Does anyone know?

Cuz this would change the way we fight.

I kinda imagine that entering Pip-Boy would put the world into VATS-time maybe?

Considering console gamers kinda can't make effective use of a hotbar?

I used the hotbar just fine in Fallout 3 and New Vegas... on console.

old time use to pause game, now u make me wonder how this new one will work.

Consoles does have something like a hotbar with the directional pad on the controller and it worked quite well.

This is actually a good point - DOES the Pipboy pause the game? I don't think so. We know lockpicking and hacking no longer pause the game. VATS no longer pauses the game. I keep seeing in some of the footage where you can manually move the Pipboy out of your vision and still keep it up. Possibly to keep a watch out for enemies while you flip through screens?

I imagine the only way to pause the game will be to hit ESC and bring up the Settings Menu, which probably covers the whole screen.

My guess is that it doesn't, way back in the day it use to take AP to open the INV, and that was a balancing thing.

Being able to open your pipboy and insta heal to max health is kinda OP so having time continue to flow while the pipboy is out seems like a fair trade off to me.

I'm kind of hoping it doesn't. Increases the challenge a bit.

Yeah, it would force you to plan better, and you couldn't power your way through OP fights by spamming Stimpaks from the Pipboy. You'd have to be somewhere safe or hidden to go digging through your inventory.

I just know I'm going to have a terrifying scare in some dark building or tunnel when something attacks me while I've got my nose stuck in the Pipboy's screen.

Lmao I can see it now, a ghoul sneaks up to you and waits for you to pull your pipboy down, then BAM.................... Jumpscare, with there evil noises all in your face.

It doesnt stop time.. pretty sure this was confirmed.. its why an animation plays while your looking at it where the SS looks around a bit before returning to the pip boy.. its to let you see if anything is coming.. the same is also true for hacking/lockpicking.. so better be sure to kill all those enemies before trying to hack or lockpick.. wouldnt want someone to sneak up on you.

Yeah I recall noticing on trailer video's how the background stuff kept moving while the PIP boy was open, weeds wiggling and body parts rocking. That's usually a pretty good indicator that the world is still live around you.

Yeah. I like the change to lockpicking and hacking especially. It was really easy in previous Bethesda games to run around a corner, duck into Sneak mode, hit the Lockpick interaction, then break as many picks as needed while taking your time to open the lock. Then you just loot the container and pop-up just as the NPC runs around the corner and you can shrug like, "What? I didn't do anything."

I guess this means people are gonna hotkey

Ugh, sounds terrible. :/

(the no-pause thing, for locks/hack/pip/etc; not the hotkey thing. I used hotkeys all the time in OB/FO3/SK/FO:NV)

Are we sure about it not pausing? If you watch the E3 demo, when Todd is talking about settlement crafting, when the PC accesses the terminal the game pauses (https://youtu.be/D5esyZPt5Jo?t=24m38s). The generator stops making noise and puffing smoke. To me, that looks like the game is paused.

The only danger for me is when I go into inventory I tend to get focused on whatever I'm doing in it. If the world is still active around me I foresee a lot of painful experiences coming from that.

It makes sense for the terminals. You aren't doing any hacking. You are literally programming your settlement with logic states. I can see where that would get annoying to be interrupted with.

The Pipboy and Lockpicking not pausing are gameplay tweaks to change how players approach the game. Now, if you want to rob a shopkeeper, you're going to have to do it at night when they are asleep, or dispose of them somehow. No more Sneaking out of their sight for 1 second and robbing them blind.

I can see Bethesda encouraging hotkeys with the Pipboy not pausing - look at Skyrim and it's Favorites menu. We could see a return in Fallout 4. It is still going to encourage you to approach fights with more strategy, since you can't browse your inventory on the fly.

IMO, I think it will still stop time.

I don't see how the animation helps when your arm and pipboy are blocking most of your sight. Regardless of what angle you hold it at. You can only see forward. What about the sides or behind you? It doesn't seem practical at all, going by official footage. Also, checkout the E3 footage when Todd is talking about settlement crafting (https://youtu.be/D5esyZPt5Jo?t=24m38s). When the PC accesses the terminal, the generator stops making noise and making smoke.

I kind of hope it doesn't pause the screen as it takes away any severity from combat. You could always just pop into your pipboy in the middle of combat and heal broken limbs and sift through your amazing amount of weaponry to switch out a weapon. If it doesn't pause combat that means you now have to seek out a safe place to hide to open it up... which will make it feel a lot more fun.

Why should it matter if you're hacking or just accessing? You are using a terminal regardless. I can't see them changing the pause mechanic only for an optional feature.

Don't forget Fallout 4 is using the creation engine. So there's a chance NPC's will behave like they do in Skyrim. Remember checking out the other rooms in the stores of skyrim? The trader would follow you around, not letting you hide. If after hours, they would keep asking you to leave. If you don't they call the guards. Which leaves you with lockpicking the shop door at night when no one is around. Making this feature pointless in that scenario.

If they do decide to do this, I hope do it the way I'm thinking. When looking at the pipboy, it would be nice to still walk and even be able to lift our head to do a quick scan. In the case of lockpicking/hacking, pausing to take a quick scan while doing those would be nice.

It's not a game breaker for me, I'm still going to play it.

We do? Where was that confirmed? I think we would have been discussing that more.

Not to sound like an ass, but you do know there are hotkeys right?. You can use number keys (d-pad for console) to use stims/hydra/etc, switch weapons, and ammo types (in NV) in real time since Fallout 3.

Good question! Hopefully it won't pause the world or slow it down. Gonna be very exciting.

Pretty sure it was shown in the Quakecon footage. No links to that, as it hasn't been officially released. Nothing confirmed, but it looked like Dogmeat kept moving and searching during the hacking.

Yeah, but hotkeying is different from being able to pause and browse your inventory. With hotkeys, you at least need a plan and a load-out. You can't suddenly switch to another weapon if the two you have hotkeyed aren't cutting it or run out of ammo.

Ah, I haven't seen that, and won't unless Bethesda releases it officially, but that would actually please me. One other reason I think it's likely that the pip-boy doesn't stop time: the smartphone app. You can use your own pip-boy, and I would find it weird for the game to pause if you have that app open.