What I mean is....

Vault Dweller: Good karma for stopping the Master's army, game-wise he probably wore Tb-51 Power Armor and utilized Energy weapons as those were the best, a dog and a human friend were his constant companions, though both died, leaving him alone
Chosen One: Good karma for stopping the Enclave, game-wise he probably wore Enclave advanced power armor and utilized energy weapons, as those were the best. Had various companions, not sure if any were constant to him (Marcus and Cassidy obviously left at some point)
Lone Wanderer: Good karma for stopping the Enclave, game-wise he probably wore Tb-51 Power armor and utilized Energy Weapons, as those were the best. A dog was probably his only constant companion, as implied by the ending slides
The Courier: Neutral karma for simply choosing the philosophy and nation he believes in and it's impossible to please everyone by doing so and he MUST get blood on his hands at some point in the game. Game-wise he probably utilized light armor and cowboy weaponry (lever-action rifles and revolvers) as those were some of the best and the cowboy weaponry fit the theme. Had an eyebot as a constant companion, as implied by ED-E's game ending.


See wut I did thar? I found the Courier specifically to be SOOOO refreshing because he broke the mold and did something completely different, going into battle with a lever-action rifle and a duster while the other three guys have their power armor and gatling lasers. I enjoy some variety in what's the strongest setup and what direction the main quest takes you in, because to me, it somehow makes the Fallout world feel more alive. It justifies the use of normal clothing or light armor instead of combat or metal armor by all those random guys I find in the wastes and it helps me feel more immersed and interested in the story when there isn't a ridiculous predictable pattern among the protagonists.

What direction would you like to see the next protagonist taken in? What kind of karma tone should the main quest have, what weapon or armor type should get some love in the next title, who should the protagonist hang out with, etc? Or hey, why not a female protagonist? We're due for one of those.

I dont think the courier had leather armor and lever action rifles, leather is for noobs, pro′s take Combat armor (mk II)

Well, i disagree. Combat armour is for sissies, what sort of pro is scared of bullets? Pro's just wear leather jackets, and the bullets are scared of them.

On Topic:
We have a thread on this
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1358106-what-will-the-name-of-the-next-main-character-be-like-the-courier-or-lone-wanderer/

And I don't use any form of armor at all :/ I only use clothing..

What clothing...?

Edit:
On a serious note
Why not start with a person who would by many people be deemed as evil.. but either can choose to remain on that path or become good... or neutral... or stay evil.

(Challenge... I don't know what would fit this)

for the next fallout..... it seems to me to be another break the mold character might be in our wake. i can already see something like the courier in what he did though.
nuetral karma for choosing his own philosophy and taking it to his own faction. he will have to kill or be killed, as this is the way of the world in this time. he will probably have a robot or animal companion with him constantly, along with a lover, as this is something never befor seen in fallout, where a lover accompanies the main character. he will probably use United States Army Issue combat armor MKII, as this is about as good as it gets, and probably will be holding some type of machine gun. i give these things as reason becuase doing 2 western themes in a row would just be aggravating, and if another power armored hero is created, ill give up my hope for an original fallout creation team. the meet in the middle would be these things listed.

and pro's fight in boxers and an undershirt with a .22 pistol and a knife with one clip. ive killed a death claw like this, but it was the most challenging thing ive ever done. and no chems or medical supplies.

That's what I was thinking too.

The first three (save for Chosen) were essentially from a Vault and came out to remind the world what it once was, so they were essentially good karma.
The Courier was just doing his job. He was just delivering a package, hence, neutral karma.

Perhaps a bad-karma profession? Perhaps, in a game with political turmoil (more factions fighting each other), the "tutorial" is where you're an assassin hired to kill an unpopular political leader? That would allow people to be good karma if they like (since the leader would be unpopular) while still hinting at an evil karma backround.
It'd also be nice if another combat skill got some love. The first three gave love to Energy Weapons, and although guns are used very similarly, it was still refreshing to see a change of pace. If the next game showed some love for melee weapons or explosives or whatever, I'd be all for it.


