Wasteland Anticipation · 1:47pm Nov 16th, 2013
As most of you probably already know, there recently appeared a website called Survivor 2299 which may or may not be counting down to an announcement about Fallout 4. Already, this site's code has been analyzed and much ado has been made about its connection to Bethesda as well as every difference between it and previous Bethesda announcement websites. At least one website has even proclaimed it is a hoax.
In my essay "Hype and Chocolate", I pointed out the distinction between hype and acclaim, which are often confused:
If a movie, television show, story, candy or whatever is being promoted by the creators, producers, distributors or merchants: that's hype. That is an attempt to boost the appeal and popularity of something to increase their own sales or other returns.
If the same thing is being praised by the audience, critics, fans or community: that's acclaim. Acclaim happens because something is good.
(And before someone screams "quality =/= popularity", I didn't say "quality". I said good. There are many reasons something can be good, and quality is but one of them. But I digress.)
Survivor 2299, and the fervor around it, are... actually, I don't think they really qualify as either. For Bethesda to tease an upcoming announcement in order to generate excitement would fall into the realm of hype, but there is no clear indication that this is about Fallout 4. Or even about anything at all. The excitement is purely audience-generated, but that excitement isn't about a product but about hope.
No, this is something different. This is anticipation. And no matter who created the website, or for what purpose -- no matter what it is counting down to, if anything more than the end of a timer -- Survivor 2299 has proven that there is an eager audience for Fallout 4.
In the spirit of anticipation, I'd like to share some thoughts on what I hope to see in Fallout 4.
I'd like to see a bigger, even better playground. Fallout 3 had the benefit of an amazing sandbox. It was huge, and there was something to see at every turn, and random encounters ensured that every trip across the terrain would offer something different. By comparison, the sandbox of Fallout: New Vegas was noticeably smaller, with invisible walls confining you even more, and yet it felt more empty. Ruins of houses and buildings were often devoid of anything worth looking at or picking up. I would like to see a return to the Fallout 3 model, and would wish for something even more expansive. Perhaps on the scale of Skyrim.
At the same time, I'd like to see the return of many of the great improvements made in gameplay in Fallout: New Vegas. Examples include the superior skill list (which included Survival and which divided weapon usage in a better manner), faction reputation, crafting and weapon mods, and more. In fact, I certainly wouldn't mind if some of these were expanded on. And along with this, I'd like to see the return of Wild Wasteland, which was a wonderful way of giving homages to the wackiness of the original Fallout and Fallout 2 to those of us who wanted it without giving something that immersion-breaking to those who didn't.
I'd like to see a return of the adventuring party. Fallout and Fallout 2 were games not only about your character but about your companions as well. (This is one of the aspects of the Fallout games that, in my opinion, resonates so wonderfully with Friendship is Magic. And in going with the Lone Wanderer motif, I think the latter games have really lost something.) Now, I will admit that turning the game into a first-person-shooter style roleplaying game made a huge improvement in game immersion, and was one of the best moves on Bethesda's part. I wouldn't trade that for anything on my wishlist, and having a large group following you is impractical in that game style. But Fallout: New Vegas showed that having a party of three works (and I suspect a party of four should work just as well). The addition of companion quests was excellent, and something I would like to see even greater companion story arcs integrated into the game. Unfortunately, where Fallout: New Vegas fell flat was inter-party banter and relationships. I would like to see something akin to the Fallout 2 or Dragon Age: Origins mechanic.
I'd like to see vehicles -- but more importantly, I'd like to see the game on an engine capable of handling vehicles. Modders have tried to tackle this in the existing games, and the results have been very lacking -- the engine is not designed to support it. Games like Borderlands and Rage showed us how this gameplay element should be achievable, and how much it can add to a game. (In fact, as much as I disliked Rage, I have to say that I severely yearned for elements of it to be workable in a Fallout game, such as deployable turrets, vehicles and those cool remote-control cars strapped with bombs.) In the same vein, I'd like to see the game's new engine create less bizarro glitches, such as radscorpians walking about on their tails and deathclaws shooting up into the sky. (Although that latter may just be aliens.)
