This lawsuit is going to get laughed out of court.
The simple fact is, Bethesda games in this style have universally been buggy messes. All of them. Arena was initially supposed to be a gladiator game that somehow morphed into a open-world RPG. Buggy mess. Daggerfall is a notoriously buggy mess. Morrowind. Buggy mess. Oblivion. Buggy mess. Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Buggy messes. Skyrim. Buggy mess. Fallout 4. You guessed it, buggy mess.
Keep in mind, that on consoles for all these games, thing were even WORSE, because there was no modding community to fix them. If your save game file on the PS3 for Skyrim and Fallout 3 gets too big, the game becomes damn near unplayable. The reason Fallout 76 is getting creamed is partially because everyone knows that no army of modders is coming to fix it, because it's an online service game. Bethesda now has to fix their own game, and they have literally NEVER had to do so before because the PC modding community has done it for them for 20 years. The tendency to release games in this state has been actively encouraged by this trend over and over and over. Go to Nexus Mods. 7 of the top 10 games are The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. Bethesda games ARE The PC modding community. If modding of Fallout 76 is ever allowed, it will make it 8 of 10, because no matter how bad the games are technically, modders cannot resist trying to mess with these massive fictional worlds. The tapestry is too enticing.
The simple fact is, Bethesda games in this style have universally been buggy messes. All of them. Arena was initially supposed to be a gladiator game that somehow morphed into a open-world RPG. Buggy mess. Daggerfall is a notoriously buggy mess. Morrowind. Buggy mess. Oblivion. Buggy mess. Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Buggy messes. Skyrim. Buggy mess. Fallout 4. You guessed it, buggy mess.
Let me tell you something good. Imagine a car manufacturing company making cars that doesn't work. It wouldn't be just "their charm", "their trademark" or "just the way they are". And no, the freelance mechanists wouldn't fix all the technical problems. No. What would happen, that company would go bankrupt swiftly and lawsuits would follow.
Why I am saying the above? Well, the only reasons Bethesda keeps releasing games that are buggy messes is because you, as consumer, is allowing them to. Not only that, you and many others alike are counting on modding community to fix those games, which is even worse. That makes you and other people not judging those games on their own merit, but rather on what modding community can do which affect the reliability of eventual costumer's reviews in negative way. Even worse, the responsibility for fixing those games are shifting from Bethesda to their fans.
What basically happened with F76 is that Bethesda was allowed by their customer base to release (AND re-release) buggier and buggier messes over the years, until they reached a critical point in which at least certain percentage of people just woke up and reacted accordingly. It is something that should have happened years ago.
I do appreciate you trying to judge F76 fairly, but unfortunately, you're not doing much good by doing that. Bethesda doesn't care for reviews, they also don't listen to critique. All they care about is money, something they already received from you.
---
Now, about refunds. The way I understand the situation and with information I possess, this is EA level of bad, if not worse. Basically, PC users can receive a refund, unless they downloaded their copy. And here's the fun fact: there is no physical release on PC version for all I know. The closest thing remotely resembling a physical release is a disc-like thing with an instruction how to download the game.
Basically, you can have refund if you don't have digital release of the game. And there is no physical release. So, if you want a refund, then too bad for you.
Oh, and there is a reason F76 was not intended to be available through Steam, because had that happened, the customers would have an option to demand refund via Steam. This is no coincidence.
The question is, how much longer Bethesda is going to be allowed to continue practices like this until it goes bankrupt. I'll gladly see the latter happen.
Sorry for double post, but there is something I forgot to mention.
Please people, be aware consuments. Vote with your wallet. Don't pre-order videogames, unless you're 100% sure you are going to buy the game for full price on day 1. Rather, wait for reviews before purchasing the game. And even if the quality of a videogame is still sub-par, you can wait until it drops in price significantly. Don't judge videogames by their modding community, but rather by game's merit on their own.
Had majority of consumed been doing the above, we wouldn't have so many problems in videogame industry.
