Hey Old timers - Was Fallout really that good?

Mad Mike

I spotted a Fallout compilation (Fallout , Fallout2 and a strategy guide) in my local shop today and I very nearly bought it.

I bottled when I saw the price - €29.99 for a 6 year old game!!!

The thing is that Fallout appears to be the Citizen Kane of computer rpgs. Any time a top ten list of CRPGs comes up some knowing old timer will say "Ah yes but Fallout was better than any of that modern tat".

So - was it really that good?
And ...
Even if it was groundbreaking in its day - has it stood the test of time?

MarVeL

Haven't played it in a while but I remember it was well worthwhile. that being said it was no Planescape:Torment Now there was a truly worthwhile RPG.

hughobrien

I only played them after they came out on budget, so I didn't like the interface much (I was too used to Baldurs Gate and its ilk). The first two games had great storylines and a surprising voice cast (Richard Dean Anderson, Ron Pearlman, Dwight Schultz, Michael Dorn, Kenneth Mars). But what really got me were the little things you could do that didn't really have a bearing on the game itself, like being caught sleeping with a farmers daughter and being forced to marry her, only to pimp her off later on to get some extra money! There were so many of these funny things to do that it gave the game a great level of replayability. I don't know if it's worth €29.99 for the box set, though. I got them for a fiver.

Sarky

I only played Fallout 2. It was fantastic.

Interestingly enough, it was originally going to be based on the GURPS RPG system, but for some reason Steve Jackson pulled out, so they used a vaguely similar invention instead.

But anyway, Fallout was a great game. Dark, hilarious, gorey, a decent story. The interface took a little getting used to, but was simple, the combat worked very, very well, and although it's no looker at this stage, but it's well worth a looksee. I understand Fallout Tactics is excellent too.

Also, old timers? I am shocked and outraged...:)

Mad Mike

Originally posted by Sarky
I only played Fallout 2. It was fantastic.

Also, old timers? I am shocked and outraged...:)

I figured that would get a response. Don't worry I am quite an old timer myself but I am a relative newbie when it comes to CRPGs. I have played and enjoyed Morrowind, Arx Fatalis, KOTOR and Gothic 2 but nothing older. I actually managed to get my hands on Planescape Torment and tried to play it but I found it just too old and too clunky in comparison to the more modern titles.

I must say the storyline of Fallout intrigues me but I suspect I won't be able to overlook its datedness. I'll keep the €29.99 in my pocket and perhaps pick up the collection if it ever hits the bargain bin.

Mantel

The first two fallout games where good, great storylines and sub-story lines in it. It was one of the only games that kept me playing right to the end and both of them are fairly long games.

Was the stratgy game you saw with it Fallout Tactics? It was quite similiar to the other two but with less of a story line and a set number of missions you had to complete, it didn't hold me as much as the others.

Get the demo and give it a try

Fallout - http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/games/pcgameworld/demos/falldemo.zip
Fallout Tactics - http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/games/pcgameworld/demos/fallouttacticsdemo.exe

Not sure if theres a fallout 2 demo floating about. <edit>could try interplays ftp (ftp.interplay.com) but they seem to be have some trouble at the moment</edit>

If you happen to like these dated games give the first two X-Com games a whirl pixel-tastic.

Sarky

Jeebus, Terror from the deep was really tense. It was so dark, you could rarely see an alien until it took a shot at you, sometimes not even then, you were always one step behind with firepower...

Very dated now, but a great game. Still never managed to finish it...

Mad Mike, I beg you not to let the graphics turn you away from Fallout. Behind them, there's a really good roleplaying game. Really, REALLY good.

IMADeviant

As a hardline fallout junkie I play it every six months or so. Yes it is that good, better even. Fallout 2 is no measure either, while a good game it has nothing compared to the grittiness and beauty that is fallout.

I know if all you are used to is the shiny happy ****fests you get today fallout may look dated but it feels good. It sucks you in and even if everyone is miserable in it makes you want to cause the apocalypse so you can live through it in fallout.

Planescape is a good game, but it is linear in its own right, in fallout with balls and a bit of luck there are no areas in the entire game that aren't accessible from the start. Its entirely freeform, it doesn't even have any classes.

Fallout one was meant to be a gurps system, and it kept on some gurps attributes the hex ground system, the perks and skills etc. but the system it does use, award winning SPECIAL, is the best I have encountered in any crpg and I have played a lot of crpgs. SJgames pulled out because of the violence, drugs and sexual references in fallout if anyone is interested.

