2 new videos up on bethesda.net:

http://bethesda.net/#en/events/game/fallout-4-dogmeat-and-other-companions/2015/09/21/29

I was hoping to see them outfitting the real dog in a cute little doggie mocap suit. At any rate, that's pretty great.

Calling it now: Companions have loyalty quests like in New Vegas or Mass Effect, and completing Dogmeat's is how you learn his name.

Still can't romance Dogmeat.

Having a real Shepard at home I was excited to see the dog. I'm glad she, oops he, can't die cause I love my dog and the one in the game is colored pretty close to my real dog.

I also love the way Todd Howard phrases it when he talks about companion immortality. He very specifically emphasizes that they're only immortal while they're following us.

I want to hug and squeeze that dog so much, you have no idea.

If I come back to my settlement and the dog is dead, there will be hell to pay!

I hope so, the companion quests were some of the best experiences in both FONV and ME2.

Edit:

At the end of the first video Todd Says (paraphrasing) that the dog is one of the most conventional Fallout companions, that's why we are showing it first.

I wonder if this implies that there might be some genuinely unconventional Fallout companions in Fallout 4?

I don't see how that would be possible given that we have had every type of companion before.

God I hope not.

Theres nothing worse then having to play nanny to a group of advlt-children.

I really don't like being stuck with that name for the dog, as I would have liked to have named it after my own dog, but ... I'll blame the Voiced PC! Even modding it will be difficult due to that.

We've yet to have:

A Synth

An Enclave companion

A Legion companion (though I wouldn't trust Bethesda's writing ability)

A companion from the main antagonist faction (a missed opportunity to humanize such a faction)

Someone who has been preserved in a cryogenic sleep chamber such as the sole survivor.

One of a profusion of robots, such as: Protectrons, sentry robots, securitrons etc.

A Mole Rat or a Brahmin companion

There so much potential for recherche companions with the use of F.E.V.I'm not a proponent of F.E.V being a ubiquitous commodity, but seemingly Bethesda is; so they should have prodigious artistic scope in which to conceive of new companions.The same applies to radiation as well.

Would like to see a Chinese companion. Maybe one with some Chinese pre-war knowledge.

-A robot, which we have gotten before. That or it would just be a normal person who turns out to be a synth, which would make him being a synth as utterly cosmetic as Raul and Charon being ghouls were.
-Arcade.
-Literally no different then Charon from Fallout 3. Since everyone in the Legion, sans Caesar, is nothing more then a brainwashed fanatic, even Ulysses was terribly one dimensional because of it. Its one of the singular most easy things to write, and likely part of the reason The Legion was the least chosen faction in NV.
-That doesn't even make sense. If they are the antagonists, why would the be helping you?
-Since you are that you don't really need that as a companion now do you?
-Which are still just robots, and would be no different then RL-3 or ED-E besides what voice they would use.
-Neither of those would be a companion, more like pack mules, which Bethesda tried one in Morrowind. It didn't work out.
-Bethesda used FEV once, in Fallout 3, and then specifically pointed out that all the FEV was gone. So your little attempt it imply Bethesda would use it themselves falls flat.

So... what exactly is there left to do companion wise?

Your objections are arbitrary, eh ugh jee wizz we had a robot so all other other robot companions are conventional...

It's probably a good time to note that a singularity isn't a convention, so having Arcade as an "Enclave" companion doesn't establish a convention, which is the point I proposed: "I wonder if this implies that there might be some genuinely unconventional Fallout companions in Fallout 4?".

If a singularity did imply a convention as you're tacitly purporting, then the big bang would be nothing more than a conventional event.

Progressing on from this misapprehension...

- Refer to my previous point about generalizing all robots.

-At most an ex-enclave member, and that's an arrogation considering he grew up on the oil rig and was probably too young to even be considered as a member.Also you can't currently be a member of a faction that is seemingly dead, if not unequivocally.

- This is completely fatuous, I didn't enjoin you to draw parallels between "brainwashed fanatics".I stated that we've yet to have a companion from the main antagonist faction in any Fallout game, and "brainwashed fanatics" aren't ostensibly the same thing seeing as one wouldn't need to be brainwashed to be a member of an antagonist faction.This is before we get to the ipse dixit of Charon being what you purport, but I'll concede the point as I don't need it.

- You're suffering from some sort of association bias, or a generalization that any one given member of a group is indicative of the groups main characteristics.It would sound almost patronizing to explain how and why an individual may defect from a larger group or cause, history has furnished us with many example from Martin Heidegger to Ivan Divis.We wouldn't even need a companion to defect from their faction, just to have incertitude towards it.

Although your argument is predicated on another misapprehension, I never said an antagonist companion but rather " A companion from the main antagonist faction".

- That's subjective and not germane to the debate, which is what characters if any could be unconventional, as you've proclaimed that we've had every type (which is still incongruous with my main premise).

