At the PAX East gaming convention, Bethesda presented the new Wastelanders update for Fallout 76 and focused primarily on the dialogues. We are almost expecting a new game.
What did Bethesda show? At PAX East, Bethesda brought the Wastelanders update for Fallout 76. What was shown explains why the developers needed more time and had to postpone the release to this year: Fallout 76 now essentially feels like Fallout 4 with the update.
Is this still Fallout 76?
What changes with Wastelanders? A year has passed since the Brandbeasts were defeated. You have returned to Vault 76 and have slept there for a year.
Just when you leave the Vault, you notice the change: NPCs greet you and have the first quest ready for you. Everywhere you now meet Non-Player Characters, who chat with you, offer missions, and tell you what has happened in the past year: Appalachia has been settled.
This is how the dialogues work: With NPCs, conversations naturally come into play. During the dialogues, you can typically for the Fallout series – or for role-playing games in general – choose from multiple response options. Accordingly, the conversation changes. This way, you receive more background information.
You can also make decisions. Through dialogue choices, it is for example possible:
- To forge alliances
- To increase your reputation with one of the factions
- To find an alternative way to solve a quest.
Conversations like in the earlier parts
Do attributes play a role in conversations? Your stats become very important. This includes the charisma value. Because through it, you can unlock new dialogue options that provide you with more information or certain advantages. For example, you can try to placate an enemy and persuade them not to attack you. If that doesn’t work, a fight ensues, which solves the quest but in a different way.
This is very reminiscent of the single-player parts of the Fallout series. Perhaps even more so than Fallout 3 compared to part 4, as you see complete sentences and choose your responses in the conversations from them.
How does this affect the previous quests? Conversations with robots like Rose or MODUS run differently. You actually converse with the metal buddies, which makes the conversations feel more lively. The quests themselves, however, remain the same.
Andreas says: The gameplay videos from Wastelanders show that we are almost expecting a new game. Fallout 76 now feels much more like a “real” Fallout with the NPCs and dialogues. As a fan, I can now feel how much I’ve missed these interactions with the Non-Player Characters. Now we have to wait until April 7 to give Fallout 76 another chance at the release of Wastelanders.
