Fallout 76 Announced

lazarus51166

More info coming at E3 on june 10th but its sounding like some kind of online survival rpg

https://kotaku.com/sources-fallout-76-is-an-online-survival-rpg-1826425333

starkaos

Considering that it is set 25 years after the bombs drop, it makes sense for it to be a game similar to Rust or Ark: Survival Evolved with base building, crafting, and survival. Personally, I am thinking that it will be a MMO due to how successful Elder Scrolls Online is and Bethesda getting into a legal battle with Interplay which gave the rights to a Fallout MMO to Bethesda in 2012 after Interplay worked on a Fallout MMO for years.

jonsills

Rumor and speculation, mostly - that trailer was devoid of information on most fronts.

What we do know - it's based on/around Vault 76. In the records at the Pentagon in Fallout 3, we learned that Vault 76 was designated as a "control vault", where everything would happen pretty much exactly as Vault-Tec promised. The only deviation from plan was that the master control system, rather than one of the more standard computers found in other vaults, was something called a "Brainpower 4". Both this record and a brief mention in the news broadcast during the opening segment of 4 state that the vault was in the "Greater DC" area; as the lore specifies that the states of the US were grouped into "Commonwealths" during the 1960s, it's possible that part of West Virginia (the state mentioned in the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads", playing from a radio or Pip-Boy during the trailer) may have been considered "Greater DC" at the time.

We also know that the Vault was supposed to open twenty years after the bombs fell, but the date on the clock is five years after that, indicating that either it was kept locked for an extra five years (possibly due to radiation concerns?) or that the character was asked/permitted to stay an extra five years for something.

Interestingly enough, the year indicated is the year the rebellion at Mariposa AFB happened in California, giving rise to the Brotherhood of Steel; the following year, the Master learned to use FEV to mass-produce Super Mutants. (Therefore, we shouldn't see much in the way of Super Mutants in this game, unless they add to the lore with another source of FEV.) All the rest of the mutated and/or genetically-engineered monsters we're used to should be there, though.

(Note that I'm not really an expert on Fallout lore; the information above was derived from both my own playthroughs of Falluts 3 and 4, and a video on YouTube by Oxhorn, who's pretty good at separating knowledge from guesswork.)

Personal speculation and notes: I'm really hoping it's not an MMO; if it is, I'd like it to be along the lines of STO, where I can play solo through the whole game. The usual MMO structure doesn't really mesh well with Fallout's traditional "Chosen One" game style. The timing and location of the Vault opening suggests to me that we might well be participating in the founding of one or more of the factions we're familiar with; the NCR, Enclave, and Brotherhood are pretty well ruled out (we know the origins of the NCR and BoS, and all three are associated with the west coast), but the Institute hasn't been founded yet, and we have no idea when or how the Railroad, Minutemen, or Gunners began. (We do know the Railroad has a presence reaching at least from Far Harbor, Maine, to the Capitol Wastelands, and possibly farther.)

Edited to correct bad case of intracranial flatulence

starkaos

jonsills wrote: »

Rumor and speculation, mostly - that trailer was devoid of information on most fronts.

What we do know - it's based on/around Vault 95.

Vault 76 actually since we see a Vault suit with that number in the trailer and it is what the game is called.

jonsills

starkaos wrote: »

jonsills wrote: »

Rumor and speculation, mostly - that trailer was devoid of information on most fronts.

What we do know - it's based on/around Vault 95.

Vault 76 actually since we see a Vault suit with that number in the trailer and it is what the game is called.

My bad - I'll go edit that now. I blame insufficient coffee. (Not mean enough to be Ambien, right?)

legendarylycan

jonsills wrote: »

(Therefore, we shouldn't see much in the way of Super Mutants in this game, unless they add to the lore with another source of FEV.)

supermutants have apparently been around since before the war, just like deathclaws, since there are supermutant heads present inside the basement level of the mechanist's lair, which housed a robobrain production facility in pre-war times and, per the game's own lore, hadn't been breached until the mechanist got there...so those heads were clearly there BEFORE the bombs fell

now, it could've been a goof...but you mentioned oxhorn - well, i saw his mini-series on the automatron DLC, and he doesn't seem to think it is a mistake​​

starkaos

West Coast Super Mutants came from the Master dunking victims in a vat of FEV in the Mariposa Military Base. Capital Wasteland Super Mutants were from Vault 87 as part of a governmental experiment. Commonwealth Super Mutants are part of an experiment by the Institute. If there is Super Mutants in Fallout 76, then it is likely from Vault 87 due to their transformation happening shortly after entering the vault or as part of a secret military experiment before the bombs dropped to create a bunch of super soldiers to defeat the Chinese.

legendarylycan

the entire FEV project was a secret military experiment designed to create super soldiers - and partially to come up with a cure for the new plague that was running rampant through the US at the time​​

jonsills

An update, from the YouTube account of JuiceHead, who apparently follows everyone he can find from Bethesda on Twitter: they seem to be poo-pooing the multiplayer idea, and pretty clearly (to my mind, at least) denied the MMO concept. And it's apparently definitely not going to be like Rust, which seems to be greeted as a good thing; I wouldn't know, as I have no idea what Rust is/was aside from oxidation of metal.

legendarylycan

rust is the FNV version of FO4's FROST mod​​

jonsills

shadowfang240 wrote: »

rust is the FNV version of FO4's FROST mod​​

Okay, next question - what's the Frost mod? Whatever it is, I haven't run across it yet. (Then again, I mostly play it on XBox anyway, because for some reason I can't seem to find the PC settings to get my graphics to smooth out - it's all stop-motion for me.)

