I am going to play Fallout 1 and 2 because of all the good things i've heard about them on SP, but i've come to realize that I don't know much about them. Could anybody give me some hints on the story line and gameplay?

[ August 25, 2002, 08:54: Message edited by: Abyssal Knight ]

Knight of Darkness (GEE! WHAT A NAME! I will use it ... /me says thanks to me :D ):

First of all, like most past RPG's, don't expect the graphics the Infinity Engine Games have.

Second of all it's set in a postapocalyptic 50's and Mad Max's mixture world. /ME LIKES IT!

Third; about the gameplay, it's turn based point and click (a la Heroes of Might and Magic -well, sort of-); which sets up interesting tactical options

(like spraying a bunch of bad fellas with a minigun -JESUS, NOTHING CAN BEAT THAT! :D -).

Fourth, and continuing with gameplay issues; expect almost no help from any NPC's that may join you except as packmules and not so durable punching bags. This means this game is rather hard; specially since you have to babysit your NPC's and having them means NO SPRAY :( and no big guns.

Fifth; about the equipment, ALWAYS pick the best armour available. Unlike in the AD&D universe, you WILL get hit for tons, and the armour does this:

1. Makes you harder to hit (a la AD&D).

2. Has a "threshold"

(meaning the enemy must do a minimum amount of damage to you before you feel it)

and has an "absorption" percentage

(the amount the damage that passed through the threshold that the armor can still prevent to hit you)

unlike AD&D.

Sixth; about the weapons, pick good placed shots in the legs to cripple, then in the head or the eyes to finish or just "spray 'em"

(YEAH BABY!... WANT SOME O' THIS! :cool: ).

Seventh; since you have an experience limit

(TAL... PLEASE... HELP US DEAR SIR... PLEASE HELP US!)

of 21 levels in Fallout 1, DO NOT waste you with the knack that gives you a perk in 4 and not in 3 levels. In Fallout 2, serve yourself.

Eighth; about skills,

(/Knight says: "PLEASE!... I think he will never shut up! :eek: )

(/TAL says... HE WILL GET BANNED! :mad: )

Medic and First Aid combined with the Healer perk may not seem much

(After all you stepped through the Vault door guns ablazing...Didn't you?... And you don't wanna be a doctor... Do you?)

but in the end they will save stimpacks for the final battles and believe me.. you're gonna need them. And use every book you find, you won't be sorry. AND specialize in only two weapon types, you need no more.

AND...AND...A...NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

(TAL JUST KILLED ME! :confused: )

/Me goes to heaven (LOTS O' GIRLS YOU KNOW :angel: )

FO1 has a storyline. It's fairly good, as far as RPG's go.

But you find out the story by searching; it's not just handed to you as you walk through the whole game like Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate.

I really hate to tell you the plot, because it *will* spoil it for you. Unless, you're like me; and not knowing the plot spoils the game.

Anyway, the opening movie gives you a pretty good run down of what you need to know.

China invades Alaska to procure oil; you're never really told, in the game, why that oil is so precious. Anyways, the US "annexes" Canada; again you're not told why but you should be able to make some fairly obvious conclusions.

Obviously, the US and China are now at War. It stays sub-nuke for a while, then they unload. Clicking hot and the whole works. Some defense contractor had been making these huge underground vaults all over the US, but the game focuses on the ones in California. They are designed to hold 1000 people for something like 10 years. Anyway, Vault 13 has been running for around 80 years now, and you're just another generation inside of it. The "water purification controller chip" fails, and you have to go find another one for the vault.
----------------------------------------------
Fo2, on the other hand, has a plot that is worthy of a Mechwarrior 4 Award.

(10 seconds in the microwave on high)

It's been 160 years since the war, and 80 since your "ancestor" left the vault to find the chip. You're living in either oregon or washington. You're sent out to find "the geck" or however the heck it's spelled; it an acronym for Garden of Eden Creation Kit. There's like, one or two almost good parts, but after that it bites.

BUT (and it is a rather large butt at that)

The interface is much tweaked in FO2. FO1 will annoy you at first. It's highly limiting. FO2 really opens up a lot of stuff with the interface, but the story is just so terrible, that I don't even keep it handy anymore. About once or twice a month, I see the FO1 backup-cd in my case and think about starting up another game. FO2 is *not* in that case, it's on my spindle of originals, just so I don't have to waste time flipping past it...

Thanks for all of the hints on the story line and gameplay. I'm very grateful. :spin:

You know, when I think about the Fallout setting, it always reminds me of that old movie- "Dr. Strangelove"... if you remember it, you'll understand why. :) a must for any Fallout fan, really.

About the games- Hmm, I really found Fallout1 better then Fallout2... I don't know why.

