OFFICIAL Fallout 76 Discussion thread

[Vayra86]

No NPCs, I find that extremely odd and seriously doubt its true.

Either way, there is enough smoke and mirrors now, not going to get on this hype train. Because I don't see any hype here. Bethesda doesn't do large online games that well. ESO was a testing ground and it failed - miserably at that.

I think I heard/read something about only having about a dozen players on an instance/thread at once....

Exactly, so you'd really need NPCs in the world. And if there are hundreds of players in it instead, well, I'll refer to my first comment in this thread.

 

[Frick]

Todd Howard should have said that there are NPC's but they won't be AI (artificial intelligence) but possess human intelligence because they'd be other players like you. And obviously they'll be NPC's because you can't play them since they're within the control of another player. So the guy who lives in his mom's basement and is intent on destroying everything he sees would just be your average raider... or gunner... depending on his level.

If anything with this game we'll be having crazy raiders who have a unique face and a unique character, and hopefully unique dialogue, unlike those in the previous fallout games. We'll also be seeing friendly people wearing a Vault 76 suit and who have our same objectives.

So .... what are you supposed to do in the game then? I mean the idea of having every character in a game controlled by a human is a nice dream, but that relies on other people taking it as seriously as you do (assuming you do), which they most definitely will not be doing. And again, what is the purpose of the game in there are no NPC's at all? Just walk around and gathering crap and occasionally see another player which you either ignore or mess up or try to set up a partnership with so you can go look at things and gather crap together? I mean what's the story gonna be? How will it be driven forward? Bethsoft has been good on building worlds you may want to explore but they have a tendency to be not very good at giving the players incentives to do so, apart from the exploring in itself and leveling up for the sake of leveling.

But then I forget this isn't supposed to be a proper Fallout game at all, even by Bethsofts standards. To me non-casual games has to have some kind of narrative that pushes the player along, otherwise the game just devolves into playing the game for the sake of playing the game, which is not always a bad thing if the basic premise of the game is appealing and the mechanics work (see Diablo 2 and Crimsonland for examples).

 

[TheMailMan78]

There are NPC's. Just not "human" ones. There will be robots and such. I'm also sure there will be "bosses" and antagonists. So much speculation as to why this wont work vs what we actually know.

 

[Vayra86]

There are NPC's. Just not "human" ones. There will be robots and such. I'm also sure there will be "bosses" and antagonists. So much speculation as to why this wont work vs what we actually know.

Explain to me what a 'human NPC' would look like... this is starting to get real weird now. Was 'Toad' on LSD?

 

[Ahhzz]

Explain to me what a 'human NPC' would look like... this is starting to get real weird now. Was 'Toad' on LSD?

I think what he means is that he assumes that there will be the NPCs like Cogsworth, Robots, Androids, and of course monsters galore, all of which I prefer calling "mobs" as a call back to MUDs from days gone by where anything not a player-controlled entity was a "mobile" or Mob. Other "humans" in the game, appear to be intended to be only players... I see so many story lines that would have to be ignored and tossed out with that dynamic, however. No rescues, no other settlers unless people are logged in playing.... I don't see that viable as anything other than a short-term "cute". There will have to be bots in the game very quickly to take the place of the players that aren't playing any longer, and that's a very different dynamic....
I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait for some more game-play and beta options to really get a better grasp of what we're looking at. I just see so many things that could go wrong with this; Pay2Win gear, hackers and cheaters screwing the game for everyone, Dicks and trolls, subscription based....
I've always loved everything TES from Bethesda, but then ESO came out, and I don't think even Stardock backing off their "Gamer's Bill of Rights" caused such a drop from "absolutely beloved" to "Seriously?!!"

 

[Vayra86]

I think what he means is that he assumes that there will be the NPCs like Cogsworth, Robots, Androids, and of course monsters galore, all of which I prefer calling "mobs" as a call back to MUDs from days gone by where anything not a player-controlled entity was a "mobile" or Mob. Other "humans" in the game, appear to be intended to be only players... I see so many story lines that would have to be ignored and tossed out with that dynamic, however. No rescues, no other settlers unless people are logged in playing.... I don't see that viable as anything other than a short-term "cute". There will have to be bots in the game very quickly to take the place of the players that aren't playing any longer, and that's a very different dynamic....
I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait for some more game-play and beta options to really get a better grasp of what we're looking at. I just see so many things that could go wrong with this; Pay2Win gear, hackers and cheaters screwing the game for everyone, Dicks and trolls, subscription based....
I've always loved everything TES from Bethesda, but then ESO came out, and I don't think even Stardock backing off their "Gamer's Bill of Rights" caused such a drop from "absolutely beloved" to "Seriously?!!"

