If we don't voice our opinions then every Fallout game after 4 will be this way. Do you not understand why we're giving this feedback? Again, I know you don't care, but a lot of people do and it's worth talking about and discussing. If nothing else, it's better than everyone on the forums saying nothing but positive things and allowing Bethesda to think their games are perfect and that everyone is happy. At the very least, if they see differing opinions, they can work toward improving the gaming experience for everyone.

That's something I'd like to know as well - partly because well, Fallout in a way idolizes the 50's and we've only seen females fighting post war (and none of the recruiting posters suggests they had females serving on the frontlines etc.)...I would hope that that's one occasion where the 50's aren't mirrored (after all pushing women to be wives and mothers is a tad oppressive IMHO - no, I am not a feminist, but they would have a point if they pointed that out!)

greetings LAX

Why? - Particularly in the US many people handle guns often -.- (I mean you have the most liberal gun laws on the planet over there, go figure!)

greetings LAX

Once they go voiced protagonist with semi-set character/background they'll never go back to the way they used to make games and they've already gone there. The most we can hope for is that they evolve in a better direction than BioWare did after making this change. It's definitely not what I wanted but maybe it will be a different kind of good.

This has been mentioned multiple times but in the Operation Anchorage DLC you can see that women were fighting on the front line in the pre-war era. Granted, in the DLC itself it's mentioned that Gen. Chase "altered" the simulation to suite his version of events but I doubt that was one of the alterations.

To me it seems that the Fallout world of 2077 was like the ideal version of the 50s but wit all of the paranoia included and ramped up to eleven, but instead of people simply ignoring the issues of race and gender and sixual discrimination it seems that these things simply don't exist by 2077. After all, they may be stuck in the 50s culturally but not everything had to stick.

Women fought in the war in operation anchorage.

Maybe it will, but I don't play Fallout for this sort of storytelling. That's what I play Bioware and The Witcher for. I'm not saying there should be no backstory, I just don't like the amount of backstory we're given, especially the amount of characterization and choices our character is forced to make within his backstory that we had no say in.

I think it not so much not caring as the level and tone is going beyond legitimate feedback especially when the game hasn't even come out yet.

Even more so when everyone (PC and Console) will now be able to now use mods to create their perfect Fallout experience.

It is clear that Bethesda is very proud of the new power armor (rightfully so) and having the protagonist being a veteran allows them to let the Lone Survivor get an early taste of it.

They also wanted to show the difference between the pre war America and post apocalyptic America. Have a protagonist that has seen just what was lost and just how far humanity has fallen. In 1950s America some thing like 85-90 percent of the men and woman would have been married at least once by age 35. At that age a huge percentage of the the men and many of the women would have been vets. So they picked a typical married couple to be the protagonists. Ones that you can change to what ever appearance you want.

I've also heard a lot of complaints that they are defining the protagonist too much. That having a voiced protagonist that is married, has a child, and is a vet is too distracting and they prefer a blank slate for better roleplaying.

Well there are a lot of people who appreciate well defined character and a deep rich story.

Let Bethesda reach as high as they can. They do great sandboxes but want to improve their game.
They want to tell a deep rich story but how can they do that if they can't even define the protagonist?

Have patience, let the game come out and then give Bethesda a chance to change your mind, and if all else fails then mod the hell out of the game.

Trust me I feel the same way (and I'm no longer a fan of BioWare) but no matter what we want it's not going to change and it's not going to go backwards. I'm just trying to come to terms with it.

Like I said before:

Maybe the game will benefit from a more pre-defined, pre-determined character, but I don't play Fallout for this sort of storytelling. That's what I play Bioware and The Witcher for. I'm not saying there should be no character backstory, I just don't like the amount of backstory we're given, especially the amount of characterization and choices our character is forced to make within his backstory that we had no say in. I play Fallout games so I can, at least to some extent, define my own character's personality, lifestyle, and choices. I'm sure these aspects wont be gone in Fallout 4, but they may be severely lacking with such a pre-defined character in the way. We already have games that offer this, why does Fallout need to follow in the footsteps of Mass Effect or Dragon Age?

Anyone here whose read my posts should know that I'm all about improving Bethesda games, but this is less of an improvement to me and more of a lateral change to a style of game I already have a spot for in my library, leaving the niche that Fallout used to fill entirely empty. That's why some of us are concerned.

