Fallout 4

[The Anti-Targ]

So, comments on playing the game in 3rd person? Does it play well? I won't play the game unless 3rd person is good.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

So, comments on playing the game in 3rd person? Does it play well? I won't play the game unless 3rd person is good.

May I ask why?

It's certainly better than the 3rd person in FO3 and NV, but that's not saying much.

[briantw]

So, comments on playing the game in 3rd person? Does it play well? I won't play the game unless 3rd person is good.

Then you won't be playing the game.

[The Drunkard]

So, comments on playing the game in 3rd person? Does it play well? I won't play the game unless 3rd person is good.

Not really. I think it makes running around the wasteland better if you can see your character, but combat is more annoying, grabbing items is more annoying, and maintaining a certain angle when having conversations with some NPCs is annoying. 

[The Anti-Targ]

I reaaaa-he-he-ally don't like playing FPS, so even if FO4 is great in other respects if it is not a good TP experience I probably won't like it and wouldn't finish it. I really appreciate Bethesda giving people the TPS option so I feel like I should support it, but if I'm not going to finish the game and there are other great games to play, like TW3, it's perhaps not worth the investment.

Also I've never played a FO game, so I'm not exactly invested in the franchise.

[Magnar of Skagos]

Wish I had a PC good enough to run this :/

[briantw]

Wish I had a PC good enough to run this :/

Might as well just get it on a console.  It doesn't look much better on the PC because Bethesda gave zero fucks about the PC port.  

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Might as well just get it on a console.  It doesn't look much better on the PC because Bethesda gave zero fucks about the PC port.  

You can get 60 fps on PC though. It frequently drops below 30 on Xbox.

[Fiddler]

One of the little things that I love about this game are the small things you discover that have nothing to do with any quests or santuary or anything like that.  The skeleton with it's head in a toliet and a box of snack food next to it.  Or the house with the dead skeletons that are part of a cult and poisoned themselves.  My favorite though was the teddy bear on the toliet, with glasses and holding a newspaper.

Some of it is really creepy or sad, but all of it adds to the overall ambiance of the game.

[Muttering Bill]

So, comments on playing the game in 3rd person? Does it play well? I won't play the game unless 3rd person is good.

I've spent at least 75% of my time in 3rd person and think it's fine.  Maybe not great.  But certainly not bad either.

You can adjust the camera zoom to what level you want while just running around.  Aiming (holding L2) will zoom in to the characters shoulder, and the aiming reticule shrinks down to a single dot.  As long as you use a UI color that stands out it's not a problem.  The only problems I've encountered with it is that it's not ideal when you have ranged enemies using cover.  You could manage, but I find it's easier to flip to 1st person in those situations.  Also, it can sometimes be difficult to loot items as the camera won't line up quite right to see containers.  Again, just switch to 1st person for a few minutes to loot and then go back.

I don't like most of the weapon sights in first person (10mm pistol being the biggest exception), so 3rd person works better for me.

The running animations are a lot less awkward looking than in previous Bethesda games.  Haven't done much melee to comment on those animations.

[Magnar of Skagos]

Might as well just get it on a console.  It doesn't look much better on the PC because Bethesda gave zero fucks about the PC port.  

But I like dem modz <3

[RumHam]

But I like dem modz <3

I heard the console versions are supposed to be getting mods sometime down the line. 

[KiDisaster]

I heard the console versions are supposed to be getting mods sometime down the line. 

So they've said, but if the selection available for consoles isn't incredibly limited I'd be very surprised.

Mods that change the game in any meaningful way pretty much all rely on script extenders and I don't think you're gonna get one of those running on the console version. Also mods can be pretty demanding performance wise and with the console version already struggling to keep 30fps (or so I've heard) it might very well just tank once you install a few. Then there's the fact that it's all going to have be curated by Bethesda and/or Microsoft & Sony to make sure nothing with adult or licensed content gets through, and that only mods which are guaranteed to work without tweaking or breaking the game are available. And there aren't many mods that just work for absolutely everyone on the first try without borking something or conflicting with other mods. 

