Fallout 4’s Character System

[thenightgaunt]

I am not going to judge prematurely. Bethesda have re-added some classic complexities such as better armour/clothing customization (with pauldrons, leggings, etc.), which has not been seen from Bethesda since Morrowind.

I thought all the TES series had this? I know for sure Skyrim/Morrowind has it. Actually the more I play TES it seems that Fallout 3 was dumbed down in mechanics than those. No separate clothing, no readable lore books (well, you do have the pip boy holodisk thingy though to be fair), etc.

Aesthetics-wise? Kind of. But technical-wise, they removed the ability to attach greaves, independent gloves/gauntlets, pauldrons, shoes/boots, and even the simple ability to wear armour over regular clothing. I do feel your pain with the non-readable books - but, to be fair, I do not recall books being readable in the classic games, either, so not much has changed there. Would still be nice to add that level of functionality, as I do enjoy in-game literature.

Fallout 3 did feel dumbed down from what they'd put into the TES games, but I think part of that was them not wanting to go too far into the "Oblivion with guns" territory.

In the classic games you didn't have readable books, but you did have those holodisks. Fallout 1 used them for exposition like the FEV experiments and BoS notes. And Fallout 3 had them as well. If you think of the holodisks as readable books, then they've been a part of Fallout from the first game (well, the first Fallout game). I would like to see them expanded more though. I do like the work they did on building the lore in the TES games using those books. And you could easily pull off that with fallout and damaged books. Then suddenly it would make sense that only a few pages are readable.

 

[Vault17]

Was anyone really surprised? Anyway, there is already a way to make it so it's reminiscent of Fallout's regular style.

• create your SPECIAL, put only 10 points in as you go along max (Intense Training)
• mod perk rate to 2 or 3 instead of 1
• realize percentage based skills are useless in an FPS that directly relies on player skill, with no random chances to perform action or RNG turn based combat

Still not going to buy or even pirate the piece of shit, but there you go.

 

[FearMonkey]

I am not going to judge prematurely. Bethesda have re-added some classic complexities such as better armour/clothing customization (with pauldrons, leggings, etc.), which has not been seen from Bethesda since Morrowind. While it does suck, to me, that skills have been removed and there are only 70 base perks, I am still excited to see how the perks work out throughout the game, as it seems like they put in a really good effort to have perks that cater to many different play styles, and not just combat roles. With perks such as Animal Friend and Intimidation, it might actually feel like a legitimate playthrough now when running through the game as a pacifist (although, there will need to be more than just pacify perks).

Todd Howard's already said that the Pacifist playstyle is "not necessarily a goal" of theirs:

"You can avoid [killing] a lot," VP of development Todd Howard said in an interview with The Guardian. "I can't tell you that you can play the whole game without violence – that's not necessarily a goal of ours – but we want to support different play styles as much as we can."

- source

Yet another reason why I have no interest in this game. As if there weren't already enough reasons.

 

[CRBASF23]

These perks are hilarious:

 

[GarouxBloodline]

I am not going to judge prematurely. Bethesda have re-added some classic complexities such as better armour/clothing customization (with pauldrons, leggings, etc.), which has not been seen from Bethesda since Morrowind. While it does suck, to me, that skills have been removed and there are only 70 base perks, I am still excited to see how the perks work out throughout the game, as it seems like they put in a really good effort to have perks that cater to many different play styles, and not just combat roles. With perks such as Animal Friend and Intimidation, it might actually feel like a legitimate playthrough now when running through the game as a pacifist (although, there will need to be more than just pacify perks).

Todd Howard's already said that the Pacifist playstyle is "not necessarily a goal" of theirs:

"You can avoid [killing] a lot," VP of development Todd Howard said in an interview with The Guardian. "I can't tell you that you can play the whole game without violence – that's not necessarily a goal of ours – but we want to support different play styles as much as we can."

- source

Yet another reason why I have no interest in this game. As if there weren't already enough reasons.

Nothing concrete, from a PR monkey. Like I said: I am going to wait until I can play the game, and figure out the pros and cons personally. No point in working myself into a speculative frenzy, when it might not even be justified.

