Emil Pagiarulo doesn't say anything on VATS and PA issue

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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The Bethesda forum was rife with speculation following this quote from GameTap:<blockquote>One interesting side detail: A Bethesda representative was demonstrating the combat and had power armor equipped. While he was basically a nigh-impenetrable tank, his visibility was cut down, so the perception stat had a significant penalty--one that made VATS nearly impossible to use (...)</blockquote>Luckily, lead designer Emil Pagiarulo was there to not really answer the question at all.<blockquote>I know there are a lot of questions on this issue, and there's only so much I can say, but I will say this:

Giving any kind of specifics right now is a bit of an exercise in futility. I could tell you what the stats on the Power Armor are at this very moment, but then you'd get the game in a few months, see that they're different, and consider me a filthy liar.

The truth is, we're in the stage of development now where systems are getting constantly balanced and rebalanced. So Power Armor will certainly affect your abilities in some capacity, but exactly what it modifies has changed, and will likely change again.

Though I will clarify one thing -- nothing flat out prevents you from going into V.A.T.S. Some armors grant different bonuses and penalties, and that can affect your Action Points (and certain weapons certainly require more Action Points than others). But, as it's the player's job the manage this stuff, using V.A.T.S. (and using it effectively) is possible regardless of what you're wearing.</blockquote>Thanks Lingwei.
 
This whole goshdarned thing makes no sense to me.

Limited range of motion? Ok. Tank-like movement, fine.

Bit I remember the helmet having a visor and always imagined it having a HUD and means to improve the player perception.

If not, I already know I can wear it without a helmet, so huh?
 
Emil was super fast jumping on this grenade. So basically, power armor is for melee characters and makes you feel like a knight!

Except that it's not just metal, Emil. It's called Power Armor because it's POWERED. Meaning it doesn't slow you down or restrict movement but rather it enhances these things! This has got to be the most frustrating thing I've heard so far. I mean for the love of God Fallout is not about wearing armor and being a tank. So what, the Brotherhood is now a bunch of sword wearing medieval knights apparently. That, or the AI doesn't suffer vision penalties from wearing PA which makes even less sense.

I hope I'm just reading too much into this. But for me when Emil comes out and does damage control it means that the preview was exactly correct, he just doesn't want people to know how stupid his ideas are until they've already bought the game.
 
bazola said:
I mean for the love of God Fallout is not about wearing armor and being a tank.
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What? Yes it is. Powered armor troops were fielded for just that...fighting tanks.

I mean, you have limited range of motion, but added strength and - I always figured - some perks on HUDs and scopes, and of course added protection. But you're definitely slower and more cumbersome, too. So tank-ish.
 
Brother None said:
bazola said:
I mean for the love of God Fallout is not about wearing armor and being a tank.
Click to expand...

What? Yes it is. Powered armor troops were fielded for just that...fighting tanks.

I mean, you have limited range of motion, but added strength and - I always figured - some perks on HUDs and scopes, and of course added protection. But you're definitely slower and more cumbersome, too. So tank-ish.
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When I played Fallout 1 and 2, people in Power Armor died to a hail of bullets just the same as everyone else. On top of that I don't know if any of the people in PA used melee, maybe one or two. Personally I would think that if the armor enhances your leg strength then it would increase your run speed, although you would need the kind of gait that wasn't very useful inside cities where the games are mostly located.

Regardless of the debatable lore, the bottom line for me is that PA does not make you a melee wielding medieval knight. And from the preview and Emil's quick response, I feel like that's exactly the direction they are taking it.
 
It seems that the 1st Vault Dweller was more next-gen cause he could use aimed shots while in PA!
 
bazola said:
When I played Fallout 1 and 2, people in Power Armor died to a hail of bullets just the same as everyone else.
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Actually, they didn't. Shooting SMGs and the like at people in power armour was pretty ineffectual (unless you scored a critical).
Yes, powered armor was based on the idea of a man-sized tank.
 
