Fallout 4: Action RPG

A look at the Fallout franchise prior to Fallout 4 reveals an RPG base with action/combat mechanics that support it.  Up to Fallout 4 (FO4) the franchise relied on a tried and tested form of RPG system in which all characters have stats (SPECIAL) and skills, which then have unlocks that use a combination of character level, skill level (in percentage) sometimes with a particular stat (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck) that would get a perk.  A perk is a bonus attribute that requires the unlock and is chosen by the player.  Prior to FO4 there were a number of perks available at a level up (or every other or third level up) that allowed a player to form a set of attributes particular to their Player Character (PC).  Non-Player Characters (NPC) that were run by the game might have perks, but did have stats and skills appropriate to their level.  To reflect the growing capability of the PC, NPCs would tend to level with the PC's level so that challenges would remain level appropriate.  There are some static NPCs, mostly creatures, monsters and such, but they tended to be minor types of generic creatures.  More impressive ones would rank their level with the PC or be a bit ahead/behind so that they would still remain a threat as the game continued.

The move to an action style game meant that the perks and skills were rolled into a single package of 'perks' for a given stat.  This was first seen in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in which skills and stats were abandoned and perk trees were implemented for individual skills and ability trees.  What would have been considered 'perks' in this new tree system were still available with levels in the tree.  Some of the magical skills do have multiple branches, though they are specialist by type and may only rejoin other branches with a level 100 in that tree.  Each tree increases as it is used, and if you wish to increase a particular skill, you use it a lot.  FO4 gives a single perk point per level, and has uncapped the character level so it is, in theory, infinite, and thus there is no 'final build' for a PC as there were in prior games in the franchise.  This goes with the concept of there being an infinite amount of enemies in an open world game, which means that areas with enemies in them are only temporarily cleared and when you come back they will have respawned so you can knock them all down again so that there is always experience available to level up a character.

Prior games in the franchise did have this, of course, but only to a moderate extent.  And certain missions, once done and a place was cleared of enemies would remain so.  The idea of the post-apocalypse game, as presented in Fallout, is that the population size is limited due to the limited amount of clean water, clean food, and environmental hazards.  Actually completing a mission, clearing out a major facility or even one just threatening locals, means that it doesn't come back to life and get repopulated every week.  Why?  Not enough people, not enough creatures, and generally the wasteland just isn't supporting life all that well.  When done in moderation, keeping the respawns limited to lower capacity (and thus smaller and lower food budget) enemies means that, yes, the bugs and even ghouls might come back pretty quickly and can be seen as environmental hazards.  Sentient or high calorie intake respawns, however, must be limited as there just isn't enough of anything to support them.  That is a major RPG element in the Fallout franchise: life is hard, death is easy.

An action RPG, however, skimps on RPG mechanics in favor of combat mechanics and immediate gratification leveling or storing the gratification for use tactically, so a skill will increase if you saved up the points and need to spend them on the spot during a mission.  That is a time honored tradition with some genres of RPG all the way back to the paper and pencil era, and the Champions/HERO system, where experience points (XP) were put directly into a characters stats, attributes, skills, powers, etc. meant that XP was low.  You didn't get hundreds of points, but, if you didn't do well, you might get 1 XP, and if you over-succeeded against overwhelming odds you got 3 XP.  Because of the direct nature of the use of XP, it was allowable to burn an XP to dodge a single hit by an opponent or make that one critical dice roll without ever having to make it.  That XP was erased, it had been used, and the PC had dodged death or used it to do something nearly impossible (but within the realm of probability) to overcome and survive.  FO4 doesn't do that, but allows for the on the fly use of a perk point which is garnered at a character level, so that if you really need to press the Science perk up by one, and you are OK on the level restriction to do it, go right ahead.

Speaking of TESV:Skyrim, it exemplifies the move to an action based fantasy RPG, though the melee fighting leaves a lot to be desired...no, I take that back, combat leaves a lot to be desired but for what could be accomplished it isn't awful.  The idea of DIY spells, which are spells with powers and effects that the player designed to fit what their PC needed...well...that went away to a more generic system of spells and types of spells.  Similarly the Big Guns, Small Guns, Melee and Unarmed in FO4 are still there...but spread across multiple trees for some effects or perks.  Mr. Sandman used to be a specialized form of sneak attack used on sleeping individuals and a perk in prior games, while in FO4 it became a perk also applied to silenced ranged weapons used on generic sneak attacks.  The prior use represents a truly specialized attack meant for certain types of character builds, while the latter is one that applies to multiple character builds and you get the bonus of the specialized kill move that once burned a perk at a level.  When your character isn't going to go above level 35 and you get a perk every other level that is a meaningful investment.  For unlimited leveling it becomes another punchcard you will eventually hit along the way.

