Fallout 76 Really Sucks. People Act Shocked.

[TorontoReign]

Spoiler

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-11-20-fallout-76-review-a-bizarre-boring-and-broken-mess

https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/11/19/angry-customer-destroys-gamestop-couldnt-return-fallout-76/

https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-review/

https://www.gameinformer.com/review/fallout-76/over-encumbered

In a relationship it is good practice to never say “I told you so” no matter how justified you are. It doesn't matter ultimately if you were right and they were wrong, and they acted like a petulant child stubbornly refusing to admit wrongdoing - what matters is how best to move forward. Fallout fans worldwide now feel the pain that was first spawned here at No Mutants Allowed long ago.

First the clueless video game executives rushed Fallout 2 creating this doomed timeline in which we exist. That created an overabundance of pop culture shenanigans that set the stage for future dunce cap escapades. Someone up top must have saw dollar signs because they made a spinoff. If we knew that would be the last turn-based isometric Fallout, maybe we would have treated it more kindly? Who knows. They rushed it out the door in a buggy state (common trend is it?) as a result - it did not meet their expectations. But there was a numbered sequel on the horizon. Hope was not dead yet.

The halls of NMA were filled with strife. Fallout Tactics left a bad taste in the mouths of the Glittering Gems. The writing was on the wall. Fallout 3 was shaping up to be truly unique though. They even had a brand new engine to show off more fancy polygons. Then came word of a console spinoff.

We were told if we wanted games like Fallout 3, we needed to buy Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, which was essentially Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance with more retarded shit. I am told words like “shit” are unprofessional, but there is a clear distinction between garbage and shit. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel was so bad it was offensive. Fallout: PoS as it came to be known was truly depressing for fans of the series.

If you lurk among the denizens of Youtube you might find a few fans in the comment section. You will invariably note they were all children when they played it, or they are just huge Fallout fanboys. At one time it held the lowest scores in the series.

https://segmentnext.com/2018/11/20/...in-history-fallout-4-dlcs-have-higher-scores/

Not for long perhaps.

Interplay imploded due to mismanagement not long after. The radio went dark. Time passed. Word came of Bethesda buying the rights to the franchise. A faint glimmer of hope was there for fans of Daggerfall and Morrowind. Some of the oldest of the Glittering Gems cried afoul. They predicted a dark future of simplification and retardation that almost everyone in existence wrote off as butthurt fanboy hyperbole.

Fallout 3 boasted 50 zillion endings with unlimited possibilities (if you mod it) and to it's defense it is the most RPG-like of the Bethesda Fallout games. That being said NMA was not treated kindly. Bethesda knew the enemy. The enemy was the Old Guard. There was a great schism that took from us some of our most esteemed members. No doubt Bethesda shills lurked in the shadows filled with glee at NMA being torn apart. There was rumor of Interplay coming back with a proposed MMO abomination, but it was not meant to be.

Yet Fallout: New Vegas heralded by the (once great) Obsidian was on the horizon. Just when all hope was lost, a single blessing was bestowed upon us. Not due to Bethesda or their good will for certain, since they shafted Obsidian their bonus due to a single Metacritic score, and forced them to release the game so early it seemed like intentional sabotage.

Bethesda's main team spearheaded supposedly by Todd (Godd) Howard spent eons on Fallout 4 with little to show for it; voiced protagonist, god rays, removing skills, more FPS even fewer choices in regards to quest choices...Bethesda makes enough money to launch a rocket into outer space, but the same bugs from Morrowind appear time after time.

Maybe that is why Fallout 4 is currently at 84 on Metacritic. The exact same score as New Vegas. Diminishing returns Zenimax. Do you see them? Do you have a single video game player on your board? No, you have some movie executive, a retired athlete, and a handful of trust fund babies that probably have blue skin and bug eyes when you put on special pairs of sunglasses.

