My Fallout 76 game review

[Mdk25]

TL;DR A microtransaction based MMORPG, with a near perfect feedback-loop.

Like many others, I started playing Fallout 76 in the wake of the Fallout TV show being released on Amazon Prime in April.
Unlike many others, I’m actually a long time Fallout fan, started with Fallout 1 & 2, played Fallout tactics, Fallout BOS, and obviously the newer Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 4.
I really enjoyed Fallout 4 for the most part.
The graphics there was greatly improved, skills/perks tree was revamped, and crafting and base building was introduced.
I however do acknowledge that some things became worse in Fallout 4. The combat became less turn based, the story wasn’t as good (especially compared to Fallout 1 & 2), and there was too much useless text/fluff. I understand providing some backstory for world building purposes… But at some point some backstory turns into too much backstory, turns the backstory into fluff you don’t want to read anymore.

I realize this is a review for Fallout 76, and not of previous games :)
But I do feel it’s important to mention the previous games, to understand how Fallout 76 fares in comparison.

First of all, this is a much dumbed-down, combat-centered version of Fallout.
The focus of the game is (in that order):

1. Battles with monsters
   
2. Character building
   
3. Crafting
   
4. Base building
   
5. Trading
   
6. Missions / Quests

Unlike the “regular” Fallout games, where the focus is on open-world RPG, and the ability to solve missions in different ways (sneaking, stealing, speech checks, paying money OR combat). Here the focus is on combat 95% of the time spent on missions.
Between missions, you’ll spend most of your time upgrading your character, gear and your base.

FEEDBACK LOOP / MICROTRANSACTIONS

Microtransaction based games are games where the player can spend real money to purchase items, in game-currency or a game-pass. This is a common practice in modern free-to-play mobile games. Noted examples: Candy crush, Plants vs. Zombies, Brawl Stars, etc…
And have no mistake - Fallout 76 is a microtransaction based game. You can both buy in-game currency with real money and buy a monthly game-pass that gives you additional advantages in the game. For example the free-to-play “Brawl Stars” also has the same microtransaction options.
The main characteristic of any microtransactian based game is the feedback loop.
Think of a hamster in a hamster wheel, that is given a treat as long as it keeps running in the wheel.
The more the hamster runs, more treats it gets, which gives it the incentive to keep running.

“Regular” games are sold on content-per-$$$ basis.
You pay a fixed sum of money upfront, and in exchange you get a game with a set content.
The more hours of enjoyment you get from the game, the more worthwhile the game is to you as the player.
This is not the case in microtransaction based games.
Here the goal of the game is to get you to spend as much money, and for this the goal is to keep you playing as long as possible (preferably indefinitely). Much like a casino.
Similar to many mobile free-to-play games, you are limited in the number of things you can do in a day (vendors have a limited number of caps per day, you can only trade a limited number of legendaries for scrip per day, etc.), while you are encouraged to come back and play every day (daily free items, daily missions for “seasonal” bonus awards, daily refresh for caps & scrip, etc.)
So while in a “regular” game you can play the whole weekend, and then not play at all for the whole week, you would not lose anything. Here playing 1 hour for 7 days, can potentially net X7 more awards than playing 1 day for 7 hours.

Another “first” in this game, is fast travel between points now costs money, probably in order to make the players spend their caps instead of hoarding them, so they would need to grind more of the game to get more caps.

MULTIPLAYER-ONLY

Similar to Diablo III & IV, this game even when played alone, is a multiplayer-only game. Which has deep effects on the gameplay.

• You cannot save & load the game. When you leave your inventory and location is noted, and when you return you are spawned approximately in the same location. So unlike a “regular” game, where you can save and leave before a big boss battle, and then return to finish it later. Here you cannot do it. If you leave and return, the boss will simply not be there anymore.
  
• This also means you can’t pause the game if you have something IRL to attend to. And you can’t play the game for a couple of minutes. Every play sessions needs to be long enough to finish a task from start to finish.
  
• For this reason there is also no modding support for the game. Any quality-of-live improvements from previous games - will not exist here. No better UI. No mods for improved carry weight. No nothing.
  
• Like the aforementioned Diablo games, this game is centered around grinding. Until level 50, you are progressing, doing quests, improving your character, crafting items of increasingly higher levels and better stats, etc. Starting level 50, you stop progressing, and the game starts to revolve around min-maxing, building the perfect build, and grinding for more resources and better random rolls on legendaries.

