Reactions to Fallout 76 have certainly been a rollercoaster, rising and falling with each new update. But since its release, Fallout 76 has seen a lot of major additions to the game, as well as some fixes that fans were concerned about. One of the main changes came in the form of the Wastelanders update, where players finally had human NPCs to talk to.
Still, one thing that hasn't changed much since its release is how many parts of the main quest of Fallout 76 don't make much sense. Here are some of the biggest plot holes, oversights, and things that have generally confused players on their journey to stop the Scorched Plague.
10 Why Would The Overseer Need To Work Alone?
Early on, players receive their first of many holotapes from the Overseer of Vault 76. She reveals that she has to secure three different missile silos for Vault-Tec so they can't be used by anyone else.
For some reason, Vault-Tec wanted the Overseer to do this alone, as if one person could visit the three different silos in a timely manner. This leads to a lot of questions. Why would she have to do this by herself? Couldn't she have asked some trusted people in Vault 76 to help her, like the security team? Why didn't any other vault residents pick up her holotape before the player when they left?
9 Where Did Other Vault 76 Residents Go?
There were supposed to be hundreds of people living in Vault 76 before the Reclamation Day, and they all apparently left without the player, who seemed to sleep in on this very important day. This is an exciting event, but wouldn't at least one person stick around to make sure everyone left?
Then, when players go outside and start their adventures, there aren't many signs of any Vault 76 residents aside from the Overseer's logs. It would be hard to believe that they all lived while there are Scorched Beats flying around, so wouldn't the player come across some kind of sign that a Vault 76 resident was around in the base game?
8 Why Are There Still Holotapes To Take?
If we're going off of the theory that all players who jump into Fallout 76 are supposed to make up all the residents of Vault 76 (basically, a way to explain away NPCs), in reality, that wouldn't explain the holotapes lying around from the Overseer.
The first tape that players get from her seems to imply that she just made one tape for someone who was willing to help her. If that's the case, then why wouldn't the tape be gone by the time the player gets into the game? Wouldn't someone else want to help the Overseer too? And wouldn't that mean that any other tapes that have been picked up by residents helping her would be gone?
7 Why Leave The C.A.M.P. Behind?
When residents leave the Vault 76, everyone is supposed to get a C.A.M.P. that'll help them survive. It helps players build bases, build and repair gear, and store their items.
The first thing players see when they leave the Vault is the Overseer's C.A.M.P. She even leaves a holotape behind saying that it might not be a good idea to leave it, but she wants everyone to be able to use it to their own benefit. If she already set up a way for every resident to get a C.A.M.P. when they leave, then why would she feel the need to leave her own essential survival kit behind for other residents?
6 Why Weren't Survival Skills Taught In The Vault?
Vault 76 was a control vault that was specifically meant to be opened 25 years after it was closed. If they knew that they would be opening the vault with the purpose of trying to rebuild society, why wouldn't they make sure to teach people basic survival skills?
Vault 76 was supposed to be filled with smart and skilled people, so it seems like survival skills could be learned pretty easily. Instead, the player must spend part of their main questline learning about how to get food and boil water from the Responders when they could've already learned how to survive from the vault. Granted, this is a part of the game's "tutorial" as it were, but it doesn't seem as if it was thought all the way through.
5 Why Wouldn't The Player Become Infected By The Scorched Plague?
Thanks to the creation of Scorched Beasts, the Scorched Plague infected lots of people across Appalachia. After the player leaves Vault 76, they will often encounter the Scorched, humans that were infected by this plague. They range from hostile maniacs that are ready to attack to petrified husks left to crumble from the slightest touch.
Players can save themselves with inoculation from the quest "An Ounce of Prevention" from the Responders faction. But that brings up a question concerning how has the player's character survived for so long without being infected before inoculation. What makes them immune up to that point?
4 What's Up With Scorchbeasts?
If players read the logs and listen to recordings that can be found in the Whitespring Congressional Bunker, they'll see that the Enclave created the Scorchbeasts, but not on purpose. They were supposed to be testing things like mutation serums, and other agents that may affect the environment, but why they were doing this in the first place ins't made terribly clear. Was it just out of curiosity, or something more?
Then, when the Scorchbeast was created after the Enclave scientists found irradiated bats and they accidentally mixed it with some other experiments, they kept it for more studies. Why did they need the bats in the first place? If they hadn't been doing these experiments, then the events following the Great War in Appalachia might've been avoided.
3 Why Isn't The Scorched Plague Mentioned In Other Games?
Bethesda put references to both upcoming and past titles in multiple different Fallout games. While Vault 76 has been referenced in Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, an event like the Scorched Plague hasn't come up.
Obviously, Bethesda can't see the future to know what they will do in each new Fallout game way before they make it. However, they do have a bit of a reputation for leaving lore in older games that they could develop into newer games. If they'd talked about the Scorched in previous titles, it would make more sense to make this the basis of Fallout 76, but now it just seems odd that there'd be no reference to the plague in games that take place afterward in the timeline.
2 Why Is Killing The Scorchbeast Queen Optional?
When players finally get to one of the three silos that the Overseer was trying to reach, they have the option to launch a nuke. In fact, they have to launch one if they want to finish the main quest "I Am Become Death." Yet, the player can just launch it wherever without a real goal.
The game claims that launching a nuke will help to get rid of all the scorchbeasts, especially if players launch one at Fissure Site Prime, which will spawn the scorchbeast queen. If that's the real goal, then why is it an optional quest, as if it's not important? Why else would the player need to launch a nuke in the first place?
1 Why Not Nuke The Scorchbeast Queen?
If players do start the public event "Scorched Earth" wherein they can fight a scorchbeast queen, they are in for a difficult fight. The scorchbeast queen will be level 95, and she's a legendary enemy. Not only that, but she can summon additional scorchbeats, as well as any other creatures that have been affected by the Scorched Plague.
If all of this sounds intense, that's because it is. So, why can't players take the easier route and just nuke the queen and all her minions? Even if there was only one nuke per silo, there are still two more silos that the player can go to after launching the first nuke that will draw the queen out. It seems like a much easier method than grouping up with a ton of people to fight the queen on foot.