Just wanted to say hi all!

I'm very excited that Fallout 4 is going to be my first Fallout game and I'll finally lose my virginity to this series!

I'm a huge fan of futuristic/cyberpunk games like System Shock (1 & 2) and Deus Ex (original and human revolution), but somehow missed the Fallout series. I kept planning to play 3/New Vegas, but with the 4 announce, decided to make it my first - I can always go back and play the others! The most recent game I finished was Alien Isolation, so I like atmosphere, and the teasers they've released ooze it.

Anyways, I'm familiarizing myself with the lore (hopefully without spoiling TOO much if I decide to go back and play the others later), and I have to say I'm really impressed with/loving this universe. I've also never played a full open-world RPG like Skyrim (dungeons and dragons and such just never got my juices flowing - I've always much preferred future themes).

As far as plans for the game, I'll be playing on PS4 on the default (or one higher) difficulty setting most likely. I'm thinking about stats now - possibly going for 10 intelligence, 10 luck, and dividing the rest of the points a bit more evenly, but that changes. =oP

As far as hopes, I hope the story has a lot of technology-related themes (robots, androids, brains in jars, that kind of thing). I'd also love to see a Doctor Who reference or two, as I know way back in the original game, there's a cameo, and I'm a Who fan, but that's probably a longshot. =oP

At any rate, I'm really looking forward to the experience!

I do have one question - does luck affect loot or random encounters, or is it simply critical hit chance and that kind of thing?

Thanks, good luck to you all in the Wasteland, & really hoping this game is going to be as fun for me as I think it will!

Firstly welcome and as for luck it affects several factors most notably critical hit chance, in FONV luck affected the amount if caps that could be found in a container ( don't know by what margin). I don't know if it affects loot and ammo from containers.

Welcome, have a http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/4/4b/Fishy_stick.png/revision/latest?cb=20130514235330.

To answer your one question, Luck itself does not seem to affect loot or random encounters. But there are perks that affect loot under the Luck stat, and possibly some perks involving random encounters as well - but there's no confirmation on that, or really any evidence.

As for technology, Fallout's universe is basically a vision of what American culture from the 1950s thought the future would be - so it's very stylized retrofuturistic, a little less grounded in reality, and chock full of dark humor. It's right up my alley, hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

There is the Scrounger and Fortune Finder perks that affect ammo and caps loot. Have no idea what Luck 5 does, but it looks like another non-combat perk. However, the rest of the luck perks seem to affect combat. It looks like the Luck stat just affects how fast your critical hit bar fills up.

As far as Doctor Who goes, if there isn't a reference to it, then someone will make a mod for it.

Fallout 4 has the institute so there should be a lot of technology-related themes. Also New Vegas has the Old World Blues DLC which is full of technology-related themes like brains in jars, sentient appliances, having a really interesting conversation with yourself, and very interesting weapons and armor.

Welcome to the forums and to Fallout! And welcome home.

It seems luck is a bit mysterious still: "Luck is a measure of your general good fortune, and affects the recharge rates of critical hits." - So it helps you recharge crits more (though I really don't like the idea of manual criticals, especially being triggered while the bullet is mid-flight), but as far as perks go, sure, there are fortune-related perks you can pick like finding more bottlecaps or ammo in containers and the mysterious stranger appearing and helping in VATS, or my favorite which is grim reaper sprint but I don't yet know if the stat itself affects fortune.

Sorry, but all of that info is wrong. The luck stat in Fallout 4 is different than in Fallout 3 and New Vegas it seems as there is no critical hit chance, but rather a crit recharge rate which luck affects, and in NV luck most certainly did not affect the amount of caps or anything you'd find in containers as it was up to the fortune finder perk. Just look here: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Luck- luck also gave you two points in every skill perk for every one point of luck and affected your odds of winning at a casino in the game, but that's about it as far as in-game effect in NV.

Welcome to the forums, I'm sure you'll love the Fallout games when you get around to playing the previous ones. Be sure to check out youtube for any official Bethesda release teaser trailers.

Bethesda recently released the Fallout Anthology, which has every Fallout game except Fallout 4.

If you end up liking Fallout 4 and want try out the older games, I would recommend picking that up at some point.

http://store.gamesas.com/books-and-other-media/video-games/fallout-anthology.html

Thanks all for the incredibly warm welcome! Amazing to be part of the community! *munches on the fish stick gratefully, with custard of course*

Thanks also for clarifying luck - sounds like it's mainly critical hit recharge, but could have perks affecting other sorts of luck. I'm looking forward to the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. video covering that topic.

I also appreciate the heads up about previous games and Anthology; I'll definitely consider them if I like 4. I'm pretty sure from the themes I've read about and your responses that New Vegas would be right up my alley.

And yeah, I'm a svcker for the 50's retro-future vibe; I've liked it ever since early Sci-Fi (The Robot and technology from Lost in Space, and of course Doctor Who, while British, certainly had a similar tech vibe, what with K-9 and Cybermen and Daleks oh my!)

