I went into Fallout 76 sure I would hate it. I mean, instead of taking the effort to actually develop a proper story with actual characters, towns, and factions, it seemed like Bethesda just pushed something out with as little work as possible. “Every character is a real person” sounded like marketing garbage and an epic fail.
And then I played the game. And the hours flew by. And I’ve been engrossed and engaged and have woken up each day wanting to jump right back in! And now, 15 hours along, I’m still excited to find the next delightful discovery!
Not since Fallout 3 have I felt this strong feeling of optimistic wanderlust! This feels like coming home to another comforting Bethesda open-world, and I’m taking my time to learn, adapt, and loot everything not nailed down!
Consequently, I must face the shocking and unlikely truth: I’m really enjoying this game despite the online nature! I almost cannot even believe I’m saying this! I’m the survival-hating, MMO-despising, single-player-loving guy! I was supposed to hate this!
Before you roast me in the comments, let me explain my unexpectedly joyous Fallout 76 first impressions!
No NPCs, No Worries
Perhaps my biggest surprise is how little I’ve missed having alive NPCs and “proper” quests. Instead of feeling huge disappointment, I’ve been quite happy to simply have my “quest giver” be a dead corpse with a note or a computer terminal.
All NPCs being dead has actually streamlined my exploration, letting me avoid all the “run around town talking to bland NPCs” stuff that was becoming very tiresome for me in Fallout 4. Speaking of which, I actually think my enjoyment of Fallout 76 is tied to my disappointment in Fallout 4.
After Fallout 4, it was clear Bethesda was never going to give us a truly intelligent choices and consequences Fallout with realistic characters and well-written dialogue such as Fallout New Vegas. They just aren’t capable of creating this. As such, Fallout 76 wisely sticks to Bethesda’s strengths by eliminating the direct NPC interaction.
This radical shift makes sense to a degree. Bethesda’s games are always overwhelmed by game-breaking quest logic bugs and NPC scripting failures, so that’s mostly been deleted to focus on Bethesda’s best-in-class environmental storytelling. No one builds worlds quite like Bethesda!
Those Pesky Real Humans
It’s not all happy exploring of course. The online component comes with the usual issues. When I first began in my room in Vault 76, the very first sound I heard was a crying baby. I actually had a flashback to Fallout 3’s start, and I thought maybe this vault had a baby in it?
Nope. It turns out some real-life father was playing the game with his baby in his room. Then other real-life voices, usually with low-quality mics, started clashing, and I was totally unable to hear the actual in-game voice speaking to me.
Despite that dubious vault-start, things became much more pleasant as I entered the wide world and players dispersed from that choke point. Each server contains a maximum of 24 people, and the world is huge. Therefore, I only occasionally ran into other players.
Enjoyably Infrequent People
Having such a low player count works out very well. I know there’s others out there (easily tracked yellow dots on the map), but I usually only have to deal with them if I so desire. And there’s easy mute/block tools to ensure people don’t get too annoying.
This isolated yet sparsely populated approach also makes so much sense from a lore standpoint. The idea is you’re one of the few dozen Vault-dwellers let loose upon a newly annihilated world, so occasionally bumping into each other and working together actually aids the concept of the game world. I wasn’t expecting that!
The Joys of Friendship
I should make clear I generally prefer playing solo, taking my time to explore. However, Fallout 76 gives me something the prior games haven’t: the dream of discovering together with a real-life friend.
I’ve run into very kind players, and we’ve teamed up and explored several locations together. We’d point out ammo stashes and workbenches, and help protect each other. I found myself having a truly unique and memorable cooperative Fallout experience!
And isn’t this what so many have wanted? Not some Fallout/Elder Scrolls-MMO rubbish but a simple coop mode where we can team up with one or two trusted friends and engage in jolly cooperation! So far this is what Fallout 76 has given me. I tell you the truth!
What makes Fallout 76 so great is how it feels like a single-player Fallout that gives me the option to team up. As stated, I play mostly solo, but if I run into another player, we can share stories and team up for an hour or so. Then we go back to the lonesome road, finding our own meaning in this desolate world.
Performance & Online Woes
I’m actually amazed at how well Fallout 76 runs. Sure, the game engine is outdated and Bethesda don’t know how to optimize a game to save their lives. Yes, the framerate is bad compared to other proper games. However, I can manage to reach the 63 FPS hardcap (locked FPS and FOV is terrible) with my pretty powerful Intel i7-3930k CPU and nVidia GTX 980 Ti GPU.
I’ve been disconnected twice, but almost no progress was lost for me. The game stutters and freezes for a second or two when loading certain areas. And of course enemies will glitch out like every other Bethesda game. Both the AI and load times are…a bit too slow.
It should be noted Bethesda has announced plans to improve and update that game, so waiting a few months or longer to play is always a fine plan. But I will say my experience has been good for a new online game, and the game is very playable in its current state.
What’s the Online Point?
Perhaps the largest issue with the game is how you don’t really impact the world at all. There are no world-defining choices to make like Fallout 3’s saving or destroying Megaton.
To highlight your lack of impact, quest items and events respawn over and over, giving you the feeling the game doesn’t even care that you’ve already found and repaired that station twice already.
Instead of some grand destiny, you’re just one vault dweller, who’s unlikely to do big things or save the day. Some will question the point of it all and feel this is a letdown from the classic Fallout games.
However, I had a revelation of sorts after about 5 hours. The point of Fallout 76 is my personal experience. I was “chosen” to be in Vault 76, but once I enter the world nobody has chosen me for anything beyond “go explore” and “try to rebuild.”
There’s a freedom in this ambiguous directive. I get to explore this beautiful yet barren world at my own pace. I can follow the well-voice-acted “main quest” holotapes, but I can also just wander off to discover or build a settlement. Whereas other online games belong to the developer and dictate your play, Fallout 76 feels like my world.
