Bethesda has had a relatively consistent style with the core Elder Scrolls games (which is a good thing in my opinion), but they've also made some spin-off games like Redguard that were quite different. Redguard may not have been a true CRPG (more of an action adventure with some RPG elements), but it did demonstrate that Bethesda is capable of doing something different from the core ES style.
I'm hoping that they demonstrate some of that adaptability when they make Fallout 3 and take a lot of inspiraton from the style of the original Fallout games.
One positive indicator that I've noted is that they claim there are more actual dialogue trees in Oblivion than in Morrowind. Morrowind's engine could actually do a kind of Fallout/Infinity Engine/NWN style dialogue tree either when you first talked to an NPC or in response to a dialogue keyword, but the interface in the editor for making them was far less user friendly than the conversation editor in NWN, and dialogue trees were barely used at all in the game (usually just an occasional yes/no question, or whether you wanted to resist arrest, pay a fine, or go to jail). If they're expanding the use of dialogue trees in Oblivion, it gives me some hope that they might use that as the primary means of conversation in Fallout 3, perhaps using the keyword dialogue only for generic "filler NPCs" such as those who only had single line floats in the original Fallouts, and maybe as a "can you tell me about...?" option like the Fallout 1 keyword dialogue system.
One of my favorite aspects of the Fallout games was that you had a lot of freedom to go where you wanted and do what you wanted. This is something that Bethesda does well. One concern that I have is that Bethesda's main storylines are often quite linear, whereas the Fallout games generally had just a few "critical main plot points" that you had to hit, but they had a lot of side quests that were not required, but connected to the main plot in some way and provided clues to the main plot. Bethesda's side quests have not traditionally hooked into the main plot and provided clues the way the Fallout ones did, rather there were more main plot quests that you had to do in order to get the information you needed to progress.
I think that Bethesda will probably do a very good job of creating a big world with freedom to go where you want, that's always been one of their strong points, and hopefully they'll give lots of options in terms of camera views. There's no reason a 3D game can't have the option for locked isometric view, first person, AND over-the-shoulder chase cam. In fact, being able to switch to first person when using a sniper rifle would be quite nice, especially if they can handle very long view distances. In Morrowind I switched back and forth between 1st person and 3rd person (1st for ranged weapons, 3rd for melee and general travel) and that worked quite well because you could switch views with a single keystroke.
I definitely hope they keep the SPECIAL system relatively intact. I don't necessarily dislike the Elder Scrolls learn-by-doing system, but I'd rather see Fallout 3 keep a system that at least resembles the original SPECIAL system.
Somehow I doubt that they'll include turn based combat (but who knows, they might surprise me). I'd like it if they did, but it wouldn't be a game killer for me if they didn't. The main thing I liked about the Fallout games was the way the plot was rather loosely structured, but many side quests tied in to the main quest in some way, and many also affected the end game slideshow showing what happened to each town. The setting was nice, but it wasn't what really made me love the original games. The turn based combat was nice, but it wasn't what made me a fan.
If they can achieve a similarly flexible plot structure in Fallout 3, I'll be very glad that Bethesda bought the Fallout rights. If not, I'll probably be disappointed. I'm still going to wait for more information before I make a judgement.
-Kasoroth
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Nothing more really needs to be said here.
