Fallout 4 will be the first time we will actually be seeing the world before the Great War alive and active. We've seen glimpses of it mainly during intros of the games (I guess you can count Tranquility Lane if you want), but never have we actually experienced it, or even more so, live it as a character in that time period.

What exactly are your thoughts on this? Are you excited to finally see and experience a Pre-War America, or perhaps you would have preferred not seeing it at all?

Reason I say this is, in my jolly old opinion, a part of me wishes that we would never see it. I always saw the Pre-War era as a civilization that was forever lost, and it sort of added to the mystery of it. Sort of like say, the Forerunners of Halo. They were an ancient civilization that was highly advanced but was lost long ago and the technology and constructs for which they left behind was always a mystery. Until they were brought back in Halo 4 and that mystery was lost, and the Forerunners became just another alien to shoot at.

But again, I feel mixed about it. I'm not entirely against it, but...eh.

I like it; I grew up in the 60's so there was a lot of 50's vibe still around. It's nostalgia for me.

Plus, it helps the postapocalypse seem more tragic if you get a sense of what was lost (though the inhabitants of the Fallout timeline were pretty crazy as a rule).

I've always liked Bethesda's artistic direction in Fallout, it's one thing I'll genuinely always give them props for, and I look forward to seeing the pre-war world in all it's glory.

It's a glimpse into what was, to foreshadow what is. I think it adds a nice contrast, and almost a bit of backdrop to the game. One minute our character was living an, okish life, the next they awake in a world blasted to hell, and reshaped into something almost alien... but so familiar that it kind of shakes you. I personally wish we get a bit of play time to just walk around the prewar suburbia before having to start the real game.

Honestly, I would prefer not seeing it. I'm not turned off by what I've been shown, but I liked the idea that, when all was said and done, the Old World and what it was like frankly didn't matter. It created the New World when it destroyed itself, and it haunts the people by making them try and recreate it in some fashion or another, but what it was really like before the bombs fell had no real bearing on anything.

I do not know anything about Halo since I never played it.

I have mixed feelings about being able to play at least a part of it in the tutorial and who knows there might be flashbacks when entering other areas so you see how the neighbourhood looked before the war.

I hope they will still have a lot of terminals or notes to read since too me in FO3 they played a major roll in getting a sense of what happened. Some of those were extremely well written.

I'm mixed, but I don't really mind. I feel it'll be more of a glimpse, than getting a feel for it, and the sense of loss won't be as great as some probably expect we'll feel. It will probably be, "Cool, a very retro-50s environment, let's look around in this house." Then back to the wasteland we go.

I think its awesome myself.

I wouldn't get my hopes up too much about experiencing the pre-war era. I doubt the intro will go into too much depth. I could be wrong of course.

It'd be cool to walk around and check out the neighborhood pre-war but I doubt we will get to do that except for running to the vault.

I really like seeing what life was like before the bombs dropped. It cements the narrative and really ties in the concept of entering a vault when the world was whole, and exiting when the world is nothing but ash.

That whole aspect of "mystery" was never there because the society was based on 50's culture, something that everyone can see from a simple google search or watching old classics. We constantly see Old War ideals bleed and ebb into the game world like an oozing wound that refuses to clot, but in that same breath we know what those ideals were and what they looked like - it's not mysterious at all.

It's not the same mystery that Halo 4 offered because Halo's ancient civilization had zero 'foundation,' we only knew about them because of the technology they left behind and the dozen or so skeletons in the closet (the flood).

To be perfectly honest, while I love the glimpse into the pre-War world, I think we were better off not ever having visited it. By having it be distant, unreachable; to exist only in terminals and the faint memories of pre-War Ghouls made it all the more special. It gave us a tantalizing insight into what the world looked like before atomic war. We felt the same allure and nostalgia that the NPCs felt when they speak of the Pre-War era.

But now we're thrusted into it. Now we know firsthand what it was like so if a pre-War Ghoul regailed to us what life was like back then, we can't go, “Wow, they must've been fun!” Now it's, “Yeah, I know. I've been there before.” The allure is gone to me.

It's not like we were never shown, it was shown during pre-rendered CG intro videos in older games. I'd rather take a peek myself at start rather than a CG intro. I applaud their decision, looks like the best start to a Fallout game, ever.

It's about time. I like history and seeing Fallout's past will be awesome

I don't think we'll be experiencing too much pre-war gameplay but it looks pretty cool from what I've seen so far. The 50s retro style is one of the things I am most looking forward to.

I am more excited for the pre war tutorial than anything else! I played a character in FO3, a serial killer housewife who was so delusional that for her the war never happened. I spent ages modding up her world with intact meshes and clean textures making it as neat and 50s idyllic as possible.

It was an absolute blast! Pre war tutorial, flashbacks to pre war times, whatever. Bring it on cuz I can't wait.

I don't think Bethesda should have shown it in the manner that they have in this one. I feel like the series should focus more on the progression afterward and not look back at how it all happened with greater refined detail everytime.

i dont really care, tbh. the only really interesting parts probably won't be able to be presented in such a short glimpse

I'd like to see it, so long as it's in small amounts

Seems alright to me. It's just humans with fifties scifi culture so we already know what to expect anyways. I think it might as well be expanded upon at least a little bit and I doubt are going to be in the pre bobed worl for very long at all.

I love it. Ever since Tranquility Lane gave us a taste (and Im still upset we didnt get to visit the ski place), Ive wanted to get a bit more of the feel of the Pre War world. Not much mind you, but just enough so I can put more of the building blocks together in my mind.

Also if you know where to look in the setting, you could find a Virtual location to view that era. The VR sim tech in the Outcast Outpost and then Tranquility lane simulation could both be co-opted by tech savy people to 'experience' the pre war era. Dr Braun is now trapped inside his own sim and has no control over anyone who enters so it would be easier to terminate him.

Like someone has stated above it would be awesome to be there and then... have it taken away.

I'm hoping that Memory Den place is a place you can go to "re-live" or re-experience the past/pre-war. You'll have a home, some small neighborhood/town you can explore, and some NPC's to chat up.

I liked the pre-war assets we've seen in game so far, and it would really be a shame to only see them for the briefest of moments.

It was really great to see those usually dirty houses and its furnitures in its pristine, colourful state, not like in the monochromatic Tranquility Lane...

I remember years ago thinking that a pre-war protagonist might be able to view certain areas and 'remember' them the way they were, in a sort of quick fade in/out cutscene way. I hope there's something like that in F4.

I like it for the RP potential. The cognitive dissonance must be so real. At the same time it has none, or very few, of the old world's restrictions so imaging the headspace of a person who has stood in a living world and now traversed it's corpse and is trying to shift the good, bad and sad ought to be fun.