It gives the player just enough motivation to play and do something in the world and their world is pretty good actually, the main problem for FO76 (aside from the bugs and technical issues) was that the content, while some of it was fun, felt directionless.
With human NPCs and a more solid grip on the narrative, the game finally feels good to play, if a player comes from playing Fallout 4, FO76 feels way better with its dialogue and choices, its does not reach New Vegas standards but it tries to and i place it well above FO3 and FO4.
I wouldn't exactly go as far as to say it's better than Bethesda's Single Player Fallouts for the Sole reason that most of the locations I've visited so far are a lot more nondescript than the best locations that they had to offer (even Fallout 3, although I really started loathing it at some point had a bunch of locations that at least felt somewhat "unique" and more fleshed out).
But you're right that a lot has changed since I gave it a whirl around Beta:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...rs-npc-expansion.122137/page-101#post-5878534
I played the Beta for a few hours in two sessions and got to like ~Level 7. If anyone likes the most boring parts of Fallout 3/4 where you just walk around the map from Point-of-Interest to Point-of-Interest and collect pots, they're probably going to like this. It was mostly boring "Do this thing to progress" stuff and plot progressions seems to happen by reading "E-Mails" on Terminals and notes laying around or listening to left behind audio tapes. The people that are saying there are NO NPCs are wrong, since there are various Servitors that have some choice dialogue and serve as vendors and dispensers.
I definitely had the issues described with Push-to-Talk being activated for everyone, there were people on the phone during character creation talking shit and I don't think they knew other people were listening, then once outside the Vault there were groups of people talking in a variety of different languages like Dutch, German or Portuguese while walking around.
At the end of the 2nd session I was Overencumberedly scuffling about and I didn't really feel like logging in after that anymore, even playing Destiny 2 in CoOp seemed like a better prospect. Funny thing, when I tried deinstalling Fallout 76 after the Beta ended the Bethesda Launcher thing refused and told me I have no access to the game and I had to go ahead and delete all the game files myself, I guess a fitting end.
Let's just say that it now feels less like a completely empty and soulless cashgrab attempt at releasing
something on time, that is additionally bugged beyond belief and now feels more like a low effort entrance into Bethesda's "Fallout series" that you can play with friends.
I got asked to play since it was Free for the Weekend and made a new character, even though they apparently kept the one I made during the Beta. Right after you leave the Vault you stumble upon two mystery meat Lesbos that set you on the path to one of the new main quests. Some of the empty space that was previously there at the bottom of the hill where only a burnt out ruin and an empty camp was has been filled with a bar that initiates the first dialogue and skill checks, sending you off into another direction entirely than the main plot line takes you.
In general they seem to have added a lot more reasons and random Events that invite the player to laterally explore more. While previously you more-or-less instinctively made your way from the Vault directly to Flatwoods and then North to Morgantown airport, all of which was only accompanied by a few E-mails on Terminals and some Servitors providing the bare Minimum of exposition to continue the story, you'll now meet more NPCs and find more letters and leads sending you off to different directions.
Some of the Skill checks seem a bit awkwardly implemented, since you'll get stuff like a non-repeatable Charisma 4 dialogue choice at the moment when your character is only likely to have had two or three Level ups and Strength/Intelligence 8 right after following the quest line. New characters are unlikely to have 2-3 in a Stat right after Leaving the Vault or 4 after arriving in the first town. Old characters are likely to pass every single skill check without problems.
And the new NPCs seem to be a bit sparse so far. The entire town of Flatwoods for instance went from one lone bot and a bunch of Terminals providing a bit of exposition to the same thing, but now there's also some woman with her dog wandering around town. But I've already met at least a dozen NPCs that weren't there before and visited entirely new areas that were apparently designed to fill the empty space at Release and make it less obvious. Ultimately it kind of still feels like window dressing with a single living NPC apparently in the whole of Flatwoods and two for Morgantown and Charleston each despite being huge, the problem seems to remain as you get deeper into the game.
The most annoying part that I usually fix right away in Bethesda's Single Player games is the Overencumberance mechanic, since I don't find having to sort through your inventory every 30 minutes or alternatively having to lurch everywhere particularly fun. In Fallout 76 you're even forced to collect junk if you want to actually expand your camp and craft shit that you'll need like Armor, Weapons and Ammo. I've already invested into STR the most because of this (I got it to 8 I believe) and Weight Reduction Perks for Junk/Chems/Food+Drink (Maxed out) and even Strong Back, Pocketed Armor and the basic Backpack etc. but you barely need to carry around and pick up a few weapons or armor pieces with you and you're forced to go micromanage inventory space again.
