Quakecon 2015: Fallout 4 details

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The tiniest bit of hope that I've got is that companions will not be interested in romance with the character until some sort of questline is complete. Maybe karma requirements as well.

...It'll never be more than a five minute affair though.
 
While this game looks like a steaming pile of excrement that I'm not even going to pirate, can someone explain to me their opposition for a romance subplot in the (any?) game? Of all the things announced I thought that was a progression to the series - role playing the happier sides of life and the element of commitments influencing your decisions is something not too explored in gaming, and I don't understand why. Other art forms do it well, and do it tastefully.

The number one argument I hear against it is "you don't actually feel the relationship so it's just hollow and false, i.e. a pointless feature". But it's not me, it's my character. I'm also not a psychopath that mass murders people on a whim, but sometimes my characters are. Why can't my character also fall in love with someone and have them feel the same way? It's yet another element to consider when making decisions.
 
Personally I am just against the feature in Fo4 because Bethesda sucks at writting and this kind of thing has almost become an obligatory one for RPGs thansk to Bioware (who also suck at writting romances). They will probably do it like the Willow companion mod does it and it's just about feeding them treats until they want to fuck you. In Skyrim the whole marriage "mechanic" consisted entirely of wearing a pendant and asking random people to marry you, they didn't explore rammifications of inter species marriages in the setting and the married character became a creepy stepford wife. I always say if you aren't good at writting romance just don't include that element in your story.
 
Walpknut said:
Personally I am just against the feature in Fo4 because Bethesda sucks at writting and this kind of thing has almost become an obligatory one for RPGs thansk to Bioware (who also suck at writting romances). They will probably do it like the Willow companion mod does it and it's just about feeding them treats until they want to fuck you.
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Well, you're probably right. I guess I should take my insanity pills more often, for some reason I thought that it would be executed competently and in-depth, but it would most likely just be a reputation grind. I was thinking an expanded history system like with Arcade Gannon and Craig Boone that also included perks and heavy influence toward and away certain quest paths.

But you're right, we're talking about Bethesda here. It will probably amount to a necklace made of depleted uranium slugs, since "the wasteland is so destructive people don't have time for traditional courtship" or some cheap nonsense.


In Skyrim the whole marriage "mechanic" consisted entirely of wearing a pendant and asking random people to marry you, they didn't explore rammifications of inter species marriages in the setting and the married character became a creepy stepford wife. I always say if you aren't good at writting romance just don't include that element in your story.
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I'd take the opposite tack and say since Beth isn't good at writing ANYTHING they might as well include whatever they like since it will all be embarrassingly bad. Might be able to use your imagination and make more detail but still that's pushing it. I feel sorry for the people who actually will have to put up with the crap.
 
Vault17 said:
While this game looks like a steaming pile of excrement that I'm not even going to pirate, can someone explain to me their opposition for a romance subplot in the (any?) game? Of all the things announced I thought that was a progression to the series - role playing the happier sides of life and the element of commitments influencing your decisions is something not too explored in gaming, and I don't understand why. Other art forms do it well, and do it tastefully.

The number one argument I hear against it is "you don't actually feel the relationship so it's just hollow and false, i.e. a pointless feature". But it's not me, it's my character. I'm also not a psychopath that mass murders people on a whim, but sometimes my characters are. Why can't my character also fall in love with someone and have them feel the same way? It's yet another element to consider when making decisions.
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Go try out the so called "Romance" in Skyrim.

It makes no difference and is actually quite weird. The weirdness can be excused, though, since Skyrim is fantasy and I am unfamilliar with the TES lore, but it really makes no difference except changed dialogue and your spouse somehow instantly becomes a merchant.

Also, some of the.. hmm.. how do I put it? Ways to get married are weird. I should do more than just cut wood to earn the favor of a woman, for example.

That link about QuakeCon shows that it is more interesting, but I am not really sure. I mean, on one hand, the meeting with the girl can be a normal meeting and then you'd be able to use your perks to sweet talk her. On the other hand it can be like "Hey, you saved me and brought me here, lets fuck!"
 
