The thing about Fallout 2 is that it’s really sort of an expansion pack for Fallout 1. It fills the niche of “I played Fallout, and it was awesome, but it was over too quick. MORE, MORE, MORE!” So they cut down on the number of feature NPCs with fully animated, voiced heads, greatly increased the number of cities, vastly increased the number of side quests, and damped down the character progression so that it’s commensurate with the longer game. They also added a few nice engine tweaks here and there – mainly for dealing with NPCs.
Anyway, your best bet is to play Fallout first. Yes, you’ll still have the same turn-based combat, but you’ll progress a lot more quickly and won’t spend nearly as long in the “poking things with a spear” stage.
I understand that there are people who feel that way. It’s certainly not an invalid way to look at things but I don’t think it’s how most people view older games. I’m one of those people who played Fallout, Planescape, and Baldur’s Gate for years after they were released. I last played Baldur’s Gate back in 2005, System Shock in 2006, and Fallout 2 in 2007.
Seriously, if someone released a game like Fallout 2 today it would be skewered for it’s ponderous interface, its lack of enough voice overs, and a lot of other technical issues. Unless it was free or something. It’s tough going back and playing older games for most players but we could have fun talking about this back and fort for a long time.
Anaamika, I really loved Fallout and Fallout 2. If you can’t really get into Fallout 2 I don’t think you need to worry about playing Fallout or making yourself like Fallout 2. It’s ok if they aren’t for you.
When they came out Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 were great games. I even enjoyed Fallout Tactics and still play that one from time to time. But yeah…today the games are a bit dated. The interface isn’t up to modern standards, the mini-map sucks (but then it sucks in Fallout 3 as well IMHO :p). However, there is a really deep and interesting story there if you want to push through the first part. When I heard Fallout 3 was coming out I also put Fallout 2 on my laptop for while I was on the road. At first I was like ‘why did I like this game again’, but after a while it started to come back to me and I got back into the story and the game play.
This time around I didn’t bother with many of the quests but just sort of wandered around doing stuff at random, killing bad guys and getting loot. I did get the car though…still one of the cooler things in the game (though I really liked the tank in Fallout Tactics).
One thing you might want to try is downloading a character editor and giving your character some tweaks. When I play Fallout 2 these days, I always start my character out at around 5th level, just to make the bullshit temple intro go by quicker.
If it ain’t clicking for you, it’s a shame, but the same happened to a friend of mine. He just can’t get into it. It’s, as everyone else has said, a rather dated game.
That said, the turn-based combat was something I actually loved, and F3’s VATS was a call back to that turn-based system while adding the real-time option (which I don’t particularly like. VATS all the way). And if you think Oblivion had a deep story, Fallout 2 blows it, and F3, completely out of the water. I honestly felt Oblivion’s story was pretty weak, and the game itself was WAYYYYY too easy (plus, as Yahtzee says on his zero punctuation review, they kill off the character with the best voice actor in the very beginning!) And F2 is ridiculously open-ended in every way, you can blow people away with laser rifles the whole game, or maybe talk your way through the whole game. A buddy of mine made a ridiculously strong, ridiculously stupid character that just punched his way through everything and actually ahd to take drugs at 3 or 4 points just to up his intelligence enough to get passed a neccesary dialogue point. I think you can even prostitute yourself out in the game. Plus the dialogue trees are ridiculously extensive, far better than anything in Oblivion or F3, imo (though a lot of that, admittedly, is because it’s easier to give lots of options in text as opposed to needing to have everything voice acted)
I agree with Erasmus. Fallout 2 had some definite improvements to the user interface and has far more “things” to do, but the pacing, story, and immersiveness of the original game is much better than either of it’s two sequels.
And I say this as someone that came to the series rather late, 2004 or so.
Also, you might want to look into the mod that increases the visual resolution of the game. 640x480 is hard to get used to if you’re used to more modern games.
Wait a second… there are people who think Oblivion has a “deep story”? Have these people been living in some kind of isolation where they are never exposed to any kind of fiction that rises to at least the “passable” level? Are they confusing quantity of back story with quality?
I admit the humour wasn’t that great. Actually it often fell flat. That’s the atmosphere that was enthralling. Especially its grim aspects.
I didn’t find that a problem. What’s wrong with fighting with a spear? Don’t we fight with swords in fantasy RPG? Plus, that’s what the world has become. People use spears. Why shouldn’t I? It gives the world a more credible and immersing atmosphere.
I was reaally excited to have a 10mm pistol. Not enough rounds, of course. It was a special and coveted weapon, to use sparingly. That’s why finding it was exciting. Also, the rarity of weapons gives the world a more credible and immersing atmosphere.