If it's some sort of survival thing, that would explain why I don't know it; I prefer to download mods that make my game easier, not harder. (Nothing like running around the Commonwealth shooting monsters and raiders with my modified Mass Effect M-6 Carnifex pistol!)

markhawkman

I gotta say being strictly single player made base building in FO4 less fun. Even if it's a limited sort of online Co-op it'd be nice.

jonsills

markhawkman wrote: »

I gotta say being strictly single player made base building in FO4 less fun. Even if it's a limited sort of online Co-op it'd be nice.

On the other tentacle, I wouldn't mind online co-op, as long as it's not required. I can't always play according to the schedules of people not in this house, one reason why I haven't even reached lvl 10 in The Division (until you're high-level, there's not a lot you can solo, so I try to coordinate with the other two players in this house - and even that doesn't always work out), but it might be nice to have someone else's suggestions about what to do to fix up a settlement. (I only recently started exploring some of the stuff in the Wasteland Workshop DLC. Turns out I like the idea of putting my spare outfits on display dummies and my weapons on wall-mounted display racks, so it feels more like I'm consulting a wardrobe when choosing the appropriate gear.)

legendarylycan

this is frost https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18898/

and yes, a survival simulator is exactly what it is; most of the quests have been removed so it's just a pure survival experience

timeline-wise, it takes a place a few years after the great war, right in the middle of the nuclear winter aftermath - before the planet slowly turned into one giant radioactive desert - hence the name frost​​

starkaos

We have a sneak peak of Fallout 76 at the Microsoft E3 2018 Press Conference. The Fallout 76 content starts at 1:10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toS9OiU-y0k

It confirms that Fallout 76 is a prequel, 4 times bigger than Fallout 4, and set in West Virginia. 3:23 and 3:47 look interesting. The video is giving me the impression of a Civilization/RPG Hybrid.

legendarylycan

FO4 already WAS that...they put WAY too much emphasis on the settlement system, and the rest of the game suffered for it​​

starkaos

Only at an extremely cursory level. Settlements were limited to where you could build and you were only concerned with the basic needs not something more impressive like building a workable airport or library. The location at 3:47 could be Fallout 76's version of a mine.

jonsills

I quite enjoy the settlement-building process, although it is rather a lot easier when you install something like the Cheat Terminal - right now I'm doing a "virgin" playthrough of FO4, and had to pause construction on Hangman's Alley while I went to Diamond City (for the first time this game!) to buy things with gears in them. (It's easier to get the Defense rating up with turrets than with posts that need to be manned.)

If Fallout 76 is all about rebuilding civilization, I'm in for it. Just hope that if we turn out to be founding the Enclave, I can fine some way to pre-emptively eliminate Col. Autumn...

avoozuul

I didn't like how FO4 turned out, I am not even sure that I will even like this either. Honestly I am just not happy with Bethesda anymore especially since the paid mods thing twice despite the backlash after the first time, probably the greediest thing any game company has done so far, not only are they are taking the bigger cut from the profits than the mod makers but they aren't even stopping people from stealing other peoples free mods and claiming it as thiers. If Obsidian worked on this then I would be a bit interested as I loved their work on Fallout New Vegas.

jonsills

No, avo, the greediest thing would have been to take away the free mods. Which they didn't do.

Okay, saw the E3 presentation. 76 will apparently be online, so you'll have to watch out for some folks, but you'll be able to cooperate with others to adventure, build outposts and villages, and apparently obtain the launch codes for a few remaining nukes which you can then use on other targets in the game world. It's not a pure survival game, either - the producer likes to call it "softcore survival", which he now wants to see as a new ESRB designation.

You'll still be able to adventure solo, fortunately - but the look of 76 has my wife excited to join me in West Virginia. And she's never wanted to play a Fallout game before.

starkaos

Certainly looks like a MMO on a PvP server to me considering that there are very few instances where we see a ton of characters at the same time in STO besides the social areas.

avoozuul

jonsills wrote: »

No, avo, the greediest thing would have been to take away the free mods. Which they didn't do.

I meant the greediest thing so far.

However not only are they are taking the bigger cut from the profits than the mod makers but they aren't even stopping people from stealing other peoples free mods and claiming it as there's.

jonsills

Think of it more as something like the multiplayer mode of Minecraft, except people can't summon up huge mountains of TNT to blow up your lovely village. (Although if you can piece together a launch code, you can launch nuclear missiles at one another...)

legendarylycan

that's not what the trailer seemed to suggest - it sounded more like you would be able to launch at specific points on the map to gain access to rare resources and stuff, not nuke wherever you please​​

markhawkman

jonsills wrote: »

You'll still be able to adventure solo, fortunately - but the look of 76 has my wife excited to join me in West Virginia. And she's never wanted to play a Fallout game before.

sounds like a success to me.

nightken

well looking at the e3 stuff I don't think I have a choice but to preorder, it is literally do to release on my birthday and is nearly in my home state. and I was planning on taking my vacation that week any way.

jonsills

More information from an interview with Todd Howard: VATS will exist, but it won't slow time while you're using it (so you'd best practice using those twitch muscles!), they're dialing in how much PvP there might be (Howard really wants to avoid griefing), and while there will be modding support, it won't be available at launch, because it's taking even longer to figure out how to work mods into an interactive game. They want to do it, but the exact mechanics are still in question.

For PvP I personally hope they swipe an idea from The Division, where you're only flagged for PvP if you go into a certain area (the Dark Zone, for TD). There are extra rewards there, and some things that can only be run in the Dark Zone, but if you don't care about those rewards (like me), you never have to go into the place. Either that or, like the Onslaught Villains in CO, have a PvP flag that only lets others target you if you either select it on or target someone whose flag is on. Thus, if you select it off and don't shoot at them first, you can happily traipse through West Virginia with only the threat of deathclaws, Grafton monsters, and scorchwings to ruin your day...