- Refer to my previous point, and a pack mule by a literal interpretation would be a companion; something to keep you company.As Oxford defines a companion "a person or animal with whom one spends a lot of time or with whom one travels"

- That's probably fallacious if not outright perfidious on Bethesda's part considering Fallout 4 is the second inclusion of super mutants in during BGS tenure.

man i love the expression the dog have make it feel alive.+

on the topic, i will love to have a Robot, i got it, a dog, i got it.

Now i just need a Ghoul or Super mutant, my favorite companion on Fallout 3 was the Super mutant.

I think the expressions are where they blew it. They obviously made the eyes larger to show expression, but all they did was make it look unrealistic. Watching it run around and stuff I can think "Oh, there's a dog", and then I look at it's face and I think "Nope, just a PC rendering of a dog like thing". I've actually have a German Shepard/Rottweiler mix sitting beside me right now ... trying to lick my keyboard. He has plenty of expression without oversized eyes.

Death Claw , Yao Guai. an up graded Handy without comic relief butler or house keeper programming.

-As are all argument made in favor of including "generic NPC architype companion X, Y, Z" are arbitrary at this point. Likewise, the only way to truely ddebunk said arbitrary arguments is with equally arbirtrary rebuttals.
-Sure, if you use convention in the hyper ltieral dictonary definition instead of the way the common person uses it. But at that point you have stopped actually trying to make a point, and instead are trying to deflect on technicalities.
-A robot is a robot no matter what kind of robot it is. A Sentry Bot, Eyebot, Mr. Handy, Securuoton, none of them offer any sort of unique narrative point of view that the others couldn't achieve as well. At that point, it all just becomes re-skinning, and their model differences become nothing but cosmetic, and pointless.
-Enclave or ex-Enclave doesn't change the fact he was born Enclave, knows of their ideals, and is just as valid of a companion to get a perspective on The Enclave as someone still in the fact. Again, you argue cosmetic details that mean nothing to their overall narrative development.
-You listed Legion and a companion from the main antagonist faction as two separate bullet points, and I respond to them as such. Don't try to change goalposts now that someone has pointed out why a Legion companion wouldn't really work by trying to merge the two separate points after the fact. Whats more, is The Legion couldn't offer a companion from the main antagonist faction, as NV had no main antagonist, because it was "MUH SUPERIOR GREAY MORALITY!". So, unless you conceit NV wasn't morally grey, your attempts to conflate your two separate point as one doesn't even follow at a fundamental level.
-If the companion defected from the main antagonistic faction, they would no longer be a companion from the main antagonist faction now would they?
-No, its actually completely objective, and can be very visibly observed across all games with companion NPC systems, across multiple companies, and their habitual re-use of the same handful of character archetypes and backgrounds, which only cosmetic appearances changes. Changing the kind of robot it is doesn't change the fact it is still a robot with the same background and narrative development as any other robot could get. Cosmetic changes are not valid arguments for actual effective differences in companions.
-The fact that you have to go to dictionary definitions to back up your point should be a good indicator that you lack an actual point, and are instead trying to deflect on appeals to authority.
-And those Super Mutants, by all appearances, appear to be the same Super Mutants as the ones from Fallout 3, which would mean they are from the same empty FEV tanks as the ones from Fallout 3, and would mean Bethesda still used FEV only once. The only fallacy I see here is yours in trying to assert that they are a different kind of super mutant, from another FEV source, when nothing so far has suggested so, and Occam's razor suggests is untrue.

I honestly don't understand why you are so hellbent on including companions, to the point you would go to such extremes to make up such broken justifications as to why X type of companion would be new, when anyone who has played RPGs with companions in them for many years could tell you all you are asking for is superficial cosmetic changes.

-Goris from Fallout 2. Also, all intelligent deathclaws are dead, gone forever, because they didn't fit the theme of Fallout. And the Enclave controlled deathclaws only work for so far, as seen in Fo3 when you get one as a temporary companion in Broken Steel.
-Sergent RL-3 from Fallout 3

that one would actually be new.

Maybe use /, show the eyebrows and whites of regular sized eyes in future versions of dogs, millions of people have learned and loved the expressions dogs convey the way they actually do it in real life.

