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Duncan

A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game

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It's one of those historically important games that I missed completely, so I played Fallout for the first time this week, and now I'm like three hours into the sequel. So I am genuinely interested in talking about the Fallout games and what our nine readers think of them. I am polling you. Please chime in on Fallout. Did you notice how I played the 'in' and 'out' against each other? I could be writing headlines for Gamespot with talent like this.

Fallout... I liked. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that it did not engage me on the level that it apparently did everyone else. I don't know, though. The first of the Interplay/Black Isle RPGs I ever played was Planescape: Torment. I liked it a lot the first time, the second time, a year later, when I had a better grasp on what the game was about, it became an all-time favourite. And after Fallout I actually have a deeper appreciation of Torment. There weren't that many people working on both of them, but produced so close together and within the same environment, I am just amazed at the world of difference between the two. This is all by way of saying it is not unlikely that Fallout will grow on me.

I just started Fallout 2 and it's starting to get a little tedious. I think I acclimated to Fallout faster; I still don't feel like I have my bearings in this one. I did not get off to a great start with the opening of the game in the village; uninspired and uninteresting. Then I spend like ten minutes poking geckos with a spear for no damage. And already I'm finding quests I have to turn down because my stats aren't high enough. Fallout did better, I think, in keeping the player consistently engaged and having a real sense of progress, neither of which seem to be the case here thus far. On the plus side dealing with party members is not the fucking hassle it was in Fallout.

I also have Fallout Tactics which I will get to later. I think I might like it though. I can roll with some epic Fallout squad combat. Hopefully, with the four years distance between the games, it's not going to be like that battle between the Blades and the Regulators in the Boneyard which started off exciting then quicky devolved into spending all your turns running after the one last guy on the map.

Who cares about what I think, though? I don't!

I want to know what you think. You can talk about Fallout 3 if you want. Or whatever. You can talk about whatever you want really. This could be a Katamari Damacy thread if you want. I can't stop you.

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I really want to love Fallout, but I've never even been able to make it through the demo. The mechanics of the game just don't work for me. Planescape, on the other hand, I love. I'm actually currently trying to get it to run on linux, but have been unsuccessful so far. I've also been keeping an eye on the restoration mod for KotORII. They've been making a lot of progress over the past couple of months. I won't be at all surprised if it's released before the year's end.

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I really want to love Fallout, but I've never even been able to make it through the demo. The mechanics of the game just don't work for me.

I can sympathise, actually, I didn't like the demo at all. I'm not sure what changed that made me like the game but I remember feeling totally confused and uncomfortable with the demo where I wasn't at all in the full game. It might be something worth trying if you can find the game cheaply.

I've also been keeping an eye on the restoration mod for KotORII. They've been making a lot of progress over the past couple of months. I won't be at all surprised if it's released before the year's end.

I can't wait for that. I think it might just be a couple months away, yeah.

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I played the demo when it first came out and I loved every bit of it, but once I learned that there was a time limit to the game, I avoided it. I want to play RPGs on my own term without such silly constraints.

I played through it recently and I liked it, but after experiencing Torment, it's underwhelming.

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Fallout 2 is nicer I think around 3 hours in, once you start going to New Reno and etc. Fallout 1 is more fun at the start, but the end game is better imo in Fo2. As for Planescape, the game messed up for me in the temple, around 10 mins before the game should end :(. But its an amazing game, really out there

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I once tried it but I couldn't really get in, gameplay wise. I just didn't know what the heck I was doing. Should give it another chance, but I'm already catching up another oldie, System Shock 2.

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Fallout was the first RPG that I played that didn't stick me in a generic fantasy universe. I'm not a fan of fantasy. Lord of the Rings bores me to tears, I've tried and failed on numerous occasions to get in on my friends' D&D games, etc. Up until that point I'd never really found an RPG that I liked. All it took was the change of setting to convince me that there is some merit to the genre. I've since developed an appreciation for the well made fantasy RPGs (although I still have trouble embracing the setting, I can enjoy the gameplay) and love the ones that have modern or futuristic settings. I owe Fallout for letting me experience a genre that otherwise would have remained unplayed for a long time.

So yeah, good game.

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Fallout is terrific. The first one is a lot tighter and more cohesive, a better game in my opinion, although shorter. You need to 'get' the scenario and the world to like it. I absolutely love it. Planescape is wonderful too, but my personal preference goes to Fallout.

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Fallout is fucking fantastic, but I suspect you'd have to have played it shortly after release to think so. After all these years, I reckon the technology has aged soo much it'd get in the way. Anyway, it's probably my favourite RPG ever. The mood, the dialogue system, the combat system (turn based combat rocks), the violence and gore. The character development system; no other game gives you and orgasm each time you level up. The sequel was great; better in some areas, worse in some. The UI was better, but there were more points where there were just too many pop-cultural references.

Oh, and about the time limit. I didn't even know there was a limit the first time I played Fallout. And I take my time with these games, finishing every quest and so on. Also, isn't there a way of disabling that whole thing, a patch or something?

And I love turn-based combat!

Arcanum has some of the same feeling, being designed by roughly the same team, but I still prefer Fallout.

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I've only played Fallout 2, and it was awesome! I recently bought Fallout, but haven't gotten around to playing it, yet.

I have only played a little from the beginning of Torment, but most of all the Black Isle games I actually liked Baldur's Gate [yes I know it was developed by BioWare].

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Fallout is my favorite RPG ever, so yeah you could say I like it. I was never in to roleplaying games before, turn-based ones even less so, but Fallout clicked right away for me. It's something about the way the gameplay systems and the art mesh that makes it more than the sum of its parts for me. Number two is not as involving but still the better game.

I once tried it but I couldn't really get in, gameplay wise. I just didn't know what the heck I was doing. Should give it another chance, but I'm already catching up another oldie, System Shock 2.

That's sort of the point though. You're all alone in the nuclear desert and everybody is out to fuck you over. You have no idea where to go from the start and you feel pretty lost at times, which is exactly what it would feel like to be in that situation. It sounds like it wouldn't work, but it did for me and a couple of other people at least.

I think Bethesda will do a decent job, but I probably won't like it if I try to think of it as the third in the series. I just don't think they have the right touch to make it all come together in the same way that the folks over at Interplay did.

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Fallout 1 is genius. Fallout 2...less great. But still awesome.

Fallout 2 got sidetracked on a lot of smaller, sillier things, I thought. There was a lot more to do but it felt a lot less focused. Also the pop culture references felt totally out of place.

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I'm further into Fallout 2 and it has picked up. I just got to New Reno, where they love their sex and they love their drugs.

What's interesting to me about Fallout 2 right now is that in Fallout 1, really, the protagonist was the world. I think that's one of the things you needed to buy into to really get the game, that it's not about character or plot so much as what the world is like and how it changes. The Vault Dweller, the mutants, the brotherhood, everyone, were all just actors on this considerably more important stage. And I'm not getting that same sense from Fallout 2. And it's not like Fallout 2 is character-driven instead, like Planescape or KOTOR 2. It doesn't seem to have been replaced with anything. It's not plot-driven; the pacing and objectives are pretty much the same as in Fallout. I'm enjoying Fallout 2 on like a quest-by-quest basis but there was a larger level there in Fallout and I don't think it's here.

All that stuff about the world, though, is why Fallout's ending really didn't work for me.

The very last thing, getting kicked out of the vault. Clearly you were being set up for a fall, but I thought they were going to kill you or something. Leaving the vault, isn't that BY FAR the preferable option? The vault blows compared to the rest of the world. Why would you want to stay in the vault at all? I mean, all the guy has to do at the end there is walk over to, like, Shady Sands and he's SET. I'm saying it wasn't very sad at all. The Vault Dweller was a total cipher, it's not like you could empathise with him losing his home. The player never makes any kind of connection to the vault. Fuck the vault!

