Tag Archives: Fallout 4

My Favorite Vacation Spots in Video Games

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For much of my adult life, I’ve dreamed of traveling to different parts of the world I’d like to see–Ireland, Australia, Hawaii. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the opportunity to do so, but I’ll always be able to say I’ve seen some very spectacular places in video games I’ve played. It would be nice if some of the stunning locations I’ve visited in the digital world existed in real life–and were monster-free so I could thoroughly enjoy what I was seeing.

Below is my list of ten fictional places, in no particular order, where I’d love to take a vacation.

1) Fortune City (Dead Rising 2: Off the Record) — Fortune City is a locale that is present in two separate versions of Dead Rising 2–one with motocross champion Chuck Greene as the protagonist and the other, Off the Record, starring photojournalist Frank West. The layout for Fortune City differs in Frank’s story–largely because one of the casinos is replaced with an amusement park. In either game, Fortune City would be the ultimate pleasure-seeker’s dream. The casinos, shopping centers, hotels, gladiatorial sports arena, scenic pavilion, and quickie wedding chapel make it a destination with something to appeal to most every vacationer.

2) Banoi (Dead Island) – The tropical island of Banoi featured in the first Dead Island game stands out for both its natural beauty and luxury hotels, bungalows, and housing. Whether you’re a fan of lovely beachside settings, cityscapes with modest weather-worn architecture, or remnants of a war—such as a concrete bunker—that plagued the island in times past, then Banoi is the place for you. It is a location I’d definitely love to visit, especially if I could rent one of the elevated houses out on the ocean.

3) Havarl (Mass Effect: Andromeda) – An alien world teeming with bioluminescent flora, Havarl is definitely a wonder to behold. I remember being awestruck when I saw just how beautiful it was for the first time. Nature-lovers will adore it simply because of the unique plant life, while sight-seers will love exploring the remnants of an ancient alien civilization. Me—I’d love to visit every now and then just to enjoy the natural beauty of this planet.

4) “Bouncy” Loot Lake (Fortnite) – Fortnite features a landscape that is ever changing; the area that was once Loot Lake has irrevocably changed. But I remember when it was once a massive body of water with a three-story house on the central island. At one point in the game’s history, an alien artifact dropped into the lake and transformed the surface into a purple bouncy material—you could be launched into the air merely by stepping on it. My teammates and I used to forego the gameplay objective of offing your opponents in favor of simply bouncing around the lake. Loads of fun—I wish such a thing existed in the real world, especially since you could get some pretty good height without getting hurt.

5) Queen Zenobia (Resident Evil: Revelations) – Despite being a cruise ship that was used as a headquarters for a terrorist organization, the Queen Zenobia is quite luxurious. Granted, I only saw one indoor pool and spa, the casino is rather small, and I didn’t spot any stores to purchase keepsakes or clothing. But the Queen Zenobia features the same architecture as the mansion from the very first Resident Evil game. It might be said that the cruise ship was made to cater more to those with an appreciation for art than pleasure—I like to think I’m open-minded enough to enjoy both.

6) Rapture (Bioshock) – The massive deep-sea domed city of Rapture might not be the most ideal place to live, but it is one of the most unique. Reinforced glass walkways and habitats provide a great view of oceanic wildlife. Built as a utopia by wealthy businessman Andrew Ryan who invested a fortune into its construction, Rapture is the place to go for the finer things in life. Five-star restaurants, boutiques, and theaters await those with the bank account to afford it. Even if it did exist in real life, Rapture might be the one place I could realistically only dream about visiting.

7) The Institute (Fallout 4) – There are many locations to visit in the Fallout series, though most are derelict or reimagined versions of their real-life counterparts in the wake of a nuclear war. Though I could have picked the Washington DC area, Zion Canyon, or Boston, these are locations I’d have the opportunity to visit in real life. Not so much with the Institute, a subterranean science facility that exists as a slice of perfection in a post-apocalyptic world. Contradictory to the damaged landscape above, the Institute is pristine—where one can find clean food and water—and is a reminder of how good the world was and can be again. Unfortunately, the Institute is limited on space—they don’t open their doors to just anyone. Should Earth ever fall into the state of ruin present in the Fallout series, then the Institute would be the place where I’d want to take an extended vacation if not live.

