Hello, Enthusiacs. I am Vega Goose, your host, and I return to you know after a very long absence to discuss the latest entry into the Fallout franchise.

Fallout 76 was a terrible idea from the word go. Everyone not drinking the kool-aid knew it was going to be bad from the moment Todd Howard uttered the words “always online,” and yet the fanboys continued to shout down anyone discussing the idea that this game had the potential to choke. We were all hit with the classic not-getting-it arguement. Sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it? If the sales are any indication, the only thing people aren’t getting is a copy of the game. The internet is buzzing about the possibility of 76 failing, but the bottom line is it already has.

By completely changing the core of their game to fit a MMO style, Bethesda has turned their old audience off of their product. When you cast a wide net you risk losing your niche audience and that is exactly what has happened.

The reason people hate this game range from legendary glitches even after the Beta, to poorly coded quests often resulting in people needing to reload multiple times to continue, to super enemies at low level spawn points due to the higher level of other players, to simply not being able to play because you are being killed by other stronger players. And the list could go on.

The latter is a real bite in the ass given that this can happen even if you turn off PVP. There is no way to just play Fallout without interruption. This is one of the many things we were promised would not happen and yet here we are watching Fallout 76 turn into Rust 2.

The saddest part of watching this game get savaged, and rightfully so, is that you can tell real work went into the writing of this game. From side quests to main quest, the story is engaging and fun when you are allowed to enjoy it.

In fact if Bethesda had put an offline, single-player option into this game, I would be telling you all to pick up what would be a great entry into the Fallout series. But as it stands right now I urge you all to stay away.

Two years ago, Bethesda began talking about saving single player. Yet between this and Elder Scrolls online, they seem to want to be as far from single player as they can get. One only hopes this failure doesn’t derail the entire Fallout series a la Mass Effect Andromeda.

That’s not to say it’s all bad, aside from the story. Several game play changes that I felt were very welcome. The crafting system has been changed, making you earn your way to what you can build instead of just having it all at once, giving you more of a reason to want to explore so you can find all the plans to build your personal fortress.

The camp system is amazing and allows you to build your base where ever you want and take it with you when you go. This was a very fun way of always being close to home where ever you may travel and I really hope we see it return in Fallout 5.

Same with the new Vats system. Personally, in future titles I’d like to see it as a toggle to have real time vats. It ups the tension in combat and is a much more real world example of how vats should work.

I also really enjoy the variety in enemy types, from simple mutated animals to absolute monsters of the fallout world. Without being able to rely on raiders for the bulk of your enemies, you can tell the team put a lot of work into making the enemies not only varied, but fun.

The same goes for the environments. Each bio seems like a totally new area, not just a color swap or fewer trees like in Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3.

All in all, I’m very disappointed in Fallout 76. Everything good about it is completely undone by the shackle around your ankle that is online play. Especially if, like me, you live in a rural area without strong internet access.

If it ever goes offline this could be the game to take the Fallout crown, but online, it’s only taking a walk to the woodshed.

Thank you for reading

See ya next time.