Fallout 4: Speculation & Suggestions
Thread #6
This topic is for ideas and suggestions for Fallout 4 so that we can keep all the discussion in one thread. Other very general idea/suggestion topics for a future Fallout game will either be closed, or moved to this one.

This thread should be used to discuss items you'd like to see in a future game, gameplay tweaks, quest ideas, things you hope are not in the next game and so on. If you want to discuss major issues, use a separate topic - such as the discussion about adding multi-player or co-op play, which already has a thread. Please search first to see if there is an active/recent thread on a particular topic.

Previous Threads

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=978480
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=995631
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1010129
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1023429
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1039919

I'd like larger towns.



And I would love to see T.V, or something of the like.

Why would it be impossible in the Fallout world?


I think the problem with F3 wasn't that it didn't provide with many different ways to finish a quest so much as that most of the alternatives were redundant. EG to escape V101 you can: 1- pickpocket the key and the password from the overseer, 2- threat him into giving them, 3- lockpick and hack your way through. But those were actually pointless since all you had to do was 4- search his lockers for the key and the password, which you would probably do anyway looking for loot. So yeah, all those other alternatives were essentially moot.

Also there were (unlike the original games) no real options for different characters except for a dialog or two with a [skill] tag, which in fact didn't do much other than at best more reward or skipping a battle or two. In the first game, for instance, you could finish ALL quests without firing a single shot, only using non-combat skills. There were many ways to finish quests, and they were completely different from each other, not just some skill-check fork at some dialog.


I don't think that's a good idea at all. Most of these skills were removed from the series (and rightly so) exactly because they were redundant and needlessly complicated, most of which are merely point dumpers that you would use one time or two, if at all. Plus since the devs have currently so much trouble making the now-existing skills relevant, imagine the mess they would do with do many of them. Instead the should strip down the current skills even more, and make them REALLY matter. So that you really have to think before placing points into a skill, and that it would pay-off putting into a non-combat skill instead. My suggestion would be:


?One handed weapons
?Two handed weapons
?Heavy guns
?Close combat (meele & unarmed)
?Explosives
?Sneak
?Science
?Repair

And perhaps, but preferebly not
?Barter
?Medicine

The main differences are that I disappeared with that Energy weapons nonsense, and instead sorted weapons regarding how they are wielded and operated, instead of which ammution they used.

Speech IMO completely redundant also. I thik it would be best, instead of having speach checks (which stimulate reloading spamming) simply tie them to your SPECIAL. I think inteligence should determine how many arguments you could put forth, and charisma if they are going to be accepted or not. It would also solve the problem of charisma being so worthless. As for barter and medicine, I think they should be fused with charisma and science respectively, but they could be used if the devs were willing to spend some real time making them and the rest of the system balanced. Given how at mid games you're inevitably swimming in cash, barter is pretty much pointless, and so is medicine since you can so easily heal yourself at any time (beds, stimpacks left and right, etc).


I'm pretty sure those mormons would start making their own clothes after they got out of the vault. They sure as hell woudn't stay 200 years naked.

I'd like more side quests, a few more enemies, more towns, and a better karma system.

I still think my idea for condensing skills would be the best, but I don't expect such a major change to happen. It would have been better from the very beginning.

Condense all weapons into one skill: Marksmanship. Then offer choices of perks based on your marksmanship skill and other skills/attributes to specialize in a weapon type.

So you'd have something like Ballistic Spec. that opens up at a certain level, but requires say 80 Marksmanship and 50 Repair. Energy Weapon Spec. that needs 80 Marksmanship and 50 Science. Big Guns Spec. could be 80 Marks. and say 7 STR. Grenade/Explosives Spec. could be based on some combination of Traps/Repair/etc.

The overall idea would be to have one universal skill that you can raise that makes you at least competent at firing a weapon. A laser pistol and a .227 wouldn't be drastically different if all you were attempting to do is point and shoot. It's not consistent that I can have 100 in Small Guns and shoot the wings off of a fly yet at the same time I can't hit the broad side of a barn with a laser pistol.

