WARNING: This piece contains some SPOILERS for Fallout.
I've been writing a lot about the Fallout franchise as of late, particularly Fallout 4 as I've just been having an absolute ball playing through the game. Bethesda, however, missed a few bugs during testing that have, on occasion, marred my enjoyment.
(For those not aware, Bethesda has a reputation for releasing bug ridden games. Historically most of these have been fairly benign and I'm more than happy to look past the occasional glitch or hiccup when compared to my enjoyment of the experience as a whole.) That said, the bugs I plan to address here are not small hiccups but rather glaring problems that have disrupted the narrative and immersion process for myself.
Narrative experience is the paramount goal for me in playing am RPG, thus, I can overlook mechanical or graphics issues but once the narrative is interrupted by a bug that should've been caught, then I have a bone to pick.
This is by no means a tirade against Bethesda as I have a lot of respect for them and thoroughly enjoy their games, but as a discerning consumer and one who wants to see Bethesda proper that they may continue to craft wonderful games, I have to speak up.
I will be listing the immersion-breaking bugs I have come across and some fixes or workarounds that I have found, in the event that they might help someone else (Note: I play on PS4, if anyone reading this is on PC then I'm sure you can find some readily available mods or info on which console commands to use).
One major issue many players have brought up, myself included, is the inability to dismiss companions back to their original homes (i.e. being able to send Nick and Piper back to Diamond City). This makes roleplaying a tad complicated as it's difficult to justify those two loitering around a settlement instead of tending to their respective professions in DC (especially Piper who leaves her sister behind!) This is a purely narrative issue as it does not affect gameplay at all but it's small details like this that can make a big difference.
The next big problem a lot of players are having is the proclivity of recruitable settlers to bug out. Traders like Rylee and Smiling Larry may simply disappear from the settlement randomly and Tina's recruitment during the "Dependency" quest is bugged.
(If you complete the quest as normal by curing Bobby of his addiction then you will not be able to recruit Tina, the only way to successfully recruit her is by being aggressive towards Bobby causing him to attack the player and be killed. After Bobby's death, the quest can be completed by speaking to Tina, at which point she can be recruited. However, her dialogue will be broken and while she can function as a regular settler, she will not speak to the player at all.)
A smaller issue that has a relatively easy fix is Kent's location after completing the "Silver Shroud" questline. Many people have reported having trouble locating Kent after the quest, this is because he may become stuck either at Milton Hospital or at the Goodneighbor State House following completion. The latter is a lot easier to deal with as you can simply go see him in the State House instead of the Memory Den but the former is a pain.
A solution brought to my attention, at least for us console folks, is to keep walking into Kent in order to push him to the elevator and down the hole in the ground that one uses to leave Milton General Hospital. Upon reaching the ground floor Kent should come to his senses and leave on his own for Goodneighbor.
Though the issue of these and many other bugs in Bethesda's games have been a running gag, the joke is not funny anymore and respected developers like themselves should endeavor to catch these bugs before release or at least address them in subsequent patches as soon as they are discovered.
