Anyone else disappointed with Fallout 4?

[kenu12345]

It exceeded my expectations in some areas while disappointing me in others. I knew things like the story wouldn't impress me.

What surprised me? Enticing combat, decent companions, beautiful environments, diverse enemy types + AI, weapon/armor customization, and the flawed but fun skill system.
What disappointed me? The dialogue system, uninspired voiced protagonist, bare-bones settlement system, and the disturbing shortage of skill checks.

Also, why is it that Beth has no understanding of what makes something hard and challenging? "Survival" mode is little more than just jacking up health and damage of enemies. It isn't fun to spend 10 extra minutes depleting minigun rounds on a single deathclaw. There are mods for Fallout 3 that have been getting it right for five years.

Overall, it's a awesome game by itself. Not one I'd recommend paying the full price with DLC and mods around the corner.

Now, Obsidian, if you could, uh, start making a follow-up that'd be sweet.

Sadly, I don't think Obsidian will do another but if they do it would be awesome to bring back the old skill system except a bit revamped. The perks in 4 never felt like they did much or mattered. Doesn't feel like every playstyle is as viable as it was in New Vegas

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Certain things are disappointing. Others are fine. I still find the game plenty entertaining, although I'll admit a rising lack of patience with Bethesda's formula, which is reaching a point of diminishing returns. One gets the distinct impression of a company that is either resting on their laurels, or has become married to an aging engine that brought them spectacular good fortune and doesn't actually know how to take the next step forward.

Anyone else feel the same way?

I'm sure you'll find people who are eager to heap scorn on it. "User Reviews" being what they are, with everyone racing to deliver either 0's or 10's. I have a long list of gripes about the game, some of them pretty heated, but the volume of my outrage is nowhere near yours.

I will say this though - While the game isn't exactly stable, its probably the most stable game Bethesda has released in a while.

I think it often comes down to luck, but I have to disagree. I'm some 90 hours in, and I've run into a gaggle of plot and quest breaking bugs. Many I could negotiate with the console, but one I had to backtrack three hours to undo. Quite recently I had three quests in a row all break in different ways. Game is buggy with a capital B.

I personally probably prefer Witcher 3 over Fallout 4.

I do as well, but that isn't saying much. I think I prefer Witcher 3 to every CRPG ever made at this point, including phenoms-in-their-time like Ultima IV and Planescape: Torment.

Simplified dialogue options can go to hell. I hate not being able to see what I'm about to say before I say it.

There's a mod for that. Puts in the full text of dialogue options.

I think a lot of complaints about the dialogue system would have been alleviated if that mod was standard, and if Bethesda had taken a week to code in more perk and SPECIAL impact on conversations. Some high intelligence dialogue options. Or perception. If you're perked high in Science or something, maybe you can weigh in that way. It's something New Vegas did reasonably well, and clearly the mechanics are already in place with Charisma checks. Like Settlement building, it feels like a good idea that was delivered half-baked.

I loved that game but a few things held it back like poor FPS controls, which have significantly improved in FO4. As have enemy AI.

The shooting is significantly improved over previous offerings, to the point where it can comfortably sit alongside shooter/RPG hybrids like Mass Effect or Deus Ex. But the AI is most definitively not improved. Enemies have a couple of interesting combat routines, like Molerats and their burrowing, but they're still as rock stupid as ever. "Mind playing tricks on me...I must have a concussion" says the raider, as he steps over the chunks of brain littering the ground beside his dead friend's corpse.

It's a huge step up from FO3, but it's objetively worse than NV.

Ugh. I really wish we could stop fellating NV and pretending it wasn't every bit the janky pile o' shit the Bethesda offerings are. In some ways it was worse, because the fucking bugginess was off the charts.