Specializing would give you damage bonuses, lower the chance of jams, quicker reloading, slower degradation, etc. You could even have two ranks that could increase bonuses and add extra stuff - like maybe you tuned your laser pistol so it doesn't use as much power, giving you more shots per battery.

This makes it possible to build more of a 'survivalist' who just uses whatever he runs across and isn't frustrated at being completely inept while also giving the option to be a pure specialist in a chosen area. Doing so would let you have ammo be much rarer and encourage players to scavenge and switch weapons based on ammo availabilty.. sort of like the early parts of all the Fallout games which tends to become completely moot as you progress.

But like I said, it's far too late for all that now I think. Perhaps it would make for a good talent tree system in an MMO version of Fallout.

I think that Energy Weapons should be divided between the Small Guns and Big Guns skills (obviously firing a minigun will be different then firing a pistol.)

Melee Weapons and Unarmed, while I have heard cases for uniting them, are alright as they are.

Another idea is removing Small Guns, Energy Weapons and Big Guns and making other skills instead, like Aiming.

i say fallout 4 does not deserve be released until TESV is out it will be completely unfair if it does

Following some comments on the use of procedural animation to create higher fidelity in motion, I figure that if Dogmeat is in FO4 then surely he should be given an overhaul just as much as our hero.

Best example is how he attacks a person. Ive watched a few police dog demonstrations and the dogs would go for an arm pretty much all the time and drag the guy down. Im pretty sure you can train dogs to then go for the neck, in fact I think you have to equally train police dogs NOT to go for the neck. I reckon it would be better if the interactions between enemies and Dogmeat could be animated to suit how a dog attacks as most would be human.

For non humans/animals, watch a few vids on how wolves aggro bears, Dogmeat could play a neat role of distraction and harrasing by biting legs and running around the creature just out of range of attack. He would allow you to then take out the creature with more direct lethal attacks.

Dogmeat should be your essential companion in all things apocalyptica.

Just typing this Im reminded of some company that has developed a kevlar jacket for police dogs that are electrified with 10000 V to boot. Crazy but true, so even if you try to shoot them, they will still rip your arm off and zap your ass at the same time.

Dogmeat aside, I would love to see the inventory to become a little more realistic. Although it may well become annoying but only have what your character can physically carry. Its a survivalist situation anyway so you should be taking what you need, picking up what you dont have and chucking non essentials aside. I dont want to be hoovering up every and any old junk, if I find something of interest, I should be able to keep a note of it and come back for it later when the area is cleared and safe if I must absolutley have it.

So how to make this seem plausible and basically the proper way of inventory to the player, well why not have your items physically on you character? It could be a bit like lego you can put various items and objects slung to your character, small items in a backpack, grenades in a satchel, ammo slung around your torso and magazines on the waist, knives and small arms strapped to your boots and even keep some shurikens in your hat It would make for some interesting costumisation, some may go for the Mexican bandit look, the infantry setup or the clean assassin look, etc.

How about, some weather? Like Rain, Snow, Heavy Winds, Hail, along with the Day / Night effects would be pretty awesome imo.

Hehe, how about some beta testing before release?

lol.

I'd like to see more NPC Rivalry. For example, In Fallout 2 we had opposing gangs which would send us against one another, and Vault City had issues with Gecko, things like this. It felt like choice had more meaning, we couldn't go through every avenue once you'd gone so far down one route. In Fallout 3 the NPCs generally felt a bit like lifeless quest givers with no real bearing on the outcome of events, I'd personally like this spiced up a bit.

Please Bethesda, do not use GFWL in any future games.

I always liked in Oblivion that you could customize your weapons and armor with enchantments how about some ways to customize weapons and armor? Not with magic that would fit in the fallout world but some way to make the game different for everyone.

I find the enclave fascinating... its motivations, its secrecy, its tech. In Fallout 4 I'd like to learn more history and interact with them more (like in Fallout 2), as opposed to killing them.

And how about a Chinese version of the enclave as an enemy? A Communist remnant. We all know the Chinese used subs (the crashed sub in point lookout and the Shi in Fallout 2). Perhaps an interesting plot would be to base the Communist remnant on a massive sub that's been popping up all over the world since the bombs fell... and in Fallout 4 they decide to pop up just outside of NYC... forcing you to unite with the Enclave and drive the Red Invaders back once more.

