Sorry for the necropost, but I have a little bit of contributing to do. And, uh, there may be a few light Fallout 3 spoilers in there, so... read with caution if you haven't played.
Weapons1 - Weapons should be upgradeable. Accuracy, ammo capacity, rate of fire for semi-automatic weapons, cell efficiency for energy weapons (which would increase shot capacity per cell as well as increase overall amount of ammo), etc.
2 - And you should have to choose between certain upgrades. For example, an increased rate of fire would come at the cost of accuracy, to prevent overpowered weapons.
3 - Also, ammo variants would be nice, with different damage properties. Armor-piercing bullets, double-powered microfusion cells, you know.
Outfits1 - Personally I'd like to see very customizable outfits in Fallout 4. Everything from being able to reinforce existing outfits with stuff from a different set of armor, to being able to equip one limb and leave the other alone. For example, maybe I want to take the spiked shoulder pad off a set of metal armor, to help defend my pistol arm from being crippled, but don't want to sacrifice my agility by wearing the full set.
2 - Some suits should count as "base" suits, and can't be taken apart (tearing up a radiation suit would probably be a bad idea), but could be added upon. Armored radiation suits, armored wasteland surgeon outfits, stuff like that.
3 - Other suits couldn't be added upon like base suits (you probably couldn't fit leather armor padding over metal armor), but you could take them apart and add them to base suits.
4 - Power armor shouldn't be customizable with regular outfits (pulling the arm off the chest would disconnect it from the power source... defeating the purpose of being powered in the first place), but should be interchangeable with other types of power armor from its own side (Brotherhood is interchangeable with Outcast, but not with Enclave. Enclave is interchangeable with Tesla, but not with Brotherhood).
5 - And as advanced as power armor is, I'm surprised there aren't different parts for different roles. Seeing the whole Lyon's Pride full of many different roles - sniper, big toys, demolition, assault - all wearing one generalized suit is just... meh. Especially with Knight Captain "Gallows." It's so hard to believe that he, who I assume is somewhat of a Sam Fisher, goes sneaking and sleuthing around in big, clunky, restrictive power armor. If power armor at all, I'd expect he'd want to strip off the exterior armor plating down to the core components, for a lighter, stealthier, more agile suit. It would be very nice if power armor could be customizable, with different sets for different specialties. Like, for example, light, medium, and heavy armor plating, obviously so people can choose between weight and damage resistance. Or you could swap out the plating for, maybe, a first aid interface of sorts for added Medicine effect, or a tactical computer compatible with your Pip, for some more V.A.T.S. points.
Sure, it would be extremely complex and difficult to put into the game, but it would also be deep and richly detailed, which is what role-playing is all about. Overall, it would increase diversity among players and allow each player to have a more unique identity. And anybody who doesn't want to tinker with their outfit wouldn't have to. They can just pick up standard outfits and leave it at that.
Repair1 - Repair should be an actual part of the game. For example, a weapon diagram would appear in your Pip, much like the Vault Boy diagram in relation to health and limbs. A weapon would have an overall condition, and parts condition. Each part should degrade individually, for variable problems. Barrel degradation leads to loss in accuracy, slide degradation leads to jamming, etc.
And in the diagram, you should be able to swap individual parts from other guns, not just sacrifice the whole dang gun. Guns without all the required parts to operate or with one or more broken part should be moved to a spare parts category so you could use them for repairs later, or choose to later repair them to operational condition.
2 - What if doctors were implemented the same way as the repair skill? What if you were at 5/100 health and went to Doc Church about it, but he only healed you to 20/100 because his Medicine skill was low? And what if you used a stimpak but had a low Medicine skill, you couldn't heal yourself all the way? It would mean you're kinda screwed.
And with the repair skill, you
are kinda screwed. It needs to be done differently; the entire repair system needs to be revamped. In the next game, repairmen need to repair based on specialization, not skill. And different repairmen need to have different specializations of course. For example, going to an arms dealer for repairs should mean getting your weapons back good as new... but ask the same guy to repair your dirty pre-war businesswear and he might just make it worse than before. And vice versa in an apparel shop. And also, you should be able to buy repair kits (kinda like stimpaks for your equipment) which should come with things like wrenches and screwdrivers and spare parts (but you can also find these tools laying around individually and find spare parts by taking other equipment apart), that all in all will boost your equipment condition a variable amount depending on your repair skill.
3 - Equipment value, equipment quality (as in equipment
quality, not equipment condition), and equipment rarity should all factor into degradation rate. It's ridiculous that a cheap, crappy, common 10mm pistol will last next to forever, but a Gatling Laser, which is very expensive, very high in quality, and unfortunately one of the rarest weapons... you can hold the fire and
watch the condition slowly drain... it's just sad, and kind of annoying. The more expensive and more rare the weapon, the longer it should last you.
4 - There should be a difference between
repair and
maintenance. Reading the research files at Fort Independence (specifically the research on how to maintain laser and plasma rifles) made me think that it would be cool to see maintenance in the next game. Proper equipment maintenance could increase durability and decrease degradation rate. Unmaintained equipment should degrade at a much faster rate. Repair should be a last resort for people who didn't take the proper precautions beforehand. That, and I'd much rather sacrifice a few bottles of purified water and a rag than an expensive (and rare) piece of equipment. Even if the cost of maintenance becomes more than the cost of the equipment itself over time, maintenance would pay for itself in being common; you can find water laying around more often than equipment, and it's also sold more commonly in stores.
KarmaFallout 4 needs to have relationships based on
deeds and
events, not karma. Karma itself is a vague system, and it translates poorly into a game mechanic. Karma in Fallout 3, unfortunately, was a very vague and very unbalanced system. There are systems that are better-suited. Having people judge you only by what they've seen you do is one of them.