Ah I see. Well, in that case... no more super buggy quests with NPCs that walk into random stuff... I can get into that.

 

[Ahhzz]

RPS has said that FO76 will support mods, at a time after launch. Without a direct quote from Todd Howard, here's their take on NPCs:
"While Fallout 76 won’t have any human NPCs, though quests will be scattered around through terminals, tapes, robots, and the usual Fallout “found world” ways. And though it’s real-time, it will have some form of VATS letting folks use compumagic to target body parts. Bethesda plan to keep updating and expanding the game themselves after launch, in that ‘live game’ way, but they will let us create new things for it too. Eventually. "

 

[Black Panther]

What we know so far (credit to Ophelia Sokol from facebook group Fallout Survivors Community UGE):

Based on the interviews with Todd Howard and Pete Hines:

and

http://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/12/fallout-76-gameplay-demo-with-todd-howard-ign-live-e3-2018

- Online Only
- Your friends join you by seeing you are online and simply opting to join you.
- No Human NPCs, quests are given in other ways such as robots, Overseer, computer terminals.
- Private Servers will be introduced some time after launch.
- Mods will also be introduced some time after launch. Emphasis was included on "player made mods." So possibly not forced to use Creation Club.
- PvP is optional. Based on Hines interview, you have to challenge another player and they have to agree to the fight. If they don't, nothing happens. This is to combat griefing.
- When you die, you do not lose progression or items or anything. They emphasised that they want this to be a fun, "DnD-esque" roleplaying game and for you to do what you want. Not to be a hardcore survival game.
- Hines mentioned "If I want to be a nomadic trader, I can be." Player trading is a thing.
- Nukes will be very hard to obtain and will likely require you to be in a group of people to be able to complete the areas that have a chance to drop them.
- Your camp goes with you when you go offline. From what I understand, you are matchmade with a server whenever you login and you do not pick one. Whenever you connect to a server, your camp will be placed in the same spot on the map, on the new server.
- In addition to the above, that means noone can fuck with you when you're offline.
- Radio Stations: Hines was asked about them, but could not elaborate or confirm anything. So how they are used in the game is still speculation.

Updated Based On NoClip Documentary (most of this stuff is still accurate and confirmed. This documentary was made long before E3, so it looks like the elements they changed between then and now were mostly PvP related):

- When you log off and your camp goes with you, and join a new server and your spot is taken, your camp stays packed up for you to place elsewhere.
- C.A.M.P. has restrictions, "because we dont want people griefing right outside the vault." Sounds like you can't build near the vault, maybe.
- There will be 'events' like bosses, monsters raiding locations, etc. Taking them down will give you access to valuable drops.
- Crafting is the central core of the game.
- The goal of the game is described as, "Whatever you want to do that day," lol. Nice! They keep describing it as a giant roleplay.
- Eating/Drinking is important so you don't die (his wording is a little weird.). Decaying food too?
- There are diseases you can catch that can cause mutations. They can be cured if you craft the antitode.
- Perk/SPECIAL points are cards and you can change them on the fly and share your buff with your party.
- There are "Wanted" levels for players who keep causing problems, and rewards for dealing with them. Considering PvP is a challenge-type and not free-for-all, I am not sure how this works. More to come. (this documentary was recorded pre-E3 so some details seem to be changed about this)
- Neato photo mode that includes poses, filters.
- Lots of neat gear to pick up. One little town has some super creepy masks to find. The devs really like "the owl one" from there.
- About 24-30 people per map/server. Your map tells you where people are.
- Current team limit is 4.
- "We want to explore expanding team limit and having some kind of 12 v 12 death match or something haha"
- Working on a team deathmatch mode, but are focusing on other things first.
- Teams will have to work together to get the nuclear codes. Will involve puzzles.
- Nuked spots will will become high level areas with dangerous monsters and will gain nuclear weather, will have super valuable loot.
- Depending where you nuke depends on what happens in that area.
- Nuclear areas gradually go back to normal, eventually.
- Microtransactions will be a thing, but will be purely cosmetic. They will *NEVER* be pay 2 win or effect your stats.
- Microtransactions are meant to help support the servers, etc.
- They plan and hope for constant/frequent content updates.
- Future plans are in place but will also depend on just how the game goes, players, etc.

