I'm ok with this !

@kubqo: I say play Fallout 3. The games starts out in a Vault. Don't quit until you leave the Vault and are well into the Wasteland. The game gets a lot more interesting then.

HYPE

Wasn't that basically Wasteland 2? I have it but haven't yet played it :P

My life can't begin till I get this game

Same engine with some new rendering stuff over the top, prepare for hilarious bugs (not sure I'd have it any other way).

Boy am I glad they rethought their Mojave wasteland return. Give me a metropolitan wasteland over a barren and empty desert any day.

Oh come on ...really? 2011?

@mmmslash: Unpopular with who? Hard core RPG fans and especially Fallout fans generally hate FO3. NV is better, but only because Obsidian massively improved the writing.

I'm keeping an open mind. If, as it kinda seems from the trailer, Bethesda hasn't done much with their tech, I'm worried. If they haven't improved their writing and quest design, I'll definitely take a pass.

• Battlefield 3
• Crysis 2
• The Witcher 2
• Deus Ex Human Revolution
• Arkham City

Those are all 2011, all look pretty sharp by this games standards if you ask me. The problem here is that the console manufacturers may have oversold the capabilities of these machines somewhat. We're never going to see the super insane technology leap that a lot of people were expecting, they're essentially just high spec PC's from 4 years years ago (exploiting the closed platform advantage to make better use of less powerful hardware).

The hype cannot be overestimated!

So stoked for this. Thanks for the great read Austin!

Well, I guess I actually have to find the time to retroactively complete FO:NV's DLC now *sarcastically burdened sigh*

Looks extremely promising, though, lack of Ron Perlman aside. If not for some of his recent tweets I'd have jumped to conclusions that he's no longer narrating. Probably hasty, though. Regardless, I'm curious as to what form the narrative will take, given a shown speaking protagonist and everything.

Also, that Protectron with the blinking eye-scanners, definitely got a Cylon vibe off of that for some reason.

Last but not least, I almost forgot to say welcome, Austin! I like your writing style, duder.

All I can say Jeff must be over the moon that this article is on Giant Bomb and Vinny and Alex deserve a milliion pats on the back for finding the right guy! Cannot wait to see the articles we get over E3!

@malice16: @zeik: Awesome good to know, thanks!

Will it be fun to play this time? Will it not be unbearably broken this time?

If so, I'm excited.

@slab64: Walking around and the first person you meet says "Who's a good doggy?"

You can respond with "Me" or "Me?" or "Who?" or "Not me"

Your choice will have unknown consequences later in the game.

Loving the onset of written articles lately!

@arbayer2: it was ron perlman http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Fallout-4-Gameplay-Trailer-Confirms-Boston-Setting-Ron-Perlman-72251.html

New vegas. Don't burn out on that style with Fallout 3; New Vegas has a much more richly-realized world and the story plays out in a lot of interesting, branching ways.

@assinass: Nah Wasteland 2 is not at all "the true" Fallout 1,2 sequel, spiritual or otherwise. If it were it would be a poor one mechanically and narratively and not a tonally correct one either. It has some elements from those games here and there, but is it's own little thing.

Loving these articles. Reminds me of early AV Club/The Dissolve.

I'm curious to know if there will be some sort of pre-war gameplay. Maybe as the set-up for character creation (playing your ancestors?) the same way the child birth was in 3.

Anyway, I didn't even need a trailer to be excited. Just the idea of more Fallout is enough for me, and more Bethesda for that matter.

It doesn't have to look good to be a good game. I'd had my fill of Fallout from F3 when NV came out, so I'll be happy to play a new one if it's any good. I'm not itching at the bit or anything.

Great article! Excited for this game.

I FORGOT THE BEST PART

THE AIRSHIPS

AIRSHIPS ARE ALWAYS THE BEST PART FOR ME

@flstyle: I'm not all that excited about having the player character be voice acted, regardless who it is.

I wasn't prepared to be as excited as I am for this. Did you see all those colours? Glorious, glorious colours.

One thing I hope they change from Fallout 3 was how the interiors looked the same. You find some cool looking building like the Chryslus tower and when you enter it's a let down because it looks just like random office building #27 looked next door.

@zeik: I remember playing Skyrim on Xbox360 and I was pretty much impressed by the graphics back then! It might've fallen short when compared to some high end PC titles, but it still looked pretty awesome.

I don't know if it's the art style or that they're missing some modern shading, but FO4 looks very 'gamey' to me compared to what we've been seeing in other open world games.

@dussck: Skyrim was the first time they made a game that resembled something competent looking, even if it's kinda laughable compared to what modders have done with it since.

