Fallout 3 DLC Detailed

Eurogamer spoke with Bethesda's Jeff Gardiner about the upcoming downloadable content for Fallout 3. The new gameplay will be bundled into three different segments, the first of which is due this month. The last segment will raise the game's level cap to 30. Gardiner had this to say about how the Strike Teams would work: "The player will be able to choose, from a limited resource pool, what type of team members will accompany him or her on several missions within the simulations. These choices include different troop types like snipers or heavy weapons troops. They'll also be able to make tactical decisions on how to deploy these troops in certain situations. The Chinese Stealth Suit was what I was hinting at last week — it works similar to stealth boy every time you crouch!"

Comments

Paranoia

[Thanshin]

I know it's possibly paranoia but the concept of downloadable content still makes me think they're actively removing things from the original game to release them later as downloadable content.

It's like releasing the Fantastic 3 and then include the invisible girl as downloadable content.

Re:Paranoia

[im_thatoneguy]

I can't possibly see how they can be accused of releasing a game with more than 100 hours of gameplay that was "holding back" anything. :D

I am still finishing quests and still having fun months later--about 60hours into the game.

I got my money's worth. I really really doubt they would risk bad reviews and poor sales in exchange for a few extra bucks later.

Re:Paranoia

[Xugumad]

I think you have to take each game on its own merit. I think DLC is frequently content that hit the cutting room floor to make it to launch, yes, but I don't think we're exactly being short-changed on Fallout 3. There's always going to be content like that (Deus Ex 1 lacked a bunch of content, including a moon base level, apparently).

For a game like say Spore, I think there's a lot more evidence that it was chopped up to sell more expansions. As people have pointed out, there were stages with more content shown at a variety of gaming conventions.

Re:Paranoia

[j85ason]

Not to mention, people have firmly said *NO* to Bethseda DLC before.

Horse Armor != Knights of the Nine.

Re:Paranoia

[Chris Mattern]

t's like releasing the Fantastic 3 and then include the invisible girl as downloadable content.

"But how do I *know* the Invisible Girl's been installed?"

"Take our word for it. $10, please."

Re:Paranoia

[gEvil (beta)]

Suddenly, we have a level 20 cap that you reach after 10 hours of gameplay (if you were foolish enough to take the XP perks, than even sooner.)

I just completed the game last weekend. About 34 hours of gameplay according to the save file. I only made it up to level 18. I'm curious to know specifically what you did to get to level 20 so quickly. I realize you get way more XP for different choices, but 10 hours seems like a bit of a stretch.

Re:Paranoia

[discord5]

I'm curious to know specifically what you did to get to level 20 so quickly.

I got to level 20 in about 15 hours of gameplay. All I did was exploring and killing things... Lots of killing. The game hands you XP for practically anything. Discover a location? Pick a lock? Disarm a mine?

The level cap was a bit silly in my opinion, but the truth is that once you're 20 there's practically nothing in the game that can stop you anymore. With the right choice of perks and skills the game becomes either a sneak-and-snipe splatterfest, or you can start going one on one with supermutants in unarmed combat.

This game had both the most awesome and disappointing ending ever though. Having a giant robot wreak havoc through a destroyed Washington DC while firing lasers and shouting "Accept democracy or be eradicated!" has to be one of the better moments of the past 2 years in gaming. Not being able to continue playing after finishing the main quest was kind of weak though.

Re:Paranoia

[ink]

Just raise the character level using the command interface:

setgs iMaxCharacterLevel 50

Re:Paranoia

[Koivuniemi]

Fallout games have always had a 20-level cap. This is the 3rd fallout game in the series. You'd expect its game mechanics to follow the other two, even if it is in 3d and not 2d isometric.

Wrong! None of the older Fallout games had a level cap. In Fallout the last new perks came available at level 18 and in Fallout 2 & Tactics last perks were at level 24. Of course you would run out of meaningful quests at around this time, but there was nothing stopping you from gaining experience or levels in random encounters or by slaughtering the whole ingame populace.