Fallout also allows you to do what no Bioware adventure-cum-rpg like Baldurs gate does. It lets you play an utterly evil bastard, from killing kids to rocket launching cows. Don't say working for bodhi was an evil path in Baldurs gate 2 it still lead to the exact same conclusion and going on a killing spree in baldurs gate would leave you without anyone to buy supplies from and the flaming fist sniffing your ass every five seconds.

I am ranting now but goddamn I love fallout.

Also interplay are now down the toilet so don't bother looking for any downloads from them.

IMADeviant

Originally posted by Mad Mike
I'll keep the €29.99 in my pocket and perhaps pick up the collection if it ever hits the bargain bin.

Do, I don't know what rp-off merchant you were getting that from but I recently purchased fallout 1/2 and tactics for an even 20 ( I ruined all my other copies from overuse).

Sarky

Originally posted by IMADeviant

Fallout one was meant to be a gurps system, and it kept on some gurps attributes the hex ground system, the perks and skills etc. but the system it does use, award winning SPECIAL, is the best I have encountered in any crpg and I have played a lot of crpgs. SJgames pulled out because of the violence, drugs and sexual references in fallout if anyone is interested.

You see, that's really something I don't understand. Just about everything you say they pulled out for is already mentioned in the GURPS rulebooks. The advantages/disadvantages goes into quite a bit of detail about drug addictions, violent tendencies like bloodlust, sex... There's even a disadvantage which makes a character addicted to murdering people in cold blood.

As far as I can see, the creators added very little that wasn't already covered by GURPS, so I have trouble understanding why they'd be so concerned about it.

Anyway, nyeh, go team Fallout!

Mad Mike

Hey IMADeviant where did you get it for €20? I might reconsider at that price. €29 is the price in my local GAME ripoff merchant.

And yes whoever asked - what I thought was a strategy guide is actually the game Fallout tactics.

IMADeviant

Gamesworld/Gamestop in Galway.

IMADeviant

Originally posted by Sarky

As far as I can see, the creators added very little that wasn't already covered by GURPS, so I have trouble understanding why they'd be so concerned about it.

Anyway, nyeh, go team Fallout!

Sjgames are all for freedom to read and talk about the horrific parts of the gurps system, I think it was seeing that death giggle dance, someone being fried by a plasma rifle or having their chest exploded by a burst from a H&k Saws that put them off.

Also what isn't covered by gurps, the system is all encompassing its part of whats so great about it.

quozl

They're the best rpg's I've ever played as well. I particularly loved Fallout 2, actually preferring it to the first slightly. That may have been because I played it first though. The interface was a bit dated even back then to be honest, but you got used to it quickly enough.

Fantastic depth to the story, interesting subplots instead of the usual crap, really dark and apocalyptic, a fantsatic cRPG system. And the best combat in any rpg i've ever played. The combat was so popular that it spawned fallout tactics which is just a combat game really with a story tacked on.

Buy it

Greg

IMADeviant

The graphics may not be as shiny as some of fallouts modern equivalents, though nothing approaching an equivalent exists, but the only dated thing about the interface was the inventory system and that made bugger all difference.

I wish all modern games had such a streamlined and yet detailed interface these days.

silent

I'd give my left nut for not knowing the game and be able to enjoy it again without knowing anything about it. Best rpgs available for the pcs, both part 1 and 2.
Finished both twice. Actually I still think they look very good even today. Make sure you get all the patches, I remember having to replay as I was stuck somewhere and the savegames were incompatible. Did not mind much - the game rules

btw, anybody else into old games? I'm thinking about buying the might&magic pack and replay MM3,4,5 + swords of xeen and 6.

Mantel

Originally posted by IMADeviant
someone being fried by a plasma rifle or having their chest exploded by a burst from a H&k Saws that put them off.

Ah! I forgot about that stuff I remember seeing it happen the first time (actually it was a machine gun) the other guys arm came right off, all I could think was "cooool"

Sarky

It was quite impressive to see the results of a critical hit blow a large chunk out your enemy's chest, then blow an arm off, then blow the head off, to have the remains sink to its knees and hit the ground.

God bless criticals with automatic weapons...

Squall

It was quite impressive to see the results of a critical hit blow a large chunk out your enemy's chest, then blow an arm off, then blow the head off, to have the remains sink to its knees and hit the ground.

The sound it made was quite satisfying too

The Fallout series is one of my favourites.... go back to it every now and again. Think thats what i might do right now

MarVeL

Just did that very thing myself Going to try this time out as master of all things melee related and see how far I get

Mantel

Will pigs fly? will hell freeze over? Will the mmo bubble ever burst?

