[Sherry Speakman]

Do you like what you see with Fallout 4 thusfar? No...?

Welcome brother! Let's share our concerns over a tall glass of cynicism and disappointment!

Keep in mind:

-There's a fine line between "constructive criticism and concerns" and "I'm cynical because it's cool to be cynical and I don't know how to do anything else." Express your concerns, express why, but don't be some smug hipster dude about it.

-We only have the trailer and some possible connections between the trailer and some "leaks" that were never taken seriously before...which still might be fake leaks. A lot of this is pure speculation.

-That also means the purpose of this thread is merely to provide people with not-so-glowingly-positive expectations to express their concerns amongst one another, either to calm each other down or to help reinforce possible theories about what we can expect from Fallout 4; whichever direction the discussion may take us.

Having said that...

I'd like to start us off with the fact that the trailer does potentially suggest that some "leaks" we saw suggesting a voiced protagonist with (comparatively) limited customization might be legit. Over the course of all the fake leaks and fake hype FO4 got, there was a rumor or two about a voiced protagonist with self-narration, alongside a couple plot elements here and there. I personally found the plot elements in those "leaks" to be god awful, but regardless of people's opinions of the writing, a voiced, personalized protagonist would be a huge deviation from the norm. Hell, this isn't just a deviation from Fallout, it's a deviation for Bethesda.

Could this really be true...? People have pointed out the voice actor we hear is Troy Baker, the exact guy who voices Booker from Bioshock Infinite, a game that several people have suggested FO4's art style has a striking resemblance to. Are we seeing a case of Bethesda saying "lol Bioshock Infinite was fun, let's make that game again," resulting in huge deviations from what's considered the norm for Fallout? I've no idea if it would be considered common practice to hire Troy Baker for one brief line of dialog, but I mean holy crap, even the voice actor chosen is the same.

Overall? I watched the trailer with low standards, both because I know initial trailers often don't give much information (if any), and because I've only been disappointed with games for the most part whenever they have a hype train of any kind. This though? Now I'm fearful, to be honest. This looks bad. This looks like Bethesda is doing http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gCKjctTWIsw/hqdefault.jpg with my personal notions of a Fallout game.

Thoughts?

[{Richies Mommy}]

Ya. I am a bit pessimistic based on the trailer. Not going to pre-order most likely until we learn more.

[Reanan-Marie Olsen]

Respectfully, how could anyone be pessimistic about anything on a day like today? We've waited so, so long.

[Andres Lechuga]

This thread should be renamed the "Complainiacs Thread".

[Kat Lehmann]

Possibility of it being around the BoS

Don't get me wrong, I like the BoS, they're interesting just another game surrounding them doesn't tickle my fancy. I know, I know I'm basing this off the power armor and not the idea that it could be the Institute or some other power-armor using force. For all we know given they have a Zeppelin they could be the Mid-western BoS (the only other faction to have built a Zeppelin was the Midwestern before becoming the Midwestern BoS) who are only BoS in name at this point. Of course it could be a totally new force that has Vertibirds and Power Armor.

I just really hope it's not entirely surrounded by the BoS.

[Daniel Brown]

I hated this pre war part. I hope that if have a tutorial acclimated in this epoch, which at least they have the decency to give the option of rebuilding the character after that part.

But i LOVED the colors =D

Edit: Oh, and BoS? booooo

[Suzy Santana]

I'm not too upset. I am more upset at location, but possible glimmer of hope with a few things. I'm not thrilled about a voiced protagonist, but that could be for trailer only, and for all we know that dude in vault suit is an NPC.

[Ells]

Its still a consolle game , buy it for pc and get the mods on ... With Enb and all rest will look just as good as Skyrim if not more .....

So far the only thing I want Bethesda to update mostly in their engine is water simulation , so 3D sea and not flat surfaces ... And add vehicles ... Hope they implemended a huge desert where u can run with a MadMax style buggy ...