My request...

[meringuoid]

... can we have an expansion in which characters who are entirely immune to radiation are in fact willing to walk into irradiated rooms in order to press four buttons and then leave? As opposed to, you know, just standing there and watching while someone else does the job and dies horribly?

Thanks!

Re:My request...

[Ambiguous Coward]

Fuck that, I was so doped up on rad-x and my tesla armor was blocking it...I stood around for about five minutes inside the chamber, popping rad-away once in a while. Finally I decide to punch in the numbers, and THEN I die.

I tried it again and did it fast, and amazingly, as soon as I hit that last button, boom, I die.

Seriously, I could have gone in, hit the numbers, had a nice little picnic lunch, and then wandered out at my leisure, but no, as always, the scripted death. Lame.

The funny thing is

[Moraelin]

The funny thing is that some of that has been done already by the modders. There is a suit which makes you slightly harder to see when crouched. There is one which gives you 25% chameleon _all_ the time.

Heck, transplanting the Stealth Boy enchantment to a suit of your choosing is such a trivial affair, I had made my very own long before the GECK was released. The FOMM/TESnip already had all you need for that. Turns out someone else already had made the 25% one, so mine was never released, though.

Raising the level to 30? That is one global variable. That was one of the first mods released.

So I'm not really thinking they intentionally cut anything out, because most of it is _trivial_ stuff. Well, there'll be new maps and stuff so obviously it's more than just the items, but the "Ivisible Girl" in your example just made no sense to remove from release because it doesn't save anything at all.

You haven't played until the end, eh?

[Moraelin]

So you haven't bothered playing the ending, then?

*SPOILERS INCOMING*

Because, yes, that's what makes him stand out like a sore thumb. He already showed you that he's immune to radiation, and ventured for you in that room in the bunker. But at the Project Purity end scene there is _no_ option to send _him_ into the irradiated room to press the four buttons to activate the installation. You get to choose whether you die or the paladin dies, but there is no freaking option to go, "Hey, Fawkes, you're immune to radiation, right? Can you go in there and press these four numbers for me, please?"

Now I understand the climactic choice and all, but the very presence of Fawkes there spoils it in a major way. Suddenly that choice and sacrifice makes no bloody sense. It's like deciding whether me or you rush some evil guys and take a bullet, while having Superman standing around obliviously watching the whole debate. It makes no sense.

Re:You haven't played until the end, eh?

[Canazza]

Ofcourse not, he's a super mutant, his fingers would just mash the keyboard and there's no time to send away for a dialing wand...

Re:You haven't played until the end, eh?

[meringuoid]

It is interesting to see how they are taking something like Fallout and doing something like a squad-tatics based game.

What a shocking notion...

DLC isn't just about content

[N1AK]

Fallout 3 is a very large game, I certainly don't feel like it wasn't well worth its price. I have no issue with paying a fair price for them to add more. But it isn't the value side that bothers me.

If I buy the DLC on my Xbox it is linked to my console. Not only does that make it impossible for me to sell, it also can be a real pain in the ass getting DLC stuff back if your console breaks or gets stolen. I know why the DLC model exists, I just wish us backwards types could get it on physical media.

Re:This Used To Be Such An Amazing Franchise

[QuantumG]

Name the bugs then. I've played hundreds of hours of this game and experienced no crashes. That's more than I can say for any other game I've played lately (except maybe Eve Online, that's probably the most rock solid "game" I've ever played). There's absolutely nothing wrong with using the same engine.. I think more companies should do it. The Oblivion engine is so good that I hope they make a dozen more games using it.

Did you watch the video? It really is funny, honest.

Re:The quest rewards were excessive

[SuiteSisterMary]

This is as it should be; Fallout isn't a combat RPG, so there shouldn't be huge XP gains for killing things. Your stealthy guy or social guy or techie guy or whatever should have a reasonable chance of making it through too.

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, I'm looking at you. Getting through to the last part of the game is NO problem with a stealth or a social guy. The last part, however, is a giant combat gauntlet.