Why We're Worried About Fallout 4

Bethesda is one of those game developers that can seemingly do no wrong. The Elder Scrolls series is continually improving, and the Fallout series has been impressive since Fallout 3. The marketing for Fallout 4 has been impressive, too, and it appears as though we might be in for a treat come November. But we're slightly worried about Fallout 4 and what could go wrong. While most have thrown their bottlecaps at Bethesda already, we're waiting to see if the game is even going to work properly when it's shipped...

There are rumors that the game world will be three times bigger than the one in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Skyrim left us feeling happy, as there was a lot to explore and discover. But if the world were any bigger, it could become too daunting. A map that's too big could make it almost impossible to see and do everything the game has to offer. What's more, it's easier to get lost in a map that big.

Bethesda claims that Fallout 4 will tell a much better story by including things like a voiced protagonist and more cinematic moments. Fallout 3 allowed you to establish the character's entire backstory, thus making it a better experience. We're a bit worried that Fallout 4 is going to tell its own story instead of letting us craft our own.

Fallout 3 was littered with mechanical hiccups, glitches, game freezes at erratic moments, and many other technical problems. The same problems were there in Fallout: New Vegas. With Fallout 4 expected to be such a big game, it seems inevitable that the game will be filled with bugs. Sure, some of those glitches are unavoidable in open world games, but hopefully Bethesda won't let so many bugs into the retail release so that it ruins the experience entirely.

Well-written quests are vitally important to a game like Fallout 4. There were 94 quests in Fallout 3, and New Vegas had over 150. The trend is clearly going up, but will the trend continue with Fallout 4? And we want quest variation, too. We don't want quests that boil down to, "go here, kill a number of things, and then bring a thing back to the quest-giver."

A lot of the dialogue in Fallout 3 was tough to get through, and the characters weren't all that memorable. After a certain point, conversing with NPCs felt more like a chore than anything else. The dialogue in Skyrim wasn't any less of a chore, although the characters were a bit more notable. Hopefully, Bethesda can hit the sweet spot with dialogue and NPCs so that we're not dealing with bland characters over and over again.

The inclusion of radio stations in Fallout 3 and New Vegas was a smart move by Bethesda. However, with the new technologies of the Xbox One and PS4, gamers are expecting much more as far as playlists are concerned. We don't want to hear the same Billie Holiday song over and over again during our travels. Fallout 4 needs an array of stations, genres, and DJ personas to keep us company in our lonely journey through the desolate wasteland.

Bethesda claims that the world is massive and there will be plenty to do in it. We don't doubt Bethesda for a second, but how much content is too much? You can customize your character, armor, and weapons, as well as craft and build structures. There's also the special combat style, leveling system, and training your canine companion. It might be too much for us to handle all at once. Bethesda has noted that you can go through the entirety of Fallout 4 without crafting a single thing, but the idea of not using what could be a key element to your character's progression doesn't seem right. Will the weapons scattered across the world match the quality and power of the ones that can be crafted? Also, what are the crafting mats required for these items? Are we going to have to spend our time turning over every rock to find what we need?

As seen from many GIFs and gameplay videos taken from E3 2015, this upcoming iteration of Fallout is going to contain Power Armor. It looks to turn us into an Iron Man of sorts, complete with a jetpack. You know why Iron Man games don't work well? Because he's overpowered; it's nearly impossible to kill Iron Man. Could the introduction of power armor make things too easy—and ruin an otherwise great Fallout experience?