Since the week Fallout 76 was released, the iconic game has joined the lineup of 2018's more divisive games.
The Metacritic page has reportedly become a horror show and its official forum and subreddits are battlegrounds between the people who loved the buggy online survival game and those who think Bethesda took the series off a cliff.
One cannot deny how there are several hyperboles on both sides as many players' disappointments were also reasonable. Given that Fallout 76 was actually pitched to them when it was originally unveiled at this year's E3.
During a smart post on the topic, Forbes writer Paul Tassi compares how the game resulted in some of the ways director Todd Howard described it during the E3 presentation of Bethesda last June. According to Kotaku, Howard discussed the all-new rendering technology of the game. However, the Fallout 76 does not really look much better than the past series. Still, there are a few exceptions.
Howard explained that Fallout 76 would get a beta to help the launch go smoothly. The downside was the beta ending up taking the place right before the release. This made it more like an early access for the people who pre-ordered and not a real testing period. It is where Bethesda, the developer, could take the responses they were able to obtain and use it to create a better outcome.
Moreover, Howard cited the most important aspect saying, "When we think about games, we think about worlds, and the choices you can make, the stories you create and tell yourself. We have a game, more than any game that we have ever done, where the choices are yours, where you'll decide what happens. You'll decide the heroes, and you'll decide the villains."
In his piece, Tassi pointed out how 76 clearly lacks the strong character-based stories of previous Bethesda games. Contrary to Howard's pitch at E3, players were not given the tools to create interesting stories of their own as a substitute.
Furthermore, every time a player logs into Fallout 76, they are randomly placed into one of the game's servers with a group of unknowns. The story progress, equipment, and campsite are all going to come along with you. The things you will do in the world outside of pre-structured quest lines go away after leaving the game and come back later. Players may team up with friends but the map that was explored and build on your bases will never be the same again.
