Good article, Red. I don't always agree with your points of view but your articles are almost always thougtful and well-written.
That said, I'd encourage you to re-read the paragraph about the nylon/canvas debacle. There are several errors in there that are pretty basic -- a couple include using "nylon" where you most likely mean to use "canvas" instead!
I never bought it. The first gameplay video showed me everything I needed to know about it. What was coming was obvious.
So much this The gameplay just looked clunky and real crap to me. Even watching videos of gameplay just look bad to me.
I'm not sure I agree with that. A lot of the gameplay is pretty inline with recent FO titles. If you like FO, that's probably not a good reason to give it a pass.
There ARE plenty of reasons. Just that this may not be the best if it's you're only hangup.
Right, Fallout's gun-play and animations have always been lousy , V.A.T.S was the piss poor combats saving grace. It's pretty shocking when you think about the fact Bethesda took the weakest parts of the fallout series and made them the feature of their new game .
How they could overlook or just ignore the fact the fanbase was playing their games for the RPG elements is beyond me.
I've personally found combat in all Bethesda games mediocre at best.
My experience so far (25 hrs played) on a 4.5 year old Sager gaming laptop running Windows 7 here in US.
One disconnect after playing for 3.5 hrs one evening, the same night I experienced some in game lag at the start of the session which dogged me off and on until the d/c. They installed the latest patch the next morning.
Weird graphical glitches. A couple perhaps, not enough to recall a specific instance where it was memorable or blocked me from something.
Shovels, lying everywhere in the Forest and Toxic lake areas, stepped right over one several times last night as it was in a room with a convenient crafting station. I normally scrap them but my stash is already at 550 just 2 days after its expansion.
I'm assuming Red needs a specific quest related shovel, but I'm going to save one in my stash just in case though shovels are actually weapons and not tools.
Human NPCs...I agree their absence does feel more like the devs ran out of time and omitted them for efficiency reasons more than anything else.
I did feel a touch of sadness after reading all the notes and holos about the Responders only to find out what eventually happened to them all. The lore however did explain how they all disappeared at one swoop. Pro tip, sometimes falling back to "Helms Deep" really is a bad idea.
Never the less, I am hoping humanoid npcs will be introduced in future expansions, it would make for a better experience.
Like Red I did not buy the power helmet edition so I'm not sure how the handling of the situation is a "final straw" in deciding to stop playing. Showing solidarity for his fellow gamers perhaps?
Not a concern for me, I hold most gamers in contempt anyways (none of the fine folks here of course, well..maybe one clown) so a total non factor but Red got really worked up as he used the word nylon twice in his write up where I think he meant to say canvas, and he's usually more careful than that.
I think it's fair to say Bethesda is a very sloppy game developer, has terrible customer service, poor data security, struggles to control exploits and makes what appear to be terrible business based decisions with an incredible level of nativity.
At days end they still are game developers who tell good stories and FO76 actually has some great tales to tell, but you have to be willing to learn it in manner very different from previous efforts. Players who dislike reading or listening to sometimes quite long holo recordings will likely scream in agony at some point, I teeter on the edge at times.
They remind me of Turbine and Funcom, two other long time dev houses who struggle to deliver quality.
Speaking of quality, past few days I've had an issue with holo tapes needed to be stopped / restarted when first played, even after the Tuesday patch. Last evening for some reason the problem went away....magic fix I guess, or just a lucky break, not sure.
So I'll play on, though I'm reconsidering my decision to play a melee build. With no AOE it's a real struggle to deal with Super Mutant packs as they have very high damage resistance, at least to my axe or baseball bat. If It could get my hands on a power sledge perhaps things would go better.
You are to be commended for your patience, perseverance - and taking the time to provide a write up.
Thanks, on my Samsung 8 no less.....my thumb is still sore.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
[quote]One of the most controversial aspects of the game is the lack of NPCs. [/quote]
This is a blatantly false statement that people keep parroting, and it's only controversial to people that seem to need hand holding through their experience.
There ARE NPC's, there are however no human NPC's, and that is part of the story. There are other humans in game in the form of other players, which I don't have a problem with at all. It's a non issue.
From what story I've seen so far, it's not so bad. I haven't really focused on experiencing it though so, I just catch bits of it here and there. Leaving out NPCs has made the world seem a little less alive, even though they were aiming for the opposite with all live humans being players. I'd like NPCs, who knows if they'll put em in later. Maybe, maybe not. They did say the game will evolve with player feedback though so I guess anything is possible.
