Their interpretation of criticals is probably going to be the only thing about 4 that I approve of. It's essentially a "Fate" system that a lot of table top RPGs have used for a long time. I'm sure it's going to be handled in a clumsy or heavy handed way, but the concept is sound. Hopefully the duration you can hold the Luck points without decay and how fast they bank will be determined by your Luck stat.
Edit - And who knows, maybe appropriate critical perks will properly transform the whole system into a useful character feature, instead of a damage spike you hold onto until you're outmatched.
I seriously doubt it, and that's not how "Critical" systems should work, IMO. The old version IMO was better honestly, because you were basically rolling the dice in hopes you'd get lady luck on your side. Yes you had items to give you a slighter edge, along with weapons, but in the end, it all came down to Luck: 95% chance of a crit? You still got 5% of it failing and receiving jack for bonus. That's how Luck is.
Now, it's basically "Mana", which breaks the immersion for me. I'm playing a game about an apocalypse and survival with sci-fi trends seeping in, since when did this become a Middle-Age Fantasy game with guns? Where I can hit molerats with a bat enough times in VATS to fill up my magical 'critical' and crit a Deathclaw with a revolver right after because hey, reasons!
Besides that, Critical Systems shouldn't really be this flat, there's much to it than just "Luck". Luck is involved, of course, but it doesn't control the entire concept, in fact, there's many variables that affect Critical shots, and quite frankly, almost every game out there refuses to do so, and I don't blame them. There's variables such as If the target is unawared (SAC), Target's said Physiology (such as gutting your first killed Deathclaw and examining where the heart and vital organs are located), aiming (most likely why Explosives don't have criticals, because the pure raw power is enough to outright kill anything, and the damage is everywhere, not focused).
Overall I prefer the older system, mostly because it was harsher to the player and more focused on actual chance instead of 'magic', but both of them definitely need major improvements if we want to use the Critical System into a more immersive moment.