[saharen beauty]

I'm being suspicious to say the least, after all hype trains tend to ruin games. If only because the fans think the game is going to be better then it actually is. So expect it to be garbage and be pleasantly surprised. Expect it to be the best game of all time, prepare to be disappointed. Even so I'm a huge fan of Fallout and hope Fallout 4 is a very good game but I refuse to be these people saying "Oh my God! Fallout 4 game of the year of all years!"

[Amy Gibson]

Haha the visuals look pretty bad, i was expecting a bad game gamplay-wise and with laughable writing but apparently visuals arent bethesda's strong suit either after all these years

[Lance Vannortwick]

Bethesda still doesn't seem to grasp what post-apocalyptic means. They are still stuck with the environments, at least from the trailer, looking like the Great War occurred 20 years ago, instead of 200. I do hope the main plot is better than little Johnny/Jane with daddy issues again.

[Georgia Fullalove]

There is a lot of potential for cool stuff, seems like a reasonably developed area, and expansive as well. Despite power armor and vertibirds, seems like they may not be retreading Brotherhood and Enclave.

The protagonist and storyline is what really worries me. If they did have a set character, the backlash even from the general public would be immense. If they added voices and there is still a variable character, I may even be able to get on board with that. It would still be better than Skyrim's baffling, sparse "dialogue" which I was afraid of.

[Manny(BAKE)]

I'm hyped but I'm also cautiously optimistic because of Skyrim. I'm concerned about Voiced Protagonist which leads to less dialoge (happens in every RPG), We don't know everything about Special although the special book does appear at 1.05 in the trailer which is ok. Health regen is also a concern since that would take away all difficulty of the game if I could wait In a corner for an ingame hour and my health is magically full, it's not a full own survival game but there are elements of it and health regen basically makes those elements null and void. Set Protagonist in terms of the vault is concerning for roleplaying but like FO3 should be lots of options, hopefully it's not age based and your age is unknown, would be the best solution so far.

That's early cautious concern so far, can't really give a hardline opinion since E3 hasn't happened and we haven't seen the game in gameplay yet. I'm cautiously optimistic that FO4 will be good and I'm hyped for more info but as an RPG I do have concerns after Skyrim's mile wide but inch thick stuff. Plus you add in Witcher 3 and yeah, we'll see though Fallout 4 could be amazing or slightly worse then Skyrim, time will tell.

[Steeeph]

Voiced protagonist? No problem. I'd have a problem with no character customization.

The pre-war part is ok, but not necessary unless the game makes the mistake of revolving around the past.

Colors are fantastic.

Nothing suggests BoS, but I'd rather not see them.

[Katy Hogben]

For me, it's the amount of links pointed out between this trailer and past "leaks" we've gotten.

Normally, as I said, I think trailers are pretty limited with info. Even if they DO offer info, it's often a case of "you won't realize it unless you know what to look for." For example, an item might appear in a trailer and you think it's just to show off some of the art design, but when you play the game, it turns out that specific item is a massive plot device. New Vegas had teaser trailer's of Victor digging up Courier Six. At the time? We had no idea that was Courier Six, the protagonist. I remember I thought that was merely to illustrate that Vegas had a violent, gangster-like culture, nothing more. No, it turned out to be the moments leading up to the start of the game. Same with the trailer where ED-E's flying along the highway to Navarro.

The trailer we've seen shows a man that bears a resemblance to a photo that was provided during a past leak. Furthermore, the way the flashbacks function within the trailer line up nicely with the very same leak's claim that the protagonist is cryogenically frozen before the Great War and only emerges after. If we then trust those links, then we can expect a fully-voiced protagonist with a personal story, meaning this game encroaches on some character freedoms and is kind of moving away from some Fallout staples.

By no means is anything conclusive here, but do I wanna discuss it more? Hell yes, and I'm sure I'm not alone. If you see no purpose in discussing it all, that's fully rational and understandable, but I myself am just curious by nature, so I wanna toss info back and forth to try and understand what to expect.

