Fallout: The History of V.A.T.S.

Fallout: The History of V.A.T.S. is a deep look at the history of V.A.T.S. & Aimed Shot, trying to figure out what each iteration of Fallout's iconic targeting system can tell us about the approach that Black Isle, Bethesda & Obsidian took towards Fallout in general...
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Fanfare for Space, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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[@slayerghaleon5039]

Underrated aspect of VATS in F4: They allowed you to cancel out of it between actions. No more being stuck shooting at a wall and wasting all of your AP.

[@Not-Great-at-Gaming]

I forgot it wasn't in FO3 until I was playing a few weeks ago and kept hitting B to cancel (to no avail).

[@smgeezus7186]

This is SO relatable. SO RELATABLE.

[@Gorbz]

On the other hand, if you shot the limb off a chould and did not cancel out, all the rest of your shots would do zero damage to that location

[@jimjam7226]

the worst is when you enter vats and nothing happens for like 5mins as the bad guys just wack on you

[@Xarestrill]

I had no idea that was in fallout 4. It would have been nice to know that a few hundred hours ago.

[@jacksonelh]

"perception doesnt matter" yeah, you would say that, jon

[@wolfsuit_art]

Why Perception Is Not As Good As You Think.

[@sunbro6998]

Imagine me squinting at Jon like Fry does in the meme.

[@TheGrinningViking]

He'll never see this. 😉

[@sunbro6998]

Never.

[@Thagomizer]

Perception is NOT a dump stat in FO1 and FO2.

[@morganrobinson8042]

A history of a game mechanic, spanning two decades. Now this is content.

[@finlay9616]

I dunno if you're being sarcastic but I genuinely love it lol

[@fnglert]

"Here's a visual metaphor for what that did to the game balance." - Made Mr Burke stumble. Got it.

[@waffles6280]

don't forget that the glass was knocked off the table

[@daniel-1976]

Visual metaphor for Fallout 4....... deliverance.

[@bavandrade]

16:15

[@lstatic21]

The Master loved using "VATS" to destroy his enemies

[@nervmelissa8963]

Very clever.

[@kingarthur3180]

Well, this was aimed for education. Shot landed, critically, and caused massive internal enjoyment. Bloody good job, Jon!

[@daniel-1976]

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

[@IAmGeeSnap]

@@daniel-1976 i've got a lovely bunch of coconuts clipity clop....... and then i tried to come up with something about them being as big as a head blown off by VATS and i got lost and wandered off :@)

[@kingarthur3180]

@@daniel-1976 What do you mean? Irratiated swallow or FEV-swallow?

[@daniel-1976]

@@kingarthur3180 uh? I don't know that.......... Aaaaaaaaaah!

[@lanceuppercut6168]

@@kingarthur3180 Umm.. Yes.. my king..? **braces self for discipline**

[@xPROF4NEx]

It fucking bothers me that your sub count has almost been at a stand still these past few years. I think it’s because of the diversity of the videos and not many people are into RTS’s. It definitely can’t be because of the presentation. You’re editing is great, the humour is great and you’re smart as hell. Don’t ever go away.

[@ClumsyNoname276]

I know I'm 3 years late but this ^^^

[@davidperkins6752]

@@ClumsyNoname276 4 years late and also this!👆👆👆

[@Adrian_1114]

Jon is definitely the best at showing off potential games to play. Being a sort of layman to every genre apart from Bethesda it's a good way to see if a game looks fun before going all in. I like the naturalistic first impressions he gives as opposed to official review channels as it gives a nice vibe to the low energy games and pretty funny reactions in hectic ones

[@vohrtechs5974]

I think Jon understands Bethesda and what made them a success better than Bethesda.

[@GatlingGun12]

I think just about everyone does, but Jon more than most.

[@Not-Great-at-Gaming]

Bethesda understands... They just don't care. They're trying to understand why Destiny and Fortnite are successful.

[@TheHaloring7]

@@Not-Great-at-Gaming Base Destiny 2 isn't very good idk

[@TheHaloring7]

Then again I haven't touched it since release

[@Not-Great-at-Gaming]

@@TheHaloring7 Destiny 1 was successful and made money. Bethesda decided they wanted some of that money.

[@jimmothyjohnson]

This seems like a prelude to "Fallout 4 is Better Than You Think". I was going to reserve time after that video to replay FO4, but now I think I'm going to waste all my free time over the next two weeks on a VATS build. Can't wait for the next essay!

[@5Andysalive]

I think F4 is pretty good. Just not as RPG. And combat alone sure doesn't make it one. Shooter or vats or turn based ir not relevant for that. But poor story(telling), simple quests and a simpler dialogue system than most shooters.

[@quanganhdobui1432]

5Andysalive “Just not as an RPG”, change Rpg with Fallout then Id agree.Most of Morrowind is simple quests and simple dialogues but its still a really fucking good rpg.

