And I think about that a lot as well. If I’d just thought of another way of remotely accessing Mia’s head, if I’d just volunteered to go with Leo instead of her, if I’d just stayed at home instead of leaving my mum alone to get Hestered, none of these guys would be hurting now. But I just have to think… they would never be happy, either. There’s loads of good things about being alive, and they were missing out on all of it.”

“Some of them won’t think it’s enough.”

“Maybe not. And if they want to delete, we might not be able to stop them. But at least it’ll be their choice.”

A silence falls between them again. Flash has to acknowledge the truth in Mattie’s words, even though it’s hard to accept her part in it.

“I suppose,” she begins, at length, “it’s good that there are some of us who had easy lives. We have less to recover from ourselves, so we can help the others more.”

Mattie nods encouragingly. “Now you’re getting it.”

“And she and I…” Flash looks sideways at Mattie. “You have a brother, and a sister. Max has two of each. In a way, she and I are sisters, aren’t we?”

“I’d say so,” Mattie says, grinning. “There’s another thing she wouldn’t have, if it wasn’t for you.”

Flash looks back at the other Zoya, and for the first time, smiles at her. “I think I’ll like having a sister.”

“They’re good fun,” says Mattie. “And yours even has a mute button. I’d have loved that on Soph while I was taking my exams.”

Flash laughs, proud of how naturally she can do it now. When the peal code ends, she says more seriously, “Thank you, Mattie.”

Mattie nods. “Anytime, honestly. We did this together, we cope with it together, yeah?”

“Yes.”

Mattie turns her hand over so she can give Flash’s own hand a squeeze. “So. I was on my way to log the newbies into the system. You want to come?”

Flash stands with Mattie, and follows her out of the room, but not before pressing a kiss to the dormant Zoya’s temple.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promises. It can’t come soon enough.

[zhaoly]

ok really long post ahead, sorry for mobile users since i dont think the spoiler break works on mobile iirc

i finally finished the main quest for fo4.. um.... was that it?? that was kinda my first reaction lol. ok i have SO many thoughts as i always do when i finish a game.. maybe more for this one tho

so i ended up doing both the minutemen and bos endings because they split relatively late in the story so i just made two separate saves... they were basically the same except i thought following liberty prime was kinda fun lol. i liked watching him pick up a behemoth and then just throwing it to the ground

so now that i’ve like... finished the game.... i guess i can see why people complain that fo4 is more of an fps than an rpg

like.... i’ve dumped a ton of hours into this game, but that’s mostly because i’ve spent a lot of time building settlements lol. besides that, the story does seem to be lacking a bit. i think it definitely had potential, but nothing was really fleshed out that well... like if i try to think back on what i did, i’m like.. ??

maybe part of that is because four main factions was a little ambitious? i just feel like there wasn’t much opportunity to actually get to know each faction and like actually feel like you were involved with them

1) minutemen - i mean, you got a shitton of radiant quests from preston (which drove me crazy very early on and got modded out)... and then what? you claim settlements and that’s about it. reclaiming the castle is as deep as the story gets. besides that all you have is radiant quests

also there were like... zero named characters besides preston who were actually really involved with the minutement. like there was ronnie shaw but she just ends being a merchant later, and i didn’t even get the proper armory quest from her because my game glitched out. so basically she was just a unique merchant for me

and like... who else is there?? there’s the sanctuary crew and some named settlers but none of them are really part of the “minutemen.” so like you didn’t really get to talk to members of the faction and stuff and actually feel like you were immersed in the story. like i know that the story is that you’re rebuilding the minutemen so there’s supposed to be no one but preston, but later on as you claim settlements and expand the minutement and stuff there’s still nothing... no new story, quest, npcs... you have to do some dungeon clearing quests for some of the named settlers but that’s literally it.

i liked their general “for the people” thing but like... they never really expanded on it... they did end up being one of the two factions that i sided with because of their cause but i just think the story (or lack thereof, really) with them was pretty bland

2) railroad - well i was considering joining them very early on cause i do think their cause is decent, i like deacon, and i accidentally spoiled for myself that danse is a synth (i like danse because i mean you know me and my beef)... but then i felt like they were a little too focused on the synths. like that was literally just their entire cause. and i just felt like that was just too narrow.

and you met these characters that you really just.... met and then nothing ever happened later with them! like high rise, mister tims, idk what the point of drummer boy was, etc..

and again there were just a ton of radiant quests... at least they were all finite, but like there was what? helping that one safehouse (forgot the name), mila quests, and pam’s caches. the ticonderoga quest was kinda interesting but i wish there was something more besides “here’s ticonderoga. oh whoops it gets destroyed later. haha!”