First Impressions Summary
For me, it all clicks. I’m loving the discovery, the isolation, the occasional coop, and the overall Fallout feel. Sure, I wish there was more impactful storytelling. I wish the game engine and graphical quality wasn’t so poor. I wish there wasn’t a real money shop.
And yet, right now I want to stop writing this and delve back into the West Virginia wasteland. In 20 more hours will it get boring? I don’t know, but Fallout 76 is giving me a comforting dose of familiar Fallout mixed with a new but appealing cooperative cocktail. Maybe it’s the irradiated water talking, but I’m gulping Fallout 76 down!
PS: some people are talking about the “end-game” and nukes and all that. Don’t let this scare you. I highly doubt all the PvP-nuking stuff will negatively impact the experience for us regular players.
Here’s various points broken into the good, the bad, and the rad!
- This feels like a modern Fallout
- Exploration is as mesmerizing as ever
- Some truly beautiful scenic views
- Photo mode is a great way to document your exploits
- A bleak portrayal of nuclear winter (everyone is dead)
- Slowly unlocking crafting and recipes is fun
- Friendly cooperative play is encouraged
- No hackers or jerks or griefers so far
- The first few hours are plagued by other newbie players
- Open microphones by default, get ready to mute
- The terrible console menus, hardbound keys
- The visual details are generally very ugly up close
- A lack of lasting impact on the world around you
- The “events” are mostly tedious fetch/escort stuff (skip them!)
- The looting lag (containers take a second to display contents)
- The shooting lag (enemies warping, not all damage registers)
- PvP is stupid (the end-game nukes are probably stupid too)
- Inon Zur’s atmospheric soundtrack is so brilliant
- Such nostalgic Fallout feelings when things go well
- A huge world I can take months to explore and enjoy
- The coop dream of discovering with a best friend
Playtime: 15 hours total. Nick’s reached level 12 and explored a fraction of the map. There’s dozens more hours of exploration ahead!
Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using an Intel i7-3930k CPU, 32GB of memory, and a nVidia GTX 980 Ti graphics card.
Nick’s been a PC gamer for over 20 years, having grown up on first-person shooter games (he’s very proud of his Quake 2 tournament trophy). Nick also loves deep, engrossing role-playing games, and he’s also more famously known as Brumbek, the creator of Static Mesh Improvement Mod for Skyrim. Nick believes the essence of enjoyment is to play and ponder video games.
Contact: Email
Liking this game just makes you a contrarian at this point in my opinion , this game is an insult to everyone not just Fallout fans and you shouldn’t praise just to stand out and get more , go watch their E3 and interviews made by Todd , he lied at least 50 times to our faces about some features and the overall quality that we can expect from this game, (15 times better visual fidelity than F4,new rendering system..etc) yet even Skyrim looks better without mods than this crap.
Here’s the problem. You’re wrong and speaking ignorantly…and yet people upvote you. “Skyrim looks better without mods than this crap.” Oh really? Did you know I’m the guy who made the most popular visual overhaul mod for Skyrim ever?! Millions of downloads.
Yes, I made Static Mesh Improvement Mod for Skyrim. I am probably one of the biggest experts on Skyrim’s graphical quality. Fallout 76 looks way better. You’re just forgetting how ugly Skyrim was at release, before the “high-res” DLC on PC.
You’re speaking out of emotional ignorance. Open your mind that maybe Fallout 76 can be fun despite the issues…at least that’s my honest opinion. Free your mind…you might like not being so trapped in ignorance.
Now it’s making more sense. You make mods. Maybe that’s why you are enjoying this pathetic excuse for a game. You’ve spent so much time on mods, the line between mods and a full game has become blurred for you and you don’t see the difference.
EXACTLY, cause he’s probably salivating and having a wet dream on how awful Fallout 76 looks cause now he gets to create more mods and become more popular. he literally gets a Hard-on whenever he see’s a Bethesda game, cause more than likely they will be using the most outdated tech he’s sue to so he can mod to his hearts content. That dude is a joke.
wut?
What u said makes no sense……
“Here’s the problem. You’re wrong and speaking ignorantly”
Oh look people! The white knight is finally here to defend his sh*tpost…ehum…Review.
“You’re wrong and speaking ignorantly”
Let me rephrase that for you:
“you’re wrong and I’m right, there is only one truth and that’s my truth”
Get the f*ck out of here!
He’s right about it looking better. LOOKING BETTER. That’s not a opinion but fact. It’s like saying Morrowind looked better than Oblivion. You can like the aesthetics of Morrowind more, but on factual sense. Oblivion does look better. Because obvious reasons. Plus he’s knows how the engine works. He has real world knowledge. How many others here can say the same.
Here’s a short and concise mini-review: IT sucks! (like most stuff lately)
You’re coming up with many concise reviews lately! And shockingly they’re all pretty accurate!
Haha thanks!
Oh really? How many hours did you play it for? You better have played it. Otherwise you’re misleading people and spreading ignorance. And you wouldn’t do that, right?
Maybe you could open your mind to the idea that something can be fun for someone even if it has issues. Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Skyrim all had MASSIVE game-breaking issues upon release, remember? Fallout 76 has been pretty smooth for me…and enjoyable…I’m just being honest.
Ahahaha… Buddy just take a good look at the comments for this article xD
You’ll realize that what I said is held true more than the kind of biased sh*tpost you just did.
Good day!
It this not sponsor article?
Nope, we actually bought two copies of the game since Bethesda did not send any review code (one for the review and one for the PC Performance Analysis)
DSOG’s wallet be like a pikes jaw xD
Don’t fear other opinions. Open your mind to the idea that you can learn from others, and their enjoyment of a game doesn’t mean their shills.
