Remove the voiced protagonist, put back all the features seen in previous fallout titles like traits, skills, perks, Damage Threshold, degradation of weapons and equipment along with weapon jamming or breaking. Also add far more calibers to the vanilla base game such examples include .30-06, .303 British, 7.62x39mm, 5.45x39mm, .50 AE, .300 Blackout, etc.

I'd also go for better plot and story. I liked Obsidian's style of storytelling by leaving much of the courier's background a mystery and allowing you to make their story and background up. I really loathed Bethesda's way where you're either the son/daughter of a scientist who left you and forces you to find him or the father/mother of a kid who was kidnapped. I prefer the blank slate to character building than what the dev wants you to be. Yeah, you where a courier in New Vegas. In canon, you also have traveled all over the west coast and have been as far east as Utah before Honest Hearts and as far west as the NCR and it's territories. However, they kept the slate clean and allowed for you to build you character, leaving many other canon events ambiguous and up to the player. Where as Bethesda's approach in FO4 already decided what you where before the game's events, I'd revert back to Obsidian's style if given charge to make a fallout game.

More factions and societies. Expand upon the lore of the wasteland. Enter power struggles like in NV. Of course, it's not a Fallout game without the BoS in it, still keep them, bring back other factions like the NCR or maybe even the legion, but also introduce new factions that would make sense to exist in the time.

Finally, switch over to a different engine, or develop a much newer engine that's less prone to crashing and doesn't feel outdated.

1. Unless they're willing to pay for multiple male and female voice actors or investing in voice synthesizing, drop the paid protagonist. On your first playthrough, you try to roleplay but then you character opens his mouth and he just sounds boring. On your second playthrough of the same gender, it just sounds like your last playthrough.

2. Better quest and writing variety. There are tons of great RPGs and shooters, and ~4 years after Fallout New Vegas this is what you have to show? More meaningful options and more chances to roleplay.

3. The Witcher 3 looks amazing, even post-downgrade, and runs pretty well considering how it looks. Metal Gear Solid V is super smooth and runs at 60 FPS even on consoles while still looking pretty great. Fallout 4 runs like ass and goes sub 30 sometimes on console. When in cities, shadow's that you don't even see are being rendered and tanking your FPS, all while it looks just alright. Some people say, if Bethesda didn't keep using this kind of engine, then you wouldn't be able to do a bunch of cool shit, like picking up items. But this is also the same engine where if you bump into a static car at the wrong angle, it'll launch you into the air and kill you. This is the engine where if anything hits the ground or surface at a weird angle, it can spaz out or just fly away. I almost hate that you can post a gif of something bugging in a Bethesda game and you'll get laughs and not "wow, that bug existed in Fallout 3."

4. Put skills back in. I don't even know how they got removed in the first place. The new system makes every character a bit more rounded now that basic functions once tied to skills are now tied to level-restricted perks. If you specced yourself right and chose the right starting skills and traits (which were also removed), you could max out a skill in your first 5-10 levels. If you want to be a master thief, you could pour every point of your next level-up into stealth and pickpocket. In Fallout 4, the benefits of level 100 sneak and pickpocket are locked away at level 30+. The new system also makes every level-up less exciting. "Oh boy, I can't wait to get the next level of that perk," except it's now 6+ levels away and now you have to pick up something while you wait. Even with New Vegas's 1 perk every 2 levels, you got to mess with skill points. Even if getting to level 50 of sneak had the same function as getting the 3rd level of the sneak perk, getting to mess around with both perks and skill points was just a lot better.

5. It only took a ~$20 of DLC to get the settlement system to where it should have been in the first place, so they can't get rid of it. That said, I hope they don't replace every interesting town with a settlement again like how FO4 feels. Maybe have an actual town or outpost with things you already want to protect, and then you could grow it out and build around it.

6. Less radiant quests, please. Even if they don't replace actual, hand-made quests, which it certainly feels like they do, they're still really annoying after the second or third time. Go there, kill everything, or go there, place this item, they're all really trite. At least increase the variety and make them less in your face.

Certainly Bethesda have learned their lesson, right?

Edit: Grammar stuff

I would like to see a great story and a map of the world in the first part.

1. More voice actors for the protagonist. I like that the main character is voiced, i just want a little more to choose from.
2. Endings actually being different. No generic endings,.
3. Fully fleshed out factions. The minutemen had such potensial, but it was all blown away with those generic quests.
4. Performance: I run the Witcher 3 on all ultra with heavy light mods and a reshade. It never drops below 60 fps. FO4 on the other hand almost always dropp in fps. So actually making sure the game runs smooth.

