Not all enemies of course, just those with Pipboys like other dwellers. Maybe for a brief time, their shots may seem very accurate and directly hit the weapon you're holding, or they can dodge your shots and swings for a brief time? Makes sense since you're not the only one with a Pipboy.

No

If any of the previous Fallout games are to go by, fully functional pipboys are quite rare, so maybe a "boss" npc in a quest at best.

pretty sure it would not be a noticeable effect, likely just hear the vats sound before getting hit by a crit if the enemy has a pipboy 3000 or something.

For lore and gameplay (ok no real lore) think NPC's "using" vats would be cool, sort of like if you give an NPC turbo in new Vegas no real effect the NPC is just better at reacting or something.

All enemies of course. The pipboy shouldn't have anything to do with it; it never did in the series prior to FO3 ~if that's not just a bad FO3 misconception on the part of the players... or the developers?

well you'd totally not know the difference, i figure

Isn't that how it already is? Npc's shots aim and roll at you. Nothing would change. Same in 1 and 2 and all the way to 4

oops never mind wrong post

What do you mean? V.A.T.S. didn't even exist in the first two games. So how could it work differently in the first two when it wasn't even a thing? Or at least l've never seen "V.A.T.S." mentioned in the first two. The first two wouldn't have even needed it anyway since they were turnbased, so you don't need a device to accelerate your character's reactions since you can take all the time you want to mull over what to do in combat and target limbs if you want. V.A.T.S. stands for "Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System", that implies to me at least that some kind of device must be involved, if not the Pipboy then what? Something implanted into your brain while in the vault?

Rather than how the main post suggests how it would work though I would have you be slowed down just like how they showed how it happened with the molerat, but with you being on the receiving end this time.

I take that you haven't played the games. The only reason Bethesda included VATS in FO3, is because Fallout 1 & 2 had an interface for selecting targeted shots; where you could ~at linear progressive risk (of missing), try to shoot the eye, groin, head, torso, either leg, or either arm. Hitting them could score additional critical damage, that in some cases knocked out the opponent, or killed them outright.

VATS mimics the aimed shot UI appearance; though not its functionality. The name VATS itself, is a trite backcronym they created because of the "Vats" place name ~a location on the world map in Fallout. It was the Vats of FEV virus.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Mariposa_Military_Base#Vats_.28Fallout.29

That's the dumbest of the dumb things they added to the series.

There's no science behind VATS, outside of..."it just works."

Bethesda put it in the game less as a nod to the old turn-based combat & aimed-shots from 1/2 and more for a "fun, cinematic combat experience."

It also appeals to folks with less-than-stellar twitch skills.

If you ever chose the Small Frame perk in NV. It did seem like the enemies had VATS.

Crippled

Stimpak

Crippled

Stimpak

Crippled

Stimpak

Small Frame + Very Hard =

I liked the agility boost from small frame. I didn't notice that I was crippled more often.... but, I usually tried to avoid getting up close and personal with enemies..... I much preferred being at a significant distance, on higher ground, and sniping at them.

Not strictly speaking true, I've played the first one for about a few hours and I own it, the second, and tactics, I bought them all on GOG a few months before they went and released them for free, if I'd known they were going to do that I would have waited and saved my money, though I haven't tried the second two yet. I even made a thread with my first http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1465457-playing-fallout-1-first-time-first-impressions/ a couple of years ago, you even replied in it. And I did mention targeting limbs so I already knew you could do that.

Back on topic, I still like the idea of when enemies use V.A.T.S. time slows down for you leaving you more vulnerable. It reminds me of the way Redeads could do that to you in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask giving them a chance to jump on you.

That could be interesting ... as interesting as having five perfectly placed slugs smacking you right between the eyes in half a second.

The VATS has always been the 'edge' the PC has in combat. If you gave it to enemies you might as well remove it altogether.

It's kind of like the PC's ability to carry 30 Stimpak's to use during a time-stop. I've seen enemies who might use one Stimpak if they happen to be carrying one, but imagine if they carried around 20+ like the PC. Every battle would completely depend on who ran out of Stimpak's first. Same with VATS, the winner would always be whoever locked in their head-shots first.

Yes, I used it almost exclusively in Fallout 3. Less so in NV because they'd changed it so that gun skill affected the power of the shots rather than the accuracy.

ugh...i think you're taking a gameplay mechanic and trying to put into the actual setting. I'm pretty sure that the v.a.t.s. is a gameplay feature not an actual time freezing device. Now what would have been cool is if you went into vats and it made combat into a turnbased conflict, not sure if that would actually work without it looking or playing like crap though.

If you've only played it for two hours, then you haven't really played it at all. (It certainly deserves an extended play session; preferably through to the ending.)
Fallout is by far the best Fallout game in existence ~and best at offering what Fallout games are supposed to offer.

It really doesn't need to; the PC should have zero influence over the events of the opponent aiming at them; aside from trying to take cover. The slowing of time was not an actual happening, just as it's not happening in the many war movies that depict concussive blasts ~slowing time for the character that was shaken by the blast.

I think you'd notice the difference with melee VATS users. Once they get close they'd be teleporting all over the place.

What I hope they have done in FO4, is to implement a method to https://www.dropbox.com/s/zycqh8q1xnbj33i/Target_Node_Concept_zps7dfcc060.mp4?dl=0 based on the target's location; such that a punch to the face hits the face, and a punch to the chest hits the chest.
Then... No more teleporting during melee. The targets could be node locations in the models.

Locational damage, something Skyrim lacked. Hopefully it's more thought out in F4 opposed to 3. Breaking legs should do more than make them limp, etc.

Hmm. I think off that: melee VATS should be more like MK's X-rays, where you trigger it and a preset seqeuence of specifically connected hits happen to injure an opponent in slow motion lilke suggested. (Aim for the head; you get in there and snap his neck); rather than the current (horrible) animations they have for it now. (I wouldn't hook someone in the forarms all day; I would grab their arm and twist it broken.)

We'd certainly be getting a taste of our own medicine. Doesn't seem fair that we have the gift of stopping/slowing time down to pin-point our shots on the Raiders.

Deathclaw using V.A.T.S.......