-Synths are a different kind of robot, saying a Synth and Skynet is the same is like saying a border collie and husky are the exact same because they're dogs. Since they resemble humans they could begin to think they are entitled to be treated as such, which could lead to a Synth character with a interesting ideology and experiences, among other things.
- Arcade has a history with the Enclave but he hardly represents it or its ideals at all, I think our friend meant a current Enclave member whose interests are aligned with the player, perhaps a travelling member from the Chicago branch of the Enclave?
- The Legion is the wasteland's reflection of the mentality of the Roman military and their culture, more specifically around the time of Julius Caesar where men of the Roman military swore their loyalty to their generals rather than the state itself and thus a cult of personality would inevitably be formed around the conquering general, hence why the Legion is essentially dedicated solely to the cause of their general and leader. I think it would be hilarious to have some guy prattle on about the greatness of his Caesar and his invincibility, even though his Caesar could care less about him while he's completely oblivious to the fact that Caesar sent him to the other side of the country for some reason, or just to have a character which reflects the worse and best of the Roman military during the first Trivium period. Either way, Charon is not even close to being equivalent to a legion member just solely because he's 'brain-washed'.
-It could work something like this, a character you meet is working with antagonist against you, before say something happens that makes them question their loyalty to the cause, or perhaps question the direction the group is currently heading in, they could talk about the good of the antagonistic group like how it brought people together and reflect on good times and people there, even comment on the good nature of the main villain in some instances, but ultimately they would go against the antagonist faction... or not, they could be a lying spy even. The possibilities are endless!
- I was actually thinking that the players son could appear as a character all grown up, it could be assumed that the non-player parent and son/daughter somehow survived the nuclear fallout as well, but for some reason they were released out years before the main events and have been surviving in the wasteland all this time, and besides, how funny would it be if your child looked way older than your character because they were out for years and years? Could lead to some hilarious dialogue and characterization, among other things. Either way, it's possible.
- Again, maybe somebody would want a loose-lipped, tough-talking Protectron for some reason? Maybe the player wants another kind of

robot so why not give the player that option no? And besides this relates to the point I made above, just because they're all robots doesn't mean they're technically the same. Take Mr. Handy in Fallout 4 and compare him to Cerberus in Fallout 3, robots with different personalities, exactly like humans.
- Again, maybe the player wants to have such companions for the experience? Maybe the player fancies being a caravan trader and role-plays a such, the more options you give a player, the more fun they'll have.
- According to the original lore, the FEV virus has managed to escape the U.S mainland and travel across the world, having an effect on lands far away, and likely in worse condition than post-apocalyptic America, and whose to say the U.S government didn't have other highly top-secret bases of experimental FEV strains?

I think that with a little creativity, we could see all sorts of different companions, it's about making the character and developing a personality and story behind them, not what archetype or groups they're associated with.

Have as death claw hatch from an egg you bought to eat, or buy a baby, or a young Yao Guai cub to raise. Maybe you have memory upgrades and high end programs for Codswrorth ,or you know where you might yet find them and upgraded parts, for increasing the bot's usefulness that you can fix up and install.

Wait people actually want a protecteon as a companion? The robots that move at speed 1? I couldnt stand the troll companions in dawnguard although they looked badass! They were waaaaaay to slow but skyrim trolls are olympic track stars compared to the protectron in fallout 3.

I lol'd hard at this comment, thanks for that .

That's true, but I think it's possible to find a way to up the speed on some models of protectrons, maybe somebody made some improvements on the original design in terms of mobility, alongside programming a personality in it to make them twice as special.

- I'm not espousing the use of generic archetypes, you're pontificating that there are no new and unconventional companions to be had (seemingly)?

Also trying to debunk arbitrary arguments with yet another arbitrary argument eventuates in nothing but an infinite tautology of said arguments, not that I've provided any; unless the claim that there might be unconventional companions to be had constitutes as such?

- 'Deflecting on technicalities' sounds surprisingly redolent of basing your arguments on facts... such as a definition.

- This sounds approximately like "outgroup homogeneity bias".Again there's nothing precluding A.I advanced enough to offer nuanced personalities, John Henry Eden and Victor being diametrically opposed examples.

- I used the example of defection to highlight that individuals are capable of having differing and incongruent beliefs and thoughts in comparison to the groups they occupy.I later said that the companion would only be required to have doubts about their faction and not to defect from it, I made that point perspicuously.

- He knows of their ideals, just in the same way that I know the ideals of Wahhabi Islam, or of Bolshevik and Menshvik Communism, or of Catholicism (which I grew up with and later rejected).But someone who believes in an ideology may have a patently different interpretation than someone who is merely cognizant of them (it's the antithesis of a cosmetic difference).Much in the same way Orion would have had a different interpretation of the Enclave ideology than Arcade.

- I'm not denying that, I'm impugning your claim that there's no more unconventional companions to be seen in the series.

- That's completely risible for a plethora of reasons; To substantiate any argument with facts requires an appeal to authority, unless the only requisite for an argument is pontification and arrogation.But the irony is especially arresting when you make an appeal to authority by claiming that people normally use the word convention in X manner.Seeking refuge in consensus is one the original forms of authority and by extension totalitarianism (tyranny of majority).

- I might be wrong in regards to the super mutants in Fallout 4, but we don't have enough information to make anything other than a conclusory assertion.

Accepting what is, is to deny what could be.In other words if you don't try to break free of precedent you'll just end up chained to it, so I'm not going to accept an argument of tradition (even of an unsatisfactory one).

Good point