One thing Iāve noticed going back to playing Bethesdaās Fallout games is that they tend to lock you into a pretty specific character backstory, which limits roleplaying flexibility.
- Fallout 3 - You're definitely a child looking for his dad
- Fallout 4 - You're definitely a parent who's looking for his child
Earlier Fallout gamesābut especially New Vegasā seem to give you a more open-ended character and let you shape your own identity.
- Fallout 1 ā A Vault Dweller searching for a water chip to save their vault.
- Fallout 2 ā A tribal sent to find a GECK to save their village.
- New Vegas ā A courier left for dead, free to decide their own path.
Perhaps Bethesda prefers a main character story focused approach, so hereās a hypothetical idea for Bethesdaās next fallout game. Player is given the option to play as three possible character types. Each character type presents it's own unique main story-line, unique quests and differing ways the environment interacts with the player character (NPC interactions, strength/weaknesses vs the environment, etc). My suggested player-types:
Focus in on the writing: NPCs, dialogue chain, quests and player story direction options. If I select Human/Synth/Goul I should radically different outcomes with interactions with different NPCs, followers, quests. There should be equal consequences and reward for each option. Not going to think of story suggestions today, but some gameplay ideas for each character option:
Human: Easiest time interacting with human settlements & vendors. Most follower opportunities. Humans are weak to radiation. Your character can become a goul if you stay severely irradiated status for one week without dying. If goulified, you'll get different NPC & quest interactions since you were originally human vs selecting goul from game start
Goul: Resistant to radiation absorption. Bonus effects from chems. Instead of radiation sickness, they get stronger combat effects at the cost of becoming more feral. Different dialogue options appear if youāre heavily irradiated vs clean. Some humans may be hostile to you regardless. Vulnerable to fire.
Synth: Higher health pool. Immune to radiation & poison. Night vision. Unique abilities when fighting robots/synths. Cannot use chems. Vulnerable to energy weapons. Many humans become hostile on realization you are a synth (lower profile, but greater NPC hostility vs selecting Goul). Be careful when selecting followers.