Was talking with a friend, and having played 3, New Vegas, and 4, I had an idea. Why not have a branch off game like New Vegas was? I know New Vegas lore is accepted, and my idea wouldn't be canon, but would be fun a as a branch off. Edit: Or could still be canon by adapting the idea and setting this game farther after the war by another 100 years and this stuff having been created/invented.

Fallout: Future...Basically, the war and bombs wouldn't have gone off until many years later, after a Cold War type stalemate. Styles would have changed, more technology, etc... You'd have a whole new style to work with in terms of buildings, weapons, armor, clothing, etc... You could incorporate a lot of cool things into it.

Ideas I thought of just brainstorming were: Holo Armor. This would be like a shield over your armor, that once broken, (the "projector" would be damaged), you'd have to take each pieces holo projector to be repaired before using it again and it could have upgrades to it as well, and colors could be changed. (on that note, I know not all do, but I miss having durability on items, it made you be aware of another aspect of the game, and you'd have to manage it smart).

Companions: Thought of one where you could have a robotic dog, (maybe multiple available breeds to choose from), and it would be a plain, boring dog until you found an old holotape with a certain iconic dog's personality and memories loaded onto it and can then be loaded into the robotic dog. Not only would the dog have a stronger bite due to metal teeth, but it could have a weak ranged laser attack with a chance to stagger, that way it isn't useless at range or when enemies are out of reach for melee. Also, maybe a robotic companion who can remove it's head, leaving the body vulnerable, and the head can fly around a certain range from the body as a scout and temporarily mark enemies and friendlies for you to see. You'd also have multiple other available companions obviously but I haven't yet brainstormed them. Maybe a guy obsessed with old samurai culture and he carries a long laser/plasma Katana that does added damage to a specific type of enemy? Maybe it has different versions that do damage to other things. Like, a normal steel one would do more to humans and ghouls, a laser one would do more damage to armored enemies, and a plasma one would do more to robots?

One advantage of it not being lore, is that they wouldn't have to stick to certain things having to fit the history and canon of the universe, but could still give it a huge Fallout feel. I mean, nuclear fallout could happen in any time period, doesn't have to stick to the old timey feel. Could even be set in like California, or somewhere at least on the west coast, where they could have a storyline, (whether the main story or a side story or w/e), where the survivors across the ocean, like, from China, are trying to get here and some could be good, just trying to get to a better place, wherever that may be, and others could be crazy and obsessed with the old world notion of defeating the U.S. and trying to finish what was started.

I'd love to see tons of new character types, races, freaking body types and sizes that aren't all the same!! Ghoul children, etc... I don't care if the character is voiced, but focus on the story and dialogue better!! Let us be good, evil, neutral, w/e... Let us advance the story multiple ways, not make us fit into a linear story where every answer is basically yes and we have to kill of any other faction in order to be loyal to one. Let our actions have a real effect on the world, so it can dynamically change, instead of a few lines of dialogue mentioning things we have done with nothing really happening. Take the settlement building to the next level!! While we could still micromanage smaller towns and such, let us have a part in rebuilding a few cities!! Like, we would be able to choose from set building types and colors and themes, and workers would slowly, (but at a pace reasonable for a game since they would have robotic assistance), take down the old broken buildings, and replace them with newer, cleaned up buildings that you chose.

Sorry so long, just brainstorming and I have plenty more ideas for certain aspects, and I'm currently in college to be a part of a video game development team, (I really want to be involved in stories and ideas and features, etc...), so figuring out these types of things is fun for me. If anyone else thinks this is cool, feel free to add some ideas into the mix. I feel like Fallout 4 missed a lot of potential, almost like they wanted to throw a base game out there and pawn the rest off on modders, (who can't even do super amazing things yet because other than, "early 2016", we have no news on the creation kit for the best things to be added). Instead of the same feeling game as we are used to, give us a Fallout that revolutionizes the series again!! Oh, and let Obsidian do the storyline or at least work in partnership with it, so we can have more sense, less plot holes, and not have an ending that invalidates the entire main drive of the game, (a drive that was barely there anyways since our spouse and child had almost no meaning to us due to a rushed beginning allowing no connections to them).