[@joshwist556]

QuangAnh DoBui Fallout 4 could have been good, hell some mods makes it Fallout again. However, Bethesda is just a fucking idiot now and want to dumb down everything for super casuals who plays overrated shit bags that is all style no substance. Not to mention the fact that they want to rival EA in micro-transactions.

[@quanganhdobui1432]

@Joshwist55 They did not "dumb the game down" though, almost all of what was in Fallout 3 is still in 4 and some got even better and less restrictive, except for skill checks ofc. But honestly theres not a whole lot of skill checks in the old Fallouts either (only in Fallout 3 and NV the devs decided to put in lots more checks) so I don't feel that its a good criticism on how Fallout 4 is not Fallout enough.

[@Dr.Quarex]

Fallout 4 was great, so that makes sense. Fallout 76 was the first Fallout game I did not enjoy even more than its predecessor (Tactics notwithstanding as I never played it). Though I am still torn on whether I preferred Wasteland to Fallout.

[@NevG27]

"Before Fallout 76 went and ruined everything" - why do I feel that's going to be a common theme in these essays?

[@JoshuaKevinPerry]

Fallout 76 is The Last Jedi of Fallout.

[@ze_rubenator]

@@JoshuaKevinPerry You're giving it too much credit. It's the Holiday Special of Fallout.

[@Sankey84Gaming]

@@ze_rubenator Ssssshhhhh we do not speak of the holiday special

[@Kaarl_Mills]

@@Sankey84Gaming I watched that, I really wish I didnt

[@Vikki_T]

@@ze_rubenator I'm crying here

[@pieoverlord]

"Perception is basically useless." Jon, please keep your personal politics out of your work.

[@JasonGodwin69]

In Fallout 3, VATS is a band-aid slapped on a janky FPS with faulty bullet coding to make F3 smell like real Fallout. Was made a bit less terrible NV. In Fallout 4, it became lower than dirt. It now lets you shoot through walls at with no damage/accuracy penalty AND get always-hitting critical-hit bullets almost entirely on-demand. I have not played 76 or any others. Personally I wish they'd do what the PS2 Matrix did, and give you a "Energy Bar" that can have its energy spent on amplifying your shots/atks.

[@Karkatrielle]

@@JasonGodwin69 i get where your coming from but no even without vats the dark humour and all make it feel like fallout if it just existed to make it feel more fallout they wouldve called it something like I dunno aimshot instead of renaming it. vats was probably meant to make it more distinct to other shooters not as a band aid to make it seem more fallout but as something to tell you "this isn't an average shooter"

[@William-Morey-Baker]

@@4yearslate966 thats literally the Apple defense... Basically "vats isn't broken, you're just playing the game wrong"... It's a terrible argument through and through. Vats is a core element of the game, one they have failed to properly balance... Blaming players for taking advantage of vats rather than bethesda for not properly balancing it in the first place is just dumb

[@wiggledixbubsy98]

@@JasonGodwin69 you're just actually wrong

[@silent596]

​@@JasonGodwin69literally a smooth- brained argument

[@Azzdude]

I was hoping for a history of the different vats of radioactive material.

[@RainbowJesusChavez]

Azzdude i have been playing fallout games for about a decade now and never made that connection

[@Azzdude]

@@RainbowJesusChavez to be fair, I only made the connection because I was trying to think of a joke lol

[@jlollback]

See, you joke, but I remember seeing someone back in the day say that they had had the "Press V to enter VATS" tutorial message popping up on their screen for the _entirety_ of their first Fallout 3 playthrough because they thought it was talking about actual physical vats, and they were like "What? There are no vats here! Why would I want to hop into a vat anyway?"

[@KashouWannabe]

Beer, After Eights, and a 45 minute video essay from Jon. Sometimes, just sometimes, life can be really good.

[@ManyATrueNerd]

... Now I want After Eights

[@OblivionOtaku]

You both deserve After Eights.

[@EinFelsbrocken]

Beer and After Eights..? *_B R U H_*

[@rightwhinger]

Beer and chocolate are both marvellous, but to my taste buds, they are not marvellous taken in combination.

[@NYR2K8]

@@ManyATrueNerd The lowkey comment. You're a wholesome man Jon. Never change...

[@gogglebrains]

Another key change in Fallout 4 that you didn't touch on (though I was cooking while I listened so might've just missed it) is the ability to cancel VATS attacks at any time. This helped mitigate the occasionally frustrating issue in 3 and NV of getting stuck in VATS for too long after taking your final shot; or getting stuck firing multiple shots into a wall or cover, should your target have moved in the meantime. Also, being able to regain control of your character the instant your VATS shot is fired allows for a VATS-centric build to still be played as something of an action game, which I very much appreciate.

[@Mattmanj42]

Broke: This is simply an educational video where John wanted to teach us about VATS Woke: John made this whole video to show off his First Place Nuclear Winter

[@codsworth3996]

Woker: *Jon.

[@JingleJabringle]

It's great that this came out just after Mitten Squad's "Can you beat fallout 3 only using V.A.T.S" video.