For once, something original, coherent with the world and fun instead of the ubiquitous gold coins. It gives the world a more credible and immersing atmosphere. Definitely a plus.
Turn based combat was a strong point of the game. I’m not interested in playing a game where the success depends on my dexterity with a keyboard or a mouse. The most interesting part of the combat system being of course the action points.
I’ll grant you that.
What? You don’t mention anything else? Nothing about the excellent character-building sytem? Nothing about your agonising choices when you level up? Nothing about the dialogues, and how the chars influence it? Nothing about drugs? nothing about the remarkably original and atmosphere of the game? Nothing about the car?
Sorry… you did mention the dialogue.
Well… I suspect you won’t enjoy it, to say the truth. Because apparently almost everything I liked in the game you didn’t like and the rest you didn’t mention, so I assume you didn’t particularly appreciate.
Contrarily to other posters, I’m not going to assume it’s because the game is old, because the main thing that generally prevent people from enjoying old games are the graphics, and you didn’t complain about that. I suspect that it’s just not your type of game.
I would mention, though, if it bothers you, that your weaponry will of course improve a lot over the course of the game.
I’m currently playing it, actually. I quite enjoy it, and indeed I appreciate the open-endedness. I’m not blown away by the plot, though, at this point. And there much less of…of everything, actually, than in Morrowind, which is a shame.
Regarding the NPC, I use the “CM Partners” mod, along with some NPCs mods made by fans. Not much interaction, though, but I nevertheless finds it more pleasant than being “alone”.
Still, I doesn’t like it as much as F2. It’s not nearly as original.
Again something we’re not going to agree upon. I like the “good stuff” to be difficult to get. I wouldn’t want to blow monsters right and left with big huge weapons right from the beginning (actually, I never like big huge weapons. I always ended up playing F2 as a sniper).
I indeed think it’s not clicking, and I suspect you won’t like it much. Well…keep us updated.
I replayed the two Fallouts last summer (as well as the Baldur’s Gate series) and while they are old, I didn’t find it had aged too badly.
The beginning of F2 is hard, especially the Smiley quest. I’d suggest at least waiting until you get the first rifle before you give up, though. Compared to F3, it takes you a long time to become a force to be reckoned with. Mutants and deathclaws are a real threat.
Something that I don’t think was mentioned was the importance of the Intelligence stat; it gives you a lot more dialog options, which might make the game more interesting for you.
I don’t dislike old games. I replayed Planescape Torment not too long ago. I replayed Baldur’s Gate 2 so many times I actually made myself sick of it. I still play Dungeon Keeper. I really didn’t like Morrowind - the atmosphere was just too dark for me.
I didn’t think the Oblivion story was that deep, but I liked it, and it was engaging. It’s cool just to run around for hours, honestly. I don’t think it was bad at all. I’m surprised to see so many people ragging on it, or implying that they would rag on it! But it’s all subjective of course. Plus you can set the difficulty higher or lower if you want. My first run-through I did everything except for the Shivering Isles and the Thieves’ Guild.
As for fighting with a spear, well, 85% of the games I play are medieval-ish. The one time I pick up a futuristic game I don’t think I should be playing with a spear, zinced or not.
Well, I will try again, but I think maybe I’ll start a new character or something. I’m off to try it now.
Though intelligence gives you the most useful dialogue options, there’s something charming about playing the game as a complete and utter idiot. One of my favorite bits in FO2 is talking to Torr in Klamath with an intelligence of 1.
Yeah, i do love this series, but I’m a fan of Turn based combat. X-com is STILL my fav. game ever made, but I know it’s not for everyone.
That said, I’m at the point in Fallout where I’ve got access to weapons and I realized that I had put my strength at level 3… Meaning I can only wield a pistol and nothing heavier. That realization is sort of frustrating, but on the other hand, I’ve got mad Kung-Fu skills!
How important is documentation for Fallout and Fallout 2? I’m considering ordering them from eBay, and many seem to be sans docs. Back in the stone age, I played a crack of Wasteland (pre-Fallout game from the same company, I think?), and it was utterly useless without docs - there were things that you HAD to read in the booklet at certain points in the game, in order to progress. Are Fallout and F2 the same?
You can find the documentation online I believe. But so far I’ve played a bit of F1 and F2, and it’s entertaining, and i haven’t had to refer back to the documents yet. But they’re a fun read if i recall correctly.
The manuals were pretty darn good, as I recall. The first was written as a Vault-Tec survival guide and the second written as an instructional set of memoirs. Probably not necessary to play the game, but they were definitely above par for game manuals.