Why the original Fallout is still my favourite game 13 years later

I first discovered Fallout when I played the demo in the early summer of 1997 iirc. I didn't have the internet back then and I found it on a CD that came with a magazine. It was amazing. I like that they used the GURPS RPG system as a basis (at least it's a ruleset that actually works AND is sensible -something Dungeons and Dragons never was and probably never will be). Of course by the time they released the game they had ditched the reference to GURPS and called it the SPECIAL system instead. In any case playing the demo as Max Stone was thoroughly enjoyable. It made me think of Mad Max the Road Warrior with a twist...

I got my copy of Fallout in November 1997. At that time I was still a student and I was broke but I never regretted the money I spent on this game. I've spent so much time playing Fallout that I've probably never spent money in a better way. I even bought another copy of the game in 2001 to have a back up in case my CD would become scratched or damaged in any way.

The game was perfect. Unlike Diablo it wasn't a mouse clicking contest (you still had to click a lot but you could take your time and think). I liked not being rushed through the action and I didn't mind the turn based game. I also liked the graphics (and I still do!) even if the resolution is rather low by our current standards the animations were amazingly funny. drawing a gun or holstering it would have your character playing with it like a cowboy. Supermutants would scratch their asses and smell their fingers (gross!) or look down their rocket launchers (I'm not kidding you).

Humour was everywhere but it was still contained and didn't break immersion (the same can't be said about Fallout 2 which was a Pythonesque version of Fallout, a zany Fallout game based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail which may be funny but in the end ruins what would have been a perfect sequel to the original). One thing that I loved was NPC comments in and out of combat. One liners that made the turn based fighting extremely fun to watch. The description of critical hits was also hilarious. I haven't mentioned the dialogues yet but the writing was excellent and some lines were incredibly funny and witty. You could also play a character with a low intelligence and the dialogues would reflect this gaming choice (Fallout New Vegas really failed in that respect).

The game was very story driven and at the same time non linear. You could go anywhere but you still had a story to follow. No level scaling either. Exploring the Fallout wasteland was at times challenging but it was always a true adventure.

What made the game incredible was the freedom you had to play in many different ways. You could shoot your way through the game. You could be sneaky. You could choose the diplomatic way. I've finished Fallout 1 (and 2) with a non violent character who was great at talking his way out of trouble and mainly gained experience points by completing quests and healing people. It was rewarding and I must say it wasn't that hard.

I also love the way the game worked. At times I would think about a neat trick and try it out in game and most of the time the game would allow it. I've never played a game that allowed so much freedom. Besides the world was not static. Things would happen and the situation would change and reflect your own choices. An RPG should definitely take into account your character's actions before the game ends. Fallout did.

The music by Mark Morgan was incredible and so was the voice acting. If you look at the people who did voice acting for the first Fallout you'll notice names like Ron Perlman, Richard Dean Anderson, CCH Pounder, Clancy Brown, Pamela Adlon, Tony Shalhoub and many others... The title song, Maybe, by the Inkspots definitely set the mood of the game as well.

The first time I launched Fallout is probably my most memorable gaming experience.



[If you're interested in reading more about what made the first Fallout so great, check this link: Fallout's Forgotten Revolution. There are screenshots and some interesting comparisons between Fallout and more recent CRPGs.]

I agree with you completely about Fallout. Have you ever played Planescape: Torment? That is another game which has similar freedom of choice and the ability to solve problems in different ways, including non-violent options.

No game that has been made since those games has even come close to that amount of freedom in the quest design. RPGs get prettier and prettier, and focus more and more on combat, but as a result, they lack the freedom and depth of the first two Fallouts and PS:T.

Obsidian tried to include many more options for solving quests in Fallout: NV, and as a result, the game ends up feeling much more like an actual Fallout game than Fallout 3. The one character I took all the way through that game was non-violent, and I was able to solve many tasks through diplomacy. There are many that require violence, but the fact that I could avoid combat for much of the game made it a nice change of pace from most current RPGs.

I still have to play a non violent character in Fallout New Vegas. This game is not that bad compared to current games but it lacks the little something that made the old Fallout shine. It's probably the limitations of the Oblivion engine. Fallout New Vegas greatly improves on many aspects but it fails in comparison to the original (especially when consideringraits and tagged skills and the fact that we can make a character that is good at everything -a major flaw that Fallout New Vegas inherits from Oblivion).

Fallout New Vegas fails when it comes to playing a dumb character. I've been thinking about making a mod that would change all the lines in the game to reflect dumb options. The way it works in Fallout New Vegas is not satisfying at all as it is fairly inconsistent.

I've enjoyed Planescape Torment but I don't like it as much as Fallout. I was familiar with Planescape setting before playing this game. In comparison to Fallout, Planescape Torment is rather linear (despite the numerous possibilities you have to follow a certain sequence moving from one area to the next). It's true that compared to Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale this game opened up many options that didn't exist in other Infinity Engine games.

Kana, have you played Arcanum? It uses most elements of the SPECIAL system in a steampunk setting. The combat system is pretty bad but the game is amazing.

Lionheart (also based on the SPECIAL system) was an interesting game but after a stellar beginning it was rather disappointing. The game had such a great potential.