3) institute - well i disliked them right off the bat because they were the ones who not only MURDERED MY HUSBAND but also KIDNAPPED AND BRAINWASHED MY CHILD (yes i consider it brainwashing)????? like come on. i take this stuff very personally man. it’s the same reason why i joined the stormcloaks in skyrim (before realizing what a bunch of racist assholes they are but.... i digress) cause i was like WHY tf would i join a group that tried to execute me with absolutely zero cause

so i’m just like why would i join a group that murdered my husband (right in front of my eyes i might add) and kidnapped my child. hello??? like yeah i hated the fact that they gave you a goddamn baby in the first place, but since i had it i was like WELL I AM OUTRAGED THAT THEY DID THIS TO MY CHILD.

then there was the whole deal with them actually taking real people (and presumably murdering them) and replacing them with synth copies. i HATED that a lot and it was a big turnoff on top of all of my personal grievances against them. their elitist attitude towards the commonwealth was annoying as fuck as well as their manufacturing of gen 3 synths for what was basically slave labor. also there were like random conversations that would occur between scientists and synths and the scientists were such assholes.

oooooh and the part where you ask shaun why he decided to let you out of your cryo pod and he’s like “well... i suppose that i just wanted to see what would happen” and i was like BITCH WHAT?????? EXCUSE ME?????? THAT’S YOUR REASON?? 

like the shaun/father thing was an interesting twist in the story... but it def was not enough to make me want to join the institute. esp with that craphole reason that he gave me for letting me out of the cryo pod. and like the dude is basically a stranger to you, why tf would you just join the institute bc he’s “”””family””””? i suppose they tried to make it a more difficult dilemma by really trying to push your character’s story in the “i’m looking for my son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” direction before you actually find out what happened to shaun, but i didnt find that a very compelling plot point in the first place.... so it had pretty much no bearing on my decision

also. the synth shaun. he made the synth shaun which is like super weird and a little creepy. like this kid’s never gonna age.... i mean 50 years from now he’s gonna be a 60 y-o in a 10 y-o’s body!!!!!!!! who tf thought that was a good idea?? i mean i’m on the “gen 3 synths are truly sentient” train cause the game basically does nothing to show you otherwise. you have institute scientists telling you that they aren’t, but literally everything in the game shows you that they are. also danse

and then their cause... they say they’re the “best hope for humanity” and stuff but like what are they actually doing to help humanity. the only beneficial thing they did was create gmos like that huge pumpkin (while replacing roger ww in the process which as i mentioned before was something i hated). besides that, wtf are they doing besides hiding away in their blindingly white laboratories experimenting w/ synths?? 

anyway yeah i hated the institute but i guess in terms of “story” they did a little better than the railroad and minutemen. but they honestly got a helping hand from the fact that shaun was involved with them and a large part of the story early on was looking around for information about shaun and being able to ask npcs about the institute. however once you proceeded past a certain point they also fell into a very boring routine of having a handful of radiant quests available and not much else involving them

4) bos - well.... i def felt like they were super culty when i first went onto the prydwen. and i really dont like their stance on gen 3s and non-feral ghouls. but i do like that theyre out and about clearing the commonwealth of super mutants, ferals, and raiders lol. 

i really really hate the whole danse thing tho and how close-minded they are about him :( i did see that there was actually cut content where you could challenge maxson and danse would get his rank back and i kinda wish that they actually implemented that. i dont really want the elder role but i’d like the chance to do something where you could shift the bos’s opinion on gen 3s, even if only slightly... like THAT would be a good story element, come on! 

but w/e. i really didnt like them at first but i like their aesthetic compared to everyone else and their general cause (at least theyre not like opening fire on the slog, right... ?) ..

anyway i might just stick with their ending as my “main” playthrough cause afaict they’re not much diff from the minutemen ending except i get the sentinel rank, and you actually have some named people that you can interact with about your choice.

ok im actually really tired of writing this post... i actually have so many more thoughts haha but i dunno if i’ll be able to get them all out because as if on cue i’m getting tired around midnight.. anyway

yeah so the story was eh and i wish it went more in depth. like, even though i wasnt super fond of fnv’s story, i did think it was more immersive and detailed... i think fo4 had a lot of potential but sadly didn’t quite deliver. tbh i think the game couldve gone without the railroad if four factions really did just spread them too thin while in development.

