Fallout 4won a lot of fans over with its huge amount of involved quests. Alongside its main narrative, the title possesses a huge amount of side content that players can tackle in a variety of ways.
The way in which players approach certain quests inFallout 4can even lead to hidden rewards that can prove invaluable for a playthrough. OneFallout 4quest in particular offers a great secret reward, but requires players to approach the experience in a non-conventional way. The quest not only rewards players for thinking outside the box, but also showcases the importance of some mechanics that are usually not given the time of day.
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Fallout 4’s The Lost Patrol Quest
The Lost Patrol quest inFallout 4is a part ofthe title’s iconic Brotherhood of Steel questline. The player can acquire the quest in a number of ways, with it always requiring the player to track down distress beacons from a lost patrol of Brotherhood of Steel members.
In all, the player will have to track down three separate distress beacons, which lead to fallen Brotherhood of Steel soldiers. The player then has to pick up and play holotapes from the fallen soldiers andlisten to them via their Pip-Boy. It becomes apparent that each squad member became separated during a disastrous mission, with only their commander remaining.
This allows the player to search for the distress beacon of Paladin Brandis, hoping to find at least one survivor of the lost patrol. Upon finding the surviving Brandis, it becomes apparent that the Paladin has become deranged, having survived for three years in isolation since he became separated from his squadmates. The quest then poses multiple endings, with many players simply engaging the hostile Brandis in combat and ending the side-story.
The Lost Patrol’s Alternate Endings and Rewards
Instead of the obvious route of fighting Paladin Brandis, the player can instead opt for a lesser-known passive approach to finish the quest. If the player engages in conversation with Brandis, they can use persuasion in an attempt to placate him.
If the player can successfully convince Brandis to rejoin the Brotherhood of Steel, then confrontation can completely be avoided. In this ending, Brandis gives the player aunique laser pistol called Survivor’s Special. The weapon can only be obtained in this way, and possesses the Bloodied effect which deals more damage the lower an enemy’s health is.
With how effective this weapon can be in combat, it is an extremely fitting reward for players who attempt to tackle the quest in a non-conventional way. This speaks to the importance of skills that are rarely used by parts of the player bases ofBethesda RPGs such as theFalloutfranchise. While many will be tempted to simply go in guns blazing in many of the title’s encounters,Fallout 4smartly leaves incentives for players to use the full breadth of the game’s mechanics.
Things like persuasion and conversation dynamics are a huge driving force of RPG titles, and players may be surprised at how rewarding this path of play can be at times. This is also something to bear in mind forupcoming Bethesda titles such asStarfield, which will likely continue the trend of rewarding resourceful players with unique and powerful items. While the frequency of these rewards could be expanded upon, The Lost Patrol quest inFallout 4is the perfect example of the importance of lesser-used mechanics in Bethesda titles.
Fallout 4is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions coming in 2023.
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