Outside Looking In: Does Real-Time Combat Even Work?

[Moldy]

So,I want Fallout 4. I really do. I have a hunch I'd love it. I've been doing research into the game mechanics without spoiling the plot for myself (Largely by looking up the perks on the wiki),and the same trend keeps popping up. Every single combat bonus in Fallout 4 seems to apply exclusively to VATS. Hell,you can't even crit outside of VATS anymore! In Fallout,I prefer to fight in real-time,because I am confident in my ability to aim; At extreme ranges in Fallout 3 and New Vegas,I am able to blow a moving target's head off with a non-sniper weapon,consistently. So,I'd rather not leave it up to RNG to land that critical shot; 95% chance to hit is still a 5% chance to miss,and I find that unacceptable when I know I can land that hit on my own 100% of the time.

 

So,I have to ask; Is real-time combat in Fallout 4 viable? Or is my understanding flawed? If so,set me straight.

[TeamBacon]

With all due respect, it sounds like you have no idea what you are talking about...

[Klipperken]

seconded.

[radiumskull]

 

So,I have to ask; Is real-time combat in Fallout 4 viable? Or is my understanding flawed? If so,set me straight.

Your understanding might be flawed. Not all the combat bonuses are available only in VATS, just the ones that apply specifically to VATS, and I guess Criticals. If you want to do without VATS, you can. But I think that qualifies as a play style, similar to never using Fast Travel or only using Melee and Unarmed combat.

[kevkiev]

...Every single combat bonus in Fallout 4 seems to apply exclusively to VATS.

Not true. Aside from the damage bonuses in Rifleman, Heavy Gunner, Commando and Gunslinger, some of those provide for hip fire accuracy. There's also a perk specifically for hip fire accuracy. And one that increases weapons draw speed. I've probably missed some, but you just have to go to Wiki to check.

 

I hardly used VATS at all, until later in the game when I started taking perks under the Luck tree.

 

As an aside, one of the most frustrating things I found in the game for non-VATs combat was that weapons hotkeys are very borked. A lot of the time, switching weapons just leaves you with empty hands. And that seems to be tied to the game's issues with rendering meshes and textures. When you're out in the wilds without much going on around you, it's no problem, for example, hotkey switching from your combat rifle to a sniper rifle when you're stalking a distant enemy. (i.e. when it's more for convenience than strategy.) When you get to a place like certain areas dowtown, i.e. in a rather graphically demanding environment, things start getting more and more borked. When you're in a full-on close range firefight (for example, if you rush into a Super Mutant stronghold like Big John's salvage and are fighting 5 or 6 enemies at once) you might as well forget hot key switching altogether. That probably also depends on the texture mods you're running. FO4 seems to have a real problem loading loose texture files. I have a pretty decent rig but, when I was playing FO4, I used a fair amount of texture mods (though I started paring back on them because of this and similar issues), and eventually gave up hotkey-switching.

[Zetsumi_Nihilus]

So,I want Fallout 4. I really do. I have a hunch I'd love it. I've been doing research into the game mechanics without spoiling the plot for myself (Largely by looking up the perks on the wiki),and the same trend keeps popping up. Every single combat bonus in Fallout 4 seems to apply exclusively to VATS. Hell,you can't even crit outside of VATS anymore! In Fallout,I prefer to fight in real-time,because I am confident in my ability to aim; At extreme ranges in Fallout 3 and New Vegas,I am able to blow a moving target's head off with a non-sniper weapon,consistently. So,I'd rather not leave it up to RNG to land that critical shot; 95% chance to hit is still a 5% chance to miss,and I find that unacceptable when I know I can land that hit on my own 100% of the time.

 

So,I have to ask; Is real-time combat in Fallout 4 viable? Or is my understanding flawed? If so,set me straight.

In my experience, RT combat is much more effective then it ever was in Fallout 3 or NV, and is overall a MUCH more viable playstyle then it was in those two, with the inclusion of more modern FPS tropes like recoil indicators, grenade hotkey, ect. I'm a VATS junkie myself, but a lot of my friends apparently played through the game without ever actually using it. One didn't even know it existed. There are a lot of perks that only apply in VATS, yes, such as the entire Crit build, the perk that lets you target enemy parts behind cover, the perk that increases accuracy for each consecutive attack on the same body part, the perk that increases damage for each consecutive target in the same VATS scene, ect, but the reason for this is that, by default, VATS is actually underpowered compared to playing the game like a traditional shooter, and needs at least a couple of those perks in different combinations to make it as viable as RT combat. RT combat in general has much better maximum range, better rate of fire, and better accuracy at mid-to-long ranges, user skill permitting of course. At least that's been my experience, and I would describe my own accuracy and skill level as 'participation'.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Zetsumi_Nihilus

[TheOriginalEvilD]

I really only use VATS when I get caught off guard, which is very very rare, or when there are just a bunch of enemies on screen all at once and I don't feel like wasting ammo taking them out.

[PoliteRaider]

 

So,I have to ask; Is real-time combat in Fallout 4 viable? Or is my understanding flawed? If so,set me straight.

 

Yes, and I wouldn't say this about the other Fallout titles. The improvements to real time combat are one of the most noticeable developments to the game. No, it's never going to match a modern AAA FPS title, but you wouldn't expect it to.

 

The perks simply focus on VATS because it's very hard to make perks that help with just the real time combat because that's mostly player skill, rather than character skill. If you're planning on not using VATS then you probably don't need to put as many SPECIAL points into Agility, Perception or Luck since these are a lot more focused around VATS with the perks they offer.

 

Personally I find that in Fallout 4 you can pretty much effortlessly switch between the two mid game play, use a bit of VATS at one spot (frequently for annoying enemies like Mole Rats), go FPS style for a little while, then occasionally use VATS to pull off a critical on an especially tough opponent. While your character build will probably focus on one gameplay style or the other, you can still dabble in between them. The changes they've made to VATS make it feel a lot less intrusive than it did in 3 or NV, so the occasional use isn't as jarring.

[Moldy]

So,in other words,my understanding was mostly wrong... But crits are still impossible to do if you're playing in real-time. Crits,which dominated my play style in New Vegas,each and every time. Don't get me wrong,being able to press a button in VATS to get a crit off when you need it most is nice. But completely removing random crits does nothing but completely remove a potential mode of play from the game,and that cheeses my onions.

[PoliteRaider]

So,in other words,my understanding was mostly wrong... But crits are still impossible to do if you're playing in real-time. Crits,which dominated my play style in New Vegas,each and every time. Don't get me wrong,being able to press a button in VATS to get a crit off when you need it most is nice. But completely removing random crits does nothing but completely remove a potential mode of play from the game,and that cheeses my onions.

 

Fortunately you're on a modding website.

 

Old Style Criticals by Moraelin.

Lucky Shot - Random Criticals by RabbitB.