Fallout 76 is Doing Something Now It Should Have in the Beginning

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With one of the biggest criticisms levied against Fallout 76 being its lack of NPCs and dialogue options, fans of the controversial MMO are cautiously optimistic about the game's upcoming Wastelanders expansion pack. Not only will the new addition to the title add NPCs to the world, but these new characters will supposedly also offer interesting quests and dialogue options in a similar vein to those of traditional Fallout games. It seems Bethesda is finally making these long-requested features a priority for Fallout 76 going forward, so much so that the team's supposedly breaking the bank.

Discussed by Pete Hines in an interview with USGamer, the Bethesda Vice President claimed that the addition of NPCs led to a number of costly decisions to ensure the idea was envisioned correctly. "They went much beyond what they were budgeted to do because designers can't help themselves," Hines claims, citing that "they blew past their word count budgets."

Hines, of course, is referring to the voice actors employed to perform the lines in the Wastelanders update, with it seeming like the game is looking to not only listen to its fans by including NPCs, but make sure they're as fully fleshed out as possible. This is undoubtedly an incredibly positive sign to fans that have stuck around with Fallout 76 since its less than stellar debut, with the long-requested additions of non-playable characters roaming the world and dialogue options finally becoming a reality in the biggest way possible.

Hines also elaborates on what the goal for NPCs and new quests in Wastelanders will be, citing that the team hopes to encourage replayability. "There's just no reasonable cadence that you can put out large volumes of quest content," Hines admits, citing that making quests with endless replay value works better, especially as "it's gonna take you six months, nine months, a year to make content that they're gonna burn through in two weeks." Hopefully, it leads to some more substantial quests for the game, especially as the somewhat shallow nature of its moment to moment gameplay has been a source of serious criticism.

Hines himself has been something of a controversial figure over the past week, with the VP's words on a recent podcast drawing backlash from fans. Regardless, it seems as though both he and Bethesda are working hard to transform Fallout 76 into the game players wanted from day one, and the release of Wastelanders is no doubt a giant step in the right direction.