Don't know if this has been posted, but an interesting insight into the future of Fallout came from an interview with Feargus Urquhart, about New Vegas. But it also revealed this nugget:


http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/interviews/7500-Feargus-Urquhart-Comes-Home.2

This hints that either Fallout 4, or another 'spin off' like New Vegas, will be set way out west. If Obsidian were going to put it in New Vegas, this certain city must be fairly close to the Nevada area. My guess is Phoenix, Arizona.

I was looking up trademark info related to Bethesda and Zenimax and happened upon these two items:

Word Mark FALLOUT
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: motion picture films about a post-nuclear apocalyptic world
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 77663852
Filing Date February 5, 2009
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition June 2, 2009
Owner (APPLICANT) BETHESDA SOFTWORKS LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY DELAWARE 1370 PICCARD DRIVE Suite 120 Rockville MARYLAND 20850
Attorney of Record Ann K. Ford
Prior Registrations 2181084
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Word Mark FALLOUT
Goods and Services IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment services in the nature of an on-going television program set in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 77663853
Filing Date February 5, 2009
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition December 1, 2009
Owner (APPLICANT) BETHESDA SOFTWORKS LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY DELAWARE Suite 120 1370 PICCARD DRIVE Rockville MARYLAND 20850
Attorney of Record Ann K. Ford
Prior Registrations 2181084
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Discuss!

Fallout the TV show? Might be interesting as long as Uwe Boll doesn't produce or direct it. However, it better be at least up to the standards of Kindred the Embraced. Too bad Mark Frankel died, I liked the way that storyline was going.

I interpreted that a different way. He said he they had wanted to a certain city, but Bethesda wanted to reserve that for something they wanted to do. Now, I took it to mean less that they wanted to reserve a specific city and more that they wanted to reserve the idea for a city. For example, Rivet City is a city in a boat. Pretend that Rivet City wasn't in Fallout 3, but Bethesda wanted to put it in Fallout 4. Obsidian comes up with a city in a boat, and Bethesda stops them from doing it because they wanted to reserve the idea, a city in a boat, for Rivet City in Fallout 4. That's just how I saw it anyway.

Few reasons why Fallout 3 isn't even a okay shooter.

- Enemy AI is pathetic, enemies do not utilize any tactics beyond bumrushing, no suppresing fire, no flanking, no cover to cover movement. 1997 it would have been okay, but in 2008 it won't cut it.

- Weapons lack proper "feel", they feel almost like using toy guns, recoil is not a factor at all, you cannot aim down iron sights nor does the caliber of weapon effect damage enough.
You can do more damage with a .32 bullet fired from a rifle than a .32 bullet fired from a revolver. Simply, weapons feel artificial.

- Weapon skill effects damage. This is just silly. Yes, it is a game, yes it is abstraction, but it still isn't a good way to do it, not in a first-person shooter.

- VATS. It's unbalanced, and it is not a exiting combat mechanic. Pretty much made combat really easy, press V to win. If shooting things had been done better, I might have been able to not care about it.

- Weapon degration is too fast. Far too fast. Any realiable military weapon has to be able to fire hundreds upon hundreds of rounds. It doesn't even effect accuracy that much, weapons don't jam or misfire, they just do less damage.

- No locational damage. At all. Not even headshots. This is just...bad. Really, really bad.

For Fallout 4, they really need to improve the combat. It's pretty much horrible as it is.

Of course they need to improve the RPG aspects too, considering how poorly executed they were.

- Stat and skill balance needs to be redone so you CAN'T become master of all trades. As it was you gained far too many skill points. Stats bonuses were granted too easily, undermining character creation. All characters ended up being good at everything.

- Writing was at times sub-par, and sometimes outright horrible. Dialogues were not well written, nor did many of your actions make much sense. MQ was a rehash of elements from previous games. Ending was moronic, and unsatisfying. Get better writers. Fast.

- Stat and skill integration to gameplay needs serious overhaul. Combat skills should effect reloading, recoil and long range accuracy, instead of somehow improving damage of a .32 bullet. The game needs more skills checks, and for them not to be told to you.

- Choices need to better implemented, with actual meaningfull consequences. Doing evil deeds did not have significant consequences, for example, blowing up megaton did not change the game world beyond loosing few shops. No one talks about it, and even your dad simply mentions it, and then never speaks of it again. Choices and consequences were lack luster.

