As many I am sure here that still lurk around, Bethesda is releasing its first multiplayer of Fallout. Honestly the PC version ugh. I will say this as Professional in the AAA industry. This is only a load test of all of Bethesda's integrated servers, login/web-store/store/digital distribution/Micro-Transactions. 14-15 days until launch I will tell you the game has already gone gold. Physical copies have to be burned to disk and mailed out to customers and sellers like amazon/gamestop/bestbuy the list goes on. It has only gotten the stamp gone gold but in essence from what I have seen its still in alpha. The lag you get in ANY multiplayer game that sluggish delay exist, NPC's are literally sliding over the ground not getting up or popping out of the ground. The graphics to keep FPS up they have put a filter on the camera that blurs the living snot out of your experience limiting the view distance, LOD object kicking in at about 40-50 meters or so in game.  The UI is very clunky for the PC with hiccups.  There is no end game, besides hit the max level, get as many resources as possible, get power armor/s, grind for atom or whatever the currency is for in the micro transaction store, I am promising you you will be able to buy it in the near future, build a powerful settlement, get as much junk as you can, maybe find out what happened to the overseer but never find them or at least alive, oh and get access to nuclear weapons. That about sums it up a survival RPG, living world live events with no end game, launching as an alpha/sketchy beta.


This game is exactly why I have said a good strong single player game if you value your franchise and customers, keep giving them what they ask for, do not make it multiplayer because of the squeaky gears. Sadly with what I have seen Bethesda is going the way of EA, not a forecast/speculation/prediction...  Oh and since the feedback has been bumping they think giving away Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics will some how appease customers.  Sooo if anyone is thinking of getting this wait for it to be on the bargain bin.

So far I have experienced the LOD manager going crazy, the constant blur on everything, NPC's not getting up from the ground attacking me from under and sliding on the ground still in the fetal position and cannot attack back. Had my ammo counter go from 60 to 0 without firing a shot. Upon loading into the game my camera/character not being able to move, having to jump to get unstuck, the being loaded into a random server with up to 24 randoms and not friends bites, getting stuck on terrain while moving yet there is no 3d object to get you stuck, unless grass suddenly is as solid as a rock. I honestly never thought I would see the day Bethesda goes full EA/Ubisoft/Activision  so quickly. Oh the interface in character creation, to options is very clunky, and all movements have this strange lagging/clunky feel in the controls. But hey the online in game store of micro transactions is fully functional and working. I honestly think Bethesda has forgotten who makes their games successful and who saves their bacon on a release. With how this release is being done, they will not get community help, even if the community wanted to help they cannot because its online.

I want to know what happened did peoples fanboyism of the closed alpha/beta keep them from reporting bugs, or did Bethesda say screw it, people will buy it anyways in their complacency and forgetting its the modders who always fix their stuff.

*UPDATE I GET TO EAT MY WORDS AND SAY I WAS WRONG*
Those who have been wondering is Fallout 76 worth it? I had been bashing the game the whole beta. Until the last day with the day one patch hitting early for the Rick and Morty Twitch Stream. So everything that many of us complained about was fixed to show the world. It is a game you need to collect every bit of junk, breaking down weapons & armor is important, food, drugs, cooking, to crafting matters. Having people in your group is also important. Makes things go a lot smoother but can also make it difficult so choose your party mates with care.

It is also important you read every bit of lore from notes, to holo disk, the works or you miss the story and have no idea why every human in the area is dead. If you are just there to level and skip the audio to words in notes you are going to miss everything that is important. There is so much stuff of what happened sitting around it makes up with the lack of no human NPC's. The world is more full than you can imagine, with more depth. A lot better than "Another Settlement needs your help".

The mechanics are actually great all that stuff we loved in New Vegas that they didn't put into Fallout 4 is in 76 and expanded on. You do not get everything for free with a perk, some stuff you have to work for to get. As already stated nearly everything we get in game matters unlike 4.

Variety, there are more weapons, options, special weapons/armor/gear mods to just cosmetic stuff than 4 every had. The list of monsters we have is also way larger than 4. The only thing I wish they would bring to 76 was the strange Centaur creatures from New Vegas, I would also not mind the laser crank musket guns. If they are there have not seen them, but the pure amount of everything else its really amazing.

Next up the atom shop, so far everything is cosmetic/social meaning it has no impact on the game itself if you do good or poor. You do not even have to purchase the points, you get them from completing achievements, dailies, doing task. You are not forced to buy a thing.