And on that note, I am hoping to see the continuation of Bethesda's acceptance of fan works, particularly those of the modding community. One of the greatest things Bethesda has done with games like Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim is open those games up to modders, giving them the tools to not only play in the game, but play with the game.
There are, of course, elements of game content that I would also like to see, such as new monsters and more situations with grey morality and a beginning that does what Fallout 3 did right rather than what Fallout: New Vegas did wrong... but at this point the blog's already gotten a little long, and I'm sure you'd like to share your hopes for the game.
One more thing first though: the original Fallout was the spiritual successor to an earlier game called Wasteland. And while we don't yet know if our current wave of anticipation for Fallout 4 has been triggered by a corporate teaser or just wishful thinking, we do know that Wasteland 2 is just around the corner! The beginning of the beta for that game is imminent, and you know I'm going to be there!
What I'd like to see is a map on par in size with the on from Just Cause two. As for vehicles, I found ONE, and only one, mod that did it well, I got it, it was good but game-breaking, but I couldn't fathom how awesome it would be to have a Vertibird as a mobile home that can spew death at enemies and facilitate faster travel. Also a fuckton more weapons would be nice. The inclusion of the ammo types mechanic that was present in New Vegas, Fallout 2, and Fallout: Tactics is a must, doesn't get better than carrying several types of ammo to deal with particular problems better. It'd also be good for it to not crash on the hour, every hour. Maybe better textures and better optimization for those older/weaker PCs that are out there. Only other things I'd like to see are the ability to build a home in the wastes which could inadvertently start a fledgling community for you to help out and leave your mark in. More snipers and an improved hardmode are a must, alongside the ability to add homemade modifications to weapons.
you know what more i would like?
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You can bet your flank I am excited for both those titles. And I sure hope we can maybe satisfy some of those needs with Fallout: Equestria (the game) as well.
What I would especially like to see is a setting somewhere else than the USA. I mean Joshua Sawyer even planned on making a game set in Europe. But I imagine China working quite well too.
Anyway, I really need to play Wasteland 1 before Wasteland 2 rolls out.
And props for picking Miracle of Sound, he's a great musician. ^^
Borderlands is more Borderlands than Borderlands 2.
Bethesda: Better Wasteland
Black Isle: Better Quests
We need more Car. F2 had a Car. Fallout 3 + New Vegas = 2 Games -- 2 + F2 = F4. Car confirmed.
Plz deliva Bethesda.
Man, I wish someone would make a throwback game to the original Fallout, kinda like how they keep making Diablo clones.
Cars in Fallout? That is certainly a surprise to read from you. I myself believe that cars would be next to impossible to implement, especially in the first-person shooter mechanics. Now do not get me wrong, vehicle can exist in the universe (such as the obtainable car from Fallout 2) but such a find would be like finding a grain of gold inside a mountain of hay; it is simply hard after a nuclear war.
But as for everything else, I would love to see the return of factions, crafting, and everything else you mentioned.
Agreed, mostly. The one thing I think differently on is the companions part. You say that Fallout 1 and 2 were stories about the companions, and you'd like to see a return to that in 4. I'd respond that it's actually 2 and New Vegas that are about the companions. They may not have had inter-party banter in Vegas like they should have, but they had their own quests and they were very integrated into the story. For me, the companions were a bigger part of everything in Vegas than they were in either 3 or 1, despite that interaction shortcoming. I know Fallout 1 is untouchable for many fans of the classics, but look again and you'll see that companion interaction was just as shallow in that game as it was in 3.
Huh. I had't heard of Wastelands before. I'll have to check that out if I ever get bored of Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition!
