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Far Harbor Chat: Monsters & Morality in Fallout 4 (Spoilers)

  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    I've really enjoyed Bethesda's new Fallout 4 DLC, Far Harbor. This post will act as a place for discussion about the many interesting things presented to us in this add-on.

    Table of Contents:

    1. General Information - Including chat about the 50's horror vibe, the nuts and bolts of the land mass and getting around the island. What is the fog?

    2. Factions - Chat about the three main groups, Far Harbor, Children of Atom and Acadia Synths. 

    3. Weapons & Armor - Chat about the huge new offering of weapons and armor.

    4. Misc - Did you find something cool? Creepy? Amazing new recipe? Have an opinion? Share it!

    General Information:

    One of the most interesting parts of FH is the overall vibe. They clearly used this as an opportunity to tip their cap toward the glory days of cheesy horror flicks like "Creature from the Black Lagoon." In fact, take a trip out to Eden Meadows Cinema, flip the second projector on and sure enough a nice little easter egg pointing toward that very movie. 

    One of the main story lines hovering over Far Harbor is - what is the Fog? Where did it come from? There's some indication that whatever it is, The Children of Atom revere it and have found a way to intensify it. The fog condensers keeping it at bay for the the harbor-people also provide oil when "harvested," indicating some information about it's origin.

    Speaking of origins, the first interaction with Dima, the synth leader in Acadia gives us food for thought about our own origins. As Golden Fool has eloquently elaborated - is it possible the sole survivor is a Synth? What a different way to play the character!

    Overall, Bethesda has given us their largest land mass add-on ever, and I think they've done a pretty amazing job. Sure, it's only another 20 hours of questing, but for those of us who like building characters, it's opened up tons of new opportunities (See the latest builds "The Lost" from Emer and "Atom's Bulwark" from Amornar as proof.)


    Factions:

    One of the complaints of the main wasteland factions is being "forced" into choosing one and eradicating the others (Minutemen aside). In Far Harbor, we have a lot of options. Peace between all three, two, one left standing or none for the seriously sadistic player. Each choice comes at a moral cost. For example (SPOILERS), siding with Dima and the Synths requires lying to the other two factions, but results in the most amount of peace. These kind of choices make roleplaying so much more enjoyable in my opinion. 

    What would your character do? 

    I think everyone can agree that the initial contact with the Children of Atom in the Glowing Sea left us all wanting more. What's the deal with these nut jobs? And why can't I interact with them? But in Far Harbor, we can join them, become entangled in their cult and can even be made to feel a little something for them. Side quests raise more questions and make simply blowing up their sub a difficult decision. Sort of. 

    Weapons & Armor:

    Oh my! So. Many. Sick. Guns. From the Kiloton Radium Rifle, to pole hooks, harpoon guns and lever action rifles, we have tons to explore. Even better, take Nick with you to a certain quest location and voila - a legendary automatic rifle called December's Child. I rarely use automatics, but this baby has me planning...

    And the new Combat Marine armor is just the tip of the armor iceberg. Slick Marine Wetsuits, Rescue Diver gear, stealthy Hunter's Armor & Hood, and brutal spiked Trapper armor all give us new ways to construct characters. There's even a Vim-flavored power armor goodie.

    Misc:

    I wanted to touch on consumables and craftables a bit. I haven't dove much into these, but from the looks of it, we have a whole host of new items to boost character stats. Examples include Vim variants (AP / charisma), Ware's Brew (from raw sap via CoA side quest), even a Gulper slurry that provides 10 sec of invisibility. They've really gone overboard (in a good way) on some of the new ways to interact with the environment. 

    There's also workshop add-ons like barn construction that really flesh out the Far Harbor feel, for those looking to build on any of the 4 new settlements.

    I've also found some funny, scary and weird things - one of my favorite parts of Fallout. You never know when you're going to find a Behemoth locked in a warehouse or Hermit crab stuffed in a van. Things like that keep game play much more interesting than simple questing. 

    What have you found in Far Harbor that excited you? Disappointed you? What do you think of it? 

  • June 2, 2016
    Awesome addition. I can't respond in full right now, but know that I've seen it and will respond in full in a few hours.
  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    Oh man. Far harbor. My favorite thing in this dlc is the hunters pelt armor. It just looks amazing to me. I was disappointed by dimas memories. Those cricket things were awful. Hated them. It was like an hour of torturous fallout. But all in all I chose far harbor and destroyed the other factions, maxed out old Longfellow s affinity by drinking booze and used lucky eddy. 

  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    I also disliked that minigame

  • Member
    June 2, 2016
    Pretty much everyone I've read felt the minecraft-ian memory puzzle was unnecessary and unwanted. I actually didn't mind it at first, but quickly grew tired of it.
  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    Easily my favorite part of the Far Harbor is the aesthetics; the whole "Creature From The Black Lagoon" vibe really helped sell the setting.

    Far Harbor definitely opened up a lot of doors for CB, I agree. I wanted to make a Children of Atom build even before Far Harbor came out but I wasn't sure if I could really make it worthwhile, but Far Harbor's given me enough material to work with that I could make several CoA builds if I felt like it, to say nothing of all the other build ideas that Far Harbor’s given me. Of course, with Emer’s Lost and Amornar’s Bulwark we’ve already gotten the ball rolling there.

    I loved Far Harbor’s main quest, particularly with regards to all the different ways you can handle the factions on The Island, and then the ways those factions can interact with those found in the Commonwealth. I also liked how Far Harbor expanded upon the Children of Atom as a whole. I won’t add any more to that in the interest of not spoiling anything.

    The new weapons and armor are definitely cool; I’m particularly digging the Marine Armor. The new legendary effects seem interesting as well.

    Fury isn’t a new chem, actually; it’s in the vanilla game.

    I didn’t know Far Harbor added new stuff for you to make in the Workshop. Then again, I’ve been too busy exploring to do any real settlement building.

    In case I wasn’t obvious enough about it, I greatly enjoyed the Far Harbor DLC as a whole, but I do have a couple of minor issues with it. As others have already pointed out, the memory puzzles are kinda annoying. I also don’t like that they added extra ranks to some of the perks; it’s superfluous and messes up my earlier character builds a little bit. Finally, *side quest spoilers* I was disappointed that the Red Death wasn’t actually some giant terrifying monster; a boss battle where the arena is limited to the confines of your ship could’ve been really interesting. *end spoilers*

  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    can't believe I've played that many hours and never taken fury before...good catch. 

    I'll find some of the other more interesting consumables soon...

  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    The only reason why I remembered it is because a couple of builds mention it; I haven't messed around with chems much in Fallout 4 yet. That being said, I've heard that the damage boost is bugged and doesn't work but the negative effects kick in no problem, so you're not missing out on much. It's a shame though; if it was functioning properly it would be a fantastic chem.

  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    Well, only the first three, which are fairly easy, are required. I liked it, even if it got a bit annoying

  • Member
    June 2, 2016

    I did expect for the real RD to show up shortly after, but I can't help but laugh when it turns out to be a tiny Mirelurk with red eyes. Or maybe....that wasn't the true RD, but an offspring, and you killed it,,,