Well, that E3 coverage made me worry…

Just let me say, right here at the start, that everything I mention here is just speculation based on what we’ve been given so far, and I hope I’m wrong and that I’m just overreacting due to being disappointed, but it does look worrisome.

First of all, the main protagonist. From the character creation we are limited in how our character is, in that a lot of choices have already been made for us; our character is straight, is married, is a parent. All of those will have an impact on a person’s personality, already creating a mould your character has to fit in to.

Second, which is actually also about the main protagonist, is the voice acting. Your character has a voice, and that (amazingly) decides how your character talks. Like it or not, our voices are actually different, based on both our upbringing and our personality. With your character having a pre-determined voice, you get another mould you have to fit into. Also, the voice actor and dialogue writer may have had an entirely different meaning behind a dialogue option than what it reads like; you may want your character to say something in a neutral voice, but it turns out the acting is done in a snarky/deadpan/sugary voice. Which brings us neatly to…

Third, dialogue wheel. What? Four options for chat, requiring nested menus for added dialogue? It seems either very limited or cumbersome with lots of navigating and clicking to get more choices. If it is the first, this seems more like a constraint of roleplaying than an aid.

Fourth: Are there really no skills? But… Will only perks be available to specialise your character? You can’t be adequate in one thing and good in something else? I know this one is vague yet, but it seems very limiting. Perks should be something special, like, I don’t know, a perk your character has, rather than something your character knows. Skills are knowledge, perks are bonuses.

I do so hope that I’m worrying needlessly here, because so much of the footage looked awesome – the world design, the creatures, the detail of crafting, the weapons and armour customisation, the base building… I only really want FO4 to be an RPG as well, with lots of choices for character development, not just gear development…

I am worried about the RPG aspects of the beginning as well. I want my character to wander into Boston from New Vegas as a Great Khan. I don't wanna be a dad.

This seems to be the case. More FPS and more simulation.

Maybe I've missed something but when have we ever had more than about 4 dialogue responses? How is that any different from 3 and new Vegas?

Sounds good to me. The less artificial RNG number-fiddling I have to do and the more I can feel like I'm in a believable alternate world, the better.

Dialog wheel does bother me, but I'll hold off judgment til I get my hands on it.

Well.. I suggest starting New Vegas because even in the tutorial area there are several examples of multiple choices of dialogue such as with http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy341/Elzair/NewVegas/NewVegas0126.png or http://writing.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Fallout-new-vegas-dialogue1.png

There are A LOT of NPCs you can talk to with multiple dialogue choices that are well beyond 4 responses.

There weren't always more than four options, true, but when you were gathering information and interacting with quest givers you often had lots more. Just think of Moira or Simms in FO3, or any companion in FNV. Sure, having only four options could work when your character is responding, but it seems very limited when your character is the one seeking answers. If you still have lots of options, the designs seems to be that you must have very nested dialogue trees, making it "click -> click -> click -> click -> choose" instead of "choose".

This also ties in with skills and perks, in that you often got more dialogue options depending on Speech/Barter/Guns skills etc and certain perks (Child at Heat, Black Widow...). How will that work if the dialogue options is a finite list?

I'm a little disappointed if thats the case but I'll withhold judgement until we have all the info. Todd said they weren't ready to talk about the perks, I'd imagine there are still a lot of details they haven't talked about yet. This conference was just to show the scope of their game, their ambition, and get everyone hyped up. I think they wanted to use the attention and the visual aspect of the conference to show the "cool" parts of the game. The more complicated stuff will (hopefully) be released in the months to come.

My main concern is the focus on customisation.

Before I get shouted at: I think the crafting of weapons and armour, base-building etc is fantastic and I am all for customisation.

My concern is based on Bethesda commonly confusing customisation which choice and depth.

Just because I can customise more things doesn't mean I have a more in-depth experience. Just because all objects in the world can be crafted doesn't mean the world feels any more responsive.