Well, about this Part with companions, I remember, that When I played Fallout 1 and 2. companions tended to get lost or die in really weird ways (which was often funny, but irritating) So I did those games (mostly Fallout 1) Alone, only from time to time getting some help for short time (with difference of dogmeat in Fallout 1 who was with me longer, and died on that barriers in Underground base, which I later learned was cannon)
It was a bit harder, but less irritating.
But in fallout 3 and New Vegas, as they were basically immortal (Dogs were for long time more powerful than me), I always had one with me.
Ps. Do you know, that it was your that got me to play those games. And I am thankful for that
Regarding companions, I want Bethesda to take a good hard look at what Bioware did with squad members in Mass Effect. That is a series defined by secondary characters, and proves that shooter combat isn't much of an impediment to character bonds. Bethesda should take those elements, and work their own magic.
I also want Bethesda to take a good hard look at the most successful mods made for 3 and NV. Those fanworks are an incredibly deep pool of market testing; Wasteland Explorer and Project Nevada in particular should give an idea of what fans think needs changing (or at least supplementing) in the vanilla games.
Vehicles, I'm more cool on. You list Borderlands and Rage, and I don't see the vehicle combat or races that those games' vehicles were built around working at all in Fallout; it just wouldn't feel right. Fallout just isn't Mad Max, no matter how raiders dress. What would be cool, though, is if they took a more "realistic" look at post apocalyptic transportation. Give us horses and give us bicycles, give us trucks but make them as limited as 200 year old machines built for roads would be in scrub lands. Horses in particular could be really good (think Red Dead Redemption), but we know Bethesda's history with horses. Maybe best to just keep us walking.
For setting, I can't get enough of the little snippets of pre-apocalypse life, and notes and letters from when the bombs fell. I'd also like these to be a bit more on the somber and serious side, with the Wasteland life providing the humour and charm. Think cold war era Soviet post apocalyptic in tone, instead of American. More horror would also be nice.
As to Wasteland, I feel the need to mention that it just recently got on both Steam and GoG. Anyone who considers themselves a fan of oldschool CRPGs should give it a look, but it needs to be said; this game is older than most people on this website. Parts of it, have not aged well.
And as to a potential announcement for Fallout 4, everyone needs to keep in mind that FO3 was announced in 2004 and released in 2008. Yes, an announcement would be nice, but the game wouldn't ship until something like 2016/2017. No need building any sort of hype right now, don't work yourselves into a frenzy.
Also, they should get the guy who did Gone With the Blastwave on staff.
Combine th' expanse of Skyrim, weapons of New Vegas, enemies of Borderlands, writing of Portal, and companions of Left 4 Dead and i think you might have a perfect Fallout 4.
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I haven't played Mass Effect, but from what I've heard about it, you've probably got a good idea with your suggestion to Bethesda regarding that game and companions.
As far as vehicles...
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Not necessarily cars. I too love the idea of horses and bicycles. And I could see crafting a story-driven reason for multiple functional post-apocalyptic or restored vehicles being a unique feature to a particular part of the wasteland. Imagine, for example, an area with a river running through it (like the Capital Wasteland, only the river remains intact) traversed by post-apocalyptic fanboats.
Keep in mind that operational vehicles are lore-friendly; vehicles have always had a place in Fallout games. The first ones we learn about are apparently post-apocalyptic creations: Fallout mentions supermutants using steam-powered trucks. Fallout 2 adds pre-apocalyptic vehicle repair, giving the player the Highwayman, as well as preserved pre-war vehicles in the form of vertibirds. In Fallout 3 we have a still-functional metro, as well as post-apocalyptic vehicles such as the Duchess Gambit. And in Fallout: New Vegas, of course, not only do we have the monorail, but you assist in the recovery and repair of the B-29 Superfortress aircraft.