Buggy, terrible dialogue, cornball voice acting, horrible puppet-like animations, ridiculously binary black/white factions, ghastly texture work and environment design, etc, etc, etc. The only real improvements over FO3 were slightly better shooting (something FO4 improves on yet again) and slightly more attention paid to non-violent resolution. That latter point is literally its ONLY claim to fame, and lets not pretend it's some paragon at it.

I like New Vegas, but this narrative that's been invented where it exists in some different, better universe than the Bethesda offerings is just delusional.

PC player here; I can confirm that the game is horribly optimised for PC, or at least, horribly optimised for certain setups.

YEP. I ran Witcher 3 pretty close to maxed out, and almost never suffered anything so much as a frame rate drop. Fallout 4 turns into a borderline slide-show in some areas, the downtown especially. It handles shadowing TERRIBLY. I realize it's rendering a lot of crazy shit all over the place, including on a Y axis, but this performance is WOEFUL.

Sadly, I don't think Obsidian will do another but if they do it would be awesome to bring back the old skill system except a bit revamped. The perks in 4 never felt like they did much or mattered. Doesn't feel like every playstyle is as viable as it was in New Vegas

New skill system is significantly better than the old one, if simply for the fact it's cleaner. I'm seriously confused by this. The game has lost zero functionality from one system to the other, they've just changed the way the tiers get delivered.

Bethesda has always been wiggy about their skill/trait systems, with Skyrim being an arguable high point and Obsidian a definite low one. But they've always been bad. Streamlined/coherent bad is an improvement over messy bad.

 

[kenu12345]

le snip.

I shall point you to this fine fellow as he does an excellent job at explaining it.

Played about 20 hours at a friend's house. I came in expecting nothing and still was disappointed. My disappointment was based both on the game's own merit as an individual title and as a game that call itself both "Fallout" and an "RPG".

Spoiler: Setting problems

First, some minor grievances about the setting, some that carry-over from Fallout 3. Somehow 200 years after the nukes dropped the wasteland still appears as if it were just a couple of decades afterwards. Nearly all the towns and cities are just empty and people are scattered among small settlements comprised of metal shacks. Pre-war food is still just lying around in the open despite that people would have obviously needed to scavenge for supplies. Very few places actually giving an effort to create crops. The most prominent population of people are generic raiders that somehow are still a problem. The only large settlement (or town) is Diamond City, and it's still got the metal shack problem. It actually reminded me a lot of Nuketown (not a good thing). Compared to Fallout 1, where there were plenty of farmers and large settlements just 80 years after the bombs dropped, or Fallout 2 where 80 years later there are booming cities. I know the point of Fallout 4 was to put the rebuilding of society in the player's hands, but the timeframe it claims to have and the setting it places itself in just really takes me out of things and makes it hard for me to get immersed or connect with the events going on.

Spoiler: Gameplay woes

Second, I wanted to see if the game had good role-playing from a gameplay standpoint, so I made sure my character was as horribly built as possible - put 10 points in CHA (useless as speech checks are chance based and can be easily savescummed), 3 in all other stats, and picked perks that have little to do with combat ability and don't mesh well together. Level 26 and still blasting my way through everything. Compared to my friend's character who was much more sensibly built but wasn't all that different in terms of abilities. I never felt like the choices made in my character's progression actually mattered or had any impact on my them, which I can't say I didn't expect. Somehow though it managed to be even worse than Fallout 3 in delivering role-playing through gameplay. It felt like I was playing an aciton-game with some lite-RPG mechanics.

I would have been alright with this if the gameplay was interesting enough. It is decent, but rather lacking in several areas. The gunplay, while better than Fallout 3, is still somewhat lacking compared to other FPSs. This is a really big shame considering that it's the thing I was doing most of the time. There's little else to do in the game other than shoot things. Sneaking around is rather boring and the AI is pretty brain-dead when it comes to stealth. The perk choices themselves aren't too bad, but pretty sparse. Most of them have to do with combat, of course. I think the only thing to do with persuasion or speech was Lady Killer/Black Widow. Overall, the gameplay, while better focused than Fallout 3, is still rather lacking.

