Community Review: Fallout 76

58 responses to “Community Review: Fallout 76”

1. 

   gags

   November 26, 2018 at 11:46 am

   I honestly think the game is fine, sure it’s not an amazing game, but from someone who plays a plethora of early access survival games on Steam, this is perfectly fine. Now that doesn’t excuse Bethesda but my expectations were low and they’ve been met.

   Reply
2. 

   monkeyno100

   November 26, 2018 at 11:49 am

   Pretty close to loving it, the world is great to explore (especially with a friend), it has the Fallout art design that I love, the base building is significantly improved over FO4 and it is enough of a survival game to keep me scrounging without going over the top and have me grinding all the time. I even like running into people from time to time. The story is also enough to keep me searching (my friends and I have had hours of fun tracking down markers and becoming Madams of Mystery and a few others).

   What is spoiling it for me?
   Bugs (like quests that will not finish, blue screen of death even on the PS4 etc.)
   My base being removed just because someone moved in nearby and then not being able to place it down again because ‘it is floating’. Had to pull it apart and build it again.

   So, yeh, level 40 something, rocking around in a team wearing mining power armour… still running from scorched beasts. Yes, I know it isn’t Fallout New Vegas and I don’t think it was ever sold as such. It is like Fallout Lite in a pretty sandbox, but I have got my bang for a buck. I understand not everyone will like it, but I don’t think there is a game/film/book out there that everyone loves.

   Reply
   1. 

      doktor_molotov

      November 26, 2018 at 5:34 pm

      Pretty much exactly my thoughts, positive and negative. I said elsewhere I’m a PVE solo survival type player so, like you, I’m loving this..

      Like you, I also really like the look and design of Fallout 4, and the base building, and this has that. Some of the visuals are really impressive sometimes. And I’ll add that I really like the levelling system too.

      Reply
3. 

   vaegrand

   November 26, 2018 at 12:03 pm

   Its a fully released game that is more more lifeless than the Ark early access. This is a lazy attempt at cashing in on the survival genre right down to it feeling like early access at release. I was surprised by the amount of reused assets.

   If you want a cheap laugh go to the F76 reddit and an enjoy a circle jerk that is even more toxic than the CoD and Star Citizen communities combined.

   Reply
   1. 

      zombiejesus

      November 26, 2018 at 3:49 pm

      How much time have you spent playing?

      Reply
      1. 

         vaegrand

         November 26, 2018 at 7:13 pm

         Three hours at a mates house before I gave up because I wasn’t having fun.

         Reply
         1. 

            zombiejesus

            November 26, 2018 at 7:44 pm

            Did you follow the quests, listen to the holotapes and read the terminal entries, or did you skip that stuff because you were playing in company? I’m not judging on the last part, I don’t take the time to read terminals when I’m grouped, but it will seriously hamper your appreciation of the game if you skip the storytelling that explains the ‘why’ of not only the world around you but why you’re doing what you’re doing too. It’s kinda like skipping all the exposition cutscenes in a game that has them – you can, but the game will feel a lot less engaging.

            I’m sorry you didn’t have fun, in any case. Perhaps you might revisit the game in future and have a better opening experience. For the record, I didn’t downvote you for your first paragraph, but for the swipe at people that are positive about the game on r/fo76. I pointed you there because you said you hadn’t heard any positive feedback, so the fact you’re now just assuming it’s a circle jerk because they like something you don’t is just scummy no matter how you slice it.

            Reply
            1. 

               vaegrand

               November 26, 2018 at 11:05 pm

               It is probably the part where it lacks all the charm of old fallout games while simultaneously keeping the horrible old gunplay and sound effects. They could have at least invested in making the gunplay satisfying, but every weapon feels like a pea shooter and sounds like a toy.

            2. 

               xenoun

               November 27, 2018 at 8:53 am

               That’s the thing though, you haven’t used every weapon…only a small fraction of them. Try getting towards end game and finding the exciting ones like the Gauss Rifle, Tesla Rifle etc. They’re fun to use.

