Fallout 4

[GhostMinion]

Bethesda clearly wanted to move past the "silent protagonist with unclear motivations" phase and develop a real story with this game. Some people like to make up all sorts of little facts about their character in their heads while playing but I think the benefits granted by a more concise narration outweigh the "freedom" granted by a non-descript plot.

Fallout 3's ending shouldn't be used as an example of a restrictive narrative but rather as an example of bad writing.

What did you find about the ending of Fallout 3 that was so "badly written"?

 

[Grey]

What did you find about the ending of Fallout 3 that was so "badly written"?

Jeyl has already done a good job outlining the issues with the ending, but i'll tell you my own reasons. Bethesda had written themselves into a corner during the finale, requiring the player to enter a chamber with deadly radiation despite the presence of several companions who are immune to said radiation. In the original game, they would simply refuse to enter while offering up a single bit of dialogue along the lines of "it's your destiny to go into the chamber and die". It's like they wanted to steer the player twords sacrifice but then right at the end they realised "oops, we completely subverted our own ending".

Broken Steel obviously corrects this issue through DLC content by re-writing the ending, which is evidence enough that even Bethesda knew it was bad. There are other issues with the narrative, like why two groups with the same objective are fighting over the same desired result (to turn on the water purifier) but I don't want to go on about it in the Fallout 4 thread. Bethesda's writing staff have clearly evolved and matured since then.

 

[Jedi2016]

Bethesda clearly wanted to move past the "silent protagonist with unclear motivations" phase and develop a real story with this game.

Are you referring to the voiceovers? There's nothing "silent" about the protagonist in the other games. They all had very specific dialog choices in every encounter. The only difference is that now you're actually hearing it spoken out loud instead of just getting an immediate response from the NPC. The new voiceovers are just there for immersion, nothing more. I don't see it making a lick of difference in terms of story.

 

[harrisonp]

I just want Troy Baker to be the voice, I tend to like his characters more often than not (Booker Dewitt, AC Robin, among others) he's my go to "male protagonist " voice

 

[Grey]

Are you referring to the voiceovers? There's nothing "silent" about the protagonist in the other games. They all had very specific dialog choices in every encounter. The only difference is that now you're actually hearing it spoken out loud instead of just getting an immediate response from the NPC. The new voiceovers are just there for immersion, nothing more. I don't see it making a lick of difference in terms of story.

That's not exactly true. You had dialog "cues" but I wouldn't call them specific, you would steer the conversation in the direction you wanted using single sentences and the NPC would extrapolate that into a largely single-sided conversation. By having a voiced character, exchanges between you and the NPC can be much more specific and engaging. Inflection and subtext are a big part of storytelling.

 

[Wes R]

I think Bethesda's taking full advantage of the new systems in order to make this game the best it can be. Hopefully there isn't the usual bethesda glitches like in their older games.

 

[GhostMinion]

I think Bethesda's taking full advantage of the new systems in order to make this game the best it can be. Hopefully there isn't the usual bethesda glitches like in their older games.

I'm keeping my hopes up. As I remember, Skyrim wasn't so bad with game breaking glitches, so I suppose there's hope.

 

[Solo4114]

So, here's a bit of advice for the PC gamers out there:

Unless you really, really, REALLY want that PIPBoy.....don't pre-order.

Seriously. We've seen several really awful PC releases in the last year, with Arkham Knight being the most recent (and being so bad that WB pulled the game from retail). Pre-orders are a massive gamble, especially in an environment where development is increasingly done for consoles and all games are basically ports for PC.

Be smart with your money and wait for early reviews at least.

 

[GhostMinion]

So, here's a bit of advice for the PC gamers out there:

Unless you really, really, REALLY want that PIPBoy.....don't pre-order.

Seriously. We've seen several really awful PC releases in the last year, with Arkham Knight being the most recent (and being so bad that WB pulled the game from retail). Pre-orders are a massive gamble, especially in an environment where development is increasingly done for consoles and all games are basically ports for PC.

Be smart with your money and wait for early reviews at least.

Well, lucky for me I really, REALLY wanted that Pipboy! :lol

Plus I need a PC copy to be able to extract the 3d models. Got one coming for Xbox One, too, so I guess I'm safe either way.

 

[Solo4114]

Caveat emptor.

 

[madmikeee]

I bought New Vegas as a pre order and didn't regret it one bit , Hell some of the early glitches had me ROARING with laughter, a couple made me pee my pants a little.

I haven't even gotten the DLC for New Vegas yet. but I see what you are saying. I would love a GOTY edition with all of the DLC like I did with FO3 but I really want that pip boy.. I don't know why I just realllllly do LOL.

 

[GhostMinion]

Caveat emptor.

To be honest, I highly doubt anything can be worse that Fallout New Vegas for Xbox 360. You can't even walk through Freeside, you have to look straight down at the street, or the game starts shuttering. And don't get me started on the damn load screens.........

None of these problems on PC.

