Differences? Well, I mean they're two entirely separate beasts as gaming concepts. It's like describing the differences between a dog and a horse. But, okay. I can give you the definitions of each at least.
Roleplaying is simply controlling a character or a party of characters in a statistically abstracted way. Usually the mechanics of the game are different per character and customizable to the player's tastes (Warrior, Wizard, Thief, ect ...) The primary reason people engage with RPGs is to satisfy a desire to watch their character grow, either as people or in power.
Open world games are ancidote factories and allow for non sequential storytelling. The major appeal of sandbox games are replay value. It's an absolute therapeutic joy to warm up GTA V and just
fuck around for two hours. And no two play sessions will ever, ever repeat.
In a
good RPG sandbox, that replay value comes from mix and matching narrative changes from different choices you can make. Now, I know this may sound odd, but hear me out. Mass Effect is a good sandbox RPG game series. At least with dialogue. The fact you can do things like kill Wrex, and that will cause a totally different segment of story to open and close in the next game creates a bit of a sandbox metagame, where you are like 'Oh, what would happen if I pull this lever, how will that affect this character, and that character, and what happens if I bring that character along next time? What if I did this and that for my next playthrough?'
So how can FPS or FP perspective be made more compatible in your opinion, easier menus, the pipboy was horrible in F4.
Well, these might sound a bit extreme, but here it goes. Do away with the traditional idea of xp increasing your base stats. If the main character butt naked with no armor on and base enemies like ghouls take more than 12 hits to take down, you are no longer hitting that lizard brain reflex center in the brain, and you might as well not even put in FPS elements at that point really. The whole CoD twitch shooter appeal dissipates and it's just a slog. Case in point; Tom Clancy's: The Division. And it's just not immersive. You lose the idea that these are real people when they can take 600 bullets to the chin just because of arbitrary reasons like they are level 65 and have 10 END.
The real way to upgrade your character's and other character's survivability should not be through SPECIAL but through weapons, armor, and ammo types. And there should be always be a way to mitigate what the other guy has through some rock-paper-scissors mechanic. Someone in power armor should be able to take over thirty expensive armor piercing rounds before the suit is damaged enough for the pilot to need to get out. But, if you had the foresight to bring specialized EMP grenades you can render someone in power armor immobile and get a shit ton of hits in. Plasma could melt through metal armor like butter, but could also harmlessly be dispersed by a generated energy field around an enemy. But the catch is that energy field shield does shit all against metal bullets and blunt trauma. What's good against bullets and blunt trauma? you guessed it, metal armor.
I feel like the perks in Fallout 4 were half decent ideas, but the execution was over simplified. All passive buffs should be done in equipment. And active changes in game mechanics should be done in Traits, Skills, and Perks.
Perks should be powerful one-offs gained every three levels, Traits should give advantages and disadvantages that make you change up your play style, and Skills should be long ten point perk chains that are given every level.
For example, let's make a 'long gun' skill. At this point a Fo4 perk would make it +10 damage with rifles and call it a day. But that doesn't really add anything of substance to the game. Let's think about what game mechanics the sniper build uses the most. Well, ironsights of course. So the long gun skill should be a ten point perk where every level the sway of the iron sights are reduced, and the AP cost getting rid of it by pushing down the thumbstick is reduced. And then at level 10 your iron sights will have zero sway as if you were holding down the stick at no AP cost.