One thing to keep in mind: even in a brick and mortar store, you are not guaranteed a refund. Every business sets their own refund policy and Bethesda's seems to be "if you downloaded the game, it is final sale."
This law firm is looking for a quick settlement, which I doubt they'd get.
In most countries you have a period of time to return any Internet bought item, physical or not. If Bethesda tries to pull this trick in the EU, most of South America and many Asian countries, they will regret it...
One thing to keep in mind: even in a brick and mortar store, you are not guaranteed a refund. Every business sets their own refund policy and Bethesda's seems to be "if you downloaded the game, it is final sale."
This law firm is looking for a quick settlement, which I doubt they'd get.
In most countries you have a period of time to return any Internet bought item, physical or not. If Bethesda tries to pull this trick in the EU, most of South America and many Asian countries, they will regret it...
That's my thought. It might get laughed out of court in the US, but it would be Bethesda who got laughed out of court in the EU.
The simple fact is, Bethesda games in this style have universally been buggy messes. All of them. Arena was initially supposed to be a gladiator game that somehow morphed into a open-world RPG. Buggy mess. Daggerfall is a notoriously buggy mess. Morrowind. Buggy mess. Oblivion. Buggy mess. Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Buggy messes. Skyrim. Buggy mess. Fallout 4. You guessed it, buggy mess.
Let me tell you something good. Imagine a car manufacturing company making cars that doesn't work. It wouldn't be just "their charm", "their trademark" or "just the way they are". And no, the freelance mechanists wouldn't fix all the technical problems. No. What would happen, that company would go bankrupt swiftly and lawsuits would follow.
Why I am saying the above? Well, the only reasons Bethesda keeps releasing games that are buggy messes is because you, as consumer, is allowing them to. Not only that, you and many others alike are counting on modding community to fix those games, which is even worse. That makes you and other people not judging those games on their own merit, but rather on what modding community can do which affect the reliability of eventual costumer's reviews in negative way. Even worse, the responsibility for fixing those games are shifting from Bethesda to their fans.
What basically happened with F76 is that Bethesda was allowed by their customer base to release (AND re-release) buggier and buggier messes over the years, until they reached a critical point in which at least certain percentage of people just woke up and reacted accordingly. It is something that should have happened years ago.
I do appreciate you trying to judge F76 fairly, but unfortunately, you're not doing much good by doing that. Bethesda doesn't care for reviews, they also don't listen to critique. All they care about is money, something they already received from you.
---
Now, about refunds. The way I understand the situation and with information I possess, this is EA level of bad, if not worse. Basically, PC users can receive a refund, unless they downloaded their copy. And here's the fun fact: there is no physical release on PC version for all I know. The closest thing remotely resembling a physical release is a disc-like thing with an instruction how to download the game.
Basically, you can have refund if you don't have digital release of the game. And there is no physical release. So, if you want a refund, then too bad for you.
Oh, and there is a reason F76 was not intended to be available through Steam, because had that happened, the customers would have an option to demand refund via Steam. This is no coincidence.
The question is, how much longer Bethesda is going to be allowed to continue practices like this until it goes bankrupt. I'll gladly see the latter happen.
I was basically saying the same thing you were. I was simply explaining that expecting a Bethesda game NOT to be in this state at launch would go agianst every single piece of historical evidence. I never made any claim to it being charming. But it's also why this refund thing is just a waste of time. Claiming to not expect this type of product on release from Bethesda is like ordering a Big Mac and being surprised it has thousand island dressing on it.
Sorry for double post, but there is something I forgot to mention.
Please people, be aware consuments. Vote with your wallet. Don't pre-order videogames, unless you're 100% sure you are going to buy the game for full price on day 1. Rather, wait for reviews before purchasing the game. And even if the quality of a videogame is still sub-par, you can wait until it drops in price significantly. Don't judge videogames by their modding community, but rather by game's merit on their own.
Had majority of consumed been doing the above, we wouldn't have so many problems in videogame industry.
