These were some comments I thought were interesting from the Android Protagonist thread. I felt the topic deserved its own thread. Fallout 3's theme was about sacrifice. New Vegas had a few themes, but I felt it was mostly about power. Haven't finished Fallout 1 all the way or started Fallout 2 so can't really say what the theme of their stories are. For Fallout 1 maybe "do humans deserve a second chance or do their flaws necessitate drastic change?" What do you think/hope the theme of Fallout 4 will be? What other concepts can the series explore?

''Doesn't matter how, but your annoying wife and kid will follow you everywhere, even after nuclear war and 200 years.''

consider the location and things like the android plot I have a feeling one underlying theme will be "what is freedom? And do everyone have a right to it?"

Probably a theme about slavery vs freedom for the synths. What it means to be human, should synths be considered human etc.

Presumably something to do with the value of non-human life (i.e. synths) or about the militarisation of the the East Coast Brotherhood.

Probably something about irrigation or water filtration.

I don't see why it needs a central theme though. Skyrim didn't have one.

Hopefully they haven't been so heavy handed this time, F3 pretty much forced you to sacrifice the protagonist no matter what they had done or what sort of person they had become, they had to die heroically even if it was totally against that characters nature.

You forget that you can be the wife.

And second, how do you even know that they will be annoying? We've barely seen or heard anything with the family.

Wait, couldn't you wimp out and send Sarah Lyons in there?

I'm sure you can. I remember having seen it.

Yes it did.

What was it then? Because I'm at a loss. Maybe it won't matter if there is one in Fallout 4 if I miss that one too.

Yep, in which case (before broken steel) the game still ends in the same way, thankfully the DLC fixes some frankly laughable writing if you have an immune to radiation follower or two.....first playthrough I had Charon and Fawkes with me and I sent Sarah into the purifier (without I think anybody telling her the code) and the game ends. Did my guy die, who knows I'd assume so since that was apparently where his story ended.

I did feel for the main story to make sense the protagonist 'had' to follow in his fathers footsteps and my second character felt more in sync with story, as she sacrificed herself with a smug sense of self satisfaction.

After that of course I had broken steel.

What does one life matt-

Nope, wait wrong game.

Their existence is annoying.

For srs though I have a feeling family will be an important theme (unfortunately) along with abandonment, adaptation and humanity/what it means to be human. I'm hoping it focuses on those last two.

I wonder if it's going to be about rebuilding the world? That interview with Hines came off to me as, "We kind of thought Fallout 3 was way too depressing with the 'bleak hopelessness, the dead, destroyed world, etc.' so Fallout 4 is going to be a bit brighter than that."

In other words, it's about rebuilding and restoring what was lost, not sitting down in a pile of radioactive muck feeling sorry for the state of the world ala Fallout 3.

my joke died.

Searching for your loved ones no matter what it takes...or atleast finding out what happened to them

Slavery and synths would be my second guess

I suspect both will actually happen, searching for info about your spouce/child will be the initial "red herring" plot, which later expands into the synth slavery plot. It's a plot setup that's been in pretty much every Fallout since the first game and I suspect will be followed here too.

Cool stuff. Fine by me...If the writing is on top level this could be very interesting

You just answered your own question there

Technological singularity, is AI life (though those were already done by Mass Effect and Deus Ex), freedom and slavery would look like strong canditates.

Or they would, if this wasn't BGS' Murder Hobo Adventures


"Murder everything and steal their stuff" doesn't count. Well, not when it's just the way the game is played.

That would be execrable, and a total banolity.

I seriously hope Bethesda has enough vision to write something that isn't so utterly predictable (literally as evidenced in this thread).

Just out of curiosity, do you have a preferred theme?

Yes, substantive development predicated on the ashes of the old world.

New Vegas pondered what it would be like to not just have warring tribes, but nascent states (in the form of the Legion, House, and NCR).

That's what I'm hoping for (approximately) in Fallout 4 with the institute, not only can it ponder the possibility of a new state and the recrudescence of humanity but technology's place within it.

Ultimately what's the best ideology for a recrudescent human race, and what's the institutes own ethos/interpretation?

The canvas has been wiped clean for the the most powerful individuals, institutions, and factions of post-apocalyptic America and it's about time for someone to paint the future.

I'm not antipathetic to ethical debates about the nature of humanity and what distinguishes us (if at all from machines), but another debate about the ethics of Androids assimilating into society is banol and it wasn't the most impelling story in the replicated man quest either (which offered up many of the platitudes of such a debate).

Technology in such a pugnacious society offers a profusion of intriguing ethical debates,whether it should be limited for the greater good,or if this would be a violation of freedom; what policies should be passed and contingencies offered to prevent annihilation again.

Can technology be used to assuage our lust for war, or will it only ever aggrandize one's ability to destroy another (such as the great war)?

What I don't want is the same argument, about the same technology (androids) with the same pleas and denials made.It can be phrased plainly, I don't want the 'replicated man 2'.

I hope that is the case. The wasteland should definitely feel more inclined to rebuild with the likes of the Institute playing a role.

Or it may be https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mEizJ-TWua0 again. BUT BIGGER AND BETTER.

I'm sure climbing mountains and flying dragons is an allegory for something...