I wouldn't say a tank. There have been a few times where either I or supermutants have been lured up to me face to face so I can split them in half with the gatling laser. However, they can also burst you and even if they don't crit, they can still do a fair amount of damage with their chainguns.

And yes when I look at the PA helmet I do see some kind of HUD/targeting reticule similar to the ones on AH-64 Apache pilots use. The one that flips over one eye.

Bethesda seems to think that PA is just armor (typical of their swords and sorcery outlook) instead of a utility vehicle. The soldier is supposed to complete a great many deal of tasks whether its for combat or in a support role.
 
I can't really see how this could effect the perception negatively. You would think that with this sort of futuristic armor they would ensure that your eyesight isn't diminished as it's something that's crucial to gunfighting. It's not just a piece of scrap metal or something.
 
I think no matter how you look at it, a helmet like the one on the PA is bound to have some limitations to the eyesight. So I guess some limitations to the Perception are kinda logical. But when it comes to the use of VATS, it doesn't need to have any negative effect as the target will be (more or less) in front of the user. So with all of the hi-tech gadgets in the helmet, perception should be enhanced.
 
Even though I agree that the PA helmet shouldn't affect perception negatively, I think we should all remember to take into account that Perception does mean much more than "what you can SEE". Maybe they have some reasonable explanation that Emil couldnt think of...

As I see it,

The helmet could easily have an overlayed HUD (kinda like the HUD that Arnold sees in Terminator) that increases visual perception and target recognition and it would just be foolish for it not to have some sort of audio pickup to increase your ability to hear things.

By design, the horizontal slit of the visor seems designed so that it would not limit your peripheral vision much, and considering the FOV of the common shooter (which FO3 is trying so hard to be) I see the possibility that your vision might be slightly limitted as a non-issue.

Soooo... unless I'm smelling and tasting my enemies to figure out where they are, screwing the PA up so that it short-changes you on stats that are vital to using the only quasi-strategic style of combat in the game, is rather stupid.
 
I can get on board with the helmet effecting perception, but not VATS.

VATS (imo) is all that stops it from being a FPS first and an RPG second, if PA neuters VATS to the point of it being ineffectual, then i cant really see how its not a FPS first and RPG second.
 
I think they just did this so people using power armor would be more inclined to be hardcore fuck'em up melee or big gun characters instead of stealth of sniper characters. Kind of a forced role playing sorta thing, which is a terrible idea.

We know this isn't T-51b so with any luck this iteration of the power armor is the less effective T-45d and when you upgrade to less obsolete versions late in the game you won't have these hindrances. However, if this is the case will all power armors then someone fucked the dog in a very major way.
 
I can't understand if I'm a tank in PA, then why should I be slow...
Ya know, it's a very common misconception that tanks are slooow...
I mean, check this site:
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m1.htm
IMHO ~42 mph is a lot for almost 70 tonnes of steel...

Ahhh i get it! There are no main battle tanks (modern armor with medium tank's speed with heavy tank's firepower) in the Fallout universe! :revolution:

Probably running around with PA and a Minigun will be just like playing as a HWGuy in TF2...

Learn to love Big Bro... i mean Bethesda! :liar:
 
Unless you have the supersledge, you look like a retard when you're using a melee weapon with power armor.
 
Brother None said:
I mean, you have limited range of motion, but added strength and - I always figured - some perks on HUDs and scopes, and of course added protection. But you're definitely slower and more cumbersome, too. So tank-ish.
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Remind me, how much did the PA in Fallout reduce the player's Agility and Action Points again? Agility-based skills maybe?
 
Barrett said:
Probably running around with PA and a Minigun will be just like playing as a HWGuy in TF2...
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if FO3 has that much charm/character anywhere in its being, then it will surpass my expectations 10000000x over.

ok, maybe not that many 0s. but my expectations are definitely low after my adventures in oblivion.
 
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