I'm glad there's no global text or voice chat though, since those would kill the immersion.
I think it would be a good idea to implement them, even if they fail to come up with a legitimate lore reasoning for doing so.
I don't doubt the environmental storytelling is good. Bethesda is pretty much king of environmental storytelling. But to relegate the entirety of lore and story to canned lines with no interaction, it makes it seem to me as if the storytelling is an audiobook they fit inside a video game.
The holotapes and notes in FO4 are awesome, but they're awesome because it's icing on the cake, not the cake itself. I feel as if Bethesda may have overestimated the role such environmental storytelling can fill.
Maybe make it a craftable opt-in?
For human NPCs? I would love to see them craft cloning vats and create NPCs haha. But how would that work with narrative content?
Well, I meant for communication. If you want to participate, maybe have to find the plan and then build a radio. Equip it to turn chat on or off. That's what I'd have done, I think.
Good article, Red. I don't always agree with your points of view but your articles are almost always thougtful and well-written.
That said, I'd encourage you to re-read the paragraph about the nylon/canvas debacle. There are several errors in there that are pretty basic -- a couple include using "nylon" where you most likely mean to use "canvas" instead!
Yeah, a friend caught that and has been spamming me about it. I've been out of town on business and haven't had a chance to get back to it. That's why my forum activity has been in tight period of mass posts.
[quote]One of the most controversial aspects of the game is the lack of NPCs. [/quote]
This is a blatantly false statement that people keep parroting, and it's only controversial to people that seem to need hand holding through their experience.
There ARE NPC's, there are however no human NPC's, and that is part of the story. There are other humans in game in the form of other players, which I don't have a problem with at all. It's a non issue.
Well, if people keep "parroting" it, then I think that qualifies the part about it's being among the most common, so you'd be giving your own evidence as to the inconsistency of that portion of the statement.
They VERY NEXT SENTENCE is: "Every Fallout game to this point has had nonrobotic NPCs to interact with, and Fallout 76 doesn’t really fall in a place timeline-wise for there to be any reason that wouldn’t be true here, too."
So it just happens that not taking a single statement out of context invalidates the second half of your statement.
... thus, you are wrong. I'd also point out that other people not liking something doesn't mean you liking it is wrong, nor the other way around. I've freely admitted a number of times that there are very good aspects of FO76 and have no problem continuing to do so. I can understand why some would enjoy the game. I had problems with it. I was writing about MY problems with the game and why _I_ uninstalled.
Insisting everyone on the planet share in your own subjective sense of enjoyment is.... well, frankly pretty juvenile. If you're not speaking with a therapist, I could recommend a few online resources that might help you better adjust to adult society. PM me if you'd like the info. You may be find broadcasting your own mental issues to the world, but it's not something I'm comfortable supporting.
Its getting better. The patch on the 4th fixed a lot of things. They added even more a couple days later. There is another major one on the 11th. To uninstall it now is just dumb. But I doubt he did, and if he did I am sure it was reinstalled as soon as he could get to it.
Problem is most people played through it as-is bugs and all. So theyre done (unless they do another play through with the fixes in place.
People complaining about it now either didnt buy it or are just the types who complain about everything. Or are guys looking for click bait nonsense.
Been playing since launch on PC, the game is less buggy and more stable than a lot of games out there. I've lost track of hours played. I'm loving the exploration and quests and stories. Combat mechanics could be better; it's just F4 without the slow-down of VATS. I personally got annoyed by a lot of the NPCs in F4, and I kind of prefer the reading and listening. I'm still enjoying the game, and I've already got my money's worth. Gamers seem to think that 50-60 bucks should extend for 1000's of hours of gameplay. If I get a 1$/1hr ratio, then I'm usually pretty pleased with the value. Now, I'm going to leave this thread and hop in to F76. Those of you that haven't played it can sit here and complain about how bad it is.
This is the best fallout world ever hands down. It's a blast to play. It does have glaring issues. You might have some serious hardware issues tho. I play on an FX processor and a 1060 and have never crashed and the game runs well. It might not be the game everyone wanted but it is a fairly accurate dead world where the vaults just opened imo. Tons of things to be discovered. A lot of people are jumping on the hate wagon but its not totally deserved. A lot of them haven't even played it enough to have seen the entertaining scenes scattered all over the map. I'm sure they're dedicated to fixing the issues. I hope they don't kill the highly detailed world they made doing it.