It'll be interesting to see how I react to an open-world game that's too big to actually see everything (in a sense; obviously, given enough time you could come close, but not in a regular playthrough). With on-rail games I tend to be a bit OCD (explore every room, loot everything, etc.), so I actually think, in a way, I'll be playing this game more like how I'd act in life. I'll explore certain areas thoroughly, but I'll focus more on what I want to do/see/etc.

I have to give Bethesda a lot of props for the marketing. I've watched everything on the official channels as well as the E3 coverage/press event, and they've really teased it wonderfully without giving ANYTHING away. I also love that it doesn't even look like reviewers may get a copy before gameday - that's very unusual, but I think in this case, it's just going to make the mystery that much better.

Well, Fallout isn't about that kind of futuristic theme. It's just set in the future and has robots 'n' stuff, but don't expect everything to be revolved around futuristic things: to be honest, it's revolves around the opposite.

Juice, I totally get that - I love the whole retro feel of that time and realize it's a mix of past with some retro-future technology. It's the presence, and hopefully a good bit of interaction with, that excites me.

Aww welcome to Fallout! One thing though - to get the best possible experience I recommend playing it on the PC, where you'll have the best access to mods and the game console and so on. The game is so moddable, it's a lot of fun to play around with extending the game with things made by the player base.

First time, eh?

...just remember to pop some Radaway, you don't want to bask in the afterglow too long.

Thanks again for all the welcomes!

My PC could probably run it fine, but I'm not thrilled with my monitor/speakers right now, and it's just more fun to play games on my TV/home theater at present, plus I just recently got the PS4, so I'll probably play through it first on that (as I think at the end of the day, with my CURRENT setup, it'd be more enjoyable). Still, I could always pick up a PC copy later on when there are several mods out - I have heard Fallout mods are legendary - thanks for the heads up! (By the way, I enjoy both PC's and consoles for different reasons - I'm just saying right now with current hardware that I'm not ready to upgrade, I think PS4 + TV will be more comfortable for longer gaming sessions and a better overall experience).

Radaway, check! ^.^

Sgupta, don't forget these useful tips from a Fallout veteran!

1) If you see a big critter called 'Deathclaw', don't be afraid. They are the wise sages of the wastes and will happily heal your injuries!

2) All ghouls are brain eaters and should be shot on sight! They might pretend to be 'normal' but don't be fooled! They want them brains!

3) All robots serve mankind and will repair your items for free.

4) Dog meat is the most nutritious food in the wasteland, giving you mighty powers. Don't forget to eat it whenever you can!

5) It is wrong to loot. People put that there.

Any other veterans have hints for the newbie?

Sgupta, congrats on entering the fray. And you are in luck. If Fallout 4 is everything you hope it is, the entire series has been released in a special collectors edition out now, in a fancy Nuclear Missile display case for around 50$, or at least that's the price they were selling it at gamestop.

Welcome to the crazy world of the Fallout Fandom.

Comfort is important - I set up my PC in my lounge, and hooked it all up to a 57 inch TV screen Definitely try upgrading your computer at some point, modding this game is part of the Bethesda experience.

And it comes with a mini-nuke. It is the best video game packaging ever. Much better than the box that the Pip-boy edition comes with.

To the OP: You gotta play Fallout 3!

I've heard it said that the quality of the anthology nuke is cheap plastic. I'm actually really looking forward to the case of the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy edition. But I'm going off-topic now.

The ring is a bit flimsy, but the rest seems pretty solid. However, it is not something that you are going to throw around. It doesn't matter if it is made out of cheap plastic since it is only useful as a display piece that makes sound. You get the mini-nuke for the coolness factor out of owning your own mini-nuke not because of any other reason.

It's still approximately three weeks until Fallout 4 releases, I'd suggest playing either Fallout 3 or New Vegas ASAP to discern whether or not you like the gameplay and Bethesda's general ethos.A little bit of pragmatism today may abate feelings of disappointment you might have after blindly wandering into Fallout 4.

Well, if you've got some time you can easily catch up on the story and lore of the fallout world by watching this video series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvqm_pPD-aQ&list=PL7pGJQV-jlzD17YNNbt103xp0PkkUCoPU I've found it's pretty hard to go back and play past games if I start the series late because what I'll want to play is more of what I've just played. Fallout 1 and 2 are so far removed (graphically and gameplay) from F3/NV though that they most likely feel like you are playing a different game and so you could probably easily jump into those. F3 and NV will probably feel really strange and outdated when playing them after F4.

On the other hand, if (as we hope) Fallout 4 is an improvement on Bethesda's first take on the series, then why not start off with the best?

New Vegas is a bit of a puzzler - it's in many ways similar to Fallout 3, but it does have some significant differences in style and structure, which both polarise opinion and perhaps appeal to gamers who want something different from what Bethesda produce.

I think that Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas are still very playable today. I find older FPS-style games from the 90s harder to get into, excepting ones I played at the time. Older non-3D games I have less trouble getting into. I'd definitely recommend giving Fallout 3 a go before 4 comes out. Even if you don't get very far, you'll have an added understanding of the comparison between 3 and 4, which is helpful.

you do not want to know what i pictured when i read the titile