Thoughts on the Fallout Games?

50 minutes ago, Wyrmwood said:

In a way the pixel hunt thing is partly because we're running the games at a higher resolution than what they designed for, I assume your using an HD Patch for Fallout.

Yes, but I use the 2X option, which makes it closer to the original resolution.

My gripe with the isometric view is that it makes it very difficult to spot doors on the northern and eastern side of buildings (or the western and southern walls of rooms) or enemies in cramped environments. I also had to resort to a walkthrough to figure out where to locate that damn Lavender Flower book, but holy shit, I had to stand right next to it in order to see it because it was hidden by a wall.

Fallout 1 has great atmosphere (mid -> mid-late 90s was kind of the pinnacle of good atmosphere in gaming, see also Diablo 1 compared to D2)
Fallout 2 has better gameplay but is way more corny.

Fallout 3 felt like a slog, never got close to beating it.
I'd play New Vegas if my computer wasn't a complete potato.

2 minutes ago, TheHambourgeois said:

I'd play New Vegas if my computer wasn't a complete potato.

Really? It is that poorly optimized? Out of curiosity, what games can you run on your computer?

2 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Really? It is that poorly optimized? Out of curiosity, what games can you run on your computer?

My computer option at the moment is a probably 11-year old laptop that is barely a step above a chromebook

41 minutes ago, TheHambourgeois said:

(mid -> mid-late 90s was kind of the pinnacle of good atmosphere in gaming, see also Diablo 1 compared to D2)

I got into these late and loved the tone and settings between these two. 2’s expansion feels off, though, especially with the music: Felt more “epic”, not like “Diablo”.

Honestly, I do not see much parallels between Fallout and Diablo aside from the isometric view.

Even at its darkest, Fallout remains a dark comedy/satire whereas Diablo 1 and 2 are straightforward dark fantasy adventures.

1 hour ago, TheHambourgeois said:

My computer option at the moment is a probably 11-year old laptop that is barely a step above a chromebook

Can you run games like Borderlands 1 or 2?

2 hours ago, BGrieber said:

I got into these late and loved the tone and settings between these two. 2’s expansion feels off, though, especially with the music: Felt more “epic”, not like “Diablo”.

Agreed but Diablo 1's "official" expansion feels way more off. The "epic" tone of LOD worked a lot better than the silly/cartoony stuff Hellfire had. The old Blizzard North team isn't to blame for that one though.

EDIT: Didn't want to double post. Just found out a Fallout series is in development for Amazon's streaming service that is speculated to be releasing next year. The first screenshot of it apparently found its way online today. I almost certainly won't be watching it since I don't have Prime, don't have the patience for episodic shows (especially modern ones) and judging by who the writers are it wouldn't catch my interest even if those other two things weren't a factor. Regardless I'm sure there are some of you that would be interested so felt it was worth sharing.

3 hours ago, StodgyAyatollah said:

Didn't want to double post. Just found out a Fallout series is in development for Amazon's streaming service that is speculated to be releasing next year. The first screenshot of it apparently found its way online today. I almost certainly won't be watching it since I don't have Prime, don't have the patience for episodic shows (especially modern ones) and judging by who the writers are it wouldn't catch my interest even if those other two things weren't a factor. Regardless I'm sure there are some of you that would be interested so felt it was worth sharing.

My feeling on this show pretty much match yours but I could be proven wrong. I actually enjoyed the Witcher TV show despite my initial misgivings but I don't have high hopes for this.

Sure most know of this but Denzel Washington's Book of Eli is pretty much Fallout the movie. It's (slightly) more realistic, there's no supermutants or radscorpions but artistically and themematicly damn close and a pretty good story too.

I don't play much Fallout anymore, but I always liked the general aesthetic of the series and the story of most of the games, Fallout New Vegas being my favorite for having that and the variety of it all. I would like to share some custom Fallout terminal wallpapers I made in the past by combining ones I found on Google and adding text to them. They're 1920x1080 btw.

I have to ask: is the Lockpicking skill really worth it after all? In Klamath, I tried to pick a door lock with a skill level of 50% and after numerous failed attempts, I ended up jamming the lock. Maybe Fallout 2 made it harder by not giving you a lockpicking tool right off the bat, but dang... Meanwhile, I have found that the Crowbar can easily pry open any regular door I encounter. I was looking for to building a thief character with max PE and AG, but with Lockpicking, Sneaking and Stealing being so unreliable at least early on, I am no longer sure about the viability of the build.

4 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

I have to ask: is the Lockpicking skill really worth it after all? In Klamath, I tried to pick a door lock with a skill level of 50% and after numerous failed attempts, I ended up jamming the lock. Maybe Fallout 2 made it harder by not giving you a lockpicking tool right off the bat, but dang... Meanwhile, I have found that the Crowbar can easily pry open any regular door I encounter. I was looking for to building a thief character with max PE and AG, but with Lockpicking, Sneaking and Stealing being so unreliable at least early on, I am no longer sure about the viability of the build.