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You might like FWE or FOOK2 overhaul mods. I play Fallout 3 using the latter, and it adds quite an expansive number of additional weapons to the game, as well as variant armors, and makes sure to distribute them amongst enemies, giving the game much-desired variety. An encounter with a group of Talon mercenaries, for example, is more visually interesting and immersive when they don't look like carbon copies of each other thanks to the addition of three or four variants of the Talon armor. And fights with supermutants gain a level of additional threat and unpredictability when their armament becomes much more varied, including the potential to carry a dismounted AA canon or Soviat Flak.
I never actually played Wasteland, although I did play both of the original fallouts, will number 2 be in a similar vein to Fallout 3, with the marriage of FPS and post-apocalyptic survival or Fallouts 1/2?
on this note, i do hope so it comes to be, in the mean time i will plunge further on with lil'pip in FOE. its such a great book!
I did like New Vegas. Before you start throwing your stones at me, let me tell just why I did like it a little bit more than Fallout 3: I felt that I was playing a Fallout game, not a post-apocalyptic game in the Fallout world. I really did like - hell, I love - Fallout 3, but it was... a game. A game that would very well stand as an entirely separate game (save for
SATSVATS and the game mechanics). A good, great, even, but very separately-standing game. After Fallout 2, Fallout 3 did not only seem new; it seemed very discrete. It seemed, well... It looked as if the storyline was taken (almost) without really considering the lore of Fallout and Fallout 2. Basically, setting Fo3 on the East Coast was a wise decision; but I really did want to see what happened to the NCR, and the Raiders... They were just random enemies, not bands of raiders. (The Evergreen Mills is still one of my very favourite locations in the whole Fallout universe.)New Vegas gave me that continuity: it felt connected to the early games, through its storyline. It had (still has) its bugs; it has its downsides, the biggest of which, I suppose, is the lack of that sombre, solemn feeling I had while I was traversing the Capital Wasteland for the first time. The Mojave is a slapstick scene; it's a carnival. It's a Western bazaar. But it felt very... Fallout-ish. I don't really know how to say that. Besides, it did introduce amazing mechanics, and I just love the importance of DPS.
I believe, as cliche as it may sound, that Fallout 4 should take the best from both Fo3 and FNV. Fo3's deep, sombre atmosphere. New Vegas's wackiness and humour (which is also Fo2's humour, of course). The automatic weapons of Fo3. The revolvers of NV. The importance of Karma of Fo3. The factions importance of NV. The skillset of NV and the traits. (I really was upset when I saw no traits in Fo3.) Oh, and the checks of NV, definitely. In Fo3, you can pass all speech/charisma/etc checks just by quicksaving/quickloading. NV has set values for each check and that's way better.
And androids!! Sorry for such enthusiasm, but when I saw that one quest in Fo3 that may or may not involve a certain individual in Rivet City, I immediately fell in love with the idea. I want to learn more about Androids. I want a deep, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep-ish moral debate. Given that Fo4 may be set in Boston... The Institute... The possibilities...
Oh well. I won't ramble and waste space on your blog. Sorry for that.
I agree with almost all of this, with the exception of the comparisons of the wastelands in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. New Vegas felt like it had more content to me, and the only way in which Fallout 3 felt "bigger" was in how you had to navigate that annoying series of metro tunnels to get anywhere in DC, with all their immersion-breaking zone changes. The amount of time I spent diverting through multiple loading zones just to get to one place annoyed the hell out of me.
One thing I'd really like in a new game (But which sadly will likely not be done) it to take advantage of the new hardware (Such as hopefully no longer being tied to 8-year-old consoles!) to largely eliminate zone changes. Make it all one continuous world. Plenty of games have done this, and it would be great to have the inside and outside of a building exist in the same world, rather than having them never interact. Shooting through windows, running through buildings in a fight, and not being able to use zone changes to mess with the AI. Or getting ambushed on the other side of a door because you can't possibly see what's inside the building until you've completely entered the first room and shut the door behind you.
My heart stopped.