- After digging for clarification: Food can rot. Armor and weapons can also degrade.

 

[Vayra86]

Struggling to see how this is going to be fun. But I guess some people do.

 

[Ahhzz]

What we know so far (credit to Ophelia Sokol from facebook group Fallout Survivors Community UGE):

Based on the interviews with Todd Howard and Pete Hines:

and

http://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/12/fallout-76-gameplay-demo-with-todd-howard-ign-live-e3-2018

- Online Only
- Your friends join you by seeing you are online and simply opting to join you.
- No Human NPCs, quests are given in other ways such as robots, Overseer, computer terminals.
- Private Servers will be introduced some time after launch.
- Mods will also be introduced some time after launch. Emphasis was included on "player made mods." So possibly not forced to use Creation Club.
- PvP is optional. Based on Hines interview, you have to challenge another player and they have to agree to the fight. If they don't, nothing happens. This is to combat griefing.
- When you die, you do not lose progression or items or anything. They emphasised that they want this to be a fun, "DnD-esque" roleplaying game and for you to do what you want. Not to be a hardcore survival game.
- Hines mentioned "If I want to be a nomadic trader, I can be." Player trading is a thing.
- Nukes will be very hard to obtain and will likely require you to be in a group of people to be able to complete the areas that have a chance to drop them.
- Your camp goes with you when you go offline. From what I understand, you are matchmade with a server whenever you login and you do not pick one. Whenever you connect to a server, your camp will be placed in the same spot on the map, on the new server.
- In addition to the above, that means noone can fuck with you when you're offline.
- Radio Stations: Hines was asked about them, but could not elaborate or confirm anything. So how they are used in the game is still speculation.

Updated Based On NoClip Documentary (most of this stuff is still accurate and confirmed. This documentary was made long before E3, so it looks like the elements they changed between then and now were mostly PvP related):

- When you log off and your camp goes with you, and join a new server and your spot is taken, your camp stays packed up for you to place elsewhere.
- C.A.M.P. has restrictions, "because we dont want people griefing right outside the vault." Sounds like you can't build near the vault, maybe.
- There will be 'events' like bosses, monsters raiding locations, etc. Taking them down will give you access to valuable drops.
- Crafting is the central core of the game.
- The goal of the game is described as, "Whatever you want to do that day," lol. Nice! They keep describing it as a giant roleplay.
- Eating/Drinking is important so you don't die (his wording is a little weird.). Decaying food too?
- There are diseases you can catch that can cause mutations. They can be cured if you craft the antitode.
- Perk/SPECIAL points are cards and you can change them on the fly and share your buff with your party.
- There are "Wanted" levels for players who keep causing problems, and rewards for dealing with them. Considering PvP is a challenge-type and not free-for-all, I am not sure how this works. More to come. (this documentary was recorded pre-E3 so some details seem to be changed about this)
- Neato photo mode that includes poses, filters.
- Lots of neat gear to pick up. One little town has some super creepy masks to find. The devs really like "the owl one" from there.
- About 24-30 people per map/server. Your map tells you where people are.
- Current team limit is 4.
- "We want to explore expanding team limit and having some kind of 12 v 12 death match or something haha"
- Working on a team deathmatch mode, but are focusing on other things first.
- Teams will have to work together to get the nuclear codes. Will involve puzzles.
- Nuked spots will will become high level areas with dangerous monsters and will gain nuclear weather, will have super valuable loot.
- Depending where you nuke depends on what happens in that area.
- Nuclear areas gradually go back to normal, eventually.
- Microtransactions will be a thing, but will be purely cosmetic. They will *NEVER* be pay 2 win or effect your stats.
- Microtransactions are meant to help support the servers, etc.
- They plan and hope for constant/frequent content updates.
- Future plans are in place but will also depend on just how the game goes, players, etc.

- After digging for clarification: Food can rot. Armor and weapons can also degrade.

mildly more promising.... still don't see anything about monthly. I would hope the "Microtransactions are meant to help support the servers, etc." means no subscription, but it's hard to see that mtx would be enough to maintain the servers consistently.... Of course, since one of the first mods I added for older games was storage, I bet they steal a chapter from Grinding Gear and make increased storage space an mtx....

 

[Divide Overflow]

Sounds like Fallout - Team Fortress - with building.