At least you did not sh*t on people who dislike it as being wrong…like what GGmanlives did.
I totally get that there will be people who simply gonna enjoy it (hell I really enjoyed games like Resi6 or Mafia3). So I think it’s stupid to say this is schilling…its not. It’s just someone with different opinion.
Thou I would never admit something like this if I was writing gaming articles 😀 .
In no way did he sh*t on anybody. He merely tried to make a point as to how the game isnt as bad as others make it out to be.
In his words “its no 7/10 but its no 2/10 either”. And i kinda agree.
hey hey now, resi6 was so bad as a horror game that it was a decent action game.
Here we disagree. Now I find myself in a position where I must say I found RE6 to be absolutely painful to play. I hated that game, not because of the poor horror aspects, but because of the terrible pacing, imprecise controls, and infuriating quick-time rubbish.
But if someone enjoyed RE6…then ok. I enjoyed the characters since I’ve followed many of them since RE1. However, the gameplay mechanics were…so not fun for me.
Thank you for this logical and reasonable comment. The people saying stuff like “shill” are just immature and scared of other opinions. I was 100% honest with my feelings on Fallout 76…that is what you all deserve, honest opinions.
i’m positive that person who wrote this is either a 15 years old or completely new to video games.
Well, you’re very wrong. I’ve been playing games for 20+ years. I’ve played countless classics. Perhaps this is a teachable moment for you. You were so positive…but so wrong. Just because you think you’re right, doesn’t mean you are!
Accept that others have different outlooks…and maybe the guy who’s played the game for 20+ hours (and counting) knows something you don’t.
remember back when fallout 4 came out everyone made preston garvey a meme and criticized bethesda for making this type of boring and non creative endless quests? fallout 76 is basically the most boring, unappealing and repetitive parts of fallout 4 (which was combat and randomly generated quests), and they made it into a broken online game with no npc interaction which made fallout 4 at least tolerable. if you liked it then good for you but you have an inferior taste and that’s not my opinion, that’s a fact.
One of the fallout devs said that fallout is about the post apocalyptic role playing not upgrading your plasma rifle to kill more super mutants.
well he’s right, are you against what he said?
“FUN”
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/adc71f138d9fee602e445910b38a673709ad4d747a68653b69440f773e87e3dd.jpg
Jesus mods are fast now all of a sudden, approved link in less than 20 minutes? Yesterday I had to wait like 5-6 hours for my pics/links to get approved.
You can embed images in Disqus without any issues. Only direct links are filtered 😉
How? Teach me 🙂
When you make a comment click on the bottom left icon and open the pic.
The link filtering through a mod is necessary to cut down on spam so that’s a good thing.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce47eecdbb46efb0a1f887393e5c2c5ce050543b002d73f24d716ed12c7d05bb.jpg
Testing
Cool, thanks buddy!
Don’t fear other people’s opinions…that only leads to the…meow side.
Anyway, I simply was 100% honest with you guys. I’m enjoying the game just like I have enjoyed Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Fallout 4 (lesser enjoyment).
So Fallout has devolved into yet another mindless multiplayer shooter that has little to no narrative context related to the gameplay? How the mighty have fallen.
I’ll be right back, I have to go help a local settlement.
Pretty much. Elder Scrolls Online must have turned a nice profit for Bethesda for them to make this game.
I don’t blame Bethesda. This is clearly what a large contingent of gamers want. It’ll sell millions of copies.
“It’ll sell millions of copies.”
It hasn’t
it hasnt?
Game has been released for 4 days now and they aren’t bragging about sales yet
No, Fallout 76 doesn’t play like a mindless MP shooter. This plays for me almost the same as exploring locations in Fallout 4. Nothing mindless about it. There’s less story for sure, but exploring is just as interesting as before.
“Before you roast me in the comments, let me explain”
https://caitlinliveblogs.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/let-me-stop-you-right-there.gif
Ahahahaha
Ha, that is a funny one! Sad but true.
Lol. what a Shill
We aren’t supposed to use our words to insult others. If you would like to explain why you think Fallout 76 is no good, feel free to do so. We got paid nothing by Bethesda, and I simply am sharing my honest opinion.
“We aren’t supposed to use our words to insult others.”
Jupp, because THIS IS DSOG … And we have democracy here you know, the people have chosen unrestricted everything, live with it or find somewhere else to post your reviews.
God you’re naive!
No npcs, barely any story, way too grindy and repetitive bulletspongy enemies, subpar pvp and base building.
But the lighting is cool.
Pretty much. Elder Scrolls Online must have turned a nice profit for Bethesda for them to make this game.
This isn’t like ESO. The microtransaction store would have most likely happened even if Fallout 76 was a non-online game. This is a full-priced title with a stupid and unnecessary cash shop much like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
Someone got well payed for this “review”
Or maybe hes just a Teenager aka the target audience.
Retards are their target audience.
Nope. Open your mind to the idea that someone can enjoy something even if it has serious issues.
Ha. We bought Fallout 76 with our own money. We got paid nothing. I have to be honest with all of you, and I honestly am enjoying the Fallout exploration in Fallout 76.
I don’t belive you.
You serious a fallout fullpriced game, missing what makes it a true experience, who in its right mind to spends 70fr for a multilayer game?
Shockingly Fun? You must be playing an entirely different FO76 than the rest of the world.
Did you play it? Maybe open your mind to the possibility that there is a huge silent majority that actually are playing the game and enjoying it for what it is.
The internet loves hate. So many YouTubers and others just post hate stuff because it gets views.
Get ready for a roasting Nick, we take no prisoners here. :p
Ignorance doesn’t worry me. I have to be true to how I really felt. I was actually looking forward to destroying Fallout 76 in this article…because I assumed it would be terrible. But honesty matters. I have to honestly report my experience. And I want to go back to playing and exploring more of Fallout 76!