[@masonmurphy2679]

Literally watched that 2 hrs before this was posted ;)

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

Conspiracy!!! Both amazing videos of course

[@williamdecker5703]

There's one more way that Obsidian made VATS a day-to-day tool compared to Fallout 3. In Fallout 3, if you used VATS, guns decayed four times as fast as they would otherwise - another way that VATS is a specialization. You dealt more damage, but you dealt more damage to your own guns as well. In New Vegas, the condition decay rate is the same in VATS as it is with a normal shot. It really is a day-to-day tool, since it has the same effect on your guns as a day-to-day shot. Excellent video, though, very interesting. Much appreciated, and excited to see what video essay you go for next.

[@sirswagabadha4896]

Just realized, I was waiting for him to address this and he never did. Which is odd, because I think it came up frequently in some of his fallout 3 challenge runs.

[@aoszkar]

I'm just replaying NV and I just can't get enough! It always amazes me how much interconnectedness is there in this awesome game

[@KantFromEC]

Fallout 1 - Built the bed frame Fallout 2 - Bought the mattress Fallout 3 - Bought the linen Fallout NV - Bought better linen Fallout 4 - Made the bed Fallout 76 - *S H A T T H E B E D*

[@Mattrobertsnz]

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a comment on the internet. The fact that I have to press 'show more' to see the punchline makes it all the better :)

[@sunbro6998]

I loved how you could modify your weapons in F4, and a lot of the mechanics were smoother and worked better than F3. But the story, characters and world were better in F3, I find I just can't replay F4, it just isn't quite as fun as the previous entries, but was fun to play through once (only the main quest I find is good, everything else is not fun).

[@Thagomizer]

@@sunbro6998 The writing in FO3 was pretty mediocre, and the world-building was downright shoddy. FO4 at least attempted to explain what the inhabitants of the Commonwealth ate, and put a considerable amount of energy into the companion characters. Though the dialogue system more or less kills the game, though, and "The Kid in the Fridge" somehow manages to be even worse than Little Lamplight.

[@jacksonelh]

Thagomizer megaton residents traded for food, rivet city residents ate synthesized food from the lab, arefu residents ate brahmin meat, little lamplight residents ate cave fungus. wastelanders also ate punga fruit. the "what do they eat" thing just doesnt really hold up to scrutiny.

[@shannonbriggs100]

Fallout 1st: **Destroys bed and smears shit on the walls**

[@carl-thomasuhlenius9445]

Oh god yes, I’ve been waiting for a new fallout MATN documentary.

[@Steve_A93]

Oh Jon's perception... "You now have Agility 13" - [Shows footage of Perception 13, Agility 11] Was that intentionally put there? Anyways, love the video! Good to see more essays!

[@Foxtrot369]

No, Jon was right when he said _"Agility 13"_ The stats showed 'Agility (+) 11' which was level 10 Agility _permanently_ boosted by 1 from the Bobblehead and *_temporarily_* boosted by 2 from the Clothing. The game doesn't add temporary clothing/food/chem boosts to the total it just puts a (+) next to it. EDIT: The reason the Perception was reading (+) 13 is because it was being _permanently_ boosted by 1 from the Bobblehead and 2 from the V.A.N.S _(2)_ Perk while also being *_temporarily_* boosted by something else, giving it the (+).

[@randomstuff9005]

If only you had V.A.T.S for Stellaris So you can snipe the bugs!

[@MexiCoe]

Jon: "Perception is basically useless" ... that explains everything...

[@TheGrinningViking]

Bethesda made perception not matter! That explains so much! This is how they hooked Jon.

[@josheichholz1184]

39:46 You wasted such a great opportunity to say ain't that a kick in the head

[@RikaRieGaming]

Jon, Please do a Lore series, just love hearing you talk.

[@tver3407]

Oxhorn does lore, if you just like his voice put vid on repeat

[@JamesMondasian]

@@tver3407 shoddycast or nth Apple is better

[@danshive4017]

@@tver3407 See, now I want MATN to do lore just as an alternative to Oxhorn. Not judging anyone who does enjoy Oxhorn's presentation, but I personally don't enjoy it, and would enjoy Jon talking about it much more.

[@FranckOA42]

Yeah a serie about all the vaults in numerical order would be nice... But that would need an awfull lot of work to do it properly...

[@CH-ml4rz]

Dan Shive big agree. Oxhorn is big cringe.

[@pincle26]

Hey Jon! I recall hearing about 76 from 4chan before 76 was announced that the developers were given the directive of it being a survival game similar to Rust. The newly owned company in Montreal was in charge of 76, rather than hardened veterans on the franchise we knew, leaving no room for what made FO4 brilliant, other than the engine. Even the people working on it called it a Rust clone, and I believe this is why minimal effort was made into making 76 a true successor of the franchise, and I believe this shows alone in the VATS system alone.

[@MrXhukari]

I gotta say, I really love these longer documentary-esque videos of yours. You have major skills at pulling these off! :)

[@davidriley8316]

This is what happens when you make videos about a passion. Well done, Jon.

