Makes sense, you spend an hour changing BOTH characters and the one you don't choose gets taken away but later as a twist is found (you thought he/she was dead) not only are they alive but they can join as a companion (that you customized in-game).

As for the baby, well it can't all be gum drops and rainbows.

Or it's possible they liked the idea of starting the game pre-war because that would be a new thing we haven't seen yet. It doesn't necessarily have to serve another purpose. I mean obviously our pre-war experience will impact something, I just don't think it has to be an excuse to kill the family.

I don't think we need to apply real-world physics to support anyone's theory. If Bethesda wants the family to survive, they will because science magic reasons.

Oh, I don't doubt that. If they want them in game, they are writing it and it can be done in a few ways.
I also think they will be in game past the great war.

I was questioning the nuke yield and distance it was detonated at.
The original post I made was not to gkkr, but Apocalypse2012, who was asking people to do their homework (real life physics) on nuke effects and declaring that they would only receive 1st degree burns. I just don't think with an unknown payload and distance, that we can really say that with any certainty, is all. It could be a low KT yield at a good distance, by all means, as well.

Think critically here, why would Bethesda let you romance other npcs/companions in the game if your spouse is still alive? I highly doubt he or she will be alive once you escape the vault, OR perhaps he or she DOES survive but events can have different outcomes, one resulting in his or her possibly dying later on. Who knows?

2-caps gets my vote for original story.

I wonder, if the spouse is alive, did he/she move on thinking you were dead, or as good as?

Keep in mind as well, that Bethesda isn't saying they are alive at all. If they wind up being alive, it would work better as a plot twist of sorts.
I am guessing by all that is presented to us in game, our PC likely has the notion that they are dead. Think of how the character would react, rather than coming from a meta position.

Todd did say at some point, I think one of the panel videos, that we start pre-war for contrast to the wasteland and convey a sense of loss, when we emerge.

Well of course, this is all speculation. But given what we know, having your family die at the very start of the game makes the least sense of all the hypotheses I've read, which is not to say that it isn't the correct one.

She could have died in the wasteland if she was forced out of the vault. In any case, the PC's reunion with Codsworth makes it obvious that he thinks his wife and child are dead. What would you do if you started romancing a companion and later discovered that your family was still alive, but decades older?

Killing them off from the get go, while a dramatic choice, also destroys any potential they may have as characters in the later narrative. Plus there would be no point to the statement that the child will take on appearances of both mother and father...if we never get to see him out of his larval stage. Come on, he's a newborn, all babies look like the same bologna loaf fresh out of the oven.

From experience I can tell you, that Shaun....or Sean...Not sure which...Is maybe around two-three months old in the E3 footage.

But it actually does make a lot more sense that the spouse survives when you consider how much time, money and effort was put in to fully voice both the male and female protagonists. It just makes me wonder. I mean, sure, Bioware went through all that effort in Mass Effect to have both male and female Shepard fully voiced but you can only pick one of them, and in that playthrough you would never ever hear the other Shepard's voice of course. So I'm kinda on the fence about this one, but personally my hope is that you can at least have some control in determining if the spouse survives.

Yeah I don't think it would make very much sense to be able to customize both your spouse and child and they just disappear in the first couple minutes of the game. The other one is the whole "calling you by name" thing. Has it been confirmed that Codsworth is the only one?

It just seems like a huge waste of time and money if that's the case.

Exactly. Ever since the idea that being the sole survivor could mean that you've merely survived some events in the vault where your spouse and baby may have escaped prior, I've been thinking of viable reasons that they could still be alive. It seems to be a waste, like you said, to be able to fully customize your wife or husband only for them to die in the epilogue... that's like customizing Joel's kid in The Last of Us, considering what happens in the first 15 minutes. Using this point to argue that the baby is alive, however, is not as viable to me since approximating settings such as skin tone and facial features is just simple math, just average out the values wouldn't be hard. You don't customize the baby.

As far as spoken names go, I can't help but wonder if it's just Codsworth too or if your spouse uses it as well. I could have sworn I heard Nora say "Howard" in the E3 presentation... but after checking real quick I can't find anything.

Well said, well done, will you story be fan fiction?

I think I would like to read your story.

I still believe that the spouse and child die from the bomb. However, I think they'll do something along the lines of the Last of Us where we find a character that will look like the child but actually isn't.

No. All that effort went into the female being fully voiced because you can play a female. It doesn't mean anything at all as to whether or not the spouse is alive after the intro. It could very easily be that all those CC options and VA's are there solely because you can play either, and the one you don't play just dies. Some of the spouses setting are used to create the looks of the baby (whom I'm certain you will see later on) but just because you can customize the spouse and she has a voice doesn't mean at all that you'll see them again after the intro. I mean think about it, if you are going to allow the PC to be male or female how else would you do it?

Can anyone tell my how being able to customize the spouse confirms they survive.

The only reason you can is because its how they worked in six selection and it would be odd if all the work you put in while deciding which to play just went away.

I hope they burn to a crisp like the OP said.

Not everyone will be playing as male, I fully intend on playing as female only, so if the husband dies then such is, nothing that can be done since it's in the script. It wouldn't be the first time I've role played a woman who's in mourning.

Who cares if she dies or not. Just go to MIT and have them whip up a six bot that looks like her. Even better, this time she will do EVERYTHING in bed.

I hope so. I don't want the prospect of 'coincidentally' running into my former family looming over me and tainting the entire game. Dead (in-game) wives and babies for everyone!

You don't think I've thought about this? I keep reading your reply and I'm scratching my head as to why you felt the need to offer considerations of things that are either quite obvious or that I've already written in this thread, namely what you quoted. Just read what I wrote a little more, you even quoted it dude. I was a staunch "no, the family is dead" believer but I'm merely advocating for the other side, I didn't say that I think your spouse lives because of this, only that it would make more sense now that I've considered it. Don't forget the part where I mentioned the mutual exclusivity of playing male or female in Mass Effect, yet you seemed to feel the need to inform me of a concept I've made fully clear I'm aware of. What the hell was the point of your reply? I already made the same considerations you threw at me quite clear in the post you replied to.

I doubt that very much since the E3 reveal showed your wife standing across from you while holding the baby after saying 'We love you too'. If anything, my bets are on the baby somehow surviving and being a full grown advlt who you will eventually meet mid-late game with some twist explanation as to how he/she also survived. Like a Fallout 3 story in reverse.

When I play a game I often root for the villain. I often wish tragedy would strike so I can relate more to the character. I do the same when I see a movie. I often hope that the protagonist gets through his struggles only to face death in the end. Like real life.

Same here. I'm usually rooting for the villain. Arlington Road was a masterpiece. Jeff Bridges came so close, but no cigar. Joan Cusack was wickedly sinister, lol. I love flicks where the bad guy comforts the protagonist, acts like their best friend, then screws them over in the end. A great reflection of human psychology and a sociopath mindset.

Protagonist AKA: "The Lone Wanderer"

Lone

adjective. being alone; without company or accompaniment; solitary; unaccompanied:

And yet the Lone Wanderer can have companions, a house, and a dog. So... now explain how your argument has any meaning?

If they died then Howard would be dead, since the PC was... right next to them.

Hey, who knows, maybe the pc makes it down into the vault but the spouse and child don't. There's more than one way it could flesh out.