First of all, I think it should be known that I love the Fallout Series. My preference is New Vegas, I know that may cause some controversy among the Fallout Elite, but it is just my opinion. Now that is out of the way, here are the things that I believe should be in the Bethesda developed Fallout 4 – or in an Obsidian developed sequel to New Vegas, if it is released first. This list is my personal opinion and is not using any of the speculated information for the next Fallout release and only uses prior games as referenced materials.
5. Travel and map size
I love wandering the wasteland. Finding random locations or a nest of enemies to obliterate is one of the best things about this game series. However, this comes to my first annoyance with the series, travelling. So you have a long way to go and a short time to get there (sorry), but all you can do is run endlessly, staring at your screen for half an hour as you watch the wasteland go by in all its grey-filtery glory. I don’t mind the distance; in fact its brilliant as its what I would expect in a post apocalyptic world: spread out pockets of civility, clinging to their way of life, just so they can make it to the next day. This is good, but having no way of travelling faster? That is not. Throughout human history those that conquer have had two things better than those who don’t, technology and speed. Think of the Mongolians under the rule of Genghis Khan, they had Composite Bows that allowed them to fire from horseback, technology AND speed, enabling them to give birth to the largest contiguous empire in history. I believe that there should be some form of transport in the New World, because it already has the technology.
I know that it would be weird to have petroleum powered vehicles, so using microfusion cells or EC packs maybe? I know this is far-fetched and will probably not be incorporated into the game. But vehicles, in the wasteland, what would they even look like? I hear you ask. Well think Mad Max beyond Thunderdome – minus Tina Turner behind the wheel. I could totally see raiders and mercs using these to terrorise towns or cities. This way, it would allow you to travel way longer distances, meaning that the map could be made larger and more fun stuff could be added. Having vehicles could also add a new combat element to the game. Having your followers man different section of the vehicle, if its big enough.
4. Actions having game effect
This is a problem with most games that are action role playing games, for example Skyrim. I’m not saying I don’t like Skyrim, I have logged about the same amount of hours on it as I have with New Vegas and Fallout 3. My problem is that no matter what action you take, people still treat you like a dick. Ok, so New Vegas got close: if you were in an area where people idolized you, you could get free stuff, like from the Brotherhood of Steel you could get free ammo for your energy weapons, or from Freeside you would get random food. This was good, but when you were traveling through the NCR bases or in close proximity to the Legion explorers the NPC’s would still treat you like a dick. In the new Fallout, stop treating me like I’m a dick.
3. Moral Choices
This is mainly because of New Vegas and its lack of overall bad Karma things to do. Yeah, you could help powder gangers and Caesar’s Legion. But what else could you do? The next game in the Fallout series should have more range of moral choices, and there should be more followers who will back that decision. In New Vegas there were really only two followers who wouldn’t mind you joining Caesar’s Legion: Raul and Lily. Having the ability to choose your karmic alignment, with an actual effect on the game would improve the experience.
2. Crafting
In Fallout 3 you were able to create awesome weapons that would fire such things as tin cans at enemies. This ludicrousness was part of the reason I continually played 3, because I knew there were more schematics and I wanted to discover and build them all. New Vegas lost this, however, and it dampened the overall game for me. Yeah, modding your weapons was kick ass, and with the addition of the Gun Runners Arsenal there were lots of them. But it just wasn’t the same, I wanted my air powered ‘Rock-It Launcher’ that I had duct taped together – all by myself – using things I MacGyvered together on a bench that shoots arbitrary junk at my foes!
1.Factions
I love the factions in NV. Taking out ridiculously stronger hunting parties by yourself because you have been a bit too harsh on either faction makes traveling the wasteland that much more fun. I wouldn’t want the factions to somehow magically know I have taken out their companions though, I would prefer a Skyrim style, where if you take out the last witness then no-one will ever know.