Just to note, Leydenne, I think you're being unfairly judgmental about that. Would you have said the same thing to someone who said they found great joy in playing Fallout 4?

I take it you've seen the Fallout 4 E3 presentation. Todd Howard likely peed himself a little describing Fallout 4, as did many of the audience members after seeing it. That's how excited they were over a game. And there are two sides to every spectrum. It's a bit unfair to welcome one, but not the other.

I, myself, am finding it difficult to play Fallout 4 after being in the same situation OP described. Bethesda games aren't supposed to force feed you like that. Freedom is supposed to be paramount. If I don't want to deal with the dog, it should not be shoved down my throat. That is very clearly unacceptable, and takes a lot of fun and enjoyment out of a roleplaying game since it seems as though Bethesda is outright telling you that you have to play their role and not your own.

It's certainly possibly to try and explain the actions you take, but all of that is rendered moot whenever you decide to talk about Shaun in most of your dialogue options. After spending 3 months wondering around Boston, building a sizeable force to help you take back your child.. it's absurdly immersion breaking to hear your character scream, at the top of her lungs, "MY BABY! MY BABY! WHERE IS MY BABY?!@?!?!?!??!"

Bethesda developed the game with the belief that you would go straight toward trying to find your child. That is what almost every piece of voiced dialogue by your character hints at. You're almost never calm about it, but instead freak out over the slightest mention of your child.

Or when you're speaking to Nick Valentine. You're given four dialogue options, and you can actually ask all four before moving on. Three of them are said in a calm, clear manner. "Oh, you're a Synth. Oh, you know nothing about the Institute. Okay, we need to go find Shaun."

The fourth piece of dialogue, however.. "You're ONE OF THEM! YOU ARE! YOU'RE ONE OF THEM!" Seriously? That is MASSIVELY immersion breaking, and there is no hint that your character is going to react that way when choosing that piece of dialogue. It's so messed up.

This, and honestly, I think the OP has been quite civil in expressing his opinion. He even stated he likes many aspects of the game. I like the game, but I also feel the objection expressed here are valid.

I never take companions because I just like to work alone. But just because they aren't my companion doesn't mean they cease to exist or that we can't cross paths either again.

Same with my real life. Someone offers to help me, I often refuse their help but I still see them about and they are often friends or sometimes I'm not fond of them and don't like running across them. I've no desire to kill them so I never have to see them again. They exist. So what? Same with the neighbor's dog. It wanders over to my house sometimes. I'm not crazy about it wandering over but I don't get so mad I want it to die.

Nah, I don't really get the OP's objection to someone referring to Dogmeat. That is his name and I don't mind if they bring him up or if he shows up again when I'm out doing my quests or exploring. I still don't want him and don't have to take him as my own. But he exists and I sure don't want to kill him because I don't want him.

The exact same thing happened to me!

I feel like at some point during the design of the game, Dog meat was probably a permanent companion, meaning he never left your side. And what you and I noticed was a little loop hole left over from when they initially wrote the story.

None the less, I looked past it, and sent Dogmeat on his way home after he helped me find the trail. I told him to come back when he can fire a sniper rifle.

Almost every story does have them, whether very small or big. You get multiple options to mention dogmeat, and if you don't choose those, Nick will mention him for you. This was just a way of Bethesda advancing the story with a stubborn player.

I think he was just part of that quest and being a stray, he's everybody's dog. Obviously has a good reputation for finding trails for folks.

The problem is that the NPC in question, Nick Valentine, should not have known Dogmeat was your companion. He shouldn't have known Dogmeat even existed, nor should he have known that name -- the dog isn't called Dogmeat when we meet him at the Red Rocket Station.

It is incredibly immersion breaking because it's essentially Bethesda telling you that you're playing the game wrong by completely overwriting your past actions.

Bethesda flat out told us that we could play the game as we wanted. They even gave us the option to dismiss Dogmeat from the start.

How are we stubborn for playing the game the way we want to play it after Bethesda told us we could do exactly that?

Fallout 4 was advertised as a roleplaying game where freedom is paramount, but Bethesda is not letting us play the role we choose to play -- they are forcing their own role on us by shoving Dogmeat down our throats like that.

Todd Howard himself said that they didn't sacrifice freedom for the sake of story.. but they did exactly that in the situation OP described.

That's an interesting perspective! Finding him in a more urban setting would have definitely reinforced that. Do other NPCs interact with him when he's tagging along? It could help build a backstory for him since he can't speak for himself.

First of all, this was for one quest. They aren't shoving anything down your throat just because of one quest. This is the only quest where Dogmeat is essential by the way.

Secondly, players are hinted several times and given several dialogues to choose dogmeat. If players avoid it, Nick will bring it up.

It's still immersion breaking, even if it is one quest.

We never tell Nick about Dogmeat. We don't even know that the dog is named Dogmeat. So how does Nick know Dogmeat is our companion? And how does Dogmeat know that we're in Diamond City, outside of Kellogg's house?

Bethesda is forcing us to play the game as they want us to play it. That's fine for games like Witcher 3, but not for Bethesda games. Freedom is supposed to be paramount. Forcing a companion on us, especially after we've dismissed that companion, is not freedom. It is the opposite.

