Fallout 76, Who is this game for?

Finally there has been meatier gameplay videos for Bethesda's next game, Fallout 76. However I'm not any less puzzled about who this game is for, it doesn't seem built to attract regular Fallout fans, certainly not the old school ones. Suppose one might as well take a closer look at Bethesda's first dabble with multiplayer. 

Fallout 76 is the name of the game

So what type of game even is Fallout 76? Well, according to their own statement; "Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, welcome you to Fallout 76, the online prequel where every surviving human is a real person. Work together, or not, to survive. Under the threat of nuclear annihilation, you’ll experience the largest, most dynamic world ever created in the legendary Fallout universe." So judging from that it's a survival game, where you work with other players, or not, to rebuild, or not. I don't know.

Anyway, as I mentioned there has been longer gameplay videos out now and it does seem pretty straightforward if they're accurately depicting the game. You create a character who can only communicate with emojis since there are no real NPC's to interact with, only other players, and you seem to follow in the steps of the Vault 76 overseer who has left tapes for you to listen to. Riveting main quest I know. You also seem to get objectives like killing a certain amount of ghouls in a location. You know like those procedurally generated quests in Fallout 4 that you hated. Apart from the sorry excuse for quests you also build stuff, crafting seems like a central part. You craft your camp, weapons and armor. Overall it seems like you'll be looting a lot to craft better gear so you can loot more dangerous locations.

I think I'm starting to understand what sort of game it is, problem is, if I understand it correctly it's not really doing a lot to stand out in the genre. You know, the one Minecraft dominates. That really seems to be the foundational gameplay loop they're going for, which to be frank I don't think is going to be enough. Not only is the building and crafting mechanics much more restricted than other games in the genre the gameplay is just not good enough for combat and looting to be the only real mechanics. Like we've for a long time been having arguments about how Bethesda needs to update their engine (preferably make an entirely new one) because their animations, graphics and combat are painfully outdated. Thing is, in the past with games like Skyrim and Fallout... Lets say Fallout 3, yes the gameplay was nothing to write home about but they had deep worlds filled with interesting quests, characters, decisions that had consequences in the world and not to mention actual RPG mechanics. That's why Bethesda has always been excused for lagging behind in the gameplay, graphics and animation department. Now they've stripped it all away, and I do wonder if co-op is going to be enough to make fans happy. Not that I know what fans want this, as mentioned earlier, it doesn't seem like it's for Fallout fans since it lacks everything that was good about Fallout. Fallout isn't just about a huge world with lots of potential for crafting. When people ask for co-op in Bethesda games is this really what they want?

To get a bit petty about the lore involved I have a few things to day with the disclaimer that I'm not a huge Fallout scholar so I might be a bit off but... How does the concept make sense? Like no people around? At all? In every other game we meet ghouls who survived the initial blasts, not to mention entire communities who didn't turn into ghouls but instead just survived generation after generation. So why is this world so empty? Would make sense if it was in the middle of a blast crater but the world is green, buildings barely scorched, yet the only humanoid creatures around are the scorched ghouls. I just don't understand why this was done, would it really have been that hard to add human NPC's in the game? Just Raiders? Like I've read that they want human players to make up raider factions you usually see in Fallout games, problem is that there aren't enough players to make up those kinds of raider factions and with them taking steps to avoid griefing it's not even a viable role to play in the first place. Though fine, it's a spin-off, non-canon, I can dig the lore being off (if that's truly the case, I'm not so sure that it is).

In conclusion, it seems like this game is trying to do things that have already been done and better, not pleasing fans of their old games and not being able to compete with fans of similar games. I'm curious to see how this game will end up doing, might be a huge success (which would surprise me) or it might end up being a huge flop. Either way it's going to be interesting to see the consequences from how this game ends up performing. Bethesda at least seems confident considering they've gone on record saying they intend to support this game "forever".

Essential NPC's Rant (Fo4)

Talking about the immortal NPC's that Bethesda insists on filling their worlds with. I get that NPC's in such a huge and dynamic world are forever in danger and that it would suck for them to die randomly but there's better solutions than making them 100% unkillable.

Fallout 4: Settlements Rant [VLOG]

A rant regarding the settlement building in Fallout 4. Don't worry, it's not too negative, if you were a nice person you could even call it constructive criticism;

Final Fantasy XV Platinum Demo Thoughts

I have to be perfectly honest, I haven't even tried a Final Fantasy game since FF8 (might have played a bit of FF9, not sure). What I mean to say is that I haven't really kept up to date with the series for a long time so when I went into this demo I didn't really know what to expect as I haven't even followed FFXV that closely. Nonetheless, here's my thoughts on it and I will be keeping it short.

