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.
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.