» Thu Dec 08, 2011 6:15 am ---------------------------------
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[XBOX 360 VERSION] - I have built this modded gamesave from the ground up for the Xbox 360. The best thing about the 360 version of this mod is that you DO NOT need Modio or any other programs or a modded Xbox to get it. However, if you don't use Modio, you will have to download a larger file (about 1 GB), and you will not be able to use the save on your main Xbox 360 Gamertag. It will come pre-set with a non-LIVE enabled Gamertag to play on. Modio is free and it's 100% legit, no viruses, spyware, or other garbage. I don't want to get the moderators mad at me, so I'm just gonna say Google it if you want to get it. Once again, Modio or any other programs like it are NOT REQUIRED to use the mod, only if you want to use it with any gamertag other than the generic non-LIVE Gamertag that comes with the download. The PC version of it is just the 360 save transferred over to a PC save. Since it's all contained within a save, it should work ok with just about any mods you may have installed. That being said, it is meant to run on the vanilla game.
[OVERVIEW]
First and foremost, I have no interest in maintaining the original, intended balance of the game. This is because I think that Fallout 3 was too easy, and using the difficulty slider to increase the challenge to hard or very hard affects the game in a way that I consider "artificial". Secondly, I think I have finally figured out my solution to the overabundance of Stimpaks. I'm just going to make the player's Medicine and Barter skills start off frozen at 20, and Sneak frozen at 40. Then I'm going to remove ALL Medicine, Barter, and Sneak Skill Books. The reason I am doing this is because there are way too many Stimpaks in the game, and it's REALLY way too easy to make money in this game! Sneak will be limited because there is no point in increasing the number of enemies if you can still just sneak past everybody. Sorry, everybody who actually thought it was fun to sneak through the whole game and be a little batch.
This mod is about facing legions of enemies head-on in combat.
You do not level up in the usual way in this mod either, although all your skills (except Barter, Medicine, and Sneak) do increase as you complete missions. I have figured out a way to increase the character's skills in a different way than the vanilla leveling system, which also allows me to raise the Player character's Level to 50.
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It has been agreed by nearly everyone who has played my preview build that this mod definitely improves the game in a number of key areas. However, I have also unfortunately had to make some concessions in order to get these types of mods to run on the Xbox. I would like to let you all know a few of the Pro's and Con's of this mod.
PROS:
*Over 1,000 enemies of existing types added into the Wasteland, turning previously empty settlements into battlegrounds.
*Extra-large, extra-tough, more threatening boss characters (several bosses of each enemy type) added
*New loot drops throughout the Wastes
*One Extra party member slot
*Unkillable party members
*Player movement speed increased
*Own both houses, with a host of improvements to the Megaton House like an Ammo Press & live-in 100-Repair skill Scavenger.
*And much more!
CONS:
*Followers have lowered HP and Combat Skills, as a tradeoff since they are now unkillable (essential NPC's).
*Three of the shops are permanently out of business (Flak n' Shrapnel's, A Quick Fix, and Lock & Load). Yes, I killed them because they have unique, extremely good inventories that I can't readily mod on 360. It went something like this-- Flak & Cindy Cantelli: "Unlimited Mini Nukes and Chems anyone?" Me: "Not on my watch! DIE!". Don't worry, those are the only named NPC's I killed besides the ones I REALLY, REALLY had to in order to beat the main quest. I want the game to be as un-tampered with as possible. I even let Colonel Autumn live for Pete's sake!
*There's one more important caveat, and this is the Big One: Although I have not done ANY sidequests, this save begins directly after the destruction of Adams Air Force Base at the end of the Broken Steel quests. That means the Main Quest is completely over. And you will not be able to do ANY of the DLC quests except side quests from Broken Steel. You will be locked out of even visiting The Pitt, Point Lookout, Mothership Zeta, or the Anchorage Simulation.
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[MISSIONS]
I will admit that it may seem disappointing to be starting on a save that has so many missions completed, but that was the biggest sacrifice I had to make to get these mods on the 360. I can assure you that ALL side quests (except The Replicated Man quest) remain untouched from the core game, which still gives you a large amount of content from the original game to enjoy. Taking the place of the Main Quest in this mod is the huge boss battles you can find while wandering the wastes. These are not just a single boss out in the wilderness, the bosses are usually surrounded by regular enemies of their type.
[BOSSES]
The bosses are not just bigger, they have stats to match that increased size. For example, one battle you can find at the Greener Pastures Disposal Site includes all the following enemies: 2 Behemoths, each over 3 times larger than a normal Behemoth. They both have over 5,000 HP each, and their Melee hits can take off over a quarter of your health bar in one solid hit. 4 Super Mutant Overlords with Gatling Lasers, each about the size of a normal Behemoth, with 2,000 HP each, and a rating of 500 in the Big Guns Skill. 20 regular Super Mutant Masters, 5 Brutes, 4 regular Centaurs, and a boss Centaur. All those enemies are patrolling in and around the large valley there, and there is some great loot on the bodies of the boss creatures, as well a large "treasure chest" in the tiny trailer you can go inside of in the middle of the valley. There are about 20 boss encounters like what I just described, featuring all types of enemies, like one Enclave battle with three giant Deathclaws and a Mister Gutsy that might even give Liberty Prime a run for his money! Hopefully, having the opportunity to fight battles like this might help you get over being unable to do the main quest and DLC missions.
[PLAYER STATS]
In the current build, the player has exactly 200 max HP throughout the entire game (unless you use Buffout). However, he/she has a 40% increase in run speed: (speedmult = 140), and also permanently has the maximum Armor Rating (DR) of 85, no matter what clothing/armor you equip. Now, you too can slaughter Super Mutants in your Naughty Nightwear and still be at your max potential! You will still want to find good armor for your followers if you plan to use them, though. Carry weight is increased to 700, I just hate being interrupted all the time when I'm questing because of being overencumbered. You start the game with all the perks in the game except quest perks, and about 7-10 perks that I have removed for various reasons, like Bloody Mess, Mysterious Stranger, etc. Your SPECIAL attributes start out at 9's across the board.