So Bethesda release Fallout Shelter around the time they release Fallout 4 to fatten the bank accounts of faceless executives in dark boardrooms just a little bit more. Recently they announced a Chinese version called Fallout Shelter Online, so they can milk the profits of China in the hypothetical universe where we went to war with China, while we start a real war with China. We are breaking boundaries here.

It is a debacle you must see. They delay reviews as long as possible with everyone and their dog knowing full well how bad this game is. IGN still has not put up a review, as if the content is so jam packed they simply cannot get it out in time. Either it is sheer cognitive dissonance on a scale engineered by moon lasers in space, or these guys are paid shills.

As of 12:58 PM, November, 20th they have not launched a review. I'll wait. Is it surprising that a lawyer was running Zenimax Media up until 2017? These guys are responsible for making decisions that trickle down onto the heads of poor schmucks like Pete Hines, that are just scrambling to keep their jobs.

This is ridiculous on the scale of absurdity. People are defending this nonsense. “B-but they have 6 DLC's planned, Toront!”

Shut your mouth. Tell your Mommy to stop buying you all the DLC, so these Reptilians at Zenimax don't create the Second Great Video Game Crash - because it is on the horizon. I welcome it actually but don't act surprised. Fallout 76 has the least content of any of the recent games. Fallout Tactics has more variety in quest structure.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (PoS) has a better LAST BOSS.

The last boss in Fallout 76 is called a Scorchbeast Queen. It is a reskin of a Dragon in Skyrim. It uses the same animations. It drops rare blueprints for something called Ultracite Power Armor of course because why not? They already retconned the Brotherhood of Steel with satellites that nobody ever mentioned. Why? They are afraid you are too stupid to figure out the power armor doesn't have to be worn by Brotherhood of Steel guys. Anybody can wear it. FREE STATES perhaps? This game could have featured all new factions but they wanted to maximize profits.

But you will still defend it. You might have a Brotherhood of Steel chapter in your backyard right now. Go check. Nope. Just another Enclave base. They are everywhere too. Video game critics like Jim Sterling have called people like us entitled because we refuse to shove Todd Howard's leftover dog turds into our mouth at every opportunity. Perhaps that is why we were not invited to West Virginia to be doted upon like royalty. The only people that are entitled are the ones reaping rewards for being shills. Not NMA though pardner.

I don't feel entitled to very much these days. I rarely play these games because they are mindless shit; offensively bad to the point it disgusts me. Video games are not art. This is not art. It devalues the entire medium. You can see it on the faces of the developers. You can see what is happening to Blizzard will soon happen to Bethesda. I implore you to reconsider future purchases from Zenimax. Notice I said Zenimax, not Bethesda? They already destroyed Arkane and id Software. They gutted them for valuable intellectual property, but they obviously are not investing those resources on making games better. They are just making more games.

Zenimax might be running a social experiment of sorts. How many $5 hats are you going to buy in Fallout 76? Oh I see. You never buy cosmetics, but that expansion with the new area they added? Tempting you say? You are part of the problem. Stop buying their trinkets and bobbles.

I'm talking to you too NMA. Stop buying $200 power armor collectibles so old guys can keep ruining things we like. Stop buying Elder Scrolls because you can mindlessly roam around for 200 hours before saying the games sucks, but modding it is cool.

You can go to that mountain over there folks. You can climb it. At the top there will be nothing to do except pick up some Holotapes that take huge radioactive dumps all over what remains of the lore. A 12 year old shitposter by the name of LEETSKILZ69 might shoot you, but you don't have to shoot back, just keep ROLEPLAYING.

This is the Burger King of games. They took one of those $100 burgers they eat in their restaurants with names most people can't pronounce, ate half of it, and reformed it into a totally new burger with all their disease seeping into it. Take a big bite folks. Enjoy.

 

[Norzan]

and a handful of trust fund babies that probably have blue skin and bug eyes when you put on special pairs of sunglasses.

They Live is a kickass movie.

