Fallout 76 Review Thread - Opencritic: 55, Metacritic 50

[DonFerrari]

shikamaru317 said:

Errorist76 said:

Surely not if you can't return/sell it afterwards. At least not until it's fixed and available for 20-30 or so, the price it should have released at to begin with.

If Fallout 76 was actually broken I'd agree with this, but it's not (I have only encountered 1 bug, an enemy stuck on a wall, in 12 hours or so personally). I honestly feel like it is being judged by the wrong standards. It seems like critics are judging it by the same standards as previous games by Bethesda Game Studios Maryland, a studio that consistently delivers 90+ quality games. But there is a big problem with that, Bethesda Game Studios Maryland didn't develop this game, it was developed by Bethesda Game Studios Austin, a studio that has never shipped a game before (their first game, Battlecry, got cancelled). Fallout 76 should be judged by the same standards that Elder Scrolls Online was judged by, as they were both developed by new, untested studios. But it doesn't seem like it is being judged by the same standards that Elder Scrolls Online got judged by, Elder Scrolls Online got a 71 meta on release (is now up to 80 after 3 years of updates), while Fallout 76 is sitting at a 49 meta, that is a huge difference. And having played both ESO and F76 on release, I can honestly say that Fallout 76 is better than ESO was on release. F76 actually plays like a Fallout game, with the main exceptions being the perk card mechanic and lack of NPC's, everything else feels like Fallout. ESO on the other hand at release felt like they just tried to make a traditional MMO WoW clone with Elder Scrolls themeing, it had terribly slow, action bar MMO combat that felt nothing like combat in mainline Elder Scrolls (thankfully it was improved on later updates). 

That being said, there is no harm in waiting to play it either. If it is anything like Elder Scrolls Online, it will only get better over time. Assuming it doesn't flop so bad that Bethesda closes the servers in a few months, I suspect they will update it, patch most of these bugs that others say they've encountered, add in voiced NPC's and proper questlines, etc. In 6 months most of the bugs should be ironed out and you should be able to find a copy for $20. 

Every game should be judged in similar standards so the grade can at least indicate something. Because what is the point in a bad game having a 90 because it was evaluated on the "Not-good game standard"?

This for me is one of the reasons we see some games getting a very harsh reviews and being nitpicked while others breeze even though they are bad.