Alright... I'm going to play the devil's advocate here, and I'm going to say this: I'm personally not all that excited about the dog in Fallout 4.

I love the Fallout game series and I am hyped as hell for this installment. Everything I've seen so far has been absolutely fantastic and I'm excited to get into it this November. But - and I know this will likely shock and appall some of the readers out there - Somebody very close to me. Somebody I live with, in fact... Has a phobia of dogs.

Dogs, in my eyes, are not a good thing. And while I'm happy for all the people who are practically soiling themselves with excitement for FO4's upcoming "Permadog" companion, I have to say... I'm not.

I want to play Fallout 4. Quite badly. I saw a lot of potential in FO3, but was severely disappointing by New Vegas (Mostly because it was the same, clunky ass engine and unconvincing animations) And I've always felt that the Fallout games have had a much better story and better characters than the Elder Scrolls series, and this is coming from somebody who prefers fantasy over sci-fi.

But I do not want to be forced to play the game with a dog following me around everywhere.

I want, in fact, an optional dog. I want the ability to dismiss the dog, to get a different companion (like a person, or an android, or a deathclaw, perhaps) in its stead. I do not want a dog in Fallout 4.

But I am worried. Because from what I saw from the gameplay trailer this E3, the Dog is useful for doing things like grabbing items from a distance, and such. And I have this sneaking feeling in my gut that there will be a part of the main story, or at least some mission, where you will need the dog to get something for you (like, the key to a prison door, or something) in order to continue the story.

I do not like this. Because it means the game will essentially be forcing me to play with a creature that literally terrifies somebody I love.

So, I have a question for the developers, if they even read this:

I know the dog doesn't die. And I know a lot of people are very happy that it is there. But is the dog essential to the game?

Can I, in essence, play Fallout 4 without the dog?

Thank you.

You don't have to take the dog with you.

Umm... You aren't forced to take the dog with you. You can never recruit him as a companion. You can dismiss him. You can even kill him if you want.

I'll feel better when I see a dev say so. So far there seems to be a lot of hype surrounding the dog and I'm yet to see much gameplay that doesn't involve it.

There was a whole Team Dogmeat vs Team Codsworth on the reddit about a week or so ago, so I'd hardly consider you the only person not a fan of the dog.

Beyond that, didn't see the dog around when you went into the power armor and fought the deathclaw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqQqeEgWb7Q Skip to 7:54.

Ahh, excellent, thank you for that.

Now, time to brush up on my deathclaw taming skills.

I've heard dog is very tasty, but don't eat the liver.

What's with all the hate for dogs? Hell, if you don't want to take the dog with you... you could just recruit Codsworth the minute you bump into him... He's been confirmed as a companion too. You aren't being forced to take any companion if you don't choose to. All you've gotta do is walk right on past them.

You could look at a distant mountain and say "Go over there dog"

Seriously though.... if you have played Fallout 3 and/or New Vegas you should know that companions are completely OPTIONAL. You can go with no companion at all if you want which is what I did because I got fed up of going to shoot an enemy and my companion stepped right in the way... stepped to the side AND THE COMPANION DID TOO. Now I know companions can be used as human (or not so human) shields but that was nuts.

Also F3/NV companions had the life expectancy of a flea. Only Faux really kicked ass.

I think the dog has a character for once. That head tilt is soooooooooooooooooooo cute. Personally I am wondering if you can have the dog and another companion like in F3 (or was that NV... brain hurts).

FO3 allowed one humanoid and one non-humanoid companion at any given time. It would be kind of nice to see that restriction relaxed a little... I want the dog AND Codsworth! I guess we can recruit both and have one of them wait around somewhere.

I don't hate the dog. I literally live with somebody who has a phobia of dogs. That's not quite the same thing. I'd like to be able to play FO4 without making my loved ones feel unnecessarily uncomfortable.

And as I said earlier, I did not - until this thread - know that you could recruit anybody else. Almost every trailer I've seen of the game has featured Dogmeat doing... something. They seem to be really pushing the "Look at the doggie! He never dies and he can get things for you! Oooooo! Who'se a good doggy! Look! LOOK AT THE DOGGY!!!" In every single piece of media for this game, and I get it. I mean, I used to work at a pet shop, I know how popular dogs are.

But until I made this thread, I had feared that FO4 was going to force a dog companion and integrate him into the main story - Think "Valiant Hearts"s dog for what I mean. Like, puzzle solving parts that require the dog to solve, or something. And I kept having this image of having to restrict my gameplay due to my living conditions.

What, even if they see a dog on television, they get the shakes? Is it one of those irrational phobia's?

Keep in mind that we're on a forum where people bring up killing "you know who (starts with a K, ends with a D, and no it's not Voldemort)." If people want to kill them so bad, just go play the Cairo, Egypt segment of Deus Ex: Invisible War and visit the academy.

HAH! I accidentally let loose the little drone that knocks enemies unconscious while in there...And I guess the little tykes counted as enemies and my drone went on a tasering spree while I just sat in an airvent and sighed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_David? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5sClSlL3Q0&t=21m57s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjI0TdvVbqI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY1TlxJORik!

ona: you can use any of the companions to get things (like you see the dog do) and you will have lots of different types of companions.

on the issue of your phobic loved one, i m sorry to hear someone is that badly affected and hope they can get help to learn to manage their fear

I am still mentally scarred from Modern Warfare 2.

As mentioned before you have 2 choices starting off.. you can take your robot butler or the dog.. or just completely ignore both of them. if you want a companion that isn't a dog you find your robot butler at your house at around the same place and you can recruit him instead (which is what im going to do... not because i hate dogs but because my first character is going to be a scientist/intelligence character and having the robot makes more sense)

unless of course you also have a phobia of robots.. in which case you'll have to wait till later to maybe find a different companion.. unless you have a phobia of humans, ghouls androids and super mutants as well... in which case... i feel really bad for you.