One of the very few things I'm concerned with about Fallout 4 is how it looks like it's going to hold the player's hand through the first couple of hours of the game. The player gets two possible companions right away (Codsworth and Dog), and then as soon as they enter Concord they get given a Laser Musket, Power Armour and a Minigun. I'm assuming (and dearly hoping) that you don't get to keep the latter two, but is anyone else concerned by this?

In my opinion, the first few hours of both Fallout 3 and New Vegas were easily the most fun, as you had to work hard and scavenge for any ammo, weaponry and armour you could find. There was a real sense of progression, and the whole notion of finding your first Hunting Rifle or Combat Shotgun, with only a couple of rounds and in poor condition, was so exciting. It might seem like a minor thing to be worried about, but by getting given a Laser Musket and potentially Power Armour a lot of that excitement won't be there in Fallout 4. Energy weapons are supposed to be particularly rare - often you're stuck with a Laser Pistol for a long time before you finally find a shoddy Laser Rifle.

Also, by getting a Laser Musket, the game completely takes away the usefulness of energy sidearms like the Laser Pistol, as they're inferior. The only reason everyone used the 10mm Pistol in Fallout 3 is because they had nothing else - I want to have to use a Laser Pistol for a few hours before I make that grand discovery and get my first Laser Rifle. Am I being irrational?

Of course, I could just avoid the area, but I don't think I should have to.

How far into the game is this power armor sequence?

How useful is the laser musket outside of gameplay previews? It looks to be a 1 shot weapon with reasonable damage, so I wouldn't say it'll be some weapon to which all others should be compared.

We also don't know if we get to keep that power armor, and even if we do, what if it's extremely difficult to maintain and we're just giving the means to use it for the mission?

As for companions, they are 100% optional. Some people prefer to have company while exploring, some don't.

Neither is a wrong way to play the game, nor is it handholding to provide options for both.

We've got like 12 minutes of combined gameplay time.

There are 50 weapons, so I think it's reasonable to assume by the time you stumble into concord you've probably picked up something at least comparable to a musket, and if not that at least gives you a nice quest reward, since I'll assume these people haven't got much caps to offer.

Honestly,the Laser musket seems like a pretty poor weapon.Having to manually crank the chinetic energy inside of the weapon should make this gun vastly inferior to an actual laser rifle.Expecially considering how really powerfull actual energy weapons are gonna be:Automatic laser rifle?Sniper plasma rifle?.

I'm fairly certain that the laser musket will in actual fact be worst than say,a fast firing laser pistol.

The dog is a confirmed companion, but Codsworth? I don't know. I did notice something that could have been another companion at the end of the presentation when they showed the combat system, namely when the player throws a grenade in some building, while he rides some kind of moving platform, next to him there's something that looks like a smaller mutant or something that looks like a humanoid. Anyway, I guess we'll find out soon.

Codsworth is confirmed to be a companion from Twitter.

This sequence seems preatty early in the game to be honest.The town where all of this happens(concord) is just past the red rocket station where we find the dog and apparently the quest is triggered by stumbling across the area and getting involved in a firefight.And regarding the power armor run,I seriously doubt we will get to keep it,and there will be a substantial amount of time before we can get our own exoskeleton.

It's probably about an hour in. It's just past the Red Rocket gas station which is just past your old house. PCDug beat me to it.

I get what you're saying, but the fact that they said it was a "signature weapon" makes me think otherwise.

Yeah, it was also confirmed in one of the interviews with Todd Howard.

I'm pretty sure the Laser Musket still needs an energy source. In the gameplay footage, points were being deducted from a counter when the PC charged the rifle. I hope that's the case, because it seems too powerful otherwise.

laser musket overpowered ??? did you notice that you need to crank up the damn thing and how long it takes , longer than the gaus rifle from FOP3 and NV

and i am sure i noticed a ammo counter with the other energy weapons

seems like we going to have the same debates as when skyrim was announced

The junk launcher was a signature weapon in the FO3 gameplay previews and I didn't find it to be OP in the slightest.

