I started playingFallout 4as soon as it was released, butI still haven’t decided if its power armor changes are good or bad.AfterFallout: New Vegasimproved on many of the issues I had withFallout 3, I had been eagerly anticipatingFallout 4’s release back in 2015. I hoped that, likeNew Vegas, the game would continue to build on the series’ successes and introduce interesting new elements to the game. When it came out, I wouldn’t say I was terribly disappointed withFallout 4, but there were certainly some elements I wasn’t too sure about.
Aside from having to hear characters say my name so many times that it started to getHeavy Rainflashbacks, I was a little taken aback by the game’s new power armor system. I think Bethesda deserves a lot of credit for how exciting it was to put onpower armor inFallout 4for the first time and seeing all the changes, but as time went on, I started to sour a bit on it. As helpful as it was, it sometimes felt like a burden and took me out of the story. To this day, I’m still torn.
Fallout 4 Significantly Changed How Power Armor Works
Fallout 4’s Power Armor Is An External Suit, Not Gear
Since theinitialFalloutgame, the way power armor works has changed several times. Originally called powered armor,the firstFalloutgame’s version of power armor was some of the game’s best gear. It can only be acquired later in the game by joining the Brotherhood of Steel, or by fighting your way into their base and fixing up an old set left there. Both were difficult tasks, meaning, although powered armor was very effective, it also wasn’t overpowered because it wasn’t easy to get.
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Fallout 3, and subsequentlyNew Vegas, changed this a bit byrequiring players to get the Power Armor Training perkbefore they could effectively wear power armor. Although this meant jumping through some hoops to put it on, this also meant that power armor was made available earlier in each game than it had been in the originalFallout. This allowed players to get more use out of their power armor, while still making it feel somewhat earned.
Fallout 4once again changed how power armor worked but in a much more significant way than previous entries. Power armor was no longer gear that players could equip at will from their inventory, but insteadan external suit that they could enter. The suit offers greater protection than normal and allows players to use heavy weapons like a minigun.Fallout 4also lets players mod their power armor and swap out individual pieces to mix and match different models.
Using Fallout 4’s Power Armor Is A More Immersive Experience
Fallout 4’s Power Armor Mechanics Are More Realistic
Initially, I was a big fan of the power armor changes inFallout 4. I’m a big fan of immersive elements in RPGs, so I was glad that I could no longer carry power armor around in my pocket like I could in previous entries.Entering a suit of power armor is still an exciting experience, and I really enjoy getting to hang it up in a garage and tinker with it, watching it change appearance as I make modifications to it.
I also think that the need to have a charged fusion core installed to effectively use power armor was a great choice forFallout 4. The game gives you power armor pretty early on, to show off the new mechanics. However, by making fusion cores scarce, especially in the early-game, it hammers home that power armor is not something you can use all the time. I thought this was a nice solution for teaching players about the changes but still limiting the use of power armor. However, the more I played, the more it started to annoy me.
The Optimal Way To Use Power Armor Often Kills Narrative Flow
Backtracking To Get Power Armor Ruins The Pacing Of The Game’s Story
Because I knew that I couldn’t rely on my power armor for every fight, I decided to save it for missions that I knew would require it more. Whether it was fighting one ofFallout 4’s hidden bosses, or traveling to heavily irradiated areas like the Glowing Sea, I would only pull out my power armor when it seemed necessary. For the most part, I kept it at a workstation that I could fast-travel to, so I could pop back and modify it when I found new pieces for it.
It wouldn’t make sense for me to slap on my power armor and wear it all the way to a given objective. That would waste too much power. So, instead, I would travel to a mission location, gain the ability to fast-travel nearby, and then fast-travel back for my power armor. While this wasn’t a huge issue from a gameplay standpoint,it did start to counteract the added immersion initially gained by the power armor changes.
Every Vault In Fallout 4, Ranked
Fallout 4 has seven Vaults throughout the Commonwealth for the player to discover and explore, each holding their own awful Vault-Tec secrets.
Looking at my behavior from a story perspective suddenly made it seem somewhat silly. For example, for the quest “Taking Independence,” I walked from Sanctuary Hills to the Castle, a journey that probably took at least one in-game day. Once there, before starting the fight against the Mirelurk Queen, I fast-traveled back to Sanctuary Hills, grabbed my power armor, and then went back.
From a gameplay standpoint, this was a minor inconvenience. However, from a narrative standpoint, I had essentially walked for a day, said hi to Preston and the Minutemen at the castle, walked another day back to get my armor, turned around, and walked another day back to the Castle. Looking at it from this perspective, I was suddenly robbed of any sense of immersion that had been gained by the new power armor mechanics. If anything, it required a larger suspension of disbelief than simply not questioning why my power armor in previousFalloutgames never ran out of power.
Fallout 4’s Power Armor Is A Classic Example Of Mechanics Vs. Story
Many Games Struggle With Perfectly Melding Story And Gameplay
This type of immersion-breaking mechanic is not an issue unique toFallout 4. Any video game in which the story is a major component must struggle to balance its narrative elements with its mechanics. Elements of a game that break players’ immersion in its story are so common,there’s even a term for it: ludonarrative dissonance.
Some instances of ludonarrative dissonance are easier to overlook than others. For instance, I don’t often spend too much time caring about where Nathan Drake sticks all his extra ammo inUncharted, because it doesn’t contradict the story so much as it just requires a bit more suspension of disbelief. However, when Batman preaches about not taking a life inArkham Knightbefore hopping in his tank and blowing people up, the disconnect can be harder to ignore.
Although the way I use my power armor inFallout 4does cause some ludonarrative dissonance, I’m still not sure how much I should hold that against the actual mechanics. Obviously, if I cared enough to, I could just avoid my method of conserving power and make my gameplay more realistic. Because it is ultimately my choices that lead to narratively unsatisfying behavior in the game, it feels unfair to hold it against the game.
At the same time, it’s something I never would have thought about hadFallout 4not deliberately taken steps to make using power armor feel more realistic. I may have caused part of the problem myself, but it’s something I couldn’t have done had the game not given me the tools to do it. I will be interested to see ifFallout 5makes significant changes to how power armor works, and if they address some of my issues with it.
Fallout 4
Bethesda’s action RPG Fallout 4 puts players into the vault suit of the Lone Survivor, a pre-war soldier from an alternate future cryogenically frozen inside Vault 111. After their infant son is kidnapped, they venture out into the irradiated wasteland of the Commonwealth to scour the ruins of Boston for any sign of him. In doing so, they encounter various factions and companions and use an array of skills and abilities to navigate the apocalyptic remnants of society.