Good for you.
this reads like sarcasm
Or here’s a more likely scenario: you have such strong preconceived notions that YOU read it as almost sarcasm because you’ve built up a mental framework that doesn’t allow alternative opinions.
I clearly said I thought I would hate the game…and I list a bunch of serious issues…have you never played a game with many issues…and yet you still enjoyed your time with it?
ok but when i read something like this
>I’m actually amazed at how well Fallout 76 runs. Sure, the game
engine is outdated and Bethesda don’t know how to optimize a game to
save their lives. Yes, the framerate is bad compared to other proper
games. However, I can manage to reach the 63 FPS hardcap (locked FPS and
FOV is terrible) with my pretty powerful Intel i7-3930k CPU and nVidia
GTX 980 Ti GPU.
it just sounds like a backhanded compliment.
“.have you never played a game with many issues…and yet you still enjoyed your time with it?”
Ghost warrior 3 after it was patched.
To be honest, from a English Language point of view there are many unnecessary exclamation marks in the opening couple of paragraphs – their overuse does make it read like sarcasm. I actually thought it was a piece of satire until I got to “Before you roast me…”.
If you paced the writing by reducing the ! usage it would read more sincere.
IN MY HOENST OPINION.
John does the news articles and most reviews but Nick did this review.
Where is the word “review”? This is NOT a review. Huge difference. A review is where I take the WHOLE experience into consideration. For the first 15 hours, I’ve enjoyed the game. Just saying.
Nick won’t get a chance to. dagoat is on it. He’s already on a flight to Greece. He plans to strap a goat with dynamite and tether the igniter cap to Nick’s front doorknob with a 2 second delay, ring the doorbell and run away.
…..and yes, the goat is necessary. That’s how he rolls :p
I’M COMING FOR YOU NICK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF8dwi2K0ZA
Lmao I remember seeing this a long time ago. How convenient. 🙂
Ha, never seen this one!
No
“And isn’t this what so many have wanted? Not some Fallout/Elder Scrolls-MMO rubbish but a simple coop mode where we can team up with one or two trusted friends”
No most wanted an “actual” Fallout game (like 3 or New Vegas) but with co-op. With NPCs, story quest, crafting/building and etc but with a friend(s). That’s what we wanted but didn’t get.
This game dumps you in a lifeless sandbox with 24 people were you do practically the same fetch quests over and over. Witcher 3 raised the bar for main/side quest to high for every other company.
I totally agree about Witcher 3 raising the bar. I totally agree people wanted a regular Fallout with coop. However, Bethesda gave us something almost like that. For me, this game plays like Fallout with coop.
Many of us have wanted to explore the world together, and this is what we get.
I don’t think Fallout 76 feels lifeless. For me, I’ve really enjoyed finding the evidence of the past communities. Anyway, thanks for your comment!
I can see and understand what you enjoy about it. I guess for those that loathe this game, they (and I) wanted those main fallout rpg elements that are either extremely limited or excluded entirely.
Imagine a Witcher 3 coop game but the NPCs are gone, you can’t modify your potions as much, your home decoration options are limited and etc. It wouldn’t be a Witcher game anymore.
Anyway I enjoyed the interesting take on this game with your article!
Thanks for your comment. I know Fallout 76 seems like a huge disappointment. I was hugely disappointed too when it was announced. But playing it made me realize there was still the soul of Fallout here for me to enjoy.
I honestly think you’ll still find a lot of Fallout to love in Fallout 76…perhaps in a year on sale a lot more people will give it a chance.
Yeah it’s not what I expected (played the BETA with two other friends). The game was fun during the BETA when we played it but there isn’t enough content/variety right now.
We do plan on getting the game once there’s some more content and a price drop (6-12 months). Thanks for your response as well! I am glad you’re enjoying it though.
“I totally agree about Witcher 3 raising the bar.”
Yet you praise, promote and encourage garbage.
Talk about first class hypocrite right there!
Let’s just forget about this SCAM 76 and move one.
NO…FLOPOUT SH!TTY SIX
There’s no scam here. They clearly advertised what the game would be. Maybe you hate it, but I’d encourage you to be mature and accept reality. It isn’t a scam when someone gives you what they promised.
Maturity is good. False accusations aren’t.
People say Todd Howard lied in the interview, i know better than to listen to what this man says, so i cant give any input if he lied or not.
I know right. It’s all flamewars, nude-mod articles and fake reviews lately!
Pieter did Warlock.
say no to MMO RPG FO 76….. ^^
There’s nothing “MMO” about Fallout 76. This isn’t a massive MP world. This is a server-based Fallout world with 24 players. The map is very large so you only rarely run into other players. MMO this is not.
That was tough to read, and take seriously. This is one of the worst Bethesda has ever released, and that’s saying something.
I’m sorry it is tough to read my honest thoughts. Why was it so tough? Because you cannot believe Fallout 76 could be fun? I’d be careful to believe all the way-overboard hater videos and posts online. My actual experience says the game is very fun at times, despite the issues.
Take it you liked PW? How…?
I liked Project warlock too but has a ton of problems, this game has 1000 more problems.
Your review is accurante… for a 15 hours playtime, like plenty other Bethesda games, things can go really downhill from a moment to another and keep the sh*t up till the end
“This feels like a modern Fallout” I don’t know how it’s in the Good section since we all now the modern era of Fallout (since FO3) is clearely the inferior era of the game, not acting nostalgic just a fact (FONV was decent tho)
“No hackers or jerks or griefers so far” HAHA we all know where it’s going
“The first few hours are plagued by other newbie players” A very well known problem tied to the MP format of any game
Anyway, it’s still marked as first impressions, even if it has review format, that was still pretty instructive, thanks
Maybe I’ll hate the game in the next 15 hours. I have to be honest, and I honestly am enjoying the game. By “modern Fallout” I mean Bethesda’s games, not the Interplay originals.