            3. 

               vaegrand

               November 27, 2018 at 10:35 am

               Look; opinions are subjective I get that, but if even IGN are saying the game has real issues you have to question whether brand loyalty is clouding your judgment. The gunplay is bad, I was landing headshots that weren’t doing damage, the guns sound like toys and mechanically feel really poor.

               Combat has never been the FO or ES series strong point, it will likely never be it either. A Fallout title without engaging story (I swear if you say the tapes are effective story telling I will laugh) and characters is not a Fallout game at all. Worst yet the game could have made one simple change that would have alleviated some of my issues; make seperate servers for full pvp and pve options. The current setup is a snooze.

               It isn’t just haters being haters when it comes ro F76, it is clearly not a complete product being sold as if it were.

            4. 

               xenoun

               November 28, 2018 at 9:40 am

               Lol I don’t have brand loyalty for any company. I also don’t follow game announcements. Fell for that too many times in previous years when games don’t live up to the hype.

               All I replied was a single comment about guns. The early ones are indeed pea shooters, the pipe pistol is utter rubbish, sounds and hits like a pea shooter. It’s meant to. There are plenty of other guns that sound and hit better and they’re fun to use. Take it from someone who has over 50 hours in the game rather than 10 hours like most of the reviews. As for your headshot issue all I can say is I headshot almost every enemy I come across with no issues. Doesn’t mean you didn’t encounter a bug, just that I haven’t personally and also haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere else.

               On the rest of your comments though, Fallout 76 does indeed have an engaging story. I’m someone who love looking for the story stuff though and I often ignore the main storyline in Bethesda games until much later on. Fallout 76 is different in that regard in that the main story is presented in how the side stories usually are which made me go out and do it. The Brotherhood of Steel stuff was fantastic, as were the Firebreathers.

               Fallout 76 does have a large number of problems…but to be honest it’s no more than any Bethesda title does at launch. If you don’t like it that’s fine, don’t buy it. I got what I expected the game to be and more though so I’m happy with it.

4. 

   miak

   November 26, 2018 at 12:28 pm

   I binged on it all weekend, so I think that means I’m loving it.

   I approached it like a Fallout-themed survival game and got pretty much what I expected. Compared to all the other survival games I’ve played over the years, this has by far the most interesting world. With other survival games you generally only explore for loot or to take in the scenery, but with Fallout 76 a lot of locations have their own stories and/or mystery about them (if you’re willing to read all the notes and terminals that is). Besides the exploration and backstory, having actual quests and events to participate in outside of “making your own fun” with other players is great.

   The whole “no NPCs” thing everyone keeps whining about doesn’t really bother me since I’m treating it more like a survival game than a proper Fallout RPG. There are NPC traders and neutral NPCs you can interact with at a basic level – something most other survival games can’t even seem to get right. I’m sure there was an underlying time/resourcing reason for not including NPCs on the same level as other Fallouts, but the more you get into the story the more it also feels like a design/narrative choice as well. As I saw someone say in a comment elsewhere … it’s like they wanted to build a world where the “hero” never showed up to save everyone, and now the players are left to figure out what happened.

   There are problems though. The UI is godawful but that’s par the course for Fallout these days. The stash and lack of text chat also sucks. As far as technical problems go, I haven’t seen too many bugs outside of animation glitches but I won’t deny their existence. Server stability is my main bugbear – occasionally I’ll find myself bombarded with “server not responding” messages which really screws up my experience quickly.

   Reply
5. 

   gizmomelb

   November 26, 2018 at 1:00 pm

   I’ve been playing it on PC, so that appears to be the difference as the console versions are reporting more bugs. I’ve played around 3-5 hours every night, co-op with 1-3 mates and I’ve experienced a couple of crashes to desktop but otherwise it’s been a fairly bug free experience for all of us. We’re enjoying the slower pace of the game, chatting and joking as we walk between POIs (everyone is over-encumbered). Then it’s a few minutes of fun while we fight whatever is at the POI and then loot and repair our gear. Higher level super mutants and scorchbeasts have been giving us lots to worry about, so those battles are more on edge. As for lag or dropped servers? I’m with Dodo (regarded as among ”the worst” ISP is Aus) and had no issues at all during peak nightly periods.

