I'm stuck at work so I can't find out myself but did they fix the difficulty scaler in this game? I really hope they didn't use the craptastic formula where everything became a bullet sponge on Very Hard.

It doesn't scale.
There are enemies of various difficulties scattered around regardless of your skill.

I doubt the difficulty system is any different than FO3's, aside from the additional hardcoe mode.

I'm never going to play on anything other than normal, because the whole bullet sponge thing you get on higher difficulties (in FO3) is ridiculous. I'll get some difficulty enhancing mods instead...

So you're saying they removed the level scaling completely?

Define level scaling? do you mean you tend to encounter more deathclaws at a higher level. Or that deathclaws are actually tougher based on your level.

You can find a Young Deathclaw on level 1. They're the same size as the Deathclaws in Fallout 3. I'm on level 5 and I couldn't kill it. The game is challenging if you're trying to shortcut your way to Vegas. The Radscorpions and Cazadors are very hard.

From what I'm reading, enemies do not level up with you.

What I'm asking is if they changed the values for the difficulty levels.
For example in Fallout 3:
Very Easy = 200% Player damage, 50% Enemy Damage
Normal = 100% Player damage, 100% Enemy Damage
Very Hard = 50% Player damage, 200% Enemy Damage

The FO3 formula made it so enemies were bullet sponges on Very Hard which made the game very tedious. I'm hoping they wizened up and changed it to something like:
Very Hard = 100% Player damage, 200-300% Enemy Damage.

If a young deathclaw is the same size as the ones on fallout 3 then how big are the mature ones

In Fallout 3 and Oblivion you encounter stronger enemies as you level up. You won't see an Overlord at level 2 ever, for example (Behemots are exceptions, they are always there). I don't think the enemies themselves get stronger.

As for the higher difficulty = higher enemy HP, i think i heard it is the same. I am not certain as i don't get to play the game for a week still.

Simply changing damage and received doesnt make the game any harder though unless its taken to extremes. The difficulty should have been something selected at the start of the game for the entire playthrough. That way harder difficulties could have reduced supplies, more enemies, etc.

@ beddy
I couldn't get passed the second Young Deathclaw. I had to leave the side quest. I'm not strong enough yet to even want to know.

On everything except the critical paths, i.e. the main storyline. Even then, Sawyer said the later missions are still pretty difficult.


Cazadors are very hard? Cazadors are freaking nightmares that scare the hell out of me, and I'm level 7. Leave Doc Mitchell's house, turn left, walk 2 minutes. See warning signs. Ignore warning signs. Oh, look, little flying bugs. I'll just take care of these bloat fly like creatures right n- Oh my God! And I'm dead in a scene that makes Alfred Hitchcock's Birds murder scenes look calm. Oh, and yeah, I managed to kill a Young Deathclaw at level 7 . . . with the help of 4 NPCs . . . who all died . . . and I was crippled . . . but I killed it! Then the other young deathclaw who I hadn't seen yet slaughtered me in 3 seconds flat. I'm playing on Normal Difficultly by the way for the curious.


I don't even want to know. At 7th level I can't even take on a young deathclaw without an army backing me up.

Haha, true! I think I killed one, maybe two Cazadors with an incinerator from Primm. Two or three stings and I was dead. I was never able to get passed them. I killed the first Young Deathclaw you encounter, but I used all of my bullets and plenty shots from the Recharger Rifle while circling around a rock for about 15 minutes, ha. I'm also playing on normal.

I agree with the reduced supplies, more enemies, etc as a much more thoughtful and fleshed out way to make the game more challenging. However, they obviously took the lazy way out in scaling the difficulty in FO3 by changing two values and calling it a day. I'm just suggesting they can fix it in an equally lazy manner that produces a much better outcome if they change the player damage back.

I told you guys cazadores were no joke!

This sounds almost too good to be true.... A "modern" Fallout game with challenge. Drool.

Damn you for giving bloat flies steroids to kick our collective asses...

This is probably the wrong time to say I'll probably end up playing in god mode because I hate getting killed!

I didn't notice scaling in FO3 that was anything like TES4, you can still get messed up by 'guai as a lvl 2 if you go to the wrong places. Also scaling effects loot and enemy gear, which didnt notice much in FO3. Nothing was worse than rampaging through an ayleid ruin only to recieve 10 gold at the final chest.

Happy to hear that players cant just walk out in the wastes like theres nothing to worry about this time around. Makes the game sound almost scary, which it should be.