When I think of Fallout, the first thing that comes to mind is the VATS system, but does
it stand out for the right reasons?
Did it fix the gunplay like they intended?
VATS, or the Vault-Tech Assisted Targeting System, is meant to simulate the body part
targeting system from Fallouts 1, 2, and Tactics.
In those games you could spend an extra action point on your turn to aim at a specific body
part to inflict an injury that would help you the most in the fight.
Bethesda decided to keep this limb targeting idea when making Fallout 3, but ran into the
problem of how you do that in an Action RPG.
The older Fallout games were turn based, it made sense to have a menu to select a body
part because there wasn't action to pause.
So why would you implement it in an Action RPG?
At the time, mostly to patch up holes in the game.
If you gave footage of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas to someone who hasn't played them,
they'd probably tell you that they look like the same game, but if you've played them yourself
you'll know just how much better the gun play feels in New Vegas.
We can probably chalk this one up to Bethesda being new to gun combat at the time, but you
can't aim down your iron sights in Fallout 3.
You just kinda zoom your head in.
This seemingly minor detail actually really hurt the game considering it came out in 2008
when there was stiff competition in First person shooters.
It doesn't help that in Fallout 3, the bullet spread on a lot of guns, especially early
game guns, was just too much.
It's frustrating to completely miss a shot when you're clearly aiming correctly.
I mean even the creator of the game Todd Howard himself admit that the gunplay wasn't any
good and called in ID Software, the creators of Doom, to help them out with Fallout 4.
To try and patch it up, Bethesda leaned on the RPG side of the game and came up with
VATS, allowing you to rely less on first person shooting and more on your skill points.
This allows both old Fallout players to still feel like the new game is an RPG, as well
as for players completely new to First Person shooters but who love Elder Scrolls games
to not be put off by Fallout 3's outer shell as a first person shooter.
This focus on VATS as a solution to otherwise poor gun combat had a lot of unintended side
effects, both good and bad.
For the good, it got a ton of media attention because VATS looked so cool.
It paused the real time action, gave it a nice classic computer black and green aesthetic,
gave you all of the satisfying beeps and blips of Fallout games of the past, and then gave
you a cinematic view as you blow up people's heads like Gallagher in a watermelon patch.
It also took attention away from the poor real time combat controls, even if you might
have a rough transition back into gameplay at times due to viewing the cinematic camera
angles rather than focusing on exactly where you were standing when you started VATS.
The downsides though were major.
The biggest problem that VATS caused in Fallout 3 itself was that because it was so powerful,
it didn't feel good to not use it, but it also felt tiring if you kept using it.
In Fallout 3 you only took 10% of normal damage while in VATS, making you nearly invincible.
You could actually go into vats when someone throws a grenade at you just to tank the explosion.
It also increased your critical hit chance by 15 percent, making those head popping moments
even more common.
Well when you have a button that makes you nearly invincible and drastically raises the
damage you deal with next to zero effort, why wouldn't you use it?
It's like the Physical Shield spell in Fable: The Lost Chapters.
If you don't use it, you feel handicapped and tempted to use it.
If you use it, you're really bored because it takes all of the challenge out of the game.
There is nothing a game can do to make you lose interest as fast as making the core game
mechanic easy and boring.
Thankfully, Vats got refined over the years like how in New Vegas they drastically raised
the damage you take while in vats from 10% to 75%, and in Fallout 4 it doesn't pause
time and you can bank critical hits.
It does make selecting specific body parts harder, but it makes you feel like you aren't
invincible when you activate it.
You don't feel like you've been taken out of the fight and it only becomes powerful
if you invest the perk points into making it powerful.
It becomes an alternative way to play, rather than the assumed way to play, much like picking
between a warrior and a mage in a traditional fantasy RPG.
So did VATS fix the Gunplay?
It may have had a really rough start, but patched up the holes great in recent games!
It brought new people into the series at a pivotal point, it helped people who weren't
into FPS's get into a series that normally wouldn't appeal to them, and it provided a
gameplay experience that is genuinely unique to the modern Fallout series.
At the end of the day, if you ask people to say the first thing that comes to mind when
they say Fallout, it's probably either Pipboy, or VATS.
Speaking of Pip-Boys, if you'd like to watch more, check out Stali's fantastic video about
how to make your very own pip-boy here on Shoddycast!
There will be a card in the top right!
Do you personally think that the Vats system is good, and how would you improve it if you
were in charge?
Let me know in the comments below!
While you're at it, let me know how I did!
I'm Mah-Dry-Bread, a YouTuber of 7 years, but I'm new to this channel and this type
of video, so let me know what you think of how I could improve!
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