Ah well, Todd has already spoken about his sense of responsibility to the franchise so I am sure we are in safe hands.

There are plenty of 'lore changes' in movies and game series, some good, some bad (even Klingons sprouted head bumps).

So I guess if done responsibly it is fair game to change anything...
(except war, war never changes...)

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj125/Gizmojunk/ToddHowardampco_zps24991817.jpg.

Well I do like that they have brought the power armor back towards the original concept; away from FO3's tin-tuxedo.

Something not to miss (if you haven't seen it), is the film, "The Atomic Cafe".

Excerpt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAbZZmPifhQ

There is of course (for those who have the stomach for it) the BBC's documentary https://archive.org/details/AV_179-THE_WAR_GAME-_THE_REALITY_OF_NUCLEAR_WAR.

A film considered 'too horrifying' to broadcast for 20 years.

As we look forward to Fallout 4, there remains the reality that there are plenty more nuclear warheads in silos around the world than

there were when films such as these from the 1950's and 1960's were made.

How's the F4 protagonist different from others who came from a vault?

Fallout while very much is based on 50's sci-fi; I always felt that it was also commenting on the 1980s looking back to the 1950s as the golden age of America. I felt the game was satirizing the 1980s unrealistic nostalgic viewpoint. The majority of Americans led by Ronny Reagan looked back at the best parts of the 50s (job growth, high wages, national highway system, family values...) while glossing over the worst parts (racism, war, threat of nuclear war, diseases such as polio...).

I didn't think Butch was really out of place but was way overdone. They should have mixed the 50s greaser with more modern aspects(fallout modern; whatever that is). Sort of like how Alex's gang in Clockwork Orange goes around wearing codpieces but also have their lingo distinct to that time period/culture.

I would really have to reconsider buying Beth games in the future if they don't explore the juxtaposition of the prewar/postwar societies from the point of view of someone who just lived through it days ago. I have more faith then you though that they will. I could see a scene where the sole survivor has a discussion with a human historian and a ghoul reminiscing nostalgically and seeing how all three have different points of view on the war.

He really isn't. The Sole Survivor, apparently a veteran, is probably better equipped to deal with the shock and realities of life in the wastes than was the Lone Wanderer.

As a child, the "lone" wanderer killed the same type of cockroach which was several years later killing armed advlts. I think it's safe to assume the lone wanderer was kind of a superhero as well

"We can do this, man...I mean, come on, what's the difference between giant, bigass rats and the reds? Hah, right? Yeah...keep the sense of humor, man, we're gonna need it..."

God I'm going to start quoting Archer during this game...

Enter Deathclaw.

"...Dammit, I had something for this..."

The only thing I see as really being a shock would be the time. Having seen the bomb and all the PC would be expecting everything to be a wreck above ground. The time-line though could be a shocker. Well that, and when he sees his first mutated animal or ghoul. Honestly if they PC does nothing but just shoot giant moles and such without even a comment about it I'll be sorely disappointed. There better be a "OH MY FREAKING GOD WHAT IS THAT!" at least once. If the PC just takes it all in stride that will be very poor writing.

Sensible answer.

There is also the dramatic impact of loss

of losing everything you know and everyone you care about.

The real loss would certainly be an issue once the amount of passed time sinks in. But again we really don't have the story of what happens between the PC and the rest of the family yet in the intro.

Meh. Personally, I would prefer player character comments to be limited to selected dialogue options. A voiced protagonist is bad enough as it is in actual dialogue, we don't need additional running commentary outside the player's control. If I don't actually click a dialogue option, I expect my character to keep his mouth shut.

I see your point and perhaps the shock of MONSTERS needs to be a short cut scene, but there should be something. Just walking out of the vault after 200 years and shooting feral ghouls without so much as a yawn would be jarring.

In fact the PC's first encounter with a friendly ghoul should be really interesting to say the least, especially since they could tell the PC what has basically happened over the last 200 years.