I wasn't planning on buying the game. But it dropped to $35 and I was so intrigued by the massive controversy surrounding it that I just bought the damn thing on Thanksgiving afternoon to see for myself. And my conclusion remains that it is pretty bad, but it's not nearly as bad as people are making it out to be. I myself was influenced by all the negativity surrounding it. I went in expecting a complete disaster (maybe hoping for one) and instead saw unpolished mediocrity. Granted, I'm also the kind of person who is as interested in a band's WORST album as their best, at least conceptually in the sense of finding out just what happened.
Moreover, I think the idea that this is some kind of death-blow to Bethesda is way overblown. There have been numerous examples just in the past 2 or 3 years of games that were derided and mocked upon release and given up for dead becoming stable games that people enjoy once the smoke clears. Destiny 2 and No Man's Sky come to mind. I'm not saying that to excuse the bugs and technical issues (which I have railed against from the beginning), but only to point out that the conventional wisdom can shift in an online game that has space to evolve into something else. Nothing I see in Fallout 76 really points to that, but no one really say the potential in the aforementioned titles either.
The problem is that the big developers are convinced single player is dead and that only multiplayer sells. As far as I'm concerned I won't ever bother with multiplayer for multiple reasons. I won't derail this thread into a why I hate multiplayer games, though
I guarantee if this was a single-player game it's review scores would be 20-30 points higher among both critics and users. It's a Bethesda game, of course there would be stuff that only modders would ever end up fixing if that was the case. But it's hard not to trust the Bethesda game modding community to do so, when the modern Elder Scrolls and Fallout titles are practically the epicenter of the PC modding community in general. I don't think anyone trusts Bethesda to fix the technical shortcomings in their own games, except in this case they are going to have to, because it's a service game.
Again, I could handle a Bethesda open-world game once a year in the Elder Scrolls or Fallout universe simply because there is nothing quite like them in gaming, despite their problems. Just walking around and running into things is often compelling enough. What makes no sense is while this is going on, Destiny-like community PvE events pop up and reward instant loot upon completion.
They have this fairly-well realized idea of what happened in West Virginia told in a new way, they have another wholly impressive open-world to tell it in. And what they have done instead is put all the major focus on the quest structure of MMOs and Destiny. Except, even in those cases, the concepts they are borrowing are cursory at best.
I just don't get it. No one could have possibly expected they'd have another full Fallout world ready so soon after 4. Everyone would have rallied around this game if it wasn't a.) suffering crippling technical issues and b.) designed around a multiplayer concept almost no one who enjoys the series is interested in. Even saying all that, the piling on has at this point taken on a life of it's own. This is not by any stretch of the imagination one of the "worst games of all-time", though it's apparent failure is going to make it seem like it is.
Oh i agree. I wouldn't like to live in a world without TES despite the obvious flaws since there are no other open world games where you can play as a lizard man or a cat man. Humies and hylians are boring, and The Witcher series isn't my cup of coffee. And i dislike Geralt as a character.
This video was good. Strong critique without being salty
It still feels a bit salty and biased, but i mostly agree with their criticism.
I knew FO76 was going to be pretty bad since Elder Scrolls Online was a tad crap in the early days and because no one in the videogame industry understands Fallout better than Tim Cain and Chris Avellone.
And frankly i'm not that surprised by the unprecedented backlash Bethesda received by reviewers and gamers.
Bethesda permanently bans Fallout 76 players after homophobic in-game assault
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/30/18119925/fallout-76-ban-homophobia-anti-gay-bethesda?fbclid=IwAR05C39EnExE3zTb9UfXnjTuaYQLMllXjU2w11l_gr6ifkvDsRC7Eyb_PLA "As reported by Eurogamer, a day after Fallout 76’s launch, one player took to Twitter to share footage of a group harassing them. Through laughs, group members said they were targeting “gays” that they were setting out to “eliminate.” They continually attacked the player as they denounced “queers.” The clip has been watched over 16,000 times as of this writing." Initially, the players in the clip were banned for only three days, but that punishment was recalculated shortly afterwards. “We gave an initial ban of three days while our CS team looked into the matter further to verify the individuals involved and what took place,” a Bethesda spokesperson told Eurogamer. “After additional review, we have now permanently banned the players we’ve identified.”