 

[Vayra86]

Watched more of the video and I can see some interesting concepts. Especially nuking zones with the 'create your own challenge' element in it seems like a really good idea, one that also adds body to a multiplayer environment. I was worried about a lack of control in the gameplay flow; as in: lots of little groups of people just running around aimlessly annoying one another, Minecraft-ish (nonsensical) gameplay, etc.. But there are real goals. The question remains how long this is going to last though. I mean, within several days after launch multiple streamers will have already put up guides for this. What worries me is the main 'new' faction which is literally just reskinned ghouls. I mean... another zombie shooter?

You can also hear they don't really know how its going to pan out themselves. As if they are experimenting. I'm seeing a lot of blanks still though... and its not like Bethesda has tons of experience doing this kind of online environment... also... 'modding' the engine to support multiplayer. My god, just drop the POS already... Still dissappointing to see the same shaky gunplay, the same clunky movement, etc.

 

[TheOne]

It's important to remember that this game is still in development.

 

[WhiteNoise]

Private servers to come at a later date. That tells me there will be no monthly fee. If I can run my own server (hosted and paid monthly for) then there would be no reason to pay a monthly to the dev.

 

[TheOne]

I think I'm just going to move along from this "discussion".

 

[ShiBDiB]

It's important to remember that this game is still in development.

If they're announcing it than they already have a design in mind, the actual coding and whatnot is still occurring yes but you have a rough idea what game you're getting at this point.

 

[TheOne]

If they're announcing it than they already have a design in mind, the actual coding and whatnot is still occurring yes but you have a rough idea what game you're getting at this point.

Agreed, with only about 4 to 5 months left I don't expect much to change, but when discussing it after E3 Todd Howard emphasized the fact that they are still figuring it out, like mods and private worlds, though there is no telling how long it will take them to bring that to the game, nor how fun it would be to play alone in a MP game intended to be played with multiple people.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Name one and link.

Don't need to link. Every single Battlefield game after BC2. Both Battlefront's.

 

[INSTG8R]

im so getting this realy in the mood to haras other players in my power armor with nuclear weapons lol or spamming that 3/4 round rocket launcher xD
im also hoping for the automatic plasma grenade launcher from fallout new vegas and plasma cannon from it in the new game

And you’re exactly why I don’t want this kind of Fallout...no offence but this is why I play SP games.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Don't need to link. Every single Battlefield game after BC2. Both Battlefront's.

PLEASE. BF3, BF4, and BF1 were all awesome. Battlefront blew and I don't remember saying it was awesome unless it followed the BF format which it clearly didn't once the beta hit.

You just were not any good at em and went all emo and left teamspeak.

 

[Easy Rhino]

PLEASE. BF3, BF4, and BF1 were all awesome. Battlefront blew and I don't remember saying it was awesome unless it followed the BF format which it clearly didn't once the beta hit.

You just were not any good at em and went all emo and left teamspeak.

Bwahaha! You said on TS many times about how amazing Battlefront was going to be. And even the second one! Also, you never stopped complaining about Battlefield 3 and 4 !

And I didn't go all emo. I had kids.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Bwahaha! You said on TS many times about how amazing Battlefront was going to be. And even the second one! Also, you never stopped complaining about Battlefield 3 and 4 !

And I didn't go all emo. I had kids.

Battlefield? Complained? I think you got me confused with Crazyeyes. Plus I have three kids.

 

[WhiteNoise]

I have two friends that play FO games and all three of us are very excited about this new online FO title. We have always complained to each other that we wish we could play fallout together so yeah..we can't wait. I do hope it turns out to be a great game. I plan to run my own server as well once we have that option.

 

[Black Panther]

I'm surprised no one has bumped this thread up yet , considering the beta will be out on the 30th October for PS4 and pc, and on the 23rd October for Xbone!

Moreover, quite a number of Xbox pre-orders where chosen for stress-testing, the first stress test was 4 hour long just this weekend and Bethesda said there'll be more stress-testing before the date of the beta.

Has anyone here pre-ordered the game yet?

What's awesome about the beta is that game-play will be saved and carried over to the full game on release, unlike the stress-tests where any progress gets lost and you have to start all over again.

I've been stalking youtubers and also normal players on social media. After they went through the stress-test, which bound them by NDA, all feedback I saw was that their experience was 'awesome'. Heard it even from gamers who were wary about the pvp aspect of it.

So, where's the hype lol?

 

[Ahhzz]

I guess I still fall into the "wary" camp, both about PVP, as well as the "how much will it really cost to play the game and enjoy it" camp...

Plus, honestly, Pathfinder Kingmaker really has my attention, and I'm not sure I can split it easily