I was thinking about how we will be able to use a good amount of companions and just realized something. Todd Howard said during E3 that we would be able to even romance a few companions. If we can romance them, does that imply that our spouse is dead? I mean if your spouse was really alive in the game, why would you be able to romance another person? Maybe i'm just thinking to much or there are ways around it, but i feel like condoning cheating on a spouse would not be a priority for Bethesda.

This is my thought, too, or that there may be events that transpire that happen after you escape the vault where your choices could lead to the death or survival of your spouse. It's certainly food for thought.

ever hear of "an open relationship"?

Yes, but i don't think that Bethesda would bring that controversy into a game. I realize that its possible in real life, but they are making a game were the family was basically showcased as this love bond. Just saying they probably wouldn't want to deal with their relationship problems. Just my guess

Cheating, intentional or unintentional is a classic drama tool, so I dont see it to far fetched that it could happen that your spouse is alive.

I suppose its possible that the PC could just move on assuming the spouse is dead and if the spouse does survive they are totally cool with it, either due to them possibly moving on themselves if the PC has romanced another companion or they are really old or ghoulified and don't wish to burden you. It's also possible that the family doesn't actually exist, concluding with a really crazy and surprising twist (and possibly a musical).

I don't see Bethesda condoning that garbage.

there is a difference between condoning something, and putting it in a game.. unless you think they condone murder and drug use

We're talking about the same company that doesn't let you kill children, so no I don't think they condone murder and drug use but they certainly seem to have a decent sense of family still.

Personally I would err on the side of the Spouse being dead, just because it seems odd to me that they would keep both protagonist choices alive. But in any case its all speculation until the game comes out.

I completely expect that the Sole Survivor having a love interest with their companion(s) and essentially moving on with their life implies that the spouse is either dead or at the very least no longer a concern for the SS (like, for example, still alive but really, really old, or a ghoul, etc: No longer the person they once knew)...

I'm hoping DEAD.

I figured when he said "Sole Survivor" of Vault 111 I am assuming he's the only one alive. Is that just me who believes that? I'm pretty sure sole means alone or only one.

I think it's implied that in game it's implied that the spouse and child might be dead.
Let's not forget what side of the fourth wall we are on. We are privy to speculation and what developers have said, but we have no idea what unfolds in the game, or how our character would react to it. Our PC could very well think they are dead- given what we see with the PC and Codsworth, our PC has no idea if anyone from the vault is alive, let alone his family.

Then there is always the option that our PC is in fact, a D bag.

Or anywhere and in between

except killing Children would push the game into an AO rating and ban it from sale in several countries, open relationships wouldn't

Well it has been 200 years.....and there may yet be a plot twist where your spouse can be a companion if not dead....could be ghoulified if s/he wasn't lowered into the vault when the bombs fell....makes for an awkward "Hey honey....I'm alive!!"

The point is that i really doubt bethesda is going to focus on an open relationship as a drama point. this game is about an apocalyptic wasteland, not a lovers affair. If this game was real life, then yes of course an open relationship or cheating is possible, but its a video game, not a drama movie. I just feel that putting romancing into this game implies that the other person is kind of out of the picture for good.

They set up that kind of tension in Fable III. You begin the game with your lover and eventually as events transpire you become separated (with them presuming you dead). When you finally reunite, they are in a relationship with this noble and virtuous person and you can basically take the high road and let them go or break up this relationship. It was a very interesting dynamic to have present, and it doesn't even begin to factor in that you could have very well formed a relationship with someone else yourself.

So, I think we might see that in Fallout 4. In fact, I would go so far as to say that your spouse will definitely survive and be in the Wasteland. You will find them at some point and have the opportunity to reunite with them and we might see any of the tensions I described above transpiring. I do not believe our spouse will die mainly because it strikes me as too contrived. Depending on the flow of the opening moments of the game, we are introduced to our family and then all hell breaks loose and we subsequently lose it all. It doesn't really seem to give enough time to develop any emotional connection or gravity, which is something I thought Fallout 3 did pretty decently when taking you through your life in the vault. "Growing" up beside your dad and experiencing some key moments helped to make his sudden departure sting, or at least it did for me. I mean I didn't feel a true emotional response, but it was easier to care about the events.

Now it is hard to make statements because we don't know the opening series of events. I'm betting money that finding our family or discovering their fate is going to factor into this somehow. I really think it would be an egregious error on the part of Bethesda to just wipe out our family at the beginning. Even for a game as dark tonally as Fallout 4, it seems like too much of a heavy hand that early. In a weird way, it would be like they didn't even matter, because by the time we get into the game good and proper, the interaction we had with our family will be a faint point in our minds and we will play like it never was a part of our history. In which case, it makes me wonder why give that background to begin with? There is no motivation and I think that is one of the big roles the family is going to play. They will be our primary motivation to do what we do. Now, depending on how things play out, I believe one of two things is going to happen. We will have a cathartic reunion with our family and in the course of finding them we will be exposed to several factions, groups, etc. and we will garner further motivation for completing events (making a safe home for our family, improving the wasteland, securing food/water/shelter, etc.) or, we will have them for a time and then lose them to some primary antagonist, which will then set up a classic revenge tale that will drive the rest of the narrative.

I would place a cool 50 bucks that this is exactly what is going to happen to get the ball rolling.

Oh they are going full drama.....the male protagonist voice actor confirmed there will be a hugely emotional part in the game that we'll recognize immediately when we see it. And I can guarantee that someway somehow the spouse and child will factor in.....probably alive.

Such open mindedness and tolerance /sarcasm

I agree that there will be a lot of emotion, but more along the lines of Shaun is one of the evil guys, or one/both of the family members are dead. Theres no reason Bethesda would take an optional part of the game, like companions, with an even more optional part of romancing, and make that a big emotional event. It just isnt plausible. An emotional event along the lines of death or something like that is more realistic. Plus i encourage people to take a look at the achievment list. whether it's real or not, there is one confirming thing in there that could settle some things.

I think you misunderstand.....the spouse being alive somehow does not have to mean that there is any relationship drama about you having romanced/romancing another companion....it's been 200 years. There may be an option to rebuild that relationship but I seriously doubt there will be any grand scenes about cheating or whatever. As for the achievements.....nothing there really....something about some kind of betrayal which can mean anything at all and something about the commonwealth which can also mean anything at all. No real spoilers. And I do think it's real.....there are people playing the game now....probably testers or reviewers.

Yeah, I really doubt that they created the spouse just to kill them off; I'd bet money that you meet them at some point after you leave the Vault (but that they'll have aged considerably).

The spouse is the villain.

What a twist!

Was "Forever Young" the movie where the guy is frozen/coma/timetravelling, and he meets up with his wife who kept aging?

Naw. That was Avengers/Captain America 2. And Peggy was just a girl he liked, not his wife.

Also Interstellar.....and probably Fallout 4