 

[FearMonkey]

Nothing concrete, from a PR monkey. Like I said: I am going to wait until I can play the game, and figure out the pros and cons personally. No point in working myself into a speculative frenzy, when it might not even be justified.

I guess. If you have a 10 CHR at the start and depending on what higher levels of some of the CHR perks do, it might be possible to go 100% Pacifist, maybe.

But remember, Bethesda forced us to kill a radroach in the tutorial in Fallout 3. They'll probably do the same for Fallout 4 cuz guns, guns, 50's music, guns.

 

[GarouxBloodline]

Nothing concrete, from a PR monkey. Like I said: I am going to wait until I can play the game, and figure out the pros and cons personally. No point in working myself into a speculative frenzy, when it might not even be justified.

I guess. If you have a 10 CHR at the start and depending on what higher levels of some of the CHR perks do, it might be possible to go 100% Pacifist, maybe.

But remember, Bethesda forced us to kill a radroach in the tutorial in Fallout 3. They'll probably do the same for Fallout 4 cuz guns, guns, 50's music, guns.

I am looking forward to there being additional pacifist perks, aside from what we have seen so far (hopefully I am not being entirely naive, there). Bethesda have barely shown us anything, regarding Fallout 4, so ultimately time will have to tell.

 

[PossibleCabbage]

These perks are hilarious:
*snip*

So first of all, why does the "no chance to get addicted to alcohol" perk have three levels? There doesn't seem to be that much depth to that concept; I suppose maybe the next level affects harder drugs but three?

Also, they've nerfed Animal Friend... I have no words.

 

[FearMonkey]

I am looking forward to there being additional pacifist perks, aside from what we have seen so far (hopefully I am not being entirely naive, there). Bethesda have barely shown us anything, regarding Fallout 4, so ultimately time will have to tell.

I'm also concerned about that dog. Are we forced to take it as a compainion? And if so, is it going to attack people automatically or will it only attack if you order it to? I need answers to these questions too. Hard to be stealthy when a dog is following you around. :p

 

[Nas92]

Lel, what the fuck, no level cap AND you can potentially raise a SPECIAL stat every level? Why not just throw the entire numbers game out and make the game 100% shooter? Ffs. I'm usually a BGS apologist to some extent, but I can't justify this shit, they basically made a completely idiot-proof "no fun allowed" system. Well, I'm not gonna play this looks like, but I am still interested in whether or not the writing is improved.

 

[CRBASF23]

According to Bethesda, animals know that guns are dangerous, and would surrender if you aim a gun at them. I would like to try that out in real life, just aiming a gun at a bear and see how he surrenders.

 

[GarouxBloodline]

I am looking forward to there being additional pacifist perks, aside from what we have seen so far (hopefully I am not being entirely naive, there). Bethesda have barely shown us anything, regarding Fallout 4, so ultimately time will have to tell.

I'm also concerned about that dog. Are we forced to take it as a compainion? And if so, is it going to attack people automatically or will it only attack if you order it to? I need answers to these questions too. Hard to be stealthy when a dog is following you around. :p

There is a confirmed perk called Lone Wanderer, where you gain extra damage resistance and carry weight so long as you do not have a companion. So my educated guess is that none of the companions are mandatory - at least, not permanently.

 

[MercenarySnake]

Point a weapon at an animal for a chance to pacify them? What the fuck is this nonsense, since when could you apprehend wildlife?

 

[Crni Vuk]

I am looking forward to there being additional pacifist perks, aside from what we have seen so far (hopefully I am not being entirely naive, there). Bethesda have barely shown us anything, regarding Fallout 4, so ultimately time will have to tell.

I'm also concerned about that dog. Are we forced to take it as a compainion? And if so, is it going to attack people automatically or will it only attack if you order it to? I need answers to these questions too. Hard to be stealthy when a dog is following you around. :p

I am pretty confident that you can tell the dog to stay outside and/or wait at your home or what ever. But I also have the feeling that the dog will be forced on you ... so 30 sec. of OOOH AREN'T YOU A LOVELY MUT! Just to keep him at your home for ever. That's Clever writing isnt it!

 

[PossibleCabbage]

Point a weapon at an animal for a chance to pacify them? What the fuck is this nonsense, since when could you apprehend wildlife?

