Fortnite OG – Week 3

Fortnite OG has dropped into it’s third week today, and there’s a lot of good and bad to discuss.

I’ll preface this review, as it’s the first time I’m writing about Fortnite, with my history with the game. I originally played the battle royale back when it first gained steam. I was there for much of the first months, enjoying the more lighthearted take on a battle royale style game. I can’t say exactly when I decided to call it quits, but it was around the time people started to “get good” at building. Personally I found the way building was being used flew in the face of how the game should be played. To me it’s not entirely interesting to get into a fight and immediately be facing down a large tower that someone has constructed over the course of 5 seconds. I understand that that style of play has become wildly popular, but it just wasn’t (and isn’t) for me.

Flash forward to about a year ago. I’ve heard a few times about the new “Zero Build” mode, and so I decided to give Fortnite another shot. To say that the game hooked me would be an understatement. Suddenly I was able to enjoy this cultural phenomenon that many had been loving for the past 4 years again.

So, I’ve been playing the game for just about a year now, which will surely give me a unique perspective when discussing it, when compared to the veterans. My experience with the game encompasses all of Chapter 4, and a small amount of what is now deemed as Chapter 1.

As for Fortnite OG, it’s been somewhat refreshing after a year of Chapter 4. I’ve personally really enjoyed a lot of what Chapter 4 had to offer, but the return to simplicity has been quite interesting.

Take for example, healing items. In Chapter 4 there was an abundance of healing options. Off the top of my head you had:

• Health Packs – Heal to full Health
• Bandages – Heals 15 Health up to a max of 75
• Med Spray – Heals at a rate of 5 Health per tick, can be used while moving
• Small Shield Potions – Grants 25 Shields up to a max of 50
• Large Shield Potions – Grants 50 Shields
• Slap Juice – Heals 15 Health, grants unlimited sprint for a brief time
• Slurp Juice – Grants gradual healing for a brief time, both Health and Shields
• Chug Splash – 20 Health or Shields to all characters in an AOE when thrown
• Chug Cannon – 20 Health or Shields to all characters in an AOE when shot, recharges up to 5 shots and takes 2 inventory slots
• Bottomless Chug Jug (vault exclusive) – Fully heals after drinking, recharges after a minute
• Various produce that heals 5 Health or Shields dependent on the type
• Various fish that provide varied effects when eaten
• Slurp Barrels that provide 10 Health or Shields in an AOE when broken
• Slap Barrels that provide some 10 Health or Shields in an AOE when broken and provide unlimited sprint for a brief time

I may have missed some as well. Point being, there was notable bloat in that item pool, and many items were completely outclasses by others. During all of Chapter 4 I basically never took a med pack over a Med Spray. The Chug Splashes were an insane bonus compared to others with their AOE bonus. The winning team almost always got Slurp Juice off of Loot Island when it spawned in, due to the heal over time being so strong.

So how does Fortnite OG improve on this? Well it increases scarcity, and limits the pool. The healing pool is currently just Health Packs, Bandages, Small and Large Shield Potions, Chug Jugs (not bottomless) and produce.

In Chapter 4, there was almost never a time where I’d go longer than a minute without getting to full Health and Shields, due to the abundance of options available it was always easy to stack and carry good options to ensure that was the case. In any battle you entered, it was almost always the case that you were facing another player with 100 Health, 100 Shields and 50 Temporary Shields (zero build exclusive).

In Fortnite OG, I’ve gone large portions of games being at 50 Shields, with Large Potions being relatively uncommon. Sometimes you get into a fight and afterward you’re left at 25 Health, desperately looking around an increasingly small circle for any healing options. This season is the first time I’ve ever made use of ground consumables, eating apples and mushrooms for 5 Health and Shields respectively. And due to the equal playing field, it’s likely that a large amount of fights are between 2 players not being fully healed.

There’s a similar scarcity to the weapons available. In Chapter 4 I wouldn’t dream of using a grey (common) gun. There was just so many ways to easily find green or better that those grey guns were essentially dead as soon as they dropped. Now in Fortnite OG sometimes I carry around a grey shotgun or AR since I just can’t find anything better. I can guarantee the amount of Legendary drops I’ve gotten this season is less than 10 total. Whereas in Chapter 4 it was 1 or more per game easily.

But does all this make it better?

In my humble opinion, yes. Some may not agree with me, but I’d say that the scarcity and limited options lead to more interesting scenarios on average. Sometimes you get to win the 2 v 1 now, since those other players might both only have 25 Health each, and can’t find healing options in the final circle.

So up to now I’ve been enjoying Fortnite OG.

What’s changed this week?

Week 3 of Fortnite OG has brought in the following:

• Tactical SMG
• Drum Gun
• Combat Shotgun
• Quad Launcher
• Minigun
• Flint-Knock Pistol
• Glider Redeploy
• Treasure Maps
• Balloons
• Planes
• Pirate Cannons

In terms of vaulted items:

• LMG
• Both Sniper Models
• Six Shooter
• Suppressed Pistol
• Suppressed SMG
• Double Barrel Shotgun (RIP)

The map has also been updated, adding a few “Pirate Bases” and a snowy section to the South Western portion of the map

Overall, I’ve enjoyed a few matches today with the updates. The unvaulted weapons are all pretty decent, and there’s some fun to be had with things like the glider redeploy and the plane.

The Controversial Changes

In addition to the above changes, the new update also made rolling changes across the games Creative Experiences. If you look at the gallery of game modes now you’ll notice Age Rating tags on every game mode and creative experience.

This in and of itself is not the majorly controversial change though. That change is new limitations on all locker items when playing any game mode listed as E for Everyone.

Players have found that the limitation is largely given to skins with guns (see the holstered weapon on Nolan Chance above) and skins which may be “too scary” for children (In my gallery Keleritas would fall into this category, being a skeletal figure).

I’m not entirely in favor of this change. I think that it’s good to make changes to allow kids to play the game, but this isn’t the best way to do so. I’m not the first to suggest this, but an age rating per account would assist with solving this issue. Parents could mark an account as a Child account, and those account would see any of the multitude of skins deemed as mature as a default skin instead. This would have the added bonus of actually limiting access to specific game modes marked as T for Teen on Child accounts, which currently there’s no option to do so.

Additionally, the high tier bonus rewards on the OG Pass have been made available. Many players are not fans of these skins. Personally I’m a bit indifferent, with varying degrees on each of them.

Each of these cost 20 stars, meaning one needs to reach level 70 to complete the OG Pass with all bonus rewards.

Conclusion

While there’s some strange changes in the new update, I think Fortnite OG is quite worthwhile to try out if you’re an older player, or just someone thinking about trying the game out. And if it’s not your cup of tea, look forward to whatever’s next around December!