In Fallout 1 and 2 playing as a gurgling cretin may at first sound incredibly offensive, however after playing though fallout 2, full metal [censored] (that is Charisma and Intellect low as can be while being a masive powerhouse of raw physical power) and being at the butt of every joke of the NPCs, who at first seemed like alright people (turned out they are just [censored]) and having to find alternative ways to over come your challenges in finding a GECK, It gave me a sense of respect for the gifted, and how cruel the world can be to them some times, I thought that was a brilliant moment when Fallout 2 Told the story of Jenny (my PC for a play though to the end), the Simpleton who Saved an entire people despite there true lack of faith in her, and in turn she Stopped the Enclave and there diabolical plans, along the way freezing the mind of a Pimp from saying something profound, punching the arm off a Hubbologist, infiltrating vault city though the easiest means possible making a joke out of there security, and "fixing man who sickky in head by removing head". Heck, you could write it into the game where your PC is afflicted with brain damage that is the result of a malfunction in the Cryo chamber. Fallout NV made good uses of Low Intelligence in speech checks, but its not quite the same as wandering the wasteland with a cretton.

Anyone elses thoughts on this?

With having a voiced protagonist the possibility seems unlikely, but I may be wrong.

Im more inclined to think social disapproval and generally the bad pr having a mentally handicapped option, video games are a much bigger thing now, ya,cant really get away with it now like ya could back in 2.

The male voice actor said in an interview that so far he's recorder around 13'000 lines of dialogue so far. I can only hope a thousand or so of them concist of confused grunts.

The character shown in the demo had 3 Intelligence and he wasn't talking like a dumb idiot, so I guess this feature is gone.

The only way this could manifest itself is through a low SPECIAL in intelligence resulting in a mild intellectual disability.

Such a condition would not necessarily impact speech, but may impact:

• Poor memory skills (losing map markers)
• Difficulty with problem solving skills (reduced lockpicking/science/medicine?)
• Less self-preservation (reduced perception?)
• Reduced social inhibitors (unwise dialogue choices)
• Slower learning (slower XP accumulation)

This could be sensitively implemented, just as very low scores in SPEC-AL could have other detrimental impacts.

What would not be welcome is to fall into 'gurgling cretin' stereotypes...

I agree, man.

The line with Sulik: "Most people have evil spirits. You? You have stupid spirits."
Killed me.
I would stay up at night thinking about life and when I remember that line I start laughing uncontrollably and fall asleep smiling.

The character in the demo had an INT of 3 but let's not forget Bethesda considerably lowered attibutes. I'm hoping this would still be an option.
Problem is that people get offended by ANYTHING these days that I completely understand why videos like these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUmdiDFGDRAexist.

I'm afraid too many people will jump Bethesda's **** if they depict someone talking in a stereotypically 'mentally challenged' way. In some ways, we've improved a lot because we're starting to recognize that our actions DO hurt others. In other ways, we've become so sensitive that I'm surprised we even have the guts to look each other in the eye in public without someone screaming up a storm about it.

In other words, nein. Nein, we are not going to be playing a mentally challenged Sole Survivor. You could still do stupid things like charge at Deathclaw with a common kitchen knife and wearing nothing but your underwear if you wanted.

The voiced protagonist means it's pretty much given that there will be no low INT alternate dialogue. That'd be half of the 13,000 lines.

Go play Skyrim; there you have no choice but to play a main character who is severely mentally challenged.

No doubt.

Skyrim's dialogue system is the main reason I'm eager to have voiced protagonists, so exposition doesn't have to be spoon fed.

Not mentally challenged, but more like completely ignorant of the entire world and happenings he/she is living in.

It'd be nice if we could actually play as a character with a lower intelligence than most, but having a voiced protagonist now, I fear this will be limited if we get it at all.

Are you making cruel and offensive fun of Germans?

EDIT: added a smiley so that people don't think I'm making cruel and offensive fun of HeroofKvatch99. Or Germans.

Yeah, but no more dumb dialogue. How am i supposed to fight bunny hunters now?

