I just wanted to thank Bethesda for abandoning the old Oblivion/Skyrim/Fallout 3 level-scaling system. In those games many enemies leveled alongside the player. I understand this is a contentious issue among Bethesda fans, but I have been a proponent of the old school system used in Morrowind and Fallout NV where many of the enemies are a static level or only level a tiny but (within a range).

I truly enjoy the fact that some areas are supposed to be extremely tough for low level players. It is a great feeling in an RPG getting destroyed by tough enemies only to come back later at a higher level with better perks, stats, weapans, and gear and getting aweet revenge on those same enemies. It is a very rewarding feeling to defeat enemies that you struggled with earlier in the game. It gives a true sense of progression and a feeling of accomplishment. Progression and accomplishment are the two cornerstones of RPGs, and I am very happy that Bethesda decided to respect these features with their new leveling system.

For any low to mid level player looking for a challenge, check out some of the areas around the coast and especially Spectacle Island. Truly awesome stuff.

Thanks,

A very happy fan

The level scaling system in Fallout 4 is the same as Skyrim's system.

The combat difficulty on "Survival" does seem to be a bit more challenging than "Master" setting in Skyrim, however, at least from what I've experienced so far.

Hmm. That's interesting. Are you entirely sure about that? Becuase I have read that it is a modification of the Skyrim system. I believe the article called it Rubber-banding. I would link the article but I am not allowed to on this forum.

Also, I recall in Skyrim I could go most places without much trouble at very low levels. In Fallout 4, the situation is quite different. Any time I venture into the heart of Boston or costal areas there are enemies 20 or 30 levels higher than me, and are capable of killing me very quickly.

Not entirely true. While there were enemies that had a fixed minlvl, most of them were pulled of the lvl lists. Then there were Interiors with a fixed minlvl too, like dwemerruins for example with a minlvl of 12 IIRC. With FO4 you constantly run into enemies multiple levels higher than you, irregardless of where you are. I′m approaching lvl 30 and I still can get my backend handed to me very, very quickly. That didn′t happen in Skyrim that far in.

Running into that legendary, skulled deathclaw, and swiftly turning around!

Nah, the first iteration gets a sneaky rocket to da face! It′s the second iteration I run from

So the NPC's if you are level 10 and they are level 30, when you are level 31 do they level up to level 31 with you? Or do they still stay level 30?

Because if there is not level scaling at all that will make me very happy, but I'm confused how the rubber-banding scaling actually works.

Yes, Skyrim's system was the same as was described in the interview mentioning that term.

Dungeons were assigned an encounter level range, for example, 15-25. If you enter this dungeon when you are level 5, the dungeon would be fixed at the lower end of that range, so combat encounters were intended to be balanced for level 15 player, quite challenging for level 5. If you enter at level 18, it would scale to match your level. If you are level 40 when you first enter the same dungeon, it would scale up to 25, but still rather easy for level 40 player.

Other dungeons might be encounter level range 10-25, or 30-40, etc. Note the enemies in the dungeon would not all scale the same way, there were some easier and tougher enemies, as well as different variants of enemies that spawn, but the overall encounter was intended to be balanced in line with the encounter level assigned when the player first enters the dungeon. If it was too challenging, they could leave and come back to the same encounter level.

Also certain unique enemies had static levels, while others could scale up indefinitely to match player level above 100, etc.

Similar to Skyrim, specific enemy types like the most common Supermutant seem to have a lvl range, let′s say for arguments sake 10-15. They stay within that range and don′t lvl up with you to 31. Other types might though. I′m still coming across new types of SMs for example.

I've no doubt FA4 has a wide variety of enemies all the way into the hundred range. Early raiders were mostly naked. By level 10-15 they're mostly well armored. I wouldn't be surprised to find armies of power armor equipped raiders by level 100.