I believe the Shi were working on their own version of power armor and they were VERY interested in the Enclave. It'd be a subtle way to tie the current story back to the original games.

Also, I miss the turbo plasma rifle. That's just me. Love the repair mechanic in F3, but I also miss the upgradable weapons from the original games.

I thought of something that'd be rather humorous.
How about the ability to wear Women's clothing on a Male Character, and vice versa for Female Characters? Just a thought.
I could just imagine seeing a Male Raider wearing a Pre-Wartime Dress.

lol. That would be funny. Also, you should be able to shoot raiders in the nuts. And when you do some should say stuff like, "I can't believe you shot me in the nuts," or "Oh no, my wife will be so disappointed."

Amen.

:thumbsup:

I had this idea about a complicated reputation/alignment system.
I was a bit reluctand in posting it here because Fallout has the Karma concept... which sounds cool but isn't really anything more than the old one-dimensional good---evil alignment system.
So I posted it a few days back in the TES general where I though it was more appropriate but people didn't seem to like it... Still I'm quite proud of it so I'll post it here too.

So I thought that the common one-dimensional alignment system of good <-- > (neutral) <--> evil most often used, is, I think, insufficient for a game that prides for its large and complicated gameworld.

That kind of system has several limitations:
Obviously with an one-dimensional system you can create an one-dimensional character, good/evil, very good/evil, slightly good/evil etc.
Neutral is someone who is sometimes good and sometimes evil, which is completely unfitting I believe.

For example consider Robin Hood:
He stole from the rich -an act considered evil in RPGs- and gave what he stole to the poor -a good act-
So if I was to play a Robin Hood kind of character, the game would consider me neutral...
But for me a neutral character is someone that doesn't like getting involved too much - either flowing with the current or standing back and letting things happen.
Yet Robin Hood was nothing like that...
A two-dimensional system, like the one used in Dungeons & Dragons, is considerably better, yet it still divides behaviors into uncomfortable categories while it has one limitation that keeps bugging me: it doesn't distinguish between actions and motivations.
In such a system Robin Hood would be considered Chaotic Good I suppose. But that also seems inappropriate.
If his chaotic actions derive from his desire to overthrow an unlawful ruler while remaining completely loyal to his missing king (ie if he was fighting to establish 'better' law instead of fighting to bring chaos) could he really be considered chaotic?
So even though his alignment could be hard to fit into a predefined category, there some things that we can be certain for...
such as: a)he was known as a thief and b)he was known as a philanthropist.

So what I'd like to propose is a system that will not depend on a single good<-->evil reputation but rather a system that will include a variety of several different and independent possible reputations.

So for example, if you keep stealing a lot, you don't become evil, you simply become a 'known thief'
If you murder people, you become a murderer, if you donate money or give water to beggars, people start recognizing you as a philanthropist etc.
A 'fame' counter could also be included to define how many people have heard about you and how much they have heard.
So if you just steal a little every now and then you would get a reputation as someone who may possibly be an occasional thief, while if you steal in every chance you get then you become a notorious thief and people hide their purses when they see you, avoid you and don't want you hanging around in their houses and stores.
+ If you stop stealing at some point then you might become known as a repented thief, and people might or might not still view you as a thief, depending or how trusting they are.

That could present huge opportunities for more complex relations with npcs, who will react to you according to their own values.
For example, a common thief will respect you, or even admire you or idolize you if you are a notorious thief, but he might shun you if you are a known philanthropist as well.
Or if you are not known as a philanthropist, poor people might hesitate to give you quests if they think they can't afford your services - on the other hand if you are a famous philanthropist some people might try to take advantage of you by requesting you would do something for them for free even if they do have enough to pay you.
etc... you get the idea.

To expand on that we could also introduce rumors.
When you are too well known as a thief for example, fearful people might start spreading the unsubstantiated rumor that you kill your victims in their sleep, which would lead in you being perceived as a murderer.
There could be ways (or even quests) to combat such rumors, and they may even simply fade out as you become more famous.

