The, Er, Fallout of Fallout 76

#124

Wow, a new post in the Fallout 76 thread? There must be some big news about the Fallout ser

“”"" One theory circulating among players as to why bobby pins are back to being over-weighted is that the newest update used an older build of Fallout 76 that caused some aspects of the game to appear to be back where they were at the beginning of the month. Bethesda did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

In response to the latest missteps, there have been renewed calls for Bethesda to implement a beta server where players can test out new patches before they go live in the actual game, to which one player responded “Good news! You’re already in the beta server!”""""

#125

You remember when Austin said something like “I feel like 76 is punishment for when I defended Fallout 4?” It’s like Bethesda has just internalized the worst internet comments talking about how bad they are at the technical side of game development.

#126

I still listen to that GOTY debate from time to time.

Thing is, I agree with both of them? It just feels like with how Bethesda royally fucked up, Jeff’s POV ended up coming out over Austin in retrospect.

#127

I can’t describe how badly I wanted this game to not be this, and it’s so much worse than I could have expected. I don’t get it. Related/unrelated, I wonder if Bethesda in Maryland has just completely moved off this game and left the Austin(?) studio to put out these fires and flounder and figure out how to work this in-house engine. I have no idea, but it’s something I wonder sometimes considering they’re supposedly working on 2 other games right now.

#128

I feel like the guys who do the World War 1 & 2 Every Week Youtube channel could do a third one called, “How is Fallout 76 fucking up, week by week.”

#129

We’ve been hearing rumors about Starfield for years now, so I think that game will probably get a major release before the next Elder Scrolls. My guess is that Elder Scrolls hasn’t even gone into pre-production yet, or if it has, it’s extremely early.

With the overwhelming reaction to 76 and their insufficient work in their engine, I’m really curious how Bethesda is going to approach Starfield. I wouldn’t be surprised if they delay the game to work on it further. If they didn’t get the message with the lukewarm reaction to Fallout 4, then 76 HAS to have them hiring more QA, right?

#130

I’m like, worried they’re just gonna run this train (engine) into the sun. It’d be cool if they didn’t, but.

#131

If they’re stretched across three games that would explain a lot.

#132

Bethesda Austin’s prior work was the soft-cancelled BattleCry, and the multiplayer component for Doom 2016. It’s possible they didn’t have the wherewithal to handle this project, but we don’t know how much of it was split between them and Bethesda’s main office.

#133

People have gone so far as to say that chunks of Battlecry’s “engine” are in Fallout 76 but I doubt that’s the case. Rather the several of the systems for gear/etc. they were working on were copied for it since that’s what they already had sorta balanced/worked out a bit.

But I still LOL that ZeniMax gave them so little to work with they were prototyping with iD-donated Quake-era multiplayer code jammed into Fallout 4. Like how were they expecting something built up from that to turn out?

#134

i actually expect them to go the other way and try to rush Starfield out. Bethesda seems like exactly the kind of company to decide they need to win back the fans with a big new release. Just like how they announced TES6 (and Starfield, though that’s probably further along) last E3 despite it being in very early pre-production at best, because people were mad at them for endless Skyrim re-releases instead of making new games.

#135

I’m not sure about any gear system, but the card-based perk progression is definitely one that was being prototyped on the cancelled game.

You could point the finger at an inexperienced studio, but the game’s problems appear heavily rooted in both Bethesda’s rough technical tools, and their contemporary design priorities.

#136

100%, because this is supposed to be a game made by these two studios, I lay blame primarily at the feet of the more experienced of the two, and the one whose technology base is the groundwork of the game. For me, if there’s a situation right now where Austin is the one dealing with the live game, which I think is just speculation, it’s more of a “damn, y’all got a raw deal here,” than anything else.

I hope there’s a Schreier-esque “what the fuck’s going on with Fallout 76” in the future, because I soooo want to know.

#137

Hmm. Not sure I agree with this. If we’re talking Bethesda Softworks, that’s what Doom Eternal and Rage 2 and Wolfenstein are for. If we’re talking Bethesda Game Studios, I don’t know what in their recent history would suggest they give two shits about “winning back fans.” BGS depletes community goodwill like it’s a gift card with an expiration date.

#138

The smarter thing to do, and what will likely happen, is that they wait for this entire debacle to fizzle out and then release a major tentpole RPG in about 2 or 3 years that manages to wow back general audiences with their gameplay stylings.

Regardless of it having the Fallout name, 76 is not a major release from Bethesda. And because of that, regardless of how bad the reception was, it won’t really matter by the time their next “real” release happens.

#139

This is 100% my guess. They’ll spin it as an experiment that they tried, we’re very proud of the work that was done, we learned a lot from our customers and fans, now here’s the big new shiny thing from our mainline studio… I would bet the 76 servers are taken offline or sent into legacy mode not too long after.

#140

Meanwhile at Zenimax: You’ve got a week, some gum, and whatever this thing we found in the back of the fridge is… Go make multiplayer fallout please.