Fallout 76 Has Me Opening My Phone Multiple Times a Session for All The Wrong Reasons

During this slower period of video game releases, I’ve decided to return to Fallout 76. The ongoing release of Fallout season 2 and Fallout 76‘s Burning Springs update play a big role in that, but I’ve been considering it for years at this point. I’ve heard time and again that Fallout 76 was a good game now, and I mean, it’s not hard to beat the empty world of Fallout 76 at launch. Luckily, that claim largely holds up. I am having a blast in the Appalachian Wasteland, and I plan to slowly make my way through all the major content dating back to launch and Wastelanders.

Is it the best Fallout game? Absolutely not—New Vegas still has a firm grasp on that title in my mind. However, the stories, characters, and most quests really scratch that Fallout itch, and the Public Events are a ton of fun. Fighting off a Legendary Blue Devil or a host of Super Mutants while wearing Power Armor and a strong Gatling Laser, alongside others, is as badass as it sounds. The only problem I have with Fallout 76 is how many times I have to stop, pull out my phone, and ask a question I already know the answer to: “Is this a bug?”

I Wouldn’t Call Fallout 76 a Buggy Mess, But It’s A Little Too Close for Comfort

Bethesda games are notoriously buggy, and that is what it is. Unlike some gamers, I have a really high bug tolerance—unless it’s constantly crashing or breaking the game, I really won’t mind most times. I find them funny more often than not, especially in games like Fallout or Skyrim. I don’t even mind the nature of the bugs I am encountering in Fallout 76, just the volume of them. And that’s the problem. I constantly get stuck, I constantly pull out my phone, and I constantly see someone from Reddit years ago explaining the bug and the fix.

As mentioned, my plan is to move through all the major content and try to get all the achievements while at it. I’ve beaten the base game’s story and am near the end of Wastelanders’ core content (minus that reputation grind, sheesh). All I have left is Beckett’s storyline, then I’ll move onto Steel Dawn & Steel Reign, start the Expeditions into The Pitt and Atlantic City, check out Skyline Valley, and find myself at home in the New Vegas-inspired Burning Springs. I also want to check out the Zetan invasion event whenever that rolls back out, meaning I may come back after I eventually set it down (assuming I beat everything by then).

Somewhere along the way, I also intend to become a Ghoul just for the novelty of playing a Ghoul in a Fallout game. I am excited, but I might as well have Google up at all times. I don’t expect newer content to be any more stable, given that the older content is so buggy.

Thus far, I’ve encountered so many issues:

• The Overseer became stuck on the New Arrivals quest, forcing a couple of server hops to fix.
• The Cave door would not open in the Division of Wealth quest, prompting a server hop.
• The “All That Glitters” quest is the definition of ‘bugs galore,’ as I had to server hop to get Jen through the laser grid, had to deal with the NPCs doing nothing for a while, and so forth.
• The second ID Reader in the Elusive Crane quest would not work for me, so I had to manipulate photo mode to bypass the door.
• Taking the Holotape in Ally: Heavy Eyes did not progress the quest for me, triggering a server hop.
• The Distinguished Guests Public Event insisted that there were undesirables (enemy targets) within the function room when there were not, forcing me and the others to run around looking for enemies that simply didn’t exist.
• Every time I turned in a quest for Beckett, it would tell me the next quest was the one I just completed (checking my quests showed the right one), and the completion screen would happen at random times.

And these are just a few of the ones I took note of, not those that happened before I started taking notes. In fact, as I am writing this, I know where I’ll load in next: outside the Watoga Underground. I saved and quit at the end of the storyline where Beckett comes face-to-face with The Claw. I told him to kill him. The problem? Beckett stood there looking at me while I looked at him looking at me, and The Claw stood there looking at me looking at Beckett looking at me. I tried the fix of moving an NPC by pushing them with my character, but that didn’t work. So, I just quit. That means I’ll reload outside the instance and have to go through the entire Watoga Underground again.

Now, I want to be clear: I am having fun with Fallout 76. If this happened only once a session (I typically play for 5-6 hours at a time), I wouldn’t even think about it. But it’s more like once an hour, if I am not focusing on the Public Events in Fallout 76. It seems possible to happen with any quest or at least the main content, more so than events at least, but the fact is the problem goes back years. Just like the Vault Dweller learns what happened to the responders and other factions via recordings before they left Vault 76, it feels like I visit Reddit to learn about the troubles of those who came before me, too.

In My Humble Opinion, Fallout 76 Needs a ‘Season of Support’

Without a doubt, the content expansions of Fallout 76 have gone a long way in taking it from a maligned game to one with a stronger reputation. It is very fun, which is the #1 thing, and I would call it a good game. It’s just…way too buggy for a 7-year old game. The silver lining is that most of these bugs do have workarounds.

• When a door/ID Reader won’t work, using photo mode to glitch through the door works pretty easily.
• Moving an NPC by “pushing” them with my character model works sometimes.
• I’ve read horror stories of some players having to server hop (quit to the main menu and reload, outside an instance) 5-10 times to fix bugs. Luckily, it’s never taken me more than once or twice, but it’s the most direct fix.

However, I am hoping Bethesda takes the time necessary to fix these bugs—if not for me, then for anyone who may flock to Fallout 76 because of the Amazon Prime show or in the future. Again, the severity isn’t too bad, but the volume is unfortunate. I’d argue that Fallout 76 needs to take a breather on content, now that it is more than complete, and focus on doing a season or two of support. Slowing down on content additions and spending more time refining the content that is there would go a long way for the game. As just one example, while Fallout 76 players get a lot of options level-wise out of the gate, it can be overwhelming content-wise.

If players jump to level 50 in Fallout 76 (which IS just one option), the core base quest in the game, the Overseer’s quest in Wastelanders, and the quest for Duchess and The Wayward all kind of activate at the same time. Not only does this create a grotesque three-headed hydra of quests that are very similar in function, pinging the player all at once, but it’s kind of hard to tell which quest lines they belong to because of said similarities (like who knew the treasures were different?). If they don’t do it, then The Wayward and the base game still intermingle in less-than-ideal ways. After a minute, it can be cognitively sorted, but brand-new players are likely to be confused.

Some adjustments across the board to how content unfolds, how it is introduced, and ultimately the stability of said content in instances would go a long way in taking Fallout 76 to the next level. But until then, I’ll learn from the fates of Redditors before me just as my Vault Dweller learned from the OG Responders, Raiders, Free State, Brotherhood, and Enclave.

Released

November 14, 2018

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol