Fallout: worth picking up?

[trevorscroft]

It's a masterpiece, pure and simple.

Agreed. Love fallout.

 

[Enforcer]

Fallout is fantastic. I like Fallout 2 even better, but you have to play the first one to appreciate the second one fully, in my opinion.

Truly excellent games. Well worth the money on eBay or wherever.

 

[stonegod]

While I adore both games almost as much as Planescape: Torment and Arcanum and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, I would warn you about one wart of the original that has not really been mentioned: Your followers will try to kill you. Repeatedly. Because they can't shoot worth a *@#!. So don't give them autofire weapons.

But, even that that caveat, they're still great games.

 

[Felon]

Thanks, guys. I've ordered the compilation DVD. Hope it plays OK on XP.

Seen some pictures. Looks like it's 3/4 top-down isometric (or something like that).

So you can get shot by your mates? Does this play at all like the original X-Com: UFO Defense games? Loved that.

 

[XCorvis]

I just finished replaying Fallout 2. While the game is great, it is BUGGY. Not "Temple of Elemental Evil" buggy, but still not great. Lots of little things are messed up, some quests can't be completed properly. For the most part, it's fine, but annoying. Fortunately, I found a fan-made patch that fixes a whole lot of the problems. See Killapp's patch at the end of this page: http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=16

 

[XCorvis]

Thanks, guys. I've ordered the compilation DVD. Hope it plays OK on XP.

Seen some pictures. Looks like it's 3/4 top-down isometric (or something like that).

So you can get shot by your mates? Does this play at all like the original X-Com: UFO Defense games? Loved that.

It plays fine on XP, but you might see some weirdness on the overland map that results in you either getting way to many or way too few random encounters. I forget which. The Killapp patch I mentioned above does fix that.

Your buddies have lousy fire-control. If you give them full automatic weapons, they may or may not decide to risk a shot at an enemy even if you're in the line of fire. I suspect this was done intentionally to simulate "real" burst fire a bit. Not my favorite feature. It's also possible to shoot someone unintentionally with a single-shot weapon if they are in the direct line of fire and you miss your target.

Save frequently and use multiple slots! If you hit a non-NPC ally, even accidentally, they turn against you. You will need to reload the game occasionally.

 

[Psionicist]

Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 are, as others have already said, excellent games. Fallout 2 in particular is simply amazing and I would go so far to say that it's not only the best CRPG ever made but it's the best computer game of all times. And that's saying alot, given other great titles such as Baldurs Gate 2, Planescape Torment and GTA: Vice City.

I recommend you to use the patch XCorvis recommends. I know many gamers are suspicious of fan-made patches, but they are extremely well-made. Especially for well-understood games such as Fallout and the infinity engine games (I recently played Baldurs Gate 2 with a fan-made patch and it fixed _lots_ of errors).

 

[andargor]

I fully endorse the products and/or opinions expressed in this thread.

Best. Game. Ever. Made. (well, it's on my short list )

 

[Grog]

One piece of advice for character creation - make sure you don't give your character an Intelligence score below 4. If you do, a huge portion of the game's story and almost all of the dialogue will be sacrificed for stupid humor. Other than that, make whatever type of character you want. The game is winnable with almost any character (though some are easier than others).

I actually prefer Fallout to Fallout 2, though a fan patch to fix all the bugs would definitely make the latter much better.

Oh, and if you like either one of these games, pick up Planescape: Torment next. It was made by the same people and it's even better than the Fallouts, IMO.

 

[stonegod]

One piece of advice for character creation - make sure you don't give your character an Intelligence score below 4. If you do, a huge portion of the game's story and almost all of the dialogue will be sacrificed for stupid humor. Other than that, make whatever type of character you want. The game is winnable with almost any character (though some are easier than others).

Fallout 2 is perfectly playable with a lo-Int, and a blast. However, I would recommend you do this on your second playthrough for the reasons mentioned.

Oh, and if you like either one of these games, pick up Planescape: Torment next. It was made by the same people and it's even better than the Fallouts, IMO.

Yes and no. Same studio, different people. It was Tim Cain for Fallout, and Feargus Urquhart and Chris Avellone on Fallout 2 and Torment (though Cain was around for the beginning of Fallout 2).