I was kind of feeling off all week since Monday-Tuesday, passed an antigen test on Wednesday but on Thursday I was coughing real bad and failed an antigen test at last so after almost 2 years to the day when Leo closed the country down I had the dreaded COVID-19. I hadn't taken too many risks in the last 2 years, I had been going to work the whole time across the city and we have to wear masks the whole time. I've seen Galway go to having no cars and few people about in 2020 to slowly back to normal by 2021 and pretty much designated traffic hellhole of Ireland by 2022. I usually didnt' wear a mask walking to work and back but it was rarely an issue though I would pass increasingly larger numbers of students mostly around the middle section of my route. If I ever got a taxi in severe rain or whatever or a bus to Dublin a handful of times I was masked. The only possibility I can think of is either my GP and haircut last Thursday or indeed me going to like 9 different pubs on Friday the 4th (almost certainly the latter).
I'm lucky in that I'm triple jabbed and am probably in the best overall shape of my life but my chest is tired from the intermittent coughing fits. Also I was hoping to get back into cycling and possibly running again, having not ran in 2 years but now I don't know. Hopefully I make a full recovery and don't have damaged lungs and brain fog and all this shite. I've just been isolating, eating as much as I can, sleeping as much as I can and was playing a lot of Civ 4 and listening to podcasts but am tiring of that a bit, must try something new. I spotted a tweet about a new Fallout mod where Easy Pete's name changes depending on what difficulty you picked and remembered I just finished playing the 3 games recently on Very Hard and meant to write my experiences up. So here goes!
Fallout 4 Very Hard Survival Mode Melee Run All DLCs
This is where I started for my sins. I had already done a Survival Mode last year and blogged about it and it was the best Fallout 4 experience I'd had yet. Survival Mode alone was great but Very Hard Survival Mode was another level. I had built a stealthy shooter last time that worked reasonably well, insofar as I spent plenty of battles about a kilometre away and looking down a scope. Exciting in its own way BUT I knew from experience the melee monster is the true beast of Fallout 4 so AND would be very difficult on both Survival Mode and Very Hard difficulty so I went for that.
It was horrifying to start out. I started with a Police Baton and upgraded to a Pipe Iron. I did my usual melee mode where I ban guns except in extreme cases like there's a turret I simply can't reach but those are so rare it doesn't apply. I had plenty of experience from the previous Survival Mode playthrough where I spent several days ingame and in real life foraging the extreme north-west of the map before daring to expand to the centre. This was no exception I slowly built up my supplies, settlements and equipment before daring to venture into Boston more centrally.
The plus side was because my combat relevant scores were so high to start out with things were a little easier than when you try to be a shooter with various scores. Strength and Endurance will get you pretty damn far. I went about 90% through the game before I ever bought the Medic perk for example. My INT was low so I could maximise gains in XP from Idiot Savant, one of the best perks in any playthrough. I could focus on one weapon perk - Big Leagues - and not have to hedge my bets like a shooter build. I knew which traits would give me the best utility going forward, besing able to craft better weapons and armour was huge. The greatest perk for a melee build - Blitz - would come online as soon as I had all the Bobbleheads necessary. That's another thing - anytime I play Fallout 4 there is so little story or anything that keeps me going so I ste my own goals, one is to get all Bobbleheads before the finish. So I usually have my build planned to accommodate that and have 1 less in every SPECIAL stat I need so when I get the relevant Bobblehead, I'll unlock the ability I really want.
The Mechanist was the hardest. I had a few failed runs at their lair. I would get as far as the Tesla cannons or some of the elite robots and die horribly. I eventually had to give up and come back later when I was more powerful. The reason I wanted to sort them first was the same as always - robot attacks on settlements and especially just roving robot raiding parties ruined everything. But it wasn't too bad. I eventually got strong enough to wipe them out myself and even survive nuclear explosions some of them did when they died.
Nuka World was tough as well as the Gauntlet at the start was a near-death experience. The worst thing was when raiders would shoot down at you. Most of the game a single lucky shot could kill you in one go, but it was never fun to watch your health meter disappear in a handful of bullets. And just the environment in general becomes horrifyingly deadly in a Very Hard Survival Mode Run. VHSM Run? But after the Gauntlet the worst thing was the same as last time - the Space World. The ghoul radiation land was also pretty terrible but some well placed anti-radiation meds stopped that from being too bad. The giant crocodile monsters in Tarzan's place weren't too bad they were just one monster at a time. Actually finishing off the DLC was grand despite the annoying back and forth from Nuka World to the Commonwealth you have to do the actual Power Plant at the end was grand and the two perks made my melee warrior unstoppable.