Fallout 2 was pretty amazing. I remember blackmailing the vault doctor in Vault City and later in that game my character got irradiated and I thought I would get him treated by the good doctor. I was so happy when I found out that the doc took advantage of the treatment to poison my character and gloat over him before the character died... It was a no reload game and I didn't go back to a previous save. After years of playing this game I was happy to find out another example of what made this game so great. Very few games are so detailed and consistent. This is only an example but it was a very rewarding gaming experience. I assumed that the game wouldn't take into account my character's actions and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was not the case.

I haven't played Arcanum, although I've always meant to get a hold of a copy.

I don't think I've ever laughed as hard from a computer game as I did when I first tried a low intelligence character in Fallout. After experiencing that, it's clear that stats like intelligence and charisma don't really mean much in most RPGs.

I observed the same thing about low intelligence dialogue in New Vegas. Why does my character say, "Me buy things," at one vendor and, "Show me your stock," at another? It was really obvious that different people wrote the dialogue for different parts of the game. The person who wrote the Helios One dialogue clearly liked low-intelligence options, even though they were missing from most of the rest of the game. I had the same thought about making a mod to expand low intelligence dialogue across the whole game, and perhaps even adding in other role playing dialogue options.

You should definitely give Arcanum a try. Combat is crap but the game itself is awesome.

Charisma wasn't that useful in the original Fallouts (except if you wanted many companions in Fallout 2) and it's still the least useful stat in Fallout New Vegas.

I've been playing a character with low speech and barter in Fallout New Vegas and failing speech checks is strangely rewarding.

You make a great point about the Helios One dialogue. It's a pity the entire game doesn't feature so many options. That being said, making a mod for low intelligence characters would be very time consuming. I haven't got the time to work on mods right now but it would be an interesting project and writing lines along the ones of the dumb dialogue in the original Fallouts could be a great project for a team of modders (dividing the work between modders would make it a less daunting task).

I've stumbled upon an interesting piece from Crispy Gamer: Top 5 Ways Fallout Needs to Evolve.

I can definitely relate to the part about the pipboy (I even made a mod to get rid of that clunky piece of garbage that is so out of character for the New Vegas courier).

Just FYI my friends, Fallout 1, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics are available for free on GOG right now. If you've ever wanted to give them a try now is the right time.

By the way, I've just watched a Wasteland 2 video and it looks like we'll get to play a real "Fallout" game after all... Looks fairly old school turn based game with nice art direction and music by Mark Morgan (the man responsible for the music in the original Fallout and Planescape Torment). All in all it's definitely something to be looking forward to.

I don't know, bro. I tried to like Fallout and F2, and usually I don't have a problem with older games, but neither of those games truly hooked me up. I really, really tried hard to like them but I just can't bring myself to it. I didn't get hooked to Fallout until F3 (despite it's piss poor story) and NV.

I stilll play the old M&M games, even bloody MM1! But F1/F2 just do not hook me. Am I missing something?

You could always give Tactics a shot. It's not really an RPG but it has some cool things and the graphics are a bit more modern.

Well I tried Fallout 1 years back and didn't get on with it, but as these are free and I've never looked at Fallout 2 or Tactics I've got them. Some older games don't engage me as well now as they would have done years ago, (I found Nox disappointing) but I did feel I'd missed something with the first 2 Fallout games, so here goes!

  

Fallout 3 sucks, Fallout 1 and 2 fareva!!!

                  

The original Fallout games are the best and for free you have absolutely no reason not to give them a try.

Bear in mind that Tactics is not a real RPG like 1 and 2.

There are some user made resolution patches for bigger screens. That may help you coping with the old graphics.

I'm afraid it will be damn hard to top the feeling of satisfaction I get from sneak sniping enemies with my trusty ol' 50 caliber with incendiary ammo

Except that the original already allowed us to target the eyes or the groin with a sniper rifle or a sledgehammer 16 years ago. The critical hit comments were priceless...

Err, why the fuck do I have a "baby 14 years old fucking[Hot]" in the similar topics section at the bottom?? This sounds like shady and mostly illegal shit.

Is there any way to report it?

There must be some way of reporting it. Either that or remove the similar topics section. Does anyone use this section?

Am I the only one seeing this shit? I am also seeing it on my bloody phone's browser.

I vote for 86-ing the similar topic section. It's unrelated garbage and the fact that it points to external sites makes it ripe for abuse.

Maybe report it to our hoster?

Maybe you caught a nice virus, there are several types that use porn as an advertisement? Btw I really doubt that someone is actually fucking a 14 year old. It's probably the ad to lure the perverted ones.

Once I was really into protection of my future kids from horrible info and I tried to find child porn, it's actually not that easy, it was 2 years ago, so maybe things have changed but I doubt it.

Speaking of child molestation, I found out that people who have problems with the instinct of power have a good chance becoming a paedophile, because paedophilia is nothing more than a display of power over a partner, it's just a person can not do that with an adult.

There is so much crazy shit out there...

I don't think it's a virus. The Similar Topics thingy simply picks a few keywords and matches them with other topics from other free forums.

In any case I've disabled this feature. I never bothered before (I didn't even know we could get rid of it) but that is useless clutter that we won't miss.

I see, I thought that's only from our forum. Indeed it is a useless feature

Woo hoo! Glad to see that gone!

Now we can get this thread back on topic!

  

It's been 20 years now and Fallout 1 is still my favourite game.

The (great) article I've posted a link to is no longer available but it's been reposted over there: http://gameranx.com/features/id/1661/article/the-forgotten-revolution-of-fallout/

Spoiler:

I've stumbled upon a pretty good video on the Fallout series: