Fallout 76 Addendum

After several rounds of technicians coming to our place, I determined that much of the problem with connecting was due to shoddy internet. With that repaired, I have been able to put the game through its paces more easily. There are still disconnections, but they are much more infrequent. Given that, here are a bunch of random thoughts from my playtime, including advice for new players.

• Think of the difficulty of things radiating out in concentric circles from Vault 76. I bee-lined the main quest and so ended up way out of my depth pretty early on. It really does pay to exhaust the locations in one area before you move on.
• The lighting and environmental effects are so good.
• I don't like that they attached crafting to perks. While you can swap out your perk cards easily, it becomes annoying to create builds for crafting and builds for adventuring. I think crafting should have been moved to its own leveling up tree. 
• I'm sure implementation of this would be a pain, but they need an auction house. I was wrong previously about selling things. You can set your own price, it just seems like people are generally setting things too high. I did encounter a nice player who set all their plans to 10 caps. An auction house would at least provide a real economy to interact with and competition to drive down prices.
• The in-game vendors are just insane with their prices. I have earned maybe 3000 caps total and am nearly at level 40. Plans for things can run to 875 caps. Ridiculous.
• People have criticized the lack of NPCs, but I like that aspect. It feels like a detective story, piecing together what happened to people after the war. This year will bring NPCs in the Wastelanders update, but I fail to see what's so exciting. I want more quests.
• Dump everything that you aren't using into your stash, scrap everything you can. Even ammo has weight, so go through your inventory and slim way down. I was always near my weight limit before I committed to carrying the basics - two or three weapons, armor, necessary ammo, and a fair amount of food and water. The less equipment you have the more room for junk, and you need a lot of junk.
• Let people travel to other player camps for free. Sure it creates new fast travel points, but it would encourage players to use the whole map for their camps instead of clustering around familiar areas.
• Let players join Events for free. Right now it costs caps to join based on fast travel distance (at least from what I can tell). You want to do everything to get players playing together.
• The amount of content is pretty amazing. There are creatures I have yet to encounter. I haven't even tried to make my own suit of power armor. I've never been in a nuke zone. There are systems I haven't interacted with, like sharing perk cards.
• You really have to adjust your arsenal to fit your enemies. They all have different attack styles and weaknesses. Don't think that because something is your level or even below that you can solo it. Boss-type creatures will largely wreck you. Mirelurk kings, for example. Watch out for groups of enemies, even low-level ones. 
• This game's equivalent of dragons are called Scorchbeasts. They are dangerous. They will follow you across the landscape. I hate them.

Fallout 76

 

Having graduated and now currently in the process of job hunting, I have been spending quite a lot of time with Fallout 76.


This game is fantastic, and frustrating.

THE GOOD

When it fires at all, let alone on all cylinders, it provides a huge open, hostile world to tame. If you crave long walks through sun-dappled forests then this is your game. I don't know how the size compares to other open-world games, but the map feels expansive. The terrain is incredibly varied. There is so much to collect and so many unique assets.

The creation of this fictionalized West Virginia feels like a labor of love. Just look at @nuka_queen's #25DaysofAppalachia on Twitter and read about the real-world locations to get a glimpse of the level of detail poured into this game.

I like the politics of the game. When you delve into the regional lore you read about everything getting automated, from mining to resorts. You read about striking workers, people doing anything to keep their jobs. Then there is the mistrust from fears of Communist infiltration, everything foreign is suspect. It feels incredibly relevant.

I love the photomode. Finding and setting up good shots is great.

 

THE BAD

This game is janky. All of the strange little problems of previous Bethesda titles exist here and are compounded by the online functionality.  

IF you can stay connected, there is an amazing game to play. That IF means you will NOT stay connected. There are pauses when you load into new locations that leave you vulnerable to enemies. There is pop-in and fade-in. I have outrun the geometry before into invisible collision volumes. The interface, while much improved from previous iterations, still needs work.  Quick-swapping weapons causes a hitch. You can be hit-stunned.

The economy is garbage. Everything is too insanely expensive, and it doesn't look like player vendors can undercut the prices. In a way I'm complaining that they aren't nickel-and-diming enough. Instead, things in-game and in the game store cost way too much for what little you get.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. seems all over the place. I have a 7 Agility and am a sneak master, yet at a full 10 Strength I can carry all of 210 pounds.  

I have no idea how long it would take to unlock all the C.A.M.P. items but it is most likely an insane amount of time. I haven't found a new C.A.M.P. plan for at least 15 levels if not more. The ones at vendors typically cost 300-1000 caps. Caps are in short supply, and since they're used for Fast Travel, a necessity.  

For some reason you can't share your photomode shots directly to twitter. I'm guessing this is a Sony requirement or legal limitation but it is a minor annoyance.

And the disconnects. Oh the disconnects. Nearly finish a quest inside a dungeon and  you just have to make it to the exit? Hope you don't disconnect, because if you do you have to begin the quest all over again. I have spent several hours on a quest that's meant to take 20-30 minutes.

THE UGLY

Fallout 1st.

Private Servers that don't seem to be much more stable than the public ones. And you can't alter anything about the game. The two major benefits of a private server.

The other benefits are convenience items, including one that lets you hold unlimited scrap, which really should be base functionality.

The cosmetic items are apparently big "kill me" flags to online players without Fallout 1st.

It costs 13 dollars a month.

You also get Atoms for the store, which as noted previously, has its prices set too high.

Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium is a watercolor neo-noir fever dream.

You play as a detective. All of your memory is gone. You have to solve a murder. 

Much of the game is text, the bulk of your interaction is choosing what to say. This determines everything.