I'd love for mods on console games to be a reality but remain extremely skeptical. 

[Fez]

Last night, I couldn't figure out where Nick Valentine had gone off to when I switched to a different companion. Turns out, he was at my next quest objective in what I assume is the main story, in mid-conversation with Piper. That's pretty cool, and makes the characters feel more alive than them just going back to Sanctuary Hills (or one of the other random settlements I control) when I dismiss them; but I really wish this game had a companion indicator so I knew where they were when they weren't with me.

I also wish the game didn't ask me which settlement to send them to if they aren't actually going to go there (and I wish I could choose Diamond City as a location; which is where it makes sense for most of them to be).

[KiDisaster]

One thing that bugged me from the start but has started bugging me even more now is how my character knows everyone's name before they tell me what it is. WHY ARE YOU ADDRESSING THEM BY NAME WHEN YOU'VE NEVER SPOKEN TO THEM BEFORE?!

A similar thing happened last night when a quest NPC told me I needed to go get Dogmeat to continue the quest. How do they know about Dogmeat? I've never brought him around them or mentioned him at all. Dogmeat, being the good boy that he is, then knew I needed him and traveled across the wasteland on his own to meet me just outside the door so I didn't have to go to Sanctuary for him. 

Just something that's really starting to get on my nerves a bit. 

[briantw]

But I like dem modz <3

Ah yes, the Bethesda tradition of letting their fans fix their games for them.  

But yeah, I always get the PC version of Bethesda games for that very reason.  I can't imagine playing them without mods.

[The Anti-Targ]

I've spent at least 75% of my time in 3rd person and think it's fine.  Maybe not great.  But certainly not bad either.

You can adjust the camera zoom to what level you want while just running around.  Aiming (holding L2) will zoom in to the characters shoulder, and the aiming reticule shrinks down to a single dot.  As long as you use a UI color that stands out it's not a problem.  The only problems I've encountered with it is that it's not ideal when you have ranged enemies using cover.  You could manage, but I find it's easier to flip to 1st person in those situations.  Also, it can sometimes be difficult to loot items as the camera won't line up quite right to see containers.  Again, just switch to 1st person for a few minutes to loot and then go back.

I don't like most of the weapon sights in first person (10mm pistol being the biggest exception), so 3rd person works better for me.

The running animations are a lot less awkward looking than in previous Bethesda games.  Haven't done much melee to comment on those animations.

My son went to hang out with a friend yesterday and he played some FO4 in TPS while there. His friend seems to play FO4 in TPS mode almost exclusively and seems to be enjoying it well enough. So I guess on balance it sounds like TPS mode is well enough refined to make it worth investing in the game. 

Perhaps TES 6 will benefit from having a better 3rd person mode and I might even give that a try.

[Gears of the Beast]

A similar thing happened last night when a quest NPC told me I needed to go get Dogmeat to continue the quest. How do they know about Dogmeat? I've never brought him around them or mentioned him at all. Dogmeat, being the good boy that he is, then knew I needed him and traveled across the wasteland on his own to meet me just outside the door so I didn't have to go to Sanctuary for him. 

I wish if the player didn't have the dog they figured out an alternate way to get to the fort place because that part is pretty jarring when you don't have the dog whereas it would be really cool if there were multiple ways to get there depending on whether or not you chose to keep the dog. 

[ebevan91]

Yeah that was kinda awkward when I opened the door and he was just sitting there waiting for me. 

[AndrewJ]

I really wish you could have Dogmeat plus one other companion. (I think you could in Fallout 4, right?)

Dogmeat is his own thing - and you get perks for him to grab opponents in combat etc. But if you stick with him, you miss out on relationship building and social interactions etc with your companions.

I guess I'll continue switching him in and out. (Got Piper with me at the moment. And took the leader of the Minutemen with me for only 1 or 2 quests before switching back to Dogmeat. Haven't encountered any others yet at about 30 hours played)