Fallout 4/YMMV: Difference between revisions

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* [[Alternative Character Interpretation]]:

** Is Piper Wright's reporting for the betterment or detriment of the Commonwealth? On the negative side, some of her articles can come across as fear-mongering that only breeds [[Paranoia Fuel|paranoia]], focus on less important subjects related solely to Diamond City and not the entire region, and make baseless accusations (like implying that Mayor McDonough, the leader of Diamond City, is an Institute Synth). She's also prone to asking people rather invasive questions in a very abrupt manner that only seem to unnerve them. Complicating matters is that it's implied that the latter-most is more due to her own invasive personality (which she herself doesn't like and is trying to get ahold of), and the answers she gets back are also more than not just examples of her interviewees' stupidity/ignorance. Relatedly, there's the fact that many of her articles ''do'' try to inform, but are held back by [[Reality Ensues|the limits of available resources in the Commonwealth for journalism]], and that she deliberately tries to write for Diamond City's audience first because they have the highest population of literate people in the Commonwealth (although she still tries to write some articles focused on other parts of the Commonwealth). Also, {{spoiler|she ''was'' actually right about Mayor McDonough being an Institute Synth, and it's possible that further evidence discussing her theory was either planned to be discussed in future editions, or was held back deliberately because of Piper's very appropriate fear of [[Adult Fear|the Institute/McDonough retaliating upon her little sister Nat]] if her theory was right.}} There's also the fact that the game actually has some (admittedly subtle) [[Foreshadowing]] for {{spoiler|McDonough being a Synth: When they see Piper and yell for them to leave their office, their voice gains a noticeably mechanical undertone like a malfunctioning computer}}.

* [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]:

** Except for [[The Scrappy|the one poor member]] who [[Scrappy Mechanic|keeps handing you radiant quests]], the [[We Help the Helpless|Commonwealth Minutemen]] are by ''miles'' the most popular of the four factions despite being the least important to the overall plot. This is because many fans admire them for their [[Muggle Power]], ability to [[Took a Level in Badass|potentially become the most powerful faction in the Commonwealth]] [[Magikarp Power|with some help by the player]], their [[Gang of Hats|unique American Revolutionary aesthetic]], and being one of the [[Nice Guy|friendliest factions]] in the entire game. Many old-school ''Fallout'' fans also like them for how they're heavily based after the Desert Rangers from ''Wasteland'', which the ''Fallout'' series is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to.

* [[Evil Is Cool]]:

** [[Big Bad|The Institute.]] They're [[Manipulative Bastard|scheming bastards]] prone to [[Fantastic Racism|horribly abusing]] the (supposedly) [[Androids Are People, Too|sentient and self-aware Synths]] they create as slaves, assassinating and replacing people, [[Mad Scientist|performing unspeakable scientific experiments]], and generally maintaining a "[[Murder Is the Best Solution]]" policy towards Wastelanders. But their [[Raygun Gothic]] [[Crystal Spires and Togas]] aesthetic (a massive contrast to the dirty, post-apocalyptic Wasteland of the rest of the Commonwealth), their genuine [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] goals, and the discovery that the Sole Survivor's son was {{spoiler|raised as one of their own and has become their leader,}} combine together to make their [[We Can Rule Together]] offer (which the player is free to accept) '''''very''''' tempting.

** Conversely, the new East Coast Brotherhood of Steel [[Base Breaking Character|can be seen as this]]. On the one hand, they have [[Fantastic Racism|genocidal tendencies]] towards Synths, Ghouls, Super Mutants and other non-humans with [[Putting on the Reich|Nazi-like fanaticism]]...[[Jerkass Has a Point|but on the other hand]], most of these entities are [[Always Chaotic Evil]] monsters anyway (it's the Brotherhood's refusal to acknowledge a few aren't that makes it a [[Kick the Dog]] from them). Whether the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel qualify as evil is arguable, but what isn't is that they're '''''awesome!''''' [[Elite Mooks|Knights]] clad in [[Powered Armor|T-60 Power Armor]], fleets of [[Gunship Rescue|Vertibirds]], a Cool Airship, and {{spoiler|they've even rebuilt Liberty Prime!}}

* [[Evil Is Sexy]]: One of the likely reasons why the [[Badass in a Nice Suit|Operators]] are viewed in a [[Draco in Leather Pants|(comparatively) more positive light]] than the Disciples and Pack at Nuka-World is because of how attractive their leaders are. Special mention must be given to Mags Black, given she shares a voice actress with [[Kill la Kill|Ragyo Kiryuin]].

* [[Fanfic Fuel]]: The death of the Lyons family and the East Coast Brotherhood's return to a more "traditionalist" mindset under Elder Maxson has led to downright '''''juicy''''' speculation on what has happened to the Capital Wasteland in the decade between ''3'' and ''4''.

* [[Fashion Victim Villain|Fashion-Victim Villain]]: The Pack in ''Nuka-World''. They dress themselves in remnants of old animal costumes that they found in the park combined with pastel body paints. Of all the Raider factions there, they're by far the hardest to take seriously.

** It's possible to find two men - Mikey and Moss - [[Serious Business|having a spirited discussion]] [[Seinfeldian Conversation|about the definition of a sandwich]]. This was the subject of a real life 2012 court case in Massachusetts.

** One of the terminals aboard the ''Prydwen'' serves as a letter back home to the family of a fallen Brotherhood Initiate, letting them know that they "should be proud of the sacrifice he made for the sake of his country." This more or less implies that the Brotherhood has evolved into an "Ordensstaat", a little known political concept denoting a military order that has become a sovereign state in its own right. The best, and possibly '''only''' examples of an Ordensstaat found in history are the Teutonic Order after the invasion of Prussia, and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (formerly the Knights Hospitaller).

