In every bethesda game to date before release we've had some sort of synopsis of what to expect when it comes to story.

Morrowind: We are the "The Nerevarine" chosen to defeat Dagoth Ur as foretold by the prophecys.

Oblivion: You are "The Champion of Cyrodiil" chosen to defeat the villain Mankar Cameron all while closing Oblivion Gates...

Fallout 3: You are the "Lone Wanderer" in search of your dad who left the vault, unraveling the mysteries of the wasteland.

Skyrim: You are the "Dragonborn", a being that can speak the dragon tongue and consume the souls of Dragons. You are tasked to Defeat the "WorldEater" Alduin and save the lands of Skyrim.

Fallout 4: You are the "Sole Survivor". A person who survived the nuclear war...

I've been around for all of these Bethesda Announcements/releases and ALL except Fallout 4 gave you an idea of what to expect from your journey...

Why is this? The only thing that E3 confirmed was the new features being added to the series. A brief showing of us before the bombs dropped.

But the small bit of story we got about the Pre War is just the past and gives us no indication on what to expect while playing...

Is Bethesda showing little on story a result of overconfidence in the marketing department? Is it the "We know it will sale so no need to show much" Star Wars esque ideology?

I might one of the only few that fear for the story content in this game...

Thoughts?

I have no problem with not knowing the story. I'd much rather find out through the game itself. in fact, it's kinda refreshing to not have to try my hardest to avoid spoilers in the months leading up to release.

And besides, I don't play Bethesda games for the story.

Yeah it's a nice change. I mean look at Dragon Age 2, I knew the whole darn story because of the commercials.

I understand what you are saying but I think you, and most have the assumption that "there is a story, and it will be great".

But what if there isnt one? Imagine playing Far Cry 3 or 4 and the entire game is you running around clearing bases and killing stuff with no real reason to. At that point it would just literally be a sandbox and nothing else.

I know this sounds ludicrous but the fact they have shown little to nothing on story makes me feel like the game will just be missions with no real arc or goals...

I kinda like the radio silence in the story. You don't read a book because someone told you the plot, after all.

It's a refreshing break, that's for sure. I don't mind having to figure out the story for myself when I boot the game up, I'd pick that over having the entire story drilled into my head before I even buy the game. What's the point of buying a story if you already know everything that's going to happen in it?

My pet theory though is that it'll be kind of like Fallout 3's story, but in reverse. We're gonna be looking for our wife and kid and somehow, the androids/Institute get wrapped up in the whole thing.

Honestly, I don't assume the story will be great. It's Bethesda, their stories are usually passable and nothing more. But again, I don't play Bethesda games for the story.

As for Far Cry 3... I think I'd be okay with that. That game's fun.

The only two aspects of the story I'm interested in are a firm date of when the character leaves the Vault, and which Brotherhood we're actually seeing.

I'm not worried at all. I don't want it to be spoiled beforehand. Obviously there will be a story, and it will be fine. It probably won't be spectacular, but it probably won't get in the way.

Why does there need to be an established story? Fallout 4 could have no main quest line for all we know. Your character exits the vault because they are the only person in the vault and decides to explore the wasteland because they are bored. There is no need to explore the wasteland to obtain a piece of technology to save their home, find their father, or get revenge on someone. Just explore for the sake of exploring and ruin people's lives because it is fun.

See, I could never get into that headspace. I'm not psychotic enough to ruin the lives of random NPCs for the evulz. There needs to be some kind of narrative informing the decisions.

I agree, it is quite refreshing not to have the story spoiled and spoon fed to us before we ever open the game.

I do assume here is a story, I don't know for sure it will be one I will like. I'm willing to take the chance.

I'm fine learning the story as I play the game. I prefer more technical details in my pre-release info.

They've stated that they're focusing on the story much more this go around and that they don't want to spoil any of it, for what that's worth.

I am fine with this.

An absence of evidence is not evidence of an absence.

Of course there's a story. For all that people harp on the "do whatever you want/sandbox" aspects (and "how dare they limit/constrain my character concepts like this!?!?"), Beth games have always had a central story. Just because they're not spoiling the entire thing ahead of time, is no reason to think there isn't one.

(Of course, having seen various threads over the past month, this is clearly a "different people/different opinions" thing.... there have been plenty of folks saying "OMG, why aren't there more trailers? Why aren't they showing us more?" And just as many who've said they don't want to know any more, and were planning to "go silent" and not read any more articles about it. One person's "cool teaser" is another person's "total lack of details". )

Both of these are wrong.

This is my opinionon the subject as well.

Who said it was for the evulz? Killing off the Raider boss means that the lives of their minions are ruined.

"ruin people's lives because it's fun" doesn't sound like typical video-game beating up of badguys (raiders/super mutants/Enclave). It sounds like shooting up Megaton or Rivit City for kicks.

The main story is great and all but I usually find myself immersed in side quests, collecting gear, and exploring the world. Even if the main story svcks the game will be awesome for me. Of course I hope the main story is good though as I will eventually play through it after doing everything else.

I don't play Bethesda games for the MQ, I play for the exploration and the side quests, which Bethesda is generally pretty good at.

Honestly, if the story is bad, I'll be annoyed but as long as the rest of the game is good I'll ultimately be fine. If the story is good then it'll be icing on the cake, but not the flavor of the cake.

Some of you guys misunderstand me, I'm not in the category of people that whine that there is not much info of the game. I dont mind a minimalist approach to showing what we will get.

But we are literally being left in the dark so bad that we cant even grasp anything that the game has to offer other than "Hey we can run around and kill things the same way we did in Fallout 3..."

Heck we dont even know if the karma system has returned...

It's just like a movie. I hate when they ruin it in the previews. I would rather see it for myself and be surprised as I play through.

I know. Isn't it exciting?

First game since I became a moderator here that I didn't end up knowing far too much. For me the lack of information is like a vacation. Far less information is far less for folks to tear apart, dissect, reconstruct and deconstruct every single morsel and word and comma of every interview, podcast, video and magazine article that came from Bethesda or rumor mills far and wide.

Yep, I'm loving it. And I can't wait to play it.

Out of curiosity has anyone here every been disappointed with a fallout game or elder scrolls game from Bethesda? I feel like they have all been leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. They aren't perfect and have faults but each has been phenomenal at the time it was released. If you have little faith in Bethesda you must have not played all thier previous games