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Fallout 4 (PS4): COMPLETED!

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Crawl out through the fallout, baby
When they drop that bomb
Crawl out through the fallout, baby
With the greatest of aplomb

Crawl out through the Fallout back to me! Oh yes. Fallout is BACK and I’ve bloody loved it. Fallout 3 and New Vegas were two of my favourite games from the last generation of consoles, and two of the most played. As soon as Fallout 4 was announced, I bought a PS4 so I’d have something to play it on. I was so excited I posted about it on Twitter every single day from announcement to release. Oh god, Fallout 4.

Fallout_4_20160108224324

 

But first, some bad stuff. And spoilers – definitely read no further if you don’t want spoilers. Stopped reading? Excellent.

I didn’t like the ending. I know there are several endings, and I’ve some earlier saves ready to return to when I decide to try for the others, but I felt that the Railroad ending was looking like the “good” ending. It wasn’t. Not unless you think slaughtering dozens of innocent scientists and destroying 200 years of scientific progress (not to mention re-radiating a large chunk of the Wasteland) in order to save the “lives” of some synthetic humans is a “good” ending. Here’s a video, spoilers abound:

What I wanted, really, was for the Institute to see sense and either hide away completely (they supposedly could with their reactor) or share their advances with everyone for the good of the world. But no, that doesn’t seem to be an option.

That aside, the game itself is excellent. I’ve posted about the bugs, of which there are a lot, but they’re mostly minor. Two major ones happened (the next quest didn’t trigger), but they resolved themselves eventually after doing some sidequests for a while. There’s some annoyance with the dialogue choices, as the options on screen just give you an idea of what you’ll say rather then the exact words and intonation meaning you can end up with a totally different conversation to that you expected. These make up a small part of the game though, and the rest more than makes up for it.

I love the setting. I love the exploration. I love the 40s, 50s and 60s songs on the radio. I love the characters, especially Nick Valentine who, since meeting him about 12 hours in, has become my only companion. He’s awesome:

He has great one-liners, keeps me on the straight and narrow (he’s not a fan of stealing or being nasty to folk) and looks fantastic with his private dick outfit and half his face torn off. One day I’ll actually go and find Eddies tape for him. One day, Nick. One day.

I even love the base building, which is new to Fallout 4. It’s clunky, it’s buggy, and is a completely pointless time-sink, but for some reason I keep getting addicted to it. I’ve built towers and castles in the sky and a warehouse full of beds with a disco ball, and it’s incredible.

Besides that though, and the massively improved graphics (and palette – there are blue skies now!), it’s all still pretty much Fallout 3 again, in a new location with new things to do. In a way, you’d think that’s a little disappointing, but it’s actually exactly what I wanted. There are tweaks to improve things, like being able to tag required parts so junk items show up as needed when looting, and being able to see and take what is in a container without “opening” it, but they just improve the experience rather than vastly change it.

Click to view slideshow.

I just wish there was a better ending. Maybe one of the others will surprise me. Or maybe I missed some dialogue options somewhere. I’m sure I’ll find out, as I’m going to play some more. A lot more. After all, I’ve only put 65 hours into it so far, so I’ve barely scratched the surface.

The post Fallout 4 (PS4): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Fifa 16 – Getting ready for TOTY packs

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After finishing Fallout 4 I've gone back to playing Fifa & FUTdraft to collect packs for the TOTY team release this weekend, I've got 12 packs at the moment waiting to open in the hope I can get one TOTY player.

I usually play FUTdraft with the boys and to make it more interesting we are now choosing our selections by blind picks (picking a number & see who we get). This has resulted in some dreadful choices like John Terry, Shane Long or a horrible formation like 5221.

Scored a lovely volley with Hulk, wish me luck for the weekend for a TOTY player.

Rocket League: an epic match

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Yes, I have a PS4.  I've not played on it too much yet - this three-month-old baby is less accommodating to gaming than the last one - but what I have played has been largely split between FIFA 16 and Rocket League.  The latter is a sort of football game, or maybe more hockey, where you use cars to hit a ball into your opponents' goal.  Your cars can jump, boost, and even fly if you use the booster rockets right.

Last night I had an epic match.  My team quickly fell to 3-0 down, partially due to a player dropping out and being replaced, and partially because we were all over the place.  With two minutes left on the clock, someone scored one back, then I scored a second.  Time ticking down, until I finally equalised with three seconds left on the clock.  Into overtime, and the ball went back and forth on the pitch until finally we scored and won.

The PS4 has a pretty nifty function where you can record your last 15 minutes gaming.  So I can show you the match in full.  Enjoy!


Switchblade: exploring the caves

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Switchblade was always touted as one of the great games on the GX4000, using the power of the console over the standard CPC version and benefiting from instant loading.  Given the size of the map, that's not surprising; the disk version certainly seems to chug regularly.  Despite having owned it for many years, I've never given it a proper go beyond making sure that the cartridge worked.  Over the Christmas holidays I had some time to rectify that.


The first thing I was surprised about was the accuracy of controls. When playing many 8-bit games, there's a noticeable lag in inputs, and games are often designed to allow for this.  Some games did this better than others - Titus the Fox, for example, allowed a bit of leeway in jumping.  That's not the case here, but the response to inputs is instant, making you feel much more in control.


The second thing I noticed, after playing for a while, is how complex the game is.  It's packed with puzzles, in terms of finding new rooms, finding ways to attack enemies without taking damage, and exploration.  I originally thought that the fact that enemies can't attack you while you're standing on a crate was a limitation of the game, but in many cases it's the very basis of the puzzle.

That's not to say that the game isn't an action-based title.  I've not completed it yet, because the five lives you start with don't last long when you're being attacked.  I shall try again, though - each time I play I get a bit further.  I may need map paper soon though ...

Meanwhile, I loaded up an emulator to take some screenshots, and took the opportunity to compare the GX4000 game to the CPC version.  As I said above, the disk version seems to chug a bit more, which may be loading, but the main difference is the visuals.  Look at them, it's an astounding change.



(GX4000 is the top, standard CPC is the bottom.)

Switchblade: exploring the caves

Posted on Written by

Switchblade was always touted as one of the great games on the GX4000, using the power of the console over the standard CPC version and benefiting from instant loading.  Given the size of the map, that's not surprising; the disk version certainly seems to chug regularly.  Despite having owned it for many years, I've never given it a proper go beyond making sure that the cartridge worked.  Over the Christmas holidays I had some time to rectify that.


The first thing I was surprised about was the accuracy of controls. When playing many 8-bit games, there's a noticeable lag in inputs, and games are often designed to allow for this.  Some games did this better than others - Titus the Fox, for example, allowed a bit of leeway in jumping.  That's not the case here, but the response to inputs is instant, making you feel much more in control.


The second thing I noticed, after playing for a while, is how complex the game is.  It's packed with puzzles, in terms of finding new rooms, finding ways to attack enemies without taking damage, and exploration.  I originally thought that the fact that enemies can't attack you while you're standing on a crate was a limitation of the game, but in many cases it's the very basis of the puzzle.

That's not to say that the game isn't an action-based title.  I've not completed it yet, because the five lives you start with don't last long when you're being attacked.  I shall try again, though - each time I play I get a bit further.  I may need map paper soon though ...

Meanwhile, I loaded up an emulator to take some screenshots, and took the opportunity to compare the GX4000 game to the CPC version.  As I said above, the disk version seems to chug a bit more, which may be loading, but the main difference is the visuals.  Look at them, it's an astounding change.



(GX4000 is the top, standard CPC is the bottom.)