Now I think we can all agree that the news that Bethesda didn’t decide to regale us with any Fallout 4 related info at E3 was a little more than disappointing and to be honest some (myself included) are getting desperate for news, but that doesn’t look likely. So, to drag my thoughts from this I wondered; What do I want from FO4? And; Do my fellow Fallout fans agree? These are the eight things I want to see (this isn’t in order), and bear with me, I may take a while.
First; I’d love to see a more in depth character creation. More appearance options (tattoos, hair styles and facial hair), we’re getting a new console so let’s go ahead and utilize a new engine (farewell Gamebryo) and get a bit more creative. I’ve always been a fan of the SPECIAL system, but I think that FO4 really news to make these attributes more relevant and involved in the actual gameplay (Well more so anyhow). Character customisation, levelling up more specifically. Now, while I liked FONV’s perk every second level, I wasn’t a big fan of some of the perks and would love to see some new and improved perks. And the point distribution could be better (I had constant problems with mine). Fallout 3’s perks every level felt far too generous and made me feel less like a wanderer and more like and op tank.
Second; Weapons and armor. More weapons with more mods and weapon customisation. I wanna paint my gun? Sure. I wanna scratch my kills into the stock? Why not? And yes I do understand this may be hard to actually put into the game, but it would be nice. The variety of weapons that FONV gave us was nice, but some weapons felt really redundant and we’re just thrown in for variety. And I’d love to see FO3’s weapon creation return. Armor, now while I love many of the apparel available to the player, there are some things I’d liked changed. For example, NCR armor, I liked it and wanted to wear it, but the fact that it always disguises you frustrated me. Just because I’m wearing it doesn’t mean I want to be disguised, same with other faction armor. Also if I can mod weapons, why not armor? Improved Joint Servos for Power Armor to increase movement or Kevlar Mesh for the Merc Armor for better DT. This would be a nice addition and an option when wearing faction armor to disguise or not would also be nice. Again, customization needed, painting and adding graffiti. A nice set of charcoal set of Power Armor or a personalised set of leathers would be an excellent touch.
Third; Combat. I think we can all agree that Fallout’s combat needs a good overhaul. A cover system would be nice and smarter enemy AI is definitely needed. Also I feel (even though realism isn’t one of Fallout’s calling cards) that the combat needs to be a bit more realistic. If I shoot a raider with a .308, 5.56, .357, .44 (you get the point) they should die. If I shoot an NPC in the arms and legs I shouldn’t be able to kill them, they should bleed out or become immobile until shoot in a fatal area. Coupled with a cover system smarter AI would be an absolute clincher. Enemies who cover each other, who flank and save their grenades for ideal moments instead of simply throwing the moment they see you.
Fourth; Survival. The Fallout universe is supposed to be a post-apocalyptic world, which each day is meant to be a struggle, so when I find myself running around with over five hundred rounds of 5.56 or .375 ammo in the first thirty minutes of the game I’m slightly annoyed. Now FONV took a step in the right direction with the new addition of Hard-core mode, but I still think that they could take this further. I feel ammo should be far scarcer along with clean water, medicine and caps. Make survival a major component in Fallout 4, but keep it as an option so Fallout fans who want the classic FO experience can stick to that. But don’t get me wrong I want Fallout not Metro or The Last of Us.
Fifth; Characters and Story. Now I enjoyed both FO3 and FONV (I sadly have not been able to play FO and FO2) but found both plot stories a little weak and the NPCs tasteless. I’d like to see better character interaction, more in depth NPCs and for myself to actually care about my companions. And while I felt FO3 was the superior of the two, I still didn’t care over much for James (whom I attempted to kill a few times) or the communities of the Capital Wasteland and thus often found myself simply skipping dialogue with them and simply aiding them for experience points or caps not because I cared. I don’t want this to be the case; I want to care whether I help people or choose to leave them to die. So I guess in another respect I want my decisions to have impact. Better companions stories would be nice and to have better companion relationships.