 

[FreedomStalker]

This is the Burger King of games. They took one of those $100 burgers they eat in their restaurants with names most people can't pronounce, ate half of it, and reformed it into a totally new burger with all their disease seeping into it. Take a big bite folks. Enjoy.

 

[TheHouseAlwaysWins]

Video games are not art. This is not art. It devalues the entire medium. You can see it on the faces of the developers. You can see what is happening to Blizzard will soon happen to Bethesda.

If video games are not art, how come gamers get so mad over what are essentially toys and aren't art? If it is not meant to be art why should developers put a shred of effort into the product if no one will take it seriously?

 

[TorontoReign]

If video games are not art, how come gamers get so mad over what are essentially toys and aren't art? If it is not meant to be art why should developers put a shred of effort into the product if no one will take it seriously?

Video games are a product meant for mass consumption, often having no real meaning behind them, thus losing most of their artistic merit. If something is truly artistic it will stand apart from all the rest. The only artistic value in Fallout 76 is the world design is visually appealing to look at. The nature of the collaborative/consumerism driven state we are in now in my opinion necessitates a balance of a few criteria to be considered art. Everything should be observed individually.

 

[TheHouseAlwaysWins]

Video games are a product meant for mass consumption, often having no real meaning behind them, thus losing most of their artistic merit. If something is truly artistic it will stand apart from all the rest. The only artistic value in Fallout 76 is the world design is visually appealing to look at. The nature of the collaborative/consumerism driven state we are in now in my opinion necessitates a balance of a few criteria to be considered art. Everything should be observed individually.

Video games are not art

If video games can't ever be art or more than a product for mass consumption why should developers make effort for good games?

 

[TorontoReign]

If video games can't ever be art or more than a product for mass consumption why should developers make effort for good games?

I said there must be a balance. If the only purpose is to make money without any real message it begins to become obvious. Kinda like telling the same Daddy story twice in a row, then just jettisoning what remains of the story into outer space with 76. Yes, you need to make money. Your game also needs a reason to exist besides taking our money. It has to speak to the person on a personal level to some extent. Look at Spec Ops: The Line when compared to the entire Battlefield series.

 

[Wretched Flamingo]

It's a combination of compulsive consumerism and impatient morons. People don't have to go to their local game store in fear of being criticized/shamed for buying Fallout '76, no they can hide in the comfort of their living rooms as the game is being downloaded onto their hard drives. As long as people have money to throw away, games like '76 will continue to be made and make money. So don't blame Bethesda, blame the idiots who fill their coffers.

 

[yfk12]

If video games can't ever be art or more than a product for mass consumption why should developers make effort for good games?

Because people are more inclined to purchase things that are good. Same reason that tech companies put effort into their products. So that they have a higher-quality product than their competitors.

 

[Rheios]

The opinion on the actual material it comes from might be mixed here (it comes form Terry Goodkind's "Faith of the Fallen") but there's a quote exchange I like:
"Would you try to forge steel while its cold?"
"No, of course not. It has to be white hot"
"So must men."

Keep that anger. Infuse others with it. Keeping people angry enough to be aware that things are going to be taking a dive soon is the only way it might be avoided - keep the needle hot to lance a boil. The problem with that is of course people like Jason here (I still haven't finished this. I can only watch it and bits and pieces without yelling arguments at the monitor and problem is more than Jason, plenty of rage dies quickly for people):


There's an argument for calm and acceptance of the 'not that bad'. I almost even get it. I hate rapid change, I hate the belief that the clock's so broken it can't be fixed and is only right twice a day, and only then until the hands fall off. That something built might require being torn down or that people might lose jobs, or that devs are going to suffer from fair complaint. But those are the breaks. Nothing gets improved with some suffering, and I think devs and studios, and us - when we miss what might seem like a good game, a pretty light suffering really - are all going to be having a bit.

Hopefully all that makes sense and I didn't come across as a nutcase encouraging burning down Gamestops or something.

