They're going to make building your character such a nuisance. If the SPECIAL spread you chose at the start of the game was the sole means of determining which perks you could acquire, and SPECIAL bobbleheads only raised their respective attribute bonuses, then we could just focus on exploration and not have to plan a bobblehead collection route to make our builds work.

They're not a problem if you're going to max out a certain attribute anyway, but the trouble starts with attributes which you only need to raise for the perks themselves, and not the bonuses (ie. if you don't want to use VATS, then perception is useless. If you don't want to use VATS or sneak, agility is useless. If you're going be a sociopathic loner, then charisma is useless); if you pump an attribute just enough to grab a certain perk, then essentially you've just wasted a level.

Of course, I could just ignore bobbleheads altogether, as I did in FO3. That's probably what I'll end up doing, but it's disappointing. I feel bad for those guys who will compulsively but begrudgingly head for the INT bobblehead at the start of every single game to max out their XP gain. I know them well, from my time playing NV .

Why feel bad? Its a single player game, let people have fun the way they want to...

The only problem I see with bobbleheads is if they upgrade your SPECIALS automaticly as soon as you grab the toy and you want to keep role playing a char with low stats. But If I remember right you have to accept the upgrade...

The only problem with bobbleheads

(and it's not really a problem)

Is that it encourages meta-gaming to go and fetch the requisite bobbleheads from parts of the map you would not naturally be.

But so has it always been.

Skyrim's standing stones were the same.

I really love my in game bobble heads, they were cool in F3 & I'm hoping they will be good for F4.

What I'm not going to do is to look up the bobblehead locations online/in-guide.

I'll spend a perk point to raise SPECIAL if I need to.

Maybe second playthrough for the ones I missed.

"Begrudgingly". Does anyone actually enjoy always doing the same routine at the start of every game? I'm sure they enjoy the min-maxing aspect, but not the repetitiveness of it.

I've always been an ardent opposer of such things. Just because it has always been this way doesn't mean the trend should continue.

Yes, that is what I will do. Min-maxing be damned.

I even ordered the guide which I hope will be an attractive paper-weight for a few months

It was either that or Halloween jackolanterns.

Seriously is this the first fallout game to remember when WW III happend?

I never built a character with bobble heads in mind. The stat boost from a bobble head is still a stat boost no matter what type of character you are building. So if I start a character with a strength of 2 with no plans to take any perks in strength or raise that stat.. I'll still get more carry weight when I come across that bobble head. I don't have to work for it or plan it.. it's just a bonus. I think a lot of people believe they are going to be making a "maxed out character." They are going to be sorely disappointed when they only end up hitting level 50-80.

How do they know where to find the INT bobblehead, OP? Are they looking at online guides from the start?

Anyone who plays like that deserves to have their thumbs broken.

I mentioned three examples where the bobblehead will do absolutely nothing for you. My first character, for example, will be a non-VATS rifleman (yes, I'm going to CoD it up, or rather DoD it up, for the savvy). This means perception will do absolutely nothing for me beyond allowing me to grab the perks I need (ok, maybe there will be perception-based dialogue options. Maybe.).

Min-maxers will know. Min-maxers likely already know from all the leaked footage. I have zero problems with how others play their games, though. However, I'd rather not have to gimp my character somewhat by exploring instead of following a pre-determined path.

Perception isn't just for shooting in vats.. It allows you to detect enemies further away, detect mines and traps and it completely affects your ability to shoot at a distance in real time. So a perception 10 character will be able to hit a distant target and cause more damage better than a perception 1 character.. no perks involved. A character with an agility of 10 will still be better at stealth than a character of with an agility of 3.. Stats do a lot all by themselves. Perks are just that.. perks. They enhance what your stats already do.

I never build my characters with bobbleheads in mind. They are just a bonus. For my first playthrough I'll max charisma by level 23 (intimidation rank2 req.) even if I haven't found the bobble yet.

God I forget Americans "celebrate" Halloween well before it happens. Thankfully I'm glad, I think having the entire pre-war world draqed in gaudy Halloween decor would be awful.

I role play so I don't care boobleheads or if a stat like perception is useless because x ratio and stuff I don't care. I have planed no increase any stat without any rp reason. For instance if my girl with one luck in a level find some good loot or avoid a trap or something I would pointed in a notebook and unlock a 1 luck. If not no luck upgrade or other special. Also all stats influence dialogue and minor stuff that make them always useful

First time through I won't worry about it. I'll be more focused on the story. Second or third time through, I will try to collect all of the bobble heads.

I don't usually plan my character to that high a degree. Since I know there's going to be Bobbleheads I might not raise my attributes past 9, but if I really "need" a 10 somewhere I'm going to spend it anyway. There's no level cap after all - you don't get extra points for having an efficient playthrough.

Wait, what? Can you be more specific? And where did you get this info from?

From Todd himself in the E3 interviews he made. I just don't remember which one now.

I am the type of player who spends a ton of time optimizing and obsessing over character builds in every type of game, be it a video game, tabletop game, whatever. Why? Because there is a level cap and I need to make sure not to make suboptimal choices because I only have a limited number of chances to make them. However, there is no level cap in Fallout 4. If I make a few suboptimal choices early on, I could still potentially change that down the road. So I feel that now the bobbleheads and SPECIAL boostsers are just gravy in FO4, compared to being essential in previous games.

Also I feel the perk system in FO4 is very flexible as compared to previous games. For example, strength was pretty much relegated to just melee combat and carrying stuff, but now there are gun-related improvements tied to strength. There are still some suboptimal perks. Lead belly is still pointless to get and VANS seems useless, but some previously useless perks like Mr. Sandman have been retooled to be useful. If as you are going through FO4 and you realize you need/want a perk that you don't have the stats for, you don't have to start over, you have the potential to work towards it and have a different gaming experience than someone who starts with that ability.

What makes any type of RPG fun is the power creep. You start the game weak and get more loot, more health, more numbers, and more abilities. By the end you are super powerful. The fear of players who are optimizers or power gamers is that they are denied that power creep by making bad choices. The previous Fallout games did a great job when it came to the power creep. At the start you have poor equipment and very little money. By the end of the game you are a god-like character mowing enemies down with missle launchers or plasma bolts and are nearly unkillable. FO4 allows you to power creep in so many many more ways than in previous games, I wouldn't worry about the existance of the bobbleheads diminishing that experience.

There's no level cap in Fallout 4 so there's no immediate need to run after the bobbleheads unless you want to min-max your early times.

I may be a small percentage here, but I never played a Fallout game to acquire bobbleheads. If I found them during exploration, I considered it a bonus, but I don't actively look for them. I still recall the time I walked past the one in the Dunwich building after going back to get the achievement. I laughed at the fact it was right there, in plain sight and I walked right over it.

I try to refrain from being OP, but depending on how FO4 works with its perks (aka, we must take them rather than passive, like Skyrim), then you can bet I'll use them to my advantage.

Animal Friend. Best freaking perk in the entire game.

Yeah, quite possibly one of the absolute worst design decisions Bethesda ever made returns.

Having to design a character around those is a big problem and now it's going to be even more critical due to 10-stat perks. At least I'll not be losing irrecoverable skill points till I get INT one this time.

Exaggeration. Even if a player doesn't utilize a single bobble head, the game's design is flexible enough to allow people to play the way they want.

I couldn't care less if someone wants to be OP the second they leave the vault or play as realistic as they want.

If there's one thing I wil defend Bethesda for is their dedication of allowing people to play the way they want.

That's priceless to me.

This.