8) the Carnovasch Estate (Phantasmagoria) – A century-old mansion constructed by an illusionist in the late 1800s, the Carnovasch Estate retains much of its original décor in the modern era. It is a one-of-a-kind house that features Victorian architecture and includes a full-sized theatre where hundreds of guests could enjoy magic shows. The wine cellar, observatory, and reception hall add to the mansion’s charm. The grounds of the estate include a vintage greenhouse, gazebo, fountain, and creekside terrain ideal for hosting picnics. Aside from the fact that the house is haunted, it would be a historical site I would love to visit time and again.

9) Twisty Bridges (Subnautica: Below Zero) – Subnautica is set on an alien world that is mostly water, but also features some extraordinary underwater vistas. One of the most spectacular is Twisty Bridges, a series of rock formations that curve around each other and are partially bioluminescent. It is a scuba-diving locale I wouldn’t mind seeing over and over as a reminder of how beautiful and mysterious deep-sea environments—alien planet or not—can be.

10) Arcadia Bay (Life is Strange) – Though it is a relatively safe locale unless you match the criteria of a deranged serial killer, Arcadia Bay is the place to visit for a glimpse of small-town life. The coastal town features a private academy for gifted students, family-owned businesses, and a scenic lookout in the mountains with a lighthouse and public park. Arcadia Bay is an ideal vacation spot if you wish to just get away from it all. I’d love to vacation there just for the peace and tranquility that the town has to offer.

I imagine there are hundreds of locations in video games that would make a great vacation destination, but these are the ones that stand out the most for me. Whether I’m looking for excitement or serenity, I would definitely pick one of the places on this list. If you would like to share your thoughts on a fictional place you find appealing, please do so in the comments below.

First Experiences with Fallout 4: Nuka World

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NOTE: This piece only reflects my views of the game as of Sept. 4th, 2016. Any gameplay time accrued after this date is not addressed. Warning: There are minor spoilers ahead.

One of the staples of the Fallout series is a fictitious soft drink called Nuka-Cola. You cannot play any of the games in the series without finding a bottle of it sooner or later. The more recent games have even added variants of the popular beverage. For instance, Fallout: New Vegas offered a drink called Rum & Nuka, while Fallout 3 introduced a more potent caffeinated drink called Nuka-Cola Quantum. In addition, Fallout 3 has an enthusiastic collector of Nuka-Cola memorabilia, Sierra Petrovita, who assigns you a quest to track down long-lost collectibles for a museum she’s building. It would only make sense that there’d be something much bigger associated with the beverage.

From the first time I heard about a Fallout 4 expansion pack that was set in a rundown amusement park called Nuka World, I was ecstatic. This was a first for the Fallout series, though Fallout 3: Point Lookout did feature a boardwalk setting with a Ferris wheel. The idea of exploring an enormous post-apocalyptic theme park that bears some resemblance to Walt Disney World couldn’t have been more exciting for me. Nuka World exists as the pinnacle of the drink’s popularity before the world was destroyed by nuclear war. The now derelict theme park that’s been claimed by a gang of Raiders seems to be a hotspot for finding bottles of the beverage in higher quantity. The expansion pack even allows you to mix drinks together to create brand new flavors that give the player unique benefits in battle, such as greater endurance or better health regeneration.

Between all the new never-before-seen creatures to combat, the largest expansion pack area to date to roam around in, the theme park aesthetic, and the possibility to ally with the Raider faction for the first time in the series, it seemed there would be enough to keep me entertained for days.

But before I could enjoy exploring the park’s every nook and cranny, I first had to get there. That in itself was a challenge and literally took me around six hours of gameplay.

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Scrapbook of my first trip to Nuka World.

Immediately after downloading the new content, I booted up Fallout 4 to begin my adventure. I loaded my last savepoint and began heading toward a new area on the western edge of the map, a tram station that would take me to the park. My character was so loaded down with weapons, armor, and health items that I could only run for short bursts. I’ve never had any problem walking from one area to another, so I chose not to drop anything. It only took me a half hour to reach the tram station, where I was forced to engage a group of bad guys in battle before I could board the shuttle. After another half hour of total gameplay to reach this point, I was on my way to the entrance of Nuka World, ready to enjoy my first view of the main fairway.

Or so I thought…

Upon exiting the tram, I found that the sadistic leader of the Raiders had set up a gauntlet for any and all new arrivals. I was forced to traverse a lengthy, heavily booby-trapped path leading through part of the maintenance tunnels and ending at an indoor bumper car ride. The part I had the most trouble with was a collapsible walkway. Before I figured out I needed to run across it to get to the other side, I wasted a good amount of time trying to walk across the sturdy boards left behind.

