Fallout 4: 15 Ultimate Wishlist Features It Must Have

13. Emergent Gameplay/Narrative

Not everyone is aware of what emergent gameplay and emergent narrative is. To put it simply it is when the story of the game appears naturally as you pass through the game, rather than just when you reach certain checkpoints. Very few games have made such a system work. Nearly every quest in the previous Fallout incarnations starts with the player speaking to a character and finding out what he or she requires and then performing said tasks. It's a trope as old as the RPG genre itself. In a perfect world the storyline would unfurl naturally as you played; if the game wishes for you to meet the Brotherhood of Steel they could be fighting with bandits, allowing you to choose if you want to interact with them or not, allowing you to join in and help the bandits, or align yourself with the Brotherhood. Fallout 3 and New Vegas attempted to use this, but these moments didn't have a great effect on your overall progress. The next game should create situations as you travel to keep the narrative moving, based around what you want to do and where you want to go, rather than what the game wants you to do. Skyrim's use of dragons was typical emergent gameplay: random events that caused changes in the players actions as they occurred. It is all about making the player feel like their adventure is unique to them, and not just the same quest that everyone else has been on.