Fallout 76 BETA comes out for PC in 3.5hrs from the time of this post

BUTUZ

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I think fallout has arrived in NOPEland!

Still that's £50 saved.

I wonder what ships I can get for £50.,,,,??? :D
 
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Montoya

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Interesting selection of bugs and refinements to get ironed out in less than 14 days.
Launch day is not going to be perfect, but I understand where they are going on this.

Fallout 4 fans put in +1000hrs into re-rolling characters and playing through over and over.

Fallout 76 just takes this group of people and puts them into a live service game, where events change and eventually maps added.
 
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supitza

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I'm going to be playing today, starting at 5 pm ET.
If you want to get together, let me know!
 

Gabgrave

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Everytime EA puts out a game with scummy sales tactics, I put the money into Star Citizen instead... which is how I have $2500 sitting in SC now...
Time to add Bethesda and Blizzard to the blacklist too... bloody Diablo mobile game my arse...
 

Naruw

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I was really looking forward to this game and I reserve final judgment until a week or two after it goes live but all indications are there that this is a lazy cash grab reusing assets from a 10-year-old engine not bothering to fix bugs from pre fallout 4... but the atom in-game store is working!

It's really hard not to be cynical about how companies put out low-quality products in an effort to make max money with minimal effort. I think if they gave FO76 another 2-3 month to solve the issues and revisit the no NPC idea to aid in storytelling this would be right in my wheelhouse but as is, I've already canceled my preorder.
 

Montoya

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revisit the no NPC idea to aid in storytelling this would be right in my wheelhouse
Thats the part I first felt was missing too, but after a few hours in and exploring based off holotapes and notes, I am ok with it.

FO76 is essentially the canvas they get to paint on going forward, so I do expect fully voiced NPC mission givers in the future, which is the only thing missing here that essentially makes this FO5, but with friends if you want.
 

Naruw

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Thats the part I first felt was missing too, but after a few hours in and exploring based off holotapes and notes, I am ok with it.

FO76 is essentially the canvas they get to paint on going forward, so I do expect fully voiced NPC mission givers in the future, which is the only thing missing here that essentially makes this FO5, but with friends if you want.
I hope your right! The creation club and Atom store have me deeply concerned as to what this game will become, putting microtransactions as the foundation of the game and not the gameplay etc.. I still hope you're correct though and will eat all the crow if wrong!
 

Lorddarthvik

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Played the 4 hours today. First 2 alone to get out of the vault and lvl up, then with a higher lvl friend.
It was... Mediocre.

It's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
I've never played any open world survival mmo before, as most of them didn't interest me, so while I did know what to expect, the Fallout skin helped a lot.

Game looks fine, I dunno what all the bitching is about. It can look outright gorgeous in some places. Yes it's no SC, but it's perfectly fine for a Bethesda game. Also, it's a console MMO, what did you expect? Raytracing with multibounce realtime GI ligthing, and 8K per-pixel displacement maps?

Audio is there as well, the usual fallout sounds, nice music, maybe a bit more punchy gun sounds compared to what I remember from F4, and it melds well with the gameplay.

Gameplay is... well, I kinda liked it! There I said it! As someone who put in 250+ hours per every fallout game since 3 (and skyrim ofc), I still like it. There is nothing new really, but it works for a first impression. You get quests, go out, find the quest location, collect the item or activate the thing, and get your reward. Like in every RPG. It's not that different...
The combat is kinda annoying though. It can get chaotic and laggy fast. Enemies, especially smaller mutated things like molerats and rabid dogs keep popping in at 2-3 feet away and swarm the player instantly. It's fun for the first 2-3 times, than it just becomes annoying. The Very.Autoaim,Totally.Stupid - aka VATS - is bad. It's bad cos it's necessary. I may not be the best shot in FPS games, but I have much less trouble getting through a level of Brutal Doom on Realism difficulty than hitting a goddamn bloodsucking Tick in this game. With all the lag and RPG-so-you-can-miss-from-point-blank system, it is very much a necessity.

Pipe pistols and such low tier weapons finally have an actual use, which is a plus, as I never ever had to use one in F4...

There are some things that might be really more of a chore in the long run, like having to look for repair materials (couldn't find a single piece of aluminium to repair my guns with. Also, aluminium in pipe guns and 50's bolt action rifles? wtf bethesda, at least watch a yourtube video on it ffs...), NPCs destroying what you built (a super mutant shot my 'tato plant...), and once you discover everything and do all the quests, I guess there won't be much left to do other than endless PVP and grinding world events.

Also, bugs and lag are everywhere. From floating NPC-s to shots registering only seconds later, I've seen loads of silly things that needs to get fixed, and fast.
Voice chat didn't work for me, it didn't pick up my voice (mic was working fine in discord and windows) and I had to switch to the global area chat to hear my teammate as setting it to Team-only didn't work.

Playing in a team was fun. It makes for a more silly/arcade version of Fallout. As long as you don't expect any deep strategic play, it's fun. Run around with a couple o mates, shoot up stuff, loot stuff, complete some quests and events, level up, laugh at the silly hovering robot getting stuck on an inch high pebble, rinse and repeat until had enough. As long as you don't take it seriously, it works.

