Honestly doubt it, I think it will work like a animal version of the Intimidation perk, first rank pacify, 2nd rank make them attack, 3rd give specific commands.

And the wasteland whisperer will most likely also be the same.

I am less than pleased with the new perk, especially seeing that it looks like it's been copy pasted two times to fit other classifications. Hopefully someone will mod it back to the old way, either removing the ranks or making it so that each rank expands the list of friendly animals with the final rank making them fight for you like rank 2 in previous games.

Look at Light Step, which rendered all mines, tripwires, pressure plates, and bear traps meaningless to your character. Outside of the sniper, Minefield became a complete non-threat. There was that other perk that gave you all the blue prints in Fallout 3, removing all the effort to get them all, which involved scouring the Wasteland and completing several quests that had nothing to do with each other. Some perks are designed to negate a challenge, and considering that at higher levels you wouldn't come across a wild dog or mole rat that often, the only thing you'd run into with anything even vaguely resembling regularity that was affected would be Yao Guai.

And if the Yao Guai Den took hundreds of hours to make... someone isn't very good at their job.

so what i get is u want a perk that make all animals not hostile to u???, are u god or something, on Fallout NV and 3 that perk was [censored], since allow u to [censored] sneak around animals and exploit it for exp, with crits and 1 shoots.

I dunno. I'm thinking I might have to play the game before making a judgement on this.

Maybe you can wave your gun at a group to pacify them, or maybe there is an invisible peace arc that covers a wide area when pointing your gun. Either way, it is a bit too early to judge since the game hasn't even been released yet.

I'd love to see it actually require you to like take some food and give to the animal and having your character try to calmly talk the animal down/tame it.

Just something that seems more believable then pointing at it.

Also this would have a gameplay impact as it would take resources (Food) from your inventory to do it.

Considering that Yao Guai (the most valuable animals in Fallout 3 in terms of experience points) were only worth 25 exp, I don't think they would really be worth farming, except in the few places where they were in great abundance. Personally, doesn't seem worth the effort. Besides, I take Animal Friend because I want to be a the animals' friend. I don't like killing dogs and the like, so a perk that let me ignore them/watch them do their own thing instead of picking a fight with me was much appreciated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tze1yGvKLg

Well being that we don't know what the other three ranks are,how can you call it garbage?

Who says it isn't modified higher up? We don't know the second and third tier levels.

Besides, my best animal friends will be the ones mounted above my fireplace. (Other than Dog Meat of course)

This!

is still a exploit and the new perk allow u to make a friend actually, i understand u want to see animals on thier natural state, buy binocular and watch it. Plus now with this new perk we can just make a Yao Guai a full companion. I think is alot better and feet alot better the Animal Friend.

Sure it's an exploit. If you exploit it. You could steal everything from the a store in Fallout and New Vegas by picking it up, sneaking into a room where people couldn't see you, and then putting it into your inventory, or by putting buckets on their heads in Skyrim. Those are exploits, but I wouldn't advocate the removal of the ability to pick things up without placing them in your inventory to prevent it.

I didn't want a pet. I just didn't want to be bothered.

And I wouldn't call pointing a gun at something making it a friend. And frankly, the fact that a Charisma perk that should have nothing to do with guns requires a gun according to the wording of the perk seems like bad design.

yeah bc speaking with a animal make senses -.-. plus this perk is CALL "animal friend", and OMG the point the gun is bc is a pointer that all -.- come on

melee weapons will do the same

/thread.

Best reply candidate of 2015.

Cool idea! The companion animal only stays friendly while fed. I have no interest in most of this, but I might actually use a companion animal if it required some strategic maintenance. It would give me some feeling of accomplishment when my yao guai runs in and mauls raiders for me, like I had earned it in the animal's eyes. Kinda a mutual respect thing. I wish companions in general were treated that way, rather than just "hey, hold my crap!" "hey, give my everything you own and stand naked in that corner over there!" "hey, I'm done with you, go away..."

But the thing is that you don't need a gun to use as a pointer. Just use the cursor that is always present. Having the cursor aimed at an animal for 5 seconds without your weapon drawn makes far more sense than aiming a gun at an animal to be friendly with them.

You know, if you're going to attempt to rebut my argument, it would be nice if you addressed things I actually said rather than the imaginary points you make up to act like you've dealt a blow to my case. I mean, I enjoy tilting at windmills as much as the next guy, but sometimes it's better to engage with the person who's actually talking to you.

But to address the whole speaking with an animal thing that your brought up, that does happen in Fallout 4 (and also in real life). The PC has been shown talking to Dogmeat on no less than three separate occasions (trailer, meeting the dog for the first time, right before "Atom Bomb, Baby" montage).

And there's nothing to indicate that a melee weapon (or unarmed weapon) will allow the perk to function. The perk specifies gun, not weapon. And the use of a weapon shouldn't be required at all.

Also this. There should be no need to be in a hostile stance against an animal at all in order to become friendly with it.

I do remember in oblivion and I think even in Skyrim you could "disengage" from a fight with a npc ( they had to be non hostile before) and then activate them ( press the talk button) and depending on some factor ( I forget what) the npc would cease combat with you. I'm kinda surprised they didn't use this method where you have to approach the animal with weapon holstered and then interact with it, however I can see how it works with the gun out too. I mean most of these creatures are either feral from the extreme environment or mutated from the radiation and thus hyper aggressive. Most animals in a state of extreme aggression will usually need to so an equal or greater show of force before they back down.

Every animal, creature, and human in the wastes is involved in a constant struggle for resources and survival, which by it's very definition, incorporates a certain level of hierarchy. The more powerful you are in combat, the more respect you will earn, which will ultimately result in greater access to food and other resources. And so this fits perfectly with the premise of the new Animal Friend perk (as well as Wasteland Whisperer and Intimidation).

By incorporating both your own and the target's level into the equation, the idea makes even more sense. And by using a ranged weapon to target your enemy, you are displaying dominance in a very meaningful way. The 'friend' component, when viewed from an animal's perspective, will begin by backing down from potentially hostile behaviour and accepting you as being superior in combat. It is an act of surrender, which will then result in cooperation, and ultimately, recognition of your status as a pack leader.

I plan to take all ten Charisma and most of the perks and find out how they work. Half the fun is trying something new and finding out how very cool it really is. I think that we are going to be pleasantly surprised by these new features come November.

Because the fallout 3/nv one was overpowered? At least it would be if the animals were not a total joke difficulty wise. Now, you ambush an animal, make it your friend, and go hunting together. And if memory serve deathclaws are now considered animals? If thats the case, having a deathclaw for a pet, even if it is just for a little while.. would be fun.

IF that is how it works I probably won't bother with it.

-edit-

If I point my gun at you I am not being "friendly" am I?

No I am not.

Glad they changed it as it was ridiculously OP in the old Fallouts. I mean some of the most dangerous critters ended up becoming neutralized AND they would actually help you. I like the new activation mechanism and I hope they only limit it to one or two animals at a time.

We have seen the second and third tier levels of Intimidation so it makes sense for Animal Friend and Wasteland Whisperer have the same tier levels. After all, if we can get Dogmeat to fetch a wrench, then we can get a mole rat to fetch a wrench as well.

I agree with the OP that the perk is pretty weak and it is confirmed that you have to point your gun at the animal to have a chance of pacifying it. The description was in the perk video. For me this isn't going to bother me too much, I shoot every animal I see in fallout games (except dogmeat of course).