So, Power Armor. We know that older armor will require power cells to function, thus limiting the armors use (at least in the early game). Here's the question though; assuming we can get upgrades to the power source (allowing the armor to function indefinitely), how will power armor be any different from previous games, at least once you get to the mid-late game? It seems to be a bit of a waste to put all that time and effort into making enter/exit animations and whatnot if, after a certain point, you never need to get out of the armor again.
So why go to all that trouble? My theory is that wearing the armor is going have significant drawbacks, thus encouraging us to get in and out of our power armor fairly often, even in the mid-late game. Drawbacks could include a total inability to sneak (which I'm hoping is going be even further upgraded/expanded from its role in Fallout 3/Skyrim) or an inability to enter small openings/areas.
What do ya'll think?

(Not to mention all that time they spent on animating all the lines of the protagonist; honestly, I wouldn't be jaw-dropped shocked if we weren't able to enter dialog unless we're out of the suit- that would be a lot of facial animation wasted, hidden behind that power armor helmet).

I'm assuming there are some things that we just won't be able to do in Power Armor, for a variety of reasons...height, bulkiness, delicate nature of situation...sleeping...eating...Picking locks...Sneaking would definitely be a pain.

It's logical, considering power armor is made solely for battle purposes...

Though, talking to people shouldn't be an issue. We see people talking to people while wearing Power Armor all the time in the series.

Plus...How can they rob us of the ability to go "Shaun, -I- am your father..." While our voice is modulated through a PA helmet.

+1

I'd definitely like to see these limitations on power armour. If it's going to be so powerful, it needs some trade-offs. I think dialogue should be allowable, but perhaps with a Charisma penalty, since they can't see your charming face. I wonder how the Pipboy will work, since it doesn't show on the outside of the armour? Getting in and out just to check your inventory or map would be a bit too inconvenient... Maybe a hatch on the arm can open up to provide access.

My biggest worry on power armor is that from what we have seen, it feels almost like its use is a pre determined event.

The gameplay footage of the survivor jumping around on the buildings with the minigun, especially since the minigun was shown to be pulled off a conviniently placed downed vertibird, the area itself feels like a kind of set up area for a slaughter, even when the deathclaw popped up it was a non random spawn.

What im wondering is if power armor is going to be a free flowing gameplay mechanic that we can use or stop using at will, or will there just happen to be random power armor at certain points when the game plans to throw overwhelming enemies at us.

I personally hope power armor isnt just there at certain areas where we need it, and that more broadly, fallout 4 doesnt turn to scripted events alot. One of the most fun aspects of fallout games is that combat is largely free flowing and random, yes there are "dungeons" and "events" but they dont really feel planned out and scripted.

I want to run into a large group of raiders and have the CHOICE to hop in my iron man suit and stomp them out, not just be told "hey, lots of enemies here and hey, there just happens to be power armor nearby"

Well I don't see the drawbacks of PA that have been pointed out, being a negative thing. And not everyone is going to be looking to wear PA all the time. It might even go against the character type they're RPing as. I know that in NV, and previous Fallout games, I didn't always go for and wear PA, because it was the most powerful armor. It didn't fit with a lot of my characters.

I plan on role playing as a well trained and experienced soldier. I will mostly be wearing power armor and combat armor. I would not mind being unable to sneak, or pick locks, things like that. It would be really cool to see things like that in place, I am really very excited to see how it works and how it plays out. Lots of RP possibilities here.

I highly doubt Power Armor will be a pre-determined event sort of deal outside of when you initially get it; at the very least, they can't do "hey, there's some power-armor conveniently lying around" every time, because there's an entire power armor customization aspect to the game now, and it would make little sense to use generic power armor when you have your own ready to go.

I'd be shocked if it has any drawbacks at all; and stunned if the NPCs even notice it on the PC. (Outside of one or two set-piece, one time exchanges, if any.)

*Not that it shouldn't have drawbacks and be noticed; of course it should... just that I think the lesson is learned, and I think that faction armors will be non-affecting of NPC reactions.

Good one! +1

There will still be a lot of places where taking power armor in might be risky or even impossible.

But I'm excited too!

I hope so.

one thing is that power armor is much slower than normal movement and cant be easily repaired... unlike your character that you can just use stimpacks to heal the power armor can only be repaired at a workshop... i could imagine someone trying to get a badly damaged power armor suit back to a workshop. especially when parts can fall off of it.

Now that I think about it, we never saw first person mode inside power armor did we? If it's third person only like werewolves in Skyrim, I sincerely doubt we'll be using it ALL the time. Maybe the armor pieces that don't need an expendable power source will degrade quicker.

  

clearly you werent paying attention as a large chunk of the power armor WAS in fact in first person... just not the combat scenes as they most likely wanted to show off the armor... but we saw the new HUD for power armor along with a custom rad and health meter as well as battery life right inside the power armor in first person.

IMO
-power armor will only be limited early on..so as not to break the game
-very out of character for gamesas to hamstring a favorite play style and put those restrictions on us
-you won't be able to sneak..however we've seen a mod slot...some of these may include stealth field mod, low noise mod, enhanced vision mod..etc
-power armor will be the only way to reach the maximum damage reduction cap
-there are a-f models of the armor(except enclave it showed mk 1 mk 2 etc) each model up will probably enhance its abilities
-melee attacks will be enhanced

All just speculation ..I think it makes sense tho

My mistake, it's been a while since I watched the gameplay

Power Armor also has a health rating, so chances are you have to repair it at a workstation every now and then.