Looking at what we know about Fallout 4, they haven't gone much into stealth at all. I am wondering if the stealth hits will be dealt the same as a critical hit or if it will just have a higher damage buff to it.

Can you stealth critical someone and then pop out of stealth and shoot them with a normal activated critical if they survive the first shot? This seems like it could be incredibly OP.

What are you thoughts on this and how this might work?

Consider we dont know how fast it really takes to charge that crit meter, its kinda early to call such a trick OP.

I'm guessing it will be similar to F3. Automatic sneak attack criticals and randomized critical hits during normal combat with the new option of triggering it from VATS by filling up the gauge/meter thing. Just a guess though, I just don't see them changing up stealth combat too much.

The critical bar is only effective... if the percentage is actually high enough to hit the body part selected... if it's 15% chance to hit the selected body part, then you just wasted the critical. Luck is also what allows the bar to fill faster... lower the luck stat, the slower it is to fill.

It well may be that with skills assigned to perks, we would need a perk/perk level to have sneak crits.
I am very interested to see how this all works.

I am very interested to see how this will work as well.

Sneak snipe a super mutant in the head. Pull out shotty and sprint up to him and finish him off with a charged VATS critical to the face. Seems like a good way to kill some boss or difficult creature.

The Luck description didn't mention increased chance of random critical hits, so I think that crits are only in VATS. Whether or not there are stealth crits is unconfirmed.

What Luck Description are you referencing? Link please.

You can see the descriptions for everything in the e3 trailer during character creation.

Don't think they're VATS exclusive. In the footage where he's blasting Raiders with a Laser Musket he scores a critical on one, and it went too smoothly for them to have just cut out any VATS.

I hope they change the sneak mechanics; it never made any sense to me in any of their past games and it was always OP as hell.

1. shoot an arrow at an NPC at long range.

2. crouch just before the arrow hits.

3. arrow does 3x damage.

Logic.

What they should do is make shots from behind automatically crit (whether you're sneaking or not), so you're forced to relocate when the NPCs start heading towards you.

Yeah I'm with ya.

Though I see that working great for Snipers. Laying in wait, charging up that perfect shot and POP. Goes the weasel.

I wouldn't consider anything in that video a finished product. Still, it certainly is possible that Luck no longer effects Crit Chance or maybe perk(s) are needed to add the effect.

I doubt they have changed the sneak mechanic, but it's possible (they certainly have not mentioned it that I'm aware of).

To be honest, I've never done what you have described above....I've always snuck up and fired for the extra damage. Why risk that they detect you after the shot?

Now the idea that flanking and rear shots should have an increased change for a Critical sounds like a good idea, but I don't think ANY hits should be a guaranteed Critical (that's what I thought was so OP about sneaking in previous Beth games).

...that doesn't really work, does it? I've certainly never tried to do that (why would you, really?).... if I want to do a sneak attack, I go into Sneak mode first. Then attack. While sneaking.

(And if it does work like that, then no, it's not "logic".... it's players exploiting a hole in the programming. Because the system certainly wasn't intended to work that way, even if it does.)

Yes it does work, in Skyrim at least. I agree that it's unintended behavior, but there is no shortage of intended weirdness. For example, if I'm far enough from an NPC that he can't detect me even if I'm not sneaking, why do my standing shots not do 3x damage? Why does crouching magically triple my damage in that exact situation?

Because "Sneak mode" doesn't just mean they aren't aware of you, it represents the whole stealth/thief/assassin concept. Yes, it's a bit flawed, given that we're aiming & shooting under player control in real time (taking the chance to aim at the head For Extra Damage, for instance). But I still think that's the basic concept - entering Sneak mode isn't just crouching, it's toggling a game mechanic or.... hmm, "idea"... that you're actively trying to do "sneaky" things. Like assassinate people. Or pickpocket (unlike real life, where a pickpocket might just do a bump-n-grab or brush-by as he walks past you).

I am hoping they make the sneaking a little more difficult in regards to player A.I. It would be nice to see them actually acknowledge dead bodies or have specific animations for searching rather than just taking out their weapon and walking in a circle for 60 seconds.

Well considering everything in that video lines up with info that's being released, I'd say it likely is the finished product. It is the core system, after all. If I remember correctly, it stated luck determines how quickly your critical meter builds up.

Text in descriptions is often the last thing edited in a finished game (because they may still be working on the details of how it actually works). I'm not discounting what you are saying is not possible, but if they have totally removed Crits except for the meter in VATS, I will be HIGHLY disappointed.

That's very true. Honestly, I preferred when it was a gamble rather than a meter. I misunderstood where you were coming from and thought you were implying the core mechanics of the game weren't set in stone, rather than the text. You have a good point. Maybe the shot in VATS will be a guaranteed hit or something?

I like the idea of having a critical meter that you can activate, but I do not want this to take away random criticals from the game. Maybe if they make random criticals more of a rarity than before, then this will balance it out?

And I don't think it will be a guaranteed hit even with the charged critical. The character could move behind a wall or something during that time.

I agree, I think it will designate guaranteed Crit damage if the hit occurs (and it's possible that activating the meter MAY influence the hit percentage, but hopefully not a 100% guaranteed hit).

Sneak crits make no sense and should be cut entirely. Why would your weapon automatically do more damage just because the enemy can't see you?

Luck based crits, on the other hand, makes more sense as it indicates a lucky shot to a vital organ doing massive internal damage. You could argue the same effect could be obtained by skillfully hitting the same organs repeatedly, but that would take the fun out of crits.

And then it stops making sense again when you can actually CHOOSE to land a critical hit...whu? How..?

Not having sneak attacks or criticals from them in fallout 4 would be the equivalent of not having V.A.T.S. in fallout 4. OF COURSE they will have it.

[edit: although i do remember seeing "execute critical (X)" in the combat gameplay video so they could have just added more control over when to execute criticals instead of oh he has 5% health lets critical hit him lol so if theres a bonus to stealth and a critical hit "button" then wow to the sneak attacks if you do it right ]

That's the VATS critical thing.... using VATS charges up a meter. When it's full, you can execute a crit in VATS. No details as to whether that overrides the hit%, or anything else.

As for out-of-VATS crits, or sneak attacks... no confirmation of anything yet. But I can't imagine them not having those things.

(Thinking about it, this is one of those awkward intersections between "stats-based" RPGs and action games. In stats RPGs, you get sneak attacks by entering some sort of stealth mode, avoiding detection, and then attacking - frequently from behind. Because it's not direct player control, all these things - like aiming for a weak spot - are covered by game mechanics. In action games, you get special attacks by.... actively aiming your shot at a weak spot. Like the head. Beth games, being in between those two styles, have a bit of both. Manually targeting lets you shoot vulnerable spots, but you also have the "RPG game mechanic" of bonus damage for Sneak Attacks.)