The fun parts of the game:

CHARACTER BUILDING

Character building is different from other Fallout games, and is somewhat akin to Fallout 4.
Similar to other Fallout games, you spend points on S.P.E.C.I.A.L skills.
Similar to Fallout 4, the more skills points you have, the more various perks (perk cards here) you can assign to that skill.
What is new here, is that starting from level 25 you can freely reassign skills, and create different skill combinations based on specific load out you want to use, or specific crafting you’d like to perform.
Compared to Fallout 4, you have much more limited skill selection of skills you can use at any given time, so you need to be much more focused on the specific build.

MODDING YOUR WEAPONS AND ARMOR

Similar to Fallout 4, you can improve your weapons with various mods and improvements, to make them more deadly, shoot farther, be more accurate, faster, etc. (for weapons) and improve various defense types, improve skills, or add additional carry weight or action points (for armor).
All of these require plans (or recipes for food items), which are scattered throughout the game, given as rewards for finishing tasks, or can be bought for bot vendors or human vendors.
Unlike Fallout 4, each weapon can also have up to 3 “legendary” improvements, which give special bonuses you cannot get otherwise. But which are completely random, and you have no control over. You can however, keep re-rolling them, in exchange for scrip. Which you can get (a limited amount of every day) by grinding special events - this is where the game’s feedback loop comes into play).

BASE BUILDING

Similarly to Fallout 4, you can build a base here (even several) called “C.A.M.P”, and design it in accordance with your heart’s desires.
And I’ve seen really beautifully designed houses people have built.
You can also build a huge variety of various improvements that give various bonuses or advantages, from giving you various resources (it collects over time), to recharging fusion cells, or giving you crafting stations you can use to craft weapons, armor, food, medicine, ammunition, grenades, mines, etc. etc.
Unlike Fallout 4, you can place your base virtually anywhere on the map (

TRADING

Another fun thing you can do in the game is you can trade with other players.
You can either trade with them directly (mostly designed to trading things between friends).
You can place items on the floor for them to pick up.
Or any player can set up a vendor/shop in his base, and set any price you like for any of the item you’d like to sell. (The game also has recommended prices for everything)
So this creates a fun little mini-game for you to understand what items people would be willing to pay money for (and how much they would be willing to pay for it).

PLAYING WITH FRIENDS (optional)

I have not encountered it much in the game, but if you have other people who play Fallout 76, you can play together.
Either on a private server (if you’re paying for Fallout 1st) or a public server.
But most people are playing alone, and join groups with random strangers to do daily tasks together.
There are many bonuses for playing together with other people, either friends or complete strangers, and the game actively encourages that.

OVERALL

This is not a bad game (in its current state).
Not by a long shot.
And I have over 140 hours in this game, so it’s definitely doing something right.
There is (in its current state) tons of content, fun stuff to do, a very live and vibrant Fallout world, which scratches the itch very well. (No wonder Amazon gave away the game for free when the TV show was released)
However, even after playing that much hours, and paying for Fallout 1st, I still have this nagging feeling like I’m playing a free-to-play mobile game.
Like the game deliberately limits your carry weight on the one hand, and forces you to carry an increasingly larger amount/weight of items on the other hand in order to progress in the game.
And the only way around it? You guessed it - pay a monthly subscription fee.
So while it may not be a Pay-to-win or Pay-to-play kind of game, it’s definitely Pay-to-progress or Pay-to-enjoy kind of game.

[Mdk25]

Nguyên văn bởi Xetelian:

Nguyên văn bởi Student_Archolos:

Why is it wrong?? He just mentioned previous games (from 1 to 4 with BOS, NV and Tactics in-between), but he started playing 76 SPECIFICALLY because of TV Show. I see nothing wrong here, really, but I assume you assumed something like "he is lying, because he didn't play 76 right after Fallout 4".

Double digit IQ speaks through you m9.

...Dude...read his profile. It says he writes reviews with ChatGPT on his comments about it

Also...you can tell its chatgpt

Dude... I specifically mention I used ChatGPT on every review I use it on... Can't you read?