Opinions are like as*holes. Everyone has one and they all stink.
The quote should end with “they usually stink.” The point is most people spout off opinions without ever bothering to be informed, mature, and nuanced. However, there are the rare opinions that actually are based on well-researched, balanced study.
I tried to be as fair and balanced in this First Impressions as possible. The game has many issues…but I still had a really fun time. Just being honest.
Jeez, get a room.
This game is about as fun as a colonoscopy.
How many hours have you played it? Or are you just speaking from ignorance?
Wait.. I’m not supposed to be enjoying that so much?
But, a colonoscopy is part of the process of getting rid of cancer, while Fallout 76 will actually GIVE you cancer. Important difference.
No.
Do other people’s opinions scare you? I expected to hate Fallout 76, but I have to be honest with you all about my experience.
Or, he’s just a bethesda fanboy and easily sees its bugs, issues and shortcomings through the fingers because, you know, fanboy.
TO BE FAIR GGmanlives had the same opinion.
Nick is from Greece? Just like John?
Nope he is not 😉
Life on DSOG lmao
How much you got paid to write this shill?
Is this how you communicate with people? Accuse them of being bribed? Maybe you could stop being so closed-minded and accept that some people have different views.
Have you played the game? I’m doubting it. I expected to hate it, but I have to be honest with you all about my experience.
As fallout fan that was old enough to be alive when F1 came out and that respects F3 and loves FNV, i can write a story about how horrible FailOut 4 is and this one is nothing but extension of that puke.
Some people say that F4 is a good game and it certainly is, BUT its not good FALLOUT game, it has no Fallout Soul, its dumb open world teenage playground with minecraft and castrated dialog system and complete lack of choice [walking left or right is not the choice im talking about].
ARK FailOut Evolved 76 is the worse parts of F4 multiplaid by commercial appeal to Always online teenagers.
Since people cant embed videos here, just go google for this:
“Fallout 76 – Nuclear Waste (Jimpressions)”
Jim streling sum up most of the issues that i have with it.
P.S. If you want to know how real proper Kosher fallout game should be, download Fallout New California mod for FNV that just came out recently, its fully professionally voiced, Expansion size mod, a prequel to FNV, 8 years in the making.
Totally agree the dialogue in Fallout 4 was a mess. Hence why I don’t miss it at all in Fallout 76. Anyway, I’ve heard good things about New California.
Ha haha now you know what it feels being a ign reviewer.
AHHAHAHHAH lol
I feel sorry for you man.
The game is quite fun if you are NOT a fan of Fallout or only played 4 AND have terrible taste in games, how can anyone excuse a shallow, bug ridden pile of crap with a fully functional cash shop without getting pay for it is beyond me.
I didn’t excuse anything. I merely said I was enjoying the game in SPITE of the issues. It is possible to enjoy a game even though it is in many ways INFERIOR to prior games.
I adored Fallout 3 and New Vegas. So your position is wrong. I am proof someone can enjoy the legit story-based Fallouts and still enjoy Fallout 76…at least I’m enjoying it for now…
Im not sure thats how you review a Serialized game.
I can enjoy many game, Half Life 2 is arguably one of the best ever, if we rename it Fallout 4 and change skins to look Post-ap, it wont be a good Fallout game.
If you take Fifa/Madden game [and you into that type of sports] and replace all characters with gears of war characters, youll have FUN from football/eggball games but it wont be a good Gears of War game.
See where I go with this?
Having fun is not enough for serialized game, you need to ask yourself if its a good FALLOUT game.
I agree with you that a Fallout game needs to be a good Fallout game. For sure. I happen to actually think Fallout 76 IS a good Fallout game. The exploration, the quirky setting, the tone and style. It feels like a Bethesda Fallout game to me so far.
So I agree with you!
“I happen to actually think Fallout 76 IS a good Fallout game. ”
???????????????
Fallout is about roleplaying in a post apocalyptic society NOT killing the same mobs over and over again to upgrade your plasma rifle. If i wanted borderlands id play borderlands.
You cant have Fallout game without branching quest line, dialog system, NPC’s, a grand quest or two, settlements [NOT F4 type of minecraft crap, just regualr settlements like Goodsprings], NPC helpers and so on.
“After Fallout 4, it was clear Bethesda was never going to give us a truly intelligent choices and consequences Fallout with realistic characters and well-written dialogue such as Fallout New Vegas. They just aren’t capable of creating this. As such, Fallout 76 wisely sticks to Bethesda’s strengths by eliminating the direct NPC interaction.”
Yeah like i said in fallout 4 they outsourced the town building to the player, bethesda is too lazy to build towns, in this game they outsourced the npcs to the players, bethesda is too lazy to make good characters and quests.
Razorfist on his skyrim review said that skyrim isn a bad game but think 3-4 games down the line and things dont look good.
Bethesda says this engine will be used for starfield and elder of scrolls 5.
Bethesda game engine, bethesda game engine never changes.
On top of that the gunplay is garbage enemies are more bulletspongy than ever, the whole thing gets too tedious and the audiologs can be accidentally skipped or missed due to how the game is build, not to mention server issues and how they didnt bother to protect the game, meaning that anyone can mess with the code and hack other players. Pathetic.
After this, i am not excited in the slightest for starfield.
Bethesda has managed to sell trash like hot cupcakes, so they gonna keep on doing it and lowering the quality of their games, we will never get anywhere near new vegas ever again, the future of single player rpgs is bleak save us cd projekt.
