Fallout 4 quest mod questions

The Game Room
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So I picked up Metro 2033 Redux and managed to get about a 1/2 hour, 45 minutes of playing time in before I have to stop and get ready for plans tonight (damn outside world keeps getting in the way of my solitary misanthrope enjoyment!).

First, very early impressions–

  • It seems very immersive and story-heavy, in a very good way!

  • No saving, only auto-save checkpoints, huh? I will have to get used to that.

  • The cut scenes are so seamless, cutting away from the action where I’m in control, that it’s a bit disconcerting at times. Once or twice I was like “what happened-- why is my mouse not working?” for a second until I realized it just segued into a cut scene.

Overall, it looks like I’m going to have many hours of good game time with this trilogy.

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Yup! It’s closer to some modern survival-horror types of games in terms of scarcity and limited save-scumming. But even with the age of the game, it’s a hell of a story. Thus my mention of getting involved from the beginning!

Story wise, I enjoyed the first two the most, Exodus wasn’t bad, but felt almost too open.

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Now that I’ve been playing Metro 2033 a little more, I’ll add further impressions:

It took me a bit of getting used to the idiosyncrasies of the game. Again, the quick segues between the action I control and the ‘cut scenes’ or whatever you’d call them were a bit jarring for awhile. Whenever I’d get knocked out by an enemy, picked up like a field mouse by a flying dragon-thing or fall off a railcar I’d wonder ‘did I do something wrong and just die, or is this part of the story?’. But I’m getting used to this storytelling method.

The ‘auto-save checkpoint only’ feature is not as unforgiving as I had feared. I’ve died plenty, and I’ve never been dumped too far back in the gameplay when I respawned. So the auto-saving feature is pretty generous. But that may be because I chose ‘Spartan’ mode instead of ‘Survival’ mode. Likewise with ammo in Spartan mode- I had heard that ammo is scarce in this game, but Spartan is more forgiving. I can almost run out of ammo quickly in a firefight, but there always seems to be just enough to scrounge (or buy) around the next corner and get replenished for the next fight.

The tutorial aspect in the first hours of the game leaves a little to be desired, at least for this relative newbie gamer. So, ammo is currency? I buy things with it? I even buy ammo with…ammo? Huh? I had to google it to find out that the currency ammo is ‘military grade’ and you can either use it for currency, or it has more stopping power for fights against tougher enemies later- you just hold down the ‘reload’ button to swap ordinary ammo for ‘military grade’ if you have a machine gun. Good to know!

I still don’t quite understand the weapon details. You get 3 slots for weapons, so when you get a chance to swap out a weapon you find, you have a hard choice to make. But I can’t seem to find any weapons specs-- the ‘swap weapon’ icon only shows the silhouette outline of it, not its condition, any upgrades on it, nor even what kind of ammo it takes. I’m not good at recognizing weapons from their outlines. How do you know if you’re making a good trade with one of your 3 precious weapons?

But overall, I’ve gotten to that sweet spot where I’m more familiar with the world and feeling more confident about my in-game skillz, yet there’s plenty of game to go. I went into this first Metro just to sort of get through this and ‘Last Light’ so I could play ‘Exodus’ with a better understanding of the lore, but I’m starting to enjoy the heck out of 2033. Last night I played for a few hours and had a ton of fun. The ‘shooting neo-Nazis with a machine gun turret on a railcar’ segment was a blast.

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Glad you’re enjoying it. And an advantage of playing older games, is you’re not stuck in the same “Now I have to wait 2/4/8 years for the Next installment!”

Eyeballing you Bethesda!

Technically there are some mods for Metro, but nothing compared to the love modders have given Bethesda, which is one of the reasons I periodically come back to FO4 and/or Skyrim - so much more to do, or tweak, or otherwise re-experience those worlds.

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I finished Metro 2033 and I’m a fair ways into ‘Last Light’. LL segues pretty smoothly from 2033-- pretty much seems like a continuation of the same game, at least so far. LL didn’t even seem to spend much time orienting a new player with a few easy ‘training wheels’ levels-- after a brief intro period to the characters and setting, it gets right into the action. Which was fine with me, coming right off 2033.

I wouldn’t really expect there to be mods for Metro, since it’s not an open world RPG at all really, is it? I mean, maybe some add-on mods that zhuzh up your weapons or something, but probably not quest mods. Seems like that would be adding a side track onto a rollercoaster.

