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Let's talk about leveling in Fallout 4!

    • 739 posts
    August 13, 2015 4:40 AM EDT

    How our characters level in Fallout 4 actually means a lot for its future on the site. The more intricate the leveling system is and the more options it provides correlates directly to how many different builds you can create and of course how re-playable Fallout 4 is actually going to be!

    Gym Leader Matt takes us through many of the things we know so far! Post your own thoughts and expectations below!

    • 739 posts
    August 13, 2015 5:17 AM EDT

    Good video Matt! 

    I have a few thoughts of my own here.

    Intelligence is certainly looking like its going to be a strong stat due to the fact it determines the amount of EXP you receive for completing tasks and kills. This means that IF there is a 'soft cap' to your characters level as we saw in Skyrim (and I strongly suspect there will be) intelligence is probably going to manipulate that soft cap...

    For example a character with very low INT may start feeling 'done'/hard to level by just level 40.

    But a character with very high INT will feel like they are comfortably leveling all the way up to level 50 - 55.

    So I guess it depends just how powerful INT effects your EXP gain.

    Another thing that I'm beginning to suspect is that although you can technically unlock a tier 10 perk at the very start of the game by placing 10 points into END (for example) you will not be able to select that perk at level 1. You're going to have to start at the bottom of the chart and work your way up to unlock the most powerful perks.

    This is a little bit disappointing but to be honest it does make sense to me. If we could just place perks wherever we wanted it would result in us all basically building our character backwards...it wouldn't feel right if we were being forced to take lesser perks at level 50+ for example.

    Stronger perks will have some kind of prerequisite, either you'll have to select the perk that came previously first or there will be some kind of minimum level requirement tied to them. (or both)

    Like you said in your video Matt we've seen that there's definitely going to be ways of increasing our SPECIAL stats. It may be that there is little point in placing 10 points in STR at the very start of the game because it just creates a gimped character that can't take advantage of the strong perks straight away anyway..

    ...may as well distribute SPECIAL a little more evenly at the start of the game and then become a specialist later on when you're bonus points start coming in and you can unlock the higher ranked perks.

    Of course it could still possibly work the other way around! You could place 10END at level 1 because you've decided that your character is going to want/need 'Solar Powered' by level 10 (or ASAP) in order to make your character build 'work'.....then place the bonus SPECIAL points to cover your weaknesses as you progress...

    All sounds like fun anyway! 

    • 739 posts
    August 13, 2015 6:04 AM EDT

    I hate the idea of being able to re-spec. What's the point in carefully building up your character if you can just pay a random npc 1000caps and juggle things around...

    ...no, I much prefer the 'cock up your character = restart' approach to RPG's, it encourages better planning/buildmaking.

    • 739 posts
    August 13, 2015 6:29 AM EDT

    Well, if they do introduce some kind of re-spec mechanic I hope they leave it until DLC.

    I just can't get behind a system that allows you to create one character and try out every playstyle in the game simply by juggling points (Utopian style).

    It just ruins character building in my opinion. There's nothing unique about your build if you can pop into a shop and mysteriously 'forget' 20 levels of grinding out a perk path only to wake up with a completely new skill set that you didn't 'earn'.

    • 641 posts
    August 13, 2015 6:35 AM EDT

    I wouldn't mind if there was a respec mechanic hard-built in to a quest and you could only do it once.

    • 490 posts
    August 13, 2015 10:20 AM EDT
    Yeah it has been confirmed we can unlock any perk right off the bat without seemingly without prerequisites. I don't know if I would ever put 10 in any SPECIAL rig off the bat, though, so I am not too worried about that. Given we only start out with a total of 28 points, I don't want to spend basically a third in one SPECIAL. Highest I might go in the beginning is 6 or 7.

    The mechanic of "intense training" basically being continued all through the game is neat. Instead of picking a perk underneath, you can spend a point to increase a SPECIAL. 42 perks to get all SPECIAL to 10 is a big, big investment if that is someone's goal.
    • 490 posts
    August 13, 2015 10:22 AM EDT
    With the info we kind of know now, it would make sense if we could move one perk point to another perk as a reward for leveling up. It could work to be something you need to earn and very slowly at that.
    • 739 posts
    August 13, 2015 10:47 AM EDT

    The new 'leaked' footage has a few clues, this word here looks like 'requires:' below all the perks on the chart...

    But then we also see that perks on the chart seem to have been placed fairly randomly in this next picture...

    So its difficult to tell what exactly is going to be 'required' when selecting perks...

    • 490 posts
    August 13, 2015 10:53 AM EDT
    Now the only question is, did you watch the footage on pornhub or somewhere else? Still find that situation hilarious.

    True, I am sure some may have requirements, but I doubt those would include the perk above them. I don't see this working like a tree at all except for the multiple ranks in a single perk.

    I am also encouraged by the "Choose (1)" because that might imply we can store up perks for later.
    • 739 posts
    August 13, 2015 10:57 AM EDT

    Lol! I downloaded it before it got moved to the porn sites...

    ...not that there's anything wrong with pornhub.

    Yeah, looks like hoarding points may be possible...

    • 1217 posts
    August 13, 2015 11:21 AM EDT

    Hard to tell, but that first one seems like it says "Requires Level 1", and I think is related to the rank of the perk they're looking at.

    • 1217 posts
    August 13, 2015 11:22 AM EDT

    Great catch on the "Choose (1)", Henson! That's very promising!