And sadly? Expectations are low now, because nothing I saw was what I expected. :C

[Ice Fire]

I think this is a more relevant subject of discussion than whether the protagonist is voiced or not. It certainly looks as though the Brotherhood of Steel will feature heavily in Fallout 4 - we have Brotherhood soliders, vertibirds, power armour in the outhouse (player housing?). Hell, the power armour is even on the front cover, just as with Fallout 3. Its all too early to say whether this is good or bad as we know next to nothing about the story yet. If its a great game, with a great story and character development, then it can be all about the BoS, and that's fine. I just don't want a warmed up BoS vs the Enclave rehash of Fallout 3, and I hope (expect) Bethesda have come up with something more inventive.

PS - for what its worth, I'd prefer a non-voiced protagonist.

[Abel Vazquez]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm trying to hold out hope that many of these criticisms are false. That said, there are other places to voice that.

Personally, I am most worried about the leaks you mentioned. They were so atrocious when they appeared that I didn't buy them. Now though, it's looking possible, and that scares me more than anything, including the voiced protagonist, which I hate as well.

And I hope they don't got overboard with the Institute. New and advanced tech is cool. We got tons of it with the Enclave in 2 and Big MT in New Vegas, but I don't want a game centered around bringing down the "giant" that is some technological superpower. And I definitely don't want androids to feature heavily in the plot. Thankfully there was no hint at that. Then again, there was little hint at anything specific.

[Alycia Leann grace]

Let's hope its just a scavenged armor and nothing else

[Joanne Crump]

Last complaint

Vault Dweller. Can we please just...not have another game around someone who came from a vault, was raised in a vault or descendants who came from a vault? Tactics and New Vegas did it well enough but come on, this game could've been perfect for having the option to play a ghoul, something that would be an amazing addition, different reactions from certain NPCs and would make the whole pre-war part make more of a difference as well as a different way to start from non-ghoul characters. I get that survival from radiation is a big part but it would just be so cool, especially if given the chance to become a glowing one that could change the gameplay a bit. Not to mention what a BoS (if they are BoS) or wastelander start could bring to the table.


Well, the vertibirds make me hopeful, maybe we'll see vehicles and vertibird piloting.

[Leticia Hernandez]

That's about what I got from the trailer. A really bad first impression (and the bar I set up was already low). Someone said it better elsewhere: Expected nothing, still disappointed. I hope what comes at E3 will elevate things, because this looks and sounds really underwhelming.

[Lillian Cawfield]

ITt actually looks a lot more colorfull than Fallout 3...

[Nick Pryce]

Honestly, I'm not too pessimistic - not at-least from the trailer aside from the power armour/brotherhood of still [censored] off as always.

Frankly, the one thing I'll give Bethesda is their art direction. I've always thought that Fallout 3's lean towards the more 1950's kitsch rather than Fallout 1 and 2's 1940's gothic to be better and I like a lot of their aesthetic designs (Fallout 3 Enclave dog-face armour not withstanding). However I'm holding out for what they intend to add to canon, dirigibles are okay in my book, as is the idea of a larger continious urban area with some signs of actual civilisation rather than Fallout 3's desolate wasteland.

[Jason Wolf]

I have to agree, that's why I liked the courier so much, he wasn't a Vault character he/she was a character you created with tremendous freedom as long as you remember that you are a courier.

[Michelle davies]

Very true. I just don't like the idea of having nearly 2 centuries of no progress on the East Coast and whole new civilizations on the West Coast concurrent with one another makes a good deal of sense. It doesn't have to be believable in reality, just believable within the established reality of the game world, and I'm not getting that with this new trailer.

[Prisca Lacour]

I'm ridiculously excited and I love Fallout more than any other series but this is going to be just like Skyrim; A mile wide and an inch deep.