   I’ve only recently installed an Inventory mod from nexusmods site and that has helped me out immensely.. I can see what category of items are taking the most weight and what I need to shave down etc. Was carrying 1100+ steel junk without realising it.

   Reply
6. 

   wonderingaimlessly

   November 26, 2018 at 1:17 pm

   Not a bad game, HATE that it doesn’t have a save button. When i’m slugging through a tough mission, that’s probably way above my current level, and the server drops. All progress lost. Happened to me when i was about an hour deep in a facility just the other day. FREAKING ANNOYING

   Reply
   1. 

      zombiejesus

      November 26, 2018 at 4:47 pm

      It does checkpoint your quest progress at various points throughout, but there’s not much can be done if you drop and rejoin a different server. It can’t repopulate the location with the same kills/alive mobs you had before because someone else might be in the same building and then theirs would get overwritten. I agree it sucks to lose a half-cleared location of progress though.

      Reply
      1. 

         wonderingaimlessly

         November 26, 2018 at 5:10 pm

         i hear ya. Not sure there is an answer. I just wish there was a way to play solo when im not with my friends and be able to save my game more often. This current method can be punishing, feels a little dark souls kind of punishing (obviously it plays nothing like souls games)

         Reply
7. 

   Dirtyshado

   November 26, 2018 at 1:24 pm

   I got a refund!

   This was a sad representation of AAA game studio in 2018. The masters of epic open world RPGs have fallen so liw to rush this to market… it needed another year in development. Some people find it fun to play with broken messes but ny patience is limited by my understanding of how this is a product from a billion dollar company who can invest time and money that indies cant.

   I sinked 550 hours in Fallout 4… i dont want to spend anytime in F76. Its unimaginative and uninspired, it added nothing… but reminded me that Bethesda is spoilt by its modding community adding and improving skyrim and fallout4

   SkillUp on youtube review sums up my point if this game to a Tee! Recommend watching it.

   Reply
8. 

   andy

   November 26, 2018 at 1:35 pm

   Level 38, about 30 hours in. Zero crashes, 2 server disconnects, no game breaking bugs or issues playing with my mate. Loving every minute of it. Not a perfect game by any stretch but for an open world survival lite game its bloody good fun.

   I only really have 1 big complaint and that is how they have done the servers. Should be the traditional Oceanic 3 or Europe 7 etc. Pick a home server and that where your character lives. In going the traditional way you get to know the people on your server, both good and bad. You can spend more time crafting your base at a place you have found that you love. And usually the player limit is a lot more as well. 60 would be nice. Allow gangs or clans to form up and build little towns together.
   These throw away servers removes most of that and it sucks.

   Reply
   1. 

      danmako75

      November 27, 2018 at 1:42 pm

      Totally agree on the servers mate, I would love to build a bit more community.

      I think a lot of it is based on the fact that if someone nuked something on a perma server it would change everyones experience permanently as well.

      Reply
      1. 

         andy

         November 28, 2018 at 1:52 pm

         Re the nuking on a permanent server an easy way around that is the nuked area only stays so for 30 minutes or an hour then reverts back to normal.

         Reply
9. 

   slyph

   November 26, 2018 at 1:38 pm

   Yeah, seems people love or hate it, but that’s simply not enough incentive to lay down the money for both the game and PSN subscription to play it.

   Reply
   1. 

      transientmind

      November 26, 2018 at 1:46 pm

      Apart from a drag racing game in 2004, it’s pretty weird and a little sad that this is the first Bethesda game that I haven’t bought as soon as possible.

      Hell, the first Fallout game too, for that matter. Yeah, that’s right: I even found something to like about Brotherhood of Steel. (As far as twin-stick shooters of the day went, it was actually pretty good!)

      I’ve watched a lot of videos panning the shit out of 76, but some of the things they’ve shown have really intrigued me at the same time, and make me half inclined to play it to see those ‘found’ stories, or play with those perks.