Sure you enjoyed the game for 15 hours of looting killing and upgrading but what comes after that? There is no game changing moments, there are no important story moments, in fact the last boss of the game is a dragon from skyrim, pathetic. So if you keep playing you will get bored eventually due to how repetitive and simplistic the game is..also looking at how bad the building and the pvp and survival elements are, this game aint no rust. I doubt mods will fix any of this.
Thanks for giving a detailed comment. I respect your input. It is possible in 10 more hours I’ll get super-bored. However, I love exploring in prior Fallout games, so I actually think I won’t get bored until I finish the main story, major side quests, and all the major landmarks. That will take a while…
And the audiologs aren’t really missable…you can pick them up if you miss them…they stay in your inventory…you can listen to them any time over and over. And the voice-acting is actually very good. Just saying.
I haven’t found a single hacker so far…so I really can’t fault a game for “hacking issues” when that hasn’t hurt me or anyone I know who’s playing.
yeah i dont get this “its fun with friends, everything is fun with friends, jacking each other off can be fun with friends” NO WAIT THAT CAME OUT WRONG, i didnt mean that, thats gay
“DURKA IS HOMOPHOBIC, WRITE POLYGON ARTICLE”
NO WAIT, GODAMN IT POLYGON.
SAY YOU LIKE THE GAME DURKA.
NOOOO
SAY YOU LIKE IT OR YOU ARE A BIGOT.
OK I LIKE IT, ITS THE BEST GAME I EVER PLAYED NOW LEAVE ME ALONE.
Modern games journalism in a nutshell. “its fun if you want to look good on those companies and not get blacklisted or libeled”
Dont worry the Greek authorities are too busy bending over to antfia.
Fire this fool quickly.
Why? Because I dared have an opinion? What part of what I wrote is wrong? I listed the good and bad things. I have to be honest when I say I am enjoying the game.
Could it have been WAY better? Sure, what game couldn’t be? Is it fun? For me it is.
If you’ve played Fallout 76 and have input, please share.
I’m definitely way more of an optimist than 90% of the readership here, but good lord is this some bullsht. Even if you’re playing “for what it is” instead of what it could be, or what they made it out to be, or the fact that it’s a broken early access game… it’s a totally crappy game.
I definitely hope this person never reviews for the site again.
Why is it broken early access? You have to actually defend your viewpoints. The way debate works is you put forward a position (Fallout 76 is early access), and then you prove it using arguments.
You’ve proven nothing. I’ve played the game, and there’s nothing early access about it. It is a finished product. There’s a huge world to explore, a main quest, and many side quests. Maybe that content isn’t to your liking, but it’s a full game.
Also first impressions does NOT equal a review.
No, that’s not how debate works. You put up your review/whatever you’d like to call it, and I commented that it’s a sht review for an early access title. Then, you have the ability to challenge me on what constitutes this being early access. In this format of dialogue, ie. comment, wait, comment wait, you don’t expect someone to predict what the next person is going to ask you to explain. Then comes time to “prove” something.. which is ridiculous because there’s no “proving” anything because this is a bit of a subjective discussion, and you can always wiggle and squirm, lie, etc and no evidence can make someone’s point meaningful.
Now, to defend my point. I played a bit of the beta before cancelling my Amazon order. It’s something that looked exciting but has a long way to go for it to get better. It’s so contentless that even Todd Howard said there is much more to come, just like a rough ea game that has the beginnings of something good. Like Sea of Thieves! I enjoyed that but it was definitely extremely lacking.. but at least the mechanics were polished. F76? Combat sucks, the enemies move around like morons, there’s poorly implemented mechanics and features that are totally missing.
Look, if you can’t tell this is very similar to an early access game and is a bit broken in many ways, I don’t know why you are reviewing games. As a Supreme Court Justice of the United States once said when referring to obscenity/porn, “I know it when I see it”. You can have your own line on what it acceptable, of course you can, but I know crap when I see it. Hope it gets better, and is a worthwhile purpose down the line, but it’s crap.
Finally bud, if you’re this fragile about feedback and have to reply to everyone’s take on your review/whatever you wanna call it, then maybe find another profession or don’t read the comments. Especially here at DSOG, as this place is brutal. I’m not saying I’d be any different, but I know the advice is still good. I wish you luck.
Thanks for providing some specifics. That’s why I responded. To get you to engage in helpful discussion. You’re definitely right that combat can suck and the enemies move around like morons. You’ve got a good point there, and that’s definitely something that could ruin this game for some. So thanks for writing a more useful post!
PS: this is not a review. Notice the words…First Impressions. 🙂
re·view: a formal assessment or examination of something with the possibility or intention of instituting change if necessary.
Quit quibbling about the usage of the word review, ding dong. It’s for all intents and purposes a game review, only lacking finiality in absolute opinion. You’ve made it clear enough with your pros, con and completely unnecessary “rad” review-like results about your opinion that you think it’s great.
I think it’s funny John let you hang yourself on this one. I guess I still wish you luck, but I feel less sorry that you’ll not have any on-going career in games journalism because this tirade is on your resume.
Shill alert.
A shill is someone pretending to be independent but actually working for another person to make a product look good. I am 100% independent. Bethesda gives us nothing. Our website paid for Fallout 76 ourselves.
I have to be 100% honest with you all. I actually enjoyed and am still enjoying my experience. Should I lie to you and say I hated it just to make you like me more?
Oh, my bad, you just have sh*t taste in games then. Way worse. Just lie and say you are a shill, it’s more respectable.
Bethesda paid us nothing. Our site is 100% independent. Occasionally we get free review copies of games. In this case, John bought Fallout 76 for me to review.
I have to be honest with you all. I actually enjoyed my time playing Fallout 76. Is it wrong for me to be honest? I gave you a big list of criticisms.
