Fallout 76 is trying to make dialogue choices matter in the game’s April 7th Wastelanders update. This is huge for players who have thus far been turned off by the game’s lack of meaningful dialogue choices, and consequences for said choices, which is a feature that has been in every Fallout game since the series first appeared in 1998.
Fallout 76 has faced a lot of criticism, and Bethesda hopes to answer a lot of it with the new update. With Wastelanders, players will see a return of faction reputations in Fallout 76, which provide real consequences for the decisions they make in the game. Wastelanders will also bring new locations like the Watoga Underground and the long-awaited return of human NPCs. The update will also introduce some new and returning Wasteland threats - some of which have not been seen in quite a while.
Wastelanders will see a lot of new faces with the return of human NPCS, which in Fallout 76’s lore had previously fled Appalachia because of the Scorched plague. Two factions making a comeback in Fallout 76 Wastelanders are settlers and raiders, which will apparently give players the option to be the bad guy if they want. Dialogue options will, of course, impact reputations with these and possibly more factions that will appear. On the most recent update to the Fallout 76 website, Bethesda gave players a glance at what these dialogue updates will look like.
The new NPCs aren’t the only ones who will receive new dialogue options. Bethesda says it is going back to old favorites like MODUS and Rose and adding dialogue flavor to choices along the way. However, the original quests will remain unchanged. And unlike before, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats will allow new dialogue options to appear. A new tool will allow players to keep track of everything that is said right at the bottom of the screen, and if players are repeating a conversation they can skip NPC voice lines. Camera angles can also be adjusted during dialogue, which is a feature many players have asked for.
Fallout 76 was widely regarded as a major disappointment when it released, with players turned off by the staggering amount of at times game-breaking bugs that often took Bethesda way too long to fix. The game also lacked many features - like choice and consequences - to which longtime fans had become accustomed. Wastelanders, which was originally supposed to release in late 2019, has faced long delays as fans eagerly awaited more news on the new update. This expansion represents a second chance for Bethesda to do Fallout 76 justice - and it may be the last chance to do so before the game dies completely.
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Fallout 76 is available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Source: Bethesda
