Fallout 4: Want, needs, and things that aren't needed

[t00bz]

I want Fallout 4 to be developed by Obsidian.
I NEED Bethesda to retcon their changes to the lore.
Another Elder Scrolls with guns (a la Fallout 3) is not needed.

You mad, bro?

Obsidian has a rather nasty habit of putting out half finished games that are buggy to hell and back. Hell, I remember not being able to play Fallout: New Vegas for more than 30 minutes because it was constantly crashing/freezing, so I'd rather not have them make the next one unless they bug test the f*ck out of the game before release day.

As for the retcons, I only started playing Fallout after 3 came out, (I can't play the first two. I've tried to get into them and they just aggravate me) so I can't really say anything good/bad in that regard.

I can agree that f3 had some minor/major flaws, depending on your opinion, but I think Bethesda has made efforts to make these games as enjoyable as possible. Are they the same as the old games? No, but that might not be a bad thing.

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

FEV was deigned by the government to be used for super solider testing, which is what a crap ton of the other vault experiments were working on also.

It makes sense that they would want to test multiple strains of FEV, in multiple locations, across the nation, in order to find out which one provided the best results, and to make sure if one site was destroyed in the war they wouldn't lose everything, and the fact they had an entire vault system, many of which were designed to test other methods to get the same result, makes using one of the vaults for FEV testing a blatantly obvious idea.

Its called not putting all of your eggs in one basket, and an incredibly basic thing to do during scientific testing.

What are these "crap ton" of other vaults that are trying to make supersoldiers? There's one, that I can think of, the one with the white noise. (I forget the number.) In Bethesda's game. So, uh, arguing they didn't change lore by pointing out lore in the same game doesn't really work. In all other games, it's about testing how people interact in close quarters under various (imperfect, typically) circumstances for varying periods of time. Though, some seem to just be for sadism, but still.

 

[SajuukKhar]

FEV was tested on Americans in secret. In cities. Not vaults. Vaults weren't filled before the war, so the testing for a weapon in the old world wouldn't be tested until it ended.

And vaults were doing super soldier testing?

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Vault

I guess that vault 70 was meant for super-mormons. Oh wait they weren't. These were all social experiments with a special case of vault 22, which was there because big mountain didn't tell the whole story of the technology they were selling and made big promises.

And all the tests of the vault program wouldn't be started until the world ended... you point?

Yes, social experiments so that The Enclave could use the data collected to make themselves better, aka making themselves into super-men, aka super-soldiers, so they could conquer the new world for themselves via their own betterment, and through social manipulation.

What are these "crap ton" of other vaults that are trying to make supersoldiers? There's one, that I can think of, the one with the white noise. (I forget the number.) In Bethesda's game. So, uh, arguing they didn't change lore by pointing out lore in the same game doesn't really work. In all other games, it's about testing how people interact in close quarters under various (imperfect, typically) circumstances for varying periods of time. Though, some seem to just be for sadism, but still.

Pretty much all of them.

The entire vault program was made to test the limits of mankind under various circumstances to see how they would adapt and change so that The Enclave could use that data to better themselves and rebuild easier in a post apocalyptic world.

Social, physical, and metal betterment in order to for the Enclave to make themselves the perfect humans.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

If it's set in the West Coast...more Legion Quests. If East Coast, I would prefer it be in the Commonwealth. A more fluid gameplay, better story, companions that aren't annoying (I'm looking at you Boone), more well rounded characters, for guns to actually kill people when you shoot them, and for the love of god, please let it take place in a ruined city....I got so tire of looking at brown and grey in Fallout 3 and light brown and orange with New Vegas.

 

[SajuukKhar]

I would prefer it be in the Commonwealth..

There is no doubt in my mind that it will be.

Bethesda has a habit of teasing what their next game will be
-Elder Scrolls Redguard showed the names of Morrowind and Oblivion, when flying by a bookshelf in the opening cutscene.
-Morrowind had Wulf, cultists, and a Skall shaman talk about the death of the empire, and the opening of gates to Oblivion.
-Oblivion had the Blades say they would wait for the next Dragonborn.
-Fallout 3 mentioned The Commonwealth in the base game via Zimmer, in The Pitt via Ashur, in Broken Steel as being were Doctor Li went, and Point Lookout as being a place the girl from the Abby of the Road went to.

Given Bethesda's past history with hint dropping, and The Commonwealth's constant mentions across the base game and DLC, its highly likely its going to be were Fallout 4 is.