Why does it seem that way? Please defend your position. What did I say that made you think that? I clearly stated Fallout New Vegas is brilliant with its choices and consequences and role-playing. And Fallout 76 will never be that.
Do you consider the Baldur’s Gate series good? Vampire: Bloodlines? Fallout 2? I’ve played those and plenty more.
Maybe you could tell me what I said that offended you.
This video doesn’t represent my experience.
No it represents the experience of tons of different streamers mainly with the beta, but to be fair this can apply to any bethesda game, or kingdom come deliverance or mafia 3 or ghost warrior 3
Two different people wrote those articles, first of all. Secondly, this isn’t a review. Just a short first impressions. Thirdly, Fallout 76 has a very-well crafted world to explore just like prior Fallouts. So even though the story is lacking and the game has bugs, exploring is still fun for me.
What’s broken about it? I’ve encountered only a few broken “event quests” here and there. Skyrim had countless game-breaking bugs upon release. So did Fallout 3… So did Fallout 4… Fallout 76 is no more broken upon release than past games.
I totally agree! A poorly made game should not be excused. The problem is I don’t find Fallout 76 to any more poorly made than Skyrim, Fallout 3, and Fallout 4. All those had massive issues upon release.
Fallout 76 isn’t just fun with friends. I’ve played 80% of it alone. And I’m having lots of fun exploring. I’m just being honest.
New vegas was a disaster at launch too but unlike fallout 4 and 76 it actually has some depth and variety in it.
Ha, thanks 7thGuest2.0. Respect to you for not freaking out. Maturity is a good (but rare) thing, isn’t it?
Nick, you’re having fun with this game. Nothing wrong with that. I have enjoyed some games that most people disliked and didn’t enjoy some games that most people thought were great but you’re doing a review. You have to change your perspective to what the average gamer wants to know about the game when you review a game. You missed the mark this time and being all over the comments section talking about which comments you respect and which are ignorant doesn’t help your case.
It’s not the end of the world though. It’s just one game but the drama you’re creating in the comments section is unprofessional.
This is not a review, though. This is simply my first impressions. I don’t know why that’s so hard to comprehend. My actual review won’t be done for several more weeks, most likely. For now, I’m just posting my experience.
And I don’t think it’s unprofessional at all to call out all the ignorant comments. There’s so much unjustified Fallout 76 hate…and I won’t let ignorance go unanswered. Notice how only a few comments here actually provide evidence and reasons for why Fallout 76 is supposedly so bad.
My feelings aren’t hurt. I simply chose to engage the lies this time.
“This is not a review, though. This is simply my first impressions. I don’t know why that’s so hard to comprehend.”
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it’s probably a duck. This looks like review to me even though you’re hiding behind “first impressions”.
Have you seen what others are saying about this game all over the internet?
This game is a fail. It should be named Failout 76 and I don’t need to spend $60 to figure that out. I suppose that makes me ignorant in your estimate since I haven’t played the game but so be it.
It’s ok for us to disagree. You *believe* you hate the game based on what you’ve read/seen. That’s understandable.
I’ve played it and am enjoying it. That’s ok too.
“being all over the comments section talking about which comments you respect and which are ignorant doesn’t help”
quoted for truth.
sir i only fear pakistani authorities, it’s only pakis who have that much prestige, power and influence around the globe.
The Pakistani question?
what?
A lot of man babies can’t handle the fact that someone enjoyed their time with another game. How dare he like what i hate. Personally I don’t like F76 and will probably never buy it.
There’s no doubt Fallout 76 is only for certain players. It’s sad we didn’t get a typical Fallout game with a great story and choices and dialogue. However, if you enjoyed the pure exploration and base building of Fallout 4, chances are you might enjoy Fallout 76 if you buy it for cheap in a year or something. Thanks for posting!
I get why you are positive in your review and why people don’t agree.
I think you might also change your opinion if you play the game a little more.
The starting area is relatively bug free.
Once you go into the high level zone you will have a way bigger change of running into bugs and problems.
I have seen hundreds of bugs a day and it makes the game extremely frustrating.
People claiming that the game is garbage is rough, but the quality of the game is insanely low and a lot of the story and gameplay design is extremely lazy compared to previous Fallout games.
I imagine it is a buggy Bethesda mess right now. Some sites are reporting that some players set off 3 nukes at the same time and the server crashed.
The thing about this is…there’s always the professional players who play 20 hours a day, racing to the end. The no-lifers, the streamers, and such. These people don’t represent 99.9% of players.
The fact that 5 or 10 players in the entire world rush to the end and purposefully try to push the boundaries and crash the game, that has doesn’t impact me. It’s a good thing since Bethesda now can patch and fix stuff…but my experience doesn’t suffer…and yet people use these news stories as tools to continue the bashing.
I agree. I honestly loved Fallout 76 for the first 10 – 15 hours, but grew increasingly frustrated with it with time.
That makes sense. Thanks for the comment!
That’s good information that the high-level zones have more bugs. Thanks for reporting that.
I will just say though that every Bethesda game has had huge issues. Look at the original patch notes for Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Fallout 4. There’s a huge list of quest bugs fixed…and it took Bethesda 30 to 45 days after release to fix even the first batch of issues.
So just saying Bethesda is pretty much on schedule and operating as usual…it’s not like Fallout 76 is any more buggy than prior games, in my personal opinion…but I haven’t hit end-game yet…so maybe you are right!
I disagree with your statement that 76 isn’t more buggy. The amount of bugs in this game doesn’t even compare closely to the amount in the other bethesda games combined. A lot of stuff that was working in Fallout 4 is just completely broken in 76.
