This thread is so that we can keep all the discussion, rumors and speculation in one place.
This topic is for a friendly discussion of ideas and suggestions for Fallout 4.

We all have opinions about what the next game should have and should not have. Each of us may express that opinion freely. There are points we agree on and points we do not agree on. This means that people are going to disagree with you on some things. Accept that and move on. No need to beat your point so far into the ground that no one wants to look at it any more.

At moderator discretion, threads about specific and distinct topics as they relate to FO4 and the rest of the Fallout series may be acceptable in the Fallout Series forum. General idea/suggestion topics for a future Fallout game will either be closed, or moved to this one.

This thread should be used to discuss items you'd like to see in a future game, gameplay tweaks, quest ideas, things you hope are not in the next game and so on. If you want to discuss major issues, use a separate topic - such as the discussion about adding multi-player or co-op play, which already has a thread. Please search first to see if there is an active/recent thread on a particular topic.

Something to note. Discussions of Child Killing is not allowed on these boards. Don't even bring it up in this thread. It won't happen in any future game from Bethesda, so there is no reason to even discuss it. If you post about this subject, you may be Warned and or Banned from the boards for doing so.

This is also not a thread to discuss current or past Fallout Games, other than to mention an aspect of the game you want to see included, or not included, in a future Fallout game.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1516938-fallout-4-speculation-ideas-and-suggestions-252/

DemonsBlade

Except the region isn't F'd, in fact, its perfectly fine, minus the 200 years of barely maintained building decay. That was kinda the whole point of the Mojave area, its the one place on earth that ISN'T messed up, because House protected it with lasers that could somehow be seen as far as Mexico city.


As far as the DLC being connected.... I disliked that myself. I hate it when a game drops pieces of story that are obviously unfinished(The Divide, Elijah, Graham) and then tires to make me buy more to finish it. It also feels unnatural and forced, because it implies that there is some sort of string of meta events that connects every fly fart together..... when the real world doesn't work that way. It borders on a level of "THIS IS UR DESTINY!" that not even TES goes to. I prefer stuff like Morrowind/Skyrim's DLC, where they deal with stuff that is just there in the universe, expanding upon it, but not making it directly tied to anything story-wsie in the base game.

For example, Dawnguard expanded the lore of the vampires, the Falmer, the Dwemer, and the Elder Scrolls, all found in Skyrim, but wasn't tied to any specific storyline previously mentioned in Skyrim. Similarly, Dragonborn expanded on the Red Year, the destruction of Morrowind, and the Dragonborn prophesies, again, whilst also not being tied to anything specific story from the base game or Dawnguard.

That honestly felt more natural and believable then this "everything is Ulysses fault, and by extension, your fault also" meta story NV tried to pull in its DLC.

But that is also a problem I had with Nv's base game, everything felt so forced together, to try to make some epic huge meta-plot that effected everyone, that it just came off as fake and "gamey" in all the worst ways.

Honest Hearts was my favourite piece of Bethesda content since it kinda checks a lot of checkboxes for what I like in Bethesda games. It casts you as a explorer and traveller off to some unknown land, that is filled both with unique scenery and unique cultures, and has a straight connection to the main games area by simply walking there. The characters of Joshua Graham and the various tribals were somewhat unlike what we had seen before, which simply added to how interesting they were. The equipment and loot that was added all had story and lore to them, like Randall's Desert Ranger Armour and his favourite rifle, and the 1911s that the mormons have as their signature, it connected the combat part of the game back to the story and world while still having it be a lot of fun. And damn, I could watch Joshua shuffle those guns around for hours.

I say "Bethesda content" and not "DLC" because frankly, it was the best time ive ever had in a Bethesda game. Everything about it played to both the strengths of the game and what I personally like in Fallout and TES. I have yet to be so throughly happy with a area with its combined quests, lore, equipment, and landscape as Zion.

I think Fallout 4 should take massive inspiration from stuff like that. But there is one thing from Honest Hearts that I do not want to see in the future: Aggressive level scaling. At level 5 the White Legs carry varmint rifles, at level 50 they carry brush guns. This is all ontop of the lore of them breaking into a armoury and looting their signature storm drums, which I barely even saw at all since the majority of their equipment was scaled. Level scaling in that style just simply screws with your immersion way too much. I thought we were past that in Oblivion, and I hope that nothing like glass-wearing bandits or Anti-materiel rifle wielding tribals happens again.

I think you mean "Obsidian content", since Bethesda didn't make NV, or its DLC.

