get to diamond city first or just explore?

[Umbra Animo]

so as title says Should I go to Diamond city early or just wander around until I wind up there naturally? I ask more because of the merchants in the city over the main quest

[TiberiumGuy]

I finished the game first. Diamond City is boring

[steven1mac]

It wouldn't hut to go there just to sell your stuff, there will be a small quest bit to get into the stadium that is unmissable, but once your in, you don't need to immediately do anything quest related.

[Stardustfire]

enter DC early has the big advantage that you get Piper early as sidekick, and it pays of to get her fast and max the realtionship with her fast, because you get extra exp for every location discovery and charisma speech checks to come when you have her max relationship perk.

[SerraShaar]

I usually go to Diamond City 1st, because you can grab a companion and sell (And buy). You also get a few small quests to do, which can help level you. Exploring at Low level....is risky.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by Umbra Animo:

so as title says Should I go to Diamond city early or just wander around until I wind up there naturally? I ask more because of the merchants in the city over the main quest

I explore. Takes quite a while before I even go to Diamond City. And by then I have Curie.

[The Inept European]

There is no time pressure to get anywhere so it's up to you OP.

[socialmediaaddress3]

Originally posted by TiberiumGuy:

I finished the game first. Diamond City is boring

This is what they mean by Toxic fandom,
Deliberately misleading a newbie into breaking the main quest. You cannot "finish the game first" and then go to Diamond City, It is simply not possible.

[socialmediaaddress3]

Originally posted by Umbra Animo:

so as title says Should I go to Diamond city early or just wander around until I wind up there naturally? I ask more because of the merchants in the city over the main quest

Go to Diamond City when you are ready.

Dont go crazy with exploring first but dont ignore obvious points of interest along the way either.
take your time and smeel the roses along the way.

I'd say be between approx level 7-13 when arriving at Diamond City first time.
You might pick up one level along the way depending.

Ideally have a couple fusion cores so you can go there via power armor which will empower your pursuit of main quest .
But once there I take my time do some things with certain NPCs, and in Boston before I go hard core focused main quest.

The most fun parts of the game are not main quest but still going to Diamond city is basically where your tutorial ends and the bigger game begins.

In Power Armor, going straight there from Concord at "jog", not sprint speed, (caps lock on on PC Keyboard) takes about a third of a fusion core charge to the main entrance of Diamond city.
Just the walking part.
This is not accounting for any battles you might pick and fight along the way, especially in VATS (which has highly increased consumption or any sprinting you may do, which also increases consumption)
As a lower level player one often has to revert to VATS to bring a fight to a good conclusion.

So if accounting for a couple of fights, call it 0.5 fusion cores used on your travel to DC main entrance from Concord if you dont sidetrack much.

[peon]

Originally posted by SerraShaar:

I usually go to Diamond City 1st, because you can grab a companion and sell (And buy). You also get a few small quests to do, which can help level you. Exploring at Low level....is risky.

Feels like trying to rush to diamond city on survival is suicide. I have to be at level 15, or I die from 2-3 shots from a super mutant.

[Karna5]

Fallout 4 isn't a game which only needs to be played once. Yes, follow the main quest a few times, trying different outcomes, but once you've played the main quest to your hearts content, then it's good to just play exploration versions of the game where you essentially ignore the main quest and explore.

Also, right now the main mods of the game are non-functional while F4SE is being ported to the new engine, but when the major mods are back on line, there are a TON of amazing player made mods which make replaying Fallout 4 a fresh and delightful play through over and over.

I've got more than 10,000 in-game hours of Fallout 4, but the last 10k or so hours have been played largely ignoring the main quest and doing all sorts of fun and delightful or profound and emotionally impacting player made mods.

[PeaceMaker]

Thing is with Diamond City you can go straight there or not. In fact the game pushes you too even though you totally don't have to.

I roleplay it. I pretend to be a confused vault dweller still in shock from my world turning into a wasteland in like 60 minutes- and wonder.

I gradually pull myself togther after dodging raiders and grabbing kit and a gun from a random dead Raider body. then I usally bump into a random farm, talk to them and learn what bottle caps are, make a sleeping bag. Boil up some water and go from there...

Much better. By the time I get back to Concorde or sanctuary I already have the Armor and Minigun to Preston's surprise. Also Curie.

The intro stuff from Bethesda is really designed for noobs who cry if anything makes them feel slightly lost.

[The Inept European]

The role play option would be to go straight to Diamond City as soon as you hear your son might be there (multiple sources).

It is possible to get to Diamond City on level 1 Survival as long as you avoid all combat. However that's not recommended. Take it slow is better, particularly if you are new to the game.

Basically the main quest design is deeply flawed. It role plays (fake) extreme urgency when it should be encouraging you to play the game slowly and carefully at first.

A much better main quest narrative design would be to initially give you the impression your son is dead, and then later on in the game, after you have got your bearings on the setting and the mechanics, then reveal a clue that your son might be alive. A catalysing moment at the end of Act 1 or whatever.

Sadly Todd did not avail himself of my writing skills so, the rest is history. 😁

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by peon:

Originally posted by SerraShaar:

I usually go to Diamond City 1st, because you can grab a companion and sell (And buy). You also get a few small quests to do, which can help level you. Exploring at Low level....is risky.

Feels like trying to rush to diamond city on survival is suicide. I have to be at level 15, or I die from 2-3 shots from a super mutant.

Run past them, hide behind the corner wall, when a guard dies run over and steal his armour and weapons, then run away. You might have to use a couple of stimpacks.

[Umbra Animo]

thanks for the Advice everyone. In the sake of full information. this on ps5 and I am not a novice to the game this is playthrough 2 (well more like 20 but mod problem kept killing the vibe to play but heard the recent update and figured to try the game again) but last playthrough I just lone wandered it (well I had dogmeat but I just bumbled around) and wanted to hear from other players if focusing on Diamond city would be a better idea early on since actually finding a shop was a big problem my last playthough's early game

[The Inept European]

Diamond City is a great marketplace. That's one very good reason to go there. There are some very useful items and weapons you can buy there. You can also start many interesting side quests from DC. I think it would be kind of crazy to deliberately avoid it.