Forum:Stuck on Level 30 screen - possible?

Hi everyone!

I've decided that I want to make a "perfect" Fallout 3 run on very hard, at least with regards to S.P.E.C.I.A.L Stats (all 10), the 13 Skills (all 100) plus my personal Perk preferences.

(I've previously played Fallout 3 on my old PC until level 7 or so. But in the end playing was just unbearable on that old hardware, however now I ordered me the xbox 360 GOTY version).

As a result I've got one really big question and a few minor ones.

Somewhere I've heard that on 360 you can get completely stuck on the level 30 screen if you got your 13 skills too high. The way I understood how this works is that you are level 29 and you already have maxed all of your 13 skills with books and bobbleheads to almost 100. But now when you get to level 30 and get to pick the "Almost Perfect" Perk, you also get the usual 20 (or whatever) skill points for leveling up as usual. But if you cannot distribute those skillpoints completely over your remaining 13 skills because they are already maxed at 100, then you cannot exit the level-up screen.

1# '''Is this level 30 bug actually true? If it was true for early DLC versions, is it fixed in the new GOTY version?'''

2# Is the GOTY version the latest build out of the box or are there newer updates I should pick up on xbox live? (I'd like to know because my xbox isn't hooked up to the net... yet)

3# Regardless of whether the described level 30 bug is true or not, is there anything I should know about picking up and reading skill books? (Obviously you shouln't start reading them before you got the Comprehension perk at level 4). But after getting the Comprehension perk, do I need to "leave room" for upcoming skill bobbleheads (would actually make sense) as well as regular level-up-skillpoints - or can I just pick up and read skill-increasing books as well as skill bobbleheads as they come without much thought (apart from looking which skills I need for upcoming juicy perks obviously)?

4# I'm pretty sure you can pick up any Perk anytime after unlocking it with your level and having the respective requirements for them, right? So in theory I can be level 27 and pick a perk I've unlocked at level 2 - say Lady Killer/Black Widow?

5# I'm planning which perks to take and ended up with a rather short list of actually truly useful/impactful ones. To really get it right, I need to know how many regular level-up perks there are(that is excluding special and quest perks). I assume you get one regular perk per level, so that's 29 perks in total, right? (Cause the first one is when you hit level 2 and the last would be when you hit level 30)?

6# Does the "Swift Learner" perk seriouly add +10% xp per level? So If you get all 3 levels of this perk ASAP by hitting level 30 you'd essentially have leveled up close to a third faster than if you didn't take those 3 perks? (Amazingly upon putting it this way I seriously doubt it would be worth the 3 perks actually, especially considering those 3 perks will be completely useless once you hit level 30)

7# I'm pretty sure this is how I will build my character. Awesome or retarded? Suggestions?

S 9

P 5 (+ 1 from Ant quest later on)

E 6

C 1

I 9

A 5 (+ 1 from Intense training right upon hitting level 2)

L 5 (+ 1 from 8-ball - Only temporary Special increase that counts towards perk-requirements I'm told)

(All perks that require a score of 7 for P,E or A are actually pretty much retarded, the "Solar Powered" one is close to useless if you've already max Strength, "Infiltrator" perk is also rather useless and seriously - after level 20 every single perk Broken Steel has to offer (except for "Almost Perfect" )is total crap. Okay, maybe the "Puppies!" perk comes close to borderline-useful.)

7# One thing that really interests me is this though: Do I miss out on anything significant with low Charisma? I mean sure, higher prices, lower speech with characters... but this stuff can be pretty much remedied by just taking a +1 Charisma suit and a +1C hat with you, right? They weight close to nothing and you only put them on while you talk to people. That's +3 CH right when you need it and if you temporarily need 4 just drink some alcohol. And if you really, really need to get that [speech] option, you can always just be a dick and reload a few times if you have to. But is there something else apart from lower Speech and Barter skills I need to know? Even followers don't have any charisma requirement at all as far as I can tell...  Charisma really seems to be as useless as it gets, the only real downfall of leaving it behind being higher prices. I don't beleive it, am I missing something here, what is Bethesda doing? If it was required for followers it would actually be sensible but like this... oh well.

(Okay, there's two perks one might consider having that require Charisma, that is the "Child at heart" (requires 4) and the "Beastia.. I mean "Animal Friend" (6). The first one is somewhat sexy (could in theory be attained by investing 3x "Intense Training" into Charisma plus one perk for the perk itself, so that's 4 in total). But the beastiality one is ludicrous and it even has 2 levels. You'd think it would at least encompass all animals but it only applies to a handful. And none of the insecs in fact, only like a handfull of animals actually.)

Well, starting on very hard with the above character should be fun as hell. Obviously you get the INT + STR bobbleheads as soon as you get out of Vault 101. That way you get maximum Skills upon level-ups and also you have the highest carry weight possible at all times (later there's a sweet perk that adds another 50 lbs to a total of 300 which seems to be the absolute maximum in F3)

It may be too hard to get to Rivet (INT bobblehead) by foot but swimming is an option... and you could immediately get rid of the crazy radiation afterwards by taking the quest from whatsherface in Metagon.

Melee Weapons seem to be a good weapon pick because the 10 STR has a nice impact on your melee skill already and also ammo should be somewhat scarce on very hard - and by relying on Melee you can start saving up ammo for later. I don't know how good relying on melee is on very hard if you are completely alone, so maybe being a little naughty in the vault, pillaging every silver spoon from Megaton and hiring Jericho will prove to be quite sensible. (He shoots, you get serious with the baseball bat). Anyway I realize I'm just thinking loudly now....

Well, It's getting late (or I should rather say early) here.

Thank you very much for your answers in advance! Hope some of you can answer all 7 questions =) (Perhaps I'll also describe the awesum perk setup I'm planning if you want to know it)