After making my way through sectioned off areas of the tunnel that were loaded with tripwires, explosives, dangerous radiation levels, and monster nests, I found that I would have to fight the Raider boss who set all this up. This proved to be a challenge since he was decked out in an electrified battle suit built to withstand damage. Fortunately, one of his close associates is also looking to take him out. This associate provides the player with a squirt gun that can temporarily short out the suit. After several tries at winning the fight, I found that I didn’t have enough healing items to get through it in one piece. Sadly, after three and a half hours of my best efforts, I was forced to go back to my original savepoint and stock up on supplies before making this journey for the second time.

My second run through the gauntlet went a lot quicker since I now knew what to expect. Oddly, I did also find stuff I’d missed on the first playthrough, such as tickets or tokens to use at the fairway arcade. The boss fight also went much better now that I was well equipped, but overall, I spent a lot of time trying to get into the theme park itself.

After the fight, I was greeted by Gage, the associate who’d helped me out by giving me the squirt gun. My character was then offered the chance to assume the mantle as leader of the Raiders present in Nuka World. Gage explains this by saying he hopes an outside party who was tough enough to survive the gauntlet might have what it takes to clear out the various monster-infested branched-off areas of the park and make them habitable.

All the effort I put into fighting my way into Nuka World paid off when I finally began winding my way through the environment. One of the first people I encountered when I finally reached the fairway was Sierra from Fallout 3, who has come to the park in search of more memorabilia. She assigns you a quest to find hidden images around Nuka World that contain codes needed to access a locked office. She gives you a pair of special glasses needed to spot these images.

So far, I’ve explored almost all of the fairway, most of the Sci-Fi themed area called Galactic Zone, and part of Kiddie Kingdom. I have yet to find any of the hidden images, but am aiming to find them without looking at any spoilers online. Clearing the more dangerous areas is proving to be just as challenging; there were points where I felt like I was playing a survival horror game. For me, it only adds to the appeal.

The one downside is that healing items seem to be scarce. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places. Unless something changes, it’s looking like I may need to take a trip back to the primary location in Boston to stock up again. Since some Raider characters give you quests that demand you venture outside the theme park, I’m not as bothered by this need for a detour.

It seems the same rule applies to this fictional theme park as much as it does to the real ones: The fun lasts only as long as your resources do.

Fallout 4 WTF Moments

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I had been looking forward to the video game, Fallout 4, for years, even before it was announced it would be released in early November 2015. Being an avid fan of the two previous installments–Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas–I was excited to begin a whole new adventure in a post-apocalyptic world. When I saw the first previews and news about Fallout 4 in the summer of 2015, my anticipation grew exponentially. Unlike the previous installments, this new game looked to be a far more immersive experience. There was so much that got me excited.

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My first playable character. Not sure where I acquired the face paint around the eyes from, but didn’t start out with it.

Instead of playing as a character born after the world was destroyed by nuclear war, players were treated to someone from the old world that got frozen in time for 200+ years. This new character, customizable according to player preference to be either male or female, would also have a voice; the game’s developers commissioned a couple actors to record a ton of dialogue for this purpose. For my first play through, I chose to be a redheaded female modeled to look like a character from one of the fiction stories I write.

However, I did not anticipate the different style of gameplay or know that I needed to exercise more caution to avoid getting killed. In the midst of adapting and learning tactics, I encountered enough harrowing or unusual situations to put together my Top Ten List of WTF Moments, each with its own subtitle.

Before I delve into this list, I’d like to start with a few honorary mentions – one from Fallout 4 that I encountered after I wrote up this blogpost, and one from Fallout 3 that I had forgotten about.

Who are you?
Sometime during my first playthrough of Fallout 4, I was walking along the road when I saw someone coming from the opposite direction. Didn’t think much of it until the guy spotted me, pulled out a tire iron, and started running at me yelling, “You’re gonna pay!” After I gunned him down, I found he was from one of the game’s shady factions that, as a do-gooder, I’d managed to tick off.

Here’s something you don’t see everyday.
I was having such a tough time during a battle against a couple of Fallout 3’s Super Mutants that I eventually ducked behind some cover to recoup. I took down one of them after some doing and was planning my attack against the other when he suddenly stopped shooting at me. When I poked my head out, I found that some wacky game glitch had turned him on his side and buried him halfway in the ground.