Sadly, I am out of the loop when it comes to new Bethesda games. I don't check "Survivor 2299" or anything of the like. Though, I personally would like to see a map that isn't expansive desserts or nuclear wastelands. Both F3 and FNV looked really...drab. I thought that seeing nothing but sandy dunes and cliffs in New Vegas or dead grass and burned-out buildings in Three became very tiring after ten hours of play. Perhaps they could take the player some place that narrowly escaped being torn apart by the bombs, maybe a patch of forest with a few small towns that narrowly fell between the cracks of the warheads' blast radii. Because God knows that seeing a freaking tree in Fallout (without mods, that is) is like finding a diamond necklace in a box of Cracker Jacks.
Or maybe some places that was less flat? The snow-covered mountains and rocky terrain of Skyrim seemed to go over well with the Bethesda fandom. A possible setting like that would be someplace nestled in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. I'd absolutely love survive there in a Fallout setting.
Speaking of survival, I wouldn't mind seeing them expand on that aspect beyond Hardcore mode (which seemed to be a good idea, but it seemed to be lacking as well as still not making anything too much harder.)
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I know its not considered canon, but in Fallout Tactics, you could even drive vehicles yourself. Everything from a Hummer to a Tank. (And they talk about the Brotherhood of Steel traversing from coast to coast by using giant dirigibles.)
I don't have enough hype for this. If it's fallout 4, I will literally go running through my neighborhood screaming like a raider
Opinions ahoy cap'n
I loved the storytelling in Fallout New Vegas, although it doesn't really feel so much like an apocalyptic wasteland like Fallout 3 it had some really good characters and passable gameplay mechanics. (I would have said great gameplay mechanics but I think that's a lie)
The FOOK and Project Nevada mods do go some way toward fixing some of the things missing from the gameplay but there's some things mods just cannot fix.
optimisation/fps drops/excessive loading screens at the strip/invisible walls and so on and so on.
As much as I enjoyed Fallout 3 it felt more like a joyride than a real attempt at trying to mimic survival issues in the wild. With a story that ranges from amazing (dat intro sequence) to falling flat with the villains being pretty clunky and cliche.
At least New Vegas tried to get some survival elements in play and at least it's villains had a more developed backstory. Although It could be argued that all sides are villains in some respects, which is what makes me keep coming back to New Vegas.
The story just hooks me in and while it doesn't have the same kind of crazy tough/energetic fights against mutants like you got in Fallout 3 (which had some truly fantastic fight scenarios, from what I can remember anyways) it has some great diversity at play.
Simply put I love playing Fallout New Vegas with the mods installed. I do hope like you've said Kkat that they take some hints from the mods about how to improve a few things with the game.
Vehicles...yeah maybe a few basic ones could be implemented but honestly, they often bring up as many issues as they add new fun game features.
It's like the whole jumping problem in games. I know it's a really basic thing but jumping your character around is actually a hell of an obstacle for programmers to get into games. Deciding what can and can't be jumped across/over and making realistic looking collision models for the different scenarios can be hellishly hard.
Just imagine how much of a challenge it would be to add in vehicles, would they be able to smash through buildings/people? would they break down? Limited fuel? Replacement parts?
It's a huge can of worms to open up and honestly I really don't mind if they forgo vehicles and stick to the formula they use atm.
Can't wait to see what Fallout 4 may be like in that distant future.
I agree on adding a small party element to Fallout 4. However, for all the things it did wrong I think I'd prefer party banter like you'd hear in Dragon Age 2 over Dragon Age: Origins. (Most especially the banter in some of the DLC, which was far more hilarious than in the main game.)
Outside of that, I'd like a larger variety of guns, or at the very least, many more "unique" guns. Too long playing Diablo II and similar variants may be painting my bias for lootfest games.
Ever since I read Fallout Equestria I will probably spend the entire game looking for FoE references
1517461 Same here, especially since I'm pretty sure that there will be some to find.
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Oh dude, they'd be crazy not to
Me and you will be like Sherlock Holmes looking for FoE stuff
1519173 Yep, if only we both had Xboxes, then we could be in touch while doing so. Also, did you know that there are a lot of bronies at Bethesda? I mean a lot, and apparently they're fans of FO:E as well?
