Has the exact date of this game been released yet?

No, but I'm on board with the theory that it's 10-20 years after Fallout 3 ... based primarily on the idea that the name of the airship hints that it could be Arthur Maxson's. Arthur was ten or eleven in Fallout 3.

Desmond Lockheart hands down.

... And Bittercup!

The Lieutenant, aka Lou Tenant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U9T8Z_Ayhw

Jericho haha.

I would like Ian from Fallout 1 back...i miss the SMG in the back

I'm still in the early stages of F1 and F2 so not going to say anything about those companions. I love Boone he's not a talkative man and he doesn't have a lot of..depth at least not initially he's a complicated guy and we became mates hunting down legion patrols, saving NCR troops and convoys, avenging his wife by killing Caesar. I formed a bond with him and its hard not to play with him, Acarde was interesting however I felt he deserved more. Fallout 3 wise I want Amata as my wife but companion wise besides the Australia Cattle/Blue Heller dogmeat (not this ripoff german shepard dogmeat) I liked Sidney but I was using the mod with her so a bit more complicated then that but I did enjoy her and I wanted to get to know her more and explore the wastes however she's not really an ideological crusader like my character. Last time I played with Fawkes was in 2009 and I was 12 and I'm 18 now so my opinion of him might be different now but I enjoyed having him around having a super mutant on my side its always an aspect of the Fallout universe I find interesting super mutants who are more complicated then the rest.

But if I had to decide give me Boone and Australian cattle dog dogmeat

Fawnks

It would be unlikely any character from the first Fallout to appear, as they're long dead by this point. Even characters from Fallout 2 are probably too old considering it's been 40 years. And even then, for some character on the west coast to randomly appear on the east because they want to pull off another Harold, I'd prefer they not do that. I'd much like to see a character from Fallout 3 appear.

I'd say the one that would make the most sense and would actually be relatable to the setting is Harkness.

Sarah Lyons.

president kimball / present president of ncr

Colonel Autumn...you can let him leave peacefully after all...i always wondered where he went

That [censored] should have shot himself if he left peacefully.

Honestly not sure, considering's this is pure fantasy though I'd say Orion Moreno from Fallout: New Vegas.a

EDIT: IIRC I recall Sarah Lyon's saying that the BoS troops would probably kill him when he stepped outside, killing surrendered enemies being their style apparently. Then again they do kill enemy non-combatants.

this made me laugh, I could totally see him coming to that conclusion. But OT I'd like to see Moira back or Fawkes, but definitely Moira.

Edit: I don't see any west coast npc's showing up on the east coast though.

Well, I can't really pick ONLY one, but if I had to make a list of several

-Madison Li

-Desmond Lockheart

-Arthur Maxson

-Sarah Lyons

If I had to choose, my first choice would be Moira Brown; she's just so...peppy. My second choice would be Sarah Lyons.

I almost expect Arthur Maxson, Sarah Lyons, Harkness and Dr. Li to make and appearance, but I honestly don't know who I would want to show up. Sydney, perhaps.

Algernon. He's funny, lacks Myron's attitude, and he works cheap.

Boone or Veronica. They're my favorite humans, and I could take or leave the mutant / ghoul routine.

Any off of this list, arranged in order.

Moira Brown or Doctor Li

Desmond Lockheart

Reilly

Sydney, because every character--male or female--I've created had a crush on her.

I would say Harold, but he can be killed so I will go with ED-E.

Torr.