Fallout 76 My 1st impressions

[Darth_Andrea Owned by Natu Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Andrea]

I had decided to hold off on this game until 6 months had passed and Bethesda had more time to patch the game. However my wife bought the game for me for Christmas and I've had a few hours to dump into it.

The game runs as well for me as Fallout 4 did, some of the same bugs that exist in Fallout 4 and Skyrim (because of the engine) still occur. Things like objects or creatures being stuck high in the air or stretching wildly after dying. Other than that I haven't run into anything major other than a single quest bug that required me to restart the game to refresh the quest log.

The gunplay is the same as Fallout 4 which isn't very intuitive. Because the game is online the hit detection is off, I end up wasting ammo on creatures because the game isn't registering hit and kills quickly enough. Also the creatures move far too fast especially for a game, who's combat system is designed around VATS which doesn't work very well at all in real time. In Fallout 76 VATS, for those who don't know, doesn't pause or slow time down, it's real time and enemy movement changes the % to hit chance constantly. It's playable and feels like fallout but the gunplay leaves much to be desired.

The quests so far for me, and I'm maybe 6 hours into the game have all been tutorial in nature for the most part. Simple and on average good design, for a tutorial, except the length, most of that 6 hours has been walking between locations, and often one tutorial quest doesn't automatically lead into the second. You have to backtrack a lot in order to finish or start quests.

Finally the lack of NPC's. Bethesda has been really good over the years of doing "Environmental" story telling. This game is no different, but with no NPC's and a limited number of players per world instance it feels empty. Its more like a walking simulator than a Fallout game in that respect. With no NPC's to talk to, who flesh out story or give quests it simply feels like your playing out someone else's story after its already finished. As most of the quests outside the tutorial, given via notes, holotapes or terminal entries, are things people who lived before you came out of the vault already did, or were in the process of doing. All and all it makes the game world feel dead. And the things your doing feel pointless.

That's my first impressions again only 6 hours in, and I am having fun with it. But there is a lot to be desired here for a full experience. It's not a $60 game, don't pay that price for it. It isn't worth it.



Darth_Andrea

[Tazer That Evil, Yellow Bastiche Find all posts View Profile Close Tazer]

Yo.

The game runs as well for me as Fallout 4 did, some of the same bugs that exist in Fallout 4 and Skyrim (because of the engine) still occur. Things like objects or creatures being stuck high in the air or stretching wildly after dying. Other than that I haven't run into anything major other than a single quest bug that required me to restart the game to refresh the quest log.

Ive never seen this in my playthru of Skyrim, but did so in "Many-A-True-Nerd" 's _latest_ YT-video of his playthru of F76; it looked like 1 of the scorched had mozzarella connecting the head to its corpse.........




Tazer

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

Yeah, I don't much see the point in Fallout 76. Is it just to build the best house and show it off to the other people walking by? Because without any sort of quests or missions to unite people, it's basically a less-involved "Second Life."

[Darth_Andrea Owned by Natu Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Andrea]

Yeah, I don't much see the point in Fallout 76. Is it just to build the best house and show it off to the other people walking by? Because without any sort of quests or missions to unite people, it's basically a less-involved "Second Life."

Its much more than building, there are quests as I stated, given via found Holotapes, terminal entries, and notes. There are also area events that trigger every so often and some Robot's who give quests when you find them. But everyone who was alive just days before you left the vault is dead. You still find whole corpses, gray and loosing hair but still whole.

I put some more time into the game today, it seems the main thrust is a plague caused by what appears to be either a mutated creature or a demon it isn't clear at this point. And you have to find a way to A, Cure the Plague and B, Destroy the creature causing it. Which is why you can find launch codes for one of or all 3 nuclear silo's in the region which can be used to destroy the creature (for a time) at least it seems that way. Going by what I've played and seen in streams and YT videos.

You often hear "It's better with friends". And I'm sure it would be, but I play Fallout alone, always have, even in the other games I avoid using companions were ever possible. But its looking like this game isn't designed to be ended with that style of play. At least going on what I have seen and heard.

Final note, on camp building, when you have built a camp, since it isn't persistent, your camp vanishes when you quit the game, if another player builds too close to your camp location. The whole thing is packed up so you can, in theory, rebuild it elsewhere. However this doesn't really work. Mostly because there is almost no flat ground in the game. As such you're having to deal with building on rough or hilly locations which often prevent the structures you had made able to be placed in other locations. Because of differences in the layout of the terrain.

Darth_Andrea

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

Your camp vanishes when you're not there and others can just build there? That's horrible.

[Darth_Andrea Owned by Natu Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Andrea]

It's why I have for the time being, been just moving my camp to wherever I am currently doing things and then just build what I need when I need it and then store it after I'm done and I go off to do whatever it is I'm doing. Easier that way.


