I am definitely feeling somewhere between “meh” and slightly concerned. The stuff we’ve seen revealed so far seems... okay? It could make for a fun co-op MMO-lite sort of loot-shooter which makes it seem like Bethesda just tried to make their own Destiny clone like Bioware/EA is. Could be a fun way to fuck around with some friends.

On the other hand, I probably have a very similar sentiment with a lot of people online when I say that this is definitely not the direction I want the Fallout series going. F4 got a really mixed reception specifically because, despite much better combat and shooting mechanics, the RPG aspects, character building, and writing languished considerably. F76 seems to be an even further acceleration of that trend, considering that there are apparently no human NPCs in the game.

If F76 is a spin off co-op game rather than a stand alone title representative of the general series, then I won’t have too much of a problem with it and may have an lot of fun. It doesn’t make me a bit nervous for the franchise though.

 

I'm not looking forward to this a huge amount, but still enough where I'll probably pick it up on release day. That itself is probably a mistake, due to the likelihood of bugs, but that's usually when the community is largest. I think it's going to be a pretty fun game.

 

I am relieved to hear that this is not a new installment in the series, just a one-off experiment. It's not like I wasn't going to buy it anyway, but hearing that made me feel better.

It's such a small thing, but you know what really bothers me so far about this? I haven't heard "war never changes" once. How the fuck do you make a trailer for a Fallout game without that?

 

This is the worst time I've had yet avoiding spoilers. Not because they're everywhere, but because I'm just trying not to look, and my willpower only goes so damned far. I think I can wait 11 more days.

I think.

 

Good ol' Oxhorn.

I've been watching his stuff on 76 because I find it interesting, but I have no desire to play a Fallout game without single player.

I love the idea of new creatures, particularly based on local folklore, but not enough to buy a multiplayer FO with PVP.

And fuck weapon degradation. Seriously. Some people like it; then again, some people like having their balls stepped on. Not for me, I'm afraid.

 

Seems like a lot of effort for ball stomping.

Then again, I did have the Crotch Shot mod for Unreal Tournament 2004...

 

And here I thought that Bethesda's screw-ups won't be able to surprise me anymore.

 

I'm with Warlocke. I love the Fallout series, but this isn't what I want from a Fallout game. Single player with NPCs, settlements, quests, story-- that's what I want. As Al Chestbreach would say, "note quests suck." And that's the only type of story available apparently, so I'm passing on this game.

 

When it comes to multiplayer Bethesda games, that's all anyone has wanted.

But they keep trying to be clever about it and end up giving us shit we don't want.

"We want Skyrim, but the ability to play with friends."

Here, have an MMO. (Not shitting on ESO, just saying it wasn't what players asked for.)

"We want Fallout, but the ability to play with friends."

Here, have a Rust clone in a Fallout costume.

Told my friends from the start that I would be skipping 76, and I'm sticking to my guns. The fact that I've heard almost nothing good from people who've played it only reinforces that stance.

 

I think if it was $30 I'd have absolutely no issues with it. I've played Bethesda games long enough that the same bugs they've had for 15 years just don't bother me anymore, and even make me laugh a bit. But full AAA price for a game they didn't have to bother making NPCs for, or any kind of coherent story outside of holotapes is a bit ridiculous. Especially seeing it's the same tired engine, the net code is terribly lazy and slapped together with bondo, and it just seems they're going out of their way to make head-scratching decisions for UI, interface, and actually taking away the one thing that always made their games awesome in the long run - the ability to mod everything.

 

Incredibly polar framerate reports. Shroud was the best I saw, getting 120 FPS, and sometimes dropping down to 80. Though I saw far more reports of people struggling to consistently get above 40 FPS on high end systems, even with the graphics turned down to medium. Shroud dropping as low as 80 with a 2080ti on a dated engine already speaks of poor optimization - but hey, it's beta so I'm sure they'll sort that right out in time.

Quite a few reports of motion sickness, far more than the usual new gamers trying a FPS for the first time. And far too many for an experienced developer, QA exists for a reason. No idea of the reason, don't care either. Just saying what I've seen and heard.

The biggest complaint I've seen? Nobody knows what the hell this game actually is.

It isn't a full on survival game, the mechanics simply aren't there.

It isn't a Survival/PvP hybrid since the map is big enough and the playercount low enough that raiding other players for resources isn't particularly necessary.

