Bethesda Game Studios brings us yet another game from the fan-favorite Fallout franchise Fallout 76. Since Fallout 3 Bethesda games have been renowned for giving us a single player exclusive open-world experience giving us the ultimate adventure. from crafting weapons, building settlements, story and side-quest. However the most important of all would be its storytelling which I’m afraid is lacking in the Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. As the title mentions, I’ll discuss 10 things that caught my attention in the B.E.T.A. with both the good and bad. Please note that this is from a consoled gamers point of view exclusively.
Lack of Story/ No NPCs
I just want to say I’m highly disappointing due to the fact of Fallout 76 completely removing characters from the game. Yep, I said it there is not a single human being in the game you could talk to as everyone is dead but us real-life players which are unthinkable to do in a Single-player story driven based franchise and fanbase. The story takes place around the time the first vault dwellers left their vaults to explore the outside world 25 years after the nukes drop with vault 76 is our origin. The only dialogue you get is through holotapes of people whom are of course dead but serve as teachers at the beginning of the game to understand the basics such as building a C.A.M.P. Robots you could talk to but you can’t ask questions or even speak but listen. Bethesda even mentioned themselves that as they were designing Fallout 76 they notice it was missing a story narrative so they added the Vault 76 Overseer audio logs as a trail to follow and listen to throughout the game. So if your a fan of a great story with engaging characters then prepare for a big disappointment in that regard.
Graphics
Although Fallout games have not been known for its advancements in graphical fidelity and sometimes rather outdated looks(Mostly due to its outdated Creation Engine), Fallout 76 looks very similar as Fallout 4 (2015) but with higher saturation and far more beautiful forest environments of trees and grass which is more inviting compared to others. However, its missing environmental detail other than blood splatter on my weapons during close-quarter combat which isn’t enough for a 2018 game nearing its next console generation possibly soon but could be to the factor of B.E.T.A. Urban environments look rather completely the same as the previous installment and that goes the same for the water. Sometimes textures popping is highly visible a few times the farther you are from Vault 76 but Bethesda themselves mentioned that it was intentional for the B.E.T.A. as they did not expect us to travel so far throughout the world. during the B.E.T.A. I was not able to experience rain or hazardous weather throughout my play-through. Day and Night cycles remain in the game and feel the same which is good. in all the graphics could be better but isn’t disturbing for a fallout online game and B.E.T.A.
Player Customization
Player Customization remains the same as the last game with little if any noticeable changes other than new preset faces to create from. body physique, scarring, and markings are all present like fallout 4. Now problematic like most customization in games is the lack of wool or afro textured hairstyles when creating black protagonist. Although Fallout 76 has the most wool textured hairstyles than most games I have played if it is excluding sports or shamefully crime genre ones it’s still nowhere enough when compared to the stringy or thin hairstyles available which is very discouraging at times as a black gamer. I noticed with skin color when I choose umber (a medium brown – the so-called “melaninate” options in the game ) it looks far lighter than my fallout 4 umber skinned character which forces you to be light skin brown or deep dark-skinned person with no in between. this could be from changes within their graphics engine lighting and saturation which are noticeable as I realized this upon walking out the vault by is still a bit inappropriate. Overall they really should have added new hairstyles across a texture types instead of adding the exact same.
Skin Textures are slightly better and look less clay-ish when compared to Fallout 4 but becomes unnoticeable during gameplay
UI /Menus/PIP-Boy
Like all Fallout games, Fallout 76 allows you to use your PIP-boy (Personal Information Processor) which is basically an in-game inventory menu. Fallout 76 allows you to have a transparent pip-boy menu rather than the physical arm menu displayed in the image above. I particularly use the transparent menu as it gives you visibility of your in-game screen for enemies in front which is imperative in a real-time game. Previous fallouts would pause the game upon opening pip-boy. there’s also the editor of an emotes menu giving your character personality and also communication such as wanting to trade or telling fellow wanderers to follow. a new quick menu for quickly equipping favorited items has been added again and stimpaks are now used with the right d-pad which is great
The Map has also been changed from your pip-boy to your pause menu. The map is huge and nicely colored and design with Fallout 76 being the biggest fallout game ever. here you can see settlements, towns and various locations. Other players are also visible all across the map. However, quest objective icons need to be much bigger with better indicators because they are barely noticeable when compared to player icons color and size.