More RPG elements need to come back. No more voiced protag, more dialog options, and just overall more choice. They have combat down, but they don't have what made Fallout, Fallout.

After some reflection I think that better weapon mechanics and animations would be great additions to a hardcore or survival mode, think red orchestra 2 / killing floor 2 animations.

I think it would be awesome to see some Co-op gameplay. I always wanted to roam the wastes with a friend. Granted yes it kinda takes away the point of it being a single player only game, but I think they should give it a chance.

Needs to bring back the RP in the RPG. I get that they were trying to blow people away with that being voice acted protag--but it sort of fell short in terms of what our character could be. We didn't really get to be REAL assholes until Nuka-World. If being voiced is going to be a regular thing--the dialogue options need to be expanded upon most definitely.

Settlement system if it continues on should definitely take a backseat or be given a much larger quality story as to why you're spending hours/days. Also no DLC centering on settlements, especially when most of the assets are already readily available in the base game (with some assets still not even available for usage even, thank atom for modders and their sea of patience to fuss with it all).

Visible weapons when holstered, it's such a little thing, but goes a long way...instead of pulling a rifle from thin air near my pant leg.

Small modding of weapons while on the go. I shouldn't have to bounce back and forth between settlements/player homes to unhook the silencer from a pistol/rifle.

Scoped weapons, I would like to see the retirement of the fade-out-fade-into a UI with a crosshair and move into a more smooth transition of actually looking through the scope.


Animations could probably be given a little more love(and qa testing...that level action rifle reload, amirite?). Now I get that they're probably not using mocap and it's all done with eyeballing and references and hand tweaking, it's rough...I've been there though really...my sole survivor sprints like he needs to drop a load. Not. Cute.

A story that doesn't fall into the background (I mean, I'll freely admit in both FO3 and FO4 the whole looking for your family member emergency sort of ends quickly the moment I'm set free from the tutorial). So maybe a heavier tone for the story, where you actually feel like you're racing against the clock to stop someone/beat someone/take over the wasteland.

Combine the old and the new. Use weapons from the Fallout 4 and Fallout 3 (Dart gun and Chinese Assault Rifle). Take the weapon and armor modification from Fallout 4, then bring parts of New Vegas' crafting i.e. reloading benches.

Bring back the zany, wacky, random encounters. The zaniest encounter I remember from Fallout 4 is the raiders behind Hardware town talking about the guy who starting making sound effects and escaped their ambush. That's a scripted discussion, though.

In all honesty, I can't say that the settlement system was BAD.
I'd just like to see it utilized as something more than just a tedious diversion.

So, consider this: as great as New Vegas and other time honored RPGs are, they have a fairly static, binary quest system. Even with karma and multiple endings etc. your quest outcomes are either "finished" or "not finished" with a few points of optional objectives.

Fallout 4 represented a great opportunity sorely missed. See, the potential could have been that the settlements very much affected the ending of the game. Not just sheer number of settlements visited or quests completed, but how good you were at building the settlements. So, instead of your ability to complete side objectives to affect your ending being determined by what skills you've spec'd into or the perks you've gotten, it's being decided based on how good you are at organizing, building and managing the supplies of your settlements.

So, to give some examples: imagine if fallout 4 had a climax event like hoover dam, and at the end of it, the game determined how the battle played out due to a mixture of RNG and how powerful your settlements were. If you way over armed every settler and gave each settlement a lot of industrial infrastructure and workbenches, but they relied on shipments of food and water from your other settlements, maybe the game has your faction enemies suffering heavy early casualties but eventually starving out your less calorically solvent towns by staying in the wastes and attacking caravans while your character is busy somewhere. Alternatively, if you have high fortifications and efficient farms, wells and solar panels, your settlements might be besieged, but ultimately the attackers are slaughtered as reinforcements arrive.