Next up the few issues that still remain, NPC's sometimes re spawn right after death if you kite them too far away from their spawn locations. A few friends list issues, and quest bugs you can correct by fully exiting the game and that will let you get back on to a new server correcting the bug. Luckily Bethesda has been on top of that now with the server upgrades. Some coding things still an issue but nothing so far that I have ran into that keeps you from progressing forward. Nothing really ruins your experience unless you are an anal cry baby that just like to have something to complain about. Yup got to reclear an area think of it as more XP to level or more loot to get to enhance your adventure.

Engine complaints, it is not the same engine since Morrowind. The creation engine got released with the first version of Skyrim. That is why a lot of us in the modding community had some trouble making mods for Skyrim at fist. Yes its based with ideas off the GameBryo Engine but that's it. I have watched this game play really good on a five year old notebook with an I7 and a 670m mobile Nvidia gpu right next to me the past week. Where other games run like crap on it that do not look half as good. That is a huge accomplishment honestly. Bethesda will never change their engine from here on out it will only evolve, like Rockstars, Dice's or CDProjekt Reds, and even Epic Games. The engine is really solid, more so than Gamebryo ever was. Their production pipeline is set in stone. They will do what they want with our without our approval. Enjoy the game hope the next version of their engine includes some none frame rate system tied into Physics, time, AI, Mechanics. Then there is Atlas the changes to the world rendering with multiple people. The strangeness we see is something new for Bethesda as not all computers are the same not everyone has the same connection, those with strange configurations not around the console on the lower end pc will have a few more visual strange issues of things not always loading up. Its honestly no big deal more comical than anything else.

So if you have been on the fence, want a fallout game that is really a survival game once you leave the vault, do not mind listening to reading lore, and like the reality of limited resources and those will determine if you strive or are doomed. Then This is the game for you. Now with the Early Black Friday Sale now is a good time to get the game. You can get the Tricentennial Edition if you want to save your atom points you get to buy other stuff, everything from that edition of the game you are able to purchase in the atom store.

Hope my wall of text helps some people out. So far I have had to eat my words and am enjoying the game. I am honestly impressed, and as a developer seeing it with the pre day one patch up to now playing. It is a treat. It is worth the buy only if you are ok with the things I mentioned. It is really fun as hell with this pre black Friday sale going on, snag it up. You will probably not be disappointed.

Regular Edition
https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/fallout-76-us-pc/

Tricentennial Edition
https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/fallout-76-tricentennial-edition-pc/

It's just a side game, I'm not worried for Fallout 5 or whatever they'll call the next one.

This is one buyer who was hesitant and not expecting anything I had to have to begin with. Your report pretty much addresses all the concerns I suspected would happen. My wallet just got tighter and my expectations lower.

Thanks for the info....definitely not what the modding community wanted, but it will probably (and sadly) put coin in Bethesda's pockets. Don't get my wrong, I think game developers should make money, but it is my choice not to contribute if it doesn't work for me.

I don't know what they wanted or expected to get out of this project. They don't seem committed to the project in that they are releasing the game with the problems it has for a MMO? Really? A single player game, Ok... maybe, those could be fixed but you either make it or break it for a MMO upon release as far as I understand it. Sad. So sad.

This game really feels like a cash grab that was a few years late. With what I've been hearing about the PC port and the gameplay in general this feels like an easy skip to me. God I hope Bethesda's next RPG's are on a new engine.

Multiplayer Fallout 4 with NO STORY and NO NPCs.

What could go wrong?

I've been playing the Beta & having a lot of fun, but did expect bugs going into it.
So I am more forgiving than some.
I think it is just a different way to experience the Fallout universe, and doesn't diminish the series to me.
In the future, private servers will be a great place for modders to have their own flavor of Fallout, and share that with other players.
I think that is something the modding community & role-players could both equally enjoy, even if you dislike this version of Fallout 76.
But I'm no expert, so what do I know?

I have played a fair amount of it and to my surprise the game was much better than i expected in multiple ways. I love the way you find quests, you stumble across notes, tapes and work from them. You get weapons but you need to scrap, disassemble those of the same type to learn more parts (Which feels like a really nice way to handle weapons in a post apoc since you learn from each gun you take apart) and it slows down the gameplay a lot which i like (Because other fallout games i get strong weapons too early).

Even as a solo player i have found a lot of enjoyment in exploration, had a lot of close deaths where i suddenly remember i have throwing knives and beginning using them at opportune moments to save my health. Going into higher level area's, sneaking around to get those sneak bonus's to reach area's with better loot. Even seeing other players/survivors living their own life, either taking out enemies in the next building over, or killing an enemy that was sneaking up behind me/swarming me. (Even took a sniping position to defend another player as they were looting the nearby town).