Sixth; The world. Ok, sorry fans of FONV, but the map and the places was absolute shit. FO3 dominates in this area. Its map was nice and big (bigger is better in this case) and you could actually reach the very edges of the map (unlike NV where for some reason the map was actually a small rectangle in a slightly larger rectangle riddled with invisible walls). Its places were cool, varied and memorable, the Bethesda ruins filled with raiders, metro tunnels with its vast city connections and the down town area always bustling with super mutants. Let’s see insanely big maps, less invisible walls and varied places. This new generation is providing developers with a metaphorical gold mine, I hope they use it.
Seventh; Gameplay. While I could prattle away about this topic forever, I’ll keep it short and to the point. Bethesda, polish it, refine it and finish it. I want it smooth and easy with minimal bugs and glitches.
Eighth; Vehicles. I added this to my list reluctantly, as I know how a large portion of the FO fan base wants to see vehicles in FO4. Thankfully I’m grateful to the fact vehicles would mean large map. But if vehicles are going to be in Fallout’s future, let’s see vehicle repair, combat and ease of travel.
I hope that we share similar wants and that we get some solid FO4 news soon. Bethesda, don’t let us down.
The friendly folks over at Razer recently sent us their full size Kishi Ultra mobile gaming controller, and this thing didn't disappoint.
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "Upon finally finishing Devil May Cry 5 recently - after it spent several years on my “I’ll play that soon” list - I considered giving it a fittingly-named Late Look article. However, considering that this was indeed the final piece I was missing in the DMC puzzle, I decided to instead take this opportunity to take a look back at the entirety of this genre-defining series and rank the entries. What also made this a particularly tempting notion was that while most high-profile series have developed fairly evenly over time, with a few bumps on the road, the history of Devil May Cry has, at least in my eyes, been an absolute roller coaster, with everything from total disasters to action game gold."
Me leaving it out should be telling of my thoughts on it. Better than 2 as a DMC game.
Still a good game though.
3,1,4,5 to me, never played 2. 5 gameplay is amazing but level design was really disappointing to me, just a bunch of plain arenas, the story felt like a worse written rehash of the 3rd and the charater models looked weird ( specially the ladies ). Another problem with 5 was that there was not enough content for 3 charaters so I could never really familiarize with any of them
2.
Dmc.
4.
5.
1.
3.
God DMC2 was an awful game.
And in case this isn't obvious it goes worst to best
Order changes depending on your focus. I tend to focus on gameplay/fun factor, so...
5, 3, 1, 4, 2.
I really didn't like 4 but commend Dante's weapon diversity. The retreading of old ground was pretty unacceptable to me.
But even then... Still more enjoyable than 2 for me
TSA go hands on with the beta for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, but how is the game transitioning to the post-stylus era?
It be nice to see more of a survival sense in Fallout 4. I thought New Vegas did a good job with their little survival system, with the food, dehydration, and the need to sleep. But what Bethesda doesn't include in the main game is what mods are for, if the PS4 & XBOne include the option to add mods then it be killer across all platforms.
While I enjoyed reading your blog and agree with many of your thoughts, I have to say that as soon as I read: "I sadly have not been able to play FO and FO2", I immediately stopped caring about your opinions.
Fallout 1 and 2 are everything fallout is. Fallout 3 and NV are dumbed down, casual fallout games for the console kiddies. Commenting on where fallout should go when you haven't played Fallout 1&2 is like only playing Zelda Skyward Sword and thinking you know what Zelda should be.
There was so much you could do in those games that you can't in the modern fallouts that it's just insulting to longtime fans. Playing Fallout 1 and 2 should be mandatory.
As for what I'd like to see in Fallout 4:
1. A return to isometric gameplay
2. more combat options (disabling, disarming, non lethal takedowns)
3. much more of the classic dark humor fallout is famous for
4. more ways to complete the same objective
5. a better crafting system
6. companion tag team attacks (double eye ball shots, double melee smashes, etc.)
7. fully destructible environments
I'm actually happy that for once in a "What I want to see in Fallout 4" piece that you never mentioned co-op....finally.
It's the one thing Bethesda games don't need.
I agree with most of them especially number 8. If skyrim can let you ride dragon and horse to travel to long distance why can't fallout have cars then. Borderlands setting is in a wasteland but it have vehicle so why fallout can't