Relationships1 - Relationships should be progressive, based on what good or bad I've done for an individual, community, or organization. I'm tired of everyone in Megaton treating me like a stranger, even though they basically should've taken that bomb and turned it into a statue for me. And except for one lady who bothers me with gifts every once in awhile (and claims that she speaks for "all of us here," even though "all of us here," I just finished saying, don't seem to care), the town doesn't change.
2 - Oh, and it's disappointing when I give up my Alien Blaster, lots of Enclave technology, and several plasma rifles (all of which I could've put to good use myself), I risk my life in a simulation for them to unlock a door, and I'm
still the butt of wildlife jokes, even when Casdin has said I've proven my worth and that I'm "a friend to the Outcasts." Yeah right, when even he makes those jokes sometimes.
3 - Point being, characters, communities, and entire organizations are largely unresponsive to and ungrateful for anything I do for them, and don't progress through the course of quests very much at all.
Barter1 - The next game should feature a much more chaotic barter system, based on the specific shop's or person's needs. Being able to sell one item for the same price in two different locations should be impossible, because:
A - Unless there is some kind of unified, agreed-upon economy and set price list all across the Wastes (which also would suggest a government with laws and regulations and taxes and whatnot, but clearly there's no such thing), the prices in one place should be
completely different in another place.
B - A person surviving in the D.C. Ruins has extremely different needs than a person living in the luxury of Rivet City. And thus, the guy in the ruins would pay more for survival items like purified water and less for "useless" stuff like pre-war outfits. He may have no need for certain stuff and offer next to nothing for it, whereas you know it's worth a lot more in Rivet City.
C - Lack of understanding or experience. A Wastelander equivalent of a redneck who has never seen or heard of power armor (and furthermore has no power armor training anyway) may view power armor as a pile of scrap, and may consider it worthless, maybe even considering something like Dandy Boy Apples more valuable.
D - Specialization. Some people may offer more or less for an item depending on their specialization. Obviously a doctor doesn't specialize in selling weapons, so he probably would take them in at a reduced price because it would be inconvenient for him to sell them. But on the plus side, he would also sell it at a reduced price to try to get it off his hands.
E - Location. Different places should have more or less stable prices. Places like Rivet City, a stable place in general, should have a more logical set of prices and value. On the contrary, a place like Little Lamplight, which is "pure anarchy" and filled with little kids who have no understanding of value, should be a disaster, valuing Nuka-Cola over a stimpak, valuing a stimpak over scrap metal, valuing scrap metal over a Nuka-Cola; a total mess.
F - Some places should even have different currencies than others. The Republic of Dave distinguished itself from the Wastes, but hasn't even established its own currency? And local currency would be worth more than "foreign" currency.
Personally, I think the barter system in the next game should be like Bethesda picked the Bloody Mess perk and then took a Minigun to the economy. It would be interesting, and would make the idea that the Wastes are merciless more believable. People shouldn't be able to profit - people shouldn't be able to
thrive - off the economy. I've profited so much it's ridiculous. I'm only halfway through the game, and already I've stocked up on enough caps, stimpaks, and ammo to last me non-stop for 5 playthroughs... maybe. And the funny is, my barter skill is only like 13. I'd like to be able to get through the game and still be as dirt poor as I was when I first walked out of the vault, not be richer than Tenpenny himself. I'd like to still be struggling to scrounge up enough for more ammo and the next stimpak or two, and to be confused as to whether my stuff is worth more here or there. It should just be pure, undecipherable, unprofitable chaos.
2 - And by barter, you should actually have to
barter. Offer more or less caps, and depending on your Barter skill the other person may or may not accept your offer and you may get away with more or less of a bargain.
Minor Notes1 - The Pip-Boy light is... um... kinda useless. I can barely tell if it's on or off half the time, and when I can tell, it's not much of a help. Can has night vision goggles plz?
2 - As others have said, it's Radscorpion after Radscorpion... The Wasteland needs a wider range of creatures, some that only come out at night, some that only come out during the day. And with distinguishable genders and gender differences, like Deathclaw Matriarchs and such. And maybe even differing sub-species, like the Hairy Deathclaw. I'd be interested in seeing some avian species in particular. And not everything needs to be hostile.
3 - The caravans could do with uniting. They stand a better chance of survival together than apart, so it's really illogical to see them all on their own. That and the rare few times I bump into one of them, it's not the one I wanted. Which wouldn't be a problem if they all hung out together.
4 - Jumping is... about like the Pip-Boy light. When I need it most, it won't work. There've been several situations where I've been wandering the Wastes, jumped on top of something... and gotten stuck. Can't jump, can't move, can't do anything; just have to load the last save, which usually is a long way back. There was one time I got stuck on top of this rock that was two feet off the ground, and honestly was flat as a marble table on top, but I couldn't move or jump. Needless to say, I decided that this, no offense, is the most painfully broken jump I've ever experienced in any game.
5 - Quests need to be distributed more equally across the map. Compared to the amount of time you spend completing quests in the bottom right corner, you never go anywhere else across the map. A quick trip to Raven Rock, a talking tree, all countered by four or five healthy doses of cleaning out the Jefferson Memorial. The first time I beat the game and started a new one, I remember deciding to just explore for awhile... there were so many cool places that you never have to even know about in order to complete all the main and side quests, almost like wasted potential. In future games, quests should be distributed more equally across the map so that more of that potential can be admired, and to avoid the potential of things like the Jefferson wearing out. I kinda got tired of having to go in that place so many times.
... anyway, just a little bit of contributing to do, lol. Thanks to everyone for reading, Beth especially.