Hello everyone, Kelvoran back again and it’s time I got into the second part of my promised Fallout 76 discussion blog. For those of you who read the first part where I discussed my thoughts about the game, I did say that I was going to write a post concerning what I thought could be changed to make the game better.
Now, to be clear, I am not in any way a game developer, I have some background knowledge, having studied it to enter the industry but I have no formal qualifications and no experience, so this post is not an attempt to tell the people at Bethesda Softworks how to do their job, nor am I saying that their current version of Fallout 76 is trash and that it should be replaced. These are just my humble suggestions, so keep that in mind before you roast me over an open flame.
So, let’s begin with what I would remove from Fallout 76, starting with six enemies of the Fallout games. Those six being Super Mutants, Mutant Hounds, Feral Ghouls, Deathclaws, Gulpers and Anglers. These enemies above all others don’t really make a whole lot of sense existing in the game as it currently stands and let me explain why.
- Super Mutants: These hulking mutated humans were created as a result of human testing of the Forced Evolutionary Virus (or F.E.V) which had only just been named such in 2075 and was still being trialed on animals all the way in California when the people of Huntersville West Virginia were supposedly infected with the FEV by West-Tek. Human trials of the F.E.V would not begin until 2077 and even then they were done in absolute secrecy.
- Mutant Hounds: These beasts first made an appearance in Fallout 4 and they’re unique to the Commonwealth, having been created by the Institute (who were also responsible for creating the Super Mutants of the Commonwealth). Now it is unclear as to when the Institute created the Mutant Hounds, but it is highly unlikely that they would have existed in West Virginia 25 years after the bombs fell, which is when the events of Fallout 76 begin.
- Feral Ghouls: While Ghouls would have existed by the time of Fallout 76, the concept of Feral Ghouls would not be widespread, as it generally either took a large exposure of radiation OR excessive time for a Ghoul to go feral so there would not have been large numbers of them in places like Morgantown.
- Deathclaws: While iconic to the Fallout universe, these creatures were primarily created by genetic manipulation and the FEV in California. They were considered mythological and rare in the Year 2161, meaning that they would be non-existent in West Virginia during the events of Fallout 76.
- Gulpers: Gulpers are a unique beast that can only be found on the island of Far Harbor. Regardless of when they were created as a species, they would not be present during the events of Fallout 76 in West Virginia.
- Anglers: As with the Gulper, the Angler is a unique beast that can only be found on the island of Far Harbor. Additionally, as they are mutated from a deep-sea fish (the Angler Fish) they would not be found in the landlocked region of West Virginia in any capacity.
Now let’s talk about what could be added/changed, and in all honesty, there is only one major thing that could be added, and that’s living human NPCs. This, in my opinion, is vital because not only does it allow for players to be more invested in the world because they’re getting quests from living, breathing humans, it also allows for greater storytelling as human NPCs will have their own goals and their own personalities. Factions would have different personalities which could clash, and we could even be forced to choose between them as we did in previous Fallout games. Take this scenario for example:
We emerge from Vault 76, seeing Appalachia for the first time in 25 years. Upon leaving the immediate area we get our first encounter with the enemies of the region. The giant ticks, feral hounds and scorched. We find the Overseer’s camp, but instead of finding a holotape we actually find the Overseer herself. This is where we learn the basics of survival, how to set up the camp and the importance of scavenging supplies. Then she recommends that we scout out Flatwoods to see if there are any survivors there, as she heard gunshots from that region. She has her own mission to undertake, which takes her in another direction altogether.
Now at this point, we can choose to go just about anywhere. We can roam as we see fit, but, for the sake of this scenario, we go to Flatwoods to find the area under attack by a raider gang. We help the survivors who are holed up in the church, and after we kill the raiders we are introduced to the First Responders. This is the first faction we discover in the game and they are trying to survive despite constant attacks by raider patrols. Here we can discover some side quests, such as discovering who killed the town Reverend who also served as the cooking teacher. Originally chalked up to an unfortunate casualty of the raider assaults, we investigate and discover that it was a fellow First Responder, Sofie, who killed him and she has been sending messages to the raiders, essentially offering inside intel on when to attack.
After we’ve finished helping out the people in Flatwoods, we get tasked to report to Responder HQ up at Morgantown who have gone radio silent. We get informed that the best way to get there is through Sutton, but the Responders who went that way didn’t return, so there’s something dangerous either on the road or in the town. When we reach Sutton we discover that it has been overrun by Raiders who are using it as a base of operations from where they launch their own raids on the surrounding region. We clear out the raiders and continue on, discovering a town decimated by the Scorched and we get our first sighting of a Scorchbeast, although it doesn’t attack, it just flies around the area. Continuing on we discover some survivors from the scorched village living in an abandoned crash site who have begun to call themselves the Shadow Walkers, and they’re under constant assault from the nearby scorched who are making their lives difficult, although they have to eliminate their targets quietly as to not attract the attention of the scorchbeast, so they sell throwing weapons, crossbows, silenced weaponry and muffled armor to those who earn their favor.
Eventually, we reach Morgantown and this is where we encounter our first faction rivalry between the First Responders and the Fire Breathers. Once a part of the First Responders, the Fire Breathers have since separated and become a far more zealous group with a unique outlook on how humanity must be saved, which is to purge all non-humans with purifying flame, especially ghouls and any individual remotely infected with the scorched plague. The First Responders disagree with this view, they want to save as many people as possible, especially the victims of radiation and the scorched, going as far as to attempt to create a vaccine for the scorched plague. Right now the player is not a part of either faction, but, they will eventually get a choice as to whether or not they want to join the First Responders or the Fire Breathers and joining one faction makes you an enemy of the other and reflects what weapons, armor and plans you get access to. Additionally, the Brotherhood of Steel has an outpost in the town. They are regarded warily by both the Fire Breathers and the First Responders, as they seem to be interested in securing technologies rather than aiding humanity, but as they were former West Virginia military, their firepower makes them difficult for either faction to contend with, so neither wants to openly trade blows with them.
…
Now I could go on and on here but I am sure you get the idea. Living, breathing NPCs allow for more in-depth stories and that is something I feel Bethesda should embrace, not ignore.
Now for some additional things that I feel should be changed:
- C.A.M.P Improvements: Todd Howard said during E3 that we would be able to build our camp anywhere, but in reality that is not at all true, and instead we are forced to build in the wild, fairly far away from any structure. This is a mistake. What better place to set up a base than in a ruined home or an already established (then abandoned) outpost? There are plenty of prime C.A.M.P locations which could be used, but because of this restriction, they can’t be touched. Obviously there would need to be ‘some’ restrictions to prevent people from locking down quest NPCs or quest items, but generally speaking, there should be more freedom with C.A.M.P setups.
- Workshops: The current concept of Workshops should be removed entirely. Instead, have workshops exist as an upgrade to the C.A.M.P which you can earn by working with a specific faction in the Wasteland. When you upgrade your C.A.M.P to a workshop you increase the budget of items that you can build and increase the radius that you can build in, allowing you to construct bigger and better things. Workshops should also allow you to open up your base to other players (whereas C.A.M.Ps should be player owned only) so if you want to create a base where players can congregate to trade and use various workbenches to build or upgrade their gear, you can do that.
Now I am sure I can think of more suggestions and as I do I may create more posts about this in the future, but here are my base ideas. Let me know what you think, I’d be interested to know if anyone reading this likes my ideas or whether they’re horrible garbage.
Until next time!
Fortress of Solitude 