Spoiler: Narrative failings

Lastly, the story, which had me even more disappointed. I was already expecting the worst when I saw the dialogue system, but somehow it still managed to disappoint me. I tried to go for a complete monster run, but when I got to Concord and chucked a grenade in the room with the settlers, they just all fell over and got up 10 seconds later. The amount of invisible NPCs in this game is horrible. Then I tried to go for the complete dick run and picked the least favorable responses as much as I could. Couldn't do that for too long as the game wouldn't let me progress until I agreed to help the settlers. There were no other methods of completion, no other means to save (or ruin) the day, I had to help Preston, grab the power core, get the Power Armor, and minigun a Deathclaw until it was kill. The lack of options in this and many, many other quests was just disgusting, especially for a game that claims to be an RPG, let alone a Fallout game. I found little use for Speech checks outside of getting more caps or squeezing some info out of people, I never felt like I had much choice at all, and what choice I did have in the story was incredibly shallow or didn't matter much. Not all RPGs have role-playing from a narrative standpoint, but if you're not going to have it in the gameplay, then at least have some of it in the story.

As for the story itself, I can't say I enjoy it. The protagonist is rather bland and uninteresting, which is an awful thing considering how the game makes a half-hearted attempt to tell a more focused narrative. Unlike other role-playing games like The Witcher with defined characters and dialogue that reflects on their personality and possible reactions to situations, Fallout 4's main character is rather flimsily defined with only one real defined trait - wants to find his son. Beyond that the game gives you some meager and generic dialogue choices that do little to really make them unique. The plot so far is also rather dull and the characters in it aren't anything special. Some of the companions are interesting but most have nothing to do with the overall plot (at least for as far as I've gotten). Seems to me like Bethesda tried to go half-and-half with a more focused narrative around a defined protagonist and making a more open-ended narrative with options for progression. So far I'm feeling like both aspects were rather half-assed and it's falling rather flat.

In summation, I can say that Fallout 4 performs better as an action game than Fallout 3, it still gives an awfully shallow roleplaying experience. I can't even justify calling it a role-playing game - it plays more like Far Cry or Borderlands, open-world action-adventure games (plus some lite-RPG mechanics). Maybe it gets better towards the end, but I'm halfway through and I'm really finding it hard to even continue. I don't want to have to force myself to play this until it gets better.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I shall point you to this fine fellow as he does an excellent job at explaining it.

None of that explains why the old skill system is an improvement.

To be more specific...the game could use the EXACT same skill system from New Vegas, and still have every single problem ShakerSilver describes. The issue isn't the system being used, it's HOW it's being used. As I said in my previous post, they could have very easily coded in different conversation options and quest outcomes based on non-combat abilities, but they didn't. That's not the system, that's Bethesda choosing to make a combat heavy game.

 

[kenu12345]

I shall point you to this fine fellow as he does an excellent job at explaining it.

None of that explains why the old skill system is an improvement.

To be more specific...the game could use the EXACT same skill system from New Vegas, and still have every single problem ShakerSilver describes. The issue isn't the system being used, it's HOW it's being used. As I said in my previous post, they could have very easily coded in different conversation options and quest outcomes based on non-combat abilities, but they didn't. That's not the system, that's Bethesda choosing to make a combat heavy game.

It does. Fallout 4 it doesn't really feel that specialization matters. Melee isn't as valid as it is in say New Vegas where with the right build I could take on deathclaws with just melee. It feels more generalized and feels like the perks don't matter.

 

[Estarc]

I like it a lot personally. I feel the settlement building needs some more work, hopefully we'll get a Heartfire-esque expansion to it. I also feel that the amount of randomised Radiant quests or whatever is too high compared to the number of properly designed one off quests. Will be very upset it DLC is new areas full of proceduraly generated quests as well. TBH a DLC that adds a lot of new quests to the main area would be nice to start with before we go off and explore new places.

