Top 10 Fallout 4 Features from the Bethesda E3 Presser

05. Expanded Item Crafting

While there was crafting in the previous titles in the series, in the world of Fallout 4 crafting has been elevated to a whole new level. So what does that mean?

Remember all the loot you found in the games? Yeah, you would load yourself up and then find a merchant you could sell the loot too, even the trash items, so that you could get bottle caps that you could use to buy the other items and upgrades that you want.

Okay that still exists in the game, sure, but as you delve into the game you are going to find yourself NOT wanting to sell a lot of those looted items to a merchant, because why? Because they can be dismantled into component parts that you can THEN use to create your own items and upgrades.

Word is that the crafting and loot system are integrally linked to both the armor and weapon upgrades as well as original crafting based on diagrams or blueprints!

Thanks to games like Witcher 3 and Elder Scrolls, as gamers we have become very used to a having a crafting system in our games, and in particular in our role-playing games, but the crafting system in Fallout 4 appears to take that process to the next level.

During the presentation the point was made that the dismantling scheme that is part of the crafting system is so deep that it often drills down to the very basic level, like filaments in light bulbs, and even screws - which it seems are an incredibly useful and valued resource in the game.

So hey, yeah, you can play with me, but keep your hands off my screws.

04. Custom Settlement / Enclave Building

At first when this element was announced it appeared to suggest that it was intended to allow the player to build their own custom homes. And yes, it DOES do that... But it is far more than that as it ALSO allows the player to build their own settlement!

It is implied in the briefing that in addition to building your own home, as part of the settlement building you will also place other survivors who serve as residents and workers. In the presentation we saw a bartender and bar that you can place, fields and farmers to grow your own food, and other residents.

Perhaps more important, at least in terms of the role-playing side of Fallout 4, is the whispers that suggest that the settlement you build by recycling parts from other buildings elsewhere in the Wasteland also serves as home and home base for any companions you find and attract in the game.

The dog you befriend was featured in the presentation, but word is that the humans and almost human companions you meet and befriend also come to live in your settlement. How cool is that? Pretty darn cool if you ask us - plus it will mean not having to track them down when you want to add them to your active party!

The mechanism for creating your new home and settlement is to take your character out into the world and scrap objects from buildings you find, and then going back to your settlement area and using those objects, and the recovered scrap, to build new objects of your own design and choosing.

They confirmed that building settlements and then expanding them is the best way in the game to attract merchants and traders to your settlement who will offer rare items you cannot get any other way!

As you expand your settlement that building includes infrastructure and defenses.

You start with the basics, like electric generation, and then begin deploying basic defensive elements like walls and gates, but also powered weapons that will automatically help to defend your settlement.

That is important because once you build it your settlement WILL become a target for attack by other humans. Remember: If we build it, THEY will come.