Even the limiting interface doesn't spoil it, but F2... it's much larger, and there are NEW bugs (like that car... why do I leave it, and when I'm back there's only the trunc left? or all these times when I'm aiming at a monster and the game crashes? :( )

But my main problem was and (I hope) you won't have it- the translation. I have the game in Russian, and... ACK, that's really painful! :mad: I couldn't understand what the heck I needed to do, because the dialogues were really messed up, so I didn't even finish the game :( even my love for the Fallout world didn't help. (and there WAS a love- I finished my first Fallout 6 or 7 times...)

I can honestly say I HATE the Fallout games. Where do i start...

The graphics looked awful on the time of release, let alone now.
The story is VERY boring and VERY linear.
The time limit constricts the gameplay.
Combat truly is the worst in any game ever, killing a rat with a knife can take up to 5 mins!
Poor sound quality.
Fallout 2 is even worse.

Zlayer, I can see your point.

On everything but the >BORING STORYLINE<.

FO1 has as far from a "boring storyline" as it gets. But now, that's only if you do a little reading on "radiation poisoning" and watch a couple of TLC documentaries on nuclear testing and Enola Gay.

I would put the game very near the 'un-nerving' level; at least, much moreso than Max Payne or Halflife.

Mind you; this is Fallout 1 I'm talking about...

Z,
Once again you demonstrate how much you value your opinion regardless of how little data you have to base it on.
In the "Where to go next" thread by Parvini , you bash the Fallout games. When I challenged you, you stated that you own them both and have played them for an hour.
So why do you feel qualified to give an opinion on a topic about which you know so little?

On topic:
The heart of the games storyline, character development, and atmosphere. They are set in a post-nuclear war California.

Heh - I liked both of the games (as I am a person who likes to go away and forget the storyline for a time). Both are nice from the RPG point of view. I have replayed FII several times - experimenting with different characters.

If you will like the game(s) - try Fallout Tactics. It is a strategic game combined with RPG, but i LOVE it. Even that in FT you would have problems with "close combat stealthy guy" character. Well - it is apparently better to spray a robot with EMP ammo burst, than to kick it to its sensors :D .

Back to the topic - you have three main character types to choose :

1) Sniper = high perception, special perks for ranged combat. One hit, one kill (well, almost :D )
2) Machinegun guy = fast shot perk, additional action points. 3 or more minigun/assault shotgun bursts pro round. 100 bullets, 80 hits.
3) Close combat = critical hits / martial arts / ripper (something like a chainsaw knife). Sneak close, kill, sneak away. Or - disable 5 enemies in a round with critical hits.

Anyway - each has its advantages / disadvantages :) .

[ August 30, 2002, 01:30: Message edited by: Hassassin ]

Um, you know you can play the games through without actually killing anything? You can sneak past most enemies, run away from the others, and talk your way out from the rest. Or you can (Fallout 2 only) get a heap of party members who'll do the work for you. And Fallout 2 is almost unplayable without the patch. Download and install it before playing, because you can't load unpatched savegames after patching.

Volar's mighty quotetech:
The graphics looked awful on the time of release, let alone now.
The story is VERY boring and VERY linear.
The time limit constricts the gameplay.
Combat truly is the worst in any game ever, killing a rat with a knife can take up to 5 mins!
Poor sound quality.
Fallout 2 is even worse.
Quote ends.

Actually, I think the graphics beat Neverwinter Nights easily, apart from them not being 3d.
The story is all but boring (check all locations, and read those downloaded files you have on your pipboy), and which computer game isn't linear? Baldur's Gate? Gimme a break.
There's only one time limit in Fallout, and that's for completing the first quest (more than enough time, and you can find a way to increase it). No time limits in Fallout 2.
Actually the combat is excellent, apart from no ducking or crawling. I've never taken more than ten seconds to kill a rat, unless I have a lone character who doesn't know which end of the dagger to use.
The sounds are neat. Screams, gunshots, casino games...
And Fallout 2 is better than Fallout in all aspects (apart from needing a patch), so I really can't see how it's worse. The beginning is a bit frustrating, but it sure beats that annoying Irenicus's dungeon.

Jeez, funk that was ages ago. I have recently gave them another chance and played for about 5 hours through this time. It got worse! Running around looking for villages, and recuing people in a desert!? Funk try not to undermine me on one thing i said about a month or two ago, likely hood is that things have changed.

Okay. But when someone asks your opinion about the game, you may want to qualify your position by being honest about how much experience you have with it.
If you had said "I played them for 5 hours and hated them" then the person would know where you are coming from and how much value to give your opinion.

Z, give me a break. It was 10 days ago:
Parvinis thread (http://www.sorcerers.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000384)
Even if you aren't lying this time, 5 hours? That qualifies you to rip a game that was RPG of the year (Fallout is in the CGW Hall of Fame) from most publications after it came out?

