How Fallout 76 almost broke me (and why I'm never going back to it)

[JoaLoft]

My years in the industry have taught me many things. One of them includes the abandoning of many a prejudices I used to have fifteen years ago about certain franchises and games. If it wasn’t well-known, I’d already have given it a one-way trip to the bin before giving it a fair chance to prove itself. I have learned to expand my horizons and broaden my mind, which has rewarded me with the discovery of excellent little gems such as Shovel Knight and Doki Doki Literature Club. The opposite is very much true as well; I have grown skeptical towards big franchises and games that gloss and glitter, but lack a warm heart. A feeling that envelops me whenever I see Days Gone and RAGE 2 in action (I guess we’ll find out very soon if my instinct is right about these games). And one that also deemed to warn me back in the day about titles such as No Man’s Sky and Fallout 76.

 

By no means am I a Fallout connoisseur: I may have had the pleasure of roaming the wastelands of Washington D.C. , Nevada and the Commonwealth, but I never explored its origins in the first two entries. The whole setup is intriguing to begin with, because its post-apocalyptic setting takes the unconventional twist to turn the place into a theme park of chaos and destruction. Sixties tracks blaring through your Pip-Boy speakers while you’re sipping an ice-cold Nuka Cola, munching on some Sugar Bombs as you shoot down a Radscorpion or two. Casual business. Life almost seems worth living in a place like Fallout’s. Relatively speaking, that is.

 

And yet, the Metro games seem to have surpassed Fallout in its immersive nature, despite the linear structure. Organic gameplay elements that play a cohesive role in the bigger picture, to help tell a story, have pampered me. And maybe even ruined Fallout for me to a certain extent. Even then, I still try to keep an open mind, as Fallout 76 was announced and we drew ever closer to its impending release date. Longtime fans of the franchise could barely contain their excitement. How could you not get excited? A game with that much potential, exploring a huge region with other survivors, teaming up whenever and wherever, settling down and repopulating the surface after the devastating Great War. Cool. “But where’s the real hook? What’s my motivation to step outside and risk life and limb for total strangers in this particular design?” Questions I hoped would get answered in the long run.

 

 

When I finally received my promotional copy, I still felt intrigued to find out just how deep this uncharted rabbit hole could go. The possibilities are vast for a franchise such as this, in an online design where human interaction sounds like a substantial enrichment of the whole experience. And I wanted to give this a fair chance. When I stepped out into the sunlight, emerging from the Vault, and descended down the slopes to build my first home on the banks of a small irradiated river, consisting of mostly rotten wood and bent nails, I felt hopeful about this game. I’d find some saving grace to prove that my instinct was wrong about Fallout 76. Even when I returned online, only to find walls destroyed and turrets in shambles because of human scum or vicious Super Mutants, I rebuilt. I persevered. When my home completely disappeared because it was in close vicinity of another player’s, I rebuilt. I persevered.

 

Twenty hours in. Thirty hours in. Each trip to my home, I pack up with freshly cooked meals and gallons of pure water, and a backpack full of RadAways and Stimpaks. Well-prepared, I left countless ghoul corpses and mole rat carcasses behind me, this far in the game, and earned caps to purchase plans to improve my ever so fragile home. “I’m sure the game is hiding its real treats just around the corner.” Every time I took another turn, I only found empty husks and generic quests. I defended Morgantown’s airstrip. I assisted Grafton’s mayor in his monotonous maintenance tasks. I bargained with the maniacal Rose to gain the knowledge I needed to tread in the Overseer’s footsteps.

 

I rebuilt. I persevered.

 

My optimism was slowly dwindling, but it remained steadfast. Until the “Recruitment Blues” questline. Tasked with the acquisition of a government-issued ID, I entered the Charleston Capital building. It became apparent quickly that this was a clear jab at the convoluted bureaucracy all of us sadly get acquainted with at some point in our lives.

 

Applying at the terminal for an ID. Turning in my application. Taking a ticket. Getting in line. Waiting until your number gets called while you’re fighting off a pack of hungry ghouls resembling a mindless mob of rabid Apple fanboys, bobbing for whatever Tim has Cooked up for them next. “Thank God, it’s my turn. What do I need? A postmarked letter? Fine. I’ll get it.” A quick walk outside, rummaging through garbage (which seems like an appropriate description of this game in general) and I return to the bot at the counter. “What’s next? A blank DMV form from the courthouse? Sigh, sure.” Navigating an almost literal maze in the same building, dealing with myriad hostiles along the way, I finally find the ridiculous single sheet of paper that is required. I backtrack the whole way. I present the form at the counter, and …

 

 

Bot: “ERROR: department B is for renewals only. Department C is designated for new IDs. Have a nice day.”

 

Me: “… Are you being serious? Couldn’t you have told me all of this before I actually started trudging through all of this tediousness?! FINE. Department C, I’ve got my frigging eyes on you. Don’t piss me off.”

 

 

I need to requeue. I take another ticket. I queue at department C. Numbers get called off, mine is not among them. More rabid ghoul morons show up. Every bullet I fire off in their festering skulls is a testament to how frustrated I am becoming. The barrier between satirical commentary and downright boring design is fading away, quickly.