EDIT: I sound like some dumbass wannabe "revolutionary" on reread. I think there's an element of sound advice to it to stay motivated but really? I'm preaching to an informed and intelligent choir here. I'll leave it up since I never delete a post because of a bad reread, even one that makes me sound a bit reactionary and redundant.

 

[John Henry Eden]

>the reviews for the game are slowly going up

This time its not even the big outlets- Forbes, Guardian Newspaper, Eurogamer, large sites like that are slamming the game... but small outlets are for some reason giving the game 76s, 80s, etc.

Its weird to watch the larger reviewers refuse to endorse the game, and smaller reviewers, who'd you expect to have more integrity, go up to bat for them.

 

[yfk12]

>the reviews for the game are slowly going up

This time its not even the big outlets- Forbes, Guardian Newspaper, Eurogamer, large sites like that are slamming the game... but small outlets are for some reason giving the game 76s, 80s, etc.

Its weird to watch the larger reviewers refuse to endorse the game, and smaller reviewers, who'd you expect to have more integrity, go up to bat for them.

Yeah. Even IGN only gave F76 a 75 on the PC metacritic. That's basically a subzero score coming from them. Meanwhile, the 2 other positive reviews are from comparatively small reviewers. 'S weird. Perhaps they're trying to get on Bethesda's good side, maybe get an invitation to a resort when Fallout 5 comes out?

 

[Rheios]

Yeah. Even IGN only gave F76 a 75 on the PC metacritic. That's basically a subzero score coming from them. Meanwhile, the 2 other positive reviews are from comparatively small reviewers. 'S weird. Perhaps they're trying to get on Bethesda's good side, maybe get an invitation to a resort when Fallout 5 comes out?

I mean Bethesda sent Yong Yea the collectors PA helmet and such after his negative reviews. I wonder if the smaller ones got equally "personal" gifts.

 

[Risewild]

I posted this on a different Fallout 76 topic around here. But it fits quite well in this thread:

Most of the reviews I have seen seem to rate the game around 2.5 out of 5, 5(0) out of 10(0). A little bit more or a little bit less.

These are the reviews I found:

• Metacritic PC version (other version don't have enough critics reviews yet): 56 out of 100
• Gadgets 360: 5 out of 10
• Attack of the Fanboy: 2.5 out of 5
• Noob Feed: 55 out of 100
• The Sixth Axis: 3 out of 10
• Gamespot: 4.1 out of 10
• Fortress of Solitude: 55 out of 100
• XBox Tavern: 5.6 out of 10
• Softpedia: 3 out of 5
• Xbox Achievements: 65 out of 100

It seems like it is considered a not very good game. In the age of games that get 75 out of 100 being considered bad or weak...

 

[nkchan16]

I sympathize with the reaction and the frustration but you all know that this is futile. Millions of people don't mind paying for shitty games each day and publishers naturally look for ways to exploit them even more. They're like sheep or cattle or whatever.

Oh, by the way, like the other old guys who gave you Fallout, Fallout 2 and FNV, I'm an old guy and I like Burger King. You blame the old guys while I blame the Millenials for this shit show, as they are the ones who make these games nowadays, and they are also the ones who buy them.

I also would like to mention that games CAN be art, like a well written book or a well made movie. Except, you can't really half-ass art. You have to use everything you have in your disposal to make art and never reveal it until you're satisfied with it. That's the reason why most books, movies or video games are NOT art. They are commercial products for mass consumption.

 

[Ediros]

Something I have found on YouTube:

No one has to believe me I am not naming names or anything but I recently had a off the record chat with an employee at obsidian at a concert literally last week. It seems that the development of New Vegas was seen as a challenge and many people on the development team took it as a friendly and personal challenge to make a good game, better even than Fallout 3. After all if they could follow up a critically acclaimed game successfully the game world would be their oyster. After the success Bethesda took it as a burn and had an attitude of how dare you make a better selling and better made game than us. You brought up the bonuses based on Metacritic scores that was supposed to be based on sales figures and when New Vegas outsold Fall out 3 Bethesda flipped. They promised that bonus not thinking it would sell better and when it did they claimed it only sold well because the hype was still there for Fallout 3 and came up with some random legal jargon to deny the bonuses. After some heated talks Obsidian left with being told that they will never work on a Bethesda game again and New Vegas will never be ported or remade. So much for a New Vegas remaster folks

 

[Risewild]

Oh, by the way, like the other old guys who gave you Fallout, Fallout 2 and FNV, I'm an old guy and I like Burger King. You blame the old guys while I blame the Millenials for this shit show, as they are the ones who make these games nowadays, and they are also the ones who buy them.