* [[Good Bad Bugs]]: Dogmeat will still be able to fetch items held in locked containers. This means that the Sole Survivor can simply return to Vault 111 with Dogmeat, go to the Overseer's office and ask him to fetch, and he'll bring you back the [[Disk One Nuke|Cryolator]]. With him even [[Crowning Moment of Funny|adorably carrying it in his mouth while he follows you around and wags his tail]]!

* [[Jerkass Woobie]]:

** Most of the Harbormen of Far Harbor are acerbic jerks, but it's hard to not feel sorry for them since they've lost numerous families and friends.

** Despite his [[Buffy-Speak|acerbic-ness]] and biogtry, it's made clear that Danse's [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|suffering from PTSD]], and his personal quest always ends on a grim note.

* [[Les Yay]]: Cait and Piper have this in spades, lending itself to the [[One True Threesome]] interpretation of their relationship (in fact, if you've romanced both and switch from Cait to Piper as your active companion, Cait will even suggest a threesome).

* [[Memetic Sex God]]: [[Tall, Dark and Handsome|Elder Maxson]] has this reputation among a not-insignificant portion of the fanbase.

* [[Moe]]: Curie, oh so much, especially with that gentle French accent of hers, soft-spoken demeanor, and generally [[Adorkable]] personality.

** Most dialogue scenes will become unintentionally hilarious if the Sole Survivor is given a silly enough face by the character creation system.

* [[Narm Charm]]: Unlike previous games, ''4'' [[Averted Trope|doesn't have]] [[Talking Is a Free Action|the rest of the world freeze in place]] when the Sole Survivor converses with other characters. This results in scenes where the Sole Survivor and their companion [[Casual Danger Dialogue|have deep conversations]] [[Funny Background Event|while the pieces of a destroyed Vertibird fall to Earth around them or Super Mutants wipe out a horde of Feral Ghouls]]. However, this doesn't stop the talks with companions (along with other conversations with various other characters) from being [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|very touching]], [[Tear Jerker|heartbreaking]], intriguing, [[Hidden Depths|surprisingly deep]], and even [[Crowning Moment of Funny|''deliberately'' funny]].

* [[Scrappy Mechanic]]: The cut-down dialogue system. Even ''Bethesda'' have admitted that [[Creator Backlash|it wasn't the best idea in retrospect]].

* [[Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer]]: You can now spend hours alone on building and furnishing your settlements, optimizing your weapons and armor as you see fit and scouring junk for rare scrap parts, or play video games on your Pip-Boy. The ''Nuka-World'' DLC also includes an arcade packed with mini-games. Who has time for the pressures of being a Raider Overboss when there are high scores to be set in skee-ball and Whack-A-Commie?

* [[Take That Scrappy]]: After the ''Contraptions Workshop'' DLC was released, many players put [[The Generic Guy|Preston Garvey]] and [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong|Marcy Long]] in [[Stock Punishment|stocks]] out of "punishment" for perceived obnoxiousness.

* [[That One Sidequest]]:

** "The Silver Shroud" for the most part is pretty easy as it's just shoot these guys and leave a literal calling card behind... until you get to Sinjin. This drug dealer has your radio buddy Kent hostage and you have to save him but doing so is harder than it seems. He has around three leveled lackeys that will shoot you if you don't scare them off... which means Sinjin will shoot Kent right afterwards. You can challenge Sinjin but then his lackeys will start shooting you too.

** "Hole in the Wall" is even worse. Austin, the Vault kid who has taken a shine to you, gets sick after being bitten by an infected mole rat. Said mole rat is one of many in the closed-off section of the Vault and all of them are going to try and bite you. Mole rats aren't exactly hard to kill, but there's a lot of them, they pop up out of nowhere, and it's very hard to kill them before they get at least one bite in. Worse still, your companion and the allied Protectron in the Vault will ''somehow'' infect you if they're bitten, and they aren't competent enough not to get hit. A single hit means you're infected, which in-game means you get a perk that takes a permanent 10 hit points off your maximum. There is a single dose of anti-virus that will cure it, and the good ending requires giving it to Austin. For perfectionist players, the mission is extremely obnoxious. Mercifully, the dialog system can be cheesed to allow you to cure Austin and yourself with the same dose (get to the option, pan the camera to exit dialog, cure yourself, then go back and cure Austin though dialog), but that isn't apparent to most casual players.

* [[Uncanny Valley]]: Baby Shaun just... doesn't look right. With his oversized cheeks that would look more at home on a bulldog and his black, soulless eyes he more closely resembles a doll than a real baby.

** Mama Murphy just looks... off. Her mouth opens unnaturally wide when she speaks, while the rest of her face remains dead still.

** In what's a more likely '''intentional''' example are the Institute's [[Super Soldier|Coursers,]] whose awkward facial animations and intentionally monotone delivery makes them come across as something only doing an ''impression'' of acting human...and not really bothering to put that much effort into it anyway.

* [[Unwinnable by Insanity]]: With the ''Nuka-World'' DLC, taking over a settlement results in Preston Garvey and the Minutemen turn hostile, making their questline impossible to complete. If you've done this and turned the Brotherhood, Railroad and Institute hostile (or destroyed them), then you can't complete the main quest. The Raiders of Nuka-World have no means of destroying the Institute.

* [[Visual Effects of Awesome]]: While the game itself is quite gorgeous overall, special mention must be given to the ''fantastic'' animation on the Synth creation process in the Institute.

* [[Win Back the Crowd]]:

** A number of people who were not won over by the game when it was initially revealed got brought back when the new features, like weapon crafting and settlement creation, were shown off.