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198014150309/recommended/

[Gotthard]

Nowadays with games these businesses behind them can't make up their minds and want to be B2P and F2P and so as a result both business models have become near indistinguishable from one another unfortunately. Don't get me wrong there is a good game here in the mix but for all the progress it's brought down by what is my biggest gripe with the game the cash shop/micro transactions. This has been my biggest issue since they introduced it as it is very obvious that it suffers from the same things other games that make their games driven through and around this also have. I prefer the old way of after the fact if a B2P game wanted or needed to make more money it added DLCs or expansions to where we got worthwhile and meaningful amounts of content in exchange for our money. Now I remember when subscriptions first was a thing as long as it didn't influence the game's design in any way and was mostly convenience if they were delivering I was even ok with having subscriptions but even that not enough. The way i see it unless its F2P there should be no cash shops and the like as it always influences the design of the game in negative ways and you end up spending a lot more money even though in actuality you are now getting less for it too.

[zombygunner]

i like this game despite all the issues it has. i almost feel bad for the things i said about another title they have. this is the most janky game i own lol and people know this is first class jank. For whats its worth i dont mind it and i dont know why. the game is compelling and always stuff to do imo. lvl 258 ps4 72 pc

[zuze4540]

This one is very dumb nonsense. I don't even read this bot made crap.

[Diarmuhnd]

Nguyên văn bởi Mdk25:

...
So while it may not be a Pay-to-win or Pay-to-play kind of game, it’s definitely Pay-to-progress or Pay-to-enjoy kind of game.

Actually Fallout 76 has become a pay to win game, but its not like that matters much since F76 is not a competitive mmo or pvp 'game'

Anyways ... I was replying simply to say my Negative Fallout 76 Steam review is better.
Next time simply link your review in the post so you can avoid spamming walls of text.

See ... like this ...
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198007178612/recommended/1151340?snr=1_5_9__402

Welp, have fun !

[Mooman]

Why do people always think their review is so amazing to warrant a forum post instead of being added to the pile like everyone else's?

[4mysou1just1]

Cause Mommy said their S.P.E,C.I.A.L.

[Wack-A-Mole MLRS]

What did you Win-What place are you on the Leader Board.

[Mdk25]

Nguyên văn bởi Diarmuhnd:

Nguyên văn bởi Mdk25:

...
So while it may not be a Pay-to-win or Pay-to-play kind of game, it’s definitely Pay-to-progress or Pay-to-enjoy kind of game.

Actually Fallout 76 has become a pay to win game, but its not like that matters much since F76 is not a competitive mmo or pvp 'game'

Anyways ... I was replying simply to say my Negative Fallout 76 Steam review is better.
Next time simply link your review in the post so you can avoid spamming walls of text.

See ... like this ...
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198007178612/recommended/1151340?snr=1_5_9__402

Welp, have fun ! :mead::VLOVEIT::cactusrum:

I thought that's what I did...

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198014150309/recommended/1151340/
(My review links here)

[Mdk25]

Nguyên văn bởi Mooman:

Why do people always think their review is so amazing to warrant a forum post instead of being added to the pile like everyone else's?

Sorry, didn't think a post in a forum of a 1,400 other posts is that special...

[petraihei47]

Just for clarification:
- regarding the cap payment during fast travel, there are many places you can fast travel for free: your own Camp/survival tent (FO1st), your team member Camps, certain places like Whitespring Resort, Rusty Pick, Nuka World on Tour, Vault 76, etc.
- it barely matters for mid to endgame players where you already have thousands of caps

Btw, I'm 50/50 on this review. On one hand, this was greatly written. On the other hand, the thumbs down and heavy emphasis on microtransaction make it sounds like this game is like most other games with microtransactions and almost predatory

The only reason I'm considering FO1st is for the 1650 Atoms it give among other things but thankfully I don't see spend a dime other than the base game

[Mdk25]

Nguyên văn bởi petraihei47:

Just for clarification:
- regarding the cap payment during fast travel, there are many places you can fast travel for free: your own Camp/survival tent (FO1st), your team member Camps, certain places like Whitespring Resort, Rusty Pick, Nuka World on Tour, Vault 76, etc.
- it barely matters for mid to endgame players where you already have thousands of caps

Btw, I'm 50/50 on this review. On one hand, this was greatly written. On the other hand, the thumbs down and heavy emphasis on microtransaction make it sounds like this game is like most other games with microtransactions and almost predatory

The only reason I'm considering FO1st is for the 1650 Atoms it give among other things but thankfully I don't see spend a dime other than the base game

@petraihei47
I agree about caps - however, if we both agree that in mid-late game travel price is inconsequential... Then why have it at all?
All previous Fallout game worked just fine without fast travel prices.