Been playing since launch on PC, the game is less buggy and more stable than a lot of games out there. I've lost track of hours played. I'm loving the exploration and quests and stories. Combat mechanics could be better; it's just F4 without the slow-down of VATS. I personally got annoyed by a lot of the NPCs in F4, and I kind of prefer the reading and listening. I'm still enjoying the game, and I've already got my money's worth. Gamers seem to think that 50-60 bucks should extend for 1000's of hours of gameplay. If I get a 1$/1hr ratio, then I'm usually pretty pleased with the value. Now, I'm going to leave this thread and hop in to F76. Those of you that haven't played it can sit here and complain about how bad it is.
This is the best fallout world ever hands down. It's a blast to play. It does have glaring issues. You might have some serious hardware issues tho. I play on an FX processor and a 1060 and have never crashed and the game runs well. It might not be the game everyone wanted but it is a fairly accurate dead world where the vaults just opened imo. Tons of things to be discovered. A lot of people are jumping on the hate wagon but its not totally deserved. A lot of them haven't even played it enough to have seen the entertaining scenes scattered all over the map. I'm sure they're dedicated to fixing the issues. I hope they don't kill the highly detailed world they made doing it.
Yeah the world building was handled quite well- Its just a barren and empty one and much of the detailed (and admittedly cool) locations are very underwhelming in actual content and seem a missed opportunity.
Just seems like a very lackluster survival clone in the FO universe that appears to be in early access and priced way above its worth when comparing the litany of other survival games out there that are, frankly much better and contain much more content- Yet lack the IP.
I've no doubt it will get better and perhaps might even become fun at some point in the future- But right now? No- I'm usually the guy who loves things the masses agree they hate- In this case I'm one of the masses.
Game is frigging doomed. Even those who might find it interesting would be turned away by amount of negativity (and everything about technical issues is pure truth) game received.
If they somehow manage the turnaround that would be more epic than winning Novare Coast in SWTOR with 4%.
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That said, I'd encourage you to re-read the paragraph about the nylon/canvas debacle. There are several errors in there that are pretty basic -- a couple include using "nylon" where you most likely mean to use "canvas" instead!
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Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
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Aloha Mr Hand !
This is a blatantly false statement that people keep parroting, and it's only controversial to people that seem to need hand holding through their experience.
There ARE NPC's, there are however no human NPC's, and that is part of the story. There are other humans in game in the form of other players, which I don't have a problem with at all. It's a non issue.
Thanks for the catch, though.
They VERY NEXT SENTENCE is: "Every Fallout game to this point has had nonrobotic NPCs to interact with, and Fallout 76 doesn’t really fall in a place timeline-wise for there to be any reason that wouldn’t be true here, too."
So it just happens that not taking a single statement out of context invalidates the second half of your statement.
... thus, you are wrong. I'd also point out that other people not liking something doesn't mean you liking it is wrong, nor the other way around. I've freely admitted a number of times that there are very good aspects of FO76 and have no problem continuing to do so. I can understand why some would enjoy the game. I had problems with it. I was writing about MY problems with the game and why _I_ uninstalled.
Insisting everyone on the planet share in your own subjective sense of enjoyment is.... well, frankly pretty juvenile. If you're not speaking with a therapist, I could recommend a few online resources that might help you better adjust to adult society. PM me if you'd like the info. You may be find broadcasting your own mental issues to the world, but it's not something I'm comfortable supporting.
Problem is most people played through it as-is bugs and all. So theyre done (unless they do another play through with the fixes in place.
People complaining about it now either didnt buy it or are just the types who complain about everything. Or are guys looking for click bait nonsense.
Gaming since 1985; Online gaming since 1995; No End in Sight! My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8POVoJ8fdOseuJ4U1ZX-oA
You now may go play your (very) bad game.
Carry on =P
Just seems like a very lackluster survival clone in the FO universe that appears to be in early access and priced way above its worth when comparing the litany of other survival games out there that are, frankly much better and contain much more content- Yet lack the IP.
I've no doubt it will get better and perhaps might even become fun at some point in the future- But right now? No- I'm usually the guy who loves things the masses agree they hate- In this case I'm one of the masses.
Join us.
If they somehow manage the turnaround that would be more epic than winning Novare Coast in SWTOR with 4%.