And, if Skyrim is to go by, level scaling wont be anywhere near as bad as it was in Oblivion, Fallout 3, or NV's DLC. All of Skyrim's DLC monsters fit in as the next logical rank of enemy level ups, instead of being massively overpowered like those other games DLC monsters were. They were slightly harder to kill, but not complete bullet-sponges wearing full daedric/glass gear or using anti-material rifles.

I would largely disagree. The area surrounding the Sierra Madre, Lonesome Road and Big Mt were in deed, incredibly F'd. Communication error: By DLC explaining why the area is so F'd, I meant the DLC area and not the Mojave. New Vegas also does a very good job of explaining why the Mojave is so well off though. I think it's a trend that should be continued. Actually explaining things.

I liked the fact they had explanation, but not the fact that all the explanations were "everything is Big MT's fault or Ulysses fault".

The cloud, the hazmat suits, the ghost people, The Divide's storms, Cazadors, Nightstalkers, spore plants/creatures? All Big MT's fault.
Elijah finding the Sierra Madre, the White Legs having all the weapons they do, the fall of New Canaan, all of Lonesome Road? Ulysses fault.

Are these supposed to be believable people, or freaking Skeletor or Cobra Commander clones?

I would rather have no in-game explanation, but something that can be guessed through simple logic, rather then a dumb in-game explanation.

Sugestion: Dont abandoned the game after a time. Why we have so many bugs in F3 and NV and you guys not released a patch to correct? Ninja perk, for example.

I play on Xbox and PS3, I can not rely on other than the official patch.

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DLC′s

I like it that way.

I'm not doing this with my current character, but always try to follow the chronology. I'm just going to Zion after talking with Chief Halon about the burned man.

Then I complete OWB after doing all the missions of the BoS and the mission of Veronica.

Dead Money comes next, after listening to audios that are in Ullyses point.

To complete before the Hoover Dam I can go to Divide.

But DLC′s like Shivering Isles is good too.

as the "forced connection" between these four DLC's, I confess that does not bother me. But I understand those who do not like.

Doesn't neccesary need ot be light --"Berkley Bionics exo-suit with plastic plates for under the clothes.."--(which would not be power armor )Espionage nuclear weapons were also not "light" or suddenly not nulcear weapons anymore.

If you have the knowgledge how to make the armor move and can supply it with energy than most of the work would be done,how full body works is not really a mystery.

Perhaps have the option to remove helmet during conversations, so the character removes it and holds in under his or her arm? And perhaps switch to third person, or a view where you see both "speakers"? Also selecting a voice like DA Inquisition did?

Because publishers only give developers so much time and money to fix bugs, of which the devs try to focus on the absolutely most critical ones.

At some point it doesn't become economically viable to continue spending money trying to fix a game.

Gizmo said:

This is perhaps the best question that was ever asked on these forums.

My answer: It isn't. There is no ideal Fallout game. There will never be. The ideal transcends the games. It wasn't established by Fallout, nor any other game in the series. It feeds on them, it feeds them. It gives birth to various new concepts. The ideal Fallout isn't a game.

About Marcus vs Jacob: Yeah, they grappled for hours. Doesn't mean PA is flexible enough to allow for sprinting. Marcus feels pain -> disadvantage. Did it cost him the battle? No.

Does balance mean everything should be equally viable? No. Balance means that the game shouldn't be boring, as in players shouldn't all end up in PA, just like they shouldn't end up with the same character in the end. Power Armor should be a reasonable choice, not the only choice for all characters and all situations.

I don't want Power Armor crippled. I want it to not allow for as effective sprinting as light armor or medium armor would. Sprinting hasn't been in Fallout. We have the choice to do that. We can either want all players to end up in PA, taking away the choice from them in order to fulfill your own headlore, or take this opportunity to fulfill my own headlore. Both approaches aren't rooted in the game. Marcus vs Jacob is no proof for the flexibility of PA regarding sprinting, just as it is no proof of Marcus being painless.

Hi to all the fallouters!

First of all thanks to Didact for proper directing me to this post. I'm here to kindly propose an idea, something I'm searching for in a future RPG Fallout game.

- Macro theme of my idea (below some implementation of my idea in a supposed Fallout 4 context): economic/psychologic management of an activity constantly earning caps or something else.

Why to do that: just to add some variation to the main FO theme explore -> do quests -> explore again with a wonderful new ION cannon Nothing to say about that but in my opinion Bethesda RPGs are already at the top... how to further improve the top? Change something not about the core idea of the game but adding up something to it.

- Examples from the past: Dune, one of the best game ever. At a certain point the main game adds up the micro management of a vegetation system for a desert type planet. The game was not a strategy game but at the final phase of the plot the main theme was enriched with that management thing. I found that awesome and I was only sixteen years old.

Giants Citizen Kabuto: some sort of comic action RPG. Just to cut the game mechanics some levels are built like tower defense game instead of full action RPG.

Bethesda example: the unbeatable Morrowind with Bloodmon. The DLC for Morrowind adds up a plain terrain in a forest where you can send men to work. They'll build some houses then they'll work to an ebony mine. Every step was a quest: at the end if I'm remembering well the mine will give you a dividend. I found that idea simply WONDERFUL. It's far far far better, for me, than 'simply' manage the building of an house.

Fallout New Vegas could be considered THE RPG: why is it better than Fallout 3? The quests are simply so interesting that each one seems a main quest and not a secondary. Exploring the world is a nice experience and also the hardcoe mode, for me, is something PERFECTLY done. So FNV is indeed TOP: Bethesda already reached the top. FO4 cant'be just a different city, ok it would be anyway a game from 80 to 85 as ranking but in my opinion FO4 should be the next step Bethesda offers to the market. RPGs game speaks a language and it's Bethesda: I'm gladly like a further evolution.

By adding some management type and if this parallel 'work' should influence the world we'll have a REALLY new RPG type game.

- So what's in for FO4? Some example: Nuka Cola production or Sunset Sansaparilla. You can rebuild or restore some factory, export the production and invest in a trade route. Of course raiders will attack the trade route and you must pay for an escorting group. The escorting groups could be split up in factions (something like the game Gothic 1 or 2) and so on. Of course you'll earn bottle caps for these factories. And of course thieves will look at you and at your houses so it would be not only nice to have security upgrades but also logical for the new game concept.

In Fallout 3 we built the water purified system: ok we could spread it up to bring in the villages/cities the purified water and drink from bathroom without radiation. Then we could find a design for a water depurator and build them everywhere to sell water and earn from that.

Fallout world is better than any other game world also because it adds up the psycho element: so we can open up a structure where the raiders are healed and converted again to civilization and of course something like that shall not bring so much bottle caps but indeed much more reputation, needed... I do not know... to win a regional or city election maybe?

I'm a moral guy but of course it could be a nice variation to open up your raiding society assault caravans and so on. Of course some WANTED will appear everywhere

- Now my main question is clear: why bottle caps 'must' be earned only by becoming a moral 'raider' and doing generic quest? Simply think on how many interesting quest you could design by opening a cave fungus mine sending there some men and women, founding there some sort of nest, interact with the nest queen, obtain some pre-war artifact and use it for something. Then the cave fungus mine will deliver for the whole game bottle caps and maybe you could also open up shops in various cities selling cave fungus cake. There are a lot of variations connected to a specific type of parallel business.

To be honest with you, from the year 2003 that was one of my videogame world great question: why Bethesda threw away a so perfect 'invention' instead of evolving it? Oblivion: houses; Skyrim: houses... why 'only' that? Ok I've built 115 different house type and now? A parallel business to the plot is better and in a fantasy world could be a world itself. Sorry for the OT part.

- A one-liner for my idea: Fallout 4 RPG - by exploring and cleansing as ever... let's do an in-game business

- Logical reason to implement that? Fallout ok but at a certain point the world must restart from something... oh just to be destroyed again eh eh eh

Thank you for reading me and of course... I'll buy the game in any case... I'm at 150 hours in FalloutNV and I'm really panicking at the idea of finishing it: no more Fallout's world to explore

Fallout 4 is going to get DLC's, that is obvious. However I would like to ask, in advance, that Bethesda develop content for the main game as well.

What I mean is that in DLC's we usually go off on a self-contained adventure and then we return to the main game with some new toys to play around with.

But isn't the point of DLC's to expand the 'main game'? A self-contained adventure does 'not' 'expand' the main game.

It might give you a bit more perspective into various factions, people or events of the main game, like The Pitt, Anchorage and FNV's DLC's did.

But barely any of them 'expanded' the main game much.

rant:

Bethesda's Fallout 3 DLC added content to the game that isn't exactly mentioned by vanilla game NPCs and functions largely outside the scope of the story (with the exception of Broken Steel). Obsidian's DLC for New Vegas functioned entirely the opposite of Fallout 3s where each piece of DLC not only expanded the main story and side quests, but on some level, cohesively all meshed together through the actions of different characters (Elijah, Graham, Ulysses). While New Vegas' DLC didnt really influence the main story to much, it just gave multiple perspectives on many of the games factions and political figures which can potentially change the players' attitude toward certain factions and in-game decisions.

It really comes down to personal preference of which is a better DLC angle as well as the question: is it alright right to charge extra for the full story of a game in its full and unhindered scope?