Bethesda permanently bans Fallout 76 players after homophobic in-game assault
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/30/18119925/fallout-76-ban-homophobia-anti-gay-bethesda?fbclid=IwAR05C39EnExE3zTb9UfXnjTuaYQLMllXjU2w11l_gr6ifkvDsRC7Eyb_PLA "As reported by Eurogamer, a day after Fallout 76’s launch, one player took to Twitter to share footage of a group harassing them. Through laughs, group members said they were targeting “gays” that they were setting out to “eliminate.” They continually attacked the player as they denounced “queers.” The clip has been watched over 16,000 times as of this writing." Initially, the players in the clip were banned for only three days, but that punishment was recalculated shortly afterwards. “We gave an initial ban of three days while our CS team looked into the matter further to verify the individuals involved and what took place,” a Bethesda spokesperson told Eurogamer. “After additional review, we have now permanently banned the players we’ve identified.”
Welp, it's in the Code of Conduct so that's a waste of $80 for those 3 players.
Here's another little stickler from Bethesda (or Sony as it's from the Ps4 store); you must be +18 to play, although it does have a mature rating (+17).
Bethesda permanently bans Fallout 76 players after homophobic in-game assault
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/30/18119925/fallout-76-ban-homophobia-anti-gay-bethesda?fbclid=IwAR05C39EnExE3zTb9UfXnjTuaYQLMllXjU2w11l_gr6ifkvDsRC7Eyb_PLA "As reported by Eurogamer, a day after Fallout 76’s launch, one player took to Twitter to share footage of a group harassing them. Through laughs, group members said they were targeting “gays” that they were setting out to “eliminate.” They continually attacked the player as they denounced “queers.” The clip has been watched over 16,000 times as of this writing." Initially, the players in the clip were banned for only three days, but that punishment was recalculated shortly afterwards. “We gave an initial ban of three days while our CS team looked into the matter further to verify the individuals involved and what took place,” a Bethesda spokesperson told Eurogamer. “After additional review, we have now permanently banned the players we’ve identified.”
Not sure if being banned from F76 is s punishment or a reward...
More seriously, I've read those news before and it is "water is wet" tier of information. On then internet you can find plenty of people who finds enjoyment in bullying others, especially through multiplayer in videogames. And it is common sense people like that are getting banned.
I just imagine the reason the news it is shared is connected to the "reason" why bullying took place. Some people finds things like that especially triggering.
This behavior is why I can't stand PvP in video games. It is just how it is usually described, a toxic culture. Take something like World of Warcraft. I've played thousands of hours of this game, ran hundreds upon hundreds of random dungeons. Sure you get some groups where things take a bad turn, but it's nothing like the PvP scene, where literally EVERY random BG is filled with this kind of language and behavior. It's never been the mechanics of PvP that have turned me off from it completey, it's the mentality of the overwhelming number of people who are attracted to it. I firmly believe the decline in basic decency in much of the gaming community is a direct result of the shift to PvP-centric games, especially FPS focused titles.
@jjstraka34 This is why I prefer the people on this forum. It seems, by and large, BG fandom, and the members on these boards, are far, far better than online "Dudebros" who think the best way to have fun is to ruin it for other people. The only people I'd want to play online multiplayer with are right here. Yeah, we get the random odd troll (goodness knows, on the moderation team we see enough of those!) But I'd put up the members of this forum up against any others for way better people.
@jjstraka34 This is why I prefer the people on this forum. It seems, by and large, BG fandom, and the members on these boards, are far, far better than online "Dudebros" who think the best way to have fun is to ruin it for other people. The only people I'd want to play online multiplayer with are right here. Yeah, we get the random odd troll (goodness knows, on the moderation team we see enough of those!) But I'd put up the members of this forum up against any others for way better people.
