As of this writing, it’s less than a week until Fallout 4 comes out. Being too excited for it, I’d been looking for new info and stumbled upon a page detailing the new perk system, complete with descriptions for each perk. This immediately resulted in me coming up with character concepts and builds to prepare for release. I rarely get excited for day one of a new game, but this is Fallout 4—I’m taking a week off for this.
After a bit of fiddling around on Notepad, I got fed up with adding numbers in my head (starting character stats add up to 28, as opposed to 35 in previous games) and typing names of perks for each one, so I made a spreadsheet to speed up the process. Copying a table and pasting it in a photo editor yields a tight package, so it made for an interesting late night of brainstorming and theorycrafting.
UPDATE (20151105@09:50AM): Found an actual Fallout 4 build planner courtesy of RPG-Gaming.com, which was then written about in this post on PC Gamer. Go check it out.
For My First Playthrough
I’m looking forward to playing one of four character builds—berserker, sniper, gunslinger, and energy (from most desired to least). I want to play all of these, but I’m certainly split with which I’ll go for in my first playthrough and I have around 5 days as of this writing to decide.
Whenever I play a new RPG, I always make an offensive melee character, name him “Axebomber,” and go through it as quickly as I can. With so many games coming out these days, I found this to be the best way for me to beat one within a reasonable amount of time. If I really do take a liking to it, then I do more playthroughs with other builds.
But with a Fallout game, a melee build may not be that straightforward of a choice. If a good melee weapon happens to be hard to find in this game, then beating it would be a chore, making the other three builds make more sense. However, I plan to make a Let’s Play (or AVDRplays) series out of this (hopefully my first on the Avoider.net YouTube channel), and I don’t want to use a conventional build.
That makes both berserker and energy weapons the viable options in this case. Most players use small guns in Fallout games, so I can either go melee, unarmed, or energy weapons to be a bit different. Being unconventional is a motivating factor for me, so walking the path less traveled is imperative if I’m to finally accomplishing my longtime goal of uploading a Let’s Play series on YouTube (I’ve tried a few times and failed due to sub-par quality).
I’ll have to see if I still feel like playing a hard-hitting berserker when the game comes out. Otherwise, I’ll go with the pew-pew build. (Guns are still attractive, though.)
Another thing to consider is having the dog along, since that will be essential to the experience in the first playthrough. I also hope that there will be potential followers who can enhance certain skills, like Boone in New Vegas does with sniping.
Other Build Concepts
Now these are just for the hell of it. Maybe I’ll actually play them whenever I have the time. With Fallout 4 set to be even more expansive than the two previous games combined, it may take a while before I actually get to even a second playthrough. But then again, coming up with these was still pretty fun.
Also called the Guerrilla Rebel Leader, this first came to mind since explosives are indeed handy. Even when I play a melee build in New Vegas, I’d still chuck some dynamite if I’m in a pinch, despite not having a high explosives skill. But with this build, I’ll be able to hit and run to draw enemies out, then blow them up sky high. As for the Local Leader and Inspirational perks, I figured that I can actually be a leader of a guerrilla force.
This was obvious after looking at the Animal Friend and Wasteland Whisperer perks. I’m not sure how effective this can really be in Fallout 4, but it could be fun. This one would be a melee fighter just to match it with the protagonist of the 1982 movie of the same name.
The obligatory big guns build for a Fallout game. Some endurance perks and Lone Wanderer are also crucial since staying alive while fighting armies by himself is what Rambo is about, after all. As a first playthrough build, I don’t think that would do well since I’m not sure just accessible miniguns and missile launchers will be in this game and I should have the dog with me (I think that does affect the Lone Wanderer perk).
This came up after looking at the Aquaboy perk. Perhaps this could be viable if the game has plenty of areas with lots of water in them. I can covertly infiltrate places by swimming towards them and staying hidden. If I switch Commando with Gunslinger, this could be more of a James Bond build (especially if there really is no silencer/suppressor mod for automatic weapons).
When I read what Party Boy does, this immediately came to mind. Since many alcoholic beverages in Fallout give boosts to Strength, that could be advantageous in unarmed combat. I’m thinking now that I may need the Chem Resistant perk for this as well so I can down Psycho and Med-X as well during a fight without getting addicted.
But then again, if I happen to take them for every single fight, will the risk of addiction even matter? I guess that will depend on how abundant chems and liquor are in the game.
Finally, here’s a fistfighter with the so-called “Luck of the Irish”. I don’t know if this is racist (or if you can be racist towards the Irish), but I’ve watched the movie Snatch and the documentary Knuckle enough to have an idea of how Irish Travellers seem to have a penchant for beating the shit out of each other to settle their differences. Since Fallout 4 is set in Boston, where there’s a considerable Irish-American population, this could fit in pretty well theme-wise.
You can also call this the Conor McGregor build, or the Mickey, the One-punch Pikey build.
Conclusion
I can come up with even more builds to put on here, but this post has already gone on long enough. I guess I’ll find out what’s viable and what’s not once the game finally comes out. In the meantime, I’ve been playing Fallout 3 and New Vegas to sate the craving. (Not too much though so I don’t get burned out with Fallout. No pun intended.)
What do you think about these build concepts? Please leave whatever reactions, questions, or suggestions you may have on the comment section below. You may also leave a message on either Facebook or Twitter. Thank you for dropping by.
