It might look a little jolting to explore in 3D and still have isolated cells like in Fallout 1 and 2, though. ie you go to Arefu, which is now an instanced location only accessible through the world map. How would you delineate the boundaries of the cell to load back into the world map?

You would have to use a door, or a gate.

And in turn, destroying the "Go anywhere feel".

Apparently there is a mod out that adds random encounters to fast-travel, so maybe it's not all that difficult after all. I haven't messed around with it, so I can't say how well it works, though...

As far as adding in Fallout 1-style instanced cells - it might be possible but it's likely irrevelant anyways - I think we can agree that's not going to be the direction Bethesda's going to go with this. If they do include random encounters during fast travel later on, it'll be incorporated into the free-roaming game world I'd think.

Wow. Really good ideas. I was never really bothered by the new Fast Travel system (plus, I walk everywhere for RP's sake ), but anything closer to the originals is definitely welcome.

On a sidenote, I'd definitely like at least the Waiting system to be interruptible by random encounters. Seems weird to stand out in the middle of the wastes for several hours to a day without being descended upon by god knows what.

LOL. I remember in FO1, you'd have to have a canteen at all times to stave off thirst. Food and drink could use a usefulness boost in FO3. By the way, there are mods out right now that offer the challenge of having to eat and drink regularly throughout the day. You can search for them on the Nexus.

So how are you going to do a random encounter involving AREA in a game that already has that area mapped for normal travel? Are you just going to "pop" something onto it? What if I had already been there? Ok, here's this building that wasn't here last time I came this way?

This, of course, is how they are adding the DLC. A door in a wall, a train tunnel which is normally blocked but now isn't, etc.

If i ever become the gamesas CEO i'll tell you.

We are talking about two types of random encounters here:

1. Random encounters in which mobs appear, such as Talon Company. These can be done anywhere on the map because the map doesn't change. Enclave encounters change the map slightly, with equipment which is obviously portable. Both of these encounters...Talon and Enclave, represent movable entities. If they weren't there before, we can accept that.

2. Random encounters which incorporate AREA, like the cafe of broken dreams. You can't just poof these into game because the player may have already been to the area where you plan to poof it to. You can provide a door to a new cell though, because that cell can be off map. The encounter could start by you seeing someone in a party hat slip through a door that wasn't there before. Still there is a new door, but a door is a lot easier to overlook than a building, etc. Tis represents static changes to the map, and it's difficult to accept that they weren't there before.

Unlike earlier fallouts, where fast travel represented overland movement on trackless wastes, fast travel in FO3 represents travel over area which has the potential of being previously explored.

Having magic doors would make it feel cheap in my view.

I wonder if there's really any need for a random location event to pop up, though. For example, Cafe of Broken Dream, or what have you - it could just be placed beforehand in the game world without needing a random event to spawn it. It could just be something you come across in walking the Wastes. Like the Alien Craft we have in Fallout 3 - it's pretty random that you'd be walking through that specific area anyways (and the mechanic of the radio transmissions they did nicely in this game - so you know you're getting close to an area like that.)

You could add a mechanic where it places random area encounters into the game, or you could just as easily have those already existing in the game and just be something you'd stumble across on your way to places. The effect would be the same, anyway. If I'm walking from Megaton to Tenpenny Towers and I come across the TARDIS, does it really make that much of a difference if it was something I'd have seen just because I was walking past the place where it is, or if it had decided to spawn there? (Actually, TARDIS might be a bad example, as that's small enough that it could qualify as a spawning encounter the same as people.) But if you wanted a random encounter of a haunted house- you could just as easily have a haunted house in the game that you could stumble across.

But hey, either way it would work is fine with me. One question, though: I'm having trouble visually what you mean by a "door." Like instead of passing by one of the boarded-up houses, you notice it has a door that signifies you can now go into it? Or a literal door standing by itself in the middle of the Wastes (hey, if it's one of those side-joke type encounters I don't think that would be much of a problem.) Or do you mean it figuratively where that door could be anything that signifies you moving into an instanced area?

I've tried that mod. Noted 3 things about it.

-It doesn't interrupt and place you at a random point between your start and end points, the encounter always happens at the end point of your fast travel.
-I've yet to see encounters other then raiders.
-There's usually a delay before they appear, so it's jarring when raiders appear out of thin air.

Anyways, there is a lot of potential for fast travel encounters in future installments, should Bethesda choose to pursue it. I liked the suggestion of cutting to cutscenes of your character travelling in the waste while loading the destination. To expand on it, it would be nice if they had a luck check in each cell the PC has to travel in while moving to their destination, and use Perception to determine how close to it before you character notices it (there by determing if you're ambushed, or see it coming)