While i agree that fallout 76 has parts where it falls short, it does feel like a fallout game to me. (Do wish there was offline mode) Andresgrimm is right in saying its a different way to experience the fallout universe, it also has very pretty visuals

@Tuskin38 That's assuming there will be one. I wouldn't be so sure. Look at Grand Theft Auto V. The game was released over five years ago and there has been no indication of them working on a new GTA. Why? Because they've put all their efforts and work into the online game that is still making them money. The Creation Club in Fallout 4 was just the start and Fallout 76 is that progression into "games as a service" and micro transactions. I imagine them putting all their energy into this for a long time without a thought to the next Fallout. Plus they have a new IP and Elder Scrolls in the future. We're seeing the death knell of Fallout as an RPG. Change my mind

@Evmeister ESO is an online game that has microtransactions but that didn't stop Bethesda from announcing ES6.

What makes Fallout different from that game for Bethesda to not make another sequel for it?

Honestly I've really enjoyed the beta so far. Sure the game has issues but I don't remember a fallout game (fallout 3 was my first) that didn't/doesn't have bugs or other issues. Being able to play fallout with friends has been something I've been looking forward to for a long time. The microtransactions to me at least have been pretty much unnoticeable, sure you can buy cosmetic items but in the end they are not required to have fun in the game and I don't really see them as a problem.

The lack of the complete lack of NPCs however has made some quests kinda pointless but you also have to remember often Bethesda's NPCs have been quite bland or downright annoying (see Preston) and that some of the best storytelling in Bethesda's fallout games has been in the background in the form of simply skeletons and notes for example. And I have seen some comments about the lack of story in the game which actually isnt completely true since the game does have a basic plot revolving on the lack of human NPCs actually. Overall the game still feels just as much a fallout game as NV, 3 and 4 to me at least.

And like it has been mentioned already I do not think that 76 is going to affect the main line of fallout games since it is simply a spin-off title made with mostly the assets of fallout 4.

I would also like to add that my PC is actually below the minimum requirements for the game (gtx 760) and the game still runs quite well even on medium-high settings.

Just my 2 cents. Wrote this on my phone so please forgive any grammar/formatting issues. Probably also forgot something but whatever.

TLDR: The game has issues, some even quite severe. I had fun though in the Beta so far though and to me it still feels like a fallout game.

"NPC's not getting up from the ground"

I stopped reading about the game some time ago because I didn't want to feel any more gamer outrage. But... apparently it's not as bad as I thought (not saying much, very low bar.) I'd heard there were going to be ZERO npcs. What I'd originally read made me think it was going to be more akin to dayz or fortnite, skinned to look like fallout. Build a base while someone else throws nukes at it, repeat. Apparently not?

You hear 'entitlement' tossed around a lot these days - And I don't think you really fit that crowd. But the whole... 'Did Bethesda forget who makes their games successful' thing sounds incredibly off. I mean... 'Those people' panned their most successful game to date, so I'd assume not them.

But right! I'm not interested in 76 really by the looks of it - I think it's a gross overstatement to compare Bethesda to EA / Activision Blizzard / Other notoriously greedy company just because they make one thing you don't like. Bethesda is nowhere near EA's level of dickheadedness.

At the end of the day - It's not my Fallout 5, but then it's not Fallout 5 is it?

( 'Fanboyism' doesn't help, even if I personally don't jive with 76 - That's still bleh. )

I tried to keep up to date with 76, but at this point I've given up. I knew it was never for me, but the frustration remains. Yeah, it's just a catch all game, but the people who play Fallout and I mean REALLY play Fallout do it out of love for the canon, for the story and the world, and this game just doesn't respect that at all. It just jams "iconic" elements in there for the sake of been there with no real thought or planning to a degree that it just feels insulting to anyone who's paying attention. I don't think you can blame fans for being disappointing with a product they don't like, it's not the fans who made it at the end of the day, but they are expected to pay for it. Yeah you can say "well it's not meant to be X game" but realistically the game will carry the Fallout series for several years until the next release, so can you realistically blame a community that realises this is all they're probably gonna be getting for the next decade?

It's a lie to say there's no demand for online Fallout, but I don't think this was the best way to do that. This game should be about exploring new things, new factions and the like, as opposed to old tired and frankly boring cliches like Super Mutants and Brotherhood of Steel. Having them here defeats this idea entirely. Why not set in California if you absolutely have to have Brotherhood, Enclave and Super Mutants?

That said, I have little fear this will bleed over into the rest of the series outside of little hints and easter eggs. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if this game just winds up getting the FO:BoS treatment. I mean, that game doesn't even get hinted at in other titles the same way that similar spin offs like Tactics or New Vegas do. Honestly, this gamer would just be to difficult to do that with. A region full of players building their own settlements all over? Wouldn't be surprised if Beth end the game story by just saying the whole place got levelled by the nukes sitting in the silos in Appalachia.

