Fallout 4: 10 Things It Must Learn From Mass Effect

6. The Blank Canvas Protagonist

Though Fallout and Elder Scrolls titles always allow players to sculpt their protagonist within the games, this is still something that would stand to improve with just a little extra refinement. In the most recent Fallout titles players were able to alter their appearance and brief history, but with little more than the karma system to affect this after the game had begun. Mass Effect follows a similar introduction to this, but manages to build on it all a lot better as the game progresses. Various actions and choices that players will have made with their versions of Commander Shepard throughout the game all gradually culminated in influencing what endings they got once the story finished. These actions also determined what relationships and alliances stood strong and which, if any, were cast by the wayside. Fallout could include fluidity like this a lot better in its next title; in both of these series' the protagonist is clearly the most influential person and so it makes sense that the world around them would react more strongly to their actions. Fallout 3 admittedly saw some reaction to players' actions, such as their decision for how to deal with Megaton, but the fallout (pun not intended) was ultimately fleeting and isolated to just certain regions in the game. Fallout 4 should see players have more impact on their characters throughout the game, which would in turn make the world feel more responsive to their actions.