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Fallout 76

Started by Fry, October 11, 2018, 02:11:46 AM

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Fry

So the first wave of previews and footage of this has been released, and it looks about as shit as I expected. The levelling system looks interesting and it seems like it controls alright, but that's about it. From what I've seen so far, it is just another example of Bethesda completely misunderstanding what made the original Fallout games so good.

The main thing for me is how it seems so barren. There are no NPCs, no settlements, not even a hint of a faction, how can you have a Fallout game and not include any semblance of society? I'm not complaining that my old favourites aren't back in a childish, fanboylike  "oh, where are the Brotherhood of Steel. I wanna see them again!" way. I'd love for them to come up with a whole range of new characters, groups and enemies. I just don't understand how you can have nothing? The entire point of Fallout is about people rebuilding society. Creating a new world out of the ashes, with a few bright, optimistic people attempting to evolve humanity but being held back by the majority of people trying to replicate the world which was lost and slowly, grimly, just repeating the mistakes of their forebears. The reason the original games placed such an emphasis on the speech mechanics is that interaction between people and social dynamics are the main theme of the games, how you speak to people is just as important as who you choose to shoot. I heard it best described from someone as a post-post-apocalyptic game, and I think there's so much opportunity to create interesting stories in this space.

Of course, Fallout 3 & 4 showed that Bethesda never were really interested in exploring that side of Fallout, and just appreciate the cool aesthetic and iconic characters. I really wasn't expecting much. However, with proper effort I reckon it is possible to make a good multiplayer Fallout game that keeps all the themes intact and supplies a fun experience. Most of my FO1&2 runs involve me picking up and dropping companions and party members throughout the game as they die from unfortunate dice rolls or just become useless - there's no reason those party members couldn't be real people. Add in a dialogue system like Divinity: Original Sin's, you could have had something truly amazing. No, all we're gonna get is a dull-looking Borderlands with shit gunplay, a worse story and a half-arsed crafting mechanic. BOO Bethesda. BOO. Just stick to re-releasing fucking Skyrim.

I know, this is a lot of shit to write about a game that's not even released yet but it pisses me off how one of the biggest studios with the most prestige just keep releasing games that range from almost-good to  basically-alright-I-guess just because they lack any sort of ambition or imagination.

Fry

Eh I just thought about it some more and I suppose this isn't any worse than Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, which was a pre-Bethesda Fallout game and also absolute dogshit. But I still stand by what I said regarding Bethesda and Fallout in general.

Pdine

At 1:11 in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7wDfWVlBWg

the player picks up an item and the contact shadow remains around the now-absent object for frames. Literally unplayable.

Mobius

It just looks shit and so lazy. It'd be an Indie Steam game if not for the Fallout coat of paint

Shame the New Vegas guys will never be able to make another one

The Culture Bunker

I picked Fallout 3 up on a whim years ago, quite enjoyed it. Fallout NV was brilliant, I loved it (despite bugs) and must have played it four or five times - some fun characters/companions*, nice choice of factions to choose from and great location. Nice contrast between the desert and New Vegas itself.

Fallout 4 was such a let down, I've not been back to it since the first run. This 76 is just an online multiplayer affair, isn't it? Zero interest in that kind of thing - I play video games to get away from people!

*getting tooled up to go on a rampage in the Legion camp with Boone was superb fun.

Zetetic

Quote from: Mobius on October 11, 2018, 11:06:25 AM
Shame the New Vegas guys will never be able to make another one
We'll see. Might not be called "Fallout" but that's probably for the best anyway.

It'll be interesting to see how well MS handle Obsidian.

bgmnts

Quote from: Zetetic on October 11, 2018, 12:51:10 PM
We'll see. Might not be called "Fallout" but that's probably for the best anyway.

It'll be interesting to see how well MS handle Obsidian.

They turned Rare, a once amazing dev, into a fucking joke of a company.

I expect the same.

Lemming

Looks depressingly shite, as expected. It'll be the first Fallout game I haven't bought or played, including shitty BoS.

