Fallout 76 Has Played Me Like a Damn Fiddle!

The open world gameplay loop wins again.

So, yeah. Fallout 76 finally got me hooked. I’ve written about this alot. I played the game for review back at launch for the page, and was rather disappointed. Now it feels so much more complete. And I find myself hooked, and even with Wastelanders, I’m enjoying just screwing around

But I’m actually kind of bad at it. Simple things like where the F do I get plans for workshops without paying an arm and a leg to the NPC vendors? I like to keep my CAMP very simplistic and usually build it in a way that uses the environment around it (like building on an abandoned house) but I could really go for the practicality of being able to use my own workshops when I want, and leave them out so friends can stop by and use whatever they want, possibly even chill out.

Most recently I built a CAMP near the train station next to the Top of the World. It’s over the edge of the street and in the swamp, but has a nice little deck that goes over the swamp and I’m itching to decorate it with tables, chairs, and of course, workshops. I also built a little sleep shack, literally a 2×1 floor plan with a bed. I just I gotta add decorations tho.

Also, I have a bit of a silly vending machine.

In real life, I am a… soft drink enthusiast? And in Fallout 76, I like making juice and tea. I also hate the grenades in Fallout, a bit to clunky for me. My solution? My vending machine is called “Bombs n Beverages” I sell beers, liquors, juice, tea, along with frags, mines, molotovs, etc. Not sure if I’m pricing them well but I mainly am good natured so I sell the grenades for a few caps less than the recommended minimum price. For beverages, they range between 10-15 caps. Perhaps someone can help me find all the beverage and bomb plans? That would be nice. I just need to be advised on where I can find these things without paying an arm and a leg, and if my pricing is fair, competitive, or worth anyone’s time. I’ve even debated making a daily FREE beverage, most likely blackberry juice.

Also, finally, I hate crafting in almost every video game and on my first run I never bothered with it. Now I absolutely love building and modifying guns but I run out of the good resources frequently. I’m all set with water, gonna build a purifier soon but for now I have enough radaway to not worry about rads. But I do run out of wood alot. Getting resources is a bit of a time sink for a new player like me. So I’m constantly looking for great places to farm wood or get the good resources like aluminum, adhesive, screws, etc.

What’s the point of this? Well, if you’re ever wondering how the people who enjoy this game continue to play it for as long as they do, this is it right here. They have me stuck in the gameplay loop. It’s quite a time sink, no wonder the people who like it play as long as they do. If I weren’t playing other games, I’m not sure I’d stop. Because I’ll eventually get sick of it. I always do. Come @ me in the comments, if you have advice!

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Posted in Articles Tagged with: Bethesda, dlc, fallout, fallout 76, fun, opinion, review, survival, wastelanders

I have too many games to play.

A long time ago, US citizens used to have these things called jobs, and they prevented us from playing our beloved videogames. During that time, when you got home from work, you’d sit back and play whatever you’re playing recently. If you were daring, you might play TWO videogames back and forth.

Except I have five. I’ve divided my time between The Division 2, Doom Eternal, Forza Horizon 4, Battlefield V, and Fallout 76 Wastelanders.

I want to start by addressing Battlefield V, as something was announced that while writing this. Support for Battlefield V is getting dropped, it’s going to get a few more bits of additions but the final patch is on its way. Final. I’m not particularly mad, because well… I can just go play Star Wars Battlefront II instead. It’s been fixed, and it is essentially just an elaborate Star Wars mod for Battlefield. Anyway, both are massive online multiplayer first person shooter games.

The Division 2 was being sold for $3 a couple months ago. Wow, it’s almost like it was an omen. I start playing this game about a supervirus that wiped out millions of Americans and now… yeah. That thing. The Coof. What is it? It’s an Ubisoft game. That says it all. You are in Washington DC, and there’s a bunch of pins on the map. There’s busywork, unnecessary busywork, actual missions, and random faffing about. You know it’s actually rather soothing and therapeutic compared to the other games. It’s a third person multiplayer cover shooter with loot mechanics.

Doom Eternal, on the other hand, is NOT soothing. Accompanied by a soundtrack that can only be described as “the sounds of a chainsaw being transposed to metal” it’s an intense experience. DOOM 2016 started the franchises new first person frenetic kill-room experience. The sequel decided that it wasn’t hard enough and just tosses you to the wolves the moment you start the campaign. Just look at the new banner for this page! It’s balls to the wall action that will make you better at all other shooters.

Forza Horizon 4 takes a special place in my heart.

A free roam racing game with online elements made sure that there is so much shit to do, it’s almost too much. The map looks like an Ubisoft map with the amount of pins on it. Yet, I never got to spend enough time with the game because of review obligations to the page, but let me put I this way. I’ve played what has to be more than 60 total hours of gameplay, and I barely touched the infinite amount of campaigns and races it has. The live events soak up my time. Hell the game even has its own battle royale, no I’m not kidding, look it up.

Finally, we have the Wastelanders DLC update for Fallout 76. Congratulations Ubisoft, you made an extremely boring and empty survival FPS RPG into a slightly less empty version that’s still marginally boring. New content means new character, so I left my two existing characters off to the side. I haven’t touched them in more than a year. The experience is incrementally less boring, but it’s still boring. I spend more time at user camps fiddling with my gear than I do playing actual missions. I’m just glad the game space is getting over implementing survival into every game.

A lot of shooters sure, but they are all very different gameplay wise. And I can’t pick one to stick with because I want to play the others too. Also, I constantly press the wrong buttons in many games, especially Fallout 76, because every one of these has a different control scheme. I get by just fine.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t picked up Super Final Fantasy VII Remake Midgar Edition Deluxe Part One & Knuckles, it’s because I already have plenty to play. Five games on rotation alone, these don’t even count the backlogs of games I want to play. Do yourself a favor and have a look through the games you own. Get cracking at the ones you’ve been meaning to play.

Hate reading? The audio version can be found HERE.

Posted in Articles Tagged with: battlefield, battlefield v, battlefront ii, doom, doom eternal, fallout, fallout 76, forza horizon, forza horizon 4, free time, quarantine, the coof, the division, wastelanders, xbox, xbox one