I don't know but I do know that around here we name any stray dog and the whole community knows what dog we're talking about when we use the name. Like this http://www.newsminer.com/news/kris_capps/people-trying-to-keep-george-the-adventure-dog-off-highway/article_ea2840ea-7b8d-11e4-b081-1fe4a5ceb27b.html. Everyone for miles around knows who George is.

Then it should have gone like this:

Nick Valentine: We could use Dogmeat to track down Kellogg!

Player: Who is Dogmeat?

Nick Valentine: Just a friendly wasteland dog that seems to hang out around the Red Rocket Station near Sanctuary.

Player: Oh, I met him! He's back in [settlement], let's go get him!

-- Nick Valentine and Player leave to go get dog, return to Diamond City, and follow Kellogg's trail --

The issue we have is that Bethesda is not respecting our choices in-game. Instead of doing it the above way, they decided to flat out force the dog on us as though he were already there. That is the issue here. They could have even went a step further and allowed us to track down Kellogg some other way.

But no. They forcing the narrative in a story that we, the player, are supposed to be narrating.

Nobody around here would say, "who is George?" They all know who George is. BTW, he's still not been caught and survives alone. Won't come near people and we can't trap him either. Too smart for that. Why wouldn't Nick just assume you would know the stray dog like everyone for 200 miles here knows George? George didn't have a name when he showed up either. But we all know who George is. Even everyone in Fairbanks a hundred miles up the road knows who George is.

The player was cryogenically frozen for ~210 years. They would not have known about Dogmeat, even if everyone else did. And at no previous point in the story is he even mentioned.

As far as you are concerned, as the player, the dog is named Dog and is just some random wasteland creature. There is no way the player could have known that Nick was referring to Dog when he mentioned Dogmeat. None. Zero.

Saying they force a companion on you is quite silly and not true. They aren't forcing a companion anymore than they are forcing Nick on you as he is required for a quest, or Paladin Danse as he is required for a quest. You need Dogmeat to find Kellog. Could there have been more options? Yeah, but it doesnt break the game by only having one option.

You don't magically know who Nick Valentine is. You are told about him. You have to go and find Nick to continue the main quest. Just like you have to actually run into Paladin Danse to complete his quests -- you have no idea who Paladin Danse is before you help him out.

Neither of them are spawned right on top of you when you "need" them. But Dogmeat is. He is literally spawned right when you need him, with no explanation as to how or why, and you're magically aware that his name is Dogmeat, despite his name being Dog when you meet him.

It'd be like Preston saying "Hey, you should get your friend Nick Valentine to help you out" the second you meet him back in Sanctuary, with Nick walking out of an abandoned house.

Meh, I just think it's a silly gripe. Maybe more so because of our area strays being named by the people who live around here. If someone called that stray I ran into just out of the vault Dogmeat later in the game, I'd just assume he was named that by the folks in the area. Would not think twice about it. I mean why would it matter. Could have named him George or Rex or Fido. He exists and he has a nickname given to him by the world in which he lives. Like George.

Someone (Nick) assumed you knew the dog because he hangs around all the time. What is so immersion breaking about that? It's just a dog named "Dogmeat", it's not like you had to name him. Anyone can name him. Anyone in the game could have named him.

Just what is the big deal. I'm sorry, I really don't get it.

I don't want to derail the thread, but I will address the two comments directed at me. And bear in mind this is my opinion - but the tone of the Opening post, with the random caps and the use of the phrase "disgusting" etc was disproportionate to the issue, as I read it.

Look, I know its the internet and everyone just seems to want to magnify things and stretch out issues and act as though childhoods are ruined, or whatever over so many things. I get it. I also get that people are passionate about games - I get that too, believe me. But I am also a big believer in perspective. Maybe I just don't fly off the handle on things like this - but then, perhaps I have a different perspective than many others when it comes to games and gaming. I don't know.

Be that as it may, I did need to remove a few posts and a few un-needed insulting remarks that some members had contributed. I opted not to warn nor to leave the thread closed, I just needed time to sort through things while also, you know, doing things in real life.

Anyway, OP or any of you, feel free to PM me if you want to discuss - you all can get back to your topic at hand.

He obviously tracked your scent all the way to diamond city, and found you right as you needed him.

You know what was one of my favorite Fallout moments? It was that time when I was wandering around an NCR camp in New Vegas, pretending to be a helpful soul, while actually being a Legion mole in disguise. I was full of myself, thinking I've fooled everyone, and I decided to check out and loot that NCR building that was right next to the camp.

Well, that building housed about a dozen NCR Rangers, who could see through my disguise. I got destroyed.

And I loved it. That was choice and consequence at its best. I played a deceitful dike and I payed the price. Are there any similar situations in FO4?

IF i may ask, why are people getting worked up over a game? Seriously, play it and if you don't enjoy it, find something else to do.

Oh...my...MOD! A Modded post?! I...its...ok, that just broke the believability scale right there.

I actually did the same thing as the OP, although I RP'd it automatically instead of "scripting" it. I can't stand tripping over Dogmeat and having him get in the way (or any companions for that matter) so he sits at Red Rocket. I knew Dogmeat from historical Fallout, but when Nick suggested we use Dogmeat, I automatically thought "hmm, guess Dogmeat made a name for himself in Diamond City before he wandered off looking for someone else." Now of course...how I randomly picked the name "Dogmeat" and how the dog actually came to be called "Dogmeat" by everyone else in the world is a mystery.

Welcome to Fallout 4.