What I'm interested in, rather than the game itself, is the future of Bethesda. Maybe it's just because I gravitate towards communities where people prefer 1/2/NV, but I get the impression from online discussion that Fallout 4, despite huge sales, was widely met with mixed reception (at best) - the Metacritic user scores support this. Bethesda's critical glory days of Oblivion, Fo3 and Skyrim are behind them. If Fo76 sucks ass and flops hard, they'll have had two dodgy games in a row, and what does that mean for them going forward? If Elder Scrolls VI sucks too, is it game over for Todd and pals? Will they eventually cave in and hand Fallout back to Obsidian, and if they do, will Obsidian even be interested? EXCITING.

Fry

Breath of the wild kind of changed the situation on them, I reckon. They've been slowly morphing their games from being roleplaying games to open world action adventures, but they haven't released anything that comes within spitting distance of any aspect of Breath of the Wild, and it would take a complete change of direction on their part to compare to it with their next game. It's the little things, like how the world of BOTW actually changes with your actions, or even the bloody weather. I'd settle for a half decent combat system in the next Elder Scrolls game to be honest, considering its basically the only thing you do in those games anymore it's shocking how boring it is.

Joeyjojo

"From what I've seen so far, it is just another example of Bethesda completely misunderstanding what made the original Fallout games so good. "

I don't think they misunderstand it, so much as ignore it. With each iteration of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, sales have more or less doubled.  The people who bought sequels because they liked Fallout 1&2 / Daggerfall/Morrowind and hoped for more, are firmly in the minority these days. Still - Bethesda have tapped in to what console gamers like, and still do something fairly unique within that space, but they've lost me, and I doubt they'll notice or care.

I won't be buying Fallout 76, and I regret buying Fallout 4 (a decent open-world shooter, but a less-than-mediocre RPG). I would love it if another developer picked up where Morrowind or Fallout 2 left off, but the scope of the games is too much for an Indie developer to handle, and the appeal too narrow for a larger developer to risk financing.


Lemming

From a company's perspective it's sales above all else, of course, but I always wonder how people at Bethesda feel about the overwhelming adoration for New Vegas that exists across the internet, and the comparative disdain for their own games. Even people who have never played the first two Fallout games complained that Fallout 4 failed to match the writing and design standard set by New Vegas, and Fallout 3 seems to have gradually gotten retrospectively more and more poorly regarded, usually by being compared against NV.

Funnily enough, the same thing seems to have happened with Oblivion - universally acclaimed blockbuster hit on release, now regarded as a weird joke that looks, plays and feels like dogshit compared against Morrowind or even Skyrim.

Malcy

I've never played a Fallout game. I have New Vegas & 4 in the shelf though. Looked at a bit of gameplay for one, I forget which, and there seemed to be a lot of walking around talking to people which out me iff.

Are they any good?

bgmnts

Play New Vegas.

My fave easter egg in any game is in NV. There is a little house - I think where you rescue that family with Running Man explodey collars that are being held by Legion - where, in big red graffiti, it says "Romanes Eunt Domus".

Brilliant.

Lemming

Play New Vegas. It's super accessible and provides a great introduction to the series, and is very arguably the best Fallout game. If you end up liking the world, story and moral complexity of New Vegas, you could try the first two games after that.

Malcy

Cheers, will give it a go.

LanceUppercut

Can you actually play this game with noone in your games or, I wouldn't want that plus I have no friends.

Bhazor

I've started replaying New Vegas after numerous threads mentioned it. For some reason I'm enjoying it way more than I have any other time I tried it. I mean the shooting is still shit, its ugly as sin, the controls are floaty as hell and the inventory system is the absolute worst inventory system of any game I have ever played.

But aside from that I'm having a gay old time. I think it helps I'm playing it the way I played Witcher 3. Dropping the difficulty down and not wasting hours wandering around hills looking for something and instead just investigating interesting landmarks I stumble across on the way to quest markers/towns.

No interest in Fallout 4 or 76 because Bethesda are bad at their jobs.

Bazooka

I don't know, if I had the time I would probably still play this, regarding Bethesda, well the next Elder Scrolls will be the true telling, and I expect a showing of that next year.

