Before I get into why I'm somewhat indifferent to Bethesda Game Studios' latest installment in the Fallout franchise, I'll begin with what I absolutely love about Fallout 4.

-Settlements and real-time player housing construction

-Overhaul of shooter mechanics and inclusion of aiming down sights

-Revamp of crafting for weapons and armor leading to almost infinite possibilities

-In-depth customization of power armor with more variety in terms of character build

-Fully-voiced protagonist (male or female) for a more engaging story

-Cinematic camera angles for dialogue for a more immersive experience

Some of these things I absolutely begged BGS to include into their next game. A fully-voiced protagonist was essential. An overhaul to the shooting mechanics was mandatory. The revamp of crafting is the way it should have been in Fallout 3. Settlements and player housing is a nice expansion of the sandbox that is every BGS game. Power armor being differentiated from just normal armor and having more perks was a fantastic idea.

However, this is where my enthusiasm largely ends for Fallout 4. The rest of the game and its features, from what I have witnessed, are largely unchanged from Fallout 3. Yes we have somewhat of a boost in graphical fidelity (although plenty of other games are far prettier). We have the vertibird as a new means of transporation (although we can't actually control it, making it a glorfied wagon from Skyrim). VATS, a system I've never cared for, has been slightly tweaked such that it merely slows time down instead of stopping it. While I haven't personally witnessed the viability of melee combat in Fallout 4, it was largely useless in Fallout 3. The story and events happening, while they are not identical, are very similar to Fallout 3. The companion system hasn't really evolved at all, with the exception of some new dog commands.

Now obviously this is merely my opinion and we won't know the full extent of the experience until the game is actually released. That being said, Fallout 4, in my opinion, seems a bit safe given BGS's past products. In Oblivion we had the creation of Radiant AI, player housing, player mounts, inclusion of dynamic oblivion gates, etc. In Skyrim we had the revamp of magic, revamp of melee combat, inclusion of dynamic dragon fights, and creation of Radiant Story. These features largely changed the entire formula of the BGS sandbox. Do any of the brand new features in Fallout 4 really add to the experience in a meaningful new way? Post your thoughts.

Stopped reading right there.

Skyrim, revamped melee combat?

For the better, or for the worse?

The important question is though, was the combat cinematic enough?

I for one find the new perk chart system is quite a big departure from previous Fallout games and a welcomed one, consider the issues sticking to the old skill/Perk system caused.

As for the rest, change for the sake of change is never a valid reason, so I see no issue that some mechanics return from 3

I loved New Vegas and Fallout 3 so I couldn't be more excited about the new game! Well I'm not so thrilled that the hacking mini-game is returning but I'm sure there will be a mod for that. Heck I preordered that svcker as soon as it popped up on steam. \o/

I actually dislike several of the things you see as improvements, but I don't have a problem, yet, with most of your complaints. I don't see how you can say the story is close to Fallout 3's when there's been virtually nothing said about it so far.

And the only thing we've seen on companion gameplay so far had been the dog, who was definitely a far cry from Dogmeat in 3. If human companions have received a similar level of upgrade, then I would say that's a big improvement. Though honestly, that's an improvement we already got in New Vegas. I'm trusting Bethesda to use that as their model to build off of for companions over 3, considering how NV's were pretty much universally better received.

Cool!

edit: yeah, that's be a "No, I'm looking forward to the game, thanks."

no idea, i haven't played it yet. I think it will be a bgs game, and thats pretty much enough to earn my dollar. I'm impressed by what i've seen, the in-game building feature along with the crafting overhaul will keep my occupied for a long time (unless the feature is complete crap, again no idea, but i'm an optimist), and the shooting overhaul will hopefully make combat feel more intense and rewarding.

My advice--focus on the positive, I guess? As you've pointed out, TC, there are more than a few new features to get excited about in Fallout 4.

To me, this game seems to be innovating at least as much as Skyrim did compared with Oblivion, if not more so. I mean, extensive weapon crafting and settlement building/maintenance--just those two additions alone are pretty significant, I feel. Certainly more of an innovation than, say, shouts were in Skyrim--they were just spells on cooldowns.

But, hey...if you're underwhelmed by Bethesda's work, then you've certainly come to the right forum.

No.

It looks and sounds rather uninspiring all around so far and seems to be getting worse with every new bit of information. Perhaps it steps up yet, perhaps not, but as of now... yeah, not the kind of thing I look forward for.

...I'm not exactly sure what you were expecting.

Out of curiosity, how do you feel about Bethesda's professed post-Skyrim design goal to improve characters? Everything we've heard about companions and from the voice actors seems to indicate they made good on their promise... or tried, at least. The settlements and crafting feel like the next natural step for Bethesda's RPGs, but if they can step up their writing and characters then I don't know what's next.

So you absolutely love all the major changes shown so far, but are underwhelmed by melee combat, the story and companion handling, none of which anyone knows much about?