One thing I noticed is that they made their "Exploration by rummaging through dead people's Notes and Logs" somewhat more interesting by having a few less logs basically saying things like "I'm stuck in here, they're coming... AAAAA, ARRGHHH... wait I ran out of ink AGGHHH" and instead had small plots spanning entire areas or the entire game world.
Some that stood out was for instance the Grafton area in the North. You meet the Robot Mayor that wants you to do stuff and by exploring and following various of the quests you find out about a family feud between a big factory owner, his wife, his brother in-law and his kid and what happens to all of them. You can organically discover what happened even without being prompted by a quest by first visiting the house of the worker to see he was fired and why, come across the homestead of the factory owner, hear about a missing child in the amusement park nearby etc. and piece it all together.
Another was the entire Charleston Herald/Senator Sam Blackwell interview story that you first hear about in some of the smaller towns by reading the papers scattered around and then get to Search through the Herald building and State Capitol for more hints.
Another thing I noticed while playing more is that there's Stronk Independent Wamen everywhere. From the only half-way competent and ethically sound Overseer in Fallout leading a Vault that isn’t some horrible experiment and doesn’t give up on everyone helping the player along the way, the first two NPCs you meet in the game and the only remaining Responder in the first town you'll visit. The Owner of the bar that gives you your first Quest is a tough Waman and apparently some underground Smuggling ring leader, all the high-profile Leaders of the Responders are Wamen, the Brilliant Doctor that discovered a cure for the Scourge is a Waman, the local Brotherhood Paladin and Leader is a Waman, the Raiders Leader is a Waman, the Scavenger Leader overseeing Emmet Mountain is a Waman, they even made the Appalachia Radio DJ a Waman and she's kinda annoying to boot etc.
One of the final Quests I did was the Firebreathers Initiation Quest, which contained a story about how a group of 5 people go into a mine, 2 of the Men die right away on the first enemy encounter, the third gets scared and runs away around the next corner to die a horrible Coward's death and the two Wamen make it to the end goal and bravely defend themselves in a “Last Stand” kind of encounter against insurmountable odds. Most of the Men you meet are either Mooks that bite it, Crooks or always in need of help/relying on the stronger Wamen all around em. It gets a bit cringe after a while, especially in a world that would otherwise be depopulated and just underwent an Apocalypse.
The biggest Technical problem both me and the guy I was playing with had was an Annoying Bug that made the Mouse Lag/Jump around uncontrollably in Interior Levels.
VATS felt a bit like activating an Aimhack in certain situations when you get overwhelmed in Melee and without the usual Slowdown, especially against Fast and Armored enemies like Mirelurks.
Also the UI is still consolized and wonky because of it, as one example "Left Alt" for instance is used to Headbutt things with your gun, while zoomed in with a weapon to "hold your breath" for better aiming and also when keeping it pressed for a bit longer to throwing grenades, which leads to... issues. Simple things like getting to the Main Menu from the game are unnecessarily complicated, for instance instead of having to press ESC you first open the Map with M and then have to press Z for some reason etc.
It can be fun in short bursts like some of the new Questlines or some more entertaining locations like Camp McClintock, but I don't know that it holds up overall.
For some reason it kept me exploring for dozens of hours despite all the mentioned downsides. I think it's probably not worth the asking price right now though, maybe when it's $10-15. Especially with the combined and compounded annoyances of low Carryweight, slower walking speed while Encumbered, limited Stash space to 800 and limited vendor buy-in with vendors sharing their caps across regions, whether that’s a train station in the middle of nowhere, the shop in Grafton in the North or one in Charleston in the South, because Todd wants to buy a new Yacht.
The thing I fought against the most throughout the game was not really any of the Beasties, but getting Overencumbered, and having to deal with Mobs while even Walking eats your AP.
Regarding the people saying that it looks particularly ugly or something, I don't know that I can agree with that:
The biggest graphical issues seem to be the limited draw distance and the questlog to the right of the screen that can a bit overbearing and even overlap your UI if it isn't managed. Also the constantly repeating assets in towns, albeit to a lesser degree than in Fallout 3/4, since some interiors here have unique assets.