There is a lot of things that need fixing for Fallout 4. I really hope Bethesda atleast TRIES to fix the problems with Fallout 3. I think part of the problem was they didn't really focus at anything and polish it well.

MAKE A LIVE MODE

I want Beth to let Obsidian make fallout 4 and any other fallout game. Also I don't want Beth to give into the people that want multiplayer.

I want Beth to let Obsidian only make side games like New Vegas and let Bethesda focus on Fallout 4 and all future numbered Fallouts.

I want to wait until I've actually played New Vegas before I start worrying about who's doing what.

Then dont play the game. Dont aska company to tailor a game to u when every1 else likes it. buy halo and leave us alone

Yea personally tho i feel like obsidian really doesn't polish their games. im excited to sse wwhats up ahead but im not holding my breath for new vegas. 4 is where its at

Obsidian was royally screwed over by both Lucasarts and Atari when it came to their only two full titles so I'm not sure it's really fair to use those as benchmarks for the company, plus we saw Obsidian shine with Mask of the Betrayer. Both Alpha Protocol and Fallout New Vegas seem like they'll be much better examples of what quality Obsidian is capable of. Like nu-clear-day said, wait a see what New Vegas looks like before proclaiming we want this company or that company flexing the muscle for Fallout 4.

That's kind of an odd thing to say in a suggestion thread, isn't it? I mean, when you think about it? In a thread that's kind of nominally about what we think would make our experience more enjoyable? I don't agree with probably 2/3rds of the suggestions in these threads, but that doesn't mean I don't think they have a right to play the game. (Besides, like my sig says - it's entirely possible to enjoy a game while still finding fault with it. Heck, I feel so strongly about it that, hey, I put it in my siggy! )

QFT. They didn't exactly have all the time in the world when they put together KOTOR 2 - we know that some of the issues came from them sort of rushing things in at the end. Alpha Protocol is probably going to be a better benchmark for what they're really capable of.

I would say that I hope that Bethesda takes advantage of the learning opportunities provided by Obsidian in regard to Fallout: New Vegas. And not just because "OMG! They worked on the originals, so it's going to be so much better!" But because there's always something to learn from a fresh perspective and seeing where another team will take things in different directions. I think ideally that New Vegas will help lead to a better Fallout 4, whenever that comes out and whoever decides to make it. The best part of bringing a new team in (even if it weren't Obsidian) is an influx of fresh ideas, after all.

Thats fair to ask. I already preordered alpha protocol and im going to try that out and see how it is. and lucasarts did screw them over ur right

you know waht thats valid ill agree with that. I guess i kind of felt that he thought practically every aspect of the game was in some way faulty. Im not saying fallout 3 was anywhere near perfect, but i guess it just seems weird to me that someone wants to change the entire foundation of a game, essentially changing the game in its entirety, yet he still wants to play it. Suggestions do make the game better and im always open to new ideas, but i guess to me asking a game to be completely different is a little bit of a stretch. Its all opinion i guess tho

"RANDOMLY GENERATED" SIDE QUEST CONTENT

While I know they wouldn't be quite as compelling as real side quests, it seems to me there are some scenarios that are simple enough to craft repeatable, semi random quests around. I've always found it grating that after the first time you ask, nothing new ever happens around town. Additionally, as you finish main and side quests, there doesn't seem to be a reason to do anything. But what if at random times, a semi-random quest is generated for a semi-random (but already cleared) area.

Using Fallout3 setting, consider the following examples of what I'm talking about...

- Moira's Tinkering Again: Find X number of Y objects for Z number of caps
- Brotherhoods Scouts Missing: BoS places a marker on your map where a scouting party went missing. Salvage any holotags and power armor for reward.
- Slavers!: Slavers have moved into a subway station you recently cleared. Rescue slaves for reward.

WASTELAND TINKERING
I imagine mass production is something of a rarity in a post apocalyptic world. I'd like to see some system of weapon / armor modification based on the repair and science skills and perhaps leveraging perks and materials collected from your travels.