That's sort of the point though. You're all alone in the nuclear desert and everybody is out to fuck you over. You have no idea where to go from the start and you feel pretty lost at times, which is exactly what it would feel like to be in that situation. It sounds like it wouldn't work, but it did for me and a couple of other people at least.

I thought it really worked. You're thrust into this completely alien situation, but, crucially, you don't feel incapable of handling the game, which would get you confused and frustrated. That balance is one of my favourite things about Fallout. Compared to Fallout 2's sedate opening, it's no contest.

I think Bethesda will do a decent job, but I probably won't like it if I try to think of it as the third in the series. I just don't think they have the right touch to make it all come together in the same way that the folks over at Interplay did.

Yeah, I can't get too excited about Fallout 3. After Oblivion, I have every confidence in Bethesda to make a great game, but expecting it to be classic Fallout!, blindly getting hyped up because it's Fallout!, that seems misguided.

Fallout 2 got sidetracked on a lot of smaller, sillier things, I thought. There was a lot more to do but it felt a lot less focused. Also the pop culture references felt totally out of place.

Again, I'm not that far into it, but I would agree. The thing that bothers me about the pop culture references -- and this was in Fallout 1 a little bit, but mostly the sequel -- there's a bit of an attitude there. Like the developers have restrain themselves to make a serious game. And all the nonsense like finding some Star Trek or Lost in Space ship crashed in the desert, it's too much of a wink to the players -- aren't we clever, we don't take ourselves THIS seriously, it doesn't come across usually but we're pretty funny guys. They're almost disassociating themselves with the game because of some compulsion to let the audience know they're not this serious. It's not even like it's an easter egg because it happens so often. Worse, it's not even that funny. I mean, there's some funny dialogue in both Fallouts, but they rely on this kind of thing far too much. Honestly, though I don't think it hurts the game terribly. It bothers me though. And certainly it's not limited to Fallout, the end credits of Jade Empire are a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

I do like the games though really :getmecoat

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You can critisize them. There are only a small number of games, notably the Fallouts, Planescape:Torment and Tim Schafer's games, that are so profound you can find a lot of bad things about them without actually suggesting they are bad as a whole at all. I may be heavily intoxicated, but what I'm saying is that when something is really, really good, you'll find a lot of positives AND negatives (maybe not quite as many negatives).

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Couple of things I really liked about Fallout...

It was a very clever satire on a 1950s American vision of a looming nuclear holocast fueled by the onset of the Cold War. Now that's a mouthfull.

Ron Perlman's marvelous voice work in the intro.

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All that stuff about the world, though, is why Fallout's ending really didn't work for me.

The very last thing, getting kicked out of the vault. Clearly you were being set up for a fall, but I thought they were going to kill you or something. Leaving the vault, isn't that BY FAR the preferable option? The vault blows compared to the rest of the world. Why would you want to stay in the vault at all? I mean, all the guy has to do at the end there is walk over to, like, Shady Sands and he's SET. I'm saying it wasn't very sad at all. The Vault Dweller was a total cipher, it's not like you could empathise with him losing his home. The player never makes any kind of connection to the vault. Fuck the vault!

Have to say I disagree with your overall point, I agree that we don't truely bond with the vault, but I felt a bit sorry for VD when he got the boot

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I once tried it but I couldn't really get in, gameplay wise. I just didn't know what the heck I was doing. Should give it another chance, but I'm already catching up another oldie, System Shock 2.

Same here... anyway, despite what the article mentionned a few weeks back stated; do the System Shock games stand the test of time ?

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Same here... anyway, despite what the article mentionned a few weeks back stated; do the System Shock games stand the test of time ?

The first one controls pretty horribly, but the sequel is ace all the way.

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The first one controls pretty horribly, but the sequel is ace all the way.

I agree. Could've been the best game of its time, but marred only by its controls.

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Oh come on, the controls aren't so unspeakably horrible you couldn't get used to them.

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