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First question: Have you played Fallout 3/New Vegas or Oblivion/Skyrim? I am guessing not so lets see if I can help.

The Beth games (Bethesda) all have a common order to them that F4 simply expands on. they all follow the same basic conventions, control schemes/menus etc. at least at the core level.

This also applies to their questing/missions. We are used to Nintendo/console gameplay where you just ‘go to the castle and save the princess’ So we go with what’s on our back, swing swords till all enemies are dead and find out the princess was a questioning transexual that looked pretty hot in a skirt and heels...no wait ;)

Seriously though, The beth games are more in depth. Think of it/approach it like this:

You have a game. That game encompasses a monstrous story. Hald of the game ‘is’ living the story as fully as possible (within reason/without bogging the player down in tedious minutia. But also not spoon feeding him Nintendo style. (Not that there’s anything wrong with those games. I love them. But the Beth games arent that)

I’ll be nasic here, but there is a point to it, trust me.

OK. First, you know the general story arc so I’ll skip it. Your main goal to begin with is to find your son.

Think reductionist. Your first real mission has you with Preston getting a suit of power armor. After that, you lead the people to sanctuary. Those people will be helping you, as will others you encounter. They need things, so you provide them. Thus the story advances, you level up and in doing, get closer to your main goal.

To attract more people, they logically need to know there is a place for them to go. So you build a radio beacon in Sanctuary. There are radios all over the Commonwealth so they hear the message.

To do that, you have to learn the crafting system/use the workbench. But to use the workbench, you need materials...the random junk you find all over the place.

So you go out and collect that junk as you do various missions, or make scavenger runs on your own to get them or buy them from the merchants. Rinse/repeat. As you move around the map, you will find more people needing more things and resulting in more quests, each with their own requirements. All of which step you closer to your goal.

The thing with Beth games are that they are time sinks. Intentionally. The best thing you can do, if you want to really enjoy them, is spend a day just exploring and learning the menus/options/perk tree. There’s a lot there and at first it seems overwhelming. And it is, but it’s all logical.

OK, with all that said, you are SUPPOSED to feel overwhelmed. Thats part of the storytelling. You as a player just emerged from a 200 year Cryosleep. you are confused, watched your wife die and son be kidnapped. Your life got turned upside down, you are confused and have no idea which way to turn/what to do next.

You have to discover all that to get from A to B. Once you adopt that mindset, it’s ALL fun. Hopefully some of this makes sense.

First off, thank you. I appreciate your help.

I pretty much figured out some of the things you mention, but have no idea how to do them.

I take it the first workshop is the Red Rocket, but have no idea how to service my failing armor or where to find new power cells. Kinda sucks trudging around the world at half speed looking to see what I can stumble into.

I tried helping the guy draining the pond but figured that was actually a trap as once I was in the water I was blind and wound up drowning.

Also, why am I trying to attract people to sanctuary? Aren’t I supposed to be trying to find my kid? I thought I should be getting the lay of the land and acquiring the things I’d need to take the kid back from a hostile actor.