      I say half-inclined, because at the same time there’s just so much on display that I absolutely loathe and that would make me rage-quit within minutes. The way the guns fire and many of the design choices just make me wrinkle my nose like somone waved a turd under my nose.

      I really hope that the overwhelmingly negative/disappointed critical and consumer reception will force Bethesda into changing their priorities somewhat, and instead of chasing the next big social phenomenon, they kick up the priority of the private servers and mods, so that modders can rescue the numerous aspects that people routinely slam.

      Either that, or write it off as a failed experiment and shift resources to Fallout 5.

      Reply
      1. 

         xenoun

         November 26, 2018 at 2:01 pm

         I’m curious, what about the way the guns fire is so terrible? It’s essentially the same as Fallout 4. Even the lever action rifle doing animation for full reload when you’re doing 1 bullet is still there….Hence why I don’t use that rifle.

         Reply
         1. 

            transientmind

            November 26, 2018 at 2:44 pm

            Heh. Frankly, I wasn’t a fan of the way the guns fired in Fallout 4, which was mitigated for me by using VATS for every single shot. (With the exception of the occasional head-shot from a rifle that VATS rated low hit chance, but which I could totally make with a scope.)

            This is a big part of why the loss of VATS hurts. Enough to overcome what you see as annoying, but which I wouldn’t – other players slowing down time by using VATS themselves.

            When it’s just me and my fiancee – essentially co-op, instead of ‘multi with randoms’ – we’d be in the same room, each looking at our own TVs and I could see why time is being slowed, and see its impact on my own screen. The only time I see it being possibly annoying is if you’re using it as a sonar ping to detect if there are any enemies about. (Frankly, a UI mod that provides compass indicators based on perception without having to be in combat would be a vital addition in that case.)

            Reply
            1. 

               miak

               November 26, 2018 at 4:35 pm

               Only thing that bugs me (a PC player) about the guns is that I have to hold the damn button to ADS. It’s probably the only recent shooter that doesn’t have a click-to-aim option.

               I was so indifferent to VATS in all the newer Fallouts I rarely used it. I think maybe it broke up the game play too much or something? I freaking loved the “aimed shot” system in the originals though, which VATS tries to replicate.

               I use VATS a bit more in FO76 now, but only out of necessity. Somehow I find myself getting bum-rushed by small and/or erratically-moving creatures far more than all the previous games combined, and VATS is helping me keep my aim on point at times when I’d prefer not to take a hit.

            2. 

               kasterix

               November 26, 2018 at 5:27 pm

               Personally, I’m on the other side of the fence and thought the weapon handling and gunplay changes moving to Fallout 4 greatly improved that aspect of the games… And 76 is pretty much identical to it in that regard.

               As for VATS in 76… I expected to hate it, but I found I’m actually sort of digging that VATS works in real time now. If you know the shot you want to make before enabling VATS there’s really little difference in how it functions, unless you were using it in previous games to cheese incoming damage.

         2. 

            Dirtyshado

            November 26, 2018 at 3:08 pm

            VATS exist in F3&4 cause the engine is terrible for FPS they slowdown the action and make those shots count… in F76 without the slowdown its brutal. With most enemies being melee or the burrowing pop up type the weapons you find yourself shooting the ground or blindly while the vats aimbot jumps to 0% all the tine cause it wasnt designed to track moving targets (which is why it also skowed time)

            The guns are unresponsive, the weapon wheel is glitchy, feels bad compared to a to responsive and something feels sadly missing.

            Reply
            1. 

               kasterix

               November 26, 2018 at 5:35 pm

               I’m all for voicing dislike, but people like you making shit up is a whole other thing.

               Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4, and even 76 are entirely playable without ever touching the VATS key. I will give console players one thing here, the framerate for 76 is garbage on console right now.

               But playing on PC it’s like I’m playing a completely different game to the one everyone apparently wants to complain about, and I definitely don’t have some super computer.

            2. 

               xenoun

               November 26, 2018 at 7:05 pm

               Quit spouting lies man. 3 and 4 are fine without VATS and in 76 VATS works completely fine too. It’s actually pretty damn strong. The only time it shows 0% is when you’re out of range, usually with a melee weapon.