Like any skill check in the game it's a dice roll, exactly like pen and paper RPGs. So you rolled a load of low numbers, then rolled a 2 or something for critical miss and jammed the lock. Not your characters lucky day! Pretty frustrating though, lockpicking is far more entertaining in the Bethesda games it has to be said.

Yeah. I guess I would not mind it so much if it did not mean wasting precious skill points that could be allocated elsewhere; I would rather use the Crowbar, as it doubles as a melee weapon. I was also pleased to discover Fallout 2's companion combat control menu; given how visually and mechanically similar the game is to its predecessor, I only stumbled upon that feature accidentally when I tried talking to a companion. I wish the game would have made it more obvious, but it is a welcome addition nonetheless.

Man, it is a shame that Fallout Tactics is reportedly a non-canonical buggy mess: a Fallout game where you control several characters at once sounds pretty cool. I hear that is what the Wasteland series is about, but unfortunately, it seems to take itself much more seriously than Fallout.

@Rudolph did you know that Charisma determines how many companions you can recruit? If I remember correctly, one companion demands 2 points of Charisma, so if you have it maxed up, you can have 5 companions do all the work for you in combat, lol.

All this talk about Fallout makes me reconsider installing one of them. Again, lol.

Just now, Sonikkumania said:

@Rudolph did you know that Charisma determines how many companions you can recruit? If I remember correctly, one companion demands 2 points of Charisma, so if you have it maxed up, you can have 5 companions do all the work for you in combat, lol.

Yes! 

Speaking of Charisma, I decided to go back to Fallout 1 and create a new character with max Intelligence and Charisma so they could start with a fairly Speech skill level. Since my character is not a fighter, I intend to make full use of companions this time around and support them in battle.

1 hour ago, Rudolph said:

Yes! 

 

Speaking of Charisma, I decided to go back to Fallout 1 and create a new character with max Intelligence and Charisma so they could start with a fairly Speech skill level. Since my character is not a fighter, I intend to make full use of companions this time around and support them in battle.

Just a heads up, charisma is barely implemented in 1. If it's high or low you get a couple unique lines of dialog while IN and speech effect like 99% of unique dialogs. It doesn't do anything else so you can get all the companions without it. 

EDIT: I would be lying if I said CH did nothing else. There are CH requirements for 3 perks.

10 minutes ago, StodgyAyatollah said:

Just a heads up, charisma is barely implemented in 1. If it's high or low you get a couple unique lines of dialog while IN and speech effect like 99% of unique dialogs. It doesn't do anything else so you can get all the companions without it. 

And the companion setup is just so inferior compared to FO2.. IDK if some mod fixes this though.

Speaking of which, how many companions are there in 1? Like, 3 ?

19 minutes ago, Sonikkumania said:

And the companion setup is just so inferior compared to FO2.. IDK if some mod fixes this though.

 

Speaking of which, how many companions are there in 1? Like, 3 ?

Four if you count dogmeat. There are a few mods that fix that. Fallout et tu let's you play 1 in 2's engine. I think Fixt implements all the companion stuff. Those change a lot of things so I just play with sfall and a stand alone companion mod since I like to keep things vanilla and sfall mostly adds a bunch of qol stuff that can be turned on or off seperately. It even has a neat feature that lets you control your companions in combat.

On 10/25/2022 at 10:23 AM, Rudolph said:

I made it to Redding and I must say I am really enjoying the mining subplot

That part of the game fucking blows. Enjoy dealing with the wanamingos

2 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Man, it is a shame that Fallout Tactics is reportedly a non-canonical buggy mess

It's not that buggy. There is only one serious bug: Don't go crouch / prone, enter a vehicle, and exit the level. Always enter and exit your vehicles while standing up.

Is it really that non-canonical though? Considering all the silly bullshit that made its way into the Fallout 1 and 2? Fallout Tactics has a much more serious tone, it never does any of the silly stuff. It's arguably easier to integrate into the canon than the wanamingos, as mentioned previously.

8 minutes ago, RDETalus said:

Fallout Tactics has a much more serious tone, it never does any of the silly stuff.

According to Fallout wiki, the game has 30 special encounters alone, some of them look even sillier than in previous titles.

The problem with Fallout Tactics for me is how teadious the gameplay is. One of classic Fallout's teases is easily the combat mode, so what did they do? Make the whole game based on combat. With large maps and many NPC's it's really a bore. But I liked the atmosphere too and consider the game canon. I've tried to give the game many, many chances but I always get fed up.

6 minutes ago, Sonikkumania said:

According to Fallout wiki, the game has 30 special encounters alone, some of them look even sillier than in previous titles.

 

The problem with Fallout Tactics for me is how teadious the gameplay is. One of classic Fallout's teases is easily the combat mode, so what did they do? Make the whole game based on combat. With large maps and many NPC's it's really a bore. But I liked the atmosphere too and consider the game canon. I've tried to give the game many, many chances but I always get fed up.

