Playtime: 30 Hours
Score: 6/10
Better then it was initially at launch. I completely condemned this game at launch, hating everything about it and what Bethesda was doing with the Fallout IP, but unlike most devs who abandon live service games after they fail at launch, Bethesda did stick with this game and they did inact positive changes. And since it was free a few weeks ago for 5 days on steam, I checked it out and played it. Also as a disclaimer, I will be discussing everything about the game in its current state which includes Wastelanders and Steel Dawn.
The number one thing that this game has gotten better at is definitely stability. While the game is not perfect with bugs, I did mostly have a good experience stability wise and I only got kicked off the server twice in my 30 hours of playing, with one of those times being for server maintenance. Other improvements are the dialogue system which is good old fashioned Fallout dialogue, and not the limited options that came with a voiced protagonist in Fallout 4. This is also helped by both the Steel Dawn and Wastelanders expansions which do offer up human NPCs to talk to and provide proper quests to do. And overall the game can be fun at times, with a great soundtrack, beautiful lighting and fun gameplay. And the expansions like Steel Dawn are very compelling and fun to play through.
The issues that still persist is the vanilla content which has you follow audio logs and talk to uninteresting robots. Those quests are really boring and I only did a few before abandoning doing those ones entirety. And while the leveling system is interesting being you having perk cards tied to each attribute, its still a dumbed down version of what in my opinion, is a far superior progression system in Fallout 3, New Vegas and recently with Obsidians The Outer Worlds. Guns also just feel really weak even after you invest perk cards into it, as I ended up mostly sticking to melee weapons because they were only weapons that were reliable. I mostly played solo, which is I think why, because enemies are so spongy that there clearly tailored towards co-op play, which is the limitations of an online game. And while the new expansions are nice, Wastelanders in particular has a lot of boring fetch quests you have to do in between just to get to the good stuff, while Steel Dawn is a lot more condensed and focused, so I kind of gave up on one in favor of the other.
After the 5 day trial ended on Steam, I tried continuing on game pass on PC but that version of this game is practically broken as it messes up the installation somehow so it won't let me log in. There is a workaround, but I couldn't be bothered to do it for an average game like 76. And that's my main point, is that while it is a lot better then it was at launch, its still an average Fallout game. I'd much rather spend time playing the older Fallouts or playing games like The Outer Worlds or Wasteland 3, which continue what the older and better Fallout games started.
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Bethesda Games Studios Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/bethesda-game-studios-ranked/
Score: 6/10
Better then it was initially at launch. I completely condemned this game at launch, hating everything about it and what Bethesda was doing with the Fallout IP, but unlike most devs who abandon live service games after they fail at launch, Bethesda did stick with this game and they did inact positive changes. And since it was free a few weeks ago for 5 days on steam, I checked it out and played it. Also as a disclaimer, I will be discussing everything about the game in its current state which includes Wastelanders and Steel Dawn.
The number one thing that this game has gotten better at is definitely stability. While the game is not perfect with bugs, I did mostly have a good experience stability wise and I only got kicked off the server twice in my 30 hours of playing, with one of those times being for server maintenance. Other improvements are the dialogue system which is good old fashioned Fallout dialogue, and not the limited options that came with a voiced protagonist in Fallout 4. This is also helped by both the Steel Dawn and Wastelanders expansions which do offer up human NPCs to talk to and provide proper quests to do. And overall the game can be fun at times, with a great soundtrack, beautiful lighting and fun gameplay. And the expansions like Steel Dawn are very compelling and fun to play through.
The issues that still persist is the vanilla content which has you follow audio logs and talk to uninteresting robots. Those quests are really boring and I only did a few before abandoning doing those ones entirety. And while the leveling system is interesting being you having perk cards tied to each attribute, its still a dumbed down version of what in my opinion, is a far superior progression system in Fallout 3, New Vegas and recently with Obsidians The Outer Worlds. Guns also just feel really weak even after you invest perk cards into it, as I ended up mostly sticking to melee weapons because they were only weapons that were reliable. I mostly played solo, which is I think why, because enemies are so spongy that there clearly tailored towards co-op play, which is the limitations of an online game. And while the new expansions are nice, Wastelanders in particular has a lot of boring fetch quests you have to do in between just to get to the good stuff, while Steel Dawn is a lot more condensed and focused, so I kind of gave up on one in favor of the other.
After the 5 day trial ended on Steam, I tried continuing on game pass on PC but that version of this game is practically broken as it messes up the installation somehow so it won't let me log in. There is a workaround, but I couldn't be bothered to do it for an average game like 76. And that's my main point, is that while it is a lot better then it was at launch, its still an average Fallout game. I'd much rather spend time playing the older Fallouts or playing games like The Outer Worlds or Wasteland 3, which continue what the older and better Fallout games started.
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Bethesda Games Studios Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/bethesda-game-studios-ranked/