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Sweet Celestia.
1519191 What?
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I had no idea there were bronies at Bethesda
1519210 Oh yeah, there are plenty of them at Bethesda.
What would I want for Fallout 4? Well, I'm not a super hardcore gamer, but even I have to admit that being forced to eat, drink, and sleep occasionally isn't a bad thing. It's a bit more immersive. That said, I used Project Nevada to turn the timescale way the heck down from 20 to 1 all the way to 5 to 1. I know they wanted to show off their pretty day to night transitions, but darn it, don't shorten my entire day cycle to slightly over an hour! It should not take me three or more game days to sneak my way through a building! Then I discovered the hard way that adjusting your timescale can cause a CTD after Elijah's opening speech at the start of Dead Money. Grrr.
Anyway...I completely agree that getting rid of loading screens when transitioning from inside to outside is a fantastic idea and one I've wanted to see for so very long. Why is a tiny 10x10 room its own separate world space? Gah! No, just give us doors we can lock. That would be a nifty bit of immersion. However...give us fully destructible terrain! There are games that have this, and it can be pretty neat when done right. Let us break down wooden doors, but in exchange, I want to be concerned that a wooden fence might not hold back a supermutant or a giant radscorpion! You know what was cool about the intro to Skyrim? Running the heck away from a dragon that was smashing buildings like they were made of Legos! It felt pretty darned epic to escape that craziness! That was scripted, but I'd like the mechanics to be in place so something similar could happen occasionally.
Oh, and arms. Humans have arms. Let us use them for something other than just holding guns. I'm not saying you have to go super detailed with climbing and free running mechanics, but let us use the rungs on the side of a box car to climb up on top. Let us jump to catch hold of a ledge and pull ourselves up. Lots of FPS games have this to some degree or another, so why not Fallout 4?
I share Kkat's hope for even better companion quests and inter-party banter. I would also like Bethesda to adjust down the frequency of its speech triggers. Most recently I have gotten very tired of God's idle threats and condescension in Dead Money. I was nice to the big lug. The least he could do is be quiet! Sadly the quiet one is hard to communicate with and fragile as heck.
I really like tracking your standing with Factions. This should stay. It is very believable and immersive. Karma should die a painful death. You just killed a bunch of Powder Gangers. Why the heck was that not evil but heaven help you if you grab several bottle caps off the table? I can swipe stuff from this crate but not the one right beside it? WHY!? The karma system is ludicrous and not worth keeping. Instead, taking things that aren't yours should affect your standing with the faction that owns those things. This is not a hard mechanic to code - it's a simple flag marking ownership of containers, any freestanding items, and doors. (Obviously most doors would be flagged for free entry. Only entering restricted areas without being flagged as having permission would cause faction reputation loss.)
What area would I like to see? Boston would be good, but I think New York has SO much potential as the setting for the main game. Spin the clock forwards a bit from Fallout 3, assume that the plant life of Oasis spread out into the wasteland to at least partially re-green it. Now give us the partially overgrown New York from I Am Legend but with communities, caravans, hunters, trappers, bandits, gangers, slavers, mutants, monsters, robots, and more! Please ditch the radscorpions. Those belong out west. The east needs to have its giant mutant brown recluse spiders, black widows, and wasps (smaller and weaker but more plentiful than cazadores). Also there should be more giant ants, and since this is New York, there should be terrifying swarms of radroaches in multiple varieties. Seriously.
Just some thoughts. Ugh...nearly 2am. Why do I do this to myself?
Whenever the topic comes up of what I want out of a new Fallout game, I find myself thinking more about the setting than the mechanics and I usually say that as long as they keep the silly stuff in and give me a gun to shoot, I'm down with whatever. I got a couple of sour looks whenever I said that, though, as if they didn't quite know what I was going on about. To be honest, I could do a better job of articulating, but I still tend to jabber on about Boston or what-have-you without touching on what I meant because it's kind of a difficult thing to say promptly.
