[Bethesda] Fallout 76

[Isgrimnur]

You can't check out this early. We have ten more days of rampant speculation to go through!

[El Guapo]

You can't check out this early. We have ten more days of rampant speculation to go through!

I think it's going to be a post-apocalyptic hot dog vendor simulation.

[Carpet_pissr]

Make that a banana stand and I’m in.

[Brian]

There's always bottle caps in the banana stand.

[Max Peck]

Welp...
Sources: Fallout 76 Is An Online Survival RPG

When Bethesda announced Fallout 76 with a teaser trailer this morning, promising more information at E3, it was easy to assume that the new game would be a traditional single-player role-playing game. But Fallout 76 is in fact an online survival RPG that’s heavily inspired by games like DayZ and Rust, according to three people familiar with the project.

Those people, speaking anonymously so as not to damage their careers, confirmed that Fallout 76 is an experimental new entry in the longrunning post-apocalyptic series. When Bethesda first teased the game on Tuesday morning, fans and pundits speculated that it might be a Fallout 3 remaster or a New Vegas-style spinoff in a new location, but as Kotaku reported that afternoon, it is in fact something completely new and completely different. The teaser might lead Fallout fans to believe that this is a traditional entry in the series, but according to our sources, that’s not the case.

Originally prototyped as a multiplayer version of Fallout 4 with the goal of envisioning what an online Fallout game might look like, Fallout 76 has evolved quite a bit over the past few years, those sources said. It will have quests and a story, like any other game from Bethesda Game Studios, a developer known for meaty RPGs like Skyrim. It will also feature base-building—just like 2015's Fallout 4—and other survival-based and multiplayer mechanics, according to those sources. One source cautioned that the gameplay is rapidly changing, like it does in many online “service” games, but that’s the core outline.

[Grifman]

Welp...
Sources: Fallout 76 Is An Online Survival RPG

When Bethesda announced Fallout 76 with a teaser trailer this morning, promising more information at E3, it was easy to assume that the new game would be a traditional single-player role-playing game. But Fallout 76 is in fact an online survival RPG that’s heavily inspired by games like DayZ and Rust, according to three people familiar with the project.

Those people, speaking anonymously so as not to damage their careers, confirmed that Fallout 76 is an experimental new entry in the longrunning post-apocalyptic series. When Bethesda first teased the game on Tuesday morning, fans and pundits speculated that it might be a Fallout 3 remaster or a New Vegas-style spinoff in a new location, but as Kotaku reported that afternoon, it is in fact something completely new and completely different. The teaser might lead Fallout fans to believe that this is a traditional entry in the series, but according to our sources, that’s not the case.

Originally prototyped as a multiplayer version of Fallout 4 with the goal of envisioning what an online Fallout game might look like, Fallout 76 has evolved quite a bit over the past few years, those sources said. It will have quests and a story, like any other game from Bethesda Game Studios, a developer known for meaty RPGs like Skyrim. It will also feature base-building—just like 2015's Fallout 4—and other survival-based and multiplayer mechanics, according to those sources. One source cautioned that the gameplay is rapidly changing, like it does in many online “service” games, but that’s the core outline.

'

You're a bit late, see my post on the first page

I called it:

https://kotaku.com/sources-fallout-76-i ... 1826425333

[Max Peck]

You're a bit late, see my post on the first page

I called it:

https://kotaku.com/sources-fallout-76-i ... 1826425333

Heh, I missed that post. I'm too slow in my old age to keep up with all this fast-breaking news.

[Torfish]

I just got home to watch the trailer. Loved it in every way and loved the song. That's how a trailer is done.

What an unexpected announcement and nicely done on the whole twitch deal. Even if the game isn't great, I give them credit for how they built the hype in the past 24 hours.

I'm in.

[jztemple2]

Sounds like GTA Online with Chevy Bel Airs.

[Daehawk]

Ill wait and see. The trailer gave me chills so loved that. Where is everyone else in that vault of 500? Hope its good even if its not something for me.

And ya I thought I-76 also.

Really loved that song. Its a favorite from my childhood. Almost sounded like Darius Rucker(Hootie).

[Daehawk]

Couple more fast thoughts.

The vault is opening 5 years late and it appears there was a party in the vault yet you see only the one vault dweller. Did the vault open 5 years earlier and they left with him forgotten behind? Where is everyone.

The room shown is probably his. Looks like a childs room where a kid lived and grew up. Toys games stuffed animals but also a fedora and such. Him?

What is that black line thing running up the left side of his vaultsuit?

Im curious as to the party and where 499 others went / are.

I try to like survival games but I always end up either being bored to tears or mad at Pkrs ruining all I do. We'll see. I HATED building in FO4 because I use arrows to move and when I rebound them to move I they are hard bound to the build stuff too so I was always moving as I tried to build and such. Sucked.

Really really want to know who covered Country Roads. Love it.

EDIT: Appears that black line on the suit leads to a sorta comm badge on the front.

[Kraken]

A man on my radio told me one morning that the author of Country Roads was from Massachusetts, and the original lyrics were:

Almost heaven,
Massachusetts.
Berkshire Mountains,
Connecticut River.

