Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Independent Companions

...Or, "What would you want to see?"

As everyone's favorite neko so astutely guessed regarding the last post, this 'hardcore code' brings the tally of kickass companion features that won't fit into NCCS for whatever reason high enough that it's got me considering releasing one (or even a series of) stand-alone companion -- that is, companions not tied to any specific system, who can be run without master mods of any kind.

I know that because I slack off and actually, y'know, play games these days instead of just beating my head against the GECK all day every day, I've lost most of my readership here; and will likely only get three or four people responding... but I'm going to ask, anyway.

Say you have been offered a NosCo companion of your very own. I'm not talking a cookie-cutter, same-as-anyone-else-can-make-if-they-can-read NCCS companion. I'm talking about the kind of evil bitch that lives in my personal companions plugin. The kind of companion who can break the difficulty scale of the entire game if you aren't careful.

The kind of companion who has custom everything. Armor, weapon, dialogue, combat style, hair, eyes. Assuming Dimon99 was still amenable to the idea, a custom body, too -- hell, you guys might even finally get to see that black-nailed custom body texture I made up for Maeva a few years ago (again, assuming Dimon99 was okay with my reuploading a derivative a one of his body textures).

So, I ask: what would you want to see? Gender, class, combat style, personality, whatever.

A few things to bear in mind:

1) At present time the only custom armor/clothing I have available to actually upload would be my collection of recolors -- black versions of Cass' outfit and Legion Centurion armor (I did fix the brown gloves on the Centurion armor, by the way); a darker Cass that comes in gray and blue, and a midnight blue Centurion outfit. I should also still have in my archives the black Enclave officer's uniform (and ye Gods are those 2009 screenshots horrid quality...) I made for FO3; it would be a pretty simple matter to remove the 'V1' logo and port it into FNV. I think I also still have copies of my old ACU, MARPAT, and Multicam power armors. I'm willing to talk to other mod authors about potentially reusing their custom outfits if anyone knows of any that are really nice; but I don't have any personal favorites in the pipeline already.

2) Questlines really aren't my bag. I can do story quests, but it likely won't be epic.

3) Voice-acting is completely out of the question; so all dialogue will be text-only.

4) Custom weapons are restricted similarly to armor; I worked the normal map issues out with the NosCo Super Blackhawk the other day, so it's in shape to be uploaded... but aside from that I don't keep much on hand. As long as it's based on a normal game weapon, it wouldn't be too big a deal to run one up, though.

So, there it is. Still in the conceptual stages at the moment; but with hitting wall after wall with NCCS, the idea of running up non-plug 'n play companions that can actually showcase the best features I can add has piqued my interest.

Hm. Re-reading #4 reminds me, I still need to crack open Honest Hearts and make up a 1911 in 10mm...

14 comments:

  1. Just speaking in general terms, I'd suggest a companion package containing two characters: one designed for fans of the "lawful-good" types of characters while the other would be designed more for fans of the brutal and bloodthirsty types of characters. Then there would be players like myself, who would simply travel with both characters...

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  2. Mm...

    Two companions. One a total goodie-goodie; the other evil incarnate... forced to work together by wacky and improbably circumstances.

    Oh, the comedy potential...

    I actually had a CM plugin similar to that. A pair, one Aureal, one Mazken; both exiled to Tamriel and forced to work together to survive despite the fact that they hated each others' guts.

    The idea does have potential.

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  3. ...

    "wacky and improbable"

    For fuck's sake, I have got to start paying attention when I type; rather than pondering and typing simultaneously.

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  4. It doesn't help matters that the spell-checker is not entirely reliable.

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  5. Well, improbable and improbably are both valid words, so a spell-check can't be expected to catch such things.

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  6. snip...The kind of companion who can break the difficulty scale of the entire game if you aren't careful.

    You had me at evil bitch...

