Oh man, this reminds me of when Fallout 3 very first came out, and complained that he had finished the "game" in just a few hours, when in fact it was the main quest.

Seriuosly, I always get a good solid 90 hours in every play through of that game.

Sounds like that guy would be more into Metro.

sounds like dark side phil

I kind of think what you want from a game depends on how much time you have to invest in it.

Candy Crush gets those players who only get to play games on their subway commutes.

CoD types seems to be more the one evening a week type, with friends. Short bursts of activity like this would need strong Quest motivation to keep going.

I think for me, I could not have played any of the Fallouts just one evening a week. I would loose continuity.

For me, being retired, Bethesda games are ideal. They give me a world I can invest hundreds of hours in, over multiple years.

There were a few places in Skyrim where it felt like the main quest wanted to feel like it was tugging at me.. even though it really wasn't. I enjoy that freedom. The freedom to say. "no, I don't wanna right now." I tend to use the main mission as a guide as to which direction I should probably be meandering. Helps pick out a good exploration path.

Dragons live a very, very long time (unless they meet a Hero), and can afford patience.

Fallout games have two MacGuffins you need to get. In Fallout 3, the first was "Find Dad" and then after he gets himself killed, the second was "Complete Dad's work".

If Fallout 4 is anything like the previous Fallout games, we will have two MacGuffins to find.

Sorry that I spoiled it for you.

I set my pace like in Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls. Its not like the Mass Effect games you have to do the main mission from the get go.

@ the poster above me. Least we are not fetching water in the main quest. Maybe at the side quest to poke fun at it.

I would love a MQ that is very relevant to the main character and the world overall, and the urgency of it alone serves as our motivation (like in the first two games). If there is a timer at some point, I'd be fine with that as well. It makes the mission you're on feel all the more important.

What I don't want is for the MQ to just nonsensically sit on the back burner so we can run around the wasteland for 90 hours until we feel like the wasteland is ready to be saved. That said, just killing off NPCs ala Dawnguard is a stupid way of creating this urgency. It was a nonsensical and random "divinely selected" punishment on the world that had no real relation to the plot and only served as an annoyance. If it were to come down to this or a more laid back, nonurgent plot, I'd choose the latter, but I wouldn't be happy.

The first Fallout got it right, imo. The main quest is your main quest. It is the protagonist's primary motivation. Side quests and exploration tend to be means to gain rewards, allies, info, or supplies that ultimately serve to help you in your MQ. Since Fallout 4 won't be ending after the MQ is over, I guess that there will have to be more to keep our characters going than the MQ this time around. Not a fan of the thought, myself.

I only finish the main quests of Bethesda's games once. They're the least interesting parts of any Bethesda game for me.

I don't play Bethesda's games to be force-fed a story. I'm not interested in being an actor in someone else's drama. I want to make up my own stories. So the less intrusive a main quest is, the easier it is for me to roleplay.

Personally, I go into any Bethesda game the same way at the beginning. I do the first few MQs to get a feel for the world around me, the mechanics and a bit of insight into what the events in said world are. Once that's done I like to have the mindset that I need to learn more about the world around me and adapt to be the hero/antihero required to complete the story. It's all relative I guess but I personally like to start off as a character who knows nothing of the world they're in, who does the MQ in between adapting to their environment and becoming a member of the new society they find themselves to be in. Particulary with the building feature and vastness of the map I would feel it a waste to rush the main quest as I do like an eventual climix to the story. Even if I spend 400 hours max to reach that point

Well, the option i would choose isn't in the poll, so i'll explain it here.

I would like something similar to New Vegas, were the main quest is more of a big objective for your whole adventure, rather than a single quest-chain to check on my ToDo-List.

In New Vegas the main quest line was first about teaching you the world and the factions, which you did naturally as you travelled the mojave, and afterwards aimed towards the second battle of hoover-damn. Depending on your choice of faction you would be send to various smaller factions, to either convince them to join you or get them out of the way.

I really liked this, because it gave everything a sense of purpose. Doing the major sidequests for a subfaction wasn't always required to get the main quest moving, but it still felt like doing these additionall sidequests helped you achieve your overall goal of preparing for the battle. These sidequests didn't have a real big impact on the battle itself, but it still felt like doing them did something towards achieving this higher goal. I always end up doing pretty much every sidequest and it just feels better doing them when you have the feeling that it helps you achieve some greater goal in the game. Even if it doesn't end up having an impact, the feeling is what counts.

These two posts are mostly how I feel as well. Kinda lazy to type out my own response.

If the main quest isn't compelling enough for me to be very interested in doing it, then the designers have failed.

I haven't played F4 yet, so I am hoping for no spoilers, so I just skimmed the topic. I voted I want the MQ to need to be moved along, but at my pace.

Side topic: I would love to know how on earth are all of these people, who are not reviewers, playing the game already?

Well since I got hit with two major spoilers early I'll probably just play the MQ at my own pace now. Normally I play the MQ with a few sides in my first playthrough but now I'm just going to play at my own pace.