Don't get me wrong, the procedural quests aren't bad. They are a lot better than in Skyrim. Just feel there aren't enough one of quests to balance it out. Other than that though I kind of love everything about the game.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

It does. Fallout 4 it doesn't really feel that specialization matters. Melee isn't as valid as it is in say New Vegas where with the right build I could take on deathclaws with just melee. It feels more generalized and feels like the perks don't matter.

Fundamentally untrue. You can very easily spec for and succeed with melee in Fallout 4. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The perks are every bit as impactful and in many cases MORE impactful in FO4 than in the previous two offerings.

You can be fussed about the fact Bethesda implemented too few situations where you can apply abilities outside of charisma and combat, that's valid. There's nothing wrong with the perk system though. By and large it's a wholly superior system. The system isn't to blame for how they've employed it.

 

[kenu12345]

It does. Fallout 4 it doesn't really feel that specialization matters. Melee isn't as valid as it is in say New Vegas where with the right build I could take on deathclaws with just melee. It feels more generalized and feels like the perks don't matter.

Fundamentally untrue. You can very easily spec for and succeed with melee in Fallout 4. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The perks are every bit as impactful and in many cases MORE impactful in FO4 than in the previous two offerings.

You can be fussed about the fact Bethesda implemented too few situations where you can apply abilities outside of charisma and combat, that's valid. There's nothing wrong with the perk system though. By and large it's a wholly superior system. The system isn't to blame for how they've employed it.

And I feel the opposite about that. Funny how that works.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

And I feel the opposite about that. Funny how that works.

Okay that's fine, substantiate your argument then. You're making claims and doing absolutely nothing to back them up. You pointed me to a post that is complaining about perfectly valid things, none of which are attributable to the perk/skill system, and say "this explains it perfectly". When it's explained to you that the problems being detailed aren't stemming from the perk/skill system, you make vague allusions to melee being non-functional and how you "can't specialize".

Your dislike of it is entirely nebulous. I'm presuming you responded to me in the hopes of some kind of communication or exchange of ideas, so it would help if you could communicate WHY or HOW you feel that distributing skills piecemeal instead of in chunks represents a vastly superior system, rather than just saying "I don't like it" or pointing at posts that don't support what you're saying.

It's fine to have complaints about the game, I have plenty. Just complain about the right things. The skill system has nothing to do with your complaints. It's like blaming the settlement system for unbalanced stealth.

 

[EternallyBored]

I shall point you to this fine fellow as he does an excellent job at explaining it.

None of that explains why the old skill system is an improvement.

To be more specific...the game could use the EXACT same skill system from New Vegas, and still have every single problem ShakerSilver describes. The issue isn't the system being used, it's HOW it's being used. As I said in my previous post, they could have very easily coded in different conversation options and quest outcomes based on non-combat abilities, but they didn't. That's not the system, that's Bethesda choosing to make a combat heavy game.

It does. Fallout 4 it doesn't really feel that specialization matters. Melee isn't as valid as it is in say New Vegas where with the right build I could take on deathclaws with just melee. It feels more generalized and feels like the perks don't matter.

The hell are talking about melee builds in 4 are miles more functional than NV, my friends melee character can easily take down deathclaw's and supermutant packs, the only thing that really threatens him is suiciders and those can be taken out with a pistol shot to the arm. They also actually made unarmed much more functional with things like power armor mods.

the perk system falls through by being 90% about combat skills and the non-combat skills being underwhelming, and the gross underuse of skill checks.

Seriously, the perk system is better than the broken way skills were set up in 3 and NV, at least now I don't have useless levels where I don't get a perk, or don't have access to any interesting perks, and sinking all my skill points into science or lock picking isn't enough to boost me to the arbitrary 25 point increment to take me to the next rank, essentially producing the possibility of leveling up and gaining absolutely nothing beyond a couple extra HP and some incremental progress towards being able to unlock the next level of lock picking or hacking.