It's fine that you are one of the spam kings on these boards. You post early and often. However, too often you have very little to back up what you say.
Now don't get me wrong, you seem quite friendly (except to Slimshogun, keep up the feud), and this is nothing personal.
But please, if you don't have something to add then don't add anything.

[ August 30, 2002, 21:56: Message edited by: Jack Funk ]

Jack funk, games don't just suddenly get good after 5 hours. Maybe if the story was the only thing wrong with it. But hell just because it won some damned award dosn't mean i HAVE to like it. Most people here hate PoR: 2, but i happen to quite like it. I'm allowed to have an opinion about a game ok.

If I understand this correctly, the argue about qualifications, tastes and other metaphysical things in this thread is over with, right? *glower*

Now, what was the title here about again, can someone refresh my memory? ;)

Save often. And keep separated saves. I had a lot of nasty bugs where, for example, everyone in a city (Gecko) would become hostile, without me doing a single thing to them. And I didn't spot that bug until I was on my way out of the city again, and all the characters that are essential for quests tried to kill me. I didn't have an earlier save, so.. that was the end of my attempt at reviving fallout 2. I think I completed it when it was new, though I don't really remember.. I know I completed fallout 1 either way.

A patch? never heard about it...

maybe that's why I got so much bugs.... where can I find that patch?

Fallout1 patch v1.1 and other stuff (http://www.nma-fallout.com/binaries/fallout.shtml)

Fallout2 patch v1.02D and other stuff (http://www.nma-fallout.com/binaries/fallout2.shtml)

I only bought fallout about 18 months ago, and the 1.1 patch was already incorporated.

Unless you bought your cd's back in 1998, the patch is already on there.

But, there were some bugs that were *nice*...

The fallout games are GREAT, but Fallout 2 is rather easy, since you can get the best armor in the game and some of the best weapons RIGHT in the begining, though newbies won't notice it for a while.

"The best weapon and armor right in the beginning"? :eek: Now what armour and weapon would that be, and where do you find them? I've played Fallout 2 since it came out and never noticed anything like this :confused:

He is not lying. If you go to San Francisco, you may buy those. But only if stores have those (stores are filled once with random items first time you step in SF).
But although you may buy here Gauss Rifle, it's not the best armor you may buy, as for the best armor you need to destroy military base above SF, which is impossible so early in the game.

And of course, you have to save/load a lot since around SF there are random encounters waiting, which you can't possibly pass so early.

[ September 11, 2002, 21:00: Message edited by: Extremist ]

I beleive he's refering to (and I haven't played the game in a bout three years), but I recall a cave near your village, that has a locked elevator in the upper right corner where you rescue a person. There are a lot of Gekkos there, but if you can fix the elevator, you can descend and get all kinds of good weapons and armor.

Nah. Down that elevator is a robot you can't pass so early in the game. And to even open the elevator you need electronic lockpick MK1 which is normally available on only one place in the game (New Reno), but sometimes does appear outside of NCR in the store (randomly and in very rare occasions).

I always use the items hack. It loads up the lockers in Klamath with *all* of the good stuff. Loads of ammo, weapons, armour, stimpacks, and explosives.

It's even got the hint book that you can boost your character with. Totally rocks!

All I need now is to import some of that stuff into Arcanum, and I'd be good to go. Putting a little tap-tap-tappero on with the minigun or the auto-shotgun just makes everything else sweeter...

go to san fransisco right after arroyo(go south, WAYYYY south, when you see the coast, go around it to the east, until you see a green globe at the bottom, that's it), go to the brotherhood place, and teh guard will give you the quest to go to navaro to get the vertibird plans, go to navaro, tell chris you a new recruit for teh enclave, he'll give you the password, go north through the woods for navaroo, give the guard the password, go up and go to the undergraound level, now go to the storage room, and you can get advanced power armor, plasma rifles, and sooo on, then go up dressed in your power armor, talk to one of the scientists about the vertibird plans, go to the left in a factory thing, go to a guy, tell him that you need to collect the vertibird plans from raul, and he'll let you take teh vertibird plans, the plans are in a locker, take them and take everything else from the lockers too, which has super sledge, electronic lockpicks and etc, now go to the east and enter the buildign that has plance in front, tell raul that the other guy sayed bad things about him, and he'll leave, then raid all his goodies in the locker, now go back to san fransisco, give the plans to the brotherhood guard, and you'll get tons of experience, which should level you up to lv.8, now go in the brotherhood building, go down the elevator, and raid all the lockers for combat armor, a pulse rifle, a regular power armor, ammo, a small pulse pistol and lots of other goodies, now with these arsenals and a little hack to raise your max weight, you'll be invincible, at least until the enclave.

note: it will take you ALOT of tiem to go to san, sicne all those encounters, so be sure to stop and save once in a while, it took me once half a hour to get there.

[ September 13, 2002, 20:39: Message edited by: Ray192 ]