He was persuaded to relocate his song because people don't associate MA with "country."

Here's a question for Fallout fans: I had just assumed that the war took place in the early 1960s based on the '40s radio music and vacuum-tube technology. In my mind, the Cuban Missile Crisis went wrong. How does the retro culture and tech square with a war in 2081 (or whenever it is)? Even if only analog artifacts survived, I'd expect the games to be stuck in the 1970s.

[NickAragua]

From what I recall, it's an alternate history where (among other things) the microchip is never developed, and culture freezes at the 1950s level (for 120 years or so, apparently), but nuclear fission and fusion power really takes off. Yet for some reason people still use oil? Anyway, the nukes drop in 2077.

Best not to think about it too much and just enjoy the wreckage of civilization.

Now to be interrupted every couple of minutes by some stupid teenage cyborg shooting you in the head, then teabagging you while insulting your mother over un-mutable voice chat.

[Blackhawk]

That's pretty much it. It's an alternate timeline that matches ours, then diverges right around the end of WWII. Where our entire tech drive afterwards was focused on miniaturization, theirs was based on atomic power. The transistor didn't get invented until sometime in the 21st century, and progress afterward was just as slow. The result was a retro-futurism aesthetic that matches the way Popular Mechanics viewed the future in the 50s and 60s, with the connected houses, domes, robot servants, and so forth. The lack of miniaturization means that TVs and radios never advanced much past the tube stage, but the batteries powering them? Fusion cells that will last a thousand years.

And Daehawk - you really need to get yourself either some remapping software or a keyboard with the functionality built in (like Corsair.) So many of your control problems would vanish if you were remapping your keyboard instead of remapping the controls to something so rarely used as the arrow keys. I've had three games in the past year that either had hard-coded keys or keys that couldn't be remapped (Rainbow SIx: Siege, Spellforce 2, System Shock 1) that I just set up a profile to remap their keys to the ones I normally use. As far as the game could tell, I was using the default keys. I push E, the keyboard puts out the signal for Numpad Up (or whatever.)

Although to be honest, you'd be better off still to take a couple of days, grab a favorite shooter, and retrain yourself to use something more conventional, like WASD or ESDF. I started with the arrow keys myself, but switched when I realized that most games were designed on the assumption that you'd have instant access to the number keys.

[Moat_Man]

[Kraken]

Best not to think about it too much and just enjoy the wreckage of civilization.

I was way off because I didn't think about it very much. IDK where Blackhawk got all that background, but I don't think it was from playing the games unless that all zoomed right past me, as things tend to do.

[Daehawk]

Moat I dont see the pic.

[Daehawk]

I suddenly thought while seeing the inside of the vault....what happens if theres a fire? Or multiple fires?

[DD*]

So you want to make 200-500 caps per day...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Max Peck]

Best not to think about it too much and just enjoy the wreckage of civilization.

I was way off because I didn't think about it very much. IDK where Blackhawk got all that background, but I don't think it was from playing the games unless that all zoomed right past me, as things tend to do.

A couple of decades worth of games generates a lot of canon.

[Blackhawk]

Best not to think about it too much and just enjoy the wreckage of civilization.

I was way off because I didn't think about it very much. IDK where Blackhawk got all that background, but I don't think it was from playing the games unless that all zoomed right past me, as things tend to do.

A couple of decades worth of games generates a lot of canon.

And when I really get into a game, I get curious about said canon and read up on it. I've been really into Fallout since I first played Fallout 2. At some point I had the same question you did, probably because I was getting a kind of cognitive dissonance from the anachronisms, and went and read up on it.

And there is a lot of stuff out there that isn't core to the gameplay and is easy to miss. Little mentions, details here and there in museums and terminals, huge amounts of info in the manuals (especially Fallout 1 and 2.) Luckily, there are people that are far more obsessed with it than I who are willing to scour every source for the little bits and pieces of canon and put it all together.

[Carpet_pissr]

I suddenly thought while seeing the inside of the vault....what happens if theres a fire? Or multiple fires?

Vault dwellers love fighting fires apparently:


Or just enjoying being slowly (quickly) roasted by them in quiet meditation:

[El Guapo]

Boooo. I want my post apocalyptic hot dog vendor simulation.

[morlac]

I am intrigued but not overly excited. It's Fallout and I still think I may one day like a survival game so I'm in the solid maybe camp.

[Max Peck]

Yeah, I'm tentatively still interested but it all depends on the details. If they go with something like Conan Exiles, where I can run a server process on my own PC and effectively play it as a solo/single-player game, I might still be interested. But if it's a full-on PvP game, that's a hard pass for me.

[wonderpug]

Overly-detailed fan-breakdown of what we may be able to glean from the trailer

[Sepiche]

Yeah, I'm tentatively still interested but it all depends on the details. If they go with something like Conan Exiles, where I can run a server process on my own PC and effectively play it as a solo/single-player game, I might still be interested. But if it's a full-on PvP game, that's a hard pass for me.