Darth_Andrea

[Darth_Andrea Owned by Natu Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Andrea]

Fallout 76 My Review




I've now put 11 days into 76, and I'm kinda done. I've encountered constant server disconnects, which kick you out of instanced areas like building interiors to a "Safe Spawn" location, respawn those locations when you go back in, and do not return any ammo used before the disconnect. And given it's over all rarity that's a problem. I've noticed engine based bugs that I can and have traced back to Elder Scrolls Oblivion that have not been fixed, textures that look like they were created for a PS2 game. And the sheer frustration of having to deal with asshole players.

On that last bit let me expound. 1st there is the just run up to you and start shooting or whacking at you with a melee weapon, which can be ignored but is annoying. Then there is the problem of the nukes. A lot of the center of the game map is filled with low level quest locations. Many of them primary quest locations, meant to be populated with low level enemies for those low level players. Here is where the Nuke problem comes in. If someone gets launch codes and launches a nuke at a location any location, the aftermath is two fold. 1st all enemies in the area jump to between level 40 and 60+ second it will also cause enemy creatures to spawn in that area that shouldn't exist anywhere near the location.

This is mostly why I'm done. in 11 days I've barely been able to make it to level 20 because every place I need to grind levels and do quests is getting nuked on the regular and I can not by any stretch of the imagination deal with creatures those levels with level 5 and 10 weapons which is what I have been restricted to given my gunslinger build currently. Also the game seems to think that people need to eat and drink about 40lbs of food and 100 gallons of water a day to stay alive. I'm sorry but the survival bars in the game are just stupid on their face.

The world as I have said in previous posts is dead. D.E.A.D .. Dead, earlier today I went back to the vault entrance, turned the music off, and walked to where I had placed my camp on the edge of the map, lots of forest noises and creature noises, but nothing else. Do that in Fallout 3, NV, or 4 and you have a vastly different experience. There is sound beyond the world. No NPC's no living world to experience and the game quickly becomes a walking simulator.

The quests, such as they are, feel more like MMO side quests, Go here Kill X number of things, Go here Retrieve X item, Go Here Push X button. Over and over and over it's nonstop and it's tiring to the extreme. As I said I'm kinda done. I had originally planned on waiting a few more months but it was bought for me as a Christmas present so I had to give it the old college try. In 6 months it might be better, in a year it might be great. but right now Fallout 76 is a steaming pile of shit.

It's Fun With Friends I keep hearing, well Billy Madison proved that a flaming bag of shit is Fun With Friends. So that point is a little lack luster.



In the end I'm right now, in the games current state, not recommending it. Not at all it's not worth $60 .. it's not worth $10 do not buy it and for the love of god don't let someone else spend their money on it.


Andrea Elizabeth Millhouse


Darth_Andrea

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

Yeah, I'd check it out in like a year. Let them figure out what the hell they're doing.

[Darth_Andrea Owned by Natu Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Andrea]

Yeah, I'd check it out in like a year. Let them figure out what the hell they're doing.

Yeah a year sounds good. They have a lot to fix. Though in reality a majority of the current bugs are from their own piss poor implementation of both the Phoenix Scripting Engine and the Havoc Physics Engine. If they can fix those too issues and tighten up the optimization of the game and the server stability issues. They would gain a hell of a lot of credit from players.



Darth_Andrea

[Tazer That Evil, Yellow Bastiche Find all posts View Profile Close Tazer]

Yo.

_Many A True Nerd_ finished his playthru of the game recently with an apparently completely filled in map & having taken out "Mama Scorchbeast" (which seemed like it actually required having a few friends on hand to help manage stuff), and looked to have come to some similar conclusions; kinda disappointing given he'd only been playing it for about a month. :/




Tazer

[Darth_Andrea Owned by Natu Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Andrea]

Over the last couple of weeks I've put a few more hours into this, not many, as I quickly get frustrated with the lack of progress I can make. And leveling has become a chore. The Scortched which are supposed to be the main enemies seem to give some of the smallest amounts of XP in the game. While Super Mutants seem to be where the bulk of XP is. Ghouls are moderate in XP but you have to kill Ghouls that are a dozen levels above you to get decent numbers from them. And that kind of grind just to become levels needed to complete many quests is just irritating to the extreme. Especially when the game gives you quests, at low levels that can't be completed till 25+ minimum.

It's all just a exercise in frustration. And games should never feel like work and 76 is a second job that's paying just under minimum wage for dealing with bio-hazard clean up.



Darth_Andrea

[Tazer That Evil, Yellow Bastiche Find all posts View Profile Close Tazer]

Yo.

sounds like yur running into the problems many ppl face when playing an mmo: how to keep up progression in an environment that doesnt want U moving ahead too fast (becuz then U'll stop playing....)