What would you call these games, since they don’t seem to be RPGs? One of the complaints of FO4 was that it was not a ‘true’ RPG since the choices a character can make are limited. The Metro games are clearly very much ‘on rails’, as the gaming expression goes, I believe (even more so since it takes place in Metro stations, haha)-- only one real direction to go, and the only character choices are: successfully do what the game expects of you, or die and try again.

Not that I’m complaining-- I’ve played a few ‘rails’ style games and very much enjoyed them-- like Half-Life 2 / Black Mesa (and now, the Metro games). And I understand the game is telling a cohesive story, more so than some other video games. I want to get the book now-- can’t find it in my online library but Amazon has it on Kindle for $9.50. Probably after I finish Last Light.

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Yup, that’s why I suggested playing in sequence for the story continuity!

I don’t try to describe it precisely, but in spirit it’s between some of the shooters like Wolfenstein: New Order (which I have serious issues with, but it’s linear shooter with strong story elements) and a more modern CRPG. In part, because again, it’s based on a series of novels which add to the rail elements. As they go along they get more open, but as with FO4, there’s more illusion of choice that true choice especially early on.

The mods that do exist are more QOL rather than story mods. Which is true for the majority of mods in most games. Very few games get people writing more story for them.

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Quality Of Life?

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In this context, yes, that’s what that means.

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Yeah - QOL as quality of life. Sorry I’m less clear today, very little sleep after taking cat for dental work. I no longer do well on under 5 hours of sleep.

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Those of you who played Atomfall and discussed it in this thread might be interested in this:

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Thanks! Nice to see Atomfall getting some love.

I weren’t 'appy with ‘ow some other gaming threads here done Atomfall dirty, slaggin’ it off like 'twere a right load of old pony.

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Finished ‘Last Light’ last night. Really enjoyed it, and story-wise I thought it was even better than 2033; although it was kind of a bummer to discover that my (well, Artyom’s) heroic struggle to reach the top of the tower in 2033 to set up the signal to blow up the evil Dark Ones turned out to be a big ole genocide against a race that, surprise, we just misunderstood. Oops. I suppose metaphoric comparisons to history could be drawn, but since this is but a gaming thread, I won’t.

I got a brief start in Exodus just to get a taste of it. I was surprised to discover Artyom is still alive. Whut? I had assumed Exodus would feature ‘the rise of Anna’ or something. Turns out, after googling to find out what was up, I got the ‘C’est la vie’ ending in LL, not the ‘Redemption’ ending in which, if you played the game ‘morally’ enough, Baby Dark One and his buddies show up at the end for a Deux Ex Machina finish that lets Artyom live and D6 not be blown up in order to kill the Red army and save the rest of the Metro. A bit of a surprise, since I generally play video games as a ‘good guy’ if I have an option. I have a really hard time playing ‘evil’, even knowing I’m just killing ones and zeroes. But there were a couple choices, like choosing to kill the traitor Lesnitsky, and leaving Pavel to his fate among the doomed, that probably sealed my fate. Oh well, not about to immediately replay LL just to get the ‘best’ ending. C’est la vie…

So 2033 and LL were virtually identical as far as controls and gameplay style. I’m seeing Exodus is a fair bit different-- more of a modern game, with slightly better graphics, different controls. It seems like it’ll be a more open game, not so much ‘on rails’ as the first two. I found a couple YT ‘Beginner’s Tips’ style videos and started to watch one, though I don’t like getting too over-prepared for a game-- feels kind of cheating. I did learn that Exodus also has a ‘morality’ system that sounds more complex than the one in LL.

Heh, sorry about all the spoiler-blurs, whoever reads this-- I didn’t mean for my post to look like a redacted page from the Epstein files. I just don’t want to spoil anything for someone who may be just about to play the Metro series and finds this thread.

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I think you did a fine job on the spoilers. And since the Metro series has a lot of commonalities in style with the Fallout games, anyone searching this thread may well want to play Metro as well, so the extra clicks (which take so little to bypass) are a worthy effort on your part!

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No kidding, especially in the case of Exodus:

Hey, we should add feral ghouls mutated humans and mirelurks giant mutated crustaceans! Also the added crafting elements, though I believe many games have elements of that.

But, I suppose it’s hard to avoid comparisons when you have two separate game franchises that are about survival in a post-nuclear wasteland. And the directly similar elements in Exodus feel like they’re done right, more homage than copycat.

A couple other observations about Exodus: I really like the set designs. It’s a great-looking game. When I’m wandering in a decrepit, decaying industrial warehouse, I really feel like I’m in one. I can almost smell it. The repetitive graphics of FO4, though they do establish a certain ‘look’, feel a little lazy at times.