I assume by "pacify" they mean "it won't attack you". So the new Animal Friend (at level 1) works by:
- point a gun at a single animal, then if they're lower level then you, maybe they will become non-hostile.

Contrast the old Animal Friend perk, which at level 1 has the effect:
- animals won't attack you unless you attack them first.

So they've nerfed Animal Friend of all things.

 

[MercenarySnake]

Point a weapon at an animal for a chance to pacify them? What the fuck is this nonsense, since when could you apprehend wildlife?

I assume by "pacify" they mean "it won't attack you". So the new Animal Friend (at level 1) works by:
- point a gun at a single animal, then if they're lower level then you, maybe they will become non-hostile.

Contrast the old Animal Friend perk, which at level 1 has the effect:
- animals won't attack you unless you attack them first.

So they've nerfed Animal Friend of all things.

I mean if I point my weapon at a hostile animal I'm shooting it so that perk sounds useless. What if you encounter a whole pack of hostile animals then what, do these guys think?

 

[PossibleCabbage]

I mean if I point my weapon at a hostile animal I'm shooting it so that perk sounds useless. What if you encounter a whole pack of hostile animals then what, do these guys think?

Well, the level 1 perk as written is fairly useless, particularly against packs of whatever as you point out. It's just funny that Bethesda took a look at Animal Friend from Fo3/NV and thought "that's too good for a single perk, let's put four restrictions on it" (single-target, requires aiming, character level based, and chance), as though "you can wander the waste and dogs, wolves, bears, coyotes, and mutated/augmented versions thereof will leave you alone" is a powerful ability.

I don't know about anybody else but "Killing dogs" is not exactly a thing I enjoy doing in games. So making avoiding having to do it harder is odd.

 

[thenightgaunt]

I am looking forward to there being additional pacifist perks, aside from what we have seen so far (hopefully I am not being entirely naive, there). Bethesda have barely shown us anything, regarding Fallout 4, so ultimately time will have to tell.

I'm also concerned about that dog. Are we forced to take it as a compainion? And if so, is it going to attack people automatically or will it only attack if you order it to? I need answers to these questions too. Hard to be stealthy when a dog is following you around. :p

Probably. Though it might be forced on us the same way it looks like Mr. Handy is going to be forced on us, as part of the main quest during the start of the game. Like Lydia in Skyrim. And from the sound if it we can leave them at home just like I did all the time with Lydia.

Point a weapon at an animal for a chance to pacify them? What the fuck is this nonsense, since when could you apprehend wildlife?

I assume by "pacify" they mean "it won't attack you". So the new Animal Friend (at level 1) works by:
- point a gun at a single animal, then if they're lower level then you, maybe they will become non-hostile.

Contrast the old Animal Friend perk, which at level 1 has the effect:
- animals won't attack you unless you attack them first.

So they've nerfed Animal Friend of all things.

Well, it was a pretty broken perk. It freed you from attack from a lot of monsters. I wonder what it's supposed to do at higher levels though. I suppose the point of aiming your weapon at the animal is that it's supposed to be an intimidation attempt. Gun, knife or fist your aiming aggressively at it. Like shouting down a dog or similar (not a recommended tactic IRL).
But this version should change some things up. I always take Animal Friend first chance I get so I don't have to worry about random attacks. Ironically we're complaining about some changes making the game too easy, and also others that will make it harder.

 

[FearMonkey]

Point a weapon at an animal for a chance to pacify them? What the fuck is this nonsense, since when could you apprehend wildlife?

I assume by "pacify" they mean "it won't attack you". So the new Animal Friend (at level 1) works by:
- point a gun at a single animal, then if they're lower level then you, maybe they will become non-hostile.

Contrast the old Animal Friend perk, which at level 1 has the effect:
- animals won't attack you unless you attack them first.

So they've nerfed Animal Friend of all things.

More proof at how brain dead Bethesda's game designers really are.

and it makes Pacifist playthroughs a lot harder now too. Or more impossible, depending on your point of view.

 

[Walpknut]

Point your gun to pacify them, It would be a cool mechanic if it only worked with human enemies like in Project Ultimatum, but animals and Insects? Any further proof they are just moving towards making it into Doom?