I have found the complaint about the lack of skill checks to hold water. At first I was dismayed to see that skills were -completely- removed from the game, but assured myself in the opening minutes of my initial playthrough that, as with the Charisma options in dialogue, -surely- additional options for high SPECIAL in other categories would be available.
That, of course, proved not to be the case. And the example dichotomy between the opening Goodsprings quest and that of the Minutemen quest illustrates the loss of roleplaying elements in FO 4 that make it an overall inferior RPG experience compared to its predecessors.
I don't consider it a bad game, but an average one that's very much a product of prevailing thought in the industry. We saw the loss of roleplaying elements in Oblivion and Skyrim. We saw examples of pseudo-RP Gs in the railroading experience that was FFXIII, and the reduction of FFVII to an episodic-release action game.
Always is the emphasis solely on the real-time combat experience, and it's disheartening to see everything that made Fallout particularly delightful reduced to mimicry of triple-A shooters.
This is a good review. The removal of skills was disappointing, especially since New Vegas not only gave you many uses for the skills, but also let you use them to convince people to give you what you want. Removing that and dumbing down the dialogue system removes a lot of the complexity and depth from Fallout.
Of course, while I think that When Freedom Calls gives you few options compared to Ghost Town Gunfight, I personally found the part where you put on the power armor and pick up the minigun to fight the raiders and Deathclaw to be the best part of the early game.
Please don\'t necromance ancient reviews.
It wasn't my intention to "necromance" an ancient review; I simply found that I agreed with it (to a point, since I enjoyed the part where you take control of the power armor), and wished to express that. While bumping old reviews should be discouraged, there isn't any sort of statute of limitations on replying to old reviews as long as you actually have something to contribute to the discussion.
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Taking the roleplaying out of a post-nuclear roleplaying game
Ever since Morrowind, Bethesda has demonstrated a remarkable tendency to strip roleplaying elements from what are supposed to be roleplaying games. Fallout 4 marks a culmination of this trend, an event made all the more tragic by its series' history as an incredibly reactive cRPG. But more on reactivity later. The gameplay has improved from previous entries and the world design is still top-notch, but the actual roleplaying mechanics and the storytelling/quest design framed around them leave practically everything to be desired for, as they just aren't there.
To demonstrate, let us compare one of New Vegas' first quests with Fo4's - Ghost Town Gunfight/Run, Goodsprings, Run vs. When Freedom Calls. GTG involves the appearance of a stranded caravaneer and the gang hunting him, with the town of Goodsprings caught in the middle. You, the player, can choose to side with the town and the caravaneer or you can betray them all and help the gang take over the town. Regardless of which side you choose, you will get on someone's bad side - there are consequences - and you will be able to influence the conditions of the fight with more than just your own combat skills. You can convince the trader to lend you armor, rally the townspeople, and secure explosives by using a variety of skillchecks. The game recognizes facets of the character you created and responds accordingly. It gives you plenty of freedom and reactivity as far as roleplaying is concerned.
WFC, conversely, is entirely linear. You must help the surrounded, beleaguered militiamen, and you must help them via combat and combat alone. There are no skillchecks for more passive solutions, as Fo4's leveling system has no skills. You can't leave them to their fate, either; they will remain in their precarious situation for the rest of the game. Even if you tell their leader you won't help them, he'll insult you and the quest will continue as though you accepted. It's not even as though you get to pick your fighting style, either. You must boot up a suit of power armor and go to town on the mercs with a minigun. This is the first real part of the main quest, by the way. Poor pacing aside, there are hardly any opportunities to actually roleplay. It's more of a shooting gallery than anything else. So are most quests; it's always "go somewhere and kill something," rinse and repeat.