I always forget about the other one, Far Harbor. I hadn't done it since the first time and honestly it was just as forgettable. Suffered my first game crash here doing the radiation drinking hallucination quest but whatever. At this point I was so powerful anything it threw at me was just laughable. Not to mention it just being a forgettable episode.
The actual main quest was up next and didn't really throw anything at me I deliberately sided with the Railroad, thinking them to be the weakest faction who come into conflict with the Brotherhood and the Insitute. I don't remember doing the Institute double agent quest so that was kind of cool. Other than that they shot me a lot but I just tanked all their bullets and murdered everyone including Father in the end. I have footage of this at least.
https://youtu.be/acMvYx7MB14
So all in all a great run it just took a little while for everything to come together. I always know my time is almost up with a run when nothing hurts my character anymore, I have all the Bobbleheads and DLC completed and can one shot most enemies. It was a very satisfying run and I am starting to love how every October-November-December I get bit by the Fallout bug and play them all again and again.
Fallout New Vegas Very Hard Hardcore Mode
I tried to play 3 and it crashed instantly so I switched to New Vegas. Very Hard was a nice change I'd never done that before, just Normal or Standard. I had briefly switched to Very Hard years ago for a minute in one of the games and was annoyed at how bullets just bounced off enemies, must have been Fallout 3. I liked New Vegas as criticals were a huge factor so even at Very Hard enemies could go down to a lucky shot.
I had also downloaded a 4gb patch that stopped New vegas from crashing every few minutes, so that was great.
My Endurance was 9 and did a more completionist run as the last time I played New Vegas I did a kill everything run as a melee monster so I was a more balanced shooter character. I had END 9 so I could get all the implants. I tried to avoid fast travelling and just did every quest I possibly could. Funny thinking on it now there were a bunch I missed but that's Fallout. I encountered a few new things as well this time around too, like the Vault full of Powder Gangers I made sure to destroy them as they only appear in the end credits otherwise.
I have a 9 hour recording of me clearing Lonesome Road among other things so might try and link that here at some stage.
Other than the occasional surprise, once I had all my bits sorted and was level 49 the main storyline was not too difficult. I went with Yes Man.
Fallout 3 Very Hard Mode
I actually played this last. I found a patch that made it work on Windows 10 and it worked so well it allowed me to play Into the Pitt for the first time ever!
It started out pretty scary but unlike Fallout 4 Survival Mode, enemies are very tough but don't really seem to damage all that much more in this game on Very Hard alone. Fallout 3 has ALWAYS been a bit annoying as a bullet sponge kind of game, where you'd be shooting at a Super Mutant for a full clip and they'd still be standing no matter how good your stats were.
I did another completionist run, my only real objectives were all the named quests like Oasis and Those! etc. and all the bobbleheads. Technically I was meant to reach level 30 but got to level 29 but honestly it's fine. Same thing happened in New Vegas but got 49/50.
I also told myself to get 10 in every SPECIAL and 100 in every skill. The former not so much but got close to the latter. INT 9 ftw.
I ended up finishing Mothership Zeta in 3 hours, the Pitt in 2, Point Lookout and Broken Steel within hours of each other.
Operation Anchorage had been giving me trouble before with crashes so I was pleased when this patch stopped all that. Still a great way to get 2-3 guaranteed level ups. I tried to keep my squad alive but no joy.
Mothership Zeta was supposed to be very difficult but I just tried to play as smart as possible and avoid conflict. Reverse pickpocketing, stealth kills and just the Chinese Stealth Suit in general help a lot.
Into the Pitt was kind of cool, I was too much of a badass by the time I got there though. I imagine it would be more fun if you stumbled upon it at a low level.
By the time I was doing the Broken Steel quest line I was around level 28 or 29 and able to just tank energy weapons (to an extent!) I still had to rely on Stims and whatnot.
It was just fun to play Fallout 3 through again! I hadn't played it properly in years. I think I managed to play a quick playthrough not so long ago but was so wary of crashes I just did the main quest.
Conclusions
It was very fun to play through all three of them again back to back. It's becoming an annual thing. I wish I could get into Fallout 1 and 2, lord help me I've tried, but might have to wait for a re-release or just the right moment to strike. I also have 76 installed I'll plough through that one day too.
Anyway Very Hard difficulty is tougher obviously but not impossible. And once I got all my perks, weapons and armour online I was unstoppable in all three. Well, mostly. Which is part of the fun some enemy or effect would come along every now and then and one shot me.
Next time I'll have to think of some new way to play that is different and interesting, having played through all of them at least 5 times each I'd wager.
