Re: Fallout 3 / Oblivion with Guns
Things I wish they'd done differently for Fallout 3:
Agree with most of those, except #4. If you'd done that, it really would be nothing but oblivion with guns. The leveling system in fallout has always been a core mechanic of it (although FO3 did break down a bit if you were willing to spend the time to twink out).
It would be interesting to see FO1 rebuilt using the FO3 engine to compare and contrast where each game shines and falls short at. (or conversely, someone making FO3 in an FO1 engine.)
FO3 had a much stronger feeling of trying to save the entire population once you got towards endgame and realized your final objectives. The problem, of course, being that early game you were left with such a vague "go find daddy" plot that no one really gave a shit about, you ended up going through the paces just to get it out of the way when you ran out of sidequests.
FO1 had a strong starting quest and really drove in your urgency to get going and help the vault, but kinda dwindled on the second half. You were told a bit about your general objective, but by then, it really felt more like simply enjoying the world and finishing off side quests, rather than the other way around.
Ultimately, what made FO1 have so many fans is the same thing that makes FO3 have so many fans. A fun game, in a unique setting, that's just complex enough to make it hard to get that perfect character, but just easy enough that everyone should be able to beat it.
Biggest reason why I say it's not just oblivion with guns... Oblivion is too complicated at times (specifically character creation). You start toying with every possible option, and before you know it, you're 4 hours into the game and haven't even left the creation screen, because you're still "tweaking" that character, and by compare, FO3 is just dive in and go (even if you do toy around with the creator forever getting your look "just right" and min/maxing your stats).