But I'll take "gamey" over mediocre attempts at realism any day. Even The Witcher 3 has a stylistic edge to it that makes it more pleasant to look at than games that try to go full realism. I think people are finally coming around to the fact that "realistic graphics' aren't all it's cracked up to be.

Alright, we need to just address the elephant in the room: Is this going to be another busted open world game or not? If all they're doing is changing the setting and using a modified version of the old engine, I'm actually happier than if they started all over because that might mean a game that actually works when you buy it...

Full Disclosure: Every Bethesda game has been a busted POS at, and often for a while after, launch. No more free passes or "They don't know the hardware" (PS3 Skyrim says hi!) excuses. Make it work or no sale.

Harsh? Sure, but I can't be the only one tired of hearing undying support for a company that releases some seriously broken games.

Looking forward to this, looks great, never really got that far in Fallout 3 but i'm looking forward to this!

also it is great to have a quality news writer back on gb @austin_walker :D

@neozeon: Some people are willing to give somewhat of a pass on that stuff if they enjoy the game enough. Technically New Vegas was way more busted than any of Bethesda's stuff, but I still enjoyed it way more. That forgiveness starts to wane over time though. They'd have to do something pretty revolutionary for as many people to put up with that again.

@polekat: Oh, really? Man, I guess I haven't seen his non-Fallout roles enough, 'cause I was totally fooled on that one. Now I can hear it.

@zeik: Very true. Guess all the excuses people had ready for Skyrim at the time when I couldn't get the PS3 version to even run for more than an hour just wore me down. Oddly enough, I never had many problems with New Vegas beyond load times being the usual "too long."

Guess I lucked out that time around. FO3 was a nightmare though so it balances out I suppose.

As much as one could expect from a reveal trailer. Really hope Bethesda's using a newe engine for this one. As much as I loved Fallout 3, that game had a lot of technical issues. I think the people complaining about the graphics have a rosier memory of what the previous games looked like. They looked good, but it was more about the scope and scale of the open world than photo-realism. So excited!

I dunno... I disagree for sure. Played all their games many times over, including Skyrim on PS3 and later on PC and never from Morrowind through Fallout 3 have I been seriously bothered by any bug or performance issue. I just make back ups of my saves and then just play the game and enjoy the updates it receives over the months/years. It is what it is. All that said, in your shoes I'd definitely wait a few days or weeks after release and see what the word is. Previews will tell us a little and Reviews more but these games are so big and varied who knows what kind of bananas problems will pop up.

@zeik: Agree. Striving for realism should only continue when they are able to raytrace in realtime.

The other thing; at least Bethesda doesn't bullshit us with graphics they can't achieve in the final version!

@neozeon: The fact that they are not investing in a new engine seems crazy. They know the games they want to make by now, yet they are still using a poorly modified version of that POS Gamebryo engine. Everything is janky and feels cheap.

They just seem to get a pass because of the hype they create around their products. The blind fandom is staggering. I loved Morrowind and Oblivion (I know) but once Skyrim rolled around, it became pretty clear what the Bethesda formula was. The gameplay, the graphics, the quests were so poorly done in Skyrim.

After that huge disappointment, I have no interest in another one of those games until a real evolution takes place.

I couldn't care less about the graphics. As long as the universe and story give me the same feeling that NV did, I'll be happy. I know the writers on NV aren't coming back for this one, but I hope whoever is on the team is going to take inspiration from NV.

Jeez. I seriously do not understand why everyone is losing their shit over the graphics. I thought what was shown in the trailer was beautiful. It's not about the polygon count. It's about the worlds they build and populate.

Also, when did it become cool to hate on Bethesda games? Seems like this happened overnight.

@geraltitude: the fact that you can so casually mention making a lot of save backups when playing Bethesda games, like its this accepted norm that it's probably going to break at some point, is a real problem.

Despite what your experiences might have been with their games it's an established fact that Skyrim for PS3 was seriously busted and at some point they kinda just threw up their hands and said they can't fix it - and everyone kinda just accepted it. How insane is that??

That's actually a really interesting idea. Maybe as a sort of tutorial to show you the controls? Running around to pick up emergency supplies...heading for a shelter on your map...etc.

I am hopeful that we'll see fewer console issues because the architecture is so similar to a PC now. The PS3 caused a lot of problems for some developers due to it's bizarre design.

Good point!

I'm really into Austin's writing style already. Also I love that this is a fully fleshed-out article with lore theory and speculations, not just a two paragraph announcement. Which I guess is precisely why the guys hired you. Love it.

Also, I'm very excited about this particular slice of News Pie.

Looking forward to post apocalyptic southies roaming the wasteland in search of some wickahd nukah colah