Fallout 76 probably can't be saved (Topic)

Enough time has passed, but Bethesda has not improved. Can a damn project called Fallout 76 still be saved? Hardly. Based on the reflections of the journalist from Polygone Kass Marshall, we will analyze the problem called Falaut 76 and analyze whether the project is really doomed.

Broken construction

The start of the game was initially bad - this is a fact and we all know that. Fact about Fallout 76 # 2 - everyone saw bugs in the beta version of the game and naively assumed that they would be fixed for release two weeks after the open beta test. Fact number 3 - the advertising campaign itself and the studio's reaction to the outrage of users played a role in the game's hit - we have already detailed all this here.

The problem is that in the post-release period, no one attached so much importance to bugs, since in today's reality, large games often come out unfinished and are supplied with a patch from the first day.

The situation was identical before with No Man's Sky and Rainbow Six Siege, where we were promised mountains of gold, but as a result they were not. But developers with a heavy head and soul ruled everything, ruled and ruled, but still brought the games to mind and restored the trust of the audience.

Everyone expected the same from the Gazebo. But the further time passed, the more we realized that everything is more complicated than it really is. Trying to solve some problems, others were born, removing some bugs with new patches - old ones returned. The most ridiculous thing is that the game has things that could keep us interested, despite the fact that they could be caused by bugs. That is, a bug is better than a feature from the developer.

Something that works, but not really

And this is the saddest thing, because the game has potential. With the help of perk cards, you can significantly diversify the gameplay and create a cool team, recalls Marshal. Someone in it plays for a scavenger-melee fighter, someone is an alcoholic sniper who also works as a doctor, and the gunsmith of the team has an addiction to canned dog food. Thanks to the CAMP system, such a team can create their own fortress and trade with other players.

All these are interesting ideas, which are somehow implemented and functioning. It may not be much like Fallout, but crafting characters like these is one way to project yourself onto an avatar and create a unique playstyle.

And although thanks to this, the game is able to be fun and interesting - bugs spoil everything, especially those related to connection errors [users often cannot even get together in a group]. Bugs literally ruin everything - Fallout 76 just doesn't work. Doesn't work at its most basic level. Marshal compares the game process to cryptocurrency mining - swinging and extracting resources only makes sense if you truly believe in it. But there is also always the feeling that everything can be destroyed. You run the risk of losing your progress due to bugs and feel like you've wasted your time. And when this happens, you argue with yourself: "Why did I do all this?"

But the game has deeper problems.

Double the degree of idiocy

“Every patch that Besezda released to take a step forward, on the contrary, forced her to take two steps back,” says Cass. All this resulted in the fact that players began to take advantage of the weaknesses of the game, and the developers simply cannot resist it.

One of the main problems that destroyed the normal game community and created a lack of balance is duplication of items or "duping". This is a bug that allows you to copy any item in your inventory [not the essence of how this is done, if you are interested, read the tutorials on the Internet]. Thanks to "duping", one powerful weapon can be turned into two, two into four, four into eight, and so on. Often, players who have “faked” powerful weapons for themselves, unite in teams, and believe me, you cannot win against them. Many "dupiers" were able to get into the developer room and find the most powerful weapons, modifications, items there and duplicate them in the inventory.

This has led to the fact that people who do not break the rules are forced to engage in "duping", as everyone does it, otherwise nothing else. Yes, before they tried to hunt for "Dupirs", but later it became pointless.

It is also known that many "fancy" rare items are sold on third-party services for real money. Diablo 3 was once criticized for this, but the auctions were organized by Blizzard themselves, who decided to close them for the sake of stability of the in-game economy of the game. Bethesda, however, cannot do this, and goes the other way. She released a patch where all weapons that can be dupted have their damage indicators reduced. Some powerful items now do 5 times less damage. This not only did not help, but also killed the balance completely.

The second "super fix" tried to change the weight of the items to make it harder for the dupiers to farm them. After all, if your inventory is too large, you can be banned for suspicion of "duping". This led to the fact that one user was banned, as he was able to collect a lot of cartridges, and the developer thought that the gamer was simply duplicating them. In general, the problem has not been solved, because Besezda, alas, is fighting not with the cause, but with the effect.

Cheerful role-playing

One of the reasons people play Fallout 76 is that players entertain themselves by acting out certain roles. Some gamers even become bosses for others. But again, the mother of the game, instead of a carrot for the development of a social element, uses the whip as punishment.

For example, players cannot build large settlements, since they must be located at a considerable distance from each other. They cannot advertise their stores.

This prevents the creation of an extensive network of settlements with friends. And if the players do try to interact, they will be greeted by a terrible interface. In general, gamers cannot show each other whether they are friendly or not.

Due to the lack of social tools, players constantly need to use third-party resources like Reddit or Discord. As Marshall says, “In the live action trailer for the game, there is a moment where two people walk up to a door that says Friends Welcome. I want to be able to do the same in the game itself and be rewarded for the fact that friendly users can team up to survive. ”

What's happening now?

Bethesda is now looking to introduce weekly Survival events into the game. On the one hand, this is good, but Marshal has doubts. By switching to this mode, players do not need to create a character "from scratch", which means that those who "fancy" themselves with a bunch of cool weapons and armor have an advantage.

Now they want to make the game more difficult in this mode, and there is a high probability that it will end in another failure. Fallout 76 has a broken economy, making it difficult to balance. By trying to make the game "aggressive" by fixing it, many players will be able to cheat it in new ways.

War never changes, like Fallout 76

Bethesda is in a tough spot: the game isn't working, old fans are offended, and rivals in Red Dead Online are offering a better experience. There is a chance to improve, for example, the game constantly flashes hints that all this is not real, and we are in the Vault-Tec simulation created by the Enclave. We are in a kind of matrix. This plot twist would be cool, it could also explain all those bugs in the game [even though we know that they are not part of the gameplay, but the result of a crooked game creation].

How the company will fix all this is unknown. Indeed, in addition to the colossal work on the game, she needs to beg the players to continue to stay in it. The likelihood is scanty, therefore, as one famous franchise says "That which is dead cannot die," Fallout76 cannot be saved.

The Topic of Article: Fallout 76 probably can't be saved.
Author: Jake Pinkman