If Lamplight could be run by children for 200 years, I think a Courier no older than ten is not outside the realm of Fallout's possibilities.

Lamplight was virtually a hermetically sealed world unto itself, though.

That was surrounded by super mutants the kids could fight off. To be fair that was one of my more outlandish characters, but I can't help but notice you ignored the other ones I mentioned that are now harder to work with due to this backstory.

The point is I had the freedom to make these characters with the limited backstory in 3 and especially nv. I understand you dont care, but can you understand why others might?

The main character is gay.. He just was forced into an arranged marriage and decided after awhile that he enjoyed the dynamic of it so he was sort of happy.. After the bombs though, nah he will be gay

It's not that I don't care that others may have issues, I certainly can empathize. Personally, my point of view is to wait until there actually are issues to take issue with. We know next-to-nothing about story and character at this point.

In Fallout 3 you grew up in the vault. You were a vault dweller. You were 19. You had to leave after Dad decided to abandon you to the wolves and go play mad scientist.

In Fallout 4 you lived in the pre-war world where you may have any back story you like just so it involves having a kid with the other person in the tutorial. Your age is indeterminate as is what you did for a living or where you grew up (on a farm, military brat, big city youth).

Really, I don't see how your options are more restricted than past games.

To be honest, the most limiting thing is the protagonist's voice, not that he or she has a family.

Fully agree. Based on what we know so far I would argue that Fallout 3 was more limiting in it's backstory. In 3 you were really tied down in terms of what age you could role play (19, I think you're stated as being?). Here, you can be anything 20 or older. In terms of roleplaying something other than a hetero hero with a strong moral code, I don't see that as being at odds with being a father and husband; The 1950's were an incredibly tightly wound period of American history; social mores were very strict, and even if you were into 'deviant' behavior (which back then was everything from homosixuality to cannibalism), you had to at least put on a show of being 'normal'. If I ever go that route (I'll probably do my first play through as your generic hero, but I could totally see roleplaying a stone-cold, smoking-hot, femme-fatal lisbian), I'm just going to go with something to that effect to explain why I have a husband/kid.

I agree. I just didn't like the restrictions of FO3, I still enjoyed the game but really preferred the freedom of New Vegas.

With FO3 I created one character I did a lot with. With New Vegas I went back a lot of times with new characters and styles.

Not the end of the world, but it's a preference for me.

I see what you did there.

You make a good point, and mayhe I'm being a bit of an alarmist, but I just don't see how my characters can possibly fit with this pre-determined backstory. Like I said, I'm fine being a vault dweller who lived during the pre-war times. Once you start giving me a family, a home and responsibilities it feels like it takes away some of my potential for roleplaying. I can never play a character close to my age unless I want to be a teen dad. It will be hard to be a crazy drug-fueled cannibal or creepy mad scientist when I have to explain how I have a wife and kids and apparently led a normal productive life. Maybe Bethesda has some sort of ace up their sleeve that solves all this but I'm not smart enough to figure it out

You seemingly have SUCH an expansive imagination, you can't envision coming up with 1000s of character type/sub-type/sub-sub-type combinations to play instead over the next 4 months and 6 days?

Damn 50s CIS oppression, amirite?

The evil patriarcheeeey!

You get: Nice, Mean, Repeat, and Exit as dialogue options.

Not very likely they can fit unique options based on your behavior or stats/perks into that, especially since it's all voiced, and designed for gamepads with 4 buttons.

It all being voiced and and restricted to 2 real options, there is literally no way to roleplay anything beyond Paragon or Renegade Shepard.

I think people have been playing with alternative start mods for too long. In all the Fallout games, you have a sizeable chunk of pre-determined life which all roleplayers here have imagined away.

I personally don't think it would be hard to imagine past the family life start. In fact, I've already thought of one. In my mind, the cryo chambers inject you with a healthy, perfect pre-war life dream (kinda like tranquillity lane) to keep you sane in stasis. Once the dream time is over, suddenly you get reminded of the war and the bombs (hence the seemingly sudden appearance of the vault salesman right at the end and shortly after - the bombs) to ease you back into things and then you wake up.

