hey there,

well first let me tell you how awesome i think the crafting system is. ... ... very.
it kinda reminds me of the crafting system from dead space 3 and i loved that aswell.

but here are mine concerns.

When you can simply build every weapon imaginable by looting random scrap that you can basically get everywhere, doesnt that kill exploration entirely?
Imagine this: You run around the world of fallout 3 or NV like you usually do. after exploring some caverns offroad you find a totally unique weapon that you can only get
in that specific place and nowhere else. bam. unique reward.

But if i can just craft EVERYTHING from scrapmetal, cutlery and a broken watch, why the hell should i go exploring for weapons?

Ye,s is know. fallout has many more things to offer when you go exploring than just weapons. but they are still a great part of it and i would hate to see this feature go.

So i sure hope they thought about this and added unique crafting upgrades (blueprints) like for example a special sniper-barrel that you can only find when exploring the wasteland.

what are your thoughts on this?

Err... Crafting makes you better guns to kill things that want to stop your exploring... or living for that matter.

Did Fo3 suffer from it, with its incredibly rudimentary and limited crafting system?

I think you are missing the whole point of exploring: Because it's there.

I suspect we will not be able to craft everything at any time. We will probably have to take perks to be able to craft higher end stuff. Just a hunch.

You'll have to explore for materials, some of which can probably only be picked up in specific locations. I can't remember the video I watched it in, but Pete Hines basically said that crafting the more unique and interesting weapons will require parts you won't just find laying anywhere and everywhere. You will have to search for them somewhat extensively, which should alleviate your concern about not having to explore. Crafting systems are time sinks that you can generally get by without, but which offer up very powerful and entertaining rewards after you've put time into them. I imagine FO4's system will be much the same.

no it doesn t kill exloration , it probably even encourage you to explore to find enough components , but then again you got that rubberband scaling that will prevent you from exploring

I'd argue that it'll encourage it. You'll need to go out exploring to pick up the materials. I doubt you'd just be able to, say, create an entire plasma rifle from rudimentary parts you find in a trash bin. And, if I had a guess, unique weapons will either be extremely powerful, or even have unique parts.

It wouldn't kill exploration if there were interesting places to go to with interesting stories behind them.

...no

Simple, if you prefer to find weapond then moding...simply dont use the moding mechanic.

Nope. In order to craft you need to get the items that will break down into the parts too craft said item. To get those items you have to go out and find them... and they won't be at your door step. So you'll need to explore new locations to find them. If you aren't actively exploring you will eventually run out of items to use in crafting.

But if you dont explore how will you get mauled to death by a deathclaw?

You're probably going to have to find crafting schemes for the more powerful weapons. That'll be reason enough for exploring.

That is right, it is dead space cheap ass crap that basically kills all the gun related fun in game.

Interesting stories? Have you ever played gamesas games?!

It doesn't hurt TES so I don't see why it would FO

I never actually explored in any bethesda game with the specific intention of finding weapons or other gear, I just found them on the way, so it wouldn't kill exploration for me. Additionally, we don't know everything about the crafting system yet, so I'd say its probably a little early to say that it might kill exploration

i see where you're coming from, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. After all, eventually you'll need to go find more random crap somewhere else

I'd say no, I think it will hamper economy but then most items can be used to craft which makes economy slightly null. I'd hope that some designs would be findable so that might be a reward for exploring. But then again all the best weapons/armour could be made in Skyrim without any plans and that didn't hamper the exploring (on average the boring dungeons did XD)

I'm under the impression that you will NEED to find the base weapon first and then be able to modify it accordingly. I doubt I can find a few pieces of scrap metal and turn them into a fatboy, but once I find one I can upgrade it based on my perk level.

E.g. I will have to find a plasma pistol AND have the required components plus perk/skill lvl to make it into a plasma sniper rifle with a high tech scope, ect.

Also as mentioned above, some upgrades will require rare components (as confirmed in a Pete Hines interview) that you will have to source out in the wastes.

Smithing & Enchanting in Skyrim killed loot hunting for me, and it will probably do the same in F4 unless it's a lot different. I know, I know, you'll say, I shouldn't use it, or I should impose limitations but when there's a valid system in place to make your character better, it's hard not to use it or to impose limitations on a character. Every character I played in Skyrim was a master at Smithing, and usually Enchanting, because of how overpowered it was compared to regular loot.

I really hope this won't be the case in Fallout 4 and there will be some very strong unique weapons, which we can improve. If we can make an ordinary Pipe Rifle the strongest weapon in the game, it will kill the point of looting to where we're just hunting crafting parts instead of actual gear.

Yes. And I love finding the stuff they hide in all the locations. Especially in Fallout 3, which is just loaded with environmental storytelling (arrangements of corpses/loot/etc) and terminals/journals/diaries. It's one of the things they do best.

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As for the original question? No, it doesn't. Just like the crafting system in Skyrim didn't.

edit: but, then, I'm not a powergamer type, who "must" always use the most efficient method unless I'm "imposing limits". Unless you consider picking what skills/playstyle a character is going to follow (you know, like defining your "class" in Oblivion) to be imposing limits.

I've only had maxed smithing on a few of my Skyrim characters. My first character got 100 smithing around level 48.... and that was her first skill to 100. Later characters only got smithing that high if I was trying out an armor mod that did silly things like "this armor is craftable in the Dragonscale category!" /sigh I've never done the whole smithing/alchemy/enchanting loop, because.... why would I? If something makes the game boring, and I have to go incredibly out of my way to do it (like making a 100% chameleon suit in MW/OB), why would I ever do it? Seems counterintuitive to me, to spend lots of deliberate time & effort, to make my game experience worse.

...but that's Skyrim's crafting. We don't know how FO4's will work. If you have to find the best module recipes, if you have to pick crafting perks that require very high SPECIAL to make the best recipes, if you'll find interesting mods in loot containers out in the world (that'd be an interesting way to do a playthrough maybe - use crafting, but only to rearrange the modules that you find), etc.

edit: anyway, put me in the "nothing will ever stop me exploring / explore for the sake of it" crowd. Just like I can't stop picking up valuable loot in FO3, even when I have effectively infinite resources and 100k caps.

Good for you, but i judge not by AMOUNT of it but by QUALITY of it. There never been a place for me in those games where i feel like i realy want to find out what happens next, or as if there was something new and unexpected.

Also i don't remember being able to construct my own custom bow in Skyrim.

Wow, how sad. So the whole story of what happened in LOB Enterprises, or the diaries of the nurse at the Germantown Police HQ, or the journals of the lady going mad in the music Vault..... the dude who killed himself jumping his motorcycle over a car in the sewers near the Capitol? None of those did anything for you? Or all the various silly Teddy Bear/Gnome dioramas? (those are just little things, of course, not "narrative". Still great to find)

Huh. That's a big part of what I play the games for.

Same exact threads popped up after Skyrim. "I've got no reason to explore - loot is pointless because I can just sit in Whiterun and do the Smith-Enchant-Alchemy circlejerk and have 1000 damage weapons! How dare you suggest I not do that, I must always play at Maximum Efficiency?!"

thats actually very relieving to hear^^
thanks

thats true, we dont know everything about the crafting system yet.
but we are actually getting very close to the release ... so im wondering when are they finally going to show some new videomaterial?

judging by what Peter have bern saying sbout beth dislike taking actual game dev time just to make public video material, besides finally releasing that demo they been showing at cons I doubt we will see more.