Jump to content

[WIP] "A Fork in the Road" / Companion Mod


TheSHO1BANG

Recommended Posts

You can download the mod here

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Check out the teaser trailer for the mod

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYQ8GW71us&feature=youtu.be

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hello there, and thanks to everyone who decided read this. You may have caught me lurking in the forums and posting the odd query every now and then all the way back to November 2013. Well, I’ve been working on a companion mod since October 2013, though I actually started writing it in September.

  • REPLAY VALUE. The mod is primarily a companion mod, but the ‘recruitment’ of the companion alone has quite a few quests itself, and huge replay value. And this is a major focus of the mod. This is a nonlinear and branching storyline. Tall tale, I know, and claiming something is always the easy part. But I can say with certainty that you can play through this mod up to 5, or even 6 times, and always discover something new (and important not just a small tidbit). All major quests and objectives can usually be completed in more than one way, and how you do something affects the way the story develops later on. There are choices that have important consequences, and things you can miss or discover will change a quest, an outcome, or a way to achieve something. I’ve already stressed this more than enough, but that’s probably the most important trait of this mod, its big replay value, and I can promise this without any doubt.

 

  • THE COMPANION. Then, of course, there’s the companion. I won’t reveal anything about the character yet, but I’m working hard on offering interesting conversations with him, an intriguing backstory and also having him commenting on various locations and characters throughout the game. But there’s also another thing I’m putting a lot of emphasis and effort on, and that’s the companion influence. If you’ve played KotOR II: TSL, Alpha Protocol, NWN2 or Dragon Age: Origins, this functions similarly to those. Dialogue choices while conversing with him can raise or reduce your reputation with the character, as can choices you make in quests throughout the game. If you want to gain his approval you’ll have to figure out his character and what kind of responses or actions he respects. There are different levels of reputation you can have with your companion, ranging from the initial neutral, to trust, or all the way down to contempt. Every time you gain or lose a reputation point you will also be notified of the current status of your reputation. A high reputation opens up new topics to discuss with him, and he also greets you differently according to his approval. A low reputation will also have consequences. Of course the companion also has a personal quest, which can be triggered in different ways.

 

  • SKILL CHECKS. This mod focuses a lot on dialogue and skill checks. I have done my best to implement as many skills as possible into solving quests and interacting in dialogue to offer a variety of different ways to complete any objective.

 

  • VOICE ACTING. This mod has over ten voice actors at this moment (being 50% done) and the total at the end will undoubtedly surpass 15 voice actors. There are over 500 fully voiced lines which will definitely surpass 1000. Dialogue is also branching and usually you always have at least two responses, usually three, sometimes four or five choices.

 

  • PROGRESS. What is completed at this point? The first act of the mod, including a good amount of companion dialogue with hasn’t been voiced yet. The first half includes everything up to the recruitment of the companion, it lasts about 30 minutes to play through once, give or take, but you can play through it at least three times for every major outcome, and definitely up to five to not miss any of the story variations. When will the full mod be released? Optimistically around November-December. Realistically around January-February. Pessimistically around March. But, I’ll do my best to get it out sometime around December-January.

 

  • STORY. What I will reveal about the story and setting of this mod right now is that it starts at a Legion Slave Market at Cottonwood Cove Overlook (have replaced those houses there with a new location, including an interior of a building, a slave prison) and it can be integrated smoothly into a normal play through of the game, as you can start the mod during your first visit to Cottonwood Cove, while heading to Caesar for the first time, after your first visit to New Vegas.

 

  • LENGTH. I can only estimate about the total runtime of one play through of the whole mod, but I expect one playthrough to reach, and even surpass two hours if you include the recruitment, dialogue, process of gaining influence with your companion and the personal quest. But the whole content will definitely add up to 4 hours, which will require multiple playthroughs. You simply cannot discover all locations of the mod in one play through, nor all the characters or stories and different resolutions.

 

If you managed to read through everything (wow) I really appreciate it! Even if you just skimmed it, thanks a lot for checking this out! Please give your opinions, comments, feedback, suggestions, and anything you’d like mention, that’s the whole point of this thread! I look forward to hearing from you!

Edited by TheSHO1BANG
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 44
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Just thought I'd post a couple of pics. This is just to show how you'll be informed every time there's a change, negative or positive, in your reputation with a character. This can also happen outside of dialogue.

 

 

 

And here's a part of the Legion slave market area.

 

 

Edited by TheSHO1BANG
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Right, as promised (a bit later than promised, sorry about that) here's something of a preview clip. It's an example of how the companion will often interact with his surroundings. That could be as simple as a remark, or he might interfere in a quest and sometimes maybe offer a new way to solve it or just achieve an objective.

It also gives you a taste of how skill checks and checks of your reputation with the companion will be implemented every now and then, outside of the new quests this mod adds. This shows how the companion acts in interaction with vanilla content, and there are plenty of those interactions, and they vary in type. This is one occasion.

 

 

Hope you like it, and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Edited by TheSHO1BANG
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right, as promised (a bit later than promised, sorry about that) here's something of a preview clip. It's an example of how the companion will often interact with his surroundings. That couls be as simple as a remark, or he could interfere in a quest and sometimes maybe offer a new way to solve it or just achieve an objective.

It also gives you a taste of how skill checks and checks of your reputation with the companion will be implemented every now and then, outside of the new quests this mod adds. This shows how the companion acts in interaction with vanilla content, and there are plenty of those interactions, and they vary in type. This is one occasion.

 

 

 

 

Hope you like it, and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Mother of.... wait brb.......

http://www.vagandoenlanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mother-god-meme-150x150.jpg

 

 

 

1, Is his appearance (big beard, I am not a fan) and name ("traveler") final, or is that just to keep away spoilers?

 

2, You mention Cottonwood Cove, is this guy NCR playthrough friendly?

 

3, When are you going to release a beta?

Edited by blaze1514
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Appearance I might still tweak, not final yet. 'Traveler' is temporary, he'll actually have a real name in the mod.

 

2. Yes, he's NCR friendly, he's just at Conttonwood Cove for his own reasons, he's not a part of the Legion.

 

3. As for the Beta... I really don't know, this mod has gotten much bigger than I originally planned. The first act, recruitment of the companion, is complete and quite substantial in itself. I'm mainly working on companion conversations and interruptions such as this one right now. After that I'll get the personal quest. It will still take a few months to be done, still too vague to give even a rough estimate unfortunately.

 

Glad you enjoyed the video!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Appearance I might still tweak, not final yet. 'Traveler' is temporary, he'll actually have a real name in the mod.

 

2. Yes, he's NCR friendly, he's just at Conttonwood Cove for his own reasons, he's not a part of the Legion.

 

3. As for the Beta... I really don't know, this mod has gotten much bigger than I originally planned. The first act, recruitment of the companion, is complete and quite substantial in itself. I'm mainly working on companion conversations and interruptions such as this one right now. After that I'll get the personal quest. It will still take a few months to be done, still too vague to give even a rough estimate unfortunately.

 

Glad you enjoyed the video!

Well when you are ready for a beta (a real beta that actually is for bug and glitch finding, not a "beta" that is just an early release) find me. I love helping with last little bit of development.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if he is a companion that interacts with many places in the game world, shouldn't you have him somewhere early (like prim or something), that way you wouldn't have completed half of the sidequest by the time you get to him? Just thinking out loud, not really complaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...