 

[kenu12345]

And I feel the opposite about that. Funny how that works.

Okay that's fine, substantiate your argument then. You're making claims and doing absolutely nothing to back them up. You pointed me to a post that is complaining about perfectly valid things, none of which are attributable to the perk/skill system, and say "this explains it perfectly". When it's explained to you that the problems being detailed aren't stemming from the perk/skill system, you make vague allusions to melee being non-functional and how you "can't specialize".

Your dislike of it is entirely nebulous. I'm presuming you responded to me in the hopes of some kind of communication or exchange of ideas, so it would help if you could communicate WHY or HOW you feel that distributing skills piecemeal instead of in chunks represents a vastly superior system, rather than just saying "I don't like it" or pointing at posts that don't support what you're saying.

It's fine to have complaints about the game, I have plenty. Just complain about the right things. The skill system has nothing to do with your complaints. It's like blaming the settlement system for unbalanced stealth.

"Complain about the right things" Really dude(QM) You legit just said complain about what I want you to. Its my opinion not yours. The game doesn't feel as specialized. Every method doesn't seem as viable as other. I am sorry you don't agree. I am not going to try to persuade you other wise if you don't agree. Point is, there is less melee weapons and you can get killed much easier with gunners on this game that it doesn't feel as viable as say just using a regular weapon. Simple as that. I have no idea why you are so heart set on trying to 'debunk' me or something. Its my complaint and its valid to my experiences with the game

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Melee isn't as valid as it is in say New Vegas where with the right build I could take on deathclaws with just melee.

Ironically, found this about 5 minutes after replying to you. Perhaps you might find it of use.

http://imgur.com/gallery/tl8yz

Melee is super broken in Fallout 4. It?s incredibly easy to get your damage up to ridiculous levels and most of the truly scary enemies, such as death claws or large hordes of ghouls, have no other option than to go toe to toe with you. The items below will boost your smashing power up to such ridiculous levels, that you?ll probably be bored out of your mind even at very hard difficulty.

Because of some problems with my Xbox, I can't get a good idea of what kind of damage I'm doing. With psychobuff and a dirty wastelander, my damage with a super sledge says 410, but for some reason my game won't display the damage from fury, my bobblehead, berserk, rooted or black widow, even when I'm meeting the requirements for the perks. That means I'm doing WAY more than 410 damage, and it's pretty obvious in combat. On hard mode, I could kill a death claw in two swings.

"Complain about the right things" Really dude(QM) You legit just said complain about what I want you to. Its my opinion not yours.

No, it means make complaints that MAKE SENSE. Here's a complaint that makes sense.

"Stealth is broken. It's far too easy to kill enemies from stealth, and the AI can't handle it."

Here's a complaint that DOESN'T make sense.

"The terrible settlement system makes combat pointless!"

Complaining about "melee being underpowered" (it's not) or pontificating about a lack of specialization (??) while pointing me to a thread complaining about insufficient RPG options does not explain why the old skill system would work better. It doesn't. You're either not understanding what you're complaining about when you say "the old skill system is better", or you're under the mistaken belief that all the problems you're identifying stem from that. They don't.

The game doesn't feel as specialized. Every method doesn't seem as viable as other.

That has nothing to do with the old skill system vs the new perk system, though. If you'd put your points into melee four at a time like you used to, do you think the melee weapons in the game would suddenly be more powerful?

Point is, there is less melee weapons and you can get killed much easier with gunners on this game that it doesn't feel as viable as say just using a regular weapon. Simple as that.

I'd agree with you based on my own experiences, but that post I found seems to say otherwise.

I have no idea why you are so heart set on trying to 'debunk' me or something. Its my complaint and its valid to my experiences with the game.

You are making an assertion that a new game play element (the perk system) is to blame for game play imbalances like "guns being better than weapons", and pointing to shit like "melee weapon scarcity" as evidence of it. I'm not "debunking" anything. I'm requesting that you make sense.