But..........I get what you're saying.

 

[Grey]

Seriously. We've seen several really awful PC releases in the last year, with Arkham Knight being the most recent (and being so bad that WB pulled the game from retail). Pre-orders are a massive gamble, especially in an environment where development is increasingly done for consoles and all games are basically ports for PC.

Be smart with your money and wait for early reviews at least.

I wouldn't judge Bethesda by what other studios are doing, we all largely know what to expect from them. Everyone knows the games are a bit buggy. Arkham Knight isn't a good example since its problems are largely due to the fact that the PC release was outsourced to a studio that has no previous experience on the PC. Bethesda is both the Publisher and Developer of Fallout 4, they have much more control than other studios.

Bethesda tends to keep quiet about their games until they're basically finished, that's why you're just now hearing about Fallout 4 a mere 5 months before release. Their E3 presentations and game trailers have always been made using in-game footage and gameplay, go back and look at the announcement trailers for Oblivion or Fallout 3, they're identical to the release game. They don't make false promisies about "PC First!" or try to hype up fans by making deals with Nvidia to boast about graphical features that won't actually work in the final game. *cough* Rocksteady *cough*

I'm not saying PREORDER IT RIGHT NOW! But I am saying that we don't need to be reminded that the game might suck, just let people be excited.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I never had many problems with the Fallout games. I think a lot of people have weird hardware and that might cause issues. The only problem I can remember is the game freezing on a couple areas of the Honest Hearts DLC.

 

[Satxer]

I had them with both FO3 and NV. And I had two different PS3s. Lags/freezes and the most random times. Never consistant.

 

[Jeyl]

Imagine how tedious the game would be if the auto-save function wasn't a core component of game.

 

[harrisonp]

Imagine how tedious the game would be if the auto-save function wasn't a core component of game.

Even with the autosave I still have about a billion hard saves, I just get too anxious otherwise

 

[madmikeee]

My bugs for NV on the PC were the ones where peoples heads would randomly go Exorcist, had a couple of deathclaws just float up out of the ground and WRECK me. But after a couple of updates I had zero problems.

 

[Solo4114]

I wouldn't judge Bethesda by what other studios are doing, we all largely know what to expect from them. Everyone knows the games are a bit buggy. Arkham Knight isn't a good example since its problems are largely due to the fact that the PC release was outsourced to a studio that has no previous experience on the PC. Bethesda is both the Publisher and Developer of Fallout 4, they have much more control than other studios.

Bethesda tends to keep quiet about their games until they're basically finished, that's why you're just now hearing about Fallout 4 a mere 5 months before release. Their E3 presentations and game trailers have always been made using in-game footage and gameplay, go back and look at the announcement trailers for Oblivion or Fallout 3, they're identical to the release game. They don't make false promisies about "PC First!" or try to hype up fans by making deals with Nvidia to boast about graphical features that won't actually work in the final game. *cough* Rocksteady *cough*

I'm not saying PREORDER IT RIGHT NOW! But I am saying that we don't need to be reminded that the game might suck, just let people be excited.

It's your nickel, pal. Go ahead and be excited. Go ahead and buy the game sight-unseen before there are reviews out for it. All I'm saying is that there's a trend across PC gaming where studios are releasing games in unfinished states and patching them up after the fact. Most of the major publishers do this now, to a greater or lesser degree. If you think the risk is worth it, and you absolutely need to have that PIPBoy or to play the game the day it's released, then go ahead and buy. But I, at least, am going back to my policy of not buying games until at least 3 months after release. It just isn't worth it to me, especially since I tend not to care about the extra doodads that they pack into collector's editions and such, and since most of the "preorder DLC" ends up becoming available in some GOTY edition anyway.

 

[Jeyl]

**UPDATE!**

We have the voice actors for the male and female protagonists. First off, no. Neither are going to be played by Troy Baker, Nolan North or to a much sadder extent, Jennifer Hale.

Male Protagonist: Brian T. Delaney

A relatively unknown actor who's mostly known for 'additional voices' in movies and doing voices of movie characters in video games when the original actor isn't available. His only role that can be declared his own is the character of Roland from the Halo series. This will no doubt be a big turning point for his career since Bethesda seems very comfortable in having his work in the game be showcased in, well, everything (Buggers)

Female Protagonist: Courtenay Taylor

On the opposite side of the new blood spectrum we have an actual Fallout Alumni and frequent BioWare actor doing the voice for the female protagonist. Courtney Taylor has done many memorable roles in video games from Juhani in the first Knights of the Old Republic Game (Screw you Disney canon. Juhani beat your 'first star wars lesbian' to the punch!), Jack from the Mass Effect, Ada Wong in the most recent Resident Evil games and of course numerous characters from Fallout: New Vegas such as the very cold and intimidating Gloria Van Graff and the boomer loving Janet.

Since Brian's work is on full display and Courtney needs no convincing on my end, the cast for Fallout 4 looks very solid and promising.