Now the list, leading up to the Number One WTF moment:

10) Noooo!
While crossing a bridge over one of the many waterways, I wondered aloud, “Why is there so much gasoline here?” After taking another couple steps, I heard the telltale beeping of an incendiary landmine ready to go off. I futilely tried to escape, but didn’t make it in time.

9) What the hell was that?!
While running from a group of hulking green creatures called Super Mutants, I heard a beeping that didn’t sound like a land mine. Before I could even figure out what that sound was, something exploded right next to me. I later found out that one Super Mutant in each group acts as a suicide bomber with a mini-nuke.

8) Are you kidding?!
While sneaking my way through a monster-infested city using alleys and sticking to the shadows, I was caught off guard when a mutant black bear, usually found out in the wilderness and not in the middle of a city, started walking past the entrance to an alley and spotted me. It killed me in one blow.

7) Who’s shooting at me?!
At one point, I was given a mission by one of the game’s NPCs, or non-playable characters, to rid an auto factory of a gang of raiders. The roof had a walkway around the smoke stacks. While I was elevated, I took a good look at the roof and didn’t see any raiders in sight. As I was descending the staircase, five bad guys literally appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on me. My best guess here is that my computer’s graphics card was having trouble rendering the enemy units until I got close.

6) Seriously?!
Upon my first visit to a friendly settlement, one of the children running around offered to give me a tour, which for some reason qualified as a quest to complete. During the tour, I stopped to loot some food and healing items from one of the rooms. The next thing I know, the words “Quest failed” appeared on the screen because I didn’t keep up with my guide.

5) Oh-kay….
In one underground facility, I was pitted against a pack of creatures called molerats who tunneled through the dirt and ambushed me in whatever room I happened to be in. Somehow, one of them got stuck due to a game glitch, which I didn’t figure out until I’d descended a staircase and wondered why it wasn’t coming after me. For some reason, it kept popping in and out of a hole in the same room. I eventually backtracked to finish it off so I could get rid of the “danger” indicator flashing on the screen. Even attacking it with a blade didn’t interrupt this behavior; I could only deal damage to it intermittently. Killing it took some doing.

4) Oh, my God, I’m gonna die!
From my time playing Fallout 3, I knew that the largest creature around was a Behemoth. When undertaking a mission to reclaim a fortified settlement that had been “decimated by a giant creature that came out of the water,” I assumed that this was what I would be fighting. I had already taken down one Behemoth in this game, so figured this wouldn’t be a problem. So imagine my surprise when the monster I was fighting turned out to be an equally huge sea creature that could spit acid and took me ten tries to beat.

3) My bad.
As part of the main questline, I needed to track down a character named Virgil for information. When I got to the cave where he was hiding, I mistakenly thought I needed to eliminate his guards to talk to him. Unfortunately, my decision to start shooting made Virgil outright hostile. I was forced to attack him; once his health was depleted, he collapsed to the floor and appeared to be winded for several seconds. I thought this would enable me to talk to him when his health suddenly filled all the way back up and he resumed attacking me. This cycle repeated at least three more times; at one point, I personally blurted out, “I’m sorry, Virgil. I just want to talk.” I soon figured the only way to fix it was to load from the last savepoint.

2) Holy crap!
Just when I thought I had gotten a good handle on the game and how to survive, I was thrown for a loop while wandering through a rundown section of a science facility. I ran into a cyborg called an Assaultron I had never encountered before in any previous Fallout game. Even so, I thought I was doing okay until this high-powered laser beam shot out of its visor and completely depleted my health in 1.5 seconds.

1) Hold the elevator, or Preston is suicidal?
At one point, I had to escape from a thirty-story building by taking a window washer platform down. Once my character was on board, I pressed the button to go down since I was under fire. After the ramp slid back, my A.I. companion, Preston, came running like everything was normal and dropped off the side of the building. Because A.I. companions are indestructible in this game, he survived the fall. What makes it even funnier is that this wasn’t the first or last time that Preston tried to get on an elevator after the ramp had retracted.

Overall, Fallout 4 is an amazing game; I feel it is far more engaging and interesting than its predecessors, and there is no shortage of areas, both above ground and below, to explore. I look forward to countless hours spent enjoying all this game has to offer, as well as what the expansion packs, released and forthcoming, will add to it.