And at the least they are trying something different, rather than just churning out games to the same template over and over again.

Will that upset fans who are devoted to the established formula? Yes, of course it will. Will it make for a better game? Only time will tell, and it will always be a matter of opinion over what is 'better' anyway.

But at least they're trying something different. Not wholly original, perhaps. For example, other games have done voiced protagonists, but that is different for the series and for Bethesda. Games where you can build a free-form (or semi-freeform) settlement with dynamic interaction with the surrounding countryside? I'm not sure if many other games have done that at all.

So at least Bethesda are trying not to stagnate, which is always a risk and (if they are to actually be creative) something to be lauded. They may screw it all up, of course .

As to whether they listen... yes. They don't necessarily agree, and they listen to a lot more customers than just the ones who frequent the forum. I can't provide a link (it was a long while back) but I remember a comment that they get a startling amount of feedback by email and even post, from people who've never heard of or used these forums. They also listen to games journalists, when they visit, have behind closed doors previews, write previews and reviews. They don't necessarily agree with them either, but you can bet they listen carefully.

As for interaction... well, it's fallen off a lot, I agree, but a few devs do still contribute on the forums. SMK Viper, who developed Skyrim's scripting (Papyrus), is fairly active in the modding and creation-kit forums, and I think he's said that some of the functionality from the script extender may well be incorporated in future Papyrus versions. He's also acknowledged some criticism of the way Papyrus works.

What they don't have is are staff who are expected to spend their work time engaging in a two-way conversation with fans. That's a PR decision, and given how combative and... focused some fans can be, possibly a sensible one.

From what little we know i feel the fans were listened to. Settlements and weapon mods are something I very excited about and believe it has been talked about by fans for quite some time.

I don't expect them to spend a lot of time on the forums talking, though I am sure they read it. It would be depressing trying to discuss game ideas with people who just want what they want and are not going to listen to anything else.

As far as New Vegas, I thought it was fun, but FO3 I preferred. I do not believe that most people consider NV the best.

There really isn't a way to make all happy. So you make a game that you think is awesome and use fan ideas that fit into your game. I consider games like any other kind of creative media, it's the artists vision ultimately.

I'm almost positive the game is finished now - Probably just patting out bugs/glitches and the sort.

I really doubt ... but I think he has his eye on the most popular mods ....

With all of the insults that I see directed towards Bethesda, I doubt they would want to talk openly here. But they do listen, and I would imagine a good part of some peoples jobs at Bethesda or Zenimax or what have you is looking through the parts of the internet that are concerned with their games and trying to figure out what exactly their fans want. The forums here aren't all there is to do with Fallout, ive been lurking /r/Fallout for a while recently. Its also interesting that ive expressed how much I love building up my lakeview manor in Skyrim and wanting to build a entire new town in a new game - or how i'd love to have bayonets on my guns. Its probably not just my posts that made that happen, but many others combined, and not just here.

Bethesda listens a lot more than most other game developers, but they don't talk. Frankly, I don't blame them for only listening, but it is still pretty awesome how much fan feedback gets put into the game with stuff like Broken Steel and Dragonborn.

People who think they are entitled are vicious, real fans offer constructive criticism/input.

That kind of things is indeed one of the reason we don't hear a thing until it is ready to be release.

Not even features, entire games can, and often are, cancelled while they were 80% done.

Oh yes they are listening. You know I heard Todd Howard is actually an under cover CIA agent that is using the game industry to manipulate the economy and form the minds of youngsters and that he personally implanted super tiny micro phones into the disks that we play and love.

In all seriousness though i think they are still listening to us i just think that anything they like will be put into DLC or updates.

They wont give a rats bottom to player feedback now for DLC and patch content becaue we haven't played teh game so our feedback currently is worthless to them. They don't care what we wanted in the game at this point all they care about now is what we think of what they did with the game and we can't comment with any value until we PLAY the game.

We can always speculate and a lot of speculation has been kinda accurate and DLC ideas can come at anytime as long as they are related to boston or the surrounding area.

Uh-Huh. That's exactly why we see features in Fallout 4 that users wanted in the game. That's a clear and blatant sign they are cashing in on us and not actually paying attention to us! Seriously though, you're talking out of your ass. Bethesda has listened to the users and have added things players commonly suggest should be in the series and they've improved a lot on Fallout 4 from 3 because they've been listening to us. As for DLC, they won't give feedback on DLC because the damn base game hasn't come out yet, let alone worrying about the DLC and there's no patch content talk because we don't know what's going to broken. You post has no ground to hold claim to.

I created http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1522178-must-have-song-for-fallout-4/ to see if devs are listening and to propose a fantastic song that would fit perfectly the Fallout universe.

It's too late to change anything major. THe game must be done and in the testing phase right now. However minor changes are possible.

I remember when Skyrim trailer was revealed there was a serious [censored] about the fact that the windmill was rotating the wrong way It got changed by the time the game was released.