Is Fallout 76 canon in my writings? · 1:26am Dec 31st, 2022
TL;DR - Yesn't (Mostly no)
Long read - Fallout 76 breaks so much established lore that what's canon/relevant to my story is going to be *heavily* cherry picked from wiki-diving and YouTube lore videos. I played Fallout 76 at launch and was so upset by the bugs and glitches that I've avoided it for years now. I've heard it's changed a lot, and recently one of my editors bought it for me because I had it in my Steam wishlist and was considering getting it, so my opinion might change on it.
I'll certainly use things that can make sense like new non-unique weapons, robots, chems, or non-unique armor. But as for the story of Fallout: 76 changing things in places like Pittsburg, just no.
For now, unless later chapters directly provide evidence otherwise, in Fallout: Lavender Wastelander, Appalachia was nearly completely craterized by Vault 76'ers getting too happy with some launch codes they found.
In closing, what did everyone think of Fallout 76? Anyone think it's improved over the years with updates? I played at launch, so we didn't even have voiced NPCs to talk to/trade with, just robots and holotapes.
I don't like it. I think the developers wanted a MMO for a series that is more of a single player experience and it showed early on. I tried it early on and after a week I walked away.
5705932
Pretty much what happened with me. The MMO-ness of it and the new content updates shifting things around makes me avoid canonizing parts of it in my story unless it's a really, really cool idea or location. I think if the game had voiced NPCs at the start it would have been a better game.
5705940
I think they avoided adding NPC's early on to keep costs down but slso to avoid turning it into a actual single player game. They got dedicated to a MMO idea and didn't want the potential to be anything else.
5705946
Yep, which is sad, because the map is cool and I would love to explorer every nook and cranny of Appalachia and listen to the holotapes. But the problem is dealing with other players.
I was roaming around, minding my own business, and a naked guy with a fire-axe or sledgehammer (can't remember which), kept chasing me around and hitting me with it, doing chip damage because I wasn't fighting back and allowing him to do full damage to me. I was just wanting to explorer, not have to deal with a raider I'd be penalized for if I kill because the PVP mechanics are (or at least were, it's been years since I played) an incomprehensible nightmare in that game.
I would have loved a single player game, with the option of co-operating with a few friends. They could even have balanced it by having player 2 take the companion spot and adding on like 25% more health to the enemies. All they had to do, but instead went MMO, like you said, in a setting that was never meant to be an MMO.