CEO of Interplay Herve Caen says

"We are now pursuing several options to fund our entry into Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming with titles including Fallout", a positive step, according to "...initial feedback from our investment bank and ongoing dialogue with others in the gaming sector."

I wonder what the chances of a Fallout mmo game getting off the ground are at the moment considering interplays situation.

I'd play if it came out that for sure.

Taken from slashdot games.

IMADeviant

I have heard about this and the Fallout Online, or F.O.O.L project, as it has been dubbed, is just a pathetic attempt for herve to scrape what little money he can from interplays already decomposing corpse.

It will never happen , he will not sully Fallout so. The entire fallout community is against the move and Herve is just using it as a smoke and mirrors tactic to make his company look like it actually has a chance in hell of surviving.

Interplay has already been evicted, is being sued for two months back pay and a few months back rent. All its workers have been sent home because the california labour commission found out herve hasn't been paying their social security or their health benefits, or their wages.

Even microsoft pulled out of the mmorpg market because they saw it for the overstuffed funhole it is.

AL][EN

I'll be honest with you i actually have fallout and fallout 2 at home but could never really get into the games tbh, maybe i was young and nieve (sp?) but they been sitting on my shelf gathering dust for about 5 or 6 years now so i might just take em down and try playing them again (after all im 10 years older now i might actually apperichate the games a bit more)

i'll give em a bash and tell you what i think

Lemming

Fallout 1/2 rule the donkeh's ........

I got the two in a budget compilation in Game (of all places) a few years back. I had picked up the Fallout 2 boxed game, and was gonna get it for irp£8.99 when the guy behind the counter recommended the compilation.

I promptly installed the first game. And got blown away, sucked right in, and belted with a trout around the face all at the same time. It may look dated graphically, but for some reason it all just fits nicely. It looks dark & grim. And by god is there humour ni there that's really f*cking dark and twisted. I lost months.......

Then I finished Fallout & then installed Fallout 2. I've never finished this game, and just had so much fun playing it. I'll get it finished one day

Bearing in mind that I played Baldur's Gate 1/tales of the sword coast & Baldur's Gate II/Throne of Bhaal before I ever looked at the Fallout series.

I like the BG games, i really do. But f*cking hell the Fallout series just p*sses on everything else out there.

Sarky

Hint: You'll want to be at least level 25 before attempting to finish Fallout 2.

BArra

what a series of games....

i simply loved them, easilly my favourite games of all time.

Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout Tactics

i cannot stress enough how anyone into a rpg should play these games, and play them in order, they are just so retro and... well cool :P

just thinking about random encounters, quotes from legendary movies like the goonies and talking heads, its just so whitty and filled with comedy, i was addicted to it.

you get a ton of weapons to scavange in all the games, rocket launchers, plasma rifles, mini guns, knuckle dusters, grenades, u name it, this game has them in it. I suppose fallout 2 was the best, as they really pushed the boundarys, with one town having a porn studio, a brothel house, where u can purchase ur... desire, slot machines to try and make some cash, theres just so much intricit little details that make it so good. haha i think i liked playing those 3 drug/gun mafia familys off the best in fallout 2 in the race to become a made man for them

tactics is a differant story, it was worth it just for a fix on new things to do and some new cars/humvees/ brotherhood of steel armour mark ||, and other stuff, but it wasnt a touch on fallout 2, still all well worth playing, ud be missing out if u didnt!!

the one bit of advice id get was, when u start the game ur just this little runt vault dweller with ****ty clothing and rubbish weapons, u just have to stick at it for a few hours and ull start to pick up and acquire the good stuff, thats when the game gets good and its the race to continually upgrade ur weapon/armour, try some drugs,

what a game/s what a game/s

Lemming

The only criticism I have of the games is that the start of Fallout 2 didn't feel right. After playing Fallout, and the utterly atmospheric way in which it starts and builds, the very beginning of Fallout 2 just felt wrong. But after the initial start, it improves. Baldur's Gate II was similar in how it started. The dungeon at the start was at odds with the rest of the game.

Sarky

Yes, but Fallout 2 has the Slayer perk. All melee hits are automatically criticals, thank you very much!

And the Sniper perk? Make a luck roll and the shot is a critical.

And even when you got these, it stayed balanced, bordering on bloody tough.

That sort of balancing takes a lot of time to get right...

IMADeviant

Originally posted by Sarky
Hint: You'll want to be at least level 25 before attempting to finish Fallout 2.

Not neccesarily last time through I got it at level 22. Others have got it at waaaaaay less. its possible to get through the main storyline with very little combat if you max out your speech and charisma and grab a couple of the more powerful weapons and companions.