 

[SilverLion]

This won't make it into 4, due to how late into development it is, but for the next Fallout game?
Move out of America.
I'd really like to see how other countries fared in the nuclear war. Not only would it give us some much needed outside perspective, you could go pretty much anywhere, one examples being Australia. With all the Mad Max references in the series this is probably what I'd find best suited. Also, since Australia is already a desolate wasteland (trust me, I know) it would be fun to play the No Man's Land of the apocylapse. Also, since it's a completely different continent, they'd have to come up with completely new canon elements: No NCR, no Super Mutants, probably no Vaults; It would be hard yes, but totally worth it.

 

[HanFyren]

What FO4 needs:
Bethesda needs to start a QA department. And while they are starting up, the code-monkeys can start out with fixing some of the bugs that has been present in the engine, and been reported on since they made Morrowind on it.

Wants:
Skyrim style crime system. No crime without witnesses.
Decide wether karma is karma or reputation. It's silly when you accrue it like karma, but the effect of it is reputation.
Hardcore mode that is more hardcore.
Mod tools, so that the community can fix the broken game.
Obsidian making it, with a proper budget. (fingers crossed they will make Fallout4 / 2 at least.)


PS: I know that they probably technically have a QA department. But looking at the Fallout and RAGE launch, it doesn't look like they do a whole lot of QA.

 

[Quantum Glass]

I want them to keep the same stat/perk/level system. I'm not too worried about this, but given the success of Skyrim, there's a chance--however slim--that they'll try a similar system.

I'm also hoping that they'll change the art up a bit. Namely, adding some color. Don't get me wrong, the near-monochrome made the wasteland seem intimidating as hell in Fallout 3, but safe places like settlements and towns should feel more welcoming.

 

[SajuukKhar]

-FEV was a weapon for a war that already ended. Its like saying "lets catch these terrorists about the blow up the world trade center 50 years from now."
-To research a virus that is only good to make sterile, unstable, and likely stupid monsters is not productive. In fact, FEV is the biggest problem the wasteland has.
-Supermen? By knowing cloning is a stupid way to repopulate the earth? To know that if there is only 1 man or woman the whole population is fucked? To know that mormons don't care if the suit machines failed? What happens when all you get is low powered bulbs? What happens when they don't have pre-taped entertainment?
-These social experiments were mostly of dubious value. Hardly a way to make "super men." A lot of these vaults are just lacking in common sense.

-So was power armor, yet the Enclave still kept developing and improving on it. And The Enclave kept developing FEV themselves as well, so they could purge the world.
-The point of the research was to make it better, and not cause everyone to go sterile.
-Again, social experimentation on how humans react under different circumstances allows the Enclave to better themselves mentally, and to control others mentally, in the new world. Do you even understand the basics behind social experimentation?
-Not really, the vaults are made to cover every conceivable weird situation one could possibly encounter, how people will react to that situation, and once you know how they react, you can control them, and yourself, easier. Again, that's the basics of social experimentation.

 

[xanderkun]

Off the top of my head, get rid of VATs. I am very serious about that. If it was full turn-based or a stat-based shooter, either would have been great but it's just made the game faaaaaaaar to easy.

The only other thing I could think of is to look at massive fan projects like Project Nevada. They had some really solid ideas in there that would make the game just more enjoyable and flexable without breaking the game and rasing the bar in terms of challange without making it unobtainable.

Edit: I second everyone's suggestion that's made it and will make it that Obsidian should be behind the development of 4.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

All I need is the few minor improvements of gameplay and the companion/character studies that was brought over from New Vegas and combine that with the superior quality of the Capitol Wasteland's environment and atmosphere. Other than that, I have complete faith in Bethesda's handling of the Fallout franchise.

Fallout 3 is still in my top five of this generation's RPGs. I appreciate what Obsidian did with their continuation of Fallout 2, but I would have enjoyed it better had it not relied so heavily on what happened with 2 and allowed the Mojave to become it's own beast. Also, don't talk to me about 3's "contradictions to canon". The amount of nitpicking and ridiculous levels of detail people will go into to justify why Fallout 3 is the worst thing evar just astounds me.

 

[DarkRyter]

Have J.E Sawyer and Chris Avellone do the writing. They made me feel things and think about shit.

All Fallout 3's plot did was "LOOK AT DA ROBOT! OOH, VAMPIRES! HE A BAD GUY! HE A GOOD GUY!".