My only problem is the organization of aid items like other fallouts. this is because aids that actually heal you should be separate from ones that quench your thirst or hunger(which I’ll discuss later on). and once you run out of that Favorited aid item such as boiled water its symbol is removed from your quick menu which is annoying if you re-obtain boiled water again but can’t quickly equip it anymore until favored again.
Survival: Hunger & Thirst
Fallout 4 had a survival mode than not only made enemies and combat highly difficult but added a new element of danger in the form of hunger and thirst. With Fallout 76 that danger permanently returns. It is a simple danger that can easily be avoided so as long as you drink water and eat foods. some items naturally help better than others but throughout my gameplay, I never gained fatigue which damages the players’ health and stamina or Action Points. This makes Fallout 76 truly a survival game so you going to want to stack up on food and water supplies before going Rambo 24/7
S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Perks Overhaul
Bethesda has completely overhauled the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) system which served as a perk enhancer like previous installments. The difference here is it comes in the form of points but with cards. The more points you have in an attribute the more cards you can stack so 3 points in Strength is 3 cards stacked. These cards carry there own perks like dog food quenches hunger three times as much or melee attacks damage doubles. Having the same type of cards can increase its tiers powering them up. What I like most is that the cards are interchangeable at all times saving you from being bound to a particular build
Combat Mechanics
Now getting into the nitty-gritty aspect of the game is the combat. Let me say it’s very and I mean very clunky especially in crowded combat. to be fair, I do understand that this is a testing B.E.T.A. but let’s be real, its only one week away from release. Not to mention Bethesda reputation of glitch probed games but the fact that this is its first online based game isn’t a good sign.___. the shooting mechanics is the same as Fallout 4 but it seems to me they increased bullet size in compensation for the latency of the game due to its frame-drops in combat. Sometimes it gets so bad I just switch to melee weapons and go Skyrimming with it. the worst part is the overhaul or I like to call de-hauling of the V.A.T.S. system(Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System).
V.A.T.S. was the badassery of all Fallout games in combat and what made you the killing machine in combat. This is due to its slowing down of real-time and its enhancement targeting system displaying enemy weaknesses to be exploited with critical shots. In truth, V.A.T.S. compensated for Fallout games staggering combat frames and gave you a precise look into combat accuracy to take down multiple combatants at once. However, Fallout 76 V.A.T.S. system kept everything except the most important which is its bullet-time or slowing down of time. Understandably this is an online based game which negates such a feature, however, V.A.T.S. is still had its issues alone. locking on closer makes you more accurate yet you sometimes miss even if the enemy is staring directly at the barrel of my gun which plagued all fallout games even with fully upgraded Perception perk. its a shame to see such an error occur in yet another Fallout considering the height Fallout 76 is displayed to be on an as an online based game. Melee in vats seems far beneficial at points but awkward with its nature to teleport me towards the enemy making me believe V.A.T.S. was the last thought of this game.
The Enemies of this game are also bland with no raiders at least but walking ghouls especially scorched which are ghouls with guns however super mutants have returned. The others are new mutated animal creatures some which look out of place and more Skyrim-ish like the fallout dragon scorch beast. the A.I. needs some reworking with enemy animation sometimes not responding or reacting and enemies t-posing across the field. Some won’t even attack at all like the Mothman bug(no pun intended).
PVP
PVP I have not experienced personally but after some research its best I didn’t at all or be in the game until a later free update. in order to initiate PVP, a player must shoot another player but in order to activate combat mode, the attacked player must attack back(sounds like Borderlands right). Heres the problem though. the player that attacks first does near no damage, This is so that players can’t be abused by other bloodthirsty griefing players or dirty ones who shoot you behind your back which I totally agree with but what makes this system completely illogical is that the player who is attacked with little damage can turn around and do actual lethal damage. Imagine someone with damage buffs, a shotgun and V.A.T.S. you in the head and your finished which renders PVP completely pointless. Even the bottle caps payoff is garbage after combat as you can’t steal all a player’s caps but only there resources of junk/materials for crafting. You can’t lose any gear either.