It seems to me the turning point was Quake. Sure, we had seen competitive PvP in the years previous to this in RTS games, and the original Deathmatch mode was in Doom, but Quake is when the single-player campaigns in FPS games started being nothing but training wheels for the competitive online component. By the 3rd installments of Quake and Unreal, there wasn't even a single-player campaign at all. Now look where we are. The top games on Twitch on a regular basis (excluding release days for major single-player titles) are all PvP-centric. League of Legends, Fortnite, PUBG, Overwatch, Call of Duty. The list goes on and on. The one thing Fallout 76 does have going for it is that the mechanics of a open-world Bethesda game are just too clunky and archaic to appeal to that audience. You'll probably get ganked occasionally, but there just aren't enough targets on any given map you are put on at one time to keep the interest of aspiring young sociopaths.
@jjstraka34 This is why I prefer the people on this forum. It seems, by and large, BG fandom, and the members on these boards, are far, far better than online "Dudebros" who think the best way to have fun is to ruin it for other people. The only people I'd want to play online multiplayer with are right here. Yeah, we get the random odd troll (goodness knows, on the moderation team we see enough of those!) But I'd put up the members of this forum up against any others for way better people.
It seems to me the turning point was Quake. Sure, we had seen competitive PvP in the years previous to this in RTS games, and the original Deathmatch mode was in Doom, but Quake is when the single-player campaigns in FPS games started being nothing but training wheels for the competitive online component. By the 3rd installments of Quake and Unreal, there wasn't even a single-player campaign at all. Now look where we are. The top games on Twitch on a regular basis (excluding release days for major single-player titles) are all PvP-centric. League of Legends, Fortnite, PUBG, Overwatch, Call of Duty. The list goes on and on. The one thing Fallout 76 does have going for it is that the mechanics of a open-world Bethesda game are just too clunky and archaic to appeal to that audience. You'll probably get ganked occasionally, but there just aren't enough targets on any given map you are put on at one time to keep the interest of aspiring young sociopaths.
Well, look to games such as Ark, Rust or Conan Exiles. Both are much better than Fallout 76 in therms of open world survival. An spin off Battlefield like game in fallout universe looks much better and have much less big competitions.
In therms of FPS, eastern european developers who made games such as Escape from Tarkov and Metro IMO are much better than western developers who only made AAA cinematic children online daycare-like CQB 3 waymap shooters.
I concur with so much of this. Fact is, I really like playing Fallout 76. It's the first time all the junk that is in Bethesda games for you to pick up has had a purpose, since you need metric tons of it to survive in this game. There has never been a time where the cups and plates and rabbits in The Elder Scrolls or the toasters, fans, and dinner trays have really meant anything in Fallout until the settlement building portion of Fallout 4. Fallout 76 expands this to the 9th degree. It's just enjoyable mindless progression.
The problem is the damn game is so lazy in just as many respects as it's legitimately enjoyable. For instance, it's been weeks and weeks since release, and the PC version STILL freezes when you try to quit to the desktop, every time. This is utterly inexcusable for a studio of this size. Their patches still require the full amount of disk space ON TOP of what you already have installed, which is another surefire sign of just plain not giving a shit. This game is fascinating simply as a discussion piece if nothing else. It's an absolute disaster in so many ways, yet is not even remotely devoid of fun when you are actually playing it.
Loot Boxes?! Wheeee~.... Gosh, this game is like a sponge of everything I do not like.
They have to recoup their losses some how. Everyone who bought wanted the game probably has bought it. New purchases revenune stream has dried up and need to nickel and dime those still playing it.
Can’t wait for end of February to see if BioWare is going to go through the same thing with Anthem, however, Anthem is actually doing to have a free demo period across all platforms and you won’t Access or Origins to partake in it. EA is showing confidence with that title.
It is just me or recently multiple AAA companies are making one fail after another? Bethesda, EA, Activison-Blizzard...