The Courier is wearing light armor/clothing in the opening cutscene.
Dead Money provides you almost exclusively with Light armor.
Honest Hearts provides very useful Light Armor.
Lonesome Road provides you with Light Armor. But not just any light armor; it's armor tied to your faction, or lack thereof.
The game has two perks for Light Armor, both extremely useful, whereas heavy gets one and it's very limited in use. The Light Armor perks increase your movement speed (this is the ONLY way to do this), your crit, and essentially make you immune to critical hits earlier, instead of having to wait until the end of the game for that immunity. (reduces enemy crit rate by 25%, which to my knowledge, is subtracted DIRECTLY from their crit rate rather than multiplying their crit rate by .75. Very few enemies even exceed 25% crit, so it's essentially an immunity)

As for Cowboy weaponry, again, .357 rounds are everywhere. .45-75 Gov't are everywhere. You'll struggle to find modern rounds in Dead Money, Old World Blues, and if it weren't for the White Legs, Honest Hearts. The Ranger Sequioa, Lucky, the Medicine Stick and the Hunting Revolver all qualify as end-game, top-tier weaponry. Grunt, by comparison, from experience I can tell you it lacks the variety that Cowboy has. Cowboy, I can use Lucky for DPS and the Medicine Stick for DPH. Grunt has issues with DPH.

And I mean ffs, look at the final piece of concept art released: http://oyster.ignimgs.com/planets/images/00/47/4776_fnv_dlc4_background_normal.jpg
It doesn't exactly scream "Hi I'm the Courier and I wear Tb-51 power armor and use a rocket launcher."

Just to add to that, remember that New Vegas is the first Fallout game to not feature Power Armor on the cover. Instead, it shows a Veteran Ranger, wearing what is essentially an advanced, futuristic version of "cowboy" armor -- a duster, jeans, et cetera. So I would say that light armor and some medium armors fit the bill for "what the Courier wore." The medium armors being Veteran Ranger Armor, Desert Ranger Armor, and all three versions of Riot Gear. The reason I say this is because we see variants of that armor showing up 5 times (once in the base game, once in Honest Hearts, and three times in Lonesome Road).

OT:
Which reminds me about my number one problem with FO:NV LP's on YouTube.. Some of them play on hardcoe but complain about hc mechanics.. (while wearing power armor... becauze is tha best freakin'armor.. )...
Others want power training, complain about BOS attitude, yet Roleplay like it is Gods gift to the wasteland..

I like that idea, maybe you could wake up in a town with all the inhabitants dead, and some guy finds you and asks if your okay, he could somehow be tied into the character creation. Then this random guy thinks you killed everyone, and he runs off and goes and tells some town, which starts out not hostile, but agitated at you.

I think protagonist variety is good, but I don't think the protagonist requires any sort of karmic leaning from their background or a set profession. I think ambiguity would be best, a wastelander who was thrust into a situation and ended up a legend, a hero, etc. or not. Like if the end game made it clear whether our protagonist was a legend depending on what they did in the main quest, whether or not they "succeeded" to a certain degree. The Courier is remembered whether or not they did good for the region, as is every other protagonist.

Ambiguity to the extent that Bethesda does with Morrowind and Oblivion?
Personally, I liked what they did with the Courier. He was a blank slate and he wasn't. Of course your could customize your character however you liked, but NPC comments and your own dialog seemed to imply a certain persona the Courier had. It made me genuinely curious about what his story was and it made me WANT to play the true Courier Six. (which I did )

I liked it because I think it's quite easy to do a playthrough with your own character, hear "you're a tough-looking guy" over and over and simply ignore it if you don't want that to be true for your character. However, what comments like that do is they write an actual character for you to follow and find out about, something that's completely lacking from Oblivion and Morrowind. It's just my opinion, but I'd prefer to see more Fallout protagonists handled like the Courier, with their story leaning towards specific characteristics and traits, but not forcing them upon you.

That's sorta why I made this thread. Wondering if others feel the same and, if they do, what kind of protagonist would they like to see next.

Might as well just start off with you picking whether you wish to start good or evil, than from there you can change or continue the path..

The Reclaimer

I actually feel that Bethesda took a step backwards with their last characters..They are pre-destined in their destiny (Skyrim) or in their origin and their destiny.. (FO3).
Obsidian understood, imho, that one thing which makes RPGs fun is that you can basically decide what your characters background is and what he/she is going to accomplish.
One always needs a starting point to establish part of your character to set you on a road.. What we don't need is restrictions.
In Skyrim I have no choice but to finish certain sidequests in one manner or finish the MQ in a certain manner.
in FO3: Apart of not having a choice.. Playing a character with bad karma.. is so illogical... (given your background etc.. ) *let allone the way in which your road on bad karma is started (pester Amata about her weight... wtf what am I 5..?)

Since FO:NV gave us : The Courier, I would love to see them continue on this road... Like longknife suggested an assassin or something connected to the world.. A caravan merchant, a drugsrunner... etc.. In other words like the Older FO games a normal citizen (no vaults please) who becomes extraordinary or through circumstances is put in an extraordinary situation.

An ends justify the means?

Cold calculating?