            3. 

               andy

               November 26, 2018 at 7:33 pm

               Finished 3, NV, and 4 without using Vats at all. You dont seem to know what you are talking about..

      2. 

         slyph

         November 27, 2018 at 12:04 pm

         I agree, though admittedly without giving it ago. Loved Fallout 2. SO MUCH. 3 was a pretty faithful addition, and NV was the tits. However, Fallout 4 did not resonate with me, and this just seems like a natural conclusion to that line of reasoning. Which sucks.

         Guess I’ll just let the others enjoy what it’s become, and hold my breath for Fallout 5/ES6.

         Bioware is crap. Square Enix is crap. Bungie lost the plot after Fall of Reach. Rare made a MP pirate sim. What the fuck is happening?

         Reply
         1. 

            transientmind

            November 27, 2018 at 1:26 pm

            (Don’t forget Blizzard’s new mobile/microtransaction/online-only/social/MP-only direction.)

            Reply
            1. 

               slyph

               November 27, 2018 at 1:42 pm

               Sigh. I think my mind tried to remind that piece of information lol

         2. 

            transientmind

            November 27, 2018 at 1:36 pm

            Though in Square Enix’s defence, they did support a few properties that might not have made it without their intervention (Life is Strange, Nier, the Eidos games), FF14 is right up there in quality and fairness for the MMO space, and they’ve stayed incredibly true to Dragon Quest at least. At least they’ve largely kept their open-arm embrace of awfulness to the mobile space.

            Reply
            1. 

               slyph

               November 27, 2018 at 1:44 pm

               Actually, that’s a fair point. And I believe they produced the new TR games, no? I should say – what happened to Final Fantasy? FF14 looks great, but it’s not my FF unfortunately…

            2. 

               transientmind

               November 27, 2018 at 2:19 pm

               I actually loved FF15 and thought it was a great place for the series to go after the colossal failure of 13; can’t wait for FF7 remake! 😀

            3. 

               slyph

               November 27, 2018 at 5:15 pm

               I… wanted that. So badly. I think both FF15 and Andromeda unfolded in such strange ways. Like, the ingredients were perfect, but they fucked the recipe. Sigh.

               I think we can all agree that the FFVII remake will be something. Don’t quite know what that “thing” will be… but it will. Lol

10. 

    taranthor

    November 26, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    Loving it, I’m guessing most of the people who “Hate it” have never actually played it but just jumped on the train.

    Reply
    1. 

       monkeyno100

       November 26, 2018 at 3:53 pm

       My friend and I had the same thought. After running through a bunch of quests we didn’t get the whole ‘no NPC = nothing to do’. Sure, more listening to tapes and reading screens than listening to a modeled NPC, but the dialogue and story is there. But is all you have done is watch other people play and selectively edit a video to suit their outraged and sensationalist feelings, then sure, you view will be poor.
       But to each there own. I figure there will be plenty of people who have played it who just won’t like it either. I have played plenty of games I just didn’t like but other people raved about.

       Reply
11. 

    xenoun

    November 26, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    Loving it, as anyone who regularly reads comments on Kotaku articles would know.

    I’ve only encountered 1 significant bug that caused me grief. It’s tied to a high level area and happens in that spot only so small upside at least. Have seen plenty of minor bugs beyond that but they don’t affect me much….and I love seeing mobs ragdoll 10 meters into the air when I shoot them with a rifle.

    I get frustrated at all the lies and half truths from people who haven’t played the game or who have only played 10-15 hours and have never left the forest or area surrounding Flatwoods. The game has a great story and each area seems to have it’s own tale that adds into the whole. There’s still a couple areas I haven’t gone to yet (I’m 50+ hours in) so waiting to see if they contribute to the main story or if they’re completely separate.

    The game is certainly more difficult in the later areas…Mirelurk Queens and their brood are a thing to be feared. This brings challenge into the game which is where I have the most fun. The events also seem to commonly be more difficult than the quests so nice difficulty spikes there too. i say nice because I expect them to be harder…unexpected difficulty spikes beyond the “curve” are always a bad thing.