What I'd like, also, is for survival elements, settlement building, faction building etc. to actually have a contrast to the early game. So, have environmental damages be a bigger deal. more fall damage, have sharp pieces of rebar and broken glass scattered around to damage the player. Make medicine to treat these things be far more rare. Make scavenged ammunition that's not found in a sealed ammunition box be the norm, and have it frequently be expired, making firefights more tense as you sometimes pull the trigger only to have a hissing flash and no real bang as the ammo burns up. But similarly, have luck play a part in a smart way. I don't need a critical hit for 400 damage when an enemy is at two ticks of health. however, being held at gunpoint by a raider while you're at low health and then having his shotgun blow up in his hand due to poor condition, giving you the chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, THATS a fun use of luck. And have all this tense hardship contrast with having a small series of towns of your own. suddenly, ALL your ammo works and ALL your guns are in good condition all the time. you have an industrial infrastructure to replace broken armor plates. You have people to make medicine and food to support you. having a faction to come to your aid makes battles less about dumb luck and balls-to-the-wall-razors-edge-seat-of-your-pants survival and more about tactically placing your allies and using weapons that keep you far FAR out of range of the enemy.

Obviously, all of this depends on bethesda actually utilizing an engine that's worth a damn, and getting their heads out of their asses, but I can dream, can't I?

Also, it goes without saying, obsidian directing a fallout title would pretty much be the one wish I'd have above any others. Listen, i'd give my left nut for an obsidian directed fallout game using the current engine.

Basically everybody has said pretty much what I'd like so I don't have much input except for a few things, one being ATMOSPHERE. One thing that is missing from Fallout 4 is the yellow, orange and green skies Fallout 3 had. Many hated them, but I loved them. It makes you feel like you're actually in a nuclear apocalypse and not colourful Boston with blue skies and boring, typical weather. The Glowing Sea and Far Harbor are the best locations in Fallout 4, and for good reason. Both of them have bleak, depressing, radioactive weather that makes the game unique. In short, the blue skies in Boston are boring, the weather from Far Harbor, The Pitt, Dead Money, Lonesome Road and the entirety of Fallout 3 made those locations atmospheric, enjoyable and beautiful in a sense. Fallout 5 needs it's own unique apocalyptic atmosphere, and not a boring typical colourful sunshine wasteland.

On top of that, I'd really like Fallout to have more freedom and decision making. Fallout 3 had not a lot of choice at all, New Vegas had choices that didn't really affect the game that much and Fallout 4 didn't even have nearly any important decisions at all. I really did wish that people close to you would die as a result of your actions, and then include a chance to save them, sort of like Telltale's games. Make it so the game has actual consequences. One thing that disappointed me about New Vegas is the fact you can't continue after the ending, because if you could there'd be major changes to New Vegas. If Obsidian had more time, I'd bet RUST would become a real thing after the Elijah Dead Money endings, or the NCR winning the war for Hoover Dam would result in NCR camps being established on conquered Legion territory, or vice versa. Fallout 5 needs to have endings that actually have consequences, real decision making, and not endings that are not continued or a linear storyline, which is what we have saw in the past few Fallouts.

let us be evil dont just make it a dlc

Change the power armors to a Car , a literal car , remove the power armors as it is
[disclaimer I am still a fan of the new power armors , but everyone can use one damn it]
Have a car and cuztomize it like in the New-ish Mad Max Game a bit least , Sure the Creation Engine was never made for speed in mind , but they do have the *source code* and if they Let Obsidian Experiment

Power armor is iconic to say the least [main menu stars in previous titles]
but as the games Progress so does the world
FO1 was really like a wasteland , you explore you meet things that are pure horror
FO2 was a right direction to rebulding in a way , be killing off a pre war faction
and in one of the endings you litearly start the NCR
FNV you read , you see , you witness the NCR in action
and functioning like an actual goverment in a bloody wasteland nuked , even Vegas for f@# sake
The Next Fallout could take another +30 years timeskip
Power Armor might as well be in Museums by that time or be outlawed
What I am saying Fallout is getting closer and closer to rebulding the world
NCR and all its resources might as well be able to put some cars in working order
Vertabirds are nice and all , but they cant forever keep using em


The game engine could at least be tweaked to handle faster objects
I remember a vid Xiliando once made showing what speed can do to FO4
twas not pretty

ofc I am saying to add a car in there but cmon ,
better have a car that even an idiot can get in
rather than a pre war power armor that can survive hell and back
be controled by a hobo who possibly never knew what one was till he found it

I am asking for too much yeah , it may only happen if engines are changed
and the Gods at Marketing re write some copyright laws *Shrugs*

also yes I did see the new Frontier vid , I saw they had cars that work

I'll just list down the features that I want since it might take me a long time to explain why.