WANTED Bounties
Another new addition in Fallout 76 is Wanted bounties. This like other than being another PVP element is slightly less pointless than 76’s competitive player combat. A player becomes wanted when they somehow manage to kill another player that did not initiate combat (that must have taken a whole army of bullets). Next, you become wanted and all players within the game can visibly see your bounty on the map. The catch is the bountied player cannot see others giving them a big disadvantage especially with a team. your teammates are not responsible for your action making them not wanted. you can gain a good amount of bottle caps but wanted bounties are rare to see due to the hard nature of getting it even if u wanted to.
Hunter/Hunted Mode
In Fallout 76 there is a silver lining to the PVP madness or player who wants real competitive action and Its call Hunter/Hunted. As weird as the name may be, Hunter/Hunted is a radio station accessed on your pipboy and activated by tuning in. Once activated along with other five random players random across the world one player will be targeted by a visible radius around their location. the catch is that you may be the hunter but you’re possibly hunted as well (that weird name is starting to make sense now isn’t it). the more kills you get the better loot and you get a hefty amount of bottle caps. This addition is very intriguing and I hope to see bigger installments upon it in the near future such as 20 players.
Global Events
With this game being online based is the edition of global events. These timed events occur at random with it being accessible to all players no matter their level and can be fast traveled to. Objectives of these events vary from escorting robots to defending areas from hordes of enemies and much more. you can gain good loot from these events but Bethesda should put difficulty or level markers on some because I joined one event of defending an area from loads of powerful high-level super mutants that barely took damage so I hauled ass to save ammo and equipment. Not to mention the heavy framerate drops.
Crafting/C.A.M.P. Building
Fallout 76 remains true to its crafting sytems in some areas but possibly not where it matters most. you can craft ammo and various aids and damage buffs to help give you that edge in combat you need most in your journeys. However, every adventure needs a place of rest and recuperation and that’s what C.A.M.P. is for. C.A.M.P. is a new feature that allows you to build on the go anywhere or at least in open areas away from naturally established areas of the game. It’s pretty much a portable workshop from Fallout 4. You can build out your heart’s desire with some options being locked until completing some holotape missions or finding blueprints. There is a problem in my opinion. Let’s say someone builds a big settlement such as a supermarket for trading the size of Wal-Mart. Once that player logs off their entire settlement are removed. I have heard that your building is saved but you just have to place it back where it was as long as it isn’t occupied. I can see this becoming tedious especially in areas becoming populated over time so hopefully, Bethesda can fix this issue somehow. There also needs to be various camps you can put down at once or at least 3.
Conclusion
Fallout 76 B.E.T.A is an bright sunny online chore game filled with random quest and events to be accomplished across the beautiful wasteland of West Virginia in Appalachia. Its a complete ghost-land inhabited by us the players whom I believe Bethesda expects to role-play in a rather grind-infested game like most today which is not acceptable for a story based franchise. The only thing making hold on to hope for Fallout 76 other than me being a fan of the series is to explore the whole map but in the back of my mind at every turn is me knowing there are no engaging diverse characters to immerse me in my environment like the Children of Atom did for me in Fallout 4 in the radioactive glowing sea or the incognito Railroad faction under the Commonwealth. I also loved having an interactive conversation and the ability to persuade people with my high charisma. This makes me playing Fallout 4 again put shame to the obviously giant hole within the fabric of Fallout 76. and as far as it being an online game brings hostility to the fan-base in my opinion if it means removing actual narrative or story the franchise once was. even role-playing to me is problematic as camps are entirely removed once you log off and playing a bad guy isn’t cutting it with its awkward pvp system.
What Bethesda should make a number one priority other than the dreadful stability issues is released a free story-based DLC with characters to engage conversations with and new charisma cards that are geared towards it. It needs to be free as a compensation for what the series was orientated towards in the beginning but making it paid DLC would be pouring acid on a fatal wound the game already has. so far the game seems more of a “free to play” type waiting to be riddled in micro-transactions with the Atomic Shop rather than being an actual $60 game and that’s from apart the natural bugs of the B.E.T.A.
Hopefully, we will see much changes awaiting on November 14 of Fallout 76 launch in fixing various bugs to at least make it stable but until then “Please Stand By”.
- A Review Code was provided by Bethesda