WILDLY FRUSTRATED: ‘Fallout 4’ declares war on my social life – and wins before its release
A few months back, I wrote about how “Dragon Age: Inquisition” had completely ruined my life – how it took up months of my life between all the exploration, fighting and warring, collecting materials, crafting, customizing, etc. I have finally finished my quest after clocking in close to 200 hours of gameplay. The battle was a wary one – and by “battle” I’m clearly talking about my addiction to the world of Thedas – but it was a battle that I had won! There won’t be another game that will have that kind of hold over me again. Now let me just check the Internet… I haven’t had a chance to do so in a while. Let’s see… Bethesda has confirmed “Fallout 4,” and there’s a trailer online, too. Son of a bitch!
You guys don’t understand! Well, maybe you do, but you don’t understand what this means for me! “Fallout 3” was the reason I bought a top-tier laptop so many years ago. I needed to play that game. I HAD to play it! I saw friends playing it, and I didn’t have a PS3 at the time, so I convinced myself a laptop would be a great idea to get for work and other professional avenues. It just so happened that it would allow me to venture into the Capital Wasteland at its optimal settings as well! Incidentally, it was really easy to rationalize that rather expensive purchase.
I got the laptop and, a few months later, “Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition” came out and, boy, did I play that game! Not only did I play “Fallout 3,” but I practically lived it! I made decisions and acted as if I was the one emerging from Vault 101. I couldn’t blow up Megaton! (Why would I do such a thing to people who were just trying to live?) I refused to help any slavers whatsoever. (Everyone deserves to be free.) I only ever stole items if I was absolutely desperate. (At the start, caps, ammo, and chems were scarce.) I would never assault or kill unless I was fired upon first (i.e. defending myself) or they were truly a heinous person. And, lastly, I made the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good of all. I was a paragon – the “Messiah of the Wastes” – and I absolutely loved every experience the game gave me.
Besides the gameplay decisions and various choices that I took to be personal, I may have taken the whole “emersion” aspect of “Fallout 3” a tad too far. I stuffed my stash boxes in my Megaton home to the brim; I say that figuratively because there’s an infinite amount of space in them. I had food products in my refrigerator, Nuka-Cola in my personal vending machine, and I had multiple copies of every piece of armor and weapon in my filing cabinet and footlocker – whether I was going to use them or not – so I could use them if I chose and so I could repair them many times over.
Not only that, but I actually made a “home” out of that house by decorating it with leftover items, junk, and knickknacks I had found throughout the greater nuked-out DC area – and I do honestly mean decorate! Those items were meticulously placed and positioned just right to give that house a “lived-in” appearance. It was done for no other purpose than to satisfy my own obsession and nerdy glee. This wasn’t a multiplayer game, so no one else would ever see the work I put into this task but me. Man, it was awesome, and now I get to do it all over again!
There is a downside, however. I will not only be invested to this game in terms of hours I will give up willingly, but also in the cost of the game and a console to play it on. It is a necessary evil, though. I know it certainly won’t be coming out for the previous generation of consoles (PS3 or Xbox 360), and my laptop will not be able to handle it, so a PS4 purchase will also be in my future as well. Luckily, I still have time. An official release date has not been made yet, and with video gaming culture fully established, I may be able to push said purchase even further by awaiting an inevitable “Game of the Year Edition” once again. As Ron Perlman has said countless times, “War. War never changes.” In that war, I will lose my social life one more time, take up arms, and play the ever-loving hell out of what will be an absolutely amazing game.
So I sit. I wait. I will bide my time. I will enjoy the present and my freedom while I have it. It’ll probably be months, if not close to a year before it comes out, when it does, I will go all-in and make such a purchase anyway. So, until that time, I’m going to go out and live! Let me check the Internet once more before I venture off into the real world…
“Creative director confirms more story DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition”
Are you fucking kidding me?! You know what? Screw it! Why even bother leaving my house, right? I’ll merely sit here and play continuously. I should be able to knock this shit out in a few weeks, right? Right? Well, you know where to find me. In my virtual home. Decorating.
Don’t look at me like that. I’m a practical adult – think about how much money I’ll save on sunscreen this year.