I want NO loading screens (theres to many in Fallout3) except when you fast travel. So if you where entering a building it should be a you opening the door in very good physics kinda like GTA4. So its like that building is connected to the entire map and not like teleporting you to somewhere else.

Whats GFWL?

Games For Windows Live.

There is also (comes to mind) the character "Lord Gro" in Worm Ouroboros. Lord Gro always championed the underdog...



Great post btw. :goodjob:

I would have that the game insert a check at any event that would cause a karmic change; A check for any witnesses, and record the result (No witness, no crime ~or good deeds). This would give you a world karma (what you really are), and a public reputation (what you are perceived to be).

In regards to the talk about switching around the skill list - that's something that's really hard to see what effect it would have on the game without a lot of playtesting. I'm still not convinced that having skills in Bethesda's Fallout, at all, makes it a much better game than it would have been without it.

I highly disagree.

Don't make it an automatic install, or whatever (doesn't matter to me, but that seems to be the problem people have with it.) But there are those of us out here who actually make use of GFWL on a fairly regular basis.

Very nice rebet, I'd love to see that two dimensional system implemented. For those of you who has played Mass Effect, the main character is always "good", but you can choose between Paragon (noble, righteous) and Renegade (reckless, anti hero) paths and while his exploits are similar in the end of the day, his proceedings are very different. Imagine having something like this Paragon-Renegade system alongside good-evil scale of fallout, and there will be many possibilities. With a simple calculation, 5 basic alignments from very evil to very good, and 3 basic behaviors, 15 characteristics is plenty. Imagine a follower with a specific requirement. Or a quest. Or an alternate way to do a quest.

And some other suggestions while I'm in the can be arsed mood...

1. SPECIAL needs to be more significant. Stats shouldn't be bastardized with 10 ranks (!) of Intense Training, the abomination called Almost Perfect or Bobbleheads. When a player realizes that he needs 6 PE for a perk and he has 5, he needs to improvise instead of EZ mode Intense Training, or he should svck it up and continue/restart the game. Roleplaying games are about choices, good or bad. Or there may be VERY LIMITED specific stat perks like classic Fallouts with level requirements? Same for skills. Skill system should cause us to be more selective instead of being jack of all trades at max level.

2. And each SPECIAL needs to have a greater effect on gameplay. For example, Charisma can be a requirement to recruit a follower. Like, 10 CH to recruit Jericho with Neutral karma, 6 CH to recruit him with Evil Karma, 2 CH to recruit him with very evil karma. Same drill for good followers like Star Paladin Cross. 2 CH very good, 6 CH good, 10 CH neutral. And flat 4 CH requirement for neutral NPC's. Or something, you get the idea. :shrug:

3. No mandatory GFWL. If some people can use it without problems, fine, good for them, but let's not ignore the obvious fact that many others can't.

4. Hard needs to be hard, Very Hard needs to be VERY HARD.

5. No mandatory GFWL. I can't repeat this enough.

6. Better, longer, smarter dialogues please. Only a moron would describe his father as a "middle aged guy". When I had to choose that dialogue option, I felt offended. And where are my hilarious low IN dialogues?

7. Don't release the game with something you'll regret and change in a paid DLC (i.e. end of the main quest *hint* *hint*)

8. In short, don't ruin all the great overall work with small overlooks and slackness. While Fallout 3 is a great game, it had even greater potential. Don't just say "LOLZ NMA FANBOIZ WANT US TO MAEK svckY 2D COPYZ OF F1 AND F2." and ignore our concerns. Please listen to people's suggestions. Nobody wants to sabotage your income from Fallout franchise, quite the contrary. If you provide more immersion and fix the minuscule problems, fans will win, you will win, everybody wins. If you haven't already, have a look at all the popular gameplay mods made for Fallout 3 and I promise you'll get inspired.

9. And one last thing. I'm no expert at these things but is it technically possible to add a system to the engine which changes the pitch of voices? It would provide some variety if you'll use very few voice actors for tons of characters again. It really ruins the immersion to hear the same guy as a Guard and then a Beggar only a few minutes later. A slight pitch change would really help in these situations.