Fallout 76

[S1500]

Anyone else playing the beta? I've been doing beta sessions when I can, since I pre-ordered it. A little rocky here & there not knowing if I'll need a 40+ gig update DURING the beta sessions, but it seems to be smoothed out. That, and it won't be an issue as of Wednesday.

 

I have mixed feelings on this. Bethesda's the one company that broke the mold for deep single-player games. I spent 300+ hours on each of the Fallouts & Skyrim. It was addicting. That's all gone in favor of multiplayer which means a lot of things are gone. NPCs, radio DJs, an immersive story line, etc.

 

In reality, I barely see any other players on the map. I might run by 1 or 2 near the more popular areas, but I never go adventurin' with them. Found out I couldn't talk to them until I tweaked a setting(unless they were on my team). Fixed that. If I see another player getting ganged up on by baddies, I'll help out.

[youxia]

Fallout 4 is in my Top 5 of All Time so I'd be definitely curious to try this (if I had a AAA PC rig atm). The online element with humans-as-NPCs could add a bit of unpredictability to the mix and I suppose I could play it as some sort of survival game. I've tried TES online but it was very disappointing - just another MMO really with lame combat. Here, with the FPS mechanic things could get much more interesting.

 

Though it's disappointing to hear there's not many players around. Could be a case of Elite Dangerous, with map too big, or maybe just not big enough player base?

[Video]

Once it goes live there should be more people. Not sure how many people the "world" can support.

 

To bad it's online, I'll probably skip it. Eso was a HUGE disappointment to me. I was all like "Bethesda did it? It's going to kick @$$" and was unfortunately greeted by the same lame mmo experience is already done ( and didn't enjoy) nearly two DeCADES earlier.

[danwinslow]

I didn't care for it, and I don't think it will be particularly successful. Bethesda doesn't seem to really understand what most people (I think) loved about the earlier fallouts. Even fallout 4, which I liked well enough but didn't love, suffered from it.

Here's the deal -

 

I don't want to build things. I don't want to play civ. I don't want fancy decorations or to play dress-up with armor colors or hair/face/body editing. I don't want bouncy colorful happy-time emoticons. I don't want to have to deal with some 12 year old trying to kill me or even just having to listen to him or have him wave and show me stupid emoticons. I don't want to have to cook and/or make routine things. I don't want an open-world multiplayer Farmville. I don't want a battle-royal that keeps replaying in a cartoon-style world.

 

What I DO want is story immersion, yet to still have open-world freedom. I want to shoot naughty things and blow lots of things up.I want to feel like the decisions I make make a real difference in the story line. I want to have goals to help people that mean something. I want good plots and lots of good side quests. I want interaction with NPCs, including the decision to just shoot them and to experience the consequences thereof. I want a dirty, gritty world that looks like a nuclear strategic war happened. I want story continuity. I want to be pressed hard to scavenge and explore for survival.

 

So,as a lot of people like me feel, New Vegas was the pinnacle of Fallout greatness. Fallout 4 was OK, but they had started the process of dropping things like faction systems and skill advancements. The story lines were actually pretty good, but really it totally did not matter what you did in NPC conversations other than maybe shorten steps via charisma checks. Faction had no real meaning other than at the very highest story level. It had a good weapon and engagement system, but they dropped some mechanics around weapon repair, and yet oddly kept them for power armor. I hated that so much work went into the stupid 'let's build outposts and beds and paintings and walls and pictures and lets have to deal with directing a bunch of mindless NPCs to dig carrots' that could have gone into things like a meaningful faction system and a conversation system that was more than 'pick an aggressive or cynical or sarcastic or sympathetic response but don't worry because it won't really matter'.

 

Fallout 76 is too pretty, too cartoony, too simplistic. It's Fortnite with a Fallout-like skin on. There seems to be essentially no actual story line except some lame stuff about 'find the overseer' and popup quests. It's only 25 years after the bombs fell but already you see the full range of canon entities like the brotherhood and super-mutants where they do not exist in the timeline. I could theoretically see a multiplayer Fallout but it would have to be on totally different terms. This just feels like they are trying to skip having to do the hard work of story creation, voice acting, and complex quest trees and have us 'create our own adventure'. They tried to do online multiplayer, and also tried to keep some of the single player fallout feel, but those two things are incompatible and they wound up doing neither well.

 

BAH I say, BAH. You kids GET OFF MY LAWN!

Edited November 9, 2018 by danwinslow

[youxia]

 

I don't want to build things. I don't want to play civ.

 

Then why not play countless other RPGs which stick to the standard template? I love TES/FO precisely because they try to do something different, always had. They build true open-worlds, not pretend ones governed by linear structures. These are worlds you can really live in and make your own adventures through gameplay, which is why narratives were never their strong suit. But I'd much rather do that than click on a/b/c choices in a dialogue window and follow a hardcoded storyline. I spent hundreds - if not thousands - playing their games and I don't think I've ever went further than ~1/3rd of the main quest. And yet still managed to have heaps of fun.

 

Now I understand that some people might not like this style and that's fine, but like I said the majority of other RPGS have you covered (I'm sure the upcoming Cyberpunk will add to that pile) so why not let people who enjoy Bethesda's do so in peace, instead of continuously haranguing on how broken/ugly/boring they are? Judging by the sales figures I think they're doing something right after all.

[CatsGamesWhatever]

They are saying size of the initial game download is 45GB and Day 1 Patch is 54GB.

 

https://www.altchar.com/games-news/580910/fallout-76-base-file-size-with-day-one-patch-is-966-gb

 

I played all the Fallouts except for 4 but will be skipping this one. At least until the price comes way down like a base copy of ESO and until they fix it. I have my doubts whether the Day 1 patch will do so and they are expecting people to pay $90ish CAD for this thing...

[Flojomojo]

BAH I say, BAH. You kids GET OFF MY LAWN!

 

Ugly and old, but better than it used to be: Daggerfall remastered in Unity. Free download. Needs to geekery to get it working properly, but that's Elder Scrolls for you.

[youxia]

Wait...what's this? Have I really just read an insightful and well thought out article regardin 76 (and previous Bethesda's Fallouts?) instead of yet another cookie-cutter, knee-jerk, it's-Bethsoft-so-it-sucks "opinion"?

 

Somebody pinch me.

 

https://www.gamerzunite.com/you-dodont-like-fallout-76-and-thats-ok

[MrMaddog]

Wait...what's this? Have I really just read an insightful and well thought out article regardin 76 (and previous Bethesda's Fallouts?) instead of yet another cookie-cutter, knee-jerk, it's-Bethsoft-so-it-sucks "opinion"?

 

Somebody pinch me.

 

https://www.gamerzunite.com/you-dodont-like-fallout-76-and-thats-ok

 

Yeah, I hate how those gamer jackals would preorder a game and would bad mouth it online because it doesn't exactly replace "real life" for them...or just have have material for hate filled rants that appeal to other perpeptuial teenagers like themselves.

 

I'll eventually get F76 to included in my Fallout game collection but not at the full $60. Hopefully when it comes down in price they'll fix the bugs and all the loser trolls would move on to something else, leaving the game to those who actually enjoy playing it.

[cimerians]

Actually looks like a bit of a letdown (for now).