Well, i'm sure there's still at least stupid evil quest solutions.

Who cares what the social media sees? Look at FNV, that's a modern game and it's got some hilarious low-intelligence dialogue and it got away with it easily.

That is an excellent point.

Fair, but some of Dovahkiin's dialogue definitely straddles the line between ignorance and stupidity.

Well, it wouldn't be a video game without video game morality. If you don't fall for every sob story some stranger spins for you, you're not a good person; if you don't kick puppies just because, you're not really evil.

But those low-intelligence dialogue choices were scattered through the whole game and didn't affect NPC interaction at all.

Nothing like Troika's Arcanum, where having a low intellect resulted in a vastly different gaming experience such as hyper-sophisticated conversations with fellow low intelligence NPCs and a journal written entirely in crayon.

There's a huge difference between the portrayal of comically idiotic characters in entertainment and people who are actually mentally challenged. There really wouldn't be some mass offense taken by idiot dialog unless the game outright said the character had a disability.

If there isn't any idiot dialog in 4 as robust as the older games, it would be because they don't want to put that much importance on the stat, they don't want to write/record all of the dialog for low intelligence characters, they don't want to limit our options based on intelligence, etc. Not because of some make-believe "PC crowd".

actually, you could get Arcade to come with you if you had an Intelligence of 2 at least XD Along with an easy access to the strip, and Repconn building, OH! And a discount on the Intelligence implant ;P

I honestly dont think with a voiced PC that low int. can be pulled off without sounding rather odd and fake. Also, i disliked FO3 and FNV way of low intelligence PC's, since 90% of the game you seem perfectly fine and intelligent in conversations, yet that one convo where there is a low int. convo option, you are suddenly [censored]. Like being able to hack a 100 science computer of extremly dificult code, only to later be unable to solve 1+1 = 2 calculation kind of difference.

In that it is similar to how skyrim treated you sometimes by breaking the world immersion. For instance if you played Dunmer and went to Windhelm, two Nords would be arguing with a fellow Dunmer. This Dunmer would then respond too you, a fellow Dunmer!!!, "wether you hate Dunmer too." Basicly as if you are still a nord to her. BGS is known for making thse ridiculous breaks in the game world logic.

A three is barely below average in F4.

Now if you used intelligence as a dump stat and took a 1 then I would expect a lot of grunts.

I agree it could be hard to pull off.

I thing the player should be given the option of using the low Intelligence line for roleplaying purposes.

And maybe only be restricted from the occasional high intelligence dialog line.

Plus your Sole Survivor would advance more slowly than a smarter one.

I don't think so. In 3 and New Vegas, I believe 3 INT was the general threshold for a 'stupid' character, where you would get special dialog options like Arcade Gannon taking pity on you and agreeing to be your companion or correctly guessing "ice cream" as the REPCONN password. In 4, the average starting SPECIAL stat is 4, which means 3 INT is only one point down from average. When you think about it, there haven't really been that many low INT options in the past two games, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that they've left that feature in.

Well in Fallout 4 you only get 28 Special Stat points while in F3 and FONV you got 40 stat points.

Since the new average is 4, I don't see them using an Intelligence of 3 as the stupid threshold.

Plus after a few years of civilian life the Sole Survivor is not going to be in fighting trim let alone his 200 year nap.

Give him a couple of months being chased by raiders and Molerats and he will be in a lot better shape or dead.

Now I'm hoping if you make any stat a dump stat with a 1, then somewhere in the game, it will bring it up and use it in game.

Maybe something like "Normally a person could have caught the key before it fell through the crate, but you fumbled it. (Agility 1)"

Or someone with a 1 Luck has something unlucky happen to him a couple of times.

Nothing deadly but just a few funny episodes to help you roleplay having that low of a stat.

Would love to have the "stupid" dialogue back and/or just some absolutely insane dialogue options.

Imo half the fun of fallout is finding the crazies, New Vegas had some rippers, loved no-bark noonan and Mr.Fantastic

When I read the thread title I first thought, sure you can it's the player base Bethesda's aiming for these days.