And (I don’t think I’m spoiling too much here, so I won’t blur) I don’t mind how the main through-line of Exodus is on rails (again, literally!), but then there are pockets of open-world areas. Don’t get me wrong, I love fully open-world games. Some of my favorite times in FO4 were just wandering around without following a specific quest, discovering stuff and looking for trouble. But fully open world games, though they have little tricks to guide a player, can sometimes lead (at least for my relative newbie ass) to getting things in the wrong order. The Exodus hybrid world style keeps things on track (heh).

Did you get the ‘good’ ending the first time around playing Exodus, PL? I’ve avoided spoilers for the most part, but I do know in general terms that there’s a karma system that directly affects what ending you get, like in Last Light, but even more complex. I know the Fallout games have ‘karma points’, but I don’t think they really affect much, other than how companions react. So that’s adding a new dimension I’m getting used to. I’ve already done the tugboat takeover twice-- the first time I totally botched it and it turned into a bloodbath. The second time was a little better, but I still got caught halfway and had to resort to shooting my way to victory. And the bridge takeover, I did pretty well with the stealth right up to killing the last couple guards before getting to Silantius. But when Duke was killed, I knew I screwed up. Fortunately I still had a save point from before the tugboat, so I’m going to retry both the tug and bridge takeovers.

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I did NOT get the good end in any of my first playthroughs, I too was apparently too brutal when I felt the situation called for it. Kind of like CP 2077 when after the betrayal of a certain character, any one who cheated me, or anyone who betrayed another person got it hard via a glint of cold steel…

Fallout Karma made a much bigger difference in F1-2, a noticeable difference in 3, and practically none in NV-4. NV it was all about faction reputation though karma was an afterthought and a bit with companions (they could abandon you), and F4 of course, it only affected your ability to proceed towards completing companion quests to secure their unique perk (after which I dropped them all and went back to lone wanderer in most playthroughs).

F3 was more nuanced - you’d get people hunting you if you were too good, or too evil, and some companions would only let you hire them if your karma was (and was kept) good, evil, or neutral. It was normally managed by stealing everything not locked down (easy source of evil karma) or turning in scrap metal at Megaton (easy source of good karma). Only one companion IIRC demanded neutral karma though (Mr. Handy).

But in FNV, as you mention it effects the ending slides (F1-NV) where the same actions get depicted in different ways depending on what you did with a particular faction, AND your Karma. If you do the wrong things (or support the “wrong” people) with good intentions there can be some mitigation to the consequences.

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Yeah, seems like video game rules should always be— if the other side shoots first, all bets are off: I should be allowed to shoot back with no loss of karma. And “I’m so great at sneaking!” doesn’t seem like very awesome bragging rights :smirking_face:

Nevertheless, I finally managed the tug boat and bridge takeovers without killing anybody, but it was very difficult. It probably took more than a half dozen attempts to get there…was starting to feel like Groundhog Day. But what a great feeling when Duke didn’t die at the end of the bridge run!

But I have to say, I was relieved when the next skirmish involved cannibals, so I had no karmic qualms about blasting them away.

Also I’ve been doing the little “good deed” side quest thingies to build up my karma quotient, like fetching Nastya’s teddy bear and the guitar for Stepan, and freeing any imprisoned villagers I come across. My version of Artyom this time around should have a pretty clear conscience…so far…

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Butch, too, but the steps required to make him available as a companion are easy to miss.

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TIL! I have down several playthroughs of F3 when it was vaguely current, but have never gone back to it in the years since (F:NV and 4 got the most replay). Thanks!

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:+1:

 

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I finished Metro Exodus and got the good ending! What a great game. I have to imagine few games do so much story work and character building with their NPCs. Toward the end of the game I really felt like those NPCs were my crew.

Now, what to play next, what to play next… the Steam Summer sale is over a month away. I have Red Dead Redemption 2; the first time I tried playing it, it just didn’t ‘take’ for me. I seem to prefer games with science-fiction elements. But I’ve heard so much about how that is one of the great immersive ‘story’ games that I’ve been meaning to give it another try.

I got a fair ways into Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and that game is okay, but like I mentioned in another post, I don’t know why it’s a big deal, but the over-the-shoulder, 3rd person play kind of annoys me.

Control is one of, if not the, first games I ever bought like 4ish years ago when I first got a gaming computer. I got about 2/3 of the way through it before I stalled out on a section that I could not get past, but I was a rank newb then. Been thinking about trying a replay. Has a great spooky vibe.