A specific quest from Fallout 76 makes life difficult for players. However, it is anything but spectacular. On the contrary: it is closer to the real world than we would like.
Which quest is it? The main quest “Boot Camp Blues” is done for the Steel Brotherhood. What this faction is about has been explained in a separate article for you.
To join the Brotherhood as a full member, you first have to complete this quest. The goal is to pick up a military ID from the town hall, the Capitol Building in the city of Charleston. Sounds easy, right?
However, players are then faced with a real gauntlet of bureaucracy. You will be sent from A to B to C, and back to A in the best bureaucratic manner. How exactly this looks is summarized by MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus in a column.
The community loves and hates the quest equally
How is the quest received by the players? Thanks to the still ongoing hype around the entire Fallout series, numerous new players have come into contact with the quest again.
And just like Benedict noted in his column, players are as annoyed with the quest as they are captivated. While it can be frustrating and generate real hatred towards bureaucracy, on the other hand, that seems to have been the developers’ goal.
The quest was meant to be annoying – just like the bureaucracy in our real world. At the same time, it also provides laughs in its virtual version and remains memorable.
On Reddit, user shinnith summarized his impression succinctly. He writes: ‘This DMV quest is really making me lose my mind.’
Some of the comments under the post also go in the same direction. However, they are not all negative. Many players recognize the good game design that underlies the quest:
- “If you’re lucky, you do this at the same time as two other players and have to stand in line too,” writes user kn0ck0utm0se.
- “If quests are measured by their ability to elicit an emotional response, this is one of the best quests in the game,” says GorkyParkSculpture.
- “I loved this quest for how stupid it was,” says Pinambo.
- “It works the way it’s supposed to,” writes miletharil.
- “I complained about this quest in this forum years ago. I’m glad the tradition continues,” says Feeling_Glovely.
And how it continues. In fact, there are always new players who are confronted with the unusual quest. Some of them can laugh about it and recognize the typical humor of the Fallout series.
Others, however, get annoyed and prefer a wasteland without the bureaucratic hurdles of our real world. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus would currently recommend Fallout 76 to newcomers.
