Fallout 4 is one of the most immersive RPGs to have come out on the PS4 and Xbox One this past generation. That is not to say it is not to say, like most video games, it is not without fault. Though it is important to note that not all faults should be held against a game; especially when they produce hilarious results.
As great as some of these characters are written, they can also be pretty dumb. Their AI is better than what was seen last generation with Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but there are still some bugs in their system.
10 Welcome To My Home
This is not a problem that plagues Fallout 4 alone. It’s weird to walk into someone’s home in general without knocking and be greeted like they were their closest friend.
NPCs should be more shocked. In a dire world like Fallout 4, trespassers should be shot on site. That would be more realistic.
9 Stealing From The Pocket
Pickpocketing is a great pastime to do in the Fallout, but it makes absolutely no sense. Could stealing a wallet hanging out of someone’s pants work? Sure, it is plausible as it happens in the real world.
Does stealing anything that is not hanging off of the back of a person make sense like clothes or weapons? No. It makes even less sense when they don’t notice.
8 Stealing From The Home
Going back to the home situation, it gets even less logical when players can steal stuff. This is a bit complicated in that this entry will contradict itself. First of all, stealing something while no one is looking, like a big item and then hiding it without a backpack is senseless.
On the other hand if one is sneaky enough where no one notices, it also doesn’t make sense to get caught. It’s all based on algorithms so in general both of these issues don’t fit.
7 Sleeping
Walking into a home unannounced in Fallout 4 is creepy enough but it gets more unsettling when walking into a place while people are sleeping. What’s more, NPCs can often be woken up without addressing the fact that they were sleeping and or that it is weird for the player to wake them up.
Except for specific situations, they will normally prattle on with their dialogue tree as if nothing was unusual about the situation.
6 Buying Junk
The amount of things vendors buy in Fallout 4 is outstanding. This is the apocalypse so every resource is valuable. Still, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a vendor to go broke in the process which is a strategy many players use.
Their money does recharge, but how does that work if their stock looks the same? Maybe they just have more cash at home.
5 Being Persuaded By Stats
Having a high number in a certain trait can make or break a particular experience. Even with high values the game rolls the dice on if the dialogue choice will pass. It seems a little silly to think that all of life’s choices can be determined from saying one thing.
NPCs should be more wary of a random traveler they never met before staking their whole life on them.
4 Repeating Themselves
This was touched on lightly earlier in regard to sleeping NPCs, but they sure like to repeat themselves in Fallout 4. It’s a video game and right now the dialogue that can be programmed is limited.
It’s getting better over time in that people have more to say, but many are also just one note boxes filled with random knowledge and no other characteristic. Eventually, these conversations will get more limitless.
3 Standing Around
On that same note to repeating themselves, it’s also crazy to think many NPCs stand still as if they are just waiting to be interacted with like a sign post. Others have routines they follow but that’s another problem.
They can sometimes look like robots in that a real human, even if they have a routine, will deviate from it. Again, it’s a limitation of the hardware. On another note, they are close talkers and nobody likes that.
2 What’s My Name?
On a similar note to all of these conversation problems, no one learns the hero’s name. The robot butler can learn it but that was more of a trick and is not representative of the rest of the cast. What’s in a name really?
At least the protagonist this time around isn’t as silent and as awkward as most NPCs. This can make the lack of recognition even more mind numbing though.
1 Partners
Traveling companions have a whole mess of issues. One, like the player, where are they keeping the equipment given to them? They are more useful as pack mules than combat buddies. Two, they also aren’t great in conversations.
Sure, certain situations in Fallout 4 will make them react, but it happens not that often compared to how long one can travel with them. Sometimes it’s as if they aren’t there at all.