FO3 - Perks - Uses of

Remove all ads!

I kind of like the perk system - it gives you a little extra something to look forward to when you level up.

I got most of the really useful ones early on and now I'm choosing some of the ones that might change the gameplay a little but I might not necessarily need. For example I just got the Child At Heart perk and checked out the kids in Megaton, Rivet City, the Little Lamplite Caverns and the perk honestly doesn't seem all that useful. I haven't talked to all the kids in the game however so maybe there is something that will happen that will make it worthwhile.

I kind of like the Mysterious Stranger perk when I'm low on life and he appears to blow away the competition .

I was toying with the idea of getting the perk that shows all the map locations, when I reach level 20, but I think that it might take away some of the fun of exploring.

What do you guys think about the perks?

 

Some are useful-e.g Gunslinger
Some are necessary for a successful (or at least an easy) game-e.g comprehension
Some are fun/amusing/assist slightly-e.g Mysterious Stranger
Some are USELESS-In this case Here and Now is the perfect example.

 

The Swift Learner is probably the worst. Here and Now would be useful if you're bored and reached level 19 and wanted the uber level 20 perks.

Black Widow is great because there are many male foes in the game. Ladykiller isn't as good although you still get some dialogue options that make you feel special.

Bloody Mess is fun at first but gets so repetitive.

Frankly, the way stats work in Fallout 3 it's not that hard to have a decent character so you can afford to take the perks you want or like or simply the ones that strike your fancy.

I had maxed Luck, Finesse and Better Criticals with my last character and it was quite effective.

I do agree that getting a perk at every level is quite nice and I don't mind having a level cap at level 20 for that very reason.

 

Here and now I think is useless simply because you are giving up on a perk for that level. It's not like you need it, as it's so easy to gain experience in that game it's ridiculous. And with a level cap of 20 you can reach it in a matter of days.

 

My new character has the Scoundrel perk which would seem to be a suboptimal choice because it doesn't make him any better in a fight but I've found out that this perk opens special lines in dialogues allowing to use some really smooth options.

Unfortunately since I've already taken the Ladykiller perk the result was that I was able to get the same information twice from two different characters...

 

The lady killer and black widow perks are a nice fail-safe dialogue suppliment if you aren't interested in Charisma and the speech skill. Other than that, the damage isn't terribly noticable.

The gunslinger and commando perks are nice if you're willing to focus on either pistol-types or rifle-types (or spend two perks to get both). The sniper perk is wonderful if you're using guns of any kind (kinda useless for melee, though).

The skill-boosting perks like daddy's boy/girl, little leager, thief, etc. are actually pretty useful given the otherwise lack of great perks. Likewise for the Intense Training perk, though I wouldn't bother too much with that for anything other than INT. Stat's just don't seem to be that important in this game.

If you're using sneak at all (and you should be) the silent running perk is nice. If you're using melee (or just take too much damage), the damage resistance perks are nice. Cyborg is great if you're using energy weapons and good for everyone. Don't bother with rad resistance perks in this. You'll get enough rad-x and radaway to cure the entire planet in this game.

All in all, this isn't nearly as good as Fallout 2. The perks, while a nice addition, loose much their game-changing status (especially since you get one every level). The skills got reduced into a more concise list, but in the process they lost many of the unique and interesting skills, like outdoorsman. More than ever, a few skills become necessary and others distinctly secondary. Even the stats don't seem to play that big a role anymore, which is rather depressing, really. Still, I'm really enjoying the game.

Sorry, that last paragraph kinda fell into a general review.

 

Getting a perk at every level up is definitely not an issue since you're limited by the level cap.

I miss the Traits that you could pick up in Fallout 1 and 2 but I don't think Perks are less good in Fallout 3.

Still, Skills seem to matter more than Abilities now (hence the lack of interest of Intense Training which I tested btw). Having a character with maxed out Abilities doesn't really make that huge a difference, you still get dialogue options when you have at least 7 (if I assume correctly) and you only need 6 points to get most Perks anyway. Plus the difference between 7, 8 or even 9 points is not that huge. Skills are more useful in the end and maxing out IN is just a way to get more points to put in your skills. But let's face it, 1 IN point less means only losing 19 skill points when you've reached the level cap. IMHO that's not such a big deal.