Thus the idea of 'character builds' is an idea that remains only for a certain region of PC, say below level 60.  After that, no matter what your build is, you will either stick with it and just max out those specialized perk trees and never spend another perk point or you will start to become a generic character just spending points to spend points because all the major things you wanted to do are done for that character 'build'.  I tend to spend in what I think would be interesting...after, say, level 40, as the missions I want to do and like to do all require certain skills and abilities, and I'm not given a plethora of really interesting specialist perks to choose from.  There is no 'Child at Heart' or 'Cherchez La Femme/Confirmed Bachelor' types of perk, both of which unlock dialogue with certain characters (children in the first instance, and lesbian/gay characters in the second).  Those types of perks open up different insights into NPCs and can often open up different opportunities and play styles based on the NPCs that you can interact with through those perks.  If you were doing 'Animal Friend', in which animals (not wasteland abominations) would not just attack you on site, then you had a route to subtract environmental hazards from the wasteland.  Even in a game without many animals, like Fallout: New Vegas, the design team at Obsidian made the choice to include some creatures that we would consider abominations in the 'animal' category.  Going into Nightstalker dens without Animal Friend meant being beset by them at every turn...with it, you walked easily through the den without a scratch.  There are certain scenarios where going with or just behind a Nightstalker pack provides a non-violent way to get items for quests that you would otherwise have to be killing someone to get and thus losing status with their faction.  With it, you got a no status loss way of proceeding (slowly, very slowly) with that quest.  All of that is erased from FO4: no finding unique dialogue and story pathways due to being a Child at Heart, or meeting up with individuals of the same sex to shoot the breeze and talk shop.

Sure there is still 'Animal Friend' available, but I have problems thinking of a single situation in which I actually would use it in FO4: the game isn't designed for the PC to remove a category of threat but only individual instances of it.  Looking down a barrel of a gun and trying to intimidate an animal is humorous, true, but it really isn't all that immersive (save in a Dr. Doolittle sort of way).

So where is the changeover between an RPG with action (even strong action) elements and a shooter style action game with RPG elements?  Simple: voiced protagonist.  A voiced protagonist must have every single line of dialogue voiced and that means multiple takes, re-takes, trying different intonations, maybe responding a bit differently to some NPCs...hours upon hours upon hours of studio time requiring audio specialists often with dialogue editors and script specialists there to make sure that the voicing is done 'just right' for that character.  That voice defines the character, restricts choices and, by limitations of time and money, restricts overall story and script depth.  Every single PC to NPC encounter must be fully voiced on both sides for all parts of the decision tree, thus the decision tree, itself, must be simplified.  An RPG with action elements can afford to have individual actors for NPC do some extra lines as they will only need to do them once.  Want to role-play a polyamorous individual?  Say that just covers both sub-parts of known responses to a silent protagonist.  Want that for male or female in a voiced action RPG?  Well you get generic dialogue fit for either.  But to increase 'immersion' you can talk a mutated abomination into not attacking you!  Isn't that, um, special?

An action RPG that offers lots of sub-stories, side quests, interesting little encounters and environmental encounters that lead you to discover new things about the world you are in can make up for the lack of a strong RPG system.  Storytelling is what an RPG is all about, and the main quest can be so generic as to be boring, yet make up for that in a fascinating world to explore.  Make no mistake about it, a system based on an RPG game mechanic features it, touts it, shows it off and offers the player much agency in where they want to take a character.  Voice that protagonist with an actor and you are stuck with the background presented for that protagonist: no imagination allowed, that is the voice you must hear as so much time, effort and money went into getting it that it must be the central point of the game.  Sure you can make a lot of decisions for that character...just don't go off the tracks laid down for you and forget trying to find interesting side-tracks to different ways of interacting with people and the environment.  That takes people willing to modify the game to give you those choices.

As the sign said over the Complaints Desk:  Yesterday was the LAST DAY for complaints.