Mohamed2001 said:
It makes no difference and is actually quite weird. The weirdness can be excused, though, since Skyrim is fantasy and I am unfamilliar with the TES lore, but it really makes no difference except changed dialogue and your spouse somehow instantly becomes a merchant.
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As someone who loves fantasy I can assure you, its just bad writting on Beths side.

Chromevod said:
The tiniest bit of hope that I've got is that companions will not be interested in romance with the character until some sort of questline is complete. Maybe karma requirements as well.

...It'll never be more than a five minute affair though.
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Most probably you will have to buy them some amulet before they allow you to marry them. Collar for Dogmeat though.
 
Well, if it's anything like Mass Effect (which they're definitely aping from), there's going to be a lot of accidental romance.

You know, because everyone knows that romance works by simply being kind to someone until they realize that they should have sex with you.

Which is why you have to straight up tell them you don't love them, just seconds after they pour their heart out to you.

BECAUSE THAT IS HOW RELATIONSHIPS WORK IN REAL LIFE.
 
I can imagine the dialogue.

Player: Ups! Is that my Dveller enterring your Vault right now!

Accidental Romance achievement unlocked!
 
generalissimofurioso said:
Well, if it's anything like Mass Effect (which they're definitely aping from), there's going to be a lot of accidental romance.

You know, because everyone knows that romance works by simply being kind to someone until they realize that they should have sex with you.

Which is why you have to straight up tell them you don't love them, just seconds after they pour their heart out to you.

BECAUSE THAT IS HOW RELATIONSHIPS WORK IN REAL LIFE.
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Metro Last Light was actually quite funny that way.

In the beginning of the game:

"Hey, don't look at my ass! It's out of your reach."

Mid game part 1:


"I am so so sorry for leaving you, etc"

Mid game part 2:

"Lets fuck!"

Obviously it wasn't like that, and it was MUCH more realistic than Bethesda's Skyrim marriage thingy (dunno about ME, didn't play it), but still.. pretty funny. What made it even funnier is how Artyom is just silent. (No, I am not saying it's stupid, just funny)
 
In New Vegas you could fuck Benny by throwing some rather blunt and classless inuendo at him with the Black Widow perk until he got the weirdest boner of his life.... and then you could kill him in his sleep. That's the only romance I accept in Fallout.
 
Walpknut said:
In New Vegas you could fuck Benny by throwing some rather blunt and classless inuendo at him with the Black Widow perk until he got the weirdest boner of his life.... and then you could kill him in his sleep. That's the only romance I accept in Fallout.
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What, no shot gun weddings?
 
Walpknut said:
In New Vegas you could fuck Benny by throwing some rather blunt and classless inuendo at him with the Black Widow perk until he got the weirdest boner of his life.... and then you could kill him in his sleep. That's the only romance I accept in Fallout.
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That was hilarious too.

I wonder how he would die though. No gunshots, nothing. Did the Courier shove the lighter in his ass, like the Khans said?
 
Walpknut said:
In New Vegas you could fuck Benny by throwing some rather blunt and classless inuendo at him with the Black Widow perk until he got the weirdest boner of his life.... and then you could kill him in his sleep. That's the only romance I accept in Fallout.
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I don't know, banging the neglected and chronically horny Mrs Bishop just to get to her safe is quite sensible too, don't you think? That's true post-apo romance right there! :D
 