    I’ve also had nice interactions with others in the game. One guy sent me a team invite when I was solo, defending my power plant from a scorchbeast. I was level 31, but was beating it. Figured I’d accept the invite assuming he’d seen me and wanted to lend a hand…then voice comms come on and I hear him talking to his room mate. “Oi this guy is fighting a scorchbeast solo. He’s only level 31!”. Gave me a good laugh. After killing it I opened my mic up too and we chatted for a while….ended up playing together for the next 3 hours or so, added to friends and now we team up whenever we’re both online.

    For me that is such a hugely rare experience that I haven’t had in the last 10 years of gaming. Blows my mind that it happened so easily in Fallout 76. Something about the community or the game itself just makes it such a great experience with other players.

    Speaking of which – the nuked areas are really fun too. Getting a bunch of players in there all fighting hordes of enemies is a surreal experience. Compared to say a 20 man raid in an MMO you have tiny characters in 3rd person view flinging spells around….in Fallout 76 you’re in first person (optional 3rd person), brigning you right into the action. So much more immersive and you run for cover, line up shots…watch others doing the same. Hard to explain why its so much different but it’s incredible. I know 1st person MMOs exist and I’ve played them – Planetside comes to mind….but it never gave me the same feeling as Fallout 76.

    Reply
12. 

    D2

    November 26, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    Solid “Yes and No” here.

    It’s certainly not mainstream – there’ll be a lot of people who played all the previous Fallout’s and Skyrims and whatnot and won’t like FO76.

    I have played all the Fallout titles, and many of Bethesda’s single player RPGs, and for me, FO76 is plenty fun – but I love exploring, finding lore items, finding cool stuff (both loot and locations etc) and generally progressing my character over time etc.

    Bugs abound, some quite frustrating, many that have existed for decades in their engine/toolset/whatever we’re calling it today.

    But like the No Mans Sky launch, the game that is there is fun enough to play now, and all I’m really waiting for is to see if the potential is realised in future updates. It’s a foundation for something new from Bethesda.

    If you’re the kind of player who finished the story in previous Fallouts, then spent waaay more time after that just roaming around and exploring.. I think you’ll like FO76. And even more so if you enjoy playing it with friends.

    Reply
    1. 

       miak

       November 26, 2018 at 2:53 pm

       Personally, I never even finished Fallout 4’s main story in the 300+ hours steam logged. The world was more interesting than the story… might be why I’m having a blast with FO76.

       Reply
       1. 

          xenoun

          November 27, 2018 at 8:59 am

          I’m with you there…the main story of Fallout games always feels like it gets in the way of my fun.

          Reply
13. 

    guy_kurtz

    November 26, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    From gun mechanics to frame rate issues, UI to AI, Fallout 76 looks and plays like a broken, empty mess. Seemingly disinterested in the gaming community and their own product, this maddening cash grab by Bethesda quickly revealed itself as a rushed and cynical Fallout 4 IP flip, minus real questing or story, plus subpar multiplayer. However, the title’s greatest sin is one of gaming’s most unforgivable: Fallout 76 is unceremoniously boring.

    If you can enjoy it, good for you; you deserve better for your AAA game title dollars, but good for you. I wanted to really enjoy this as an exhilarating new Fallout outing, but this broken, empty mess does not even approach what most capable modders could do with Fallout 4 before breakfast.

    A pitiful sham that takes Fallout fans for fools and their cash in exchange for a vast yet threadbare semblance of a game. Avoid.