[SKILLS]
The way your skills upgrade is simple. All your skills except Barter and Medicine start off at 40, with a +10 bonus to two certain skills depending on what starting character you choose. You do not choose where your skill points go. I will instead reward you with 10 books at a time inside of the final "treasure chest" I have added somewhere in the location of each mission. That gives you a total of 20 Skill Points since you start off with the Comprehension perk. Which books you get will normally correspond with the mission: For example, during the quest "Those!", you will find 5 Science and 5 Energy Weapons Skill Books in a special chest near the Ant Queen's chamber. After spending some time in a laboratory, it makes sense to come away from the experience with a deeper knowledge of Science, and another of the rewards in that same chest will be a unique, very powerful energy weapon (MPLX Novasurge). During the "Blood Ties" quest, you will find 5 Melee and 5 Lockpick Skill Books, the Melee books are to complement that new Shiskebab/Vampire's Edge you can get from Vance, and of course I threw in a good number of Bobby Pins too. Furthermore, each skill is now "linked" as far as when you find them. I have set it up with these guidelines in mind:
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Small Guns + Repair = Soldier
Energy Weapons + Science = Technician
Melee + Lockpick = Assassin
Unarmed + Speech = Monk
Big Guns + Explosives = Bombardier
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[FOLLOWERS]
All followers have also been revamped so that they basically work like your AI-controlled allies in the Call of Duty single-player campaign, meaning that they will not be getting as many kills as they normally would, but they also cannot die. Dogmeat is the same as before, you start off with the Puppies perk, and he only has 5000 HP instead of 15,000 like he normally does when you're a Level 30. All the others only have about 80 hp each, except Fawkes & RL-3, they have about 250 since they cannot equip armor. However, when their meager amount of HP is drained, they become unconscious, they are now "essential" NPC's. Also, all their combat skills have been nerfed pretty dramatically. I think that the lower HP and combat skills are an appropriate trade-off since you can take your followers anywhere without fear of them dying permanently. You start off the game with Clover, Jericho, and Dogmeat in your party. If you don't use them, and they go back to Paradise Falls, Megaton, and Vault 101, respectively, you should be able to re-recruit them all without a problem. That being said, I would recommend not letting them sit in one spot for more than two weeks, because they will leave your party. The best way to avoid this is just to be sure and tell them to follow you (even if it's only for a brief moment) at least once every two weeks of game time. I could have put more party members you could start with, but on the 360 having too many party members severely impacts the framerate and causes frequent game freezes/crashes, especially considering that almost every marked map location in the entire Wasteland now features enough enemies and friendly, unnamed NPC's (like Brotherhood Paladins) to provide combat intensity equal to missions like "Take it Back" and the Broken Steel missions.
[STARTING YOUR CHARACTER]
There will be five characters to choose from at the start. They are identical other than the starting bonuses of +10 to two of their skills which depend on their class. The Good/Evil chioce does not affect anything as far as the choices I made throughout the campaign on any of the saves. I was a saintly character the whole way through as far as that goes. (No, I did NOT deploy the FEV or anything stupid like that.) The only thing the Karma choice has an effect on is what Karma level you start out with, and which of the extra Easter eggs I've put into the game you will be able to find. You will always begin the game with Jericho, Clover, and Dogmeat in your party. You are all standing right in front of Pinkerton and the option for Plastic Surgery is immediately available. This is so that you can make your character's face look however you want right from the start, as you would when starting a new playthrough. The characters you can choose from are:
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Male / Good/ Soldier - Hell Razor
Female/ Good/ Technician - Ayane Randall
Male / Evil / Bombardier - Rusty Kage
Female/ Evil / Assassin - Angela Deth
Black Male/Good/ Monk - Snake Vargas
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Bonus cool points for the first person who posts where three of those names came from...
[FRAMERATE AND PERFORMANCE]
I'm sure many of you are skeptical of this mod due to the fact that many of the mods that are currently out there, which claim to do these types of things, are inevitably broken in some way. Many of them cause the framerate to drop to unacceptable levels, frequent crashes/freezes, and other undesired operations. I give you my word that this mod does not noticeably cause any of these types of problems. It has been tested and tweaked extensively to be sure you enjoy a smooth framerate, and that crashes and/or freezes are kept to an absolute minimum. That being said, the game engine is really being pushed to its limits, especially on the Xbox version, therefore weird things can happen, of course.
[KNOCKDOWN WEAPONS REMOVED]
The mod includes bosses (i.e. Behemoths four times normal size with 5000 HP, their melee takes off over a quarter of your health bar when you have 85 DR in one hit). It hurts me to say that I have had to remove all knockdown-capable weapons in the game in the interest of the boss battles and difficulty (Goodbye, Gauss Rifle, we'll miss you). It's not too cool for me to create these gigantic boss characters then all you have to do is shoot him once and he falls over, while you let your party members tear him up while he's down, shooting him repeatedly with the Gauss or Victory Rifles so he can't get up. I don't even want people to get the satisfaction of seeing him fall till he's dead. (You can still knock him down with Mini-Nukes or even Frag Grenades but it's highly unlikely). I guess that's just one of many reasons why they never put any really strong, huge bosses like that in the vanilla game.
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There are a lot of other wide-reaching changes I've made to the game, but I won't detail them all here. The mod will be released on July 4th, 2011. Any feedback you all can provide me between now and then will be much appreciated. Hopefully it will help you make it those last 128 days until SKYRIM! {nerdgasms}