[@lordaaronspcplayground6284]

Jon literally doesn't breathe for 45 minutes while explaining something. Clearly he put all his special points into speech.

[@lasse6435]

Claire's a good editor

[@sunbro6998]

Wonder what SPECIAL attribute took the minus points?

[@theginjaninja132]

High charisma build with lots of fixer, booze, chems and a some sexy sleepware

[@Snoogen11]

@@theginjaninja132 Depends if Jon is using the new vegas system or fallout 3. If it's new vegas, he'll have frontal lobe damage every time.

[@danshive4017]

Oh no. Jon, you monster, you've gone and made me want to play Fallout 4 again.

[@fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Aside from the impressive amount about Fallout history; I think we've learned something about Jon. We are forever accusing him of perception -1; and where does he do his most harrowing challenge runs? In the game where, quote, "Perception is basically useless". Product of a Vault-Tec experiment to evaluate the relative utility of the various ways of being SPECIAL in the post nuclear environment...

[@Graciousink]

A 46 minute long video talking about V.A.T.S? Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do.

[@cj_zephyr732]

Graciousinc1530 none of us do. It’s a Sunday night and no one us have a chance of sex 😂😂

[@thetrueindiz]

I have a job interview in the morning. It is now past midnight. Anything for Jon the Egg Carton.

[@martinblanch5828]

I was cooking a steak it's now gone😋

[@AgentofChaos315]

I loved my unarmed build in New Vegas, since I used the ballistic fist the special attacks for it cost LESS action AP than normal attacks, plus my high critical chance and DT meant that I killed both Ulysses and Lanius in a single VATS round.

[@bwanaugonjwa2445]

One thing I figured out in Fallout 4 is that if you active vats and target say an enemies head then exit vats and immediately fire you will hit the head. The game mechanic has the player’s gun aim at the head (or anywhere on the body). So once you aim and exit vats and shoot you will hit them.

[@Jim90117]

I always saw the VATs interface as a representation of the speed of the processor inside the pip boy calculating the success of accuracy for specific body parts, it wouldn't make sense for 3 or NV but in 4 VATs only slows down time, this could be a representation of the speed the pip boy is taking to make the calculations to aim and fire.

[@auronius7332]

Another thing to add regarding fallout 4: it made melee combat incredibly fun and fully viable in every difficulty setting without having to cheese mechanics or do wonky line of sight evasion. Blitz and high sneak allowed you to teleport from enemy to enemy, taking out entire rooms without alerting guards. Meanwhile, you could bumrush in with full power armor, stun them via Pain Train perk, and finish them off with a 2H weapon power attack before they can block you. Add in specialized weapons like a Wounding Ripper, even enemies with high defense stat absolutely melted due to building up so many stacks of Wounding. Like so many other things in F76, melee felt way worse to play. I really hope they recognize their mistake and go back to good melee in FO5 - and maybe do something to ape the Blitz system even in TES 6.

[@XRAYElementz]

Blitz is one of my favorite perks in Fallout 4. Early in any playthrough, I won’t specifically have what weapons I want to specialize with so I’ll play around with Blitz and melee for a while before realizing “oh, I wanted this character to be a build” and by that point I’m already at Blitz 2/3 lol. Also when I learned about Blitz from Jon’s melee only playthrough I was really dumb and I loved teleporting behind enemies and spouting “Nothin personal, kid” like the idiot I am. Still gets me to this day.

[@Puremindgames]

8:59 Mitten Squad has just proven that you can complete the game using nothing but V.A.T.S

[@jamiemahoney2446]

I wonder if it was agreed between them to release so close to each other.

[@bruhmoment1835]

Mitten Squad is also a laser-focused deranged masochist.

[@Puremindgames]

@@bruhmoment1835 You're not wrong.

[@christopherconard2831]

Now, if there were only an intelligent VATS system. Scenario: A Bloated Glowing One is charging you. You are equipped with a Ghoulslayer Combat Knife. You click on VATS. It shows: 1) A settler 20' away. *Toggle* 2) A Brahmin 100 yds away. *Toggle* 3) Back to the settler. *Toggle* 4) A frag mine you dropped 40' behind you.

[@Darmoth85]

Nothing on Fallout: Tactics which blended action points & aimed shot with real time mechanics years before Fallout 3?

[@personalaccount707]

Love the fact I just watched a 45 min video, and felt emersed until the end. You are talented many a true nerd

[@Mega-Brick]

If you liked this, you should check out his "Fallout 3 is Better Than You Think" video. That one's almost exactly like this, and it's an hour-and-a-half long.

[@personalaccount707]

@@Mega-Brick oh yeah man it was gold homie

[@jabelsjabels]

Making a VATS Crit build in FO4 is probably one of my favorite gaming experiences, it's just such a blast to play that way for me.

[@grtgtz7771]

The quality of your video essays never ceases to amaze me, absolutely loved it! Looking forward to more in the future.