I've played WoW since the Ulduar patch of Wrath of the Lich King (large breaks, but always a big chunk of time when I was active as well). Lately, I have reinstalled the game and tried desperately to enjoy myself and.....it's just not there. I played on some of the more notable private Vanilla servers for a bit last year, and it's become clear to me that no matter how archaic Vanilla WoW may seem now, I crave the true RPG elements it had. When a small upgrade of 1 Strength or 2 Stamina actually meant something. Where a green weapon drop could make killing mobs twice as easy. When professions meant something (farming for cloth and making your own gear as a tailoring spellcaster, and disenchanting the extras to level your enchanting). I am highly looking forward to Classic this summer, likely playing a Mage for the Alliance or a Shaman for the Horde.
But this company has lost it's soul. The recent failure of the Diablo Immortal announcement, combined with the abandonment of Heroes of the Storm in the last 48 hours, along with BfA's total obliviousness to the boredom of the player-base has me rethinking what I thought I knew about them. I never much bought into the "Activision is taking over Blizzard" talk, but now it seems completely obvious. This is not the company who made Diablo 2, Starcraft, and the original version of WoW up through Wrath. They've become a machine. The only games they seem to truly care about are the ones where they can sell things, be it Hearthstone card packs or Overwatch lootboxes. The launcher is now not only filled with Destiny 2, but Call of Duty: Black Ops as well. I don't think Mike Morheim leaving recently was a coincidence. WoW is being run into the ground, Diablo has completely ceded the entire playing field to Path of Exile. Heroes failed to become what they wanted, and has clearly been marked as a failure for them. Starcraft 2 is so far in the rear-view mirror you can't even see it anymore. They were nearly unimpeachable as a company in terms of quality and respect for their fans for DECADES, and to see them turning into this soul-less corporate husk is just completely depressing.
Beyond that, it's pretty telling that the only real content releases they have lined up for 2019 are re-releases of games they made well over a decade ago: the remaster of Warcraft III and the re-launching of Vanilla WoW. I suppose it says something that they are even doing this, and you can't really screw up something that is already great. But the resources that have to be put into these projects is.....minimal compared to something new and original.
It doesn't get better with Square Enix either. What with their "games are a service" policy and all that. FF15 with its story chapters behind paywalls was a true trainwreck. It also didn't help that all of their remained planned expansions for that game were thrown out of the window either. Heck, Hajime Tabata even resigned because of this descision of the higher ups. My hope for a decent FF7: Remaster isn't exactly high at the moment...
Going back to Fallout 76: My dislike of this abomination of a game is no secret. But it indeed has some of the most well done biomes ever created in Bethesda games. Alas, they're all visual with no backstory to them:
I gave up on the FF7 remake as soon as I learned it was going to be an action rpg. So, its already guaranteed to not be anything like playing the original. There were also talks at one point about it being episodic, no idea if that ever went through.
Comments
The simple fact is, Bethesda games in this style have universally been buggy messes. All of them. Arena was initially supposed to be a gladiator game that somehow morphed into a open-world RPG. Buggy mess. Daggerfall is a notoriously buggy mess. Morrowind. Buggy mess. Oblivion. Buggy mess. Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Buggy messes. Skyrim. Buggy mess. Fallout 4. You guessed it, buggy mess.
Keep in mind, that on consoles for all these games, thing were even WORSE, because there was no modding community to fix them. If your save game file on the PS3 for Skyrim and Fallout 3 gets too big, the game becomes damn near unplayable. The reason Fallout 76 is getting creamed is partially because everyone knows that no army of modders is coming to fix it, because it's an online service game. Bethesda now has to fix their own game, and they have literally NEVER had to do so before because the PC modding community has done it for them for 20 years. The tendency to release games in this state has been actively encouraged by this trend over and over and over. Go to Nexus Mods. 7 of the top 10 games are The Elder Scrolls or Fallout. Bethesda games ARE The PC modding community. If modding of Fallout 76 is ever allowed, it will make it 8 of 10, because no matter how bad the games are technically, modders cannot resist trying to mess with these massive fictional worlds. The tapestry is too enticing.