I think the fallout may be on the brink of franchise fatigue if decisions like this keep happening. Not only are they taking any setting and stuffing super mutants in them, but they are also overlooking optimization and quality control for getting out games more often. Bethesda may also be sacrificing key elements which made fallout such an intriguing game in order to appeal to a wider audience.

I love the setting and the idea of this game.. would've loved the game so much more if they had made it a single player game with NPCs but limited numbers of NPCs. The desolate world I feel would've been a great setting for a classic single player Fallout. I just really reeaaalllly hope that all of these issues get ironed out.

Sirdanest wrote:

"NPC's not getting up from the ground"

I stopped reading about the game some time ago because I didn't want to feel any more gamer outrage.  But... apparently it's not as bad as I thought (not saying much, very low bar.)  I'd heard there were going to be ZERO npcs.  What I'd originally read made me think it was going to be more akin to dayz or fortnite, skinned to look like fallout.  Build a base while someone else throws nukes at it, repeat.  Apparently not?

I'm sure he means NPCs as enemies like Creatures, Super Mutants, Scorched [ which take the place of raiders, they're ghoul-like beings who use guns ].

From all the game play I've seen there are absolutely no human NPCs or any NPCs you can have dialogue with as there is no dialogue system.

the only friendly "NPCs" are robots who speak to you but it doesn't open dialogue they just explain whatever task your gonna do and that's it, the most interaction is opening the shop menu. Oh and there is a friendly Super Mutant but he's just a shop.

All Humans aside from the players have been wiped out in West Virginia by the Scorched or became Scorched or they hightailed it out of there because it's too dangerous, all the factions are extinct all that's left are their props for players to role-play as them to no end goal, just play dress up.

Evmeister wrote:

@Tuskin38 That's assuming there will be one. I wouldn't be so sure. Look at Grand Theft Auto V. The game was released over five years ago and there has been no indication of them working on a new GTA. Why? Because they've put all their efforts and work into the online game that is still making them money. The Creation Club in Fallout 4 was just the start and Fallout 76 is that progression into "games as a service" and micro transactions.  I imagine them putting all their energy into this for a long time without a thought to the next Fallout. Plus they have a new IP and Elder Scrolls in the future. We're seeing the death knell of Fallout as an RPG. Change my mind  

Well there were 8 years between Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2.

And new releases for GTA Online have slowed a bit in the last couple months. Probably because of Red Dead.

Sirdanest wrote:

"NPC's not getting up from the ground"

I stopped reading about the game some time ago because I didn't want to feel any more gamer outrage.  But... apparently it's not as bad as I thought (not saying much, very low bar.)  I'd heard there were going to be ZERO npcs.  What I'd originally read made me think it was going to be more akin to dayz or fortnite, skinned to look like fallout.  Build a base while someone else throws nukes at it, repeat.  Apparently not?

They never said there were not any NPCs at all. What they said was there wasn't any Human NPCs.

Hell in the original trailer they showed NPCs.

I dont know man. From the moment I knew more details about FO76, I just knew it's gonna end up like this. They are running a business after all. They need something to fill in the blank while ES6 is being developed. It just sucks that its Fallout that's getting this kind of crap tossed into it. Not saying that other games should also suffer this way, but for Fallout to reach this kind of mess? It's like history is repeating itself.

If fallout 1, 2, and tactics was good and then Fallout BoS came out to shit on everybody, then I guess it's the same situation again now with Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4 being good while 76 is the one to shit once again.

njmanga097 wrote:

I dont know man. From the moment I knew more details about FO76, I just knew it's gonna end up like this. They are running a business after all. They need something to fill in the blank while ES6 is being developed. It just sucks that its Fallout that's getting this kind of crap tossed into it. Not saying that other games should also suffer this way, but for Fallout to reach this kind of mess? It's like history is repeating itself.

If fallout 1, 2, and tactics was good and then Fallout BoS came out to shit on everybody, then I guess it's the same situation again now with Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4 being good while 76 is the one to shit once again.

Honestly, if they wanted to "fill in the blank" they could have ported over the older Fallout games. Fallout 3, Fallout NV for example to the new engine. they did this for Skyrim and did a decent job at it. That could have done some news. Also gotten a new generation of users as well. Made a few tweaks or additions that they might have wanted to get into the game or was on the drawing board (like New Vegas having the town completely open without walls or blockage ) among some other interesting tidbits. They had the soundtracks, voice files, quest, etc etc. They then add it to the current Fallout 4 graphics and add a few other minor ones to fill in the blanks... and then can sell an updated game.