On this replay I got to play Far Harbor for the first time, a DLC often referenced by fans of Fallout.

In short, if you don’t know, you travel to an island in search of a missing person, and in the process end up in the middle of a messy conflict between three different factions, as well as learning some of the backstory of Nick Valentine (if you bring him along) and a couple of more things.

It is a fine DLC, its oppressive atmosphere, the complex faction politics, some memorable characters (including a new companion). However, my heart wasn’t entirely in it, partly because I have been playing this game for too long, growing tired of it and wanting to move on to the next game. Not the DLCs fault, of course.

Still. There is some good stuff in there, you even get to meet synth Gandhi (going by the name DiMA). Later, you learn he’s also nuclear Gandhi.

For fun, let me reveal how I resolved the main conflict. Major spoiler follows.

I eradicated Children of the Atom. Couple of reasons: they were the main troublemakers (imo) and the most difficult faction to get to have a long-term peace (or truce) with the others. This was partly because they viewed the island as their own by divine right, a decree from their god, conveyed through the mysterious and increasingly dangerous radioactive fog. They were in deep conflict with the others, while Acadia and Far Harbor have a perhaps strained but still workable arrangement (in my humble opinion, of course).

Also, they are crazy, and they actually welcome becoming dust as a result of a nuclear bomb going off.

Eliminating them was a decisive move that ensures stable peace.

Also, it was the first option for a resolution that I came across, and I was eager to finish the main quest and move on. Sorry Children of the Atom, I guess I was in the wrong mood.

In other news, I just finished the main story. Now I want to wrap up a few things, then it’s on to Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.

I played Fallout 4 back in the day when it was brand new. Enjoyed it a lot, and did finish the main story as well as a number of side quests — but far from all of them, and none of the DLCs or the survival mode.

Decided it was time to rectify that, so I am currently far into another playthrough.

Having fun, despite its flaws it’s an enjoyable game, for sure.

Unfortunately I had to turn off survival mode though. Why? Because, and speaking of those flaws, it kept crashing. Not a lot, but even an occasional crash is too much when the game mode doesn’t allow for easy and frequent saving.

There are only so many times you put up with losing significant progress because of stupid crashes. After a while it becomes stressful even knowing it could crash at any time. That’s the cue to switch mode. Which is too bad, because I really enjoyed survival mode. That’s probably worth its own post.

Before this I was playing Hit Man 3 (first time) and GTA V (second time, but first time on PS5. First time must have been… on the PS3? Damn.)