Given the trajectory of the series (and Bethesda games in general) I have this creeping fear that it's going to be even more watered down than Skyrim is. It seems like with every game Bethesda releases they strip away RPG elements and dialogue and "streamline" everything, effectively making their beloved RPG franchises into action-adventure games like they did with Fallout 4. What are the odds they turn it around and actually make the excellent first person open world RPG the series deserves?

My dream is for TES to get it's own New Vegas, a return-to-form RPG from an outside company that actually knows how to write an interesting video game

  • weirddodgestratus [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Minor spoilers for the beginning of FO4

    spoiler

    If you pick a female character in FO4 you start the game as a lawyer and mom/wife in the pre-war world. Within roughly 20 minutes of starting the game you hop into a suit of power armor that's just laying around and mow down hordes of enemies culminating in going toe to toe with a deathclaw at level 2.

    :joker-gaming:

    • jabrd [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      iirc she's also canonically in the army reserves but yea it's weak writing

      • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        IIRC "Nate" is a veteran of the Anchorage campaign and basically has a paid speaking gig for the military, "Nora" is a lawyer.

        • jabrd [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Right but I also think Nora is in the reserves in addition to being a lawyer so she has some military training. I'm assuming in universe lore reasoning is that the US has become such a military state the expectation is all civilians take part in military training/join the reserves in case red China invades the mainland

      • weirddodgestratus [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Overall the game wasn't really that bad, but the beginning seriously sucks in my opinion and it kind of ruins the tone for the rest of it. I don't know why Bethesda can't just give you a more simple, ambiguous start that allows you to craft your own backstory for your character, drops you in the game, then gives you an interesting plot thread to follow or just allows you to make your own adventure in their open world if you so desire.

        I think that they think (perhaps correctly) that most gamers have no attention span and need some kind of instant gratification to get them into the game.

        • bigboopballs [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          "ambiguity bad" - dumb corporations who want to appeal to the lowest common denominator at all costs