[@Vikki_T]

I actually really love how I can play Fallout 4 completely with VATS, or completely with manual aiming. It feels more natural when I'm doing a certain RP build; like, my character can only aim assisted? Okay, max out the VATS build. Or, if I want a more COD play style, I stick to manual aiming. It made it more fun for me like that. Bringing the enemies to a slower pace instead of a complete stop was so much better (I often felt that the complete stop was a bit OP). Great video, thanks! I actually didn't know their goal was to ultimately make VATS like that. Yeah, 76... lol. Thanks for the video essay, looking forward to more!

[@AgentWest]

To get "God Mode" in FO4 (all perks) i think you need to be level 138. However getting that high is rather difficult due to non-linear leveling up system where each next level takes considerably more points than previous one. Awesome video by the way!

[@relix7373]

God damn, I've always liked fallout 4 but wow, I had no clue they did so much work behind the scenes changing up the combat and VATS. Really awesome actually.

[@Veprem]

FO4 also made a VATS Melee build not only more viable than it had ever been, but pretty much made it OP. There are a plethora of incredibly powerful melee weapons, some of which are uniques with VATS specific benefits. Melee attacks in VATS can't be blocked. And then there's the Blitz perk. Why use a gun when you can "Nothing personnel, kid" next to enemies and swat their heads off their shoulders?

[@happytrails5671]

Amazing video Jon! It's awesome to hear you enjoy making these as much as we enjoy watching them ❤

[@chrisw6164]

I never get tired of VATS.

[@Cecinestpasunebot]

From the perspective of a DnD GM, I have to object to equating VATS with plating an RPG. In the DnD world, that's called narrative focused combat - parallel, but not the same. You said yourself - people miss the multiple solutions. Sure, VATS is interesting in 4, and it makes enemies feel more multidimensional, but it is still a violent solution. Interesting fights cannot replace the option for interesting ways to avoid fights

[@aetryn1485]

Sure, but many early computer RPGs were linear and combat-driven - Might & Magic, Dragon Warrior, early Final Fantasy games, etc. Many of them, even when they developed more of a story, didn't really develop a lot of different solutions to quests, and when they did, even fewer focused on interesting ways to avoid fights - but instead of fighting one side or the other, or maybe some other creatures down a side passage, or something. There are almost certainly more games normally considered RPGs that have no meaningful decision-making in quests, never mind significant pacifist solutions. What unified them as a genre was a focus on character skill through builds over player skill through aiming, dodging, and reaction. If the game had no live gunplay but only VATS, it would totally qualify as a purely character-skill driven game, even if the only thing you are building a character for is combat. And the reason the genre has developed as it has is largely because you can program a computer to have a really big complicated world and run graphics and simulations. And you can program a computer to run a complicated combat system in real time. But you can't program a computer to adjudicate like a GM does. It can't weigh unforeseen options and "wing it". Everything has to be designed and built long before the player gets involved. The other major factor is cost. You could, as a game designer, build interesting alternative solutions. When interfaces were text-based or simple graphics, you could actually see more of these - though most of these were classified as adventure games rather than RPGs. But even the current wave of retro isometric RPGs (Divinity Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, etc) mostly don't provide that many options. And when you apply that to an immersive graphical world, every alternate solution has an increased cost. There's the artist to make the additional animation. The sound designer to wire up the sound effects. The voice actor to record the lines. The engineers to provide a framework or an engine for it to even be possible. It quickly becomes prohibitive to design lots of solutions, especially ones players are unlikely to choose or find. And the computer cannot make it up on the fly like a live GM does, so if it's an option, it generally has to be a fully built-out one. You can chalk the cost factor up to corporate greed - and I'm not denying that corporations can be greedy. But I think if GMs were paid a professional creative wage - the equivalent of a Lead Content Designer or a Lead Animator for all the hours they spend prepping by their game groups, you'd quickly find many game groups willing to sacrifice some quality for a lower-priced game. Tabletop gaming doesn't have to choose between cost and quality because it's mostly a labor of love (though it indirectly comes in as burnout). Once you admit cost as legitimate factor, it's reasonable to cut expensive options few players will choose, especially one-offs that don't fit within a larger system such as theft or pickpocketing or hacking. These "systemic solutions" keep costs reasonable but I don't think most people are satisfied by them, partly because they've all been done so much. The overall result is that, while computer RPGs original generation spawned as combat simulations based on or similar to tabletop RPGs, they are really different genres now and it doesn't make sense to judge them based on each others' standards. And none of this is to say that I don't enjoy choices when they are offered. I still remembered discovering Morrowind for the first time and being amazed and just how many ways I could solve some of the situations. I just don't think it's reasonable to disqualify many games that were never controversial as RPGs in order to bolster an argument that Fallout 4 "isn't an RPG". And why would anyone want to argue that anyway? It's a self-defeating argument, since if it isn't an RPG they don't need to include good speech systems or meaningful character decisions or better worldbuilding. There's certainly no law that says a Fallout game has to be an RPG - sure it's part of a series, but many game series change significantly with each iteration. Would people that make this argument be happy if Bethesda decided to just make Fallout 5 a pure shooter? Better to argue that is an RPG, but it does certain things badly - such as being so in love with its combat system that, in emphasizing it, they basically downplayed everything else. Or that the storytelling is incoherent. Or that they went with a weird compromise of voice-acted protagonist with no predetermined character, making it hard for him or her to be anything other than bland. This both enables reasonable comparison and critique with other games in the RPG genre, which is surely more useful than scoring points off Bethesda by personally disqualifying their game from the RPG genre.

