My first game that I ever started making different characters for with different styles and playing in accordance to different attitudes (greed for example) was Oblivion. There, it always used to frustrate me that, no matter what, my character HAD to be a mysterious prisoner and he HAD to be the one with the weight of the world on his shoulders. I'd always wished that the game started with less detail and simply made the path to beginning the main quest optional, but obvious. It always felt stupid making some holy saint of a character who was, for whatever reason, a prisoner. I wanted to be able to play a thief that had nothing to do with the Oblivion crisis; I wanted LESS backround or structure for the main character.
Then Fallout 3 came. I was plenty satisfied with that. The only thing all characters have in common is that they come from a Vault and only know a dad. That was a very loose backround and the Lone Wanderer was practically a completely clean slate.

And then we got Fallout New Vegas....and I was surprised with how much more interested I was in the game when the Courier WASN'T such a clean slate. The Courier has been to New Reno, has a past with Ulysses of some sort, is supposed to be dead according to Ulysses, seems to have had some fun with a woman in Montana, is described as robust and incredibly lucky (for obvious reasons, dude took two bullets to the head at point blank range), and the game seems to imply the Courier is vengeful, as your first task is to track down Benny. This may not seem like much, but personally I have trouble making a character that isn't at least a LITTLE bit vengeful in regards to Benny. I've yet to be able to let him walk away. Bu the most important of those is the story with Ulysses. It's very unlikely that this whole ordeal with Ulysses isn't going to provide the Courier with a decent amount of backround. The game will basically be telling you what your character's history is for you. Now that we know Lonesome Road is on the way, people are speculating what type of "relationship" the Courier and Ulysses have, because there's the dilemma of not ruining the RPG aspect of the game while still providing answers and a good story. What if the Courier killed a loved one of Ulysses? Suddenly your character is a murderer whether you like it or not. What if the Courier and Ulysses are former gay lovers? Suddenly your character is bisixual whether you like it or not. And yet, as I said, I'm a lot more interested in Fallout New Vegas' story than I ever was in Oblivion or FO3. I don't care about having my clean slate to work with anymore, I care about hearing the story of Courier Six. I THOUGHT I wanted as clean of a slate as possible, but Vegas seems to be proving me wrong.


So this got me wondering, what do people prefer? I don't think anyone here would argue that FO3 had a better storyline than Fallout New Vegas, and personally I would argue that that's partly because Fallout New Vegas chose to be more bold with their characters and their plot, whereas FO3 was careful to leave things open for people to imagine and decide for themselves. In the end, FO3 is a boring story of good vs. evil with a very boring protagonist who's only known quality is how bad he fails at getting with Amata, whereas Fallout New Vegas is a complicated and intriguing story with a protagonist with an intriguing backround that's sure to guarentee a fair amount of sales for the Lonesome Road. Do little things like characters calling you robust or the game practically nudging you to tell that singer you've seen him in New Reno bother your RP experience, or are you more interested in the game when the canon protagonist has just a pinch of story and/or personality? Do you prefer an entirely clean slate or an unfinished story?

Eh, I'm on the fence. I like the FNV Storyline, but it gets boring after playing all playthroughs, so I generally make my own background now.

I like the clean slate. RP'ing is something i like to do. So i didn't like the story in FO3, despite the fact that if there was a choice i would side with the BoS everytime, lol.

Clean slate is better for roleplaying as a set story is limiting the potential of the character backstory/development. /imo

Clean Slate usually means a better game.

Both are good, but I think whichever you choose requires some commitment. Daggerfall had a background generator and it was a bit weird, but I just ignored it. Morrowind handled this very well although I think this had more to do with pacing than anything else - the main quest started off very smaller and with plenty of time for other activities. I didn't have any problem with Oblivion starting in jail but the urgency of the main quest was dissonant with wandering around and doing your own thing. I don't have strong feelings either way about FONV's background. I've enjoyed RPGs and other games with lots of character background even when they give you many options for how you progress.

As long as I have some choice in what I do and how I make my character it doesn't really matter to me. If there is a back story I take what I want and either discard the rest or change it, there are two side to every story after all.