 

[Jiffex]

I shall point you to this fine fellow as he does an excellent job at explaining it.

None of that explains why the old skill system is an improvement.

To be more specific...the game could use the EXACT same skill system from New Vegas, and still have every single problem ShakerSilver describes. The issue isn't the system being used, it's HOW it's being used. As I said in my previous post, they could have very easily coded in different conversation options and quest outcomes based on non-combat abilities, but they didn't. That's not the system, that's Bethesda choosing to make a combat heavy game.

It does. Fallout 4 it doesn't really feel that specialization matters. Melee isn't as valid as it is in say New Vegas where with the right build I could take on deathclaws with just melee. It feels more generalized and feels like the perks don't matter.

I've been watching a streamer "Roll play" One Punch Man, fists only, no power armour and max difficulty. Last night he managed to go through the Salem Witchcraft Museum at level 13. Melee is valid.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I lost interest. I thought that I loved the game. But after about 30h or so it became clear that this game has nothing left to offer. I got Assassin's Creed Syndicate with my new GPU for free and believe it or not I'm enjoying it far more than Fallout 4.

 

[EternallyBored]

I shall point you to this fine fellow as he does an excellent job at explaining it.

None of that explains why the old skill system is an improvement.

To be more specific...the game could use the EXACT same skill system from New Vegas, and still have every single problem ShakerSilver describes. The issue isn't the system being used, it's HOW it's being used. As I said in my previous post, they could have very easily coded in different conversation options and quest outcomes based on non-combat abilities, but they didn't. That's not the system, that's Bethesda choosing to make a combat heavy game.

It does. Fallout 4 it doesn't really feel that specialization matters. Melee isn't as valid as it is in say New Vegas where with the right build I could take on deathclaws with just melee. It feels more generalized and feels like the perks don't matter.

I've been watching a streamer "Roll play" One Punch Man, fists only, no power armour and max difficulty. Last night he managed to go through the Salem Witchcraft Museum at level 13. Melee is valid.

Melee is definitely valid, and unarmed is just flat out more viable than any of my attempts at it from 3 and NV. The weapons could use some more variety, but a melee build can definitely bring the pain with the right setup. As far as I've seen the two main melee builds are strength/ endurance tanks, and more agile stealth builds, the stealth melee is kind of trumped by all the silenced weapons that give the same damage multipliers, or more, and have the benefit of range, so stealth melee should probably be using a mix of melee and silenced weapons for the best effect. Melee tanks though are tough as hell, and seem to do crazy damage through strength and endurance perks, with agility as a secondary stat to sprint to the enemy.

That one punch man stream is hilarious by the way, the gif of him one shotting a deathclaw with his fists was great.

 

[IceForce]

the stealth melee is kind of trumped by all the silenced weapons that give the same damage multipliers,

Not quite true. With the benefit of a certain perk, melee sneak attack multipliers can reach insane levels, much higher than ranged multipliers.

http://fallout4.wiki/perks/ninja

(Still doesn't beat the 30x multiplier from Skyrim, though, -- Dragonbone Dagger + Assassin's Blade perk + Shrouded Gloves = one-shotting the Ebony Warrior on hardest difficulty.)

 

[fluxy100]

I'm enjoying the game but it doesn't feel like a fallout game to me, It's slightly more fallout than Tactics but nowhere near things like 1,2,3, or New Vegas.

My biggest problem is with how all quests resolve. There is no longer a "Diplomatic Solution" or "Alternate Solution" or "Evil Solution" it just boils down to "Did you take the quest? Check Yes or No" and then you just follow the same straight path through the quest. I've gotten maybe one or two quests that had different outcomes.

I have no interest in replaying the whole game because I know how all quests are going to end, the same way the ended before, with no variation.