What Fallout has always been to me isn't a wasteland survival game, it's been a fantasy game along the vein of Planescape: Torment or, my new favorite thing to hear out of people, "Fallout with Swords" with a browner and bleaker coat of paint. It's surprisingly easy to equate vaults with dungeons, subways to caverns, irradiated places to "Here there be dragons", and a magic sword to a anti-materiel rifle, and I don't think that's unintentional. I love the idea of mythologizing the stuff that seems mundane today because it touches on the center of every post-apocalypse setting, the legacy that gets left behind for future generations to make sense of. The reason I fell in love with Fallout Equestria in the first place was because I loved how it played with the fantasy elements of the game while still keeping in the spirit of the show.
So, what am I really hoping for with Fallout 4? I guess by what I said, I want fantastical elements, interesting places that I can extrapolate myths out of to make sense of what is left in place, and interesting characters that have attempted to do the same with an altogether differing conclusion. And as long as they keep following the formula they've put forth, I think that's what I'm going to get.
The trouble with a large group of companions is that it does tend to drag the spotlight off your own character. In FO1/2, it was easier to handle, because the top-down map kept you well apprised of the tactical situation (and what idiotic moves your companions were making.) In a FPS environment, it's much easier to feel like it doesn't matter whether you shoot or not because your companions will take the enemies apart no matter what you do. The "kill cam" helps you keep track of the situation to some degree, but even with only one companion and one pet, I sometimes find them killing mole rats hadn't even noticed.
On the other hand, there might be something to be said for letting you have your party's hail of fire, but increasing all enemies' HP to something close to your own levels, decreasing effective fire rates, and flattening out the power curve so you don't get to be such a combat god by level 30 (...or 50.) There should be no level where a deathclaw isn't terrifying. If you have a big party, though, that should go along with more tactical control of your companions. No, Veronica, do not run a quarter mile to punch the radscorpion I just sniped. Your job is to watch my back and backstop anything that gets too close. The operative word being close. And stay clear of my goddamn line of fire.
One thing I'd like to see is companions who can lend their skills to you. It always irked me that I couldn't, say, ask Pablo to take a look at the food processor at McCarran, or take advantage of Arcade's Medicine skill to help the wounded soldiers at Forlorn Hope, and the scene in FOE where Velvet took over bartering at Trixie's Cottage always struck me sort of like, "Hey, yeah, why DON'T they do that?!"
I'd like to see each companion with, say, two skills they were particularly good at, and one of them should be a weapon skill if you want them to be much use in a fight. (Or, possibly, each simply has one weapon skill and one non-weapon skill.) FONV covered this to a small degree with companion perks, but I'd like it to go a bit farther.
I'd also like to see something where each companion prefers a certain class of weapons -- to use FONV examples, perhaps Boone prefers two-handed rifles, Cass likes shotguns over SMGs, and Arcade will stick to energy pistols if he can help it. In short, I'd like to see companions become more fleshed-out characters. Not just a backup gun with a small skill bonus attached, but someone that you're traveling the wasteland with, putting your life in their hands and vice versa.
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There is also the mention of an entire vehicle division by NCR troops at Camp Mcarran in New Vegas. Heck, they even had a vertibird so you don't have to be a society underground that hoards technology, is the remains of a facist government or the like. I am intrigued by your idea of horses, we know they can implement them from Skyrim.
I would like to believe that since they made Skyrim as big as they did, as well as the graphics in the map is a good sign. Heck, it could be easily bigger if they mainly just need to work with the matte, dull brown of the wasteland.
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Please don't implement horsesthe way they did in Skyrim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YccdxMujeLc
1531540 Maybe not horses the way Skyrim put them in. I was only really using Skyrim as an example that we can have faster transport systems in free roam games.