For those who don't know, various leaks imply that Microsoft has given development of a New Fallout game to Obsidian Entertainment after the massive layoffs. I would like this to be a thread for Speculation on this fallout game. My current Thoughts:
Where is the location? I think the Midwest, Mid-atlantic between DC and Boston (I.e New York, Eastern and Central PA, etc), Texas or South need some love, or even somewhere outside the USA (Fallout London did it well and that was a fangame!)
When would it take place? Same time as Fallout 4 or the TV series, or later? Perhaps earlier?


I would like this to be open to all Speculation on the Potential new Fallout.

After that other company stripped everything good out of Fallout for #4, hearing that Obsidian potentially got the rights back to make the next Fallout game gave me hope. For whatever it's worth, here's what I would like to see:

1) bring skills back.

2) perks that matter more than just combat.

3) actual builds. E.g. a stealth focused character won't be built to properly pick up a heavy weapon.

4) Don't throw power armor at us in the first 10 minutes. It should be rare and powerful endgame stuff if it's in there at all.

5) please don't do the thing from Avowed and Outer Worlds where the open world isn't really open but rather corridors disguised as open terrain. Go back to how New Vegas was in terms of the world.

6) allow real stealth. Not the "you can only stealth where we allow you to stealth with this special grass" nonsense from OW and Avowed.

7) did i mention bringing back skills already? Yeah. that.

8) please try to recapture the specific sense of humor that made Fallout FALLOUT. E.g. Fo1 and Fo2. I still remember a quote from the end credits of (I think it was F02) - "Bring in Marketing. I wish to taste of their unsavoriness as well." Tragic cards, etc. That other company sucked the life out of the game. (along with destroying almost all of the RPG aspects of it)

9) Please do not do the "Omg my baby is missing I have to go find my kidnapped baby - after I do these 4200 side quests" thing. There's no need for the main story arc to be super mega urgent time crunch.

10) please do NOT do the b-soft "level scaling" thing. When everything is always the same level as the player it absolutely destroys any feeling that you've advanced or made any progress. It eliminates the RPG side of the game and just turns it into an action shooter. Maybe i'm old, but I like it when you try to go into an area, get your butt handed to you and realize you're not high enough level for that place yet... then go back later and get revenge once you've caught up. That is fun. Everything always being your level is samey, generic, and lame.

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by Matthew Cox
added more

Since the game will in all likelyhood mirror Fallout 4 in many aspects (I hope it won’t, but it is what it is), I kinda hope they’ll still manage to renew the concept a bit towards a more systemic side of an RPG than the current staple of how these games are made. Instead if… you know, just making a Fallou 4 2.

For instance, they could take a page from Wizardry 8 and Might & Magic 6 for how party and combat work (with current technological sensibilities in mind of course, those examples are probably older than some people posting here). VATS is there so the trappings are already in.

In that vein, for and open world game, a learn-by-doing system for skillprogression is more rewarding than adding a couple of points every now and then, so there too a good way would be a 50/50, where the player and companions *slowly* get better through the actions they perform, and during levelups, you get the slightly faster progression through allocating skillpoints and perks.

I’d also like to see more traditional skillchecks (rolls) instead if simply gatekeeping. Even if there were minigames, those games can withold action nodes where a roll decides success or fail, and even what kind of success or fail.

This holds also in dialog. Persuasion, intimidation, bartering, decieving, seducing, and other checks that try to influence the NPC’s sensibilities should nearly always be weghted rolls against the NPC’s disposition. Bordeline cases where - for example - the NPC already cowers in fear before you, no roll for Intimidation is needed.

Other than that, more interactive and reactive world (through skill-/statchecks) would enliven the experience. I’m not talking about crafting or basebuilding here, but rather discovering things through being able to try things out outside the box. E.g. Maybe your small frame trait allows you to access places you otherwise couldn’t, but it also puts other places outside your access, since you’re just too small to reach them.

Stuff like that.

6 hours ago, Undecaf said:

In that vein, for and open world game, a learn-by-doing system for skillprogression is more rewarding than adding a couple of points every now and then

In theory, yes but in practice no. Bethesda's "learn by doing" skill raising system just encourages degenerate behaviour. (e.g. getting an auto key presser and going afk while you jump against a rock to raise athletics) or other scummy thing. People exploit them rather than play the game. And if someone doesn't want to do the degen thing, they're still going to feel like they're suboptimal for not doing it. For that reason I think spending skill points each level is the better choice.

(and I played Wizardy 8. Granted, I was a kid at the time but I still played it. Remains in my memory because of some of the weird things you could do there, like make a fairy ninja character.)

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Matthew Cox