Let me tell you something good. Imagine a car manufacturing company making cars that doesn't work. It wouldn't be just "their charm", "their trademark" or "just the way they are". And no, the freelance mechanists wouldn't fix all the technical problems. No. What would happen, that company would go bankrupt swiftly and lawsuits would follow.
Why I am saying the above? Well, the only reasons Bethesda keeps releasing games that are buggy messes is because you, as consumer, is allowing them to. Not only that, you and many others alike are counting on modding community to fix those games, which is even worse. That makes you and other people not judging those games on their own merit, but rather on what modding community can do which affect the reliability of eventual costumer's reviews in negative way. Even worse, the responsibility for fixing those games are shifting from Bethesda to their fans.
What basically happened with F76 is that Bethesda was allowed by their customer base to release (AND re-release) buggier and buggier messes over the years, until they reached a critical point in which at least certain percentage of people just woke up and reacted accordingly. It is something that should have happened years ago.
I do appreciate you trying to judge F76 fairly, but unfortunately, you're not doing much good by doing that. Bethesda doesn't care for reviews, they also don't listen to critique. All they care about is money, something they already received from you.
---
Now, about refunds. The way I understand the situation and with information I possess, this is EA level of bad, if not worse. Basically, PC users can receive a refund, unless they downloaded their copy. And here's the fun fact: there is no physical release on PC version for all I know. The closest thing remotely resembling a physical release is a disc-like thing with an instruction how to download the game.
Basically, you can have refund if you don't have digital release of the game. And there is no physical release. So, if you want a refund, then too bad for you.
Oh, and there is a reason F76 was not intended to be available through Steam, because had that happened, the customers would have an option to demand refund via Steam. This is no coincidence.
The question is, how much longer Bethesda is going to be allowed to continue practices like this until it goes bankrupt. I'll gladly see the latter happen.
Please people, be aware consuments. Vote with your wallet. Don't pre-order videogames, unless you're 100% sure you are going to buy the game for full price on day 1. Rather, wait for reviews before purchasing the game. And even if the quality of a videogame is still sub-par, you can wait until it drops in price significantly. Don't judge videogames by their modding community, but rather by game's merit on their own.
Had majority of consumed been doing the above, we wouldn't have so many problems in videogame industry.
Moreover, I think the idea that this is some kind of death-blow to Bethesda is way overblown. There have been numerous examples just in the past 2 or 3 years of games that were derided and mocked upon release and given up for dead becoming stable games that people enjoy once the smoke clears. Destiny 2 and No Man's Sky come to mind. I'm not saying that to excuse the bugs and technical issues (which I have railed against from the beginning), but only to point out that the conventional wisdom can shift in an online game that has space to evolve into something else. Nothing I see in Fallout 76 really points to that, but no one really say the potential in the aforementioned titles either.
You're gonna have a baaaad time.
I knew FO76 was going to be pretty bad since Elder Scrolls Online was a tad crap in the early days and because no one in the videogame industry understands Fallout better than Tim Cain and Chris Avellone.
And frankly i'm not that surprised by the unprecedented backlash Bethesda received by reviewers and gamers.
Bethesda permanently bans Fallout 76 players after homophobic in-game assault
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/30/18119925/fallout-76-ban-homophobia-anti-gay-bethesda?fbclid=IwAR05C39EnExE3zTb9UfXnjTuaYQLMllXjU2w11l_gr6ifkvDsRC7Eyb_PLA"As reported by Eurogamer, a day after Fallout 76’s launch, one player took to Twitter to share footage of a group harassing them. Through laughs, group members said they were targeting “gays” that they were setting out to “eliminate.” They continually attacked the player as they denounced “queers.” The clip has been watched over 16,000 times as of this writing."
Initially, the players in the clip were banned for only three days, but that punishment was recalculated shortly afterwards.
