Am I the only one that is disappointed by the lack of marriage in Fallout 4? In my opinion, the marriage system in Skyrim was pretty dicey, but it existed. In Skyrim, there was no real personal connection with your spouse other than the fact that you had to do some kind of minor side quest for them. In many ways, it's almost like they made a really in-depth marriage system in Fallout 4, but stopped it right before the actual finale. They chose to go with a Bioware type romance system.

There was actually some backstory and depth to the companions in the Commonwealth, and I felt more and more connected with them the more that I got to learn about their past. The current romance system is the perfect build up to eventually marrying a companion. There are even wedding rings in the game for crying out loud! What do we get for all those hard fought Charisma checks and flirtation? An XP buff whenever we sleep with them. If you're not going to give me a marriage system, at least give me a legitimate perk that makes sense, no matter how small. Like doing 5 or 10% more damage when your lover is traveling with you. Something like that.

I think that they had a perfect opportunity to implement something like this. In Skyrim we had spouses that you're completely disconnected from and in Fallout we have deep characters that you can romance but not marry. Am I just reading too much into this, or is there actual grounds to this argument?

I find romance in games, especially in Bethesda games not necessary. Marriage and romance might be a nice little bonus for some people, but I imagine it was low on Bethesda's list on what they would consider important to the game.

Personally I like that there was a lack of marriage in Fallout 4. The whole premise of the game is a man finding his son to avenge the death of his wife. To remarry, when you are wearing the wedding ring from the start, to me, feels kind of like a betrayal to her memory. The whole relationship status in Fallout 4 doesnt make sense.

To anwser your question however, to romance Preston, I just need to keep making stuff. Thats not deep or rewarding character development. You just do things for the characters before they give you a tragic backstory of how they got here, then you persuade them to be with you. It is truly pointless as a system.

In a RPG game where you role play, it would be nice to have a marriage option. Fallout 2 had marriage if I remember right. Would have liked the option for Fallout 3 and New Vegas as well.

@"Hoppyhead" You're right, there was a quest where you could get married in Fallout 2. I really can understand not having it in for Fallout 3 and NV, but I kind of expected it in 4 because they had already had a system in place from Skyrim that they could expand upon.

@"2pacDre" The whole betrayal of Nora's memory is actually a really good explanation that I would gladly accept if it weren't for the extreme amount of people that you can have sex with in the game But seriously, it was easy to just spam likable actions and build up affinity. And at least they all have a backstory. Some obviously more interesting than others. It's a lot better than "Follow me, carry my stuff, never say a word to me" followers.

When Fallout 4 was coming out, I kind of thought about it would have most of the same features of Skyrim, and the marriage was one of the things I thought it would have. I dont mind it not being there but i guess having the option available can be a good thing also. Like one of the people said above, I thought they diddnt add it because you were already married in game, as to being loyal to your original wife since you just see she dies right when you get unfrozen in the cryo freezers.

in Fallout 4 you can even build your own house now, so the Marriage Stuff could go really well. Maybe they didn't implement it because of your dead spouse, but it would be a nice feature indeed

People keep talking about having a dead spouse, but they forget to realize:
1.People move on and get remarried all the time.
2.People like to play jerk characters and cheating is a thing.
3.some people like roleplaying as someone else.
I'm actually suprised they didn't put in marriage. I'd say "well it's the post apocalypse, nobody has time for that", but a robot literally marries a man in diamond city so that's not really an excuse. Hopefully there will be a mod for it.

Well I do think its unnecessary for a marriage in the Fallout world because you know,its the apocalypse. buutt this is a roleplaying game just as @hoppyhead said and this would be (says in a mxr voice) "immersive". Beth won't PROBABLY put this in the next Fallout game but hey modders can make new npcs that can be your spouse and even be a companion.

For me, Marriage could and could not work in Fallout 4. Its not like anyones forcing you to marry Piper, or that Dreamboat Hancock, but at the same time you did just see your spouse get brutally murdered. You should have the option to remarry, if you have the option to bed half of your companions (Or all of them, giggidy).
I think the grieving widower ship sails as soon as you decide "Damn Magnolia is Fine, and I dont just mean those vocal cords."
If you want to use the "My wife is dead" argument, than you cant go around bedding everyone you can, ya jerk. I mean that just makes it worse, that you wont marry again but sleep with whoever you want.
Finishing up, I am surprised with the lack of marriage in the game, and would like to see a mod to fix that somehow. But thats just me.

I remember before fallout 4 came out bethesda talked about how companions react to you wearing your wedding ring and I have never seen any companion react to it, also I have actually never tried giving a companion Noras weddding ring. Does giving the other ring have any implications?