Using your example "What if the Courier killed a loved one of Ulysses? Suddenly your character is a murderer whether you like it or not.". Maybe Ulysses' loved one was trying to: 1) kill you, 2) murder someone you cared about, 3) got caught in a cross fire, 4) startled you while you where sneaking around (I've killed a few in FO3 that way), 5) you wanted to. So while you may not have a choice in what happened, you can come up with why it happened even if no one else will believe you.

EDIT: If I had to vote ... which I did I would choose clean slate though. But both are good for various reasons.

Personally, I find being forced into a role where the main selling point is 'MAKE UP YOUR OWN STORY!' I'd be a little disgruntled at being made to be in a very confined background, like Fallout 3, sure, you can make up what you did while you lived in Vault 101, but you can't make up your own background, where you're from etc.

I like the idea of background side stories yet to be told in the up coming DLC. New Vegas still gives us a clean slate, more so then in Fallout 3. Fallout 3 was the only one that gave us our age.

I don't like the Idea of being given a detailed background right off the bat, no Fallout has done that which is a good thing.

I agree i like to play thier character story just to see if the developers are as good of a story teller as i am. But i also like to play my own character with thier own story, motivations, and baggage as well. The perfect game gives the player enough of a story to explain why they are here with out getting in the way of the player's imagination as well. I think FONV and for that matter FO3 did a good job in that reguard as i have 5 different characters who have completed the game differenty with a few similarities that can not be helped because SOME structure or overlap is necessary or the game would make no sense at all. The game is just open enough to allow the player to forge ahead with what ever design strikes thier fancy due to the many ways the same quest can be completed based entirely upon how the player builds thier character. Speech not high enough, not to worry lock pick your way past. Wait no lockpick either, well science will get you past that point. Wait speech, lockpick, or science not high enough bummer, but wait (que angellic music) shoot everybody in the face that works too. If you skills had been high enough you would not have had to shoot everybody, unless of course you just like to shoot everybody regardless of your skills the game works there too.

I consider myself ruined now because after FO3 and FONV going back to some framed narrative like GTA4, where the character this play is the same as the previous play is boring. Nico Bellic is Nico Bellic and that will never change, but Tristessa, Anna, Calypso, Simone, and Tabitha are what i wanted them to be. They carried the baggage i handed them, they interacted with the game world according to that baggage, and in spite of all that the world still turned. Beautyful guys simply beautyful.

Asai

I m that guy that thinks fo3 had a better main story line. All of it was filled with heartfelt drama. nv has a lot more side stories and follower stories, but getting shot in the head and going to get a chip and killing a man, then choosing which faction to back pack through the game does not match the former U.S. government trying to steal your dead parents lifes work.

NV - I got shot in the head. Big deal....... do you know how many times I ve been shot in the head in fo3 and nv. lol

Fo3 vault 101 right or wrong was a great start. Your father martyring himself has way more impact to me than back packing cl, NCR, or House FTW.

Once I got a good look at the mw I wanted the option the go back to delivering packages. I could tell there wasn t going to be a real ending pretty early on, and that pissed me off to no end.

I could care less how the story starts, or who my character is.......

How the story ends is what matters to me. FO NV has no real ending, and I will [censored] about it until I know.

Opposite opinion... but for the exact same reasons ~reversed. :laugh:

Canon ending will be House, I really feel it

As for the poll, I choose both

House could be cool, but he needed your help a lot.

I wish House and NCR stayed. Time will tell....... maybe

I prefer a clean slate, like The Courier, unlike the LW. I don't know what you mean, you know damn near EVERYTHING about the LWs past life, hell, it was the tutorial.

milestones only.

I can go either way. Mass Effect/DA2/The Witcher style voiced, written and personalized character, or Bethesda's start-naked-and-nameless-in-a-prison story

Though i slightly prefer a "clean slate" character, it gives me more freedom in deciding what kind of a character i'm playing.

I like how the numbered ones did it... You know where you were from, but you didn't know what you did there, so you could have been a mechanic, or a security officer... or you could have been a deadbeat.

But I disslike "The Courier" being, a courier... Cus that means he has been traveling alot, but we know nothing of it. It's also odd that he starts with svcky survival skills, WHEN HE SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE TRAVELING!!! :brokencomputer:

He seem to know nothing of the NCR or Legion, he hasn't been to vegas, he haven't heard of the Followers... It just pisses me off >=(

I'm fine with either, actually. Depending how they affect the story and gameplay.