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Fuck me, Fallout 76 is actually pretty good now

LakeOf9

Member
Tried this at launch as a life long Fallout fan, and I... well, I didn't like it, I can say that much. There was some core of a good game in there, but it was just surrounded by so much shit in terms of the design choices and mechanics. It felt like Bethesda focusing on all the wrong things about Fallout, rather than the things the series really does well.

I heard about updates like Wastelanders that fixed the game a bit, and I have been hearing rumblings about how the game is so much better for a few years, but I kind of stopped caring. But obviously, the Fallout TV show got me in the mood for Fallout, so while I am beginning a new run of New Vegas again (it's been a few years since I last played it!) I also decided to give 76 another go (since technically it's the only game in the series I never "finished").

And... it's really good now?

Map design, quest design, and the game balance is all great. The community is incredible, and really contributes to the sense of a desolate wasteland where survivors are emerging from vaults for the first time.The atmosphere of the Appalachia is great. Even the writing for some of the later quests is excellent. At this point, this is arguably a significantly better RPG than Fallout 4 was.

It's actually surprising how much the game has been salvaged from launch, where I have to be honest, there was nothing there. Like at launch it felt like a map barely held together by duct tape net code and some not great translation of real time combat from the main series, but now, it legitimately feels really fun, and there's nothing else like it on the market. It also feels like a decidedly great Fallout game.

I have to give Bethesda credit for sticking with the game in spite of the vicious backlash it got at launch, and turning it around - look at games like Anthem or Avengers, it would have been so easy for them to say fuck it and drop F76 but they stuck with it. And I am happy that more people now get to discover just how good Fallout 76 has become.

Have you tried going back to this recently? What are your thoughts?
 
At launch it was ok on PC. I enjoyed the hell out of it. It's technical issues were the fault of engine limitations, cutting teeth on a new genre, but it eventually smoothed out to be about the best you'd expect from BGS all things considered. It's biggest content issue was just that what FO is known for had to be read across a ton of computers in-game to get those great stories. The map itself is one of the best maps they've made, it just sorely lacked non-hostile NPC's to enrich the atmosphere. I haven't played it in a few years, but I look forward to coming back to it when I get some time.
 

Sethbacca

Member
I'll have to try it. When it first came out it was making me motion sick for some reason, which is odd because that never happened with 3/NV or 4.
 

TrebleShot

Member
I tried it last week and have to say it sucked me in I enjoyed the gameplay but I was trying this and FO4 and I enjoyed the gameplay of this more it was more smaller missions and straight into the action whereas in FO4 there was a load of nonsense.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
I am loving it. Playing right now actually, taking a breather in my camp after a long quest - sorting out and repairing new armor, just got a new helper or whatever for my camp, etc.

I remember giving it a try when it was new and it was kind of rough. Not much to do. Now there's so much content I have to untrack like five or six quests at a time just so I can focus. The world is easily the densest and most well realized of all Fallout games to date. It has all of the quirky kinds of characters and good voice acting that I've come to expect from the franchise.

There's still the ever-present Bethesda jank, and the I think the graphics and performance on PC could be better for a game that came out in the late 2010's. But I am really enjoying myself.

4/5 so far for me, about 20 hours in and only level 25, should hit level 26 any minute now.
 

Gudji

Member
humping love GIF
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
I keep reading this and just flat out refuse to believe it.
I'm at the point now that any game I believed people on over the last 12 years when they really lost it and trashed it, I just assume its fine unless I try it myself. I dont believe people trashing or praising anything anymore unless I actually know them.
 
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MastAndo

Member
A few hours in at level 18 and yeah, I'm having a surprisingly good time with it. I never really got into the Fallout games, but the TV series put its hooks in me so I gave it a shot. I'm just getting my bearings with the inventory/weight/ammo management side of things, but yeah I'm digging the world. Just throwing on Appalachian Radio on the Pip-Boy, doing some quests and hopping onto the occasional public event has definitely been scratching an itch.
 

John Bilbo

Member
I tried the game on gamepass some time ago. I changed some graphical settings and the game crashed. After that it simply would not start. I got to play it for about 5 minutes.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
There's many many videos going into that same conclusion OP so yeah, it seems improved a lot. Might try it but now I'm in NEW VEGAS modded to hell and back.

This is more a wink at the Fallout 76 situation at launch but it made me laugh so much

 

JayK47

Member
You know what? If I have nothing better to do and it is on sale for $10 or less, sure I will give it a shot. Or let me know when it is done. It sounds like they released it as pre pre pre alpha when it first came out.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
I was hearing it was good quite a bit recently, so I was already thinking about giving it a shot. Finishing the first season of the Fallout series made me want to get back into something Fallout pretty bad. So, I figured I'd give 76 a shot since I never got around to playing it. At first my impression on PC wasn't the greatest cause my FPS was all messed up. But then I realized there were work arounds the community found out and Bethesda never improved that side of the experience, which is very on brand. After that the game was a constant 60+ fps and I started actually playing it and haven't stopped. I'm currently level 36 and I can already see why quite a few people were saying they enjoyed things about 76 more than 4. I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot. I understand any and all hesitation as I had my own with the game, lol.
 

Jimmy_liv

Member
I put it on tonight, briefly, and dear God it looks awful and that engine needs binning.

I will give it some time and a do a few missions but, I'm a huge fallout fan, and I think I'll struggle with it unfortunately.
 

Moochi

Member
I played it a little last year and all I can remember was jank and that the most rewarding thing to do was the Mothman event quest. Everyone was doing it over and over again. It was boring and there were so many players that the server wasn't responding to anyone's actions in particular. Mobs would just spawn and die.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I've never played it before but it sounds like a good time as any. The game seems to be in the best state since launch and lots of positive buzz around it.

How solo-friendly is it?
 

Dorfdad

Gold Member
So great to hear been looking for a quasi MMO I can play without the monthly fee and endless grind and a storyline more in line with my tastes, I will be starting it this week! I just hope Starfield gets the same love I wanted to like it so bad, but it was a barren wasteland of repetitiveness IMHO.
 

killatopak

Member
It’s been good for quite a while actually.

There’s a reason there isn’t much negative news coming out from it. The last bit was the paid servers but that hasn’t been the case at least as far back as MS bought them.
 
That is good to hear. I fired up Fallout 4 on the ps5 to get ready for the new patch and laughed how bad the FPS was. I do believe I got fallout 76 for free somewhere and maybe I should just play that instead.
 

Bookman

Member
I'm trying it out now and I'm kind of interested but don't quite get the whole mmo thing so I'm playing it as a singelplayer game.

What happen when you die? Like is there any consequences? I accidentally died once and I just spawned up again?
 

TrueGrime

Member
Count me as a guy that's getting back to it, and the last time before coming back was during the beta which was horrendous. It's just a blast to play now and the community is fucking awesome. Randos wanting to help me level, give me things for free, etc. Loving everything about it right now.
 

Inviusx

Member
I'm going to be that guy......

It was always good, I was a day one player from launch until when the PS5 dropped (I didn't want to play a sub 30fps game anymore). When I say good I don't mean universally, you had a to find the fun and it appealled to a specific type of player but it was perfect for me at the time and I put in over 700 hours.
 
Judging Fallout 76 by it’s 1.0 release version in 2024 would be just as foolish as judging FF14, Cyberpunk 2077, and No Man’s Sky by their 1.0 versions.

I know a lot of people here still have that old school gamer mentality when it comes to ‘what we get at release is what we get forever’, but in modern times, things change.
 
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