the vault dweller 111 is the only survivor but thats not to say people didnt get defrosted before and went out in to the world so his son might be out there or he might be a sheep

Good to see I'm not the only one. Same for others of similar opinion.

Also, note that the guy at the presentation said a baby is generated specifically, it could totally be just to make the family thing more personal and special before they get bombed. Plus having "dead" family show up alive is bad writing. It negates the initial impact and it's cliche.

Granted Bethesda focuses more on a freeform gameworld than writing but assuming NV never happened and Bethesda revealed the plot was a modern military force from Ronto fighting a group of tribals based of of the Spartans for control of the power plant at Niagra Falls.

Do you believe it would be

A:Called an interesting premise

Or

B:Derp who brings a spear to a gunfight.

That would be interesting but if they leave at separate times, wouldn't they all be split up? And how would Shaun be "fully" grown if he has placed in cryogenics? And why is the vault dweller referred to as "The Sole Survivor"? That raises some questions to me but I'd feel pretty upset to not see the wife and child in the game and that they died before the game even progressed.

The main character didn't seem to age at all during the cryo-stasis, so I can't imagine Shaun would physically grow up. I think he is still an infant and woke up with the Wife.

EDIT: It is a possibility that Shaun and the Wife woke up a few years earlier, so he might be grown up after all.

The baby is dead, your spouse went absolutely psycho and ate the kid soon after leaving the vault and is now leading the most savage band of cannibalistic raiders in the wasteland. At some point you will be given the task to put this particular raider boss down. When you finally meet him/her face to face is when you will learn all this.

Doing it over and over and doing it well are two different things though. With so little to go on, it is hard to say which would be better overall, however, if we just happen to find out our son is head of the baddies faction, it would feel a little contrived to me. They have to develop it right, but it could be a compelling story arc either way.

My favorite game of all time is Bioshock and I thought the ending to that game was beautiful. I also enjoyed how you only achieved the good ending by saving all the Little Sisters. Sacrificing even one gave you the ambiguous ending. There is a reason we tell stories that are simple and redemptive over and over again. They resonate with us so beautifully. I can't wait to see what Beth has in store for Fallout 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t0uCWjQ6Og

I'd like to think that the radiation made Shaun into a Botchling maybe? And that now he haunts you for abandoning him and his mom?

Or maybe this cryo tanks are much roomier than possible and that Shaun was put in with his mother? Or maybe the brain-bots took care of them/him after he was awoken and he...Grew up in their care? Ok I'm picking at straws but still!

The spouse will wind up being the leader of the Enclave (who have magically risen from the ashes) and the baby will be the new BoS leader

You'll have to decide which one you want to fight with at the end of the MQ

The story will be super emotional because you have to decide who you love more - your spouse or your child.

It is my expectation, that if the protagonist is female, the spouse leaning against the door frame will say, "How are the two most important women in my life?"

I bet Shaun is the dog.

I said it earlier, but I'll say it again. I'd prefer the child's gender being the opposite of the PC. Mother and Son or Father and Daughter.

Well in every fallout game the plot starts off pretty basic, then evolves into something greater.

Fallout 1: looking for a water chip, then end up having to stop some crazy bastard from turning everyone into super mutants.

Fallout 3: looking for dad, then have to save the world with project purity.

Fallout New Vegas: looking for the dude who shot you in the head, end up in the middle of a power struggle between 3 major factions.

(i don't know the plot of 2)

but for the most part you start off looking for something or someone and then something big happens after you find that person or thing.

My theory is; Your character is looking for their spouse and child cause he didn't see their body in the vault, and they didn't wake up next to you in cryo. Then maybe the plot will evolve into something to do with the Institute and or the Brotherhood.

I actually think that not only will Shaun be the main antagonist, but that he will be completely unaware of his origins. Think about it, if the Institute took him out of the vault as a baby, and most likely kept him away from his mother/father, then they can make believe whatever they want. He probably thinks he's a synthetic.

Either way, with all of the advanced tech available to the Institute, I'm sure he will have been given a few 'upgrades' and will most likely be incredibly dangerous. I can actually see him leading whatever army the Institute has been developing behind closed doors, in a full on assault against the rest of the Commonwealth.

This is what I am expecting

Son will be the villain
We will run into that vault tec salesman again at some point
You will learn about you spouses demise

I PLAN on playing as the mother on the first play through. Such an interesting concept and if any of those three points is true, then this already makes for a great story. Specially if you are playing the mother!

SOLE SURVIVOR, folks. It is said many times in the E3 presentation. SOLE SURVIVOR

When I read about the infamous Shaun being alive and all grow up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VxLQZPqI2M song jumps into my mind... Of for [censored] sake, please let the kid and whichever parent live a long and quiet life in vault 111 and perish of old age.

Oh, well if a game developer said something at E3, it must be true!

Remember when Todd Howard told us that we'd be able to sabotage economies in Skyrim and how that totally happened?

Ohh, yeah, sorry, of course, it's all a lie, there won't ever be a Fallout 4 at all.

I think Shaun survived The Great War, but if the main character is exactly Shaun - I doubt it. Codsworth still knows the name (Howard from E3 presentation) of our character when they meet after 200 years.
You guys are talking about "sole survivor" yes, but it's "sole survivor of Vault 111".
I think there is another Vault (or a few Vaults). I'm sure that the other people somehow survived, e.g. Preston Garvey and other characters. Shaun could survived, in some way.

More probably, Shaun could be a villain. That's why this character is know from the beginning of the story, that's why we know his name and that's why Todd said about generating a baby based on the couple. I think this option is more probable than Shaun is the main character.

They said many times that noone can enter or leave Vault 101 on the E3 too...

Way to not actually get my point.

Clearly what this actually means is that only a ravaged shoe will leave vault 111 alive.

SOLE SURVIVOR guys! SOLE! It's right there! God.

what if you kill your son and wife so they dont have to suffer in the wastland our your wife commits suicide and your mission is to get them turned into androids

It does seem quite a waste to go to the trouble of making the child look like a mix of mother/father only to die quick. As to whether the kid lives and becomes good/evil, I like the idea that it depends on how you play the game as to whether you join him or kill him. If this was a poll, i'd say we will see the kid again. Which is kinda the opposite of FO3 where you were searching for the father. Not sure why so much hate about the idea of family running around, it worked in FO3.