I guess in the long run this game will live or die on the small dedicated fan base that will keep on building large bases, battling it out with other clans for the Nukes, getting wiped out, and repeating it again and again, until something more shiny comes along in the same genre.

Is it a cashgrab? Hell yeah it is! But as long as it's fun and good enough, why not? The writers of Fallout 5 have to be paid from something...

TLDR: While I found it kinda fun, I won't be pre-ordering this. It's worthy of a 20usd price tag at best, as it is "only" Fallout 4 stitched together into a mostly working generic Survival MMO. It feels like a Mod or DLC, not a full new title. Like a better one of those early-access games that were born out of a mod. It works, it feels like Fallout, it can be fun, but it's not Fallout 5.

I'll try to give it a go tomorrow as well. Maybe I can find some aluminum to weld up my hardened-steel shotgun with...
 
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Montoya

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There are some things that might be really more of a chore in the long run, like having to look for repair materials
That is actually a good thing.

After about 80hrs in Fallout 4 you have so many materials you are never short for anything.

I installed mods which made it hard to find some things to make the game more challenging.

As you explore in FO76 you will find lots of aluminium cans lying around, they may seem scarce in the beginning, but you will keep finding them slowly.

It adds to the gameplay if you know that your powersuit arm is damaged and needs something to repair it, you make that your objective for the evening to go and find that item you are missing.
 
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Lorddarthvik

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That is actually a good thing.

After about 80hrs in Fallout 4 you have so many materials you are never short for anything.

I installed mods which made it hard to find some things to make the game more challenging.

As you explore in FO76 you will find lots of aluminium cans lying around, they may seem scarce in the beginning, but you will keep finding them slowly.

It adds to the gameplay if you know that your powersuit arm is damaged and needs something to repair it, you make that your objective for the evening to go and find that item you are missing.
True, fallout4 was way too easy.
Generally I like the idea that you have to look for these things, and it gives you something to do. But what will happen when you level up to max lvl, and want to do something else, like do some harder content aimed at teams (raids?). Will you have to do the same "aluminum runs" that you were doing since lvl 5 every day to keep your guns and armor repaired? To me, that sounds very repetitive and would end up boring real fast... I guess we will have to see how it balances out.
 
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Heartwood

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There are camps on the map to claim (like the F4 settlements with a buidling station) and they offer rich resource types (minerals to mine or junyard items to find) . After you get it, enemies will come as waves to take it back. So far, it was one wave after 3 min. and then a long pause. I was alone and the wave had 10 mini robots coming at me all at once.

Additionally, your own camp gets hit and often loses a structure. One feral can punch out a lvl 1 turret (he stormed in and positioned himself to the back).

Imagine 5 super mutants with one rocket launcher... Because the camp has a max limit on structures, i can see this being relevant all the way to end game, as i cannot put down 10 turrets currently.

All these things coupled with multiplayer interaction seem intersting! As do boss monsters with the new desease mechanics and fire dmg etc. Those mechanics may crack your character like an egg. Better get a doctor with you, who heals you with fire dmg or revives you with stim packs.

You may need to have healing paste ready and stimpacks, the right perk cards available (i am struggling to get good ones for 9 lvls now) or specific armor with resistances.

And lastly: Any build can be crushed. So far, the distribution of perks is done quite well. Really interested in the end game and if it will fall short or offer really difficult content.
 

orac_zen

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I am really disappointed so far with the graphics. I hope the final version is way better!
 
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NaffNaffBobFace

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Hey remember that great MMO game that was great on day one, and had everything just right? Yeah me neither.
I can't remember a game in recent history that was truly finished before they released it. Some have even killed their franchises, like Sim City 4... or perhaps they were finished but then whittled down so parts could be released later as extra content...?

Who knows.

EDIT - I've realised thats incorrect, GTA-V for example was a fully fleshed game that bits and peices were added to... I believe it also had one of the largest productions budgets of any game yet made which might clue us in to where a bunch of that money went.
 
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BUTUZ

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Hey remember that great MMO game that was great on day one, and had everything just right? Yeah me neither.
Ultima Online?? :S
 
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Naruw

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Hey remember that great MMO game that was great on day one, and had everything just right? Yeah me neither.
For some reason, the games industry gets a big pass on having completed work. what if the brand new Oven you bought didn't come with a door or burners, or if at your job you could turn in a project that was only 2/3 complete.. I would be more understanding of Bethesda if they showed improvement in product delivery on day one. The fact that they prioritized the microtransaction store over Field of view or PC port compatibility tells me where their priorities are. I'm all for an ever-evolving and improving game but let's not treat the games industry with such low expectations, that why things have got so bad and toxic in this industry.

This game needs 3-6 months of work before its release but they are going to push it out regardless just like Fallout 4 , the big difference is that Modders won't be able to salvage it for at least a year, even than Bethesda will likely charge people to use Mods via the creation club.

RED Dead 2 just came out, talk about a game that exceeds expectations and moves that bar..
 
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