EXAMPLE 1 - "and a few of my own personal modifications"
So ... being the resourceful and mechanically savvy wanderer you are (high repair skill), you figure there's a good way to increase the ammo capacity of your favorite pistol. You just need some components from two or three other pistols, some scrap metal, and some wonderglue to make it work. Once you have all the raw material, you "tinker" in a workshop somewhere and your repair skill is used to calculate the probability of success. If you're successful, you create a unique Pistol, with extended ammo capacity.

EXAMPLE 2 - "making life better through technology"
So ... being the winner of the Vault science fair each year has made you an effective wasteland researcher (high science skill). One day as you're pulling apart a dead fire-ant for the precious antmeat you get to thinking how the fire hand breathes fire without torching its own carapace. You determine its the ant-nectar and with a few samples, some wonderglue, and some buffout, you can create a fast drying liquid compound that makes your armor fire resistant. Gather the samples, find a lab, and use your Science skill to determine probability of success. Success creates a unique armor piece with bonuses to fire resistance.

Well considering Fallout 4 is likely to be on the next generation of consoles, I would like significant increase in graphics and scenery. In L.A. Noire,their using some new technology that brings realistic facial expression to the next level. This sounds like something thats applicable in future TES and FO games.

Excuse me if this has been brought up before but I really couldn't bring myself to read through ten pages of posts but I'd like to see a more sandbox style of game that rather than has an overarcing plot has quests scattered around the locale and locations to explore so people can go off and do their own thing in the wastes rather than have a storyline to follow, I would like to see some multiplayer co-operative as well.

More of a sandbox? Fallout 3 is as sandbox as you're going to get. You can go practically anywhere at any point during the game, I don't know how it can be any more of a sandbox. Dropping a main quest like you are suggesting would not make it more of a sandbox, it would just make it more boring. The main plot is just another quest to complete.

The fact that there's a main quest you have to follow pretty much puts the kibosh on it being a sandbox unless you mod or role play, basically what I'd like to see is a wasteland simulation where you don't have to start as a vault dweller, you get to create your character from a number of backgrounds and go off into the wastes to do your own thing, there are randomly generated missions that you can pick up for rewards if you choose to follow them with lots of other options, I maybe incorrect as I never played it, but hell I'd like to if it works the way I'm thinking and the graphics were better I would, sort of more in the vein of Beth's game Daggerfall where you go off and find your own stuff to do. Its something I'd like to see for the future I'm getting a bit irritated with stepping out the vault, I want a simulated area to explore with a character I create without it having to be within the confines of a story, rather than pretending to be an enclave soldier, a slaver or a wastes hermit I want the opportunity to create one and play it. YMMV.

I'm not going to say that's an inherently bad idea, as far as ideas go. I don't think there'd be anything wrong with a game like that. But it's also not really something I'd be interested in, personally.

Show me a sandbox game that had absolutely no main story to it. If you can find one, bravo, because that's just not something games do. The lack of a main quest does not a sandbox game make, as evidenced by 99% of the sandbox games out there having a main story that you have to follow. Daggerfall had a main quest too, you know. Just because you're annoyed about always starting in a vault doesn't mean they should scrap a main storyline. If Fallout 4 had no story, the #1 complaint from reviewers and fans alike would be it's "lack of direction" due to it's non-existent storyline.

I concede mate, in the eyes of the modern gamer having no storyline is probably a bad thing, I seem to remember some very old school games like Frontier Elite II didn't seem to have a central plot just get your ship, do missions, fight, trade and smuggle I could be wrong though, maybe I didn't follow the main story, its nearly 15 years since I played it so my aging memory should be playing tricks on me. The only modern sand box game I can think of that doesn't have a plot is the MMO Darkfall which I enjoy for its make your own entertainment style but its a fairly low pop indie game due to its grindathon nature. Your right such a game probably wouldn't appeal to the modern gamer but does to an old fart like me. I guess then I'd settle for a wastes simulation where I can easily ignore the main storyline. My bad, it was close to 5 am and I was getting into grandpa when I was a kid we used to have to make our own entertainment, blah, blah, blah mode.

Even though it's really unlikely we'll ever visit New York City anyway, I just want to suggest to Bethesda, please don't ever set a game or DLC there. There are SO many games set in NYC, many post-apocalyptic, and I'm so tired of seeing games set there. Keep doing what you're doing letting us visit less famous places, like Pittsburgh, and places where few games are set, like Las Vegas.