:/




Tazer

[Darth_Andrea Owned by Natu Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Andrea]

Problem is I'm at the stop playing point now. I put so little time or attention into 76 that I might as well uninstall it. It's getting to that point. As I've said in previous posts I'm kinda done. There is no real hook in the game to keep me coming back other than a enjoyment of of some the exploration of the map. And that by itself isn't a strong hook. In the last 3 weeks I may have played maybe 4 hours. I'm playing Star Trek Online and SWTOR far more than I am 76, and I spent most of last night playing Fallout 4. Which honestly is a superior game to 76 in almost every respect. Combat is better, because of a more properly functioning VATS, the exploration is a bit nicer as you don't have to worry about walking into a previously cleared area that suddenly respawns around you. And the weapons level much better.

In 76 my character is level 22 at the moment, but at level 10 I hit a weapons wall. I can make Pipe Weapons but only to level 10, apparently after 10 you can't make higher unless you find a schematic for a higher level of that particular weapon. Which so far I haven't found. I've been lucky and found a few dropped level 15 weapons I've modified, which is difficult as adhesive is more rare than gold, and everything needs it.

But still, The mobs past level 10 turn into bullet sponges, 1 level 22 legendary super mutant I killed took 56 rounds from a legendary .44 I had that ignores 50% of a enemies armor .. 56 rounds of .44 ammo .. that is one of if not the rarest ammo types in the game. I ended up having to make well over 500 rounds of it myself just to have a half decent stock.

There are two ways of increasing enemy difficulty in games, 1st make enemies require special weapons or tactics to beat, which I honestly think is the best way. Or two just super charge their HP and other stats so it just takes more hits to eat their HP down to 0. Aka Bullet Sponges, which is the lazy way. And it seems Bethesda went the lazy way with this game. It shows, it's obvious and it quite frankly kills any tention in encounters. Because it goes from "What can I do to drop this thing" to "How much ammo do I have and will it be enough".

Not to mention the shit durability on most weapons. A fully repaired weapon, may only have between 20 and 50 shots in it before it breaks completely. At most I've so far gotten is 80 shots from my sniper rifle. Between the far too low duribility on weapons the stupidly fast speed of the draining in the hunger and thirst bars, the over all survival aspect is just a crap ton of busy work. When thirst or hunger get near empty it eats half or more of your AP bar (needed for sprinting Vats or holding breath while aiming a shot) and given opening the pipboy doesn't pause the game anymore, if it happens in combat your screwed. Which means constantly drinking and eating to keep it above half. And picking up and cooking food and drinkable water at all times. It's more important in many ways than looting ammo.

And lets not forget everything, even ammo has weight on it now. Starting out with a Strength of 1, you have a carry weight of 160lbs, now put on a full suit of boiled leather armor, the vault suit, carry a pistol, rifle, and a shotgun, ammo for 150 shots for each weapon, 50 food items, 50 drink items, 20 stimpacks and 20 radaways, you have have 20 maybe 30 pounds of spare carry weight to loot with. If you find the blue prints to make Pocketed leather armor, and you need to find or buy that from a robot vendor to make it. (Not all of them carry it BTW) You may add another 30lbs in total so 60lbs to carry loot, If you find a power armor, note the lowest level that can be worn is Raider armor and that's level 15, anything like any of the T or X series of power armors are level 25+ and you can't get into a suit if the armor if higher level than you. You can't even put the chassis in your pocket manually. You have to remove the armor, get in the chassis, then get out, put the armor back on, and stand there for nearly a minute and a half for the armor to be recalled into your inventory to take it. And that adds 10+ pounds on it's own of weight you have to carry now. Yes whole suits of power armor now fit in your pocket.

This game honestly is exactly what I was afraid it was going to be, a broken Rust Clone with a Fallout skin on it. It has its charms but there are far more frustrations to it than I can list. And what I have given here is definitely only a partial list of issues I have with it.

I didn't intent this post to turn into another rant but this game just brings it out of me. It's frustrating to the extreme and is so broken as far as the engine, hit detection do to server lag and server stability that it just draws the anger and hate from me. I don't know why I keep loading into it other than the fact its Fallout. And that shouldn't be enough of a reason but it seems to be .. god I'm going to have to bring this up in therapy .. I know good games, I've played a lot of good games. I've also played a lot of bad games. And this is a bad game. It's border line evil as it plays on your affinity for a property and keeps drawing you back in like and addict for just one more hit as it slowly drains your life away .. stay away from this game .. it's digital crack and no one deserves to be exploited like this ..


I'm calling my therapist ..



Darth_Andrea

[BLACK HAND Green Lantern Initiate Find all posts View Profile Close BLACK HAND]

I gave this game a fair shake, I even bought a copy for a friend to keep me company. Despite being very forgiving of it I still found it a bit tedious and boring.

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

It's been almost a year. Has it gotten any better?