“We gave an initial ban of three days while our CS team looked into the matter further to verify the individuals involved and what took place,” a Bethesda spokesperson told Eurogamer. “After additional review, we have now permanently banned the players we’ve identified.”
Here's another little stickler from Bethesda (or Sony as it's from the Ps4 store); you must be +18 to play, although it does have a mature rating (+17).
Not sure if being banned from F76 is s punishment or a reward...
More seriously, I've read those news before and it is "water is wet" tier of information. On then internet you can find plenty of people who finds enjoyment in bullying others, especially through multiplayer in videogames. And it is common sense people like that are getting banned.
I just imagine the reason the news it is shared is connected to the "reason" why bullying took place. Some people finds things like that especially triggering.
In therms of FPS, eastern european developers who made games such as Escape from Tarkov and Metro IMO are much better than western developers who only made AAA cinematic children online daycare-like CQB 3 waymap shooters.
Call of Duty "has almost ruined a generation of shooter players," says Tripwire Interactive
https://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-red-orchestra-2-interview/
What Fallout 76 SHOULD have been! - The Ideal Fallout 76
I concur with so much of this. Fact is, I really like playing Fallout 76. It's the first time all the junk that is in Bethesda games for you to pick up has had a purpose, since you need metric tons of it to survive in this game. There has never been a time where the cups and plates and rabbits in The Elder Scrolls or the toasters, fans, and dinner trays have really meant anything in Fallout until the settlement building portion of Fallout 4. Fallout 76 expands this to the 9th degree. It's just enjoyable mindless progression.
The problem is the damn game is so lazy in just as many respects as it's legitimately enjoyable. For instance, it's been weeks and weeks since release, and the PC version STILL freezes when you try to quit to the desktop, every time. This is utterly inexcusable for a studio of this size. Their patches still require the full amount of disk space ON TOP of what you already have installed, which is another surefire sign of just plain not giving a shit. This game is fascinating simply as a discussion piece if nothing else. It's an absolute disaster in so many ways, yet is not even remotely devoid of fun when you are actually playing it.
Loot Boxes?! Wheeee~....
Gosh, this game is like a sponge of everything I do not like.
Can’t wait for end of February to see if BioWare is going to go through the same thing with Anthem, however, Anthem is actually doing to have a free demo period across all platforms and you won’t Access or Origins to partake in it. EA is showing confidence with that title.
But this company has lost it's soul. The recent failure of the Diablo Immortal announcement, combined with the abandonment of Heroes of the Storm in the last 48 hours, along with BfA's total obliviousness to the boredom of the player-base has me rethinking what I thought I knew about them. I never much bought into the "Activision is taking over Blizzard" talk, but now it seems completely obvious. This is not the company who made Diablo 2, Starcraft, and the original version of WoW up through Wrath. They've become a machine. The only games they seem to truly care about are the ones where they can sell things, be it Hearthstone card packs or Overwatch lootboxes. The launcher is now not only filled with Destiny 2, but Call of Duty: Black Ops as well. I don't think Mike Morheim leaving recently was a coincidence. WoW is being run into the ground, Diablo has completely ceded the entire playing field to Path of Exile. Heroes failed to become what they wanted, and has clearly been marked as a failure for them. Starcraft 2 is so far in the rear-view mirror you can't even see it anymore. They were nearly unimpeachable as a company in terms of quality and respect for their fans for DECADES, and to see them turning into this soul-less corporate husk is just completely depressing.
Beyond that, it's pretty telling that the only real content releases they have lined up for 2019 are re-releases of games they made well over a decade ago: the remaster of Warcraft III and the re-launching of Vanilla WoW. I suppose it says something that they are even doing this, and you can't really screw up something that is already great. But the resources that have to be put into these projects is.....minimal compared to something new and original.
Once it’s on mobile maybe we can start bashing it but I want more games like BG in mobile to push out the pay to win crap that everyone is use too.
Going back to Fallout 76: My dislike of this abomination of a game is no secret. But it indeed has some of the most well done biomes ever created in Bethesda games. Alas, they're all visual with no backstory to them: