Which I think is hyperbole, or at least missing the mark. "Intricate mechanics", elaborate? Any system that gives you a certain number of options? Why should that practically enforce imbalance between builds?
Because the more choice you provide, the harder it becomes to take everything into account when balancing your game.
I'd have thought that was pretty obvious.
If you want perfect balance - you pretty much have to mirror everything. That's extremely boring - at least to me.
Luckily, with practically all games, we don't have to worry about "perfect" balance. It's a matter of degrees. And in Fallout's case, it misses balance by a large degree. There are an almost infinite number of ways to build completely crappy characters.
Almost infinite number of ways to build completely crappy characters? I'm the one using hyperbole?
Ok, so if you choose bad perks - then you can have a LOT of characters with minor adjustments using those perks - so that would end up being a lot of ways to build the same crappy character.
All I can say is that I've never had trouble making strong characters in Fallout - and it doesn't take much time with the system to realise what's good and what's bad.
Again, overpowered and underpowered characters exist in a LOT of RPGs with a sufficient amount of development aspects and options. Especially older games - where casual gamers weren't a big concern. Some people get upset when they make characters that suck - and some people enjoy the challenge of figuring out the ins and outs of the system. I'm very much part of the latter group.
You can make an almost infinite number of crappy characters in any Gold Box or Infinity engine game as well - so I suppose you think they're bad?
Why don't you give me just a single example of a great RPG system with what you consider acceptable balance between character builds?
Since I don't play MMO's, I'm not commenting in depth on this. But it seems to me that with MMO's, the common modus operandi (= addiction based design) is to ensure that there is, or rather taking no steps to prevent, imbalance between builds, so players can spend their time a-spreadsheetin' to figure out DAT DPS BUILD that pwns their next PVP victim (most likely a newb). Quality times.
You should probably have chosen not to comment at all - as your bias is pretty clear. Bias combined with ignorance is not very useful when it comes to informed opinions.
But it seems we agree that balance is tied to fun, and meaningful differences between builds is as important as ensuring viability in different builds. In Fallout's case, I don't see this achieved, while you do. *shrug*
I think balance is a part of pretty much every single game in existence - and so it can't separate itself from the concept of fun. Games are meant to be fun after all.
Yes, I most definitely think Fallout has plenty of variety and viability when it comes to builds.