While I agree that DLCs effecting the main game in some capacity other than "new toys!" is a great idea, I'm not sure that it could/should ever be assumed that the point of a DLC is purely to expand the main game (+/- qotation marks).

My rule of thumb? If it is non vanilla content that is downloaded, it is a DLC.
This includes armor and weapon packs, stand alone adventures, and content that can add to the main story. I mean, it seems a self explanatory acronym to me

I'm not saying that they aren't DLC's if they are self-contained stories/content.

I'm saying I disagree with the way DLC's are handled and think that they should enhance the main game and not 'just' be self-contained stories. The only reason I'm willing to shell out more money for a game I enjoy is to enhance the game I enjoy. I dunno what a good anology would be for it but let's go with comics. Let's say you have a comic that runs for 20 issues and you really enjoy it and then they go "hey, we got more of it for you" and you buy it and it end up being about that one guy in the background from issue #7 on page 12. Sure, it may very well be a good story that is well rounded within its 3 issues but it didn't have that much to do with the comic it originated from. FNV's DLC's was for the most part like creating a spin-off contained in 3 issues which heavily developed upon side-characters from the story. Which is good and all yknow. It helps flesh those characters out. But... How did the 'main story' get fleshed out? Some characters got a bit more meat on their bones but whatever happened to them in their own spin-offs only adds to the characters themselves, not the story or the setting or the main plot.

Like I said, I don't think that's the best kind of anology for this but that's what I don't want DLC's to be. I'm going to spend most of my time in the main game, if you're selling me content then I want 'that' experiene to be enhanced, if only a little with each DLC.

I would posit that if the ideal Fallout is something other than Fallout, then it cannot be the ideal Fallout; but can only be that the ideal is something else; and IMO that deserves a different name. Is that not like saying that almond butter is the ideal peanut butter?

I think this is a case similar to liking imitation crab meat for its taste, and not for what it's supposed to taste like... which it doesn't really taste like at all.


They would have had comparable exertions, and a need for speed, and Marcus would have had the upper hand were Jacob's agility impaired. Marcus would have been able to pick him up like a turtle with wiggling legs. If the suit has the freedom of movement, I don't see it hindering a sprint; and I do see it potentially aiding a sprint, even allowing a sprint to last far, far longer than normally possible.

The difference here is that light or medium [conventional armor] does not carry itself. Powered armor would behave as light armor, but with heavy protection.
I really don't think they would design a PA suit meant for the infantry to be clumsy or slow. I do think that speed and mobility would trump protection if it came to a trade-off; and who would willingly be encased in a suit that prevented evasive action in favor of simple resistance. They make tank busters, they would make human-tank busters. No one would wear PA suits that they couldn't run in.

I hope that this time, that Power Armor is not an afterthought; bent to the engine limitations, but that the engine be made to accommodate power armor.
Look at this: http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj125/Gizmojunk/armors-1.jpg
A person in Power Armor is taller, and a lot bigger and more imposing for being inside a robot body. FO3 just couldn't pull that off with a common skelleton. I know, I made a Power Armor mesh, and had to make terrible changes to it, to get it to work with the common skeleton. It was impossible to make it look as it should.

So the quintessential piece of "Bethesda" content is that of an Obsidian created dlc?

@lovely Gizmo: Drop it with the [censored]y comparisons. They don't do the real matter justice in the slightest. But let's say PA would allow for impaired sprinting (!):

Would you prefer no player choice when it comes to armor (endgame)? I can't properly answer right now, I'm under arrest.

Yes, a DLC for a game in the genre of a Bethesda game. It doesnt have to be created by Bethesda to still be in its self defined genre. In the future I would hope that many people take after the Bethesda design and create their own wonderful games based around open world roleplaying.

The Bethesda genre. What does it imply? The abandonment of everything that makes a game a game for the sole purpose of exploration and discovery? What's Honest Hearts if not the story of the survivalist and the characters of Daniel and Joshua Graham?

Errr...No. Its a game centered around roleplaying in a open world. New Vegas is one, Fallout 3 is one, and Skyrim is also one. All of these games have in depth stories, as much as people seem to think that having Obsidians name on the box makes it a completely different game, that isnt true.

Is it an interactive experience? I mean as far as it could be? As crazy as it could?

btw. I don't want to defend Obsidian here. I would like to work with them just as much as with Beth. Which means I'd love to.

Yes.

(Actually, 'yes' to the other thing too.)

It does appear to me that Bethesda's priority is maintenance of the simulation over all else; and to ensure all content is on display instead of some held in reserve (like an RPG should).

I'm...Not really sure what you're trying to say. But New Vegas is built on interacting with a open world, just like the rest of the games. Have you played any of the games other than New Vegas? You'll find that they are all of the same lineage.