We haven't seen much of story so hopefully I am completely wrong. But most importantly, I want a world that changes and reacts to me and that I feel like I am having an impact on.

What's a.. skill? Oh.. those relics of the past. No you see, they decided to take Fallout into the future of gaming. We can't keep living in the past with Fallout being an RPG.

No, but seriously based on statements made about the Skyrim streamlining, I'd assume they thought it would be too confusing for their fans so they decided to gut this stuff altogether. I'm sure they figured Skyrim was probably too complex a game (despite the comments in the forums). The sad thing is I'm being entirely serious in this regard too.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111515-Skyrim-Streamlining-Removes-Confusion-Says-Bethesda

The thing is, it wasn't just old players who were pissed at skyrim's lack of attributes, I've met many new players who were annoyed when they found out about attributes in the previous game. Even some critics and reviewers disagreed with the move.

Now take Fallout, if they removed skills do you think that'll go over well? Not in the slightest. 3 and New Vegas had huge followings, many people who look fondly on the games will be shocked and annoyed when skills doesn't show up. I can assume people will just get a bit annoyed at dialogue wheels, that one can be brushed away and looked past but skills? Oh hell no, that's definitely going to cause a huge uproar and a load of negativity.

We know skills aren't gone. They're just different.

From the article:

"In our games or others' games, they give you a character menu and say, 'Who do you want to be, what powers do you want?' [Players think,] 'I don't know, I haven't played yet!'"

This makes sense. As long as the skills are not completely gone and we can just acquire them in some other way thorough the game.

I'm extremely excited for Fallout 5. I cannot wait to see what Obsidian can do with this engine. Lol

Yes but people will move past it. Fallout 3 caused a huge uproar among many people but people accepted the game and moved on.

While I am sad to see skills go, just the way it is.

Honestly guys listen up. There will be more than 4 responses. I can guarantee it. The will be a "more" button. How can you have an NPC with dialogue for stuff and quests and only have 4? Mods would be useless. Trust me.

I don't mind change. My worries are whether the game will lose depth because of said changes. As long as they make it up in some other way, or they have a new character system with the "ranks" and the vault boys that gives characters as much depth as in older Fallout games then I'm OK with it.

You say that buuuuuuuuut this could actually really hurt the game. Fallout 3 did cause a huge uproar and if you didn't realize it the community actually is extremely split on it. Many new fallout players love 3 but even more despise and hate it because, well, numerous reasons that can easily be found in any fallout community.

Fallout 3's "bad parts" are all pretty much that can be looked over. Over all it's mechanics held up and you can roll fun characters. But now with skills gone role-playing will become harder, role-playing becoming hard in a RPG series is an overall bad move.

Oh, I do hope you're right! But, you see, that leaves a clumsy interface, because you will need nested menus. Why? Because the UI is designed for use with a controller, with each of the four buttons being one choice...

Yes it's a little more compact than before sure. But we've always had nested dialogue. It's the best way. I'd rather that than a scrolling list of 10 dialogue options. That's just me though.

There are more than four buttons on a controller...

It'll be okay, no need for doom and gloom. It'll be a fine RPG.

Didn't he say play it like you want, if you want to play fps you can, and I'm sure you can play it as an RPG.

And we only saw the character interact with two others. So can't really assume anything about dialog. He did say both voice actor and actress recorded well of 16,000 dialog each right?

Okay, okay, I should have said the four buttons that were actually shown to be your choices in the video at E3, the four buttons that are usually used to make choices in dialogue wheels. Trust me, I would be very happy if it was otherwise, but do you think, realistically, that that console UI will use the A, B, X, Y and a trigger or d-pad button for choices? No matter how many buttons are used, you will get a finite list unless you use nested menus.

I hope that there will be more options in dialogue, but I doubt it.

13 000 seems to be the quote? Personally, I thought I heard 1 300, but I was very tired.

And the thing about playing it as an RPG is character development; when Bethesda already decides aspects of your character's personality, it makes it worse as an RPG.