izigame.me

After spending many hours in the Commonwealth mindlessly killing raiders, supermutants, and anyone who stood between me and a bottle of Wonderglue, I had begun to grow used to the idea that Fallout 4 could only ever be a game I played in the background. Usually, while I play this game, I listen to something more interesting (usually Noah Caldwell Gervais on Youtube). For most of my playthrough, I simply clicked through the dialogue on the quests, collected or killed what they required, and gave the most coherent answer in conversations (the answer I thought that a real person might actually say, rather than the lolrandom answers or the "what if I was just a massive bastard" answers).
I played through the literal amusement part that was Nuka-World, which did absolutely nothing to raise my expectations for what Fallout 4 could provide me. After that, I continued the main quest for awhile, messed about with the Railroad, installed an ENB (which made the game look astounding), and helped a group of robot ship larpers recreate Treasure Planet for about 20 seconds. After that, I decided that I might as well do the detective quest that begins the Far Harbor DLC, as while I dislike detective stuff, the alternative was trudging back to sanctuary to grab some melons for Preston "another settlement needs your help" Garvey. I reluctantly went through with the detective mission, and ended up on the boat to Far Harbor.
At this point most reviewers would say something along the lines of "something just felt different about this place" or some other vague platitude more reflective of their overall experience rather than their first impressions. I did not "feel something different" as I pulled into port late at night to be greeted by the old lady. Having heard good things about Far Harbor, I did decide to give it a fair chance, and stopped listening to video essays and actually turned on the voice volume. My first hour in Far Harbor was actually rather unimpressive. For the most part, I did as I usually did in the Commonwealth: I ignored the main story in favor of a few side quests to get my bearings. Save for an interesting twist in the quest to get the machine parts, these were very similar to most "get this, kill that" quests which I had grown quite familiar with in the main game, so I started to question what all the hype was about.
Then I went to Acadia. I did so as part of beginning the main quest line, as most do, and because I felt meeting the other factions on the island. The first hint that Far Harbor was something greater than most of my experiences with this game began when I met that member of the Church of Atom. While brief, that argument was something that absolutely never occurred in the base game, and actually showed me some of the possible potential for a multi-person conversation that I am now convinced could have been extremely powerful for storytelling if an actual competent studio was running the show. But I digress. In the Commonwealth, such an encounter would have been undoubtedly combat-oriented. You are with a potential companion character, it would be the perfect moment for the devs to demonstrate their combat skills. Instead, we are treated to an (ableit brief) look into their worldview. Wonderful.
However, that was not the thing that really convinced me that my time in Far Harbor would be different than the Commonwealth. That would occur once I reached Acadia, and had my first conversation with DiMA. As I spoke with him, I began to have that feeling, like something was quite different. It reminded me of something.
It reminded me of Fallout: New Vegas.
It was that moment, where I realized that all four of the options before me were not frivolous reactions to a situation, but rather separate paths I could choose to take, where each would allow me a different look into the world and worldview of a person, that I became enamored with Far Harbor. Don't get me wrong. There is still plenty of random garbage here as well, but it is greatly reduced in favor of the narrative depth and flavor to which the best moments of fallout belong.
I will say no more, as I think that this part and this part alone of Fallout 4 is not worth spoiling. I will conclude by saying this: Far Harbor is not evidence that Bethesda will return Fallout to it's roots. Fallout 76 proved that. Far Harbor is proof that Bethesda, when they actually try, can make a story at least as good and cohesive as those that came before, but that they prefer to bastardize this franchise into a carnival of blinking lights and leering mascots. They turned this satire of 50's consumerist culture and cold war paranoia into itself, accepting the celebration unironically and in doing so ripping away any narrative weight that the franchise had left. Far Harbor is a swan song, the last dying breath of that now long lost age where making a good story was worth more than marketing a product.
Do I recommend this last word of the better part of Fallout? Only to those who wish to experience what could have been.