[@AndrewDiaz1404]

You are my favorite Fallout KZbinr by a long mile. Thank you for being who you are.

[@T4silly]

I always love these essays.

[@quinnscott24]

I love building a crit-slinger in Fallout 4 and doing most of the game in VATS, and I love playing a super sledge character and rarely using VATS. Honestly, I have very few mechanical complaints about Fallout 4. It plays well, looks good enough, I enjoy the settlements, I'm fairly fond of the new perk system. Nearly all of my complaints about Fallout 4 are narrative. It is a painfully pointless game, full of stories and characters that go nowhere and do nothing, all of them ending up in little story cul de sacs where they sit there waiting for expansion or illumination that never comes. I'm curious how or if you address that in the upcoming essay. Granted, leaving comments on a KZbin video is fairly pointless as well, but for you Jon, I'll play the engagement game and hope this video pleases the almighty algorithm. I agreed with some of your points in Fallout 3 is better than you think, disagreed with others, but the care, research, and polish you put in the video was unquestionable. You're a great content creator.

[@SkaterBlades]

Honestly my 3 favourite builds are my sniper, gunslinger and scientist. With sniping you can just 1 shot a sentry bot by shooting the fusion core through the armour, not much feels better than walking into a room with a revolver and hitting everything with crits. My scientist themed character had about 15 intelligence and idiot savant so she levelled insanely quickly, then i used aeternus for an infinite ammo gatling laser The best part of fallout 4 was character builds because they made all of the special skill lines more engaging and it was fun to see what skills would synergise with each other, or gear or even companions. There were very few skills that were flat out bad and each one affected how you played to more of an extent than previous games. For example with the final rank of bloody mess you can group enemies together, jon mentioned throwing and shooting grenades, blitz lets you play like a beserker easier, crit skills like critical banker turns the gameplay from skill based into resource management based. There's so much you can do it's actually ridiculous

[@XRAYElementz]

I agree completely Scott. Honestly I’ve never understood any of the absolute hatred that Fallout 4 got(and still receives) besides the story. I’m not a huge fan of the settlement systems, but they worked well enough usually(minus some of the snapping of pieces together being near busted at times lol) and with the workshop DLC you could do even more. The perk chart, as insane as immediately being able to spec out an overpowered Blitz-crit Luck based melee character at level 5 or so may be, is almost always worth pausing to level up and get a new perk(except V. A. N. S., that’s just awful bc 4’s map system isn’t overly complicated like 3’s tunnels and such) and you’ll get something you’ll like every time, or you’ll be one step closer to having the SPECIAL needed to get that perk you’ve been wanting. And the weapon crafting systems are actually fun to experiment with and make your own specialty weapons and armor(although it does lack with armor at times, the addition of Ballistic Weave letting you play with armored clothing for stat gains is amazing) Fallout 4’s story is genuinely my only gripe. The world isn’t super aesthetically pleasing, but it’s not really disgusting either. The characters you meet are fairly enjoyable, and the backstory with those characters made me playthrough multiple times to see how other companions I didn’t keep(like X6-88 in a BoS playthrough) evolved as we explored the Commonwealth. Thanks for reminding me how much I enjoyed Fallout 4, I need to get back to playing more soon.

[@shannonbriggs100]

Fallout 4 is a good game and I enjoy playing it... but it’s a shit Fallout game. The only reason I still play it is because of mods.

[@Troubleshooter11]

46 minute video for a single game mechanic? You absolute glorious madlad.

[@victorloef]

Fallout new vegas would have benefitted hugely from the "Enemy have special weak spots and/or places you can attack to weaken it overall, other than just the head", since their goal was to make it part of the daily battle, since you'd have a major reason to go into it, when facing opponents with such weaknesses.

[@GenMaj_Knight]

"Grim Reaper's Sprint joined 'And Stay Back' and 'Sniper' as one of Fallout's most broken perks" Poor Lanius, gets talked down by Intelligence 1 Charisma 1 Speech 100 Couriers, and if that doesn't work, gets ragdolled into a corner by a Riot Shotgun.

[@ScoutSniper1990]

I'm a simple man. I see a 45 minute video about VATS by Jon - I click.

[@TheFerwell]

So when Jon even cuts his own intro short, you know he has a LOT to say! I'm excited

[@Datura981]

Really enjoying you getting into the history and diving into this franchise with these essays.