Then my character will either shake it off and be like "Time to get on with my life", go bonkers from losing such a perfect life when really they are a degenerate or are the intended MC and carry on in the game world with the quests.

Ugh! I hadn't even considered this. This is worse than having a pre-determined character.

Yeah, the predetermined crap is garbage. This is why NV was so much better in character creation. Almost a complete blank slate, other than: You were a courier. I could be a mad scientist, gunslinger, raider, bounty hunter, merc, private eye, etc. Now I'm generic family schmuck #456456

"Boys, girls, dogs, elders - there's nobody I won't play as."

Here's the thing though ~ playing the voiced protagonist. Sure, I've played voiced characters in other games but they were action-adventure type games with a set story. I just like to imagine the voice I want for my character when it comes to Fallout. Does that make me an unreasonable person? I am confused as to why they are making this big change but hey, it's their game...

Do people claiming to be bethesda fans actually play bethesda games? Every fallout game has had a pretty set and pre defined character. (This is true of the original and the Bethesda owned fallout ip games)

Every Elder scrolls game had even narrower predefined character. You ALWAYS start off as a prisoner. How and Why of you being in prison were always open ended but you are ALWAYS a prisioner.

This idea that in FO4 they suddenly forced players into a predetermined backstory is false, it has ALWAYS been a factor in their games.

here is the reason...

https://youtu.be/2KApp699WdE?t=2h22m35s

This is a pretty definative reason as to the why. not saying you will agree with the reason but this is the reason for the change.

Uh, no. In every ES you're in a prison, but the games give you no background. They don't say you were married, had a dog, came from this vault (location) or that. It simply says, you were arrested for one reason or another and now your completely blank character starts in jail.

I usually never have a big backstory even if the main character is a blank canvas. But the blank canvas allows me to feel that the character is shaped by the story and choices I make. In more pre-determined characters, it feels like the story shapes the character to fit its plot. Even with choices, it still feels like you end up like what you were supposed to end up like, in stead of what you yourself feel the character should end up like.

Furthermore, voiceacting will give responses that does not fit with what you want to be the reaction. From the trailer, my initial thought on the response when "get food" is chosen when talking to the robot was not the confused response the voiced character gives. When the responses are written, the emotion in which you respond is much more flexible. Sure, the reaction from the NPC will to some extent give away what the developers had in mind, but there is still a much bigger sense of "ownership" over the character when it isn't voiced. To me, I feel that the effort put into the pre-determined story should be put into making great NPCs.

I do hope it is difficult to build a character that does everything. That the powerarmor is no necessity to progress when at a certain level. That you don't have to get a dog companion. That you can build a homestead for just yourself, without other people moving in. If the game has a pre determined protagonist, and all aspects of the game are catered towards completionists in a hurry, I'll be very dissapointed.

That said, just running around the wasteland with a personally customized gun with amazing gun physics in a Fallout universe seems like a blast

It's probably the only thing im dissapointed in. The rest of the game looks to be the most amazing thing that gaming has created up to this point, just that my tastes don't really align with the whole voiced thing.

Im sure i'll get over it, the rest of the game looks like absolute pure joy to play. Atleast 5 months isnt that bad of a wait.

No. Just no. Not so strongly defined as here - because marriage and children are a personal choice while parents and a place of birth are something everyone has or had at some point. Only the Courier is comparable.

Btw, go play Daggerfall again before you start schooling us in Elder Scrolls history, there was no prison involved.

uh no?

being a prisoner is as restrictive as being a married Pc with a child. They are not more so or less restrictive. How can I say this? It is simple there is nothing inherently limiting to having a past family. Good people and bad people have families. Criminals and police have families, In wwII the allies and the axis both had families. This idea that a family suddenly forces a morality or some kind of oppresive limitation is only imagined not actually there. As a prisoner I could be a murderer, wrongly conficted, a theif, a victum of a power struggle, but i always have to come up with an idea as to why i am im prision. So now all you have to do is come up with a reason you were married. Its no differnt because being married has no predetermined narrative to your character as a person or your moral compass.

If you can't RP with this limitation then you can't Role play period.