How Crafting In Fallout 4 Kept Me Going
Jan. 19, 2016How Crafting In Fallout 4 Kept Me Going
Bethesda’sFallout 4has its flaws, and they have been discussed extensively. The main story had its issues, theFactionswere underwhelming and the voiced dialogue was jarring for some. Yet often overlooked is what the game got right, and of those, thecraftingis possibly their biggest success. For me personally, crafting is what has given the game enduring value and has provided the motivation to explore as many locations in this massive game as possible.
It is natural to begin any discussion on crafting in Fallout 4 withweapon modsandarmor mods, as this is where crafters spend their bulk of their time plying their trade. I was no exception to this and it became a ritualized habit to travel to brand new location, clear the scene of enemies, loot the entirety of the location and then return toSanctuaryand hit the workbenches to see whatmodsI had acquired enoughmaterialsfor. Bethesda made the guns modifiable in all the right ways, allowing for some very interesting, and fun combinations without being ridiculous. Throwing a barrel on a shotgun to narrow the spread and increase the range was my first aha moment and it felt like I was playing a version of Borderlands where I could actually choose the outcome instead of relying on an RNG. This made the system very gratifying, especially when the weapons would behave in practice as I had imagined while crafting them. I largely ignored armor mods at the beginning but once I spent some time exploring the options I became similarly addicted to the constant tinkering and improving.
Another element of crafting that I became enamored with was making food. I am a compulsive harvester in games which often results in a bloated inventory with few real benefits. In cooking recipes however, I discovered a method to alleviate my equip burden and create helpful items. I grilled, fricasseed and concocted my way to success in the Wasteland, and every time my pockets were overburdened from a loot fest I was glad I had taken the time to prepare some grilled radstag. For the first time I would hit the overworld looking for specific wild game to hunt. I also find the simple in game activity of sitting over thecooking firerelaxing, similar to how I feel about it in real life if you removed all the worry.
Crafting also gave me a reason to explore every nook and cranny and consider every item I encountered. Materials aren’t always easy to come by and I found myself paying attention to every vendor’s inventory and considering that shipment of screws that Carla had. When I discovered I could make adhesive from scrapping vegetable starch, I razed all my other crops and focused onTato,CornandMutfruit. If I needed tech materials I sought out locations on the map that were science related, figuring I could find rarer pieces of equipment there. Subtly the crafting system was giving me a reason to pay deep attention to everything around me. In turn I gained a better appreciation for all that went into the game’s development and how it was designed with item population in mind.
Progression is the key to what made the crafting system so addicting. I felt through crafting a stronger sense of progression than through the game’s leveling and perk system (minus the perks that unlocked better mods). I felt most powerful in the game when creating a weapon that matched my playstyle exactly, and grinding for materials to build a new mod often paid off. My resultant crafted gear usually provided noticeable improvement against enemies. Every time I came back to craft I would feel more powerful when I would head out to start the process over.
For a system whose iteration was in essence a new feature for the series, the crafting goes quite overlooked in favor of the sexier gripes out there. Not all the new additions such as settlements lived up to their potential but to say the game played it safe by doing more of the same from Fallout 3 would also be omitting what was ultimately a deep and addicting element to the game’s core. These kinds of activities epitomize what the sandbox genre should be and give players complete agency over what they become, with the game providing as much freedom for the imagination as is technically possible. What do you think about the crafting in Fallout 4? If you’re still playing it extensively what’s keeping you going?
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Editor at Fextralife. I look for the substantial in gaming and I try to connect video games to the emotions and stories they elicit. I love all things culture and history and have an odd fondness for the planet Jupiter. I think my dogs are pretty awesome too.
I found that the sturdy and heavy variants of all armour types become more prominent the higher level you are. Also, as one would assume, the higher level the enemy, the better armour they typically have.
I outfit all my settlement guards with full sets of sturdy combat armour (including the ever-elusive combat armour helmet). I have about ten guards per large settlement, and five per small settlement, for a grand total of probably around forty or so. Initially it was difficult to find multiple sets. But now at level 50+ (can’t remember my exact level), in my main armoury, I seem to have more sturdy and heavy sets than the regular ones. Yes, I’m a total hoarder…
I’ll have to look more into that system to be sure. Something about Fallout 4 isn’t really keeping me interested and I don’t really know what it is. Perhaps it’s that I’m not spending my perk points or perhaps that I can’t really choose between the Energy Weapon and Guns of this game and feel like by level 22 something should be standing out to me.
That and trying to find Sturdy Combat Armour which as far as I know of there is no absolute way to find.
I certainly extends the life of the game. I put 350+ hours into the game, scrounging, exploring, building settlements, and hadn’t even come close to finishing the story (haven’t even had to choose a faction yet). I could sense that I was starting to bog down, so I stepped back from the game for an ESO break for a while. Once some time has passed, and maybe leading up to a DLC, I’m going to dive back in and pick up where I left off. My character is a perfect mix of skills to take advantage of a wide range of crafting, combat, and charisma gameplay, so I want to be set up for later content.
That was a pretty amazing article(In Preston Garvey’s voice). Crafting is one of the biggest improvements upon Fallout New Vegas an I love to see more, by mods or dlcs. Such a shame I couldn’t apply camouflage coating to my weapons, like what I’ve seen in Ubisoft’s Farcry 3 (well, fashion is oneimportantsubject), but that’s not such a big deal. Turning a low tech pipe revolver pistol into a silence revolver sniper rifle… awesome, where do I sign up?
What makes me going is multiple endings, settlement building, crafting, looting, and the Soundtracks. It’s been a while since I roamed through the wastelands just to hear the awesome soundtrack the game has (Brutal Legend was the last). And believe me, I’m not planning to stop playing once I’ve finished my first playthrough. As I read it somewhere (and I’ll modify it a bit), first playthrough is for training, second playthrough is for more experience, third playthrough actually feels like playing the game.