Comparing this game with Fallout 4 and any predatory free-to-play mobile game, I would expect FO76 to be 90%-95% like Fallout 4. And only 5%-10% like a free-to-play mobile game (at most).
Surprisingly, the division is more around 50%/50%.
This game is only 50% Fallout 4, and in the other 50% it's Brawl Stars.

This includes:
- Ability to buy in-game currency (Atoms) with real money (aka microtransactions)
- Fast travel costing money
- Having multiple incentives to log-in daily (daily freebies in the atoms market, daily seasonal tasks, etc.)
- Having daily limits preventing you from playing to much in a single day, and incentivising you to return the next day (daily vendor caps limit, daily scrip limit, daily bullion limit, etc.)
- Having multiple different in-game currencies (caps, atoms, stamps, scrip, bullion, etc. etc.) All important for different things. None convertible to other currencies.
- Seasonal prizes
- Season pass you can buy
- Ability to make the game more enjoyable by paying monthly fee (aka Fallout 1st)
- etc.

It's not one or two things.
It's a huge portion of what this game is.
My decision to play this game and how long to play it any given day, is hugely dependent on the microtransaction side of the game, and very little is influenced by the Fallout part of the game.

[vincelang]

Nguyên văn bởi Mdk25:

My decision to play this game and how long to play it any given day, is hugely dependent on the microtransaction side of the game, and very little is influenced by the Fallout part of the game.

Fair enough. But what of others - such as myself - for whom this is not their approach. As in : not even a little bit!

What I am hearing - and I concede that I may very well be reading it wrong! - is something like this : "I don't like playing the slots at the casino, and I don't think slots are very ethical, and in any case what I really want to do is play poker with my friends so . . . I'll just go back to the casino and put money in the slot machines!"

Understood like that it seems this is a problem FOR THOSE WHALE players. Yes : it is scummy that cigarette manufacturers sell poison. No : you don't have to smoke and have, in fact, (especially nowadays!) a myriad ways to get help for nicotine addiction.

Peace onto you!

[Mdk25]

Nguyên văn bởi vincelang:

Nguyên văn bởi Mdk25:

My decision to play this game and how long to play it any given day, is hugely dependent on the microtransaction side of the game, and very little is influenced by the Fallout part of the game.

Fair enough. But what of others - such as myself - for whom this is not their approach. As in : not even a little bit!

What I am hearing - and I concede that I may very well be reading it wrong! - is something like this : "I don't like playing the slots at the casino, and I don't think slots are very ethical, and in any case what I really want to do is play poker with my friends so . . . I'll just go back to the casino and put money in the slot machines!"

Understood like that it seems this is a problem FOR THOSE WHALE players. Yes : it is scummy that cigarette manufacturers sell poison. No : you don't have to smoke and have, in fact, (especially nowadays!) a myriad ways to get help for nicotine addiction.

Peace onto you!

I can almost agree with you... Almost.

I would just do a small correction to your example.
What I'm saying is: I went to vacation in a nice hotel (from a known chain) in Las Vegas - and it turned out it's scummy as hell. It keeps somewhat the atmosphere of the other branches of this hotel chain - but this (Las Vegas branch) is a scummy Casino where everything is designed to make you gamble and addicted to gambling (just like many other Casinos in Las Vegas).

Now it's your choice to listen to me, or ignore my advice.
Some people in the comments, even feel offended that I gave a negative review to this hotel, because "It's a hotel in Las Vegas, what did you expect?!".
Others feel because they're not addicted to gambling (or so they want to believe) I shouldn't be allowed to say gambling is addictive. Apparently, if it didn't happen to them - it's not true.

In any case, I'm not telling anyone what to do.
I'm not even telling anyone to read my review.
Everyone are entitled to not read my review, to read it and not believe it, to read it, believe it and choose to ignore it...
Doesn't matter - I'm still entitled to my own opinion.