Fallout 3 mechanics: A brief over-view

Don't worry, this isn't a full in depth analysis of FO3, nor is it really a true WMGG in and of itself. I was doing my first entry in TWIP for FO3 and decided that it's really more an analysis, and better suited to go in here for all its brevity.

You're SPECIAL

The special system is a neat little rolyplaying game building-block, broken down roughly into this

Experience

is exactly that. It's training, learning, gaining of new knowledge and the application of that into skills. In game terms it works as a part of a levelling system. Complete an objective, defeat an enemy, solve a problem; they all reward an amount of experience, usually more for a more difficult challenge or a more complete resolution of a problem. With enough experience you gain a level. With experience comes power and enhanced skills and also perks.

Levels

starting at 1 and going to 20, 30 in broken steel and new vegas, 35 with the DLC Dead money; are goalposts on the experience path. When an amount of experience is reached your character gains a level. At this point they're rewarded with a perk point and an amount skill points (based on other factors such as intelligence etc.) as well as an increase in health. It doesn't matter how the experience was gained, as individual skills aren't "trained" as such. An entirely combat-based individual can have a respectable science skill and a few perks related to love-making if that's where they invest during levelling, despite their day-to-day activity of headshotting supermutatnts 

Attributes

Scored from 1 to 10 with an average skill of 5; are innate starting statistics that denote certain facets of the character, whether physical or mental. It's unknown whether these are purely genetic or life-style enforced, or potentially somewhere inbetween, but an attribute helps define a character from the get-go. A high attribute means benefits in that stat as well as connecting aspects. Eg. Strength increases your Melee Weapons skill, but it also affects your carry capacity, able to lift more/heavier equipment. Some status effects from aid, equipment or abilities can change attributes temporarily, but there's very few ways to permanently increase them.

Skills

Are a learned set of abilities. They have some innateness rooted in a characters' attributes, but unlike an attribute are constantly evolving and changing. They tend to denote a set of simelar skills and a characters general aptitude in that. For example, the small guns skill doesn't denote skill with 1 gun, but rather a skill with a variety of simelar weapons. Some equipment and status effects can give minor changes to skills, and books can be read to permanently increase them. Additionally, at level up a character will gain a number of skill points based on their intelligence and other factors, to be invested as they choose. This makes them the most progressive and malleable aspect of a characters development.

Perks

rewarded 1 a level (1 every 2 levels in new vegas). Are benefits gained through experience. They tend to have certain requirements, such as level, skills and attribute, which means that they're slightly more involved and harder to come by than other stats. A perk can be anything from esoteric knowledge gained in a particular field (Like Robotics Expert) to a new quirk simply gained over time (such as the Mysterious Stranger) or a skill gained over time from experience (Bloody Mess).

As there's Attribute and Skill restrictions on some of them, not all perks are available to everyone, and so can be taken to be "special" abilities available to someone due to their learned skills, innate attributes, or focus on a particular area of their development.

HP

"Health Points" are a general way of showing a characters current proximity to death. It's effected directly by the endurance attribute, as well as some perks and the level of the character. There's also some aid items that can offer a temporary boost to HP, or to endurance and by proxy HP.

Limbs also have their own hp, so a crippled arm could lead to less accuracy or melee damage when using weapons, a head less accuracy, a lowered perception and occassional concussion-blur. Additionally, crippling enemy limbs tends to result in them dropping the weapon held in that hand, staggering back, or generally screwing them over. Good for combo's.

AP

"Action Points" are spent in VATs. They're effected by Agility, as well as some equipment, some aid items and some perks. Essentially, they denote how many attacks can be used in VATs, depending on the weapon and its specific cost in AP to use in VATS, and as such can be seen as a kind of "fatigue", though one only used in VATS.

VATS

"Vault-tech Assisted Targeting" is an interesting mechanic in the game, and gives Fallout 3 that RPG edge over other shooters. Essentially it's a way of using the characters stats DIRECTLY in combat as opposed to free-aim and its subtle stats affecting weapon spread, damage etc. 

When used you pause time, and highlight an enemy; splitting their limbs into sections. your "chance to hit" as well as damage done overall and to each limb is calculated based on your stats, and you then spend AP in order to inflict this damage through a short cinematic sequence.

Now, the interesting thing about VATs is that no-one is quite sure what it is.

Some people argue it's an ability activated by the Pip-boy, and others that it's just a game mechanic for letting your character "take over". Personally I believe it's a middle ground, where the Pip-boy allows your character to better weigh up the odds (check the Math Wrath perk for evidence that it's down to the Pip-boy) based on the characters own skills, and then the character takes over with this knowledge in hand, expending his AP (fatigue) as pre-calculated by the Pip-boy. Don't ask me how it pauses time.

Vats is also interesting because it reduces all incoming damage to 10%. This means you can do "vats blocking" in order to survive otherwise deadly attacks. It also increases your crit chance by a small amount (5% I believe) and lowers weapon condition much faster, but consumes less ammo ordinarily as it's more accurate. There's also various perks related only to VATS.

VATs is the unique mechanics in Fallout 3 that makes it truly interesting in the First Person Role Playing Game genre. More so even than Deus Ex, as it gives you the ability to take a step back from a fight and really think tactically about what you're doing, and even gives you odds to say whether or not that's a good idea.

It turns what would otherwise be a boring slog through various dilapidated urban environments with a lot of corner-guarding shoot-outs into a visceral and cinematic experience.

It kinda appeases both sides of the FPS/RPG argument.

For RPG players, it means they don't have to rely on button-spammy combat, and can tactically use vats to eliminate enemies with their characters stats.
For FPS players it acts as a sort of "special move" allowing them to take out enemies in a highly gratifying cinematic way.

It even allows console and PC gamers to play this FPS with little problem, as VATs doesn't require the pin-point accuracy of a mouse and keyboard.

I really can't sing VATs' praises enough. As a PC gamer, that enjoys both RPG and FPS; VATs ticks so many boxes for me, and I doubt that without it I would have enjoyed Fallout 3 as much as I have.