Mass Effect was mentioned, and I have to say, I don't like the way that ME2 handled the whole 2-year gap. A few lines of dialogue at the beginning of the game, maybe one more when talking to the Virmire survivor, and that's it. Shepard has no real issues with having come back from the dead. There's got to be some sort of disconnect there; in fact, I imagine it would be worse for Shepard than for the Sole Survivor. The Sole Survivor comes back and almost everything is different. Oh, there's enough that's recognizable for it to throw him off every so often, but I imagine that life in the Wasteland is significantly different than life before the War, so it would be easier to adapt. For Shepard, on the other hand, it would be very different: while everything looks the same from a distance, if you get close and start examining the details, things come up differently. S/he hears about a movie coming out, but dies before s/he can see it. When s/he is revived, part 5 is now in theaters, with characters that were introduced in parts 2 and 4. But instead, Shepard simply plugs along, just fine with the fact that s/he's been dead for two years. Not only that, but let's go and recruit members of my former crew, undoing any emotional healing that might have occurred over the last two years.

Now, I do understand why the devs went that way. Having a main character who has to stop and put their head between their knees every so often because the universe is different than you remember doesn't make for interesting gaming. However, I don't think that the issue should be entirely ignored, either. Fallout 4, I think, has the opportunity to bring in the sort of response that a person might actually have in the Sole Survivor's situation without letting it completely sideline gameplay. Something like walking up to the baseball stadium, and having some sort of comment about how it's now a settlement instead of an entertainment center. Having dialogue options where you comment that you remember when the location that this store is used to be the dugout for the home team. Stuff like that. Oh, I realize that it's probably not going to happen, but it would be nice if it did.

On meeting Gob in Megaton:

'Gah! [censored]! What are you?'

So yes, I think a modicum of surprise may be even more appropriate than from a vault dweller.

(I do love how this forum even censors words I already censored. Come on, I didn't type [censored], I typed [censored], can you not tell the difference forum filter?) For [censored] sake, it's a quote from the game...)

Yeah, that sort of thing should be available as a dialogue option. But, the LW could have also responded in that instance with, "Let me think about that for a moment, my good man."

There should always be a reserved or calm option. A person can be feeling quite a bit of turmoil and confusion while appearing calm on the outside. Reactions don't have to involve emoting like a thirteen year old girl to be realistic.

He was alive before the war and not born in a Vault, so he knows what happened from first hand experience, not just a VDSG.

The Sole Survivor is a military veteran. He has been trained to survived in all manner of environments, including ones decimated by nuclear destruction. I don't believe seeing Boston turned into a nuclear waste dump is going to affect him for more than five minutes. Honestly, his priority will be to figure out what's going on and what he should do.

Yeah, there should definitely be some reactions to things like morphed monsters and ghouls, especially since they decided on a voiced PC. It would be terribly disappointing if there's no reaction whatsoever. Seeing your world as you know it laid to waste and seeing what it has turned into should be enough to put any normal person in the loony bin. Add to that living talking 200 year old ghouls, yeah that'll lead to some explicit language, lol

That's some assumption you're making there, buddy...

Indeed. For all we know, he could have been a mess cook, or a supply clerk; with naught but boot camp under his belt.

Yep. That's certainly likely... It's standard procedure for a soldier to be able to acclimate and become accustomed to a wide variety of environments. Especially since it seems the Sole Survivor is also proficient in using power armor (suggesting the removal of the perk), this would definitely suggest he isn't a "mess cook" or a "supply clerk." He's combat trained and has been given the skills and tools to survive in this kind of environment.

Yeah, just a cook. A lowly, lowly cook.

They would have exo-suits on the loading docks, and in the warehouses too. (That's part of why we have them ourselves. Nearly all exo-suits that we know of are for assisted lifting.)

They could, but not likely. The same is the case for the tank. In its most primitive iteration, it was nothing more than an tractor. That basic design was repurposed and created to be more practical and useful in a combat situation during the first world war. The same applies for power armor, as it's nothing more than a personal tank unit.