I do find silly that there is no ST requirement for weapons, a character with only 1 point in that ability can still use a minigun...

I actually like what they did with the number of skills. The Steal skill was appalling in Fallout 1 and 2, Sneak in 3 is a much more satisfying option. First Aid and Doctor always were a bit redundant, having just Medicine is a much better option.

I don't miss Outdoorsman, I don't see how it could have been implemented given the game engine. Perhaps it could have determined the quantity of food you could scavenge off the remains of animals or the number of rads you'd take when drinking water in the wastes. It seems to me that it would have been a waste of a skill.

Skills can be classified into four broad categories:

-Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Melee Weapons, Small Guns and Unarmed. These skills are just meant to increase the damage of the correspounding attacks. They don't affect the accuracy at all...

-Lockpick and Science which are mostly used to get into places and disable locks. Lockpick and Science have to be quite high since the difficulty for locks and computer varies (25/50/75/100). High values can help a lot but shouldn't be the priority at the start. Sneak which is used to steal and be stealthy and the score greatly affects this ability.

-Medicine only seems to affect the effectiveness of drugs like Stimpacks and Rad Away and is thus less effective whereas Repair is definitely one of the most useful skill in game, increasing the value and effectiveness of all your gear (weapons, armours and crafted items) plus you save a lot of caps by being able to repair your stuff yourself.

-Barter and Speech. Barter may seem like a dumb choice at first but it adds up to save a lot of caps. Still it feels bad to invest too many points in that. I'm currently experimenting with it, the difference is not breathtaking but I expect things to get better once I get the Master Trader perk. Speech gives extra XP with successes and greater rewards (some perks can be used to bypass that but you miss out on this).

Some skills work great together. For instance Repair and any weapon skill will make this weapon type really good.

This may seem off-topic but it's not since perks are used to raise skills. So picking up the right skill boosters at first is a great way to make your concept work for your character. A Gun Nut will quickly be very effective in a fight, a Thief will be very good at sneaky stuff quite rapidly, etc.

Thus we can separate Perks into some categories:

-skill boosters like Daddy's Boy/Girl, Gun Nut, Little Leaguer, Thief, Scoundrel, Size Matters, Silent Running and Tag! Comprehension is a good choice if you want to make books more useful and intend to save them until you do get that perk. Educated is certainly a perk I would sorely miss because it is just a huge bonus for skillpoints.

-Interaction perks like Black Widow/Lady Killer or Child at Heart (haven't tried that one yet). Some other perks can be used in the same way (that is the case for Scoundrel).

-Stat boosters, namely Intense training which is useful to highlight your character's stronger points (max out AG if you want to use VATS a lot) or allow you to raise some stats to access some perks down the way (requirements are not that steep but if you overlooked that point you can correct it with that perk).

-Skills that make your character more effective against some type of foes like Entomologist and Robotics Expert (Black Widow/Lady Killer works also that way) or with certain weapons like Pyromaniac

-Skills which makes combat easier. Toughness for increased resistance, Life Giver for extra hit points (rather minor), Bloody Mess for slightly increased damage, Iron Fist for unarmed combat, Demolition Expert for explosives, Finesse is certainly among the best with Better Criticals

-Skills that boost VATS, like Gunslinger, Commando, Mysterious Stranger, Sniper, Action Boy, Concentrated Fire and Paralyzing Palm (haven't tested it yet). Less useful if you don't want to (ab)use VATS.

-funny but not essential skills like Mister Sandman (instant kill for sleeping humans and ghouls when sneaking) or Cannibal. The same goes for Nerd Rage! and Night Person which are rather fun but limited. Contract Killer and Lawbringer are fun but let's face it, you won't get loads of cash for fingers and ears (unless you keep yourself very busy) so it's only worth taking for the sheer fun factor.

-Some skills give some advantages like Fortune Finder, Scrounger, Strong Back but I don't see these as being really that good. Animal Friend may make the game easier but since it's a level 10 perk it is safe to assume that by this point you can take care of animals in combat. Master Trader seems to me like a good idea if you've invested points in Barter it will yield more than a few extra points would do (I'm looking forward to getting that perk with my current character).

