One of my favorite things about video game releases, and especially one as big as this one, is the hype. I've always enjoyed checking daily on different sites to see if there's any new confirmed information about the game we are going to receive in the coming months. Whether it's the story, how the game will play, or even a little bit of gameplay to get an idea of what we're getting into. Well, there's been no shortage of info regarding Fallout 76 since Quakecon 2018 was a unanimous success for them and this game.
I'd like to touch on a couple of things because maybe not everybody, but I know a lot of people are very excited about Fallout 76, myself included. I mean, a full on multiplayer Fallout game? That's dope. Anyway...
Multiplayer in Fallout 76: I know, the big concern over this one is whether or not the game is still going to feel like a traditional Fallout game. And yes, from what I understand it's going to feel like nothing different except for the fact that the other players on the map will act as your NPC's. It's a neat idea and it'll be even more interesting to see it in practice. The other concern over this was whether or not the game is just going to be filled with tons of people and it'll ruin the sense of being alone. Well, Bethesda has that covered as well since they've announced and they had announced this before that the servers are not going to allow for a lot of people. They're quoting maybe dozens of players in a server at a single time. They've stated that they understand that they want players to still feel like they're in a single player Fallout experience. The multiplayer is just meant as an additional perk. So I'm glad they're not just already dead set on making it multiplayer and multiplayer only. They actually think about the player base too. I'm excited to be able to at least see other players playing. Seems cool to watch them experience it too.
PvP: Another thing a lot of people were worried about, and myself included, is the addition of PvP in a Fallout setting. Once they announced that the game would be multiplayer, they also added onto the fact that there will also be full on Player vs Player combat. However, the big concern over that was whether or not that was going to ruin the players experience because they were getting killed all the time. Well, Bethesda have of course put certain rules and restrictions in place to allow the player to continuously enjoy playing. Basically what they've done is a bounty system, which I think works extraordinarily well in this case. So say you see a player on the map and you want to walk past them. In this case, the other player may choose to shoot at you and eventually kill you. However that doesn't come with consequences. When you kill somebody in Fallout 76 and the other people didn't engage, if you kill the player that didn't engage, you'll get a bounty on your head. Not only that, but on the games main map, you'll be pointed out with a red star, and everybody who's currently on the map will be able to see you. The other thing is that if you're the player with the bounty, your map will go black and you can't see any other players on the map. So if you're planning on killing someone in Fallout 76, you best be prepared.
Quest / Story: This is one that I actually think is really interesting and somewhat of an original idea when it comes to a multiplayer game of sorts. Instead of the game having NPC after NPC with quests and story, instead you'll rely on terminals and other assorted forms of reading etc to give you the story and the quests that you can embark on. Pretty interesting idea because not only does it mean you don't have to deal with annoying NPC's, but it also gives you more reason to explore the world. You wanna find more terminals etc. Cool idea, and again, it'll be cool to see it in practice.
Other things that got mentioned were things like the perk system, which will work in a card based way that you can collect throughout the world and apply it to your character. Really cool idea. Excited for that. They also mentioned you can get mutations, and they can be cured or kept. Whatever you decide.
Anyway, as the release date gets closer, I'm getting more and more excited. Bethesda really do seem like they're trying to ensure that they keep this a typical Fallout game, and not lose sight of what they're attempting to do. Will be really cool to see how it turns out.