Department C finally calls my ticket number.

 

 

Me, as I approach the bot: “PRAISE LORD JESUS IN ALL HIS GLORY. Alright, I’d like to--”

 

Bot: “Department C is currently busy. Mandatory second coffee break in progress.”

 

Me: “Excuse me?”

 

Bot: “Ending in five … four …….. three ………..”

 

 

I feel my sanity, the last shards of optimism and reason, caving in, its self-destruct mechanism counting down synchronously.

 

 

Bot: “Two ……………………………………………”

 

Me: “…”

 

Bot: “……….. One. Coffee break terminated.”

 

Me: “Alright. I suffered through two queues. I killed tons of ghouls. I shot up your stupid capital building, I got harassed by Super Mutants, traversed multiple floors to find a document that I could not even hand over at your moronic colleague bot’s counter because he was too stupid to inform me that I’m not at the right department to begin with. I’ve seen independent AI vacuum cleaners do a more effective job at sucking than him. I’m not in the mood. I’ve had people shoot up my home, which has already disappeared multiple times because of lazy design, effectively requiring me to rebuild everything from scratch. I had to repair everything more times than I can count. The quests I’ve had handed to me, have put my perseverance to the test. You are going to accept my form. You will not contradict. You will not oppose me. You are going to give me my ID. And I. AM. LEAVING. Understood?”

 

Bot: “…”

 

Me: “…”

 

Bot: “ERROR ID: 34B/1. Valid birth certificate required. Consult the helpful Error Assistance entries on the Application Terminal. Have a nice day.”

 

 

Very slowly, I put down the controller, speechless, giving the TV screen a stern look. Disbelief slowly turns into anger. And the last embers of hope inside of me die out.

 

The Fallout franchise finally made the transition from a cheerful post-apocalyptic setting to a dark place, where despair reigned supreme. It finally dawned on me. There are no redeeming qualities here. This is truly what Fallout 76 has to offer. The first and foremost question I asked myself: “Why would they even remotely think that someone would enjoy an incredibly tedious real-life process like this in a game? Games are supposed to entertain. Not frustrate. Who ever thought that this would be fun?” If the rest of Fallout 76 had been fantastic so far, the whole sequence could have been written off as an effective parody. But at this point, the entire mission was drawn out for so long, that it only amplifies the game’s uninspired and mind-numbing nature.

 

Granted, the quest was almost at an end. Only the governor’s Seal of Approval was required to get my hands on the ID. But it was too late: the damage had been done.

 

 

The rest of my journey towards finishing the main story (and achieving the platinum trophy), I only saw further confirmation of the torture I was put through in the past dozens of hours: meaningless encounters with both AI and random human players, partaking in activities and quests which served no real higher purpose, aside from firing off seven or eight nukes from three bunkers, if only to grind to level 100 and acquire the last remaining relevant trophies. That final popping (platinum) trophy and accompanying “ping” sound were the salvation I longed for ever since that scarring event occurred in the bowels of administrative hell of the Charleston Capital building. In that moment, I felt bliss, everlasting peace and quiet as I quit the game and deleted it from my hard drive. Forever.

 

In hindsight, I finally came to terms with the situation. A great game should have mind and heart. The innovative design to take different, individual aspects and bring them together in a meaningful, contextual and rich package. The passion to bring a polished and neatly presented product to the fans, almost perfumed as a heartfelt love letter to both the community and newcomers of such a prominent and impactful franchise.

 

 

Fallout 76 has neither.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Aponac1987
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[Stargazer2600]

Funny thing about that quest is that's how it is in the states. You go to a building and need all this junk that they sometimes don't tell you that you need until your there and it really is one big mess. The anger you felt is the anger millions feel daily. So in a way, the quest did its job lol. I personally loved that quest cause I had been there, I got the humor in it. I will say Fallout 76 has issues but it didnt deserve all the hate it got. The hate bandwagon rolled through and 76 was in its sights. Is it the best Fallout game? hell no but its not the worst either.

[JoaLoft]

3 minutes ago, Stargazer2600 said:

Funny thing about that quest is that's how it is in the states. You go to a building and need all this junk that they sometimes don't tell you that you need until your there and it really is one big mess. The anger you felt is the anger millions feel daily. So in a way, the quest did its job lol. I personally loved that quest cause I had been there, I got the humor in it. I will say Fallout 76 has issues but it didnt deserve all the hate it got. The hate bandwagon rolled through and 76 was in its sights. Is it the best Fallout game? hell no but its not the worst either.

 

And I get that, the nature of the quest became apparent very quickly. But in the larger scheme of things, it pretty much soured things for me completely.

 

Or as I put it:

 

Quote

If the rest of Fallout 76 had been fantastic so far, the whole sequence could have been written off as an effective parody. But at this point, the entire mission was drawn out for so long, that it only amplifies the game’s uninspired and mind-numbing nature.

 

And it's very difficult for me to even recommend this game to anyone. I'll add it didn't deserve all of the hate, like the 2/10s it got from some outlets. But it is a very flawed, very mediocre game that has disappointed immensely compared to the other Fallout entries. I can not understate this enough.