[@LarsaXL]

I absolutely love how VATS is handled in Fallout 4. I injured my wrist a couple of years ago and am just bad at FPS shooting since. VATS makes that not a problem and I can still enjoy the game. Wish more games had similar systems.

[@Snoogen11]

4:40, the amount of times I've had a raider running at me, to get 2 feet away, then receiving a vats shotgun shot to the face, and watching their head explode. It never fails to get a maniacal laugh out of me.

[@trkv.6649]

I don't know anyone else who could make a 45m long video only about V.A.T.S... I love it

[@b00giZm]

We love you Jon! Doing a 45 minutes video essay about a single game play mechanic the majority of FO players do not even know or care about-now THAT‘S dedication! You probably could do a similar essay about all different flippin’ muzzle types in FO76 weapon crafting, and I still would watch the hell out of it!

[@PSWii360onBaSS]

I remember when I got the Grim Reaper perk. I went into paradise falls with the Terrible Shotgun and had a day.

[@sbccmichaelkelly]

Past videos I’ve wondered how Jon figures out some of the tricky areas and knows how things work. I now understand how much research he seems to do.

[@Tippy7228]

I love these video essays. These are my favorite videos to watch. I know they take a lot of work to put together. Thank you and keep 'em coming.

[@metalman895]

I noticed the video doing a trick I loved to use. You target something in VATS and then drop it, and you're still pointed at the enemy you were targeting. Then unload in that general direction!

[@Zenn_Chan]

Could we get a "Fallout: History of Power Armour" essay at some point? I love these

[@jansenart0]

Excellent take on it. Very glad you went through the original 2 games to research this.

[@vulpesdecinere972]

Many A true Nerd, living up to his name once again.

[@The_Blunicorn]

KZbin keeps recommending me Jon's older Fallout video essays recently, guess I'll rewatch that good stuff

[@InspiringTortoise]

Wow I sometimes forget how talented you are Jon, congrats on that essay. Great argument

[@docquanta6869]

Jon's video essays are just fantastic. I'm so glad he's making them a semi regular thing now.

[@driftwood5404]

I’ve binged all your video essays and Fo4 YOLO videos over the past few weeks and what I’ve taken away is that it’s a damn shame that I wasn’t into Fallout 1-2+ years ago when these videos were actively coming out more often :( You’re my favorite Fallout content creator :)

[@zach1262]

I was literally thinking as I was opening youtube that I might watch a older MATN fallout video and then this popped up on my feed.

[@sa_exploder]

I LOVE the new-ish direction Jon is taking the channel in. I have to be honest, lately I've been watching 1, maybe 2 of their videos per week, and sometimes catching parts of the livestream. However, I never lost faith, and I've continued to support the channel on Patreon, and I'm so glad I have. It's good to see my investment paying off. This is top tier KZbin content.

[@iambens]

Great video as ever! Always enjoy these deep analytical videos!

[@Mattrobertsnz]

I love the callback to the clock shooting joke in the new schedule video!

[@thedude9206]

You are incredibly skilled at writing an informative analysis and detailing multiple perspectives.

[@phatbassanchor]

Awesome video Jon!!! Love the channel!!! Total Fallout nerd since 1998 and as close to 100% VATS user as each game will allow. IRL I am an exceptional marksman. I have miles of rifle and archery targets that prove this. Yet, as good as my natural sight picture, aim and target leading skills are, you give me an electronic device that is easy to use that will improve that keen marksmanship and I will use it . So, hell yes I use VATS as much as possible. lol :) As an avid user of the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System since Fallout 1, I failed to find a single error in your presentation today and even leaned a few things as well. Thanks Jon. Always a pleasure. Cheers mate and adventure on!

[@TulipQ]

You should do a round table with Hbomberguy and Noah Gervais. It is pretty clear the three of you have a lot of interesting thoughts on Fallout and a project to compare and contrast your ideas, maybe discover something new in the process, could be really neat.

[@elpascalmods7384]

That would be amazing, those three are pretty much the most knowledgeable and articulate Fallout (among other things) KZbinrs there are.

[@jotun.616]

Fav vats experience so far, fallout 2, realizing you can KO opponents in the boxing ring with a single groin punch.

[@Thagomizer]

Fantastic coverage of the intricate differences between the combat systems in all of the Fallout games. This is why, when people ask for a remake of FO1 or FO2 using the current engine, they generally don't know what they're talking about.

[@daveycortez2944]

Amazingly concise Jon. Your thorough research is evident. Kudos!!👍👍

[@BelthansMods]

A guy who does voice acting for some of my mods did a VATS-only run of FO4 with the attack key disabled (and no criticals). In the first episode he explains his reasons for the VATS-only rule, and they're quite similar to your analysis (though not nearly as thorough). Great minds think alike, I suppose ;)

[@BrutalFates]

These videos are exhausting to listen to, and I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean it as there is a lot to take in. I just hope next week we get a Fallout game play, video essays each weekend is gonna start to feel like homework.