Since Bethesda's developing, they better spend all that goddamn Skyrim money on some damn bug testing. Like seriously, the engine's amazing and all with its ability to handle so many complex objects and AI's, but if my companion clips through the floor one more time, I'm gonna kill a baby.

 

[nyarlathotepsama]

I only want them to either continue the setting that has been created in Fallout, Fallout 2 and New Vegas or... and this is really important, have nothing at all to do with the other games. No Brotherhood of Steel, no Enclave, no G.E.C.K. hell even no vaults. Fallout 3 just felt like a mash up of Fallout and Fallout 2, I noticed it pretty quickly and it irked me all throughout.

If they want to work on their own canon that is perfectly okay, I'd play something that was totally removed from the main fallout universe if it didn't keep referencing previous titles and basically stealing plot threads for no other reason than "its something from the older games!". To me Fallout 3 always felt like a Fan-made mod rather than a unique game, Oblivion modded to use guns and with a Fallout-fan's fanfiction as the plot. Create a new faction of Power Armored energy weapon users rather than mangling the Brotherhood of Steel to fit into your story. Find a new bad guy since the Enclave has been broken, beaten and battered so badly not even the developers recognize it anymore.

Maybe focus on one of those areas ya'll hinted at in Fallout 3? The Commonwealth sounds iffy as a premise since there is no explanation about its proper location or how it is so technologically advanced or why is hasn't just dominated the wasteland since if it can create totally perfect human androids then it is certainly capable of making weapons of war, hell there are loads of that stuff just laying around to be used whenever since there was no conventional warfare in the Great War of 2077, there have to be huge military stockpiles that went untouched after the war, if you can create real artificial intelligence on a whim you can easily repair some tanks...they even run on atomic power in the Fallout universe. Maybe even have it take place in one of the more tribal areas of the world? There have to be some right? Then after about say a good 10 hours or so end up near a major settlement and see how the characters handle the change.

No need to change the SPECIAL system much, it works fine. DO NOT go all Skyrim on us and take away base stats, SPECIAL only goes to 10 so it isn't a hard system to use or balance and it is pretty self-explanatory how it correlates to skills. Although a change in the total number of skills might be in order; Big Gun is gone and I'm glad since using the various weapon skills is a better fit over all, survival is a must keep since it is all about a wasteland setting, the return of a traps skill might be cool but Fallout has never really used it much in the past so not top priority. Add gambling since it just seems to fit, maybe making Stealing separate from stealth. Definitely keep traits, NV's perk system is pretty good; every level seems wasteful and over powered where as even levels seem a good balance between older Fallout titles base three system and Fallout 3 every level system. Keep, wait no ENFORCE Hardcore mode no option to turn it off, make heat/cold a factor, make injury a factor, and return eye damage and blindness to the game. No addiction cures either, have to wait it out if you get addicted works better that way since there is no negative to becoming addicted in either Fallout 3 or New Vegas, 100 caps isn't much of a hit even at the start of the game.

That's pretty much it... I think.

 

[Bat Vader]

I would like to see Obsidian be given the ability to develop Fall out 4. I want to see it take place in a rebuilt part of the US or perhaps China but have the ability to go to the Wasteland as well.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

I just want to explore the Commonwealth. Also the option to shoot a real bastard in the face while he's gloating.

 

[takemeouttotheblack]

Set it outside of America.

*Ducks down under parapet to avoid barrage of arguments to the contrary*

Seriously, much as I do like the American setting, it'd be really interesting to see what happens in other countries with different eco-systems and pre-existing social and political systems. While I'd quite like to set it in London, you could get away with Paris, Rome, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Delhi, Cairo, and a hundred more. It'd be different, with different challenges (perhaps a focus much more on improvised weapons for countries with limited private firearm ownership), but I think it'd be very interesting.

But that's just me, and I'm happy to slink off into my corner if people disagree.

 

[Smeatza]

I really don't get this complaint.

Well there is a certain amount of fanboyism to it.

I had heard about how Fallout 3 did all kinds of horrible things to the lore and I assumed it would all make sense when I played 1 and 2.

I did and I don't get it. Fallout 3 has almost nothing to do with the earlier games. Was it the minor thing about there being more Super Mutants? Was it the BoS being too nice?

I would truly appreciate an explanation of what you and others find so egregious about Fallout 3's lore.

