In the beginning god created humans, but once he perfected his craft he created Bethesda, who went on to make Gridiron! A game so obscure even its own wiki page is baffled by its existence. Almost 10 years later in 1994 Bethesda began its flagship series and the first Elder Scrolls game came out. Arena! A game with an interface somehow more complicated than the interface you use to interface with it. Like controlling a nuclear guidance system with a toaster.
This post is about where we are now with Fallout 4, and a little bit before. Focussing mainly on the levelling and perk systems that have been used in previous Bethesda games (Fallout 3 and skyrim!!) The video below explains the same thing but with as many jokes as possible crammed in:
So, skills are gone in Fallout 4 and it is going to be all about perks and perk trees. What does that mean? I dunno I’m just a guy on his sofa…
So as we know the number of points you have in SPECIAL decides the number of perks you can have available for that attribute. So if you put 10 points into strength there are 10 ‘strength’ perks you can select from. However in Fallout 4 there is no level cap, so you can keep levelling up indefinitely, and presumably unlock all the perks in the game IF Bethesda allow you to have 10/10 in all the special attributes.
No level cap you say? Isn’t that like?
MOTHER FUCKING SKYRIM
Skyrim is the Sistine Chapel of video games, the Shawshank redemption of electronic entertainment, or as I know it the drug hazed potion of my early twenties.
Skyrim too has skills like pickpocket but to get good you just practice. So the more you use magic the higher your level in magic, and thus the stronger your spells. There is no level cap in Skyrim, so you can, just by putting in time, with no planning, get to skill 100 in everything. Open every door, use every spell craft every armour. You can approach Skyrim in a sort of jack the lad way because of this, and as a result the game has a much less serious inclination than Fallout 3.
Want to become a master in alteration spells? Practice by Picking up and dropping an apple with telekinesis for a few minutes. Want to become the world best pickpocket? Practice by stealing and returning the exact same spoon 40 times from the prestigious head of a college for the arcane arts. If a locked door is too hard to open just practice opening locks for a while and the hard locks get easier and you get full access to the game.
Fallout 3 was designed with a much more tailored approach in mind, you have to think carefully about who you wanted to be and plan exactly where you would put your skill points and what perk choices you would make. Generally you couldn’t be great at everything, and once you reached level 20 the character you had designed was yours and there is little you could change. It resulted in a much more strategic, high stakes style of gameplay.
It is important to say that both these styles compliment their game very well. In Fallout because perks and skills have to be invested wisely it is a much more engaging experience, and it grounds the game with a much more serious tone. Skyrim can be approached with a lot less planning and it is a much more free spirited game, one minute you want to be a blacksmith so you put loads of points in that, the next you want to be a pickpocket, so you steal every bottle of mead in sight for 10 hours.
You feel so free playing Skyrim. It is also quite a whacky experience, what with the clinically insane daedric gods, talking dragons and Wabbajack staff.
I'm not saying Fallout 3 was totally serious, because it wasn’t. Take Treebeard in the Oasis for example. Verrry ridiculous, but at the same time it had a real sense of tragedy and you could feel empathy for the guy. I don’t feel that tragedy was often conveyed in the same way in Skyrim. Take the quest with the boy whose mother died and he ran away from the orphanage because the woman running it was so horrible. I didn’t feel as attached, mainly because the boy was also summoning an assassin to kill the head of the orphanage. I then bashed in the back of her head with a mace, it really took out all the tragedy.
It is important to say that the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series are both often hilarious and totally ridiculous at times, but these slight differences in the levelling and skills systems really add to, and compliment, the stark contrast between the games.
Back to Fallout 4. No level cap! Does this mean we are no longer crafting an exact character that we will eventually finalise when we hit a maximum level? If we can keep levelling presumably we will eventually unlock all the perks available in the game. This is now speculation because this is only possible if Bethesda allow you to unlock 10/10 in all the special attributes. If you can keep levelling indefinitely it does make sense that all S.P.E.C.I.A.L characteristics will eventually become available, and if so you can craft a character who is 100% in all their attributes, just like Skyrim.
If so this is a good and a bad thing, for the reasons I have described. It is worth saying though that I am STILL playing Skyrim, not a lot but I do still play it, the lack of a level cap means I still feel like I can progress and it draws me back. Once I hit level 20 in Fallout 3 I lost some interest because I wanted my character to grow but he couldn’t. I would summarise that in Fallout 3 I had more fun while it lasted because I enjoyed crafting a character in such a strategic and high stakes fashion. Whereas Skyrim per hour I had less fun, but I enjoyed it for a far longer period.
Overall I cannot wait for Fallout 4 and I have taken a short holiday for it! Fallout 3 and Skyrim are two of my favourite games. What I am trying to say is that it is interesting how a change in the way you level a character can have such an impact the feel of a game
That is the mystery of the game not being out though! We don’t know how exactly it will be structured. Very exciting. I would say it is a big step to remove the skills and I like very much, it is great when a game can keep changing.
That is the mystery of the game not being out though! We don’t know how exactly it will be structured. Very exciting. I would say it is a big step to remove the skills and I like very much, it is great when a game can keep changing.
Thank you for listening guys, I make videos every week, so if you enjoyed please have a look at the link above for the video version.
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