I have seen unkillable enemies, plasma weapons that can’t actually hit enemies closer then 20 feet, enemies that just kill you in one hit while scourgebeasts don’t even scratch you, blueprinting doesn’t work, items are getting deleted from my stash and camp, server crashes causing massive progression rollbacks.
I wanted to like Fallout 76 so badly, and I did at first, but as I sunk more and more time into the game, the more it just made me frustrated. For the first 10 hours or so, I was transfixed by the beautiful and lush scenery, and all of the unique places to explore. I grew up spending the summers at my dad’s house in Lewisburg, so the nostalgia of getting to see places I was familiar with was elating.
Contrary to popular opinion, I also really liked settlement building in Fallout 4, so being able to build my own camp whever I wanted in 76 was quite a treat. 76 even improves the weapon crafting system and addresses an issue I had with Fallout 4 which is a lack of weapon variety.
There are so many things in Fallout 76 that have improved from Fallout 4 that I should be excited, and I was for awhile however; All of that excitement faded as a became to realize that everything you do in 76 doesn’t matter, Not one bit.
Why level up? So you can get better loot? Why? So you can participate in a criminally unrewarding PvP system? Ok maybe not PvP, how about to take on the harder quests? You mean the quests that are either go here, and do this (and fight off a board of scorched to do it.) Or Go here and kill this thing. Every single quest is like this just with a different “story” behind it. Nothing that you do matters or has any impact on the world.
A lot of people are going to argue that since this is a multiplayer Fallout, it is a departure from the traditional Fallout formula and is instead about forging your own stories with other players and reclaiming the wasteland. Well if that’s the case Fallout 76 doesn’t even do that very well. Let’s say you and your friends leave the vault and decide, screw this reclamation stuff, were Raiders now. So the 4+ of you spend all his time making the most sadistic looking raider base imaginable, and you decide it is time to start doing some good old fashioned looting. Well right as you are about to wreak havok on the wasteland one of your friends suddenly has to go, and *poof* there goes your base. Turns out the camp was his and now those of you remaining are now looking at each other like “now what?”. Because nothing is persistent, even playing as a group feels shallow outside of just exploring, which goes back to my earlier question of why? Why keep exploring where there is nothing to be gained of any importance.
Even Fallout 76’s “end game” is just as unrewarding. I became a general of the Army, got some launch codes, and launched a nuke. This triggers a major boss fight for all of those who wish to enter the blast zone, which is incredibly fun at first. You fight, with the help of many others on the map, the queen scorchbeast, as if regular scorchbeasts weren’t already terrifying. The chaos as everyone around you is laughing and screaming is incredible, but once it is over you a filled once again with that familiar emptiness asking yourself again, why? What’s the point aside from bragging rights.
I understand that not everyone will share my opinion, and as a long time Fallout fan I hope that it will change. I hope that Bethesda continues to add content to Fallout 76 and it improves with time, but at launch it feels like an unfinished game and I’m done with it for now. 47 hours later, and I’m done.
Thank you for your excellent comment! I really appreciate you taking the time to offer such a good description of your thoughts! I totally get what you’re saying. I could very well be in your exact shoes once I reach ~50 hours of playtime.
I do believe Bethesda will work toward making our activities matter more. They’ve said they’re going to expand the base building…because like you say, it would be really cool to build truly interactive communities.
I will just leave one thought though…a game that gives me 50 hours or so of fun exploring and playing…that’s not a failure. I understand people want a Bethesda game they can play for 200 hours…but if I can have fun for dozens of hours…that’s a lot more than most triple-A games give me.
Thanks again for the comment!
Well I always play at least 40 hours of a game unless it is just total garbage before I write a review or offer my opinion. I feel like 40 hours is more than adequate enough to have a good understanding of any game.
Not all ~50 hours that I played were all that enjoyable. I had a blast for about 10 maybe 15, but past that I got more and more frustrated with it.
I really wanted to like it, I tried hard to. It just doesn’t offer any longevity or reason to come back to it as it stands right now.
It’s pretty easy to find other players. The map clearly marks their location. So if you want to group up, you can travel to them and ask to group up. Or you can easily group up with friends in the menus and all that.
I do think it’s a feature to let me play solo, undisturbed, if I want to. Seems like the best of both worlds to me…this isn’t a game that requires forming a group to succeed like a Borderlands or Division or whatnot.
I hope that makes some sense?
Wow what is up with the mods replying back to people here don’t do that! Makes you look like you are wrong or something you have every right to your opinion. Me i won’t buy this like i won’t buy any game that is like this simply isn’t for me. I love the solo experience so much i’m one of those people who hated having a companion in fallout 4 besides Dogmeat haha.
This reminds me of Simcity remember that game? A game that is and will always be remembered as a single player game and then they tried to make it a multiplayer game and guess what it bombed.
I think we live in a different world now but I feel like a lot of people including me are still stuck in our ways.
I can see where you’re coming from.
After I finished Fallout 4 on console I dropped it completely, But when I got it on PC and installed a whole lot of mods I realized that I enjoy the action of fallout 4 but the story or quests as I found them tedious and uninteresting.
I found myself wishing that someone would make a mod that disables the story then you start somewhere randomly and build your character from nothing by exploring and discovering places, finding new items, killing and looting enemies and whatnot. So instead of going through the same story line and doing the same quests you’re just doing your own thing without being denied by the game’s story about where you can go or what you can do.
Fallout 76 seems like the Fallout 4 I wanted, thing is it’s a newly released bethesda game which means a lot of bugs and unstability. But my biggest problem with it is that it’s online only, I have a very unstable connection so that practically makes the game unplayable for me.
While it is nice to see a differing opinion on this universally slammed game, your article is way too positive and it really just looks like you’re badly shilling the game.
How old are you?
That should fulfill the monthly clickbait quota.
ok, i will never open DSOG again on my browser.