-useless crap like Swift Learner and Here and Now which would only be good if there was no level cap and if XP wasn't so easy to come by. Lead Belly or Rad Resistance are not that useful either because you won't get into much trouble with radiation anyway. Impartial Meditation would be good but I can't see how you can benefit from this since maintaining neutral karma must be a real pain (not to say that it may not make sense at all from an RPGing point of view) and you will miss the benefits of having a good or a bad karma. Fast Metabolism is rather useless unless you really can't afford the caps to buy more stimpacks in which case there is something wrong about your character build. Adamantium Skeleton might be a thrill for a Wolverine wannabe but what is the point when you can use stimpacks to heal these limbs directly? Chemist allows you to use chems for a longer time but it's quite unlikely that you'll ever run out of chems during the course of the game. Chem Resistant would be better if you couldn't get cured from addictions with a simple injection. Computer Whiz and Infiltrator both seem like bad choices unless you are especially impatient and don't like the lockpick minigame.

Light Step would fall into that last category, if you pay enough attention you will notice most traps before setting them off. Still there is certainly something to be said about being able to turn off the greenish pip boy light and walk through mine fields.

I didn't consider level 20 perks because I haven't tried them out yet, I agree with Dragonfly though, the Explorer perk will surely take away some of the fun of this game.

 

I started with 8 INT and took Educated as my first perk. Plenty of skill points. Not only does it give power and ease of use, but it also opens up some nice dialogue options, of which some are rather relevant in quests and affect the outcome.

Sniper, Commando and Gunslinger help. At least without Commando and Gunslinger it makes you feel like you're shortsighted and you've lost your glasses even if you have 100 in small guns.

Much barter and Master Merchant aren't that bad (especially with Educated). You can just buy tons of ammo without regret and use the gun you want to rather than the gun you have ammo for. You can also buy things from shops to repair your things with, which pays quite well.

 

I got the scrounger and fortune finder perks as soon as I could. I did notice a significant difference in the amount of ammo and bottle caps I found afterward. The extra ammo in particular came in handy. I kind of liked the Mysterious Stranger perk when I first got it but then I found I really didn't need him and sometimes he just appeared when I really didn't want him to anyway.

 

I left Vault 101 with a 10 INT. I liked getting the extra skill points right out of the gate! I don't know if it's me or not, but I noticed a high Luck tends to pay off. I get a lot of critical hits with a 9 luck (raised by bobble head and trhough intense training). I've taken the more crits perk too, but I was getting them before too.

At level 20, I find I have plenty of ammo (over 3000 microfusion cells!), my hardest job is keeping my gear in good/new repair. I invested in all the caravans, and that seems to improve their inventory and repair skills - that helps too!

 

You can take Educated at level 4 so that would be your third perk. I agree, Intelligence is very useful for skillpoints.

Luck is a very good stat as well if you want many criticals.

I would only dump Strength since I didn't find it that necessary.

Regarding VATS perks, they are good but I skip them now. I tend to seldom use VATS and I don't really need these perks anymore.

I second that Fortune Finder and Scrounger are good choices if you need the caps or the ammo.

 

I'm playing with a 5 Strength, and other than frequent walks back to my house to drop off swag, it's not much of an issue...I have plenty of caps, so money's not really an issue either. I like Silent Running! Good perk for a stealthy character...

 

Apologies, my mistake. Yes, that was the first relevant one, it seems. I think I took stat gain for AGI and STR on levels 2-3 and forgot it.

Being encumberred is annoying.

Well, certainly don't need VATS in melee. I think it's rather useful in ranged combat, though. I didn't use it in the beginning, but it proved much better than not using it later on.

 

That's funny, I'm the exact opposite. I use VATS regularly in close up combat or melee, but I've stopped using it in ranged attacks. I've gotten pretty good with sizing up targets and using the appropriate gun...Or nuka grenade when I'm in the mood for something blue...

 

I like VATS when facing foes at close range. You need to hit them hard and some of them keep moving too fast.

Strength is useful to carry stuff but with a high enough repair skill and a follower it is not such a big problem (you just have to choose what you take and what you pilfer, going for quality instead of quantity and maybe make a few more stops at shops).