FALLOUT’S FIRST ONLINE MULTIPLAYER FORAY IS BOLD BUT OFTEN BORING.
The conceit of Fallout 76 is that you and the 23 other players in your instance are the first humans out of the Vaults, 25 years after nuclear armageddon – so you won’t find any other human NPCs to interact with. The idea being that this ramps up the drama and survival imperative, as well as making you play with other real humans to rebuild the world and make your own personal stories.
At best, this is inconsistent, at worst, Bethesda is kind of cheating. So there are none of the familiar raider gangs that used to provide ready target practice, caps and gear in Fallouts 3-4. But there are something called The Scorched – ghouls that can use guns. So, the difference from Raiders is only that they don’t talk as much. There are no human NPC vendors to trade with. But there are robots who have shops. So the difference from human NPC traders is… they don’t talk as much. Ditto, quest givers – robots, not humans. Still NPCs, but now lacking back stories and personality.
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