Nope extremely happy that this much stuff is being put in. Ps4 needed a game like this, the world needed fallout back. I'll spent Sooo much time without issue.

No you aren't the only one. I think it looks fantastic. Different strokes, I guess.

You are entitled to your opinion, but one of arguably the worst aspects of BGS games is how uninspiring and non-engaging their stories are. This is largely due to a lack of character voice. Sorry, the silent protagonist just doesn't do it for me anymore. It was great twenty years ago. Not so much in the 21st Century of gaming in my opinion.

It was certainly better than the clunky hack and slash that was Morrowind and Oblivion. It's still far from being amazing, but it's going the right direction. Fallout 3's melee combat was horrendous and I don't have much hope for Fallout 4 in that department.

I really don't know much about it other than they are streamlining much like they did with Skyrim. We'll see whether it worked or not when we play it. I'm not saying old things should necessarily be changed, but rather new things should be added to the sandbox that BGS is known for.

You are a vault survivor who is exploring the wasteland. The basic premise of the story is the same, with the exception that your character was alive before the bombs dropped. NV took an entirely different story approach.

He can pick things up and help disable enemies? I wouldn't really say the new companion gameplay is a "big improvement." The dog can't even die which in itself is an immersion killer. Of course there is always a mod for that. As you noted, NV made many improvements to companions which Fallout 4 seems to be at best copying. I'm skeptical given how poorly handled companions were in Skyrim.

Focusing on the positive just leads to over-inflated expectations. I like to be a realist and try to gauge how much I'll truly enjoy this game. There are some great new features. My question is are they really enough to make a vast improvement over Fallout 3? We shall see. I don't think anyone is arguing shouts were a major innovation, other than the fact they were fun to use. We don't have any dynamic events such as oblivion gates or dragon fights to my knowledge in Fallout 4.

I believe character development is one of BGS's weakest areas. I think it's great they are trying to improve character development and storytelling. BioWare and CDPR absolutely destroy BGS in the story department. A voiced protagonist was definitely a step in the right direction. Companions, I'm still waiting to see more on that. Radiant AI isn't exactly reliable. Settlements might be fun but I fear they'll become redundant and pointless after a while. Crafting is definitely a massive improvement though.

I absolutely loved that BGS actually listened to the fan base and included many things we've been asking for years to include.

I'm underwhelmed by the fact that the game essentially is Fallout 3 with better visuals and some new features. Fallout 3 is a great game, but like all BGS projects, being so vast and ambitious leads to many mediocre systems within the game. This game will be out in three months and besides the initial reveal, I'm personally just not really that excited with what I've seen. That might change once I play it. More than likely what will get me excited will be the mods and less what the vanilla game is.

I'm apparently one of the few people who haven't played FO4 yet, so I can't really say how disappointed I am.

If it's anything like FO3 I'll board the hype train and clap my little hands till they burns.

The thing that I don't like about Fallout 4 so far is that it's setting isn't very original (just like the Capital Wasteland was). Since it's largely the same as always, I don't expect the plot within that setting to be very exciting.

Tim Cain once said that (while he was impressed by Fallout 3) he doesn't understand Bethesda's decision to reintroduce so many icons from the West while they could've taken the liberty to do something completely different. I agree.

Other than that there's nothing that disappoints me about Fallout 4 so far. Quite the opposite in fact.

To answer your question: Probably not.

But some of your personal gripes look to be very minor issues to most people and a complete wishlist overhaul isn't just feasible but also unrealistic. Bethesda is a business and has a budget as well as technical limitations. Considering the production timeframe they look to have done a fantastic job.

Truly sorry you feel underwhelmed. I am looking forward to being overwhelmed come November.

Underwhelmed?

Understandable, what have Bethesda ever done for us?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ

(actually, no... very much looking forward to it)

Hate the voiced PC myself. Basically kills replay value IMO.

Not crazy about how the SPECIAL and perks are tied together now. I feel like all my characters are going to be built the exact same way now so I can get those 'essential' perks.

Need to see more about the strongholds and what happens if the raiders get through (all friendly NPC's die? the NPC's all fight (with fists?)? the raider steal resources? etc.).

The crafting does nothing for me as it just looks like we can make a gun with the basic same stats 100 different ways now. I'd rather have more meaningful crafting, but need to see more to actually judge this. More crafting combinations does not equal better.

I really am leaning more towards a 'wait and see' on this game.

Agree with you on pretty much everything, except I'm waiting specifically for them to patch in an optional traditional dialog system, or at the very least the ability to display the entire lines of dialog you're about to select in the wheel.

I will not touch a game with that [censored] Mass Effect wheel and its partially descriptive options.

I'm impressed with what I've seen so far. They've added in things I've always wanted in a fallout game. The settlement system, weapon modding, and lore correct PA are all on my top 10 wanted things in fallout.

"Fallout changed too much, I hate it"
"Fallout didn't change enough, I hate it"