    Reply
14. 

    thefong

    November 26, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    Having an absolute blast playing this with mates. Played all weekend, trying various builds out, ended up taking out the Blight Beast Queen in the end late last night. There’s bugs, but every Bethesda game has bugs, so meh. And there’s a ton of story stuff buried around the map to go find and enjoy if that’s your thing too. Engine could definitely use an upgrade or two, but it looks much prettier than FO4, seems to have a new lighting system. Only real gripe is the storage issue, and that’s fairly minor for the most part

    Reply
15. 

    mcpokey

    November 26, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    As with all games, there are things to like and things to dislike and it’s all individual.
    In saying that, I like the whole Fallout 4 feel to the game and the basic mechanisms seem to be the same. It has some great scenery visuals, especially at dawn/dusk.
    The quests would be better if it wasn’t all tapes and skeletons that the quests led to and to not have NPCs is a little weird in a game like this.
    As for the 400 limit in your stash, well that’s a whole other story.
    The last time I pre-ordered a game was No Man’s Lies and I swore I would never preorder again.
    Then comes Fallout 76 and I think, well yeah, why not as I loved Fallout 4.
    I should’ve waited.
    Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to like about the game, but the bugs, the bugs are all over the place and has had me rage quit a few times already.
    I’ve had 5 blue screen deaths on my pro and I’ve also been booted from servers more times than I can count, plus had massive frame rate drops to unplayable levels.
    I think once Bethesda fix these game breaking bugs and maybe introduce something else into the game, it’ll be far better for it.

    Reply
16. 

    hondo_bogart

    November 26, 2018 at 3:04 pm

    Started and played 12 hours of it over the weekend on PS4. Two crashes to blue screen, two server disconnects, one graphical bug out which meant I had to restart, and one photo opportunity where all the dead scorched had heads on stalks. Also some serious slow down when there were a lot of scorched on the screen plus the odd 1 second glitches when something was about to happen.

    So pretty glitchy but nothing that I don’t think can be patched in the coming weeks and months.

    However, it is so much fun just getting back into the Fallout world. The world looks great, the graphics a lot brighter than I remember in Fallout 4. The exploration is as good as ever and the music just makes me smile. Nothing better than picking a direction, wandering off and getting into some nooks and cranny’s.

    Reply
17. 

    markymarkandthenotsofunkybunch

    November 26, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    Think this is going to be a bit of a No Man’s Sky… Give it 6-12 months, and a few more updates and this might be worth checking out.

    Reply
    1. 

       transientmind

       November 26, 2018 at 3:56 pm

       Private servers is my requirement, so far (must-haves: PVE-only, no randoms, mods).
       I think the speculated date on that is late 2019, which is a little late, given that we get Anthem and maybe Cyberpunk before then.

       Hopefully they shift the priority up on that, because I’m keen for another Fallout world to explore, and by all reports this one’s a pretty big, pretty detailed one – even if every ‘found story’ can be summarized with, “Spoiler: They all died.”

       Hoping future plans around the new vaults being opened up will involve releasing living NPCs into the world who can actually react to your actions and choices. Not sure how they’re going to actually create meaningful consequences that way – instancing of NPCs by player and their decisions? Not without resulting in, “Hey, party member B, do you see this guy? Can you get his next quest?” “Nah man, I killed him in the start of the quest chain.” Apparently Divinity OS2 has some lessons learned? Even if they can’t, at least Mods might be able to.

       Reply
       1. 

          kasterix

          November 26, 2018 at 5:43 pm

          76 tends to focus on the party leader’s quest log when you’re in a group, even though you can still go off and do your own if you want… It could easily just use a system where it put everyone in the same ‘phase’ of the quest based on that, regardless of what quests you’ve done or how you ended them.

          That said, do I think they’re going to do that? Absolutely not. I suspect if they give any ‘choices’ at all, they will be those ones that all strangely lead to the same outcome. The nature of online games really.

          Reply
18. 

    shadowlee

    November 26, 2018 at 4:04 pm

    I already said this in the comments of another Fallout 76 article, but I’m enjoying playing a Fallout game with my husband. We’d probably be less interested if it was a single-player game (because it seems a bit empty), but as a multi-player game it’s fun. We haven’t played a huge number of hours yet, but we also haven’t experienced any bugs or glitches yet.

