LET'S DISCUSS FALLOUT 4 - SPOILERS (OBVIOUSLY)

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Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
My qualm is it makes them feel less like people, which makes them less interesting as characters. I'm not saying pansexual people aren't people or that they don't exist, just that it feels a little "too convenient" that every humanoid you can travel with happens to be pansexual. It's rather immersion breaking, to me.

More annoyingly, I just lost Paladin Danse. Apparently, for quite a while. Whatever you do, do not send him to Boston Airport. Serious bug there.
As someone who is pan, I'm actually happy that you're not locked out of romances just because they happen to swing one way or another. It's actually nice to see a game cater to such a thing. More games could learn from it.

If you like, you could look at it like alternate universes. In this one x character just so happens to be homosexual. In this universe they're straight. And in this one that you never bother with them, you never figure out because it's none of your business. ^.^

I'm gonna do more LPing today since at least that one allows me to see my pip-boy.
See, that actually is a good reason not to have romances in the game at all, and yeah, I thought about that when I first heard there were possible love interests, but I guess you could always play it off like 'oh, player was having an affair before the destruction, it just wasn't shown' or 'player-san is very practical and realises that they have to move on with their life' or even 'all this roaming equates to much time passing', so I guess it depends on how you choose to RP it.

I'm not sure if I'll romance anyone but I'm kinda glad the option is there in case I find someone that I do like. I'm in the 'move on with your life' camp. Just because they're gone doesn't mean that loving again is forgetting them or betraying them, after all.

It does harsh the feels trip that the start provided, though.
Oh, that is a nice name for a sniper rifle! I'm not really specced into any one niche, really. I'm still just experimenting with an 'everything' type of character so... XD

My next version will be a clothes-only one, who doesn't wear armour or power armour. Wonder if I'll be able to get past that fight in Concord at all. XD Maybe I'll just slip around it... I might also make them only use one weapon only. That should be 'fun'.
It's not like romancing is mandatory (it isn't is it?) so by not doing it you can always just pretend that it's not an option. I guess in that way it facilitates roleplaying. All the options are open but you (the player) chooses which ones are viable.

This is completely unrelated but I just remember reading about player choice in Starcraft 2 where at one point you could either choose to trust someone or choose not to. If you chose to trust the guy it would later show that the guy was trustworthy and if you chose not to trust them it would later show that you were correct in not trusting them. I rather like this idea of a non-objective world. So in FO4 if you choose to same-sex someone they might be all for it but if you choose not to it might not be anything they are interested in.

Similarly the game probably facilitates both the player who is hung up on their dead spouse who will never love again and the player who thinks that, after all it's been a couple of hundred years it's time to get over him/her.
I've always thought the 'make everyone bisexual!' route is sort of cheap, as well. Sexuality can be a huge part of an individual identity that that shouldn't be glossed over even if some player choices get left out.

I really respect the way Dragon Age Inquisition did it: all of the romanceable characters are into different things and even races; Dorian is a gay man, Sera is a lesbian woman with added drama if you're also an elf, Cullen is a straight man but isn't into Qunari, and Iron Bull is straight up pansexual and is down for anything.

It makes each character different, just like in real life. One of the biggest elements of player choice is the fact that you can't do everything, and some choices are going to lock you out of others, and there's nothing wrong with that. In real life everyone you meet isn't going to be pansexual, and you have to respect that. Why shouldn't a game aiming for character realism be the same?

author=Sated
I'm trying to work out why the main character, who recently saw their spouse die and had their child stolen away, would even consider starting a relationship with someone they'd just met in a post-nuclear world that they're still trying to get to grips with. So although what Max said makes some sense, that's not even the first or the biggest problem with romantic relationships in this game.

You've never met someone who hops into a new relationship right after one tragically ends, perhaps out of grief or not wanting to be alone?
Ciel
an aristocrat of rpgmaker culture
367
I like the DA:I thing as well, and even Mass Effect is nice - when every character exists at the service of the protagonist/player then I can't take anything seriously.

I want characters to not like me, not be interested in me, or whatever else as befits the character's personality.

Please don't bend everything into personal wish fulfillment as ultimate savior of the wasteland/galaxy/planet so I can feel like the COOLEST behind my computer screen
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Hey, I said that Nate was the last man that Anne would ever be with. She's very hung up on her dead husband still. But the ladies are a different story...she was straight before but maybe she could find something special with Piper.

even 'all this roaming equates to much time passing', so I guess it depends on how you choose to RP it.


Also keep in mind depending on your play style several weeks or several months might pass between your husband/wife's death and the start of a new romance. I mean, I'm nearly at in-game thanksgiving (over a month has passed)€€ with my oldest PC, and none of my PCs have started a romance yet.

