Party-based gameplay in fallout 3

R

ryan1337

First time out of the vault
This is my first time posting in this forum, so 'lo to everyone.

I have a question about how parties will work in Fallout 3... Will they be squad based like in SOCOM (for example) where you issue orders from a dropdown box? Will they have you directly control them by selecting them (which I doubt since it is in FP)? Will they just run around randomly with AI controlling their actions? Personally, I think the AI would be a cool aspect. But NOT mindless creatures running around trying the shoot the hell out of every hostile they see, but rather based on their personalities. For example, a shadowy "I look out for myself and only myself character" wouldn't rush into a battle, but instead run around and flank the enemy to catch them off guard. If they could implement AI systems like that, I think parties would be really cool and it would seem like you're traveling with living people as opposed to mindless drones who can barely pass as companions.

Just some food for thought.
 
Parties don't fit Fallout, mainly because it's supposedly about the lone ranger.

The only way parties would work would be if the characters had their own personalities and made their own decisions, rather than blindly following and being controlled by the player's actions.
 
I liked it how they improved the passive NPC control in Fallout 2. Sure there might be done heaps more to improve it, but a party system in such a fashion is perfect for Fallout.
 
Vox said:
I liked it how they improved the passive NPC control in Fallout 2. Sure there might be done heaps more to improve it, but a party system in such a fashion is perfect for Fallout.
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True, it resulted in better gameplay, but at the same time, the feeling of being the lone wanderer in the vast wasteland lost some of its strength.
I'd rather not have to take care of a couple of mongrels that want to follow me around. I'd rather they made all their own decisions, even looting the corpse of a foe that I just shot and refusing to give me that sawed-off shotgun. That would result in brilliant gameplay, I think. Everyone for himself. Just imagine having to make a decision: do I need this guy to watch my back whilst I travel, or do I whack him because that shotgun really sorta belongs to me and he's unwilling to give it to me? I don't want to be able to simply steal anything from his inventory because he's my buddy or whatever. I want followers that can be disloyal, followers who might just start a fight with me over a couple of shells, people who might run away from a fight and never come back. I'm sure that decent programmers could make a thing like that work.
I'd like to see more possible NPCs, but they should be less controlable and unpredictable in their behaviour.
Arcanum had some nice additions to NPC behaviour (although in the unpatched version they seem awfully buggy): NPCs refusing to follow you around any longer because you did something they didn't like, NPCs taking off because they don't need your company anymore, NPCs turning against you. It just adds so much, I think.
 
Since the lone wanderer concept seems so popular, how about having no companions at all?
After all, Fallout was first designed not to include any cNPCs at all. And they didn't really add anything, except tripling your power at low levels and being pointless at high levels.
 
They added style. Tycho as an example. Or Dogmeat. Who was simply there. And you couldn't do a shit about that. (you could prevent to get him as a 'party member' but I hope you get the point)

The thing that bothered me, were comagnions who had nothing better to do than getting ripped to shreds by my Bozar. They could at least programm NPCs who see what weapon you're wielding and consequently reacting in an adequate manner.
 
A dog character is interesting. As for humans, I think one would be enough, but they should make him much more active during dialog. Something like PST, but with more lines to say. He should also change depending on the PCs actions, in various ways - disposition towards player, ethical beliefs, etc.
 
I like that.

The fellow should develope himself over the game. If the PC is acting responsible and like a real wasteland warrior, the fellow trusts you and respects you and becomes your friend.
If you are a coward, a dickhead and a not trustworthy scumbag, your mate should react on that and treat you like shit and push you around, or even refuse to fight and stuff.
Of course there should be different kinds of party members to pick from, but the limit should be exactly 1 extra party member. Maybe a pet (snake, rat, dog, lizard, mutated...something) might be ok as well.

On the other hand, that requires a shitload of text and Beth'boyz are t3h ghey in writing good dialouges.
 
Of course, most ideas on this site are for a hypothetical, made-by-a-decent-company Fallout 3. With Bethesda, the less ideas they use from the "Worst Fallout 3 ideas" thread, the better.
 
im diggin on the idea of argumentative, belligerant party members, though i think you should be able to have more than one. however, make some of them mercenary types, wanting $ and equipment for thier services, if you cant cough up the loot, they try to kill you or steal your stuff while you are sleeping. with a system like that, it would be MUCH CHEAPER to remain a Lone Ranger type.

if you get married, you could have perfect control over inventory of you and your spouce, but not so with others.

and what about becoming somebody elses party member? you could follow around some other guy for experiance and loot, and YOU could be the fellow to backstab him and take his stuff.

personally, i like the idea of having LOTS of people who CAN become party members, but giving them such DIVERSE requirements to join you that you can NEVER have more than two or three who will join your character in one full game, and some not at the same time (like how Cassidey didnt get along with Lenny for example).

however, if Party members are to be allowed, and on the Oblivion Engine no less, they need to fix the melee combat mode. as somebody who has played "Asshole Oblivion", it is a pain in the ass to fight with melee party members, right when you are about to strike an enemy with your Uber powerful sword, your party member gets in your way, and gets killed by your swing. make them smart enough to AT LEAST stay a certain amount of feet from you at all times if you are a melee character.
 
I like FO2's way of determining numbers of party members. I like the idea of the party members reacting differently and treating you differently depending on your actions, but I'd rather see different characters react differently to different situations than all have an "Evil=Bad not Evil=Good"
 
I think the idea put forth by Ryan1337 is good but I also think they should include an option to remove someone from the squad. There were times I wanted to kick Vic out of the squad but couldn't so I wound up just leaving him in Vault City.
 
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