Well, Fallout 4 got officially announced the other day, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m hoping this is another Skyrim case for Bethesda, where they both reveal and release the game in a short window of time. I mean, we all have to imagine that this is pretty far along in the development pipeline, so here’s hoping for a Holiday 2015 release window. Granted, that means I’m going to have to eventually pony up and purchase a next-gen console, picking either the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, and I’m not yet ready to make that call. Heck, I’m still rocking my PlayStation 2 (and PlayStation 1) games, and there’s only so much room in my entertainment stand. I know, first-world problems.
These open-world games from Bethesda are massive, and I often find it impossible to see and do everything there is to see and do. For example, here’s a post I did on five things yet to experience in Skyrim, and nearly three years later I’ve still not checked most of them off. Yup, zero desire to ride a horse. Anyways, I realized that there are plenty of other objectives for me to complete in the Fallout series, and so here’s another to-do list, hopefully one I can work at while waiting for that sweet Fallout 4 release date to drop. The majority of the list relates to Fallout: New Vegas considering I did 100% Fallout 3 in terms of Achievements, but I tried to think more broadly too.
Let’s get to it, fellow Vault dwellers!
Hardcore chore
I’ve started at least ten new games in Fallout: New Vegas, and each time before I leave Doc Mitchell’s house at the start, I pause and consider the message that asks if I want to play with “Hardcore” difficulty on. This difficulty setting always seems so interesting, but also so annoying. You have to constantly eat and drink, your health is not healed instantly or when you sleep, and bullets now count towards your weight limit. Plus, companions can permanently die, and all I can think of is how many times E-DE would charge into battle and knock itself out in a few hits. Sure, one can construct a character in terms of perks and abilities to get around some of these negatives, but it feels like a hassle. I need to–pun intended–bite the bullet and just give it a shot sometime soon, though I doubt I could ever devote the time and patience to beating the whole game with this mode on.
Break the bank
I’m not much of a true gambler, but my friend has a Blackjack table in his house, and we like to play from time to time with fake money. That said, even in videogame form, I’m not much of a gambler, and so I never really invested any time or effort into the casinos on the New Vegas strip. There’s an Achievement for being so good and winning so much that causes you to be banned by all of them. I assume one needs to have a high luck stat, but also be generally good at Poker, Blackjack, and Roulette. I’ll be happy if I can win enough bottle caps to get kicked out of one casino.
Back to its Roots
I have attempted to play the original Fallout, but only once, and even then, only slightly. It’s definitely a little harder to get into that the more modern versions, but I’d like to try again and see where this all began, seeing as the stories are constantly connected and referenced, and the gameplay, though from a different perspective, is pretty similar. As it happens, I have two copies–one cheaply acquired from a yard sale, and a digital copy given out for free from GOG some years back.
One-two Deathclaw punch
I once tried to sneak attack a Deathclaw from behind with a golf club, and it didn’t go well, so I can only imagine how punching one would turn out. That said, I kind of have this craving to do it, an unnatural desire.
Pacifist Pauly
I’m not sure if you can do it entirely in Fallout 3, but in Fallout: New Vegas you can equip boxing gloves to knock opponents out–versus kill them–as well as up your speech and barter skills to avoid unnecessary brawls. And so you can play as a pacifist, harming nobody while completing the main quest. Much like with the Hardcore difficulty, this is totally possible, but seems like a slow, tricky way to play, and it reminds me not fondly of my time trying to play a pacifist in Deus Ex: Human Revolution where I didn’t harm a single human, but then accidentally rewired a robot to fight for me, killing a few people as well as my chance for that Achievement.
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What are some of your favorite things to do in the Wasteland? Or things you want to do, but haven’t yet? I’m open for more ideas, especially since I just set up my Xbox 360 in my new apartment and dug out my copies of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Going back in real soon.
Grinding Down 