+1

Despite being MP focused I managed to have some fun with Conan, and I like Fallout considerably more than Conan as far as settings go.

[Rumpy]

A thought occurred to me that with the success of A Way Out, Bethesda could have wanted to have a try at doing something similar. I know clues point to a multiplayer survival game, but that overly detailed analysis also makes me think of A Way Out with the way it talks about possible Co-op. Elements like survival could still be part of it, and story quests could still be part of it (which has been mentioned on Kotaku). If we think of the Vault as a sort of prison that two people could escape together and venture out into wasteland, adventure and try to survive, it would still fit the current consensus. A Way Out was brilliantly conceived with the way it applied Co-op and the Fallout franchise is actually a perfect fit for that type of game.

[Daehawk]

Still wondering where everyone else is. Did they all have a party 5 years ago and leave?

[Paingod]

Still wondering where everyone else is. Did they all have a party 5 years ago and leave?

You wake up after a horrific bender at the party, and the Vault is empty as everyone else cracked the seal and stepped out into the light... where they were promptly devoured by Deathclaws, enslaved by bandits, and melted by radiation. Good luck!

I imagine it's about the same as some other Fallout games. The Vault gets wiped out by the harsh reality of the new world right after opening the door.

[Moat_Man]

Moat I dont see the pic.

Fixed?

[Daehawk]

Moat I dont see the pic.

Fixed?

Yup working now mate.

[Max Peck]

Totally not walking back the initial characterization.

I think that in retrospect I shouldn't have tweeted that anyone expecting a traditional single-player Fallout will be "very disappointed" -- really, I should have said that they'll be very surprised. I wanted (and still want) to make sure people's expectations are calibrated accordingly.

Short version: Yes, Fallout 76 is going to be a multiplayer RPG. No, that's not automatically a bad thing. Just like all of you, I'm stoked to see the game on June 10, and I'm optimistic that it's going to be really cool.

I suspect the initial choice of words was quite deliberate. "Disappointed" probably drove a lot more page views than "surprised" would have done.

[Apollo]

Well, as much as I liked Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Fallout 4, I've always hated the setting and now with the whole thing likely going multiplayer I'm done. It was a lot of fun but I guess it's time to move on.

Still wish they would make a sequel to Skyrim. I guess making single-player open-world games is just not fashionable anymore, at least as far as Bethesda is concerned.

[Blackhawk]

Still wish they would make a sequel to Skyrim. I guess making single-player open-world games is just not fashionable anymore, at least as far as Bethesda is concerned.

I don't know about that.

2002 - Morrowind
2006 - Oblivion
2008 - Fallout 3
2011 - Skyrim
2015 - Fallout 4

They seem to put one out every 3-4 years (and they did the remasters in there, too.) They aren't overdue yet, and they don't announce new games until just before they launch.

[Isgrimnur]

They've already stated that ES6 is in the cards, they just won't commit to a timeframe or any other details at the moment.

PCGamer

In 2017, Hines reiterated his "not yet" response when asked about TES6's progress after the release of Skyrim: Special Edition rekindled the hunger for updates. "There's still two major, multiplatform releases that the team has to work on first, and so TES6 isn't happening until those games happen," Hines said in a PCGamesN interview. "Big, multiplatform, triple-A stuff that they do takes multiple years, so you can do the math. It ain't anytime soon."

So you can expect to wait a couple more years at least.

[Daehawk]

Good because I still need to play Skyrim to the end. I have a great install now but Im just not playing it. And I love Skyrim.

[Max Peck]

They've already stated that ES6 is in the cards, they just won't commit to a timeframe or any other details at the moment.

PCGamer

In 2017, Hines reiterated his "not yet" response when asked about TES6's progress after the release of Skyrim: Special Edition rekindled the hunger for updates. "There's still two major, multiplatform releases that the team has to work on first, and so TES6 isn't happening until those games happen," Hines said in a PCGamesN interview. "Big, multiplatform, triple-A stuff that they do takes multiple years, so you can do the math. It ain't anytime soon."

So you can expect to wait a couple more years at least.

And Magic 8-Ball says it's going to have the same sort of multiplayer as Fallout 76.

[Blackhawk]

And Magic 8-Ball says it's going to have the same sort of multiplayer as Fallout 76.

Maybe. Bethesda isn't exactly a proven developer in the multiplayer arena, and they've developed a reputation for poor monetization ideas (remember horse armor and paid mods?) Players have a vast number of choices and are incredibly fickle these days. We live in a world where Gearbox and Cliff Bleszinski can't get a game off the ground, but random indies can dominate the market. Whether '76 is the first of a franchise or just a failed experiment is yet to be seen.

[Punisher]

Yeah, I'm tentatively still interested but it all depends on the details. If they go with something like Conan Exiles, where I can run a server process on my own PC and effectively play it as a solo/single-player game, I might still be interested. But if it's a full-on PvP game, that's a hard pass for me.

+1

Despite being MP focused I managed to have some fun with Conan, and I like Fallout considerably more than Conan as far as settings go.

+2
I play MP games, but much prefer having the option for SP, especially where I can make my own private server. Then I can just play with people I know.