You will discover ideas with colorful names like 'rigorous self-critique' and 'overproductive honor glands.' You need headspace to equip these ideas. Then you must spend time internalizing them (typically with some kind of detriment to your abilities). Once you have mulled them over, they change form, augmenting and/or penalizing you in some way as well as opening up new conversation options.

All of the elements of the game feed into each other and slot into the incredibly detailed world that ZA/UM has created. Conversations open up leads to pursue as well as new thoughts, thoughts open up conversations, your character stats inform whether you can pass certain challenges and give you special responses.

Yes, you have to go back and forth and speak with the same people over and over. But every little piece you find expands your options, shades the world, and brings you closer to solving the case and discovering your identity.

The game isn't just about exploring a world and its inhabitants, but discovering yourself. You start completely without memory. You rely on others and what things you tell yourself in order to uncover who you are. Different aspects of your personality will talk to you, urge you to take certain actions. Electrochemistry is particularly talkative, especially when around drugs. You don't have to listen.

You can craft many different characters, from empathetic manipulative muscleheads to dexterous logical eggheads. There are four skill categories, with six characteristics apiece. Skill checks can be one-chance-only (red) or repeatable (white). Failing a white check means you can try again if you raise the associated characteristic.

There are lots of clothes to collect that affect your characteristics. Changing your outfit can wildly alter your conversations and challenges. You may even find some clothing that is a little chatty.

I can't wait to finish my first playthrough so I can immediately start on another.

A Grammar of Games

Lots of my thoughts of late have drifted to the idea of a grammar of games. A grammar of games encompasses both the technical choices available and the aesthetic concerns surrounding those choices. Actors like to talk about choices. When something happens, someone has made a choice. Everything has a justification, even if it's not immediately apparent.

The same holds true for videogames.

The camera in Starcraft is an incredibly important component not just in the way the game plays, but in the way it feels. It is disconnected from the minutiae, a godlike view, and so it makes it much easier to see each unit as a piece on a chessboard, not a real person. One can commit to risky attacks because they don't see the units as precious. Think of Ender's Game.

A grammar of games provides the 'how,' the technical considerations that go into creating a game, and it also considers the 'why,' the justification for each of those decisions. It should also take into account the 'what,' the details that inform the general theme or attitude of the game.

Borderlands 3 is a game with a very limited vocabulary: Loot and Shoot. Or Shoot and Loot. Either order. Yet it has a very specific aesthetic, both visually and thematically. Visually it evokes comic books, cartoons, violence unbridled. Thematically it is an amalgamation of internet memes and action movie cliches and subversions of those cliches.

A grammar of games asks, "to what purpose," and, "does it feed back into itself?"

Feedback is the heart of gaming. Putting something into a system and receiving an alteration back. Starcraft provides immediate feedback when encountering other units. They fight. You have the ability to alter their fight characteristics. Timing and split-second tactics determine who wins. Every altercation is unique. Each arises from a fixed set of choices.

Borderlands 3 constantly reaffirms its purpose over and over again: shoot everything, loot everything. Those are the primary verbs, and they work quite well when wrapped in the proper coating. Visually and thematically the player navigates a hyper-reality. The cartoony nature allows the player to get up close and personal without feeling too bad, and to continue shooting everything until it stops moving.

A grammar of games requires the input of people who make games, examining what they do and providing a justification for their choices. It marries the technical side with the creative. It asks what effects arise from each decision.

It's about examining the meaning of the game as something meaningful. That's the basic assumption. A game is meaningful. Given that, what meanings can we extrapolate from the visuals, the soundtrack, the feedback, the different parts of the game when compared with other parts or to the whole?

I'm not sure exactly what this would look like. It goes beyond a single critical paper, into the realm of common terminology that can be reused and refined.

Elder Scrolls 6: A Wish List

It will likely be several years before we see Elder Scrolls 6, probably around the time we get a new console generation. Bethesda is busy with creating the new IP Starlight as well as providing support to Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76.

That being said, it's always fun to offer up one's hopes for a new title. Here are some things I would like to see in Elder Scrolls 6, in no particular order:

• Seasons. I want to see the seasons change. I want the weather to change, I want to see snow accumulate in the winter and melt in the spring, I want spring showers and summer heat waves. I want different plants to grow at different times. I want new locations to reveal themselves as water levels dip or ice melts.
• Holidays. Tying in closely with seasons, I want to see people celebrating different holidays. This would be a great opportunity to craft new quests around the holidays and introduce new items or interactions to the players. 
• Disasters. Tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes. I want a more dynamic world. I want creatures that only come out in dust storms. I want to see a fault line open up and reveal an ancient city. I want forest fires and hail.
• Location, location, location. The rumor right now is that ES6 will take place in Valenwood. The teaser they released, however, looks more like Summerset Isle. I would like to see both places. Together they are about as large as Skyrim, though with a lot more water. Heck, add in Elsewyr, too.
• Sailing. If they do both Summerset and Valenwood, there is a lot of ocean to cover. I would love to have my own ship that I can sail around and upgrade, acting like a mobile base. Attacking pirates, becoming a pirate, fighting sea monsters, landing on uncharted islands, exploring underwater cities. 
• Settlements. I liked the idea of settlements in Fallout 4, not so much the implementation. A mod like Sim Settlements fixes a lot of the issues by giving settlers autonomy and allowing the player to lay down zones rather than hand craft everything. A settlement should be a boon to the player, not a burden. Give more incentive to create a functioning settlement. Quests should open up, merchants should bring new items. Let the player collect taxes. 
• A local map that works. The local map in both Elder Scrolls and Fallout has always been garbage. What I want is a map that overlays the player's view so you can actually use it to navigate.
• Make it weird.