/uj It kind of goes against the spirit of the character, though, doesn't it?

There are five types of RPG characters I can think of (I haven't played many RPGs, so my examples are of course limited):

• Those that you have no say in how you want to control them (Final Fantasy games, Cloud will always behave like Cloud, Zidane will always behave like Zidane, and Vaan will always behave as the annoying guy he is).
• Those that have a huge backstory, and you are expected to behave as them or behave within the personality of the character (Geralt, he will always behave like Geralt but I have a say in some aspects of his personality).
• Those that have a set protagonist, but with no backstory, and are free to do whatever you want (Gothic's Ponytail Dude, he has a set appearance and a set voice, but not more than that).
• Those that don't have a set protagonist, and are free to do whatever you want (in theory), and the game may reflect your actions better or worse than others. Good examples are Fallout, others game that fit this idea but are kind of worse in this regard are the 3D Elder Scrolls games, and Deus Ex. Makes sense in the TES games though, as you are always the "hero of prophecy".
• And those that have a set protagonist of sorts, and are free to do whatever you want, even if it goes against this protagonist's backstory and personality (FO4).

There really isn't a correct definition of "role-playing videogame". In The Witcher, you are free to roleplay within the confines of Geralt's character. In a Fallout game, you are free to do whatever you like since you are basically given a blank slate. Yet in FO4, you are decidedly given a more or less set character and that's when the flaws show up.

I believe that's the real issue with FO4: Bethesda chose the middle ground instead of going for the extremes that would have worked correctly. It didn't gave us a Geralt-style of character, but it didn't give us a blank slate either. And unlike Ponytail Dude from Gothic, this character of ours (Nora or Nate) has some visible personality traits before you make it to the post-apocalypse section of the game. And the "you can't be bad, it's a terrible RPG" is a terrible argument, what people should really say "you can't be bad, it's a terrible Fallout game", which I agree with. Though I don't know how true that is in FO4, as I haven't played the game past the intro section.

My two cents, of course.