What do you guys think about the new critical hit system, with a bar that fills up? It's the only new feature I frown at. It sounds kind of weird. It's too similar to the sneak attack damage bonus, where you decide when it happens.

I don't hate it, nor mind it all that much. I guess it really depend on how fast it fills up. If we're talking...once per possible encounter, that's all good and well, maybe twice, or three times in a prolonged fire fight, I don't see it as game breaking.

If I can line up more than one crit at a time, without perks, I may raise my brow.

But I reserve judgement till the time of reckoning.

I do not hate it but I'm not a big fan of the idea either. I'd rather it be random, behind the scenes as its been in past games. I'll wait to play the game and see how it feels before making any final judgement although as it stands I prefer the old system. ETA: This makes me wonder if we will have criticals in real-time combat? Not just V.A.T.S. Unless i missed something, it appears the bar is only used in V.A.T.S.

I think it will be entertaining watching the bar build up over time with each skirmish you have, then unleashing it with satisfying results. Well that's my summation on this new feature.

It's indicative of much of Fallout 4; debilitate the character in exchange for player autonomy and gratification.Don't play the character, be the character...

I really don't like it and hate the fact that random crits seem to be gone as well.

Since I'll probably be doing fine without the critical hit bar it'll probably end up being something I use sparingly.. meaning to save it up for some big nasty but end up completely forgetting to use when I actually come across the big nasty... It'll probably work out about as well as chems in any other game. They look cool, might be useful. Always forgot about using them in combat.

We don't really know anything about the new mechanic - far too many unknown variables for me to start making sweeping judgments about it one way or another at this point.

I have to admit I know next to nothing about it so I'll reserve judgement for when I actually play the game. It sounds like it will be kind of annoying though as being told when your next critical will be defeats the purpose of critical hits altogether. My understanding of criticals is that you managed to hit a critical part of whatever you're attacking. To know when the next critical hit will be makes that strange they might as well just add a special attack that can only be used once in awhile.

The whole idea of activating a critical hit on demand seems odd to say the least. Critical hits were something you hoped to get and hoped your enemies wouldn't get on you but some mechanic where you can "save up" something previously left up to the RNG gods such as a critical hit for when you really need it seems strange to say the least. Not going to say I hate it as there is very little information at this point on how the whole system will work as others have pointed out but... we'll just have to see if things change once more details emerge.

Yeah,.. I just watched some footage because I hadn't really payed attention to it. It seems to me as well that this will be something used exclusively in VATS. Vats is like the bullet time with fun features. I'm sure while playing normally you'll get criticals based off your luck and shooting skill.

I don't know how I feel about it. I think of crits as per chance, so we will see.

I'm wondering if this is a VATS-specific mechanic, as well. Taking a guess from looking at what footage we have available, it does look like it only pertains to VATS and that during normal combat it'll function like it always did?

I think that could be interesting, possibly - that could be kind of a neat synergy there. Since VATS is kind of more of a cinematic, bullet-time aspect where you're picking your shots more carefully and taking time to aim it could potentially be a good fit to time your criticals while in that mode for more dramatic or strategic impact too.

Thinking of criticals, I'd also like to see critical hits telegraphed a bit more discreetly. In F3 and NV, you could see your enemy's health drop more than usual on occasion, but that was about the only indicator you had that you'd even scored one. I'd like to see more interesting animations to go along with those, really. Make a bit of a to-do about getting a critical, I guess.

Are they though? It seems the critical hit pulled off https://youtu.be/0lWNdcbq3EU?t=3m3s was entirely random and outside of VATS. Unless crits have their own button now that triggers it regardless of whether your in VATS or not, but I'm not sure how that would work.

It looks like to me that there are two kinds of crits in Fallout 4: randomly occurring ones like in previous games, and those deliberately triggered. I'd assume the triggered ones require the player to earn a certain amount of "crit points", and then in V.A.T.S. they can trigger the crit.

The one here looks like a random crit.

The one where the player unloads with the Gatling gun against the deathclaw looks like a triggered one.

I'd assume you gain "crit points" for kills, and possibly some extra ones for a random crit kill.

I thought the same thing as well when I was looking through the video a while back but after taking a closer look, they actually seemed to just cut the targeting part out.

http://postimg.org/gallery/38xcly47a/

Still not solid confirmation on them being gone but there's also the description for luck which only mentions recharge rate of the bar and nothing about rate of crits. So it seems pretty likely that they're gone but I hope I'm wrong.

I for one absolutely love this... It adds a whole new level of strategy to the game. "Should I use the crit now or save it in case there is a harder enemy around the corner," will be a constant thought.

Before when it was random I saw no reason to invest in crits, now I have a reason because I can control when they happen at least part of the time.

Bravo BGS!

if it work like that just to alow me to see the cool animation when i hit a crit im happy with it

This (points )....... But I can not be the only questionable moral character type fella, thinking so i could work at getting crits when i need them, by say shooting at a friend to build it up.... Hey Codsworth dance

No cant be heh

It seems dull to me. It used to take care of itself, and now it's just one more thing to micromanage.

Also seems like a good candidate for a perk or two to improve certain factors.

It's not hard to manage though. If anyone here has played borderlands you had to save your special ability until when it counted. I am all for a more complex game as opposed to a more dumbed down version. I realize crits were random in the last games but this will make it a great thing to use as a perk ect.

What is a critical hit? Is it a bullet or object that hits a vital part of the body? If so wouldnt all bullets shot to that same location be critical hits? Or is it something the game god decides when it happens and for some reason let say "magic" the ordinary bullet becomes denser and does 2× more damage?

Unclear on how I feel about it not knowing if all other potential methods of landing a Crit are being replaced by this system or not. Also, how does weapon Cirt chance and LUCK now effect this system and does it negate those traits for any other chance at a Crit (first concern).

Personally I wouldn't wait for the crit meter unless I was lining up a sweet sniper shot.

Even then, if the target is moving, especially in how VATS works now, waiting for the crit may ruin that sweet sweet shot.

Do you take the shot, or wait for the crit?