It should be said that this was a tech demo and not actually an accurate representation of the actual game. In that regard I can't give it a lot of praise, sure the visuals and atmosphere are charming to say the least but the actual performance was a bit questionable. Felt pretty "choppy", like the game couldn't quite keep up with me as I moved through the world. Quite disappointing considering that this was built specifically to show off the visuals in a controlled environment so it does have me worried how the full game will handle the bigger environments with more stuff going on.

As far as the gameplay goes it did feel okay to play. The reason I haven't really been a big fan in the past is that the previous games haven't exactly been user friendly. This however felt pretty easy to get into, don't get me wrong when I say that because you did get a taste of an actual fight at the end and it didn't feel easy to me. Once I got a hang of it I did manage somewhat but my first impression is that it's relatively easy to get into but will take effort to master. However that's based on this demo alone so I might be completely wrong.

Personally I must say that the demo did catch my attention and did make me more interested in the game. Like I previously mentioned I haven't really been an avid follower but this may have changed it, as someone a bit fed up with the same old shooters this might actually be a breath of fresh air I can actually get into. Now I've seen feedback from others and it would seem I'm not in a majority of that particular viewpoint but I guess I wanted to express that I do see potential in the game. I'd still want to see reviews before buying but I am more likely to buy the game now than I was before playing the demo.

Finally, for those interested, here's my playthrough for the demo;

Deadpool (2016) Thoughts

I recently watched Deadpool, figured I'd give my two cents on it. Not gonna be long or very spoilery except for one detail which is a personality trait for the main villain that don't make any sense. With that said lets do this.

It's a good and fun movie, nothing more and nothing less. Pretty impressive considering the "suits" apparently had little faith in it and it didn't get that much of a budget (compared to other big superhero movies). Was more violent and had more sexual humor than I had anticipated, which I enjoyed because I've become so used to watching movies with neither these days. Good to be surprised every once in awhile in a very non-surprising world is all I'm saying.

As far as the actors go I can't really complain, Ryan Reynolds did a superb job as Deadpool and everyone else was more or less alright. Really hated TJ Miller's character though, well maybe not the character as much as Miller himself. Perhaps it was the way he talked or his overall behavior but I hated every moment he was featured. Hopefully this character dies violently in the sequel, no it's not gonna be enough to just have him not be there I wanna see him get brutally murdered at this point.

While I'm not gonna go too deep into the plot I will say that I enjoyed it for its simplicity, there weren't a lot of characters to keep track of and it was all kept pretty straightforward and personal. Something superhero movies these days have a hard time doing. Hopefully they manage to keep the next movie somewhat simple so it doesn't get too crazy, yes more plot wouldn't hurt but don't overdo it.

Speaking about the plot I was a bit surprised that the Wolverine movie didn't come into play at all. I had guessed that the ending battle from that movie would be skimmed over after Wade agreed to the program and that he'd wake up in the ruins of wherever that last battle took place. Doesn't really matter in the end, I guess it was for the best to ignore that part as he had abilities and all that wasn't really Deadpool anyway.

However what was a part of this movie was the villain, and I'd like to discuss him a tiny bit. First of all here's the only spoiler in this blog entry, he didn't feel anything. Like any physical pain or emotions, would've been interesting except that he does seem to do just that. Otherwise he wouldn't get so upset or personal with Deadpool to the degree that he does in the movie. And he did end up being a bit boring in the end, why do the bad guys in these movies always turn out to be so... Gray?

Finally I'd just like to say that I'm just very glad that this movie happened. Deadpool deserved a proper movie adaptation. Unfortunately movie producers will likely learn the wrong lessons from it, watch and see if needless raunchy jokes or violence gets forced where it doesn't belong just because it worked in Deadpool. Just Watched. But yes, I liked this movie, I'd recommend it.

Fallout 4: Thoughts and Criticism

I've just finished my very first playthrough of Fallout 4 and I'd like to share my thoughts on the whole thing. Not a review as I'm a bit late to the party and overall I'll keep it pretty simple and personal. Also don't worry, I don't intend to drop any spoilers. 

Also, if you don't feel like reading, feel free to watch my video version of this "review":

It may sound weird that I finished the story of Fallout 4 just now, I mean it's been out a long time and all. The thing is for once I enjoyed it so much I didn't want it to end, in the past I've never been the biggest Bethesda fan so I've never dragged their games out any longer than I've had to. Let me elaborate, in Bethesda's previous games like Skyrim and Fallout 3 I've felt the writing and gameplay was rather poor.

Sure they were very open and all that but I need the game to be enjoyable to play if I'm going to enjoy everything else it has to offer. I just couldn't get into their previous games because they felt so stiff in every way, the worlds felt like amusement parks where I interacted with robots and so on. Fallout 4 however did elevate itself to such a level it no longer felt weird, for once the writing was pretty solid and the gameplay was highly enjoyable. I've spent a lot of time just exploring the world without a real objective which I've just never done before in a Bethesda game.