[@DragonNexus]

I'm curious how many times the word "Lucricrous" and derivatives of said word appear in the script doc for this one.

[@DrLipkin]

I'm currently experimenting with a randomized New Vegas run. I'm using an random number generator to decide my stats, what skills I improve, what perks I take, and what factions I help. So far the RNG has really liked the Powder Gangers, Barter and Medicine.

[@exedrusz8497]

These essays are always a joy to watch. More please! :D

[@Hyaru12]

Jon, absolutely adored this ("short") video essay! Very excited to see more of these and I hope the new channel strategy indeed facilitates you making these wonderful pieces for us.

[@usaliengames9810]

John, simply put, this video was absolutely great!

[@sharksouthpaw9461]

Tremendously thorough and well done Jon! Not that I expected anything less from your video essay style videos. I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done, and I'm really happy I watched this. I'll be thinking about Fallout's mechanics a little differently from now on

[@Usernamewhatever1443]

was the main problem people had with F4 RPG the combat though? i always saw focus on the questlines (mostly the main quest) as much, much more prevalent than combat? well that and the removal of skills, and the ability to level up special skills like any other perk.

[@obscure-cultist1709]

People have used F4's combat as a convenient poster-child for everything they considered wrong with the game (i.e. gunplay in F4 was prioritized over quests). Probably not an unfair concern to have, but it can sometimes overshadow a lot of whats going on in the game. What Jon is getting at was that Bethesda made an effort to construct a progression system for people who maybe wanted to max out their VATS. Which is totally an RPG thing to do and he argues that F4's efforts were more in-depth than either F3 or NV. Still, it would have been nice if they made the same kind of commitment to fleshing out questlines. It's also worth noting that Jon was simply talking about VATS as a game mechanic in this video. No doubt he's going to touch on the rest of F4's pros and cons at a later date.

[@MickeyLeeBukowski]

I agree. RPG mechanics in the shooting doesn't make the game an RPG. I use VATS all the time when I play FO4 because it is the only RPG element remaining in the game.

[@aetryn1485]

@@obscure-cultist1709 It's also true the only defining characteristic of many early RPGs spun off from tabletop combat systems was character-skill driven combat. Where's the narrative in Might & Magic I? Or even Final Fantasy I, which has a series of things to do but no connecting narrative or character development. Even the early D&D based games were focused on the combat aspect of those games. Even take a modern game like Pathfinder:Kingmaker - it's very focused on character-skill-based combat. It's a reasonable criteria to use when defining what a computer RPG is.

[@obscure-cultist1709]

@@aetryn1485 That is certainly a fair point, and that doesn't make F4 unique in that regard. Heck, even looking at the previous games there was a heavy combat focus, to the point where stealth and conversations got relatively little development. Although now I'm wondering if anyone has made an rpg with stealth/conversation gameplay more developed than the combat, haha.

[@aetryn1485]

@@obscure-cultist1709 I'd argue Outer Worlds has a better conversation system than combat. Or at least it's close enough to be debatable.

[@sironastillwater]

Appreciate you dropping in Oblivion relative to VATS

[@aetryn1485]

I'd argue they did the opposite in Fallout 4 as Skyrim. Both had predecessors with skills and attributes. Skyrim removed attributes, while Fallout removed skills. I'm not sure if I know which I prefer.

[@austinwright2393]

There's something special about a Jon video essay! This one has inspired me to go give Fallout 4 another playthrough, maybe even with a VATS build

[@stevenklnes7148]

Fallout 4 V.A.T.S. also hugely improved melee/unarmed gameplay with Blitz. My absolute favorite skill in Fallout 4.

[@je5t3r57]

The main problem with a Fallout 4 VATS build is with a perception of 10 you rarely ever miss in VATS, this was highlighted by Gopher.

[@thegiantmimir4664]

Am I mis-remembering, or do I recall that Fallout was originally planned to make use of the GURPS role-playing game system? That has specific hit location mechanics and all character sheets had a 'paper doll' humanoid shape (harder to hit, but offer better criticals) - also has a problem where majority of skills are based on Intelligence. I recall a set of magazine articles about it back in the day. The partnership never worked out, but SPECIAL and aimed shot are very strongly reminiscent of GURPS mechanics.

[@JanusVesta]

You are correct. The actually lost the GURPS license only weeks before the game's release date because the creator of GURPS thought the kill animations were too violent. So they came up with SPECIAL at the lest minute. It was also called ACELIPS while it was being worked on, until someone on the team pointed out that ACELIPS was an anagram of special, and special is a much better sounding name than ACELIPS.

[@ajw5388]

Jon’s getting warmed up for Fallout 4 is Better Than You Think and I love it!

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

Honestly, the very fact that VATS works so well in Fallout 4 and the awesome perks is why I pretty much always bump my luck straight up to 10. It's my favourite SPECIAL stat for a reason, because it's so absurdly fun to use.