I see in a thread near the bottom of the page we have several fallout 3 posters but as i have yet to play the game i dont know what they are talking about so i will not hijack them.
So to my question, i have just got Fallout3 and i do not know what the expansions do. So without spoilers, can some point me in the right direction. How are the expansions designed?, what i mean is, are they intergrated into the game so if got them before completed the game i would get lost, or are they separate games using the same engine?.
Because if it is just a case of a locked door is now open half way thru the game i would prefer to hit it all at once, or are you a different person in the same game world…or what?
All expansions are side quests that use your character from Vault 101. All but Broken Steel can be accessed at any time; that one is direct extension of the original storyline.
The only issue is some of the radio broadcasts in Broken Steel don’t make sense for a character that hasn’t finished the original main quest of the game. Operation: Achorage, The Pitt, and Point Lookout are all fairly seamlessly integrated into the game, while Broken Steel takes place after completion of the main quest. I can’t speak to Mothership Zeta as I haven’t gotten it yet.
This being a Bethesda game, there’s no set order to do things in (some things have to happen in certain orders, of course, but you can skip large portions of the main quest, and do as much or as little outside of the main quest as you like). Any character you have can do any of the expansions (except Broken Steel) right out of the Vault if they want to, though some are more difficult at low levels than others. All of them (again, except for Broken Steel) take place off the main game map, and don’t allow you to bring any followers with you, but you don’t really need the extra fire power, though the carry space would be nice.
Having played the game 3 times I find that the expansions make it possible to reach your maximum level far too quickly.
There is a way to remove your level cap, but it resets your status to ‘vault dweller’ so I don’t want to use it. At the mo my character is almost a saint.
I guess I’ll just carry on playing once I’ve reached my max. The ‘joy’ of gaining xp has sort of worn off anyway. All that’s left for me now is seeing what the rest of the expansion packs have in store. I haven’t finished the broken steel pack or the one with the inbred hillbillies (I forget the name)
Solved by the Broken Steel addon, which increases the level cap, while making the additional levels prohibitively expensive XP-wise, so the 10 more levels don’t make your character any more insanely powerful than he already is.
That said, by the time you’re level 15, your char is pretty much the deadliest mother ever to walk the Wastes if you’ve been investing heavily in a combat style (as opposed to spreading your points all around)
I know about the 30 level cap. I’m at level 28 now. And I got there too quickly for my tastes. It would be better if you didn’t reach your level cap until after you’ve done almost everything, that way you have an incentive to keep playing even after you’ve done the missions.
Edit: A 25+ player may be insanely powerful in the context of FO3, but some of the expansion packs have insanely difficult bits, that balance things out.
I haven’t finished the original game but I was already at 20th level so I kinda stopped playing. I bought Broken Steel DLC but it didn’t work so I’m eagerly awaiting the Broken Steel disc being released next tuesday.
But after level 30 I’m going to want to continue, does anyone know a mod that doesn’t change any aspect of the game but release the level restriction? (And more importantly for a noob like me) do you have a link?
Well going on whats been suggested, i think ill play it thru once and then add the expansions i have by then for the replay to give me something new. thanks for the advice.
If you’re unhappy about hitting 30 too soon and aren’t a console peasant, there are several mods that allow you to slow down XP gains. I’m sure at least one of them is tailored to having you only hit 30 after doing virtually everything.
Quick Q: Once you add Broken Steel, does the game ever actually end? When you finish BS, is the game over, or do you just end up back in the wasteland?
I’ve finished the main game, and the pitt, and anchorage, and just started BS. But I really want to do Point Lookout and Mothership also. Do any of them actually end the game?
[spoiler]I made the mistake of thinking I needed to send Fawkes into the purifier control room so that I could survive. That lost me some reputation and The paladin I was with (the blonde. I forget her name) thought of me as a coward afterwards.
It turns out you can still go in there yourself (doing the right thing) you survive to play BS.[/spoiler]
Thanks for the tip, I was wondering about that (having played through once before, and knowing what the options are). Let us know how Zeta is…but keep hiding those spoilers!
Zeta is pretty good. I’ve not played for too long because it’s late, but so far it’s interesting and engaging. The aliens are difficult to defeat (which is good) and some of their weapons are impressive.
I’m up to level 29 now Hoping I’ll still be interested in playing once I stop gaining XP at 30.
Edit: Another spoiler about the same bit as the last spoiler:
Even though you are going to carry on, you still get the end credits after doing the purifier bit. Don’t worry, the game hasn’t ended. After the credits the screen will show ‘two weeks later’ and you’ll carry on.
I love this game.
Bumping because I just got the GOTY Edition on PC. I’m about halfway through the main quest (about to travel through Lamplight Caverns) I think, and I haven’t activated any of the DLZC via the loading screen.
When I do, what happens?
Should I activate all of them at once right now? All but BS? One at a time (and if so, in what order?)?
All DLC except Broken Steel add radio beacons that can be traced via signal strength to where the content starts. They can be activated at any time and you can avoid them until you feel like finding the source of each signal.
Might want to hold off from activating Broken Steel because, as noted above, you’ll get spoilers via Three Dog talking about things you haven’t done yet. Unless that’s been fixed.
Hoping I’ll still be interested in playing once I stop gaining XP at 30.