In many ways to me Fallout 4 is a promise of a bright future where I too will be able to get into their games. I say that because it's obviously not perfect, yes I enjoyed it a lot but lets talk about the things I want improved or added. Speaking of additions, settlement building was added to Fallout 4 this time around and it was an aspect I really enjoyed and put many hours into. It's fun but again not perfect, some settlements where just too small to really matter and there were just too many of them.

Fallout 4 effectively welcomed me into the Bethesda fanclub

The way I'd like to see this aspect handled in the future is fewer player controlled settlements but deeper mechanics. I'd like for them to matter more, if I basically own the wasteland I want it to mean something. Would be fun to have some politics involved in this, think of Fallout New Vegas where you could choose to take everything over yourself, this is something I would've liked to see here. Yes I know that's what the Minutemen storyline is all about but they're not really yours to control. What I guess I'm getting is that I want to see a Gta style rise to power where you reach a point where you're a big deal, a point where caravan guards no longer treat you like some ragtag wastelander peasant.

I know Bethesda makes big games and I know you can do insane amounts of things in them, but if there's one thing they've yet to master it's to make the world respond to you in a way that you feel like you matter. Fallout New Vegas (again) did this pretty well, you were given feedback to your actions, if you killed members of Ceasar's Legion at first sight then you'd reach a point where you're vilified in their eyes, you could also become idolized by different factions and communities. In short it felt like your presence was acknowledged.

Moving on, to again bring up the Minutemen aspect, if you want you can pretty quickly in the game become the Minutemen General. A nice title, yet it feels hollow that even after having literally every settlement available under your control you still need to take care of everything yourself. It feels like the next step for Bethesda is to look into micro management, wouldn't be too far fetched considering they've added a big new mechanic such as settlement building. Let me send troops to defend settlements, to take over settlements, to sabotage the enemy or clear out raider camps. Just let me feel like the leader I've worked so hard to be.

Now to bring up something completely different, vehicles. I know there's both negative and positive opinions on this but I really feel vehicles could be a good addition to Fallout. Now I don't think they'd work well in Fallout 4 in particular but they could be added to improve future installments. How, you may ask? Well Fallout 4 felt very dense, not really a bad thing in most cases but this is Fallout, you're supposed to feel like you're in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, yet it feels too "alive". You walk two feet and you stumble upon yet another settlement or otherwise inhabited location. Some breathing room between points of interests would go a long way to capture the feel of the original games and a vehicle would be more useful.

Of course I also bring up vehicles for another reason, in a near future a patch will be released that overhauls the survival mode, one way it does this is by removing fast travel. One point against vehicles I always hear is that you miss out the sense of exploration, that you'd just race past everything interesting. Now my counter point is that fast traveling does this to a much higher degree, at some point the world gets very small as there's no reason to actually wander around anymore. You're just going from loading screen to loading screen. My solution would be to completely remove fast travel, apart from maybe certain locations like Witcher 3, but instead introduce vehicles that allows you to travel faster between locations while exploring the wasteland in between.

Could work a bit like the power armor does in Fallout 4, speaking of which, the power armor in Fallout 4 was both a hit and a miss. First, I do like that this time around it felt like a big, powerful piece of armor. Secondly, not a fan of the Fusion Core system, I get that they wanna limit it somehow to make sure you don't abuse such a valuable asset. I mean it's really against the lore that their batteries only last 30 minutes, it's just wrong in that regard. What I'd suggest is reduce their level of protection so they're not quite as overpowered and don't sprinkle them around the wasteland like they've done here. I'm fairly certain that it can be balanced without messing up the lore much.

There's two more points I'd like to address in this already lengthy piece, the dialogue and choices. Now let it be know that I actually liked having a voiced protagonist, if I spend an hour creating my character I like to see him interact with those around him. What I don't like is that I suddenly can't interact with anyone after having done their quest. What I refer to is that I've literally completed every quest in the game and there's no one I can talk to anymore except traders and those who give radiant quests. Oh and by the way a small thing about that I'd like to see someone but faction characters give out these quests, as an example that chem salesman in Diamond City could always have more ingredients for the player to collect.

Fallout 4 can be pretty lonely

As far as choices go, and this will be my final issue, I would've liked to see a more open story. Now I do feel this was the most well written and interesting story ever to be in a Bethesda game but because it was about searching for your son you're automatically written to be a good character. Even the companions reflect this, there's not a single companion that's outright evil, even Fallout 3 had this so it baffles me that this time around being good (more or less) is your only option. Not that it had to be that way, I could easily see how instead of being a force for good the events in the game would lead the protagonist on a more violent and evil path. Though as I don't wanna spoil much I won't go deeper into that, I would however like to see in the future that you don't define my character this much from the start. Like the voice actor even sounds so kind it's hard to be an evil bastard even if you try.

There you have it, my thoughts on Fallout 4 and where they can go from here. I am very excited for it as I did enjoy playing it a lot. I had spent about 200 hours on my first playthrough and I want more, to me that's a testament to how good the game is.