Thursday

I still liked Falllout 4 for what it was, there's some real warmth to some of the characters that I think make it stand out in my mind it, even though it really lacks most of the elements that you'd want from a Fallout game. But this is just a weird one.

I get the feeling it's going to be a success anyway, because even the fans saying they hate the idea of this won't be able themselves. It's not often I'd really hope something fails, but it's frustrating because it just seems like there's much better things Bethesda could be doing with their resources.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Thursday on October 14, 2018, 03:37:12 PM
I still liked Falllout 4 for what it was, there's some real warmth to some of the characters that I think make it stand out in my mind it, even though it really lacks most of the elements that you'd want from a Fallout game. But this is just a weird one
I really liked the robot detective guy, and the journalist lady and the design of Boston was great. But I really couldn't be arsed with the base building/defending stuff and the storyline was obvious beyond belief.

With New Vegas, I played it more times to see what would happen if I took a different approach, sided with a different faction. I paid an extra £15 or so for the GOTY edition to squeeze a little more out of the experience... not sure I'll ever go back to F4.

Thursday

Yeah same, Nick Valentine and Piper were who I was thinking of, and I think actually exploring the city was fun in a way that hadn't existed, and the fact that there were quite a few surviving skyscarpers gave a real verticality to the design.

I did toy with the base building a little bit, but it was mainly just building a nice home. Not something I need to go back to, and you can see that in the complete lack of interest from the modding community, it's just not really practical for people to add to it.  I rarely mess around with mods, but I did a ton with Skyrim.

Phil_A

Fallout 4 was worth it just for the episode of Monster Factory that covers it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1jGnFt78H8

I like to think of Final Pam and her reign of terror as the "real" story of Fallout 4. Because clearly it is.

Thursday

#22
Christ the fucking gall of this

https://www.pcgamer.com/bethesda-warns-fallout-76-fans-to-expect-spectacular-bugs-and-issues/?utm_content=buffer8b6d5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer-pcgamertw

Quote
In a warm note to fans posted on Twitter today, Bethesda described the decision to create an online-only version of Fallout 'very scary' and admitted having the same questions a lot of Fallout fans still do: "What exactly is this?" The note also states that Fallout 76 isn't a finished game but 'a starting line', and also warns that, yeah, there's gonna be 'unforseen bugs' and potentially 'spectacular issues' ahead for players.

"Some we're aware of, such as areas where performance needs to improve with lots of players," the note reads. "Others, we surely don't. We need your help finding them, and advice on what's important to fix. We'll address all of it, now and after launch."

I don't think anyone is expecting a bug-free performance from the beta—it's a beta—and all games, not just online multiplayer games, have their share of issues and bugs along the way. On the plus side for Bethesda, I'm pretty sure there'll be no shortage of advice on what to fix coming their way from players.

You can read the full note below.

Mobius


Fry

Jesus. The it's only a couple of weeks from release, so it's not like these "spectacular failures" are gonna be fixed in a reasonable time after launch. That would be a big ask of any developer, let alone Bethesda, whose latest release of Skyrim still includes bugs from the original launch.

I mean, how bad must it be for them to come out with an apology before it's even released? And at for the £50 base game, over £200 for the most expensive version too. Shameless.

monolith

Ballsy Cunty move to release a game for full price whilst it's still in beta.

Bazooka

Quote from: monolith on October 23, 2018, 09:01:11 AM
Ballsy Cunty move to release a game for full price whilst it's still in beta.

They know people will pay for it.

Barry Admin

I won't. They can stick it up their bunker.

biggytitbo

I played Fallout 4 for a while and found it enjoyable enough in a sort of clunky, sub Deux Ex way, up until the point where it started introducing the base building mechanics, which can fuck right off. Its weird how for a modern game that has clearly had a lot of time and money spent on it, it still weirdy feels like something quite cheap from circa 2002.

Bhazor

Massive single player New Vegas mod Fallout New California just came out. Hopefully you get to knob Sunny Smiles in it. And her dog.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/falloutprojectbrazil