But FO Tactics does have the only government funded mod, specifically the Canadian government. Which also happens to push a bizarre anarchist utopia agenda. So it does have that. https://www.moddb.com/mods/thesum

6 minutes ago, Sonikkumania said:

According to Fallout wiki, the game has 30 special encounters alone

yes you're right, but I consider all the special encounters across all the fallout games to be non-canonical anyways
 

9 minutes ago, Sonikkumania said:

Make the whole game based on combat

yeah this is a tactical combat game first and foremost. Although it still has some nice little plots:

1. The ghoulified descendants of a nuclear missile launch facility who've turned their warhead into a pseudo-Christian icon
2. A group of high-tech raiders who worship a pantheon of gods including The Great Panasonica and Saint Sony
3. A mutated strain of human who can mind control animals

2 minutes ago, StodgyAyatollah said:

But FO Tactics does have the only government funded mod, specifically the Canadian government. Which also happens to push a bizarre anarchist utopia agenda. So it does have that. https://www.moddb.com/mods/thesum

A GOVERNMENT funding an anarchistic agenda. I'm stunned :D

Just now, Sonikkumania said:

A GOVERNMENT funding an anarchistic agenda. I'm stunned :D

Who need experience points when you can have autonomy points. Yeah, it's a weird mod and Canada is a weird country.

9 minutes ago, RDETalus said:

yeah this is a tactical combat game first and foremost. Although it still has some nice little plots:

1. The ghoulified descendants of a nuclear missile launch facility who've turned their warhead into a pseudo-Christian icon
2. A group of high-tech raiders who worship a pantheon of gods including The Great Panasonica and Saint Sony
3. A mutated strain of human who can mind control animals

My bro used to play Tactics and I loved to watch it back then. There was cool shit in there and I liked the primary antagonists of the game.

My biggest complains about the combat is a following scenario:

I send one of my squad members to go loot a corpse/shelf/anything, then some asshole starts to shoot at me from a rooftop, then goes back to prone. I can't shoot him, so I have to turn off combat. Rinse and repeat for almost whole map.

I know you can switch turn based off, which I did, but then it just became way too hectic for me. I admit I'm no familiar to the genre so there is that.

1 hour ago, Sonikkumania said:

I know you can switch turn based off, which I did, but then it just became way too hectic for me

I played the game in real time combat. I couldn't imagine trying to play in turn-based combat, the game would turn into a massive slog. I don't think turn-based mode was tested and it was never balanced properly.

Real time mode is a lot of fun because I would setup elaborate ambushes and just completely annihilate enemies as they came around a corner with like 4 guys with machine guns on burst fire. The game has great gore animations for this. Or tell 3 guys to crawl up behind a sandbag, then tell them to all standup at once and unload their guns at the poor unsuspecting enemy. Vehicles were really OP (in the few maps you could use them) because your entire squad of 6 guys could just fire shotguns non-stop at enemies as you did donuts around them.

This game loading screen render shows you how you're supposed to play: Line up your guys with guns, get the enemy to come around a corner, and blast them apart.

7 hours ago, Rudolph said:

and after numerous failed attempts, I ended up jamming the lock

IIRC you can still try repairing the lock or just blasting/ kicking the door open.

1 hour ago, rzh said:

IIRC you can still try repairing the lock or just blasting/ kicking the door open.

Wait, you can literally kick doors open in Fallout 2? :o

5 hours ago, RDETalus said:

That part of the game fucking blows. Enjoy dealing with the wanamingos

What do you mean?

28 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

What do you mean?

Did you go into the Redding mines and deal with the problem yet? If it's too hard for you don't worry, that part of the game is notoriously annoying.

7 hours ago, RDETalus said:

Did you go into the Redding mines and deal with the problem yet? If it's too hard for you don't worry, that part of the game is notoriously annoying.

Yeah, I did, but to be fair, my character also struggles to deal with anything more powerful than a Radscorpion, so I figured I just needed to make my character stronger: even the Sheriff would not let me help him, as he considered me not ready yet.

I still think Redding is amazing in terms of storytelling and level design: I have just discovered the tunnels under the well, which let me sneak into areas that appeared to be off-limits at first. And as I said, in Fallout 1, conflicts usually seemed to boil down between siding with either the good guys or the obviously evil bad guys, whereas in Fallout 2's Redding, I find myself having to stop and think about the potential ramifications of siding with one camp over another. Granted, I do not expect much of an impact on the rest of the game, but still, it makes the local conflict more believable and compelling.

However, I must say that I am not okay with Fallout 2 giving you the ability to become a slaver and take part in slave raids: thankfully, it is entirely optional, but why oh why would you put that in a video game? Killing, lying and stealing can be morally justified, but rape, torture and (EDIT: in Fallout 2's case) slavery? That is a big no-no to me, even in a video game...

2 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

However, I must say that I am not okay with Fallout 2 giving you the ability to become a slaver and take part in slave raids: thankfully, it is entirely optional, but why oh why would you put that in a video game? Killing, lying and stealing can be morally justified, but rape, torture and slavery? That is a big no-no to me, even in a video game...

You're playing a game about a post-nuclear, post-"civilization" wasteland. People might be doing bad no-nos in such a situation.