December 2, 2015 1:05 PM EST
thanks for the responses guys! I'm going to try to respond in one go to everyone because I'm getting a general consensus from your posts. Now that I've read your comments, I think my post was lacking in details I should have went into. First off, I agree with you all to an extent, especially Bethesda going into a field they are not use to and trying something knew with voice characters. The story made me very emotional. (I want to put a SPOILER ALERT for anyone that is going to further read my comment). Making my character look like me, have my name, and having Codsworth say my name made me very immersed with that one specific character which was my first play through. In my opinion, this is one of the best stories in a game I have ever come across. I couldn't help feeling attached NPCs and followers. During my first play through, I was totally immersed. These were my decisions, and my views and my choices that I would make. But my choices for this game effected me for my first character that I made my own. When I fist saw Shaun, I thought to myself "this old fool has my eyes! huh... not your average looking mad scientist game villain... Why doe he look like me though?!" ( I actually shot "father" and tried to get my synth son who I thought was my real son out of there but then realized it was a mistake so reloaded. But even then, you could actually totally go with that option and the game continues which I found amazing.) So after I found out Shaun was my own son... I thought to myself, "dear God, its my son!" I was completely immersed the whole way through on my first play through. It also effected my relationships I had with my "friends". But that's what had me ponder a bit, I thought of these NPCs as my friends. Especially Nick Valentine. In fact, I was so emotionally attached to the idea as nick being a friend that when I sided with the institute, I couldn't face him... I felt ashamed for what I believed, that he was just a robot... A slave, meant for experimental purposes and nothing more. it took me 2 weeks of playing (and after playing with him with the other characters I made) to get the courage to talk to him on the character that was me. And when I did, I felt even more hurt and ashamed because I felt like I betrayed a friend. But there was no other choice I could make! how could I betray my own son?! how could I destroy his legacy! how could I reject the gift where his only chance to show he had love for me was to leave everything he had for me. So I was very immersed my first time around with the story Bethesda created. But after creating my second character, because I like to create multiple characters to role play... It felt off. I did a sarcastic playthrough railroad agent with my second play through. (after writing this I realized my problem might be I got too attached to my first character and his decisions so that might be the main issue for me why I don't feel immersed). With my second character, it still felt like it was this one person. The first character I created. And I honestly blame it on the voice and the options. I started to realize, its still the same. These options all lead to one goal and it feels like the same choices from my first play through. Minus the big choices like deciding which factions to join and the "yes or no" ultimatums you come across. It felt like it was still the same person. Not only did it break my immersion for my second character, but also for my first as I started to realize... This isn't my voice. This isn't how I would respond or how I would say this. Its kind of the thing with Commander Shepard where I can get immersed because right off the bat I know this is Commander Shepard and this is his mission. Right now, in this game, I am playing as Commander Shepard. Same with the Witcher series as well. This is Geralt of Rivia and I am doing his quest!. But like I said, I don't want another "third person" RPG, meaning this is a predefined role I must play and make his or her choices. I wanted an original Bethesda game where I can make a character and use my imagination to decide what this character is like. With the voice, it feels like someone else's identity. I agree with Phil when he mentioned the dialogue has always not been so good with the options.. But I think it comes down to how vivid your imagination is. Me, I have a very vivid imagination, so its probably easier for me to imagine my characters roles. But with the voicing... It makes it predefined. It makes it feel like this is someone else and their choices. Which I wouldn't mind if I wasn't so use to Bethesda making immersive "create your own character/life" games. But I guess it comes all comes down to personal preference. The thing with not caring about anything else but the story, I felt that too at first, but the more I discovered on my own the more I started to realize Bethesda did this on purpose. I think instead of trying to get the game to force you to explore, they leave it totally up to the player to find out on their own. For example, like karver mentioned, I didn't really know about the synth too much or what they were about. I just went with the story and after I finished I felt that was that, I'm done. But when I made other characters I started to discover that the story is spread out through the whole world of the game. with my first character, I had formed the opinion, "The institute isn't all that bad, they haven't done anything TERRIBLY wrong under the leadership of Shaun. They kind of are the best hope for humanity with all this superior technology they have. Synths are just robots!" But it wasn't until I forced myself to explore with my second character that I started to find things interesting. (I'd like to put another spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't discovered some things on their own and would like to) The institute isn't really trying to save humanity, they're trying to save themselves. They've massacred whole towns including children over stupid misunderstandings on their end, being merciless and careless. Not only that, but they have been infecting the populous with their strand of the FEV virus making the super mutants run freely. I couldn't help feeling disgusted and that everyone wasn't being paranoid like the institute made it seem. These people had legitimate concerns and hatred for what the institute has done. It's the same with the other factions as well. It's actually hard to discover some key things without doing multiple play throughs. (or at least reading or watching online). So I think the game totally leaves it up to the player to decide to branch off from the story if they want. But I have to admit, the game doesn't seem to give you a reason to. You have to discover it totally on your own. I liked finding out about Preston Garvey and how the minute men were destroyed. It actually goes into full detail throughout the world on how they got to that point where you needed to save them. Also, I definitely agree it feels like fallout 3.5 or even Skyrim: Fallout Edition. But Honestly I think it has more to do with the industry and console limitations. (Sorry that my response doesn't have separated paragraphs and my have typos. I'm a bit tired and I got lazy lol )