Todd Howard is 47 years old, so not a millennial. And he is the director and executive producer of the games. He decides how the games are made and what goes in them.
Ashley Cheng has been the production director of Bethesda Game Studios since 1998, so he must be over 40 years old.

I don't know how old Emil is, but he was already employed by Looking Glass Studios, Inc. in 1998. So 20 years ago, he was probably on his 20's then, assuming he finished University. So he is around 40 years old, also not a millennial. And he writes the main stories and many quests for the games.

Pete Hines is the vice president of Bethesda Softworks, which publishes the games and has to give his OK for that to happen, is 48 years old. Vlatko Andonov has been Bethesda Softworks president since 1995 (23 years) since I doubt he became President before he was at least 20, he is over 40 years old too (he looks like he might be closer to 50-60), not a millennial.

The ones programming the games might be young, but they do not decide what the game will contain, look, the important writing, story, how it plays, what changes to make from the previous games, etc. All of those are decided by people over 40 years old .

Also the millennials seem to not enjoying this new Fallout, because they seem to be buying way less than they did Fallout 4.

And the average gamer age is still around 35 - 40. So not that young.

 

[Cobra Commander]

don't know ..... it's natural that the "sequel" of a hit game will sell even more. Was not Bethesda expecting it?

But yeah, clearly the success of NV left the guys angry. how can a game made in a hurry have been better than the great project in which they worked for 4 years?

and it's kind cute how they wanted to imitate NV with the multiple factions in Fallout 4, but failed miserably

 

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

I think the discussion about video games as art is a tricky one. The modern state of affairs and how business as usual has moved the world, coupled with the fact that people now are struggling more than, say, 20 years ago, makes games seem like they should absolutely be concerned with money first and foremost. But games as money making machines, if you think about it, is actually a contradiction where epistemology is concerned. I suspect that is why people have become tired with the model.

I DO enjoy complex and varied mechanics in the games I play. I enjoy them even more if it's coupled with a fresh story, and presented with interesting individuals. Even more if the environments are innovative and go for a new take on things.

Fallout 76's formula has worn soles on it's shoes and a drape jacket to show off. Whether or not I want it to fail is irrelevant. It will never succeed the same way if it were a GOOD game at launch.

 

[nkchan16]

Todd Howard
Ashley Cheng
Emil
Pete Hines
Vlatko Andonov

None of those people have actually worked on Fallout 76. People say that Howard wasn't even there most of the time. I doubt 76 was his idea either.

The ones programming the games might be young, but they do not decide what the game will contain, look, the important writing, story, how it plays, what changes to make from the previous games, etc. All of those are decided by people over 40 years old .

You are missing the point, it's the Millenials and younger generations who shape today's gaming industry, games are made by them and more importantly FOR them. They have no issues paying for shit games, be it a mobile game or a console game. Yes, console games, the beginning of the disease called consolitis, it was all because of the Millenials. Not to mention they are the ones who praise FO3 and 4 and keep shitting on the original games, which wasn't made by the Millenials.

Who do you think buys all those shitty mobile games today, not to mention spend money on shitty microtransactions? I'm 48 and I've never even wanted a smartphone, let alone paying to play games on it.

And the average gamer age is still around 35 - 40. So not that young.

I highly doubt that people of that age group or older would be interested in playing an online game with a 12 year old though. In other words, I doubt FO76 was made for them. And I bet they are the ones who complain the most about 76.