If you like, you could look at it like alternate universes. In this one x character just so happens to be homosexual. In this universe they're straight. And in this one that you never bother with them, you never figure out because it's none of your business. ^.^


This is more how I'm forced to think about it. And honestly the (truly brilliant and awesome) way they handled how you pick whether to play a guy or a girl sort of FIRMLY establishes it as "alternate universes" anyway.

Obviously the worldline where Nate died leaving behind his widower, the PC is different from the worldline where Nora died leaving behind her widow, the PC. And I found that very interesting.

This is completely unrelated but I just remember reading about player choice in Starcraft 2 where at one point you could either choose to trust someone or choose not to. If you chose to trust the guy it would later show that the guy was trustworthy and if you chose not to trust them it would later show that you were correct in not trusting them. I rather like this idea of a non-objective world. So in FO4 if you choose to same-sex someone they might be all for it but if you choose not to it might not be anything they are interested in.


I hate this kind of quantum state bullshit with every fiber of my being.

Anyway no F4 for me today. I feel like I'm in freaking withdrawal.
I would be playing Fallout 4 right now, except... someone gifted me Witcher III, which means I've another world to lose myself in too. Oh dear, spoilt for choices. >.<;

I really want to play more Fallout 4 instead, though, so I might just do that anyway. XD
I understand the argument against being able to romance pretty much everybody, but it's a really easy stance to take when you're straight since it doesn't mean such a large, and potentially fun, part of the game is closed off to you in certain ways based on your whether or not you play as your actual gender. I don't think calling it lazy is really fair considering it helps being inclusive.

Just... as a media that can be enjoyed for escapism, I can get behind encouraging games that instate strict sexualities for its characters because it really adds to them! I'm not behind discouraging inclusiveness however. I don't think every game should have to state specific sexualities or always avoid power plays. It really just seems to give room for different kinds of role-playing.

Keep in mind I agree it's best story-wise if the characters have specific sexualities, but I don't believe it adds so much that inclusiveness will kill the atmosphere more than it adds to player enjoyment.
Honestly, if you think about it, it's the wasteland where you're not sure that you're gonna survive to see tomorrow. Maybe everyone is getting love where-ever they can and finally got over the whole hang-up with sexuality and all. It's possible that in such a social environment, pan-sexuality or bi-sexuality is most common since humanity is estranged from each other. Maybe gay and straight are a lot less common, a reverse of today's society and culture.

I think I'm gonna believe this now. It works for me~



Ran into my second bug today. Fast travelled back to Sanctuary and just hung on the loading screen for over an hour (I'm very patient and I had some stuff to do in the meantime). Luckily I saved not long before, but it was a little meh.

I have now become the General for the Minutemen. Go me! Well, go Mira at least. General Mira. Has a nice ring to it, I think. I also realised I have over 1000 .38 bullets and no guns that use them. Damn! Thinking about selling it all at a shop and just buying bullets that I can use. Also thinking I need to find my way to Diamond city so I can hit up shops that have more than one or two bullet types in them. ^.^;

This game has a lot of content all over the place. Ran into a church where a priest was preaching to feral ghouls. He and his 'friends' attacked me so I had to put that fella down. It always confuses me when I see a named NPC and they attack me, though. Like, you've got a name! Why won't you be nice and not try hurt me? :<

Bet if I'd made friends with some ghoul society or something he wouldn't have hated me. :<

Also went for a jaunt up one of the highway sections and ran into this group called Gunners. I may or may not have decimated them completely just so I could steal their laser pistols and loot their turrets. Fun times~
Don't worry. I'm sure it won't take long til the BIG BREASTS, NAKED WOMENS and GIANT DONGS mod is out, if it isn't already. ^.^


orz
I'm going to be honest though: Dog > romantic interest
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
I understand the argument against being able to romance pretty much everybody, but it's a really easy stance to take when you're straight since it doesn't mean such a large, and potentially fun, part of the game is closed off to you in certain ways based on your whether or not you play as your actual gender. I don't think calling it lazy is really fair considering it helps being inclusive.

Just... as a media that can be enjoyed for escapism, I can get behind encouraging games that instate strict sexualities for its characters because it really adds to them! I'm not behind discouraging inclusiveness however. I don't think every game should have to state specific sexualities or always avoid power plays. It really just seems to give room for different kinds of role-playing.

Keep in mind I agree it's best story-wise if the characters have specific sexualities, but I don't believe it adds so much that inclusiveness will kill the atmosphere more than it adds to player enjoyment.


My being straight is totally freaking irrelevant here. Like if Piper was a lesbian and my straight male character couldn't romance her that would be an IMPROVEMENT in my opinion because the character would feel more like a character.