Features:
- Use fictional weapons that are grounded on reality. Also, ditch the Junkgun or anything that is
similar to it.We don't need anymore of these weapons that shoot trash.
- FOV Sliders and in-game graphics options.
- Silent Protagonists
- Functional Pipboy Gloves (you will need the gloves to enter VATS and its upgradeable and you can
buy better ones; you will then have a better choice of playing with VATS or not)
- More Race to play with (Ghoul, Faction Soldier, etc.)
- Change the sneak indicator to a sign instead. With the current indicator, its possible to quickly check
if you've already alerted enemies and it makes the game so easy. Make the players rely on sounds to know if they've been spotted
or not
- Bleaker world. Not in a Stalker kind of way, but rather something that can stand on its own.
- New theme. Seriously, if the next Fallout game is set once again in the city of the 50s, goddamit.
How about setting it near the Docks like Far Harbor or even someplace with a dense forest or even
back to the Desert life. Or even the mountains. Or even the sky for all I care. Just not the city AGAIN
- BoS will have lesser roles in the Wasteland.
- Adjustable scope zoom
- Refined Repair System (break down a weapon to reveal salvageable parts; use said parts to repair
your weapon and keep the parts for future usage)
- Increased Fusion Core time limit, but make Power Armors rare now. Like hella rare.
- Bring back the Centaurs please.
- Ditch the Legendary loot please. Just go back to the usual unique gears.
- More ways to finish quests and handle npcs. Fallout isnt a looter-shooter game.
- Performance Optimization. DO IT RIGHT THIS TIME.
- Ditch the Settlement system. Either you give it a purpose and endgame usage or just abandon it.
- Characters with purpose and depth.
- AI gets smarter the more you play the game. So when its 600+ hours, you'll still get your ass
kicked around by Raiders and other enemies.
- Ditch the aliens crap for now. This isnt History Channel the Game.
- Rideable vehicles and creatures. Really? Hundred years have passed and not one had the initiative of
building cars and taming animals to ride on? Really Bethesda?
- Anybody can be recruited. Companions still exist, but they will have more advantage over some
random wasteland recruit. Also, only the Companions will have quests with them. The random NPCs
will just provide you a decent amount of protection. Companions, however, will have specializations
- Lunatic Antagonist. This man's goal would be to detonate the remaining warheads in order to create
his version of utopia. A new beginning where he is the God and Master of All.


That's all that I can think of and wish for. I hope they make the next game play more like an RPG.

1. Dialogue System: Everyone and their mother has mentioned this one already, but I'll stick it here anyway. Voiced characters kill Role play. All in all, between the limited dialogue choices, forced character meetings like Piper outside of Diamond city and voiced MC, Fallout 4 felt somewhat hostile toward RP'ers.

2. Keep on track with Customization: Honestly, I think that any sort of customization is great, the more I can affect the world around me, the more immersed I become. This is more or less why I /loved/ the settlement system. I can make this settlement into an unfriendly looking ammunition mill with a wild-west styled main-street? Awesome! Weapon and armor customization is great for the most part, though I do wish regular non-powered armor had a tad more. But honestly what I want the most are unique NPCs for settlements. I'd like to see fights break out between named characters, people starting families, opposite factions trying to sway / sabotage your settlement from within. Stuff like that.

3. More seriousness, less bubbles. It might have been just me, but Fallout 4 felt entirely too... Bouncy. Sure Fallout has it's wacky moments and thrives on the doo-wap fifties, but it's an apocalypse... A dangerous one... Where people DIE. Why aren't there more 'real' situations? Everyone seems like they walked out of a dark souls lobby with a 'JOLLY COOPERATION' sticker stuck on them. It's disturbingly easy to see who your enemies are and who are fast friends. Add a little tension next time, Bethesda? It can have crazy moments, but more realism in behavior and society would be GRAND.
Fallout 3 brought the dreary a little better in my opinion.

Misc stuff:
- CANADA ( Too much to ask? =p )
- Guns / Melee weapons Akimbo
- Multiple states (Larger map)
- Vehicles (Ramshackle Wanderer)
- Visibly holstered weapons

I would like to see a few things:
1. Like what @geminispark262 said, a prone system to help with stealth.
2. Some kind of animated takedown system. That of course is based on probability and player skills in order to keep it balanced.
3. More extensive dialog options. 4 options that put you into a kind of box. I was always a option 4 kind of "nice" guy.
4. More focus on role play and less on crafting. Prehapse with the addition of more factions, morally grey areas, etc. I liked making OP weapons but eventually it was 6 recovers and barrels that really just looked and did the same thing.
Just some ideas. I didn't put too much time into think this through so if anyone disagrees or agrees I really want to hear!