It isn't a traditional story driven Bethesda game since most of the stories are told through Audio Logs, and there are no NPCs. So "Fallout with Friends" it isn't.

It isn't a high end display of technical brilliance and game design, since it's running on an old engine and doesn't do anything that we haven't seen done better by other games.

So what exactly is Fallout 76?

To me, it looks like an amalgamation of a few underwhelming ideas from other games with a Fallout coat of paint slapped on top.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

I do want to ask a question of my own though. You asked what's wrong with it. From what you've seen, what do you feel is right with Fallout 76? What sets it apart from other new games this season? This isn't me trying to be a dick, by the way. I'd genuinely like to know what gave you such a positive impression.

 

Oh yeah man, don't get me wrong - I'm really intending to wait until this is cheaper, but I'm the most easily entertained person I know, there's probably no chance my willpower holds out that long. I mean, I actually still kinda enjoy No Man's Sky even.

 

Fallout 76 is live. I played some of the beta sessions and have played for the past two days (PC servers went live worldwide when Australia hit the release date). I am greatly enjoying it. Bethesda has always been good at creating a world that I want to explore, and this is no different. I love the varied environments, especially the Ash Heap. Mole Miners are a god send for me, since they almost always carry shotguns and shot gun shells.

Running around with a shotgun build, and a bunch of backup weapons. It's funny to be carrying two kitted out shotguns each weighing 2 pounds, but then one rifle weighs 15 (because of perks). Most things eat the front end of my double barrel then die.

Let's talk differences from 4.

-Combat is almost entirely the same; the only difference is VATS not slowing time. I don't mind this change, and most of the time it feels much better to use the new VATS. The only time I miss the old one is when I'm facing one big dude (deathclaw, Wendigo, etc) and I can't stop time, catch my breath, and aim for their face. I really miss Jet for dealing with melee enemies.

-I think every non-unique piece of weapon and armor is back from 4, as well as a bunch of extra ones. The return of the condition system is ok... not much of a concern most of the time (or really any of the time). I do like the changes to the upgrade system, having to scrap weapons to learn new mods is more fun than just learning everything when you get the perk. I really hate level locking loot.

-The perk system is neat. Can't think of anything more to say than that.

-Enemies... Like with armor and weapons, every enemy from 4 is back (well, besides human raiders and such) and a bunch of new ones. The Wendigo is the single most terrifying thing I have experienced in any fallout game. Haven't encountered too many of the new cryptid creatures. Only a couple of each in the Grafton Monster, Wendigo and Snallygaster or w/e categories. Like I said above, mole miners are great.

-I've encountered some scorch beasts. Died almost every single time. Sometimes multiple times. I was at the Whitespring resort and there were 3 of them flying around fighting the robots. Got one of them to 20%, but then all the bots turned on me and my hidey-hole lost its safety.

-Most of the time, you don't notice the missing NPCs. Exploring locations is mostly the same, you get ambient dialogue from scorched to replace raiders, and to me it seems like more effort has been put into audio-logs, notes and stuff to make up for the NPCs. Locations also seem more detailed. There are a couple of non-generic (ie unique) robots out there that are fun to meet. Did a quest for a Miss Nanny bot at the top of the map that had me investigating a missing child, it was very Nick Valentine's Detective Agency-esque. Quests in general are more sparse, and no talk-to-people-a-bunch quests is a bummer.

-The game is harder than base fallout 4, probably the same difficulty as survival in fallout 4 (or a bit easier, might depend on the build idk). Eating and drinking is way more annoying than weapon/armor condition. You can carry a lot less junk around, so no more hoarding 100 stimpaks on you at all times, which is part of what makes eating and drinking annoying. I've run low on meds a lot, mostly because big/overlevelled mobs can eat through stimpaks. The CAMP is neat, though I've kept mine in the same spot since the beta ended. I like the workshops around the map.

-Notably absent from my commentary so far is stuff related to multiplayer. I have had almost no interactions with other players, and I only got to play for a few hours with a friend when they handed out free beta codes. Still feels very single player. If you are on PC and want a companion, I can be a police officer or a golfer. Your choice. IDR how adding Bethesda friends works, but I do remember it is dumb.

TLDR: I'm having fun, almost entirely an improvement over 4 in terms of gameplay.