So it is said that this game will take place 200 years (exactly?) after the Great War. Unless I am mistaken it'd make the events of this game contemporary with those in Fallout 3? Wonder if the events of Fallout 3 will be referenced in-game as they happen (especially the blowing up of Raven Rock)?

If the bombs drop in 2077, then the game must be around 2277. However someone earlier pointed out that 200 years could be a rounded down number like nearly 200 years. We will likely be just about or around the end game portion of Fallout 3 i think.

I doubt the game will be set prior to 2282 based on what Bethesda has said before about always moving forward in the timeline. They not only have to account for Fallout 3, but also New Vegas which is set in 2281.

I'd suspect that "200 years" is just a nice, round number for press releases targeted at general audience, not specifics for the already-familiar-with-the-setting lore hounds.

If it was set at the same time, I doubt we'd hear about DC. News doesn't strike me as a fast traveler in the wasteland.

Sometime after by a few months or years, we might hear about things. Though unlikely to be with much detail.

Even if it is set exactly 200 years later it'd still be after Fallout 3 or at least the non-Broken Steel parts. Fallout 3 starts on August 17th, 2277 and if Fallout 4 starts exactly 200 yeas after the war on October 23, 2277 then that's a little over two months between them.

I don't consider this to be all that likely but it's possible this is how it's going.

Just to play devil's advocate, Codsworth did say that the Lone Survivor was 200 years late for dinner.

And I would expect a robot to use the exact number of years.

Course, that 200 year number in Codsworth's dialog might change before the actual release.

However if you are setting a fail safe wake up time on a cryo chamber, then 200 years after the subjects enter the cryo chamber is a nice round number I would expect someone to put in.

If I wanted to test the cryo process for space travel, seeing how many survived the process after 200 years would make sense.

And you would want to see if the test subjects were impaired in any way by the cryo process.

No use sending a group of colonist to another world if the majority arrive as drooling idiots.

Which suggests that there may be some kind of maze/stress test to evaluate the awaken Vault 111 survivors before they can leave the vault.

What little we saw of the Lone Survivor as he left the vault didn't look particularly hunted but rather numb (as if he had just gone through a Nuclear War and had lost/ been separated from his wife and child).

But given the Enclave/Vault Tec's track record, I can image some horrific scenarios being possible.

We speak about a Mr Handy... If we want to be exact he would say 'You are too late for dinner for 200 years, 27 minutes and 14 seconds!' A Mr Handy don't need to be absolutelly precise on everything.

Two months is just enough time to be able to say that the Lone Wander has completed his quest, the Enclave has been defeated, and Project Purity is finally starting to produce clean water.

That time frame would also mean that Doctor Madison Li would just be arriving at the Institute.

Could be a good contact and source of info since she would be newly arrived and not have the same entrenched attitudes as the Institute.

As for the Super Mutants, perhaps they are seeking more FEV or are survivors from after the DC Brotherhood took down Vault 87.

Raven Rock and the mobile base crawler would have just been destroyed.

Enclave survivors could be out there, but would be very disorganized.

I can see a lot of good story opportunities using this time line.

This would keep the Lone Wander and the Sole Survivor's stories from stepping on each other, but allow places like the Pitt and the DC wasteland to be out there in a recognizable form.

Perhaps we will even get some DLC close enough to Washington DC that we will be able to listen to Three Dog.

I heard rumors that Three-Dog returns in Fo4. Maybe they have been dismissed, but it's possible that Dr. Li left with a group up to Boston. I doubt she'd leave by herself, and the GNR Station can run itself, we know this because Three-Dog can die but the station continues to play. He might have things pre-recorded and set up to be maintained by the BoS, seeing as how Lone Wanderer either A.) Righted every wrong or B.) Left everything a steaming mess in DC, Three-Dog might not think he needs to stick around. He will probably have associated quests and might even mention how you remind him of another Vault Dweller he knew back in DC.

I've been watching a bunch of Todd Howard interviews from E3, and I think he did say that you wake up exactly 200 years after the bombs fell. I found it surprising given their previous statements about all games in the series being in chronological order, so I suspect that they might have a story-related reason to be concurrent with the events in DC. Maybe they want 3-Dog alive, or President Eden?

I really think it will take place a few months after Fo3 and you will see Dr. Li and Three-Dog in Boston. Maybe even Sentinel Lyons. The only one they would be skipping in FoNV which was developed by Obsidian, so might not count.

Erik Todd Dellums has confirmed that while Bethesda said there might be role for him in Fallout 4 two years ago, they never got back to him on it.

But maybe there will be some DLC closer to the DC Wasteland and we will get to listen to old Three Dog again.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Fallout-3-Actor-Explains-Alleged-Fallout-4-Tease-51623.html

maybe the main story in fallout 4 has quite bit time skips too point were NV and FO3 storylines wrap up sometime during the sole survivors story

What Robotoh said in the spoiler tag is correct, i dont think much of FNV is going to be taken in acount here. It would both make sense that it plays relatively close to FO3 ending aswell as being practical, since they started developing the game right after FO3 came out. This means that they didn't/coudn't keep FNV lore in mind when designing the base MQ/storyline.

Good point!

I wouldn't think so, since Bethesda said "No" to Obsidian's desire to set New Vegas between Fallout 2 and 3 for that very same reason. If that rule didn't matter because New Vegas wasn't being developed by Bethesda themselves then it wouldn't have been forced on Obsidian.

Maybe that's like when I tell my 3 year old that she can't have soda because it's bad for her and then I wait till she's gone off with her 1% milk and then I just start chugging soda from the bottle because soda is fricking awesome.

Here's hoping that both Bethesda and Obsidian want to give Obsidian another crack at the West Coast.

I mean with seven years between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, why not?

Plus if Fallout 4 goes gang busters, then maybe Bethesda will be a little more flexible with Obsidian considering their track record with Fallout New Vegas.
It certainly plays to both studio's strengths. Take Bethesda's open world and let Obsidian focus on the story telling.

Three Dog's voice actor said that he wasn't part of the project, but was always available if they wanted him again. Supposedly there are at least two radio stations in Fallout 4 ... "Diamond City Radio" and "Classico", I think.

IIRC, FO3 ws 75 years after the war and FONV was 200 years. So it should be more or less concurrent with FONV.

I highly doubt Bethesda was arrogant enough to believe they knew what was best for someone else's story.

No. FO3 was 200 years after the war too. Minus some months.

A couple of months that puts the events of Fallout 4 just safely past the major events in Fallout 3.

But leaves it close enough that some of the events in Fallout 3 can turn up in Fallout 4 DLC.

But they let Zenimax set ESO 1000 years in the past...