I know, I know.
Its insignificant, yes. But as with the relevation of the progression system - that its unlimited - and with the assumption SPECIAL points can be gained due to their significance in the perk system and the Sole Survivour only starting with 21 as opposed to the standard 33
Do you guys think SPECIAL will be tied with stats like health, radiation and the like?
It'd make more sence NOT to be, I think. That maybe each race; deathclaw, mutant, human, android, ect. has its own base set of stats like this and that theyre basically just ENHANCED by SPECIAL perks for the PC and not magically altered (if you're into your realism)
Because with the progression, its viable to start with 1 intelligence or endurance, which was almost too much of a bain in previous games due to ludicrously low health or skill points to spend.
In a simple example; a guy who's never been in a fight with a knife (a sole survivor with low strength) would still do the same amount of base damage to an enemy as a skilled swordsman (a sole survivour with high strength) so long as it physically connected with the target. The skilled one may be able to do something extra - but not magically deal more damage by hitting the same spot with the same equipment.
Same for guns. Yes, you can argue aim. But with the shift to a more action-style gunplay scene, its kinda left up to the players skill to aim well enough.

strength increases melee damage, I do not think any attribute inherently increases other types of damage.

I am hoping that level only gives you access to better perks and does not constantly inflate your health and the health of NPCs, but I'm guessing it will.

I am pretty sure that endurance is directly tied to starting health, but it would be cool with me if it only increased health through perks.

Rewatched the video and checked the vault wiki; seems theres one perk in each combat related special that increases damage; 20% each time up to 5 times.
I also noticed the life giver perk symbol, so im assuming you CAN increase your health but innately - it doesnt and you wont have to make the most of a game.
Showed the charisma perks - certian levels, pointing a gun at an enemy (creatures, wildlife animals then humans at different intervals) you can intimidate enemys into surrendering, make them attack people nearby and eventually command them to do specific things as a temporary companion if you fully level the perk.
So, theres a viable way of making a solely charismatic character, id assume this would apply to the unrevealed perks.
I imagine enemys scale to level, which i prefer as in the past 2 games.. Well, it hit a certian point where it was just "[censored] it. Pull out a minigun and VATS everything."

I disagree whole heartedly.

Each special stat should improve your character vs just unlocking perks.

The SPECIAL attributes do affect base statistics.

Strength improves melee and unarmed damage as well as the amount of items one can carry.

Perception improves how far away enemies can be detected and improves VATS accuracy.

Endurance influences health and AP drain.

Charisma affects your ability to persuade/intimidate as well as getting better prices at shops.

Intelligence affects level progression speed.

Agility increases AP as well as improving sneaking ability.

Luck affects critical chance.

Even though the perks associated with each attribute can provide added effects, you still must invest points in each attribute if you want to get the most out of whatever archetype you create.

yeah he is right, some perks just boost the attribute associated with that Special =D

Just had to correct you

There is no more "critical chance", ie crits are no longer random. Instead you have a http://orcz.com/Fallout_4:_Crit_Meter and you can only http://orcz.com/Fallout_4:_Execute_Critical when the meter is full, but you choose when to do the crit.

Luck does, however, affect how fast the meter recharges

Pretty sure that stats still count for something all by themselves. Perks can't really be called "perks" if they control every other aspect of leveling and your stats mean diddly.

Attributes absolutely still have their own standalone purpose; it's described in some of the E3 chargen footage, and the newer video on perks actually has updated descriptions of what they do. And if you look at any derived attributes like HP, AP, or Carry Weight in the shots of the Pipboy menu, you can even glean what the math for each attribute is. Like, each point of Strength adds 10 carry weight on a base of 200.

After cross-referencing all available information from the footage, it looks like your Carry Weight is 180 + (STR x 20), which would give you 380 with a Strength of 10. It seems a little odd that it's not a round number at this level, but this is what the footage shows.

I know this is how it works in VATS, but I thought that criticals could still occur outside VATS (one instance where the player laser-musket's a raider, 'critical hit' flashes up on screen and the raider disintegrates), and I didn't see any critical-meter on-screen during any of the non-VATS combat sequences in videos.

Did I miss something?

It would be insane for Bethesda to limit criticals to VATS, but giving the player more control over criticals in VATS would seem reasonable.

Maybe it's something where the crit automatically fires if the meter fills up and you're not in VATS?