The complaints from hardcore fans are many I hear, but you've listed the main two I care about there.
Not so much the amount of super mutants but how they behaved. They were reduced to an almost animalistic, generic evil monster. Compared to an intelligent race of mutants, created for nefarious purposes, freed from their servitude, and trying to find their place in the world.
The Brotherhood of Steel is the same deal, they're barely even recognisable, and are just generic good guys.
Like I say there are mainly fanboy complaints (which is weird considering FO3 was the first of the series I played), but they are part of larger, more general, more legitimate criticisms of the quality of writing.

You mad, bro?

I might be if it weren't for Wasteland 2.

Obsidian has a rather nasty habit of putting out half finished games that are buggy to hell and back.

I am aware, although the only Obsidian game I've played where the unfinisheness has affected the quality significantly (in my view) is KOTOR 2.

Hell, I remember not being able to play Fallout: New Vegas for more than 30 minutes because it was constantly crashing/freezing, so I'd rather not have them make the next one unless they bug test the f*ck out of the game before release day.

See having never suffered from such issues I cannot comment.

As for the retcons, I only started playing Fallout after 3 came out, (I can't play the first two. I've tried to get into them and they just aggravate me) so I can't really say anything good/bad in that regard.

See Fallout 3 was my first game of the series as well. But I had the opposite reaction, I was distinctly unimpressed with Fallout 3, and very please with New Vegas, the original and the first sequal.

I can agree that f3 had some minor/major flaws, depending on your opinion, but I think Bethesda has made efforts to make these games as enjoyable as possible. Are they the same as the old games? No, but that might not be a bad thing.

Oh I agree and I certainly wouldn't say it's an objectively bad game. But it has certainly moved away from my personal preference.

 

[CloudAtlas]

In a game where you shoot with guns, combat should feel like in a shooter, and not like... Oblivion. That was my biggest gripe with Fallout 3. Now that id software is part of their family, there's really no excuse anymore.

In my opinion that would be the worst thing to happen to it. I'm not saying make it like skyrim but don't make it like any other generic first person shooter. If they use id software I would lose all hope in it.

There are many shooters, and they hardly feel all the same. But every good shooter gets the gameplay mechanics right: fitting hitboxes, gun feeling, hit feedback, pacing, the feeling of control, the pacing, and so on.
If you shoot around a corner and the bullets hit an invisible hitbox, instead of the enemy, it's bad. If your bullets have no other visible effect on the enemy than to deplete his lifebar, it doesn't feel right. If you need 10 headshots or something to kill a human-like enemy, it just doesn't feel right. If you have the feeling that it's not you who's determining the outcome of a battle, but just your character's stats working in the background, it doesn't feel right.
Character stats should never affect the damage a bullet does - that just doesn't make any sense, that's not how it works. Accuracy, reload time, kickback, yes, but not damage. Many RPGs with guns don't get that right, and it always feels wrong.

 

[Harley Q]

All I want is a damn fine story, oh and to be less black and white on the morality scale. Being "good" or "evil" just doesn't seem right in any RPG, for a fully fleshed out character you need to be many shades of grey. Faction armour has to go for sure.

Finally, I would appreciate it if my robotic companions wouldn't just disappear so that I need to spend literal days roaming the wasteland to find them, or giving up the search because screw them for not returning.

 

[VI_Course]

I don't want the Enclave, at least not in any significant capacity. We've defeated them twice. It's time to move on.
I do want to see choices have a bigger impact on the world. My biggest gripe with Fallout 3 (and Bethesda games in general) is how pointless choices are. The karma system in Fallout 3 was a joke; you could go from being purely evil to the saviour of the Wasteland in five minutes. That's just dumb and removes any consequences for your actions.
Blowing up Megaton in Fallout 3 was one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had in gaming. You blow up one of the largest settlements in the Wasteland, and no one cares, In fact, I think only Three Dog and your Father mention it. Doing something like that should have a noticeable impact upon the world, but it just doesn't.
I would also like to see it harder to max out skills; no matter how I play through Fallout 3, all of my characters end up almost identical. Raise the maximum skill limit back to over 100 like it used to be, or significantly reduce the amount of skill points available.
The shooting aspect of the game irked me too. It was just ridiculously slow and clunky. Make it smoother. And change VATS; it's too overpowered. The concept is good, but making the player almost invincible and freezing time just changes it into an instant win button rather than something that can be used tactically.