    1) Herculine's idea is almost spot on. I'd personally like to see a third choice with a sassy, egotistic, smart-ass, hardcore, game breaking bitch. Maybe if the player pisses her off too much he gets a lead enema. Good, Bad, and Sadistic. There's already Willow for those that like the bubbly type companion. Oh the possibilities...

    2) I personally don't enjoy having to jump through hoops for a companion, so no issue for me.

    3) The hot ass stripper that lives next door to me voiced my current personal NCCS companion, so no issue for me.

    4) I usually just give my companions the spoils of war and 1 really nice weapon, there's just not that many custom armors or weapons that really impress me. Or maybe I just haven't found the right one.

    My current, can't quiet make her as bad ass as I want because scripting seems to be beyond me, companion has been armed with the Finger of God. I'll let them cat fight for it since 50mm ammo is so damn expensive.

    Bob

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  7. Good, bad and sadistic eh? So which one will be Tsundere-chan? Or will they be competing for the title? :)

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  8. hell, you wanna make it REALLY scary, you make one yandere-chan. *evil grin*

    Probly not possible, but would be amusing to have a companion with split personalities. Cold efficient in combat, and out of combat doing weird behavior and spouting off strange comments that have no relevance to anything going on in reality. :D

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  9. So DarkSong, you are thinking of a companion that is more nucking futs than Clover? That's a scary thought... O.O

    You had me at "evil bitch" as well Nos, and only one character came to mind: Maeva. I think having a stand alone version of her to add to my stable of companions would be awesome! Hmm, maybe "add to" isn't the correct phrase. Maybe dominate or eat may be more correct *shrugs* A bit of a quest/story to convince her to join with my character would be nice, but not overly necessary. Not too worried about custom equipment either. I have plenty of that for both FO3 and NV, and I am willing to port over something if I find it appropriate, like BlackBlossom's Man Eater shotgun from her BoG Mantrap Armour from FO3. Hmm, I wonder how she'd look in a Star Fleet uniform?

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  10. I've got it! Jackie Chan.

    I kill me sometimes.

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    1. Upon reviewing last nights browsing history, I am beginning to believe there should be a breathalyzer attached to my keyboard.

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  11. Yeesh. I take a few days off to almost kill myself, and end up with a pile 'o comments.

    Alright, let me see if I can answer some points...

    I had planned for there to be consequences if the player ignores their food/drink needs for too long; I wasn't planning outright attacks, but if you're enough of a dick to them I suppose it's not out of the question.

    My main issue with "jumping through hoops" for a companion is that said hoops are nearly always in the form of a horribly written quest with one of two or three cliched to hell and back objectives (usually either retrieve item or kill someone for them). While I can think of ways to make it better, I'm not willing to go to the trouble of actually writing and scripting said ways; so I prefer to just stay out of the whole arena of quest-before-recruitment.

    Tsundere-chan may make it into this, and may not. I like to keep characters meshing rather than random, so if she didn't fit in with the other(s) in the plugin it would be a no go.

    Yandere-chan would be so, so amusing... but so very game breaking. After all, she'd have to murder every woman the player spoke to. Damned sluts, trying to tempt her courier away...

    "Cold efficient in combat, and out of combat doing weird behavior and spouting off strange comments that have no relevance to anything going on in reality."

    Huh. You just described the girls in my personal companions plugin.

    Maeva will not likely be joining the roster. She has given me her price for participation, and after some calculations I have determined that such an amount of twelve year old single malt would absorb the entirety of the NosCo operating budget for the year. Not to mention the costs and legal hassles associated with... what does this say? Damn it, Maeva, take a writing class... Ah...

    ...I am not buying you your very own elf sex slave. Stop asking.

    ...No, I will not buy a communal slave, either -- it doesn't help that you're willing to share...

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  12. "...I am not buying you your very own elf sex slave. Stop asking.

    ...No, I will not buy a communal slave, either -- it doesn't help that you're willing to share..."

    Yeah, that sounds like Maeva, lol!

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  13. Yes, well, somehow she got hold of a copy of Kuroinu Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru Vol. 1 and it gave her a few ideas.

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