As Bethesda’s big game approaches, the developer has treated their beloved fans to special sneak peeks of the game through their website. On Bethesda.net, you can check out their S.P.E.C.I.A.L videos, explaining the differences of each skill in the Fallout 4 character system, Vault-Tec style. Bethesda even recently shared a behind the scenes look at what it was like to have a German Shepard in the office on a daily basis.
At the beginning of Fallout 4 you will have twenty-eight points to put into your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. skills, which are, respectively, Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Bethesda has revealed that it is possible to start out with one of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L’s completely maxed out at level ten but in order to do so you will have to neglect one of the other skills.
In the Fallout 4 character system, you level up by gaining experience points and it will not be as slow to level up like in previous Fallout games. This means that early on in the game, you will be able to select the perks that you want and start creating your desired character build. Unlike other games in the Fallout series, you will have no level cap on your Fallout 4 character. This means that you will have unlimited potential to build your character the way you want.
The way the Perk system works in Fallout 4 is quite different than in the previous games. Bethesda has introduced the “Perk Poster”, as seen below. So, you’ve selected what points you want to go into your S.P.E.C.I.A.L and you’ve gotten a few Radroach kills under your belt and are ready for your first perk. You decided to max out your Charisma level to ten and in doing so, you have access to the Perk “Intimidate” which allows you to pacify humans who are a lower level than you by pointing your gun at them. As long as you have the required S.P.E.C.I.A.L level, you may select a Perk that corresponds with that level, no matter how early on in the game it is. There are also tiers to the Perks so that you may upgrade them and make them stronger. The Fallout 4 character system will have seventy base Perks and two-hundred-and-seventy Perks all together.
Skills have also been incorporated into the Perk skill tree in Fallout 4. As you can see in the Perk video, the skill “Gun Nut” is now a Perk that will help you in terms of creating and modifying your weapons. Another element that has been incorporated into the S.P.E.C.I.A.L./Perk system, is the use of Magazines. In other Fallout games a magazine would help increase your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. levels. In Fallout 4 they will give you an additional Perk or level up an existing Perk. P.S., there are over one hundred magazines in game. As an example, if you collect all ten issues of Gronak the Barbarian, each comic will increase your “Barbarian” Perk, which increases your critical melee damage.
As you can see, the endless hours of gameplay in the Bostonian wasteland will be happily filled with trying to max out your character’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L skills and Perks in the Fallout 4 character system. If you pre-order a physical copy of the game, you will receive a free Vault-Tec Perk poster to hang on your wall. Fallout 4 will be available in stores on November 10, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.