So with more than 140 characters they could've described the appearance of a character whose physical appearance is completely amorphous? Having a word or character limit doesn't give any writer the excuse to write lines that make no sense and then argue that they were meant to be stand-ins for a more complete line that did make sense particularly when you can deliver a line that makes total sense with fewer characters.

U guys are making a huge deal about something really small.

Both game NV and F3 are excellent game, each one have strong and weak points, but they are both good.

Saying that Bethesda writing is bad is a lie, since isn't, it maybe isn't George R.R. Martin writing, but is still good. For me i hate that the main Character on a story doesn't have a background so i tend to like alot more Fallout 3 or 4 idea or giving me a pre define background, that way normally on any other RPG i play i use the pre define characters and i just tweak their charts.

Both way are still use in every single RPG game i have play, u steep on the foot of a pre define character or u make one from 0. Both are valid pitons for a RPG. Saying that F3 isnt a RPG game bc they give u a pre define background that is a lie.

Except, if you had actually played Fallout 3, you would know James appearance doesn't change that much, hes mostly always the same no matter what you do. And the line does make sense, if your not purposefully trying to not make sense out out of it, its really only this very small and vocal cabal of people I've ever seen actually say the line doesn't make sense, basically everyone else on earth understood it.

Sure except that he can be a completely different ethnicity based on character creation. I guess they could've gone with "bearded guy" or "brown-eyed" guy but then you kinda run into the same problem don't you? Everyone understood the intent behind the line its simply that the line as presented makes no sense unless the PC is meant to be a blithering idiot because "middle-aged guy" is not a very useful descriptor. If someone writes me an e-mail that says "I gonna go meeting bring stuff" being able to suss out his meaning does not make him a good or even a competent writer does it?

I don't even know what that means. The Courier does not--and never did--have amnesia.

There is a very big difference between "bring stuff", and a very clear reference/description of your dad.

For all the supposed great writing in New Vegas I could only find mild enjoyment in one playthrough and felt so underwhelmed with the whole thing I gave it away for free.

I'll take the more straightfoward writing of Bethesda over the "grey" pseudo-intellectualism that was a lot of NV's quests. If 4 tries to be grey and vague I hope it's done fairly well like3's 'The Pitt' DLC, Skyrim's civil war, and Morrowind's factions.

Middle-aged guy is a very specific and useful description alright. Its not like there was some other attribute like "vault dweller" that would be completely true for every player and incredibly specific. It's amazing how far people will go to defend objectively stupid lines.

Yeah it's totally a cliche when a player character can't remember his past they would never ever do that in New Vegas .

I feel that the main stories in Bethesda games are not that great. Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim, none had great "main" stories.

But what made these games feel great was the little things, the little stories that could easily go untold. Like in Skyrim, where i see some prisoner get escorted by Imperials. The same kind of Imperials who tried to have me bluntly executed without due process just moments before.

I felt compelled to kill the Imperials and rescue the prisoner, regardless of why he might be a prisoner. Some kind of revenge. And the world of Skyrim was full of these little things.

And through these little things in the world they don't so much tell a story but have the player experience his own story based on how they react and interact with the set pieces. As such the "main story" always felt secundary to me, because it was far more directed as a clearly defined story had to be told.

So yah, the story has never amazed me much, they were decent, good enough to play through at least once, but it was the world itself that they created that told the best stories. It is just as Todd Howard's story about trying to get a coffee mug in Fallout 4, like that i have many fond memories of funny little stories that were not planned but just happend.

I've always wondered where people got the idea that the courier has amnesia, its never implied anywhere in the game.

And yeah, some of bethesda's writing is groan worthy, (caught in the hunt from oblivion comes to mind). But all in all there stories are engaging enough that i want to finish them and read all the little journals and letters that i come across in the world.

I'm not the best person to determine who has the better writing but I did like NV's story more then FO3's story. I enjoyed both by the way. But then again when everyone was praising The Last of Us story as some masterpiece I thought it was good but underwhelming. Skyrim story was fine until the ending imo.

Yeah that's exactly my same issue, with the ending of the 2 quests of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's Civil War quest and after you kill Alduin.

Both horribly written quests at the end.

I don't think Bethesda needs people to defend their writing when they themselves admit that it isn't their strong point.

For my part I don't think they're horrible, but I don't think they're great either. Fallout 3 wasn't as well written as Fallout 1, 2 or New Vegas - this much is true. This doesn't mean Fallout 3 has the worst writing ever, but it's definitely an area where Bethesda needs some work. They just need to put some honest to god effort into improving - unfortunately so long as they continue to express apathy towards the importance of good writing that's not likely to happen.

That's irrelevant. Fact of the matter is the Courier never had amnesia, he\she makes this abundantly clear throughout the game when they make references to past travels.

Idk Bethesda makes a different game than most game developers. They develop a game where the players can create their own main character. Literally thousands of protagonists that all have to fit (as best as possible) into the game universe.

Most games developers make the main character for you, and write a specific story for that character. I imagine it is quite a bit easy to make a game this way.

Because of the vast amounts of different protagonists original stories and cliches might just be easier to work with and not break everyone's role play.