    Reply
19. 

    zombiejesus

    November 26, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    I’ve laid out my thoughts in other threads and don’t want to just repeat myself again here, so I’ll just say I’m loving it. The game world is expansive and looks great (barring aggressive DOF and LOD settings), it has the distinct feel of a Fallout game. I’ve spent probably 80% of my time solo and 20% grouped with friends and the game is both viable and fun for me in both types of play, although I spend a lot less time reading terminal entries while grouped.

    I mentioned in another article that I’ve played about 50 hours so far, and even if I immediately lost interest in the game tomorrow I still feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth. But even as I say that, I still have a lot of plans for things I want to do before I’m done with the game, and that’s not even considering future content.

    Reply
20. 

    LonewandererD

    November 26, 2018 at 4:40 pm

    I found it to be just a mediocre “meh”. Kind of a mess but not as huge a betrayal as many make it out to be, might goo further down the line after Bethesda has clean it up a bit but I have other better things to tide me over in the meantime

    Reply
21. 

    blade11011

    November 26, 2018 at 4:50 pm

    I am a fan too. Honestly thought I was going to hate it. I refused to pre-order, didn’t buy it either, I was gifted a copy from a mate who loved it.
    Due to our timing not syncing up I’ve only played maybe 5 hours of multi-player with him but the rest of the time ive been sole (30+ hours so far).
    Its definitely a dogs breakfast, but its a fun dogs breakfast and I can’t really place my finger on why.
    There are so soo many improvements they could have made over the old engine, so many things done better, but yet somehow I still enjoy it.

    It does piss me off that bethesda have not fixed any of hte major issues with their engine before releasing this, ones that have been patched by modders for years, but those issues don’t break the game for me.
    Yes I am annoyed that Bethesda seem to have put this out there as a cash cow and are visibly seeming to lose touch with their player base, but its still an enjoyable experience, one I do truly hope will grow and become more. I also hope that all the flack they are coping from this will show them what they need to do and will be enough to remind Zenimax to not run the show but let the devs make the calls instead.

    Reply
22. 

    paf

    November 27, 2018 at 3:08 am

    I just did with it what I do with most games I think I’m not going to enjoy. I just watch Call Me Kevin play it instead, because then I laugh rather than get annoyed.

    Reply
23. 

    zgeek

    November 27, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    I rage quit last night. Been playing since launch, took a day off work to play and I’ve sunk a lot of hour into. But the bugs are killing it for me. Invisible enemies, Invisible team members, glitches with camp placement (currently I cannot place my base at all) which is what I spent all my caps on trying different places to place it. Nah, this game, enjoyable as it is. Is a massive mess of fun killing bugs.

    Reply
24. 

    danmako75

    November 27, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    Hey all!

    I have played all the FO games (from 1 onward) and enjoyed them, loved NV and FO3 more so than FO4.

    Was not going to get onto 76 because I did not like the idea of peeps running around in my world experience, but when a mate said they were playing it I gave it a go and have really enjoyed it.

    Now, there are definitely bugs. I have been dumped out of servers a couple of times and lost workshop progress, but nothing to the extent that some people have talked about. I also do not think it is a buggy, crappy mess as others have said as well, which seems to be fairly hyperbolic honestly. It feels like a lot of the criticism comes from people with a bias to what they wanted and have not actually played the game.

    I have had some amazing firefights, some huge scares, hours playing with friends and hours exploring by myself. There are some beautiful spots hidden away.

    I miss raiders and human NPCs, I think that will hurt the game in the long run. Reading the story I understand the lore reasons, but I still miss it.
    I had to learn to manage my inventory. I am always teetering on the edge. I refuse to use that bloody exploit.
    I would like more permanence in the communities, and maybe a choice of a server with full PvP as well.

    All in all though, I already have some great stories and moments, and teh game is only going to get more stable and expansive as time rolls on.

    Reply
25. 

    bigcheez77

    November 28, 2018 at 10:06 am

    I’m with zombie_jesus. I am enjoying the experience. My first PVP experience is when a couple of guys found out my friend was a woman … the deogatory insults started to fly so we all gathered up a posse (there was 8 of us online) and hunted them to extinction.

    If Bethesda listen to sensible advice F76 will only get better.

    Reply