I think the musket is just a nod to the history. The Minutemen will probably use it, and it's just a quest reward. Bethesda can ensure the player has at least this weapon to do this quest and the main quest onward.

If you think it's too good for an early weapon, just consider it a notable reward. You probably won't get paid or keep the armor, and you've just killed a deathclaw and an army of Raiders; sounds like a suitable reward to me.

The hunting rifle was kind of the signature weapon of fallout 3 artworks and yet it was nothing special and you could get it after 1 hour into the game.Also,I compliment your gameplay anolisys skill for being able to pinpoint the position of Concord.All hail us.

Laser muskets are like real muskets...

They are slow to "reload", clunky, and archaic, but oh, how they pack a firepower...

I once saw an experiment on TV, there's that bulletproof system composed of several bulletproof glasses/transparent bulletproof panels...

When the team try to shoot the system with a modern rifle point blank, the bullet is stopped in one of the panels...

But when they try it with a musket, the musket ball went right through the panels.

I know that the evidence is not that strong because I don't have the video, but in the kill-montage trailer here at 0:13,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_7mdEIp3s

The musket literally blown the raider's head into steamy bits. That is comparatively powerful to starting weapons, no?

I think the laser musket, although slow firing, is quite a viable starting weapon for those who are patient enough to crank it XD

i don't like mr handy/gutsy companions, mr handy's aren't that powerful and not stealthy so for me i prefer a human companion not the dog or mr handy

Personally I found the accessibility of energy weapons in New Vegas blew all other games out of the water (even the classics) and finally made a energy weapon focused character viable, 4 seams to follow that trend, which I like.

Yeah, I guess I'm being a little irrational.

Me too, but I personally LOVE that Codsworth is a companion. The idea of me and my robot, two pre-war buddies, roaming the wastes together? Awesome.

It would even be more awesome if Codsworth has a perk that helps you in crafting/cooking, considering that Mr Handy has lots of tools on the end of their hands!

EDIT: Oh, and don't forget that british accent! Robots with british accent is really something I could hang out with in the wastes!

The old black-powder guns was more like an rifled shotgun shooting slugs than modern rifles.

So if you design the armor to stop an small high speed projectile it might not work well against slugs.

I′m fine with a bit of hand-holding during the tutorial. As long as the tutorial isn′t half the game..

How sure are we that Bethesda didn't just tweak some of those sequences to show off features and that these moments in the game aren't going to end up playing out very differently from the demo? As for a tutorial holding your hand, I really don't see it as a problem unless, as others have commented, this continues for long stretches of the game beyond a tutorial. Once the systems are explained, let us fend for ourselves for the most part.

I have a feeling we'll be able to "charge" our Mega Buster Laser Musket for some pretty powerful shots, at the cost of more Energy Cells, naturally. And then the modifications we can make to it. I'm totally going to use it.

Yeah, I worry about this too. As much as I love the idea of settlements and crafting and everything I worry that it will be too easy to accumulate riches and that it won't really feel like a survival or ya know, apocalyptic game.

I am not concern because i am not sure that your assumptions hold true. (They might be true but I doubt it.)

The laser musket is a good weapon rendering the laser pistol obsolete.

The power armour or mini gun will have a fuel source and ammo to allow the player to continue on playing with just these weapons.

That you even get to keep the power armour. DO we? I wounldnt put it past bethesda to make it temporary give you a taste to motivate you to build/find your own.

ok first off get a grip. They are nor so bleeping stupid as to hand you THE God gun early in the game. Especially after telling you that you can make literaly THOUSANDS of custom weapons. Hell to a lot of people the red Ryder LE custome BB gun or the 10mm is the signature gun of the series. Also the signature "armor" of the series? The armored vault suit. You can get an upgrade roughly 2 hours into the game bit honestly people do playthroghs in just regular clothing. As for companions? Again a meh thing. You can pick one up in the first town you trip over in Skyrym.

Powerarmor? Looks like its high maintainece and not something you use every day.

I would love if you could traverse the Wasteland with both Codsworth AND Dogmeat. Epicness.