Bethesda got it totally wrong with Fallout 76, the online adaption of the beloved Fallout franchise. The uninspiring Fallout 76 world was full of bugs and glitches, it was disastrous and too far from saving. However, Bethesda didn’t give up and tried to do a “360°-turn” by implementing a new chapter in the Fallout 76 lifeline, did the expansion save the Fallout franchise or did it turn the world even more hazardous?
The Wastelanders story takes it to the year 2103 which is one year ahead after the opening of Vault 76. There’s a rumor going on about a big treasure in the Appalachia region. Residents of Vault 76 will follow trails to this new region, hoping to find a new home. They will be conflicted between 2 factions: residents and raiders. It’s impeccable to choose one of these factions, in order to survive the attack on your old settlement. Whatever you choose, choose wisely!
“It has a much more natural feeling to it…”
Eventually, the free update can be accessed from the moment you leave the vault. As you start your dwelling journey, you’ve been given the option to choose on how you want to progress further. You have 2 options: go on the old classic journey where you find messages from the overseer, learning you how to survive or you can talk to two people who are standing almost right outside the vault, giving you hints about a secret treasure hidden inside the vault. The second option feels a lot more intuitive, especially when you’re a veteran player. It has a much more natural feeling to it, especially a feeling you would expect from a Fallout game. Given the option, to do as you please but still work in a certain direction. The normal way of doing business is back again! Talking to a person gives you options to act. Do you want to be intimidating or a sweet-talker? It’s up to you. Be the person you want to be. Following generic text messages like the base game, just doesn’t feel right.
What I love about this new update, is the fact that the old quests are intertwined with the new quests. You can perfectly start a new character and follow the new quests to a certain point in the game. This allows you to get a fresh look on the whole campaign story. However, at a certain point you’ll be forced to do older quests because your new questline can only be accessed by a level 20 character. This is something you often see in online game worlds, venturing through old content just to get to the beginning of the next expansion. For an MMO player, this will feel very “normal” but I can imagine that single-player minded people don’t like this kind of level gated content.
“You can also have allies in this game but it’s hardly what you would expect!”
The game also introduces more NPC’s to fill the Fallout 76 world. While it’s a great idea, I can definitely say that it has been poorly executed. The characters often look in the wrong direction while they’re addressing you, the main character. The voice quality is also in need of improvement, as it sounds like a bad quality recording. The NPC’s also feel like an empty shell which isn’t something we’re used to. The NPC’s in the settlement often stare into the distance and walk around without a purpose. They will often look at vendors and leave it like that. You can also have allies in this game but it’s hardly what you would expect. An ally is someone you take along your missions that can really help you out. Fallout 76’s allies are more likely to stay at your settlements and give you some bonus items. You could even steal from them and they won’t even notice this. Don’t get me wrong, adding NPC’s was the best thing they could do but they don’t feel like they’ve been a lot of work to develop. This is saddening to see because the Fallout series is known for its lucrative questing and interesting NPCs.
There’s also the option to form a party and do some quests together… Even though the idea is very interesting, the practice section is just not fun. You can form a party with another person and you both will have to replay the same quest to progress. You can follow a leader within your party and go on a quest, but eventually, in the end, you won’t get any credit for it. What’s the use of an online game when you can’t enjoy yourself at the same time? This is the wrong way to approach an online world.
“Fallout 76 offers this a bit in the same way but it can easily be neglected.”
The VATS-system is also something very unique to the Fallout franchise but it doesn’t feel like it has the same impact as the single-player type of games. The VATS-system allows you to slow down an enemy and give your accuracy a big boost that’ll obliterate your opponents. However, the VATS-system in fallout 76 feels less impactful because of the absence of the slow-motion feature. One of the reasons for that, is the PVP- section that the game has. Bethesda didn’t find it fair to put other players in slow-motion while you’re using the VATS-system.
Another thing I would also like to mention is the fact that the game still doesn’t know what type of game it wants to be. The Fallout- franchise also had a sense of survival where you had to look for food and drinkable water. Even though, Fallout 76 offers this a bit in the same way but it can easily be neglected. The same goes for your dialogue options. Your stats can influence your dialogue options in a certain way. Fallout 76 offers you the same type of dialogue options with a sense of influence but it feels like this feature has been implemented to honor the older Fallout franchise. Previous games didn’t allow you to end your dialogue, just to boost your stats and be done with it. With the fact that the game uses a lot of instanced gameplay, it’s fairly easy to get around the dialogue option and eventually bend it to your liking.
“Intertwining old and new questlines has been a great move from Bethesda.”
The expansion gives you a decent amount of game time ( around 15 hours) if you’re only into the main story and some side quests to take the edge off of some quests. If you’re really into leveling up your character, getting the best gear possible by raiding, and even daily quests, the game could be around 30 hours. There have also been some improvements to the technical side of things but it still feels like the engine is fairly unstable.
Conclusion:
Fallout 76 still has a long way to go but the Wastelanders update takes the game in the right direction. Due to the addition of the NPC’s, the worlds had a decent injection of personality and color. Even though the NPC’s are a big plus to the world, I truly feel like they’re a bit underwhelming. Intertwining old and new questlines has been a great move from Bethesda. It engages old players to retake their route and undergo a new experience. For new players, it’s definitely an improvement from the old questline and it’s a bit more engaging. Fallout wouldn’t be Fallout, if it didn’t have any bugs. The game has been improved from launch but as I said, it still feels unstable with all of those texture pop-ins and flickering. Going for an online feature while the user experience feels more like an instant single-player game is definitely not done. Either you go fully online or you don’t. A mixture of both doesn’t work.
