One of the aspects I really felt that made Fallout 3 and Fallout NV stand out from other open world games, including TES, was the Pip-Boy and V.A.T.S. The former had an overwhelming amount of uses, from UI, being the menu, being used as a light. etc. The latter provided a unique style of gameplay allowing for precision-based targeting unlike any other game. While these two features helped to cement the new revival of Fallout and provide a new experience, I also see them as a weakness.

Especially with V.A.T.S., I almost felt I had to lean on it as the shooter mechanics and especially the melee were terrible in both Fallout games. I don't believe that V.A.T.S. should be the main way of playing the game. It should ideally be a supplement that makes your experience better and enhances it. This is why I think V.A.T.S. needs a completely overhaul. First, I think it's necessary to get away from the auto-target cinematic cut scenes. I don't believe V.A.T.S. should play the game for you at all.

What it should do is provide you with intelligence on the enemy, the environment, potential weaknesses to exploit, and other useful tips that would better your chances of survival in the encounter. It would also be a nice feature if there was an automated voice system incorporated into V.A.T.S. that you could turn on or off that would provide you with constantly updating reports in the battle and how best to continue the conflict.

I'd like to see a similar overhaul with the Pip-Boy in that it should be more than just an immersive menu with a flashlight and a radio. You should be able to use it to better read radiation patterns and whether environments are suitable for traversal or not. It should also allow you to communicate with other allies and even be used as a GPS in order to track other characters who have them. There are a lot of things BGS could do to improve not only the utility, but the functionality of these tools that would make them incredibly important and unique for Fallout going forward.