like i think the part of the story with kellogg was good... the whole thing about trying to find the identity of this guy, searching his home, searching for him, looking through his memories, etc was pretty interesting. i liked how we were able to see his backstory and something about him that wasn’t just “dude who murdered my husband.” like that was all good stuff! but the story REALLY deteriorated after that... i mean you just end up having to kill the guy and then he’s just out of the story completely.

oh and like related to that--what was that whole deal with nick speaking in kellogg’s voice briefly after you finish in the memory den??? why would they just throw in a line like that and not expand on it at all???? that bugged me SO MUCH because again there was so much potential there!!! if kellogg had somehow gotten into nick’s mind you could be presented with so many new options. like how do you get him out? can you get him out? who do you go to for help? etc etc etc NOT JUST SOME THROWAWAY LINE THAT ACTUALLY DOES NOTHING AHHH

speaking of which. fo4 seems to do that a LOT. like maybe it’s recency bias bc i really dont remember all the details of fnv to be able to compare, but i feel like fo4 has a ton of little throwaway things that are interesting details but aren’t expanded on at all. like not even a little bit. i think there needs to be a certain balance between details and mini stories... like fo4 dangled SO many of these little details in your face that you just never got to expand on at all.. i love an interesting world where you can discover things that dont really have an impact on the main story or anything but these scraps just drove me crazy.

also there were like... no vaults??? i feel like fnv had a lot more... fo4 has vault 95 for cait (and a kinda boring purpose/story imo). the vault of triggermen where you find nick. the vault for refining human genes. vault 81. and that’s it.. i felt like i spent a lot more time in vaults in fnv? and they had some creepier stories/experiments too

ok like my brain... is really slowing down but i will at least get a few more thoughts down before i go to sleep

SETTLEMENTS. LORD HELP ME. again, a great concept with so much potential but poor execution. i really enjoyed settlements--with mods. vanilla settlements are just so horribly lacking. for one thing not being able to clean up your settlement is just terrible. you really would just have to leave piles of trash, garbage, debris, 200-YEAR-OLD SKELETONS, etc, lying around your settlement!!!!! where you’re supposed to have people living!!

settlers themselves also have some pretty terrible ai. theyre stupid af. their pathing is godawful. i am extremely proud of them when they actually are able to successfully navigate a structure i built because it is such a goddamn struggle for them! like they’re literally coded to take the shortest possible straight line path so i get tons of them walking into walls trying to get to their destination instead of walking around them, going through doorways, using stairs etc (yes theyre all navmeshed)... it’s actually so aggravating

also settlements themselves are incredibly and frustratingly buggy. the resources getting messed up in your pip boy bug is super annoying. there’s a shit ton of other bugs with them that i’m just too tired to list but i’m like ahhh god i feel like i’m playing a beta version of this shit! also what’s up with them spawning on top of buildings in sanctuary?

ok yeah i have a lot of crticisms for the game so it may not seem like i enjoyed it but i actually did. i think the story was decent up until after you finished kellogg’s part, cause after that it just got really boring (which is lame because seriously, the story gets boring after you can start decided which faction/s you want to join??)

but mods def contributed a lot to my enjoyment, esp my settlement mods... like most of my mods are settlement mods lol. so like... if i played vanilla fo4 i do doubt that i’d have enjoyed it as much. i do actually like the fps aspect of it, but i think there are too many places that are overloaded with enemies.. so you’re constantly fighting shit. it gets kind of annoying after a while.

OH THAT JUST REMINDED ME. GUNNERS. another thing that had potential but ended up just being... ??? raiders but fancier??? you could literally switch out all the gunners for raiders and nothing would change. when i first encountered them i was really excited cause i thought it was a new side faction but they’re literally just... raiders. but fancy. it’s disappointing af. there’s no story behind them... you can get into gunners plaza and find some holotapes from the leader and some members but then there’s nothing else! you don’t ever get to find out what the story is behind all of it! again with dangling some details in front of your face and then just never expanding on it at all. ugh gunners were seriously a big disappointment for me.

okay i’m actually done now cause i’m tired and typing this out actually took a lot of time lol. i still have a ton of thoughts but i need to sleep. lame