Walpknut said:
Personally I am just against the feature in Fo4 because Bethesda sucks at writting and this kind of thing has almost become an obligatory one for RPGs thansk to Bioware (who also suck at writting romances). They will probably do it like the Willow companion mod does it and it's just about feeding them treats until they want to fuck you. In Skyrim the whole marriage "mechanic" consisted entirely of wearing a pendant and asking random people to marry you, they didn't explore rammifications of inter species marriages in the setting and the married character became a creepy stepford wife. I always say if you aren't good at writting romance just don't include that element in your story.
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The (not so) funny thing is, that BioWare actually could, and did, write a very good romance plot in KotOR for Bastila and the player. I think it actually is the best written and implemented romance story in any RPG I've played. At the very least it is the most memorable for me. It felt natural and well integrated with the rest of the game's story, but still wasn't forced on you. Also, it never had time to progress very far, which is something I believe is important for it to work well in a game. However, these days when every follower and half the NPC's in a game need to be a potential love interest for the sake of Diversity (a total of 12 "targets" were mentioned for F4), nothing like that would even be possible, supposing the developers still were capable of good writing, which Beth obviously isn't. As for BioWare, I haven't played anything of theirs since the first Dragon Age, but the romance mechanics in it was anything but well done (like many other aspects of the game).

Moreover, it wouldn't surprise me if F4's romance implementation turn out to be more simplistic and less in depth than in the Willow Companion mod -- Skyrim's sure as hell was. And that's still a fact even when factoring in that it's a lot easier judging a $20 million plus tripple-A title critically, than a mod a single person made for free.
 
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@Askorti, and a chance to actually get a child, at least the game leaves it somewhat ambigous. I always love to imagine that the Courier is somehow an offspring of that ... conection, at least my courier was :look:

If the Chosen One is strong or attractive enough, when spoken to, Mrs. Bishop will ask them to accompany her to her chambers for a drink. Of course, this little meeting ends in bed. If the Chosen One does not have a condom in the inventory, he will impregnate Mrs. Bishop and trigger an ending for New Reno, where his son takes over the family and rules it until he dies in the age of seventy-three (2315), never knowing his real father.
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Crni Vuk said:
@Askorti, and a chance to actually get a child, at least the game leaves it somewhat ambigous. I always love to imagine that the Courier is somehow an offspring of that ... conection, at least my courier was :look:

If the Chosen One is strong or attractive enough, when spoken to, Mrs. Bishop will ask them to accompany her to her chambers for a drink. Of course, this little meeting ends in bed. If the Chosen One does not have a condom in the inventory, he will impregnate Mrs. Bishop and trigger an ending for New Reno, where his son takes over the family and rules it until he dies in the age of seventy-three (2315), never knowing his real father.
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I think that that son is the same one who is chasing that singer at Novac. I think.
 
Hardboiled Android said:
Plus, Nobark is the Chosen One.
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Nonsense, he was the Vault 11 survivor! Seriously though, why were there so many Vaults in New Vegas? Good lord, Vegas got TWO vaults (3 and 21 respectively) and all Los Angeles got was a demonstration vault, not meant to be used!

Crni Vuk said:
@Askorti, and a chance to actually get a child, at least the game leaves it somewhat ambigous. I always love to imagine that the Courier is somehow an offspring of that ... conection, at least my courier was :look:
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My Courier, Albert, was the son of the Chosen One after he established New Arroyo. He isn't very popular in town nowadays, especially since he ran off and stole the holy Vault 13 jumpsuit. XD

Imagine how awkward it was when Bruce Isaac said that he 'plowed' my half brother's daughter.
 
Hardboiled Android said:
Plus, Nobark is the Chosen One.
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I know that this can be an interesting joke to consider, but there's no actual way No-Bark is the Choosen One. The Fallout 2 ending says:

After the Enclave's destruction, the refugees of Arroyo and Vault 13 resettled, building a new community with the aid of the Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Finding themselves hundreds of miles from their Vault, the members of Vault 13 chose to join the villagers in establishing a new community, and their technical expertise, combined with the villagers survival skills, allowed the new settlement to grow and prosper. Two generations of the same bloodline were re-united, and their savior, the Chosen One, became Elder, presiding over the village in the years to come.

The Choosen One couldn't head all the way to Novac while s/he was busy running a settlement, and it'd be even more difficult to wander the wastes at old age with so many things to take care of. (If No-Bark is anybody of note, it's more likely he's the survivor from Vault 11 than that he's the Choosen One.)
 
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