And the big touted "PERKS!!" which where going to take the place of skills? Yeah they have no outcome on quests, I can no longer use my Robotics perk to do story things with Robots in fact I can't use any of the perks outside of combat or exploration. Everything in dialogue is charisma based and that's it.

Even the Special only have uses outside of the story, I was so overjoyed when I found a single instance where my intelligence actually changed something in the story, and that was one instance in more than 50 hours of playtime.

This stuff wouldn't be a problem if it didn't feel like we regressed from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. In 3 I could talk science babble with a bug researcher cause I had the entomologist perk, I could skip a whole side quest because I had the Robotics Perk, I could avoid a fight with the cannibal perk. All of that stuff is gone.

And the Dialogue Wheel, oh god do I hate the dialogue wheel. Gone are the choices and differences in how you acted to a character, say hello to "Sarcastic","Yes","No","Question". I could tolerate that if the game told me what my character was going to say.

Spoiler: Example Spoilers!

When talking to Kellog I was thinking "Hey maybe this can end peacefully" Kellog tells me my kid is somewhere else and one of the Dialogue options is "Where is he?" I click that and my character calls Kellog a "mercenary ************" and now I've antagonized in a situation I wanted to keep peaceful

For good things I like the perk system outside of it's nonexistent use in the story, I spend a good five minutes or so just trying to pick my perks.

The gun combat is better than it has been before (I suspect this is because skills are gun and everyone essentially has a 100 in gun control)

I reiterate this is a fun game but it's on the line of not even being a Fallout game, the same way Tactics was.

 

[Fappy]

I keep seeing people mention that the perks have no impact... how much of the game have you guys played, exactly? Sure, there are plenty of useless perks, but there are many other that change up the game quite substantially. The penetration perk might be the most OP in the entire game. I can one-shot any robot (from the front) on Very Hard and two-shot detonate enemies in power armor by bypassing their chest and hitting them directly in the Fusion Core. That one perk changed how I engaged roughly 1/3 of the enemies in the game.

 

[IceForce]

I keep seeing people mention that the perks have no impact... how much of the game have you guys played, exactly? Sure, there are plenty of useless perks, but there are many other that change up the game quite substantially. The penetration perk might be the most OP in the entire game. I can one-shot any robot (from the front) on Very Hard and two-shot detonate enemies in power armor by bypassing their chest and hitting them directly in the Fusion Core. That one perk changed how I engaged roughly 1/3 of the enemies in the game.

Wait, you can shoot through other parts of enemies? Why the fuck didn't the game tell me that's what that perk did? The animated icon for the perk shows an enemy hiding behind cover, and the description doesn't explain things very well. So I assumed the perk was just for penetrating through cover, not for hitting fusion cores on the backs of enemies from the front.

Goddammit.

 

[Fappy]

I keep seeing people mention that the perks have no impact... how much of the game have you guys played, exactly? Sure, there are plenty of useless perks, but there are many other that change up the game quite substantially. The penetration perk might be the most OP in the entire game. I can one-shot any robot (from the front) on Very Hard and two-shot detonate enemies in power armor by bypassing their chest and hitting them directly in the Fusion Core. That one perk changed how I engaged roughly 1/3 of the enemies in the game.

Wait, you can shoot through other parts of enemies? Why the fuck didn't the game tell me that's what that perk did? The animated icon for the perk shows an enemy hiding behind cover, and the description doesn't explain things very well. So I assumed the perk was just for penetrating through cover, not for hitting fusion cores on the backs of enemies from the front.

Goddammit.

I only know because I read about it. I honestly expect it to be nerfed somehow as fusion cores and combat whasits (the robot thing) are super easy to hit in VATS for some reason. Maybe because the whole point is that you are normally supposed the get behind your target? All I know is that I can snipe a BoS guy from a mile away with a 95% hit chance on his fusion core from any angle. Two shots and he lights up like Parliament, taking out everything within 20 yards of him XD

I can also one-shot Sentry Bots. Shit is silly.