I'm sometimes told many of my ideas are crazy but I think It would be great if somehow the PC was related(sister/brother) to Roger Maxson. It would put a nice little twist on the story, especially if Arthur Maxson is in the game.

Civilian gun training and military training is worlds apart, just because a civilian knows how to handle a gun doesn't mean the person can handle the stress of combat.

Plus civilians only have access to limited small arms experience, a military background for our character makes it easier to justify why he/she can pick up and use things like rocket launchers and minigun with ease, plus explaining why our character has power armour training right of the bat.

I assumed the husband was a veteran of the Resource Wars.

Meh. Gameplay/story segregation is fine with me. I'd rather come up with my own reasons or choose what kind of character to play including someone who sneaks past enemies or someone that talks their way out of situations.

Considering you are literally know by what you are in the game, i.e. Lone wanderer and the courier, I'd say it's safe to say that their backstory will come up, a lot.

Why would it come up a lot? That's 200 years in the past.

For the PC it was just a minute ago

For him, yes, but I know I'M not gonna constantly be talking about myself in-game.

"Well, you see back when I fought in the war..."

NPC: "...What war?"

"Well, you see, 200 years ago..."

NPC: "...You fought in a war 200 years ago...get the f--- outta here, you crazy git..."

"No seriously, when I was a soldier I..."

and so on.

That's the problem - not only for roleplaying (at least not like you understand it), but for a self-insert, too because I don't ever want to get married myself (I am a child of divorced parents and did a stint as an intern at a family lawyer (lots of divorce cases!), so I know how bad those can get and don't want to risk that....how did Bill Burr say it: "If you were going skydiving and they told you 2/3 parachutes weren't gonna open? - Yo, forgett it, I am not going!") or have a child -.- (so forced (or mandatory!) fatherhood/motherhood for my character just irks me -.-)

The next problem is - if they don't just forgett about that backstory later on (after you awaken in the post-war era) - that they probably expect you to go looking for your wife and child (people I don't feel all that connected to, as they've been "forced" on me....), which is entirely to close to the story of Fallout 3 or hell, Fallout 2 (it's implied that the people of vault 111 (your vault) didn't leave because they wanted to, but that they were taken by force, just like the inhabitants of the village (Aroyo...spelling?) in Fallout 2)....I mean yes, the father in Fallout 3 left voluntarily (and that made me want to punch the man when I found him...sadly I didn't get that option!), but it's still the same because you are again looking for your family (and call me a [censored], but my own family (at least one half - my mother!) wasn't that ideal, so I don't think that highly of family -.-)...I'd have loved something different (though I like that we are still from a Vault (hell, even better: We were alive before the bombs fell!) - as I'd hate to be some uneducated tribal (didn't like it in Fallout 2 - that's why I maxed intelligence in order to not be taken for one, ever!))

Still, being a vet is cool (I still hope that the girl is one, too as I do plan to replay as a woman)

greetings LAX

ps: I've got one other problem: Being a vet implies that we are at least 25 (if not older) which clashes with me wanting to play someone who's either in his late teens or barely out of them

I doubt the main plot is about founding our characters family, at least not in the long run, I think our character will quickly assume they are dead and like previous Fallout games a much more bigger plot will come up on the horizon, I麓m sure in one way or another they will play a role, but ultimately if anyone of them are "alive" they will just be another npc in the main quest cog.

I for one so far like the story buildup in 4, leans more towards NV person driven main plot and not Fallout 1, 2 and partially 3 more fantasy rpg:ish being a hero plot.

The player character was level 2, so unless they just cheated to the position (highly possible), it's very early in-game.

After emerging from the Vault the dude PC in the demo doesn't show any concern for looking for his family, which either means

1-> He saw them die and knows for sure they're dead

2-> He assumes they died because they didn't get in the Vault/he didn't see them in it when he woke

3-> the story ignores it

Or 4-> the concern is stated prior to him exiting the vault. They went out of their way not to ruin any story points that they didn't have too.

Right because trailers and demos never show things out of order, out of context or skip connecting scenes.

To be fair, we see him leave the Vault and take his first steps.

His first words aren't about his family. He's more concerned that it's been 200 years.

My guess is that the PC has seen that their family is not in the Vault and then they leave to find them only to discover the age of the world.