Fallout series

[demicolon]

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Out of the mainline entries (1, 2, 3, NV, & 4) I think Fallout 2 is the worst one.

Doesn't mention Fallout: Tactics.
Opinion discarded.

The worst you could shake at 2 at (aside from bugs but you can play Restoration Project today) is the tone: 1 had gravitas, 2 is something like a theme park adventure with gratituous celebrity cameos and popculture references on top, fans really didn't like that on release.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Doesn't mention Fallout: Tactics.
Opinion discarded.

The worst you could shake at 2 at (aside from bugs but you can play Restoration Project today) is the tone: 1 had gravitas, 2 is something like a theme park adventure with gratituous celebrity cameos and popculture references on top, fans really didn't like that on release.

Idk about gravitas, but the game has a really different tone than 1.

 

[demicolon]

Idk about gravitas

Fallout 1 is dead serious. Jokes are rather sparse and the vibe is, well, apocalyptic. Later zombie-apocalyptic once the Unity/Master plot starts.

Fallout 2 makes uncalled-for stupid jokes or popculture references all the time and the tone is all over the place. Also the fucking Oil Rig, whoever designed that should be forced to play throught it. Military Base in 1 had 130 HP super mutants wearing no armor - understandable, but the Rig has TONS of 200+ HP redshirts all wearing advanced power armor. To beat that place without going insane you have to pretty much build your PC from the start with the Sniper perk in mind.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Fallout 2 makes uncalled-for stupid jokes or popculture references all the time and the tone is all over the place. Also the fucking Oil Rig, whoever designed that should be forced to play throught it. Military Base in 1 had 130 HP super mutants wearing no armor - understandable, but the Rig has TONS of 200+ HP redshirts all wearing advanced power armor. To beat that place without going insane you have to pretty much build your PC from the start with the Sniper perk in mind.

I finished FO2 dumping CHR stat (no companions) and going only Unarmed.
Is basically getting Sniper for ranged (like you said) or Slayer for Melee/Unarmed.
The critics are a must in FO2, that's for sure.

 

[winderson_silva]

One thing that I found actually fitting by pure chance is how all my FO1 companions died. As you can't give them armor, and the game gets much harder the long it pass, I lost the last one (Tycho) in Mariposa.

Match the theme of the game. For FO2 it was much easier as human companions can wear Power Armor and you got better weapons for them, so even a middle aged mechanic can face the Enclave.

 

[demicolon]

For FO2 it was much easier as human companions can wear Power Armor and you got better weapons for them, so even a middle aged mechanic can face the Enclave.

With the Restoration Project their paperdolls change with the armor, so you can raid the Enclave with Sulik in plate mail... and no shoes because tribal lol. Also you can buy Lou-Tenant's hand-me-downs for Marcus in the Abbey.

My favourite part is the bugged "best" ending for Gecko, where you tip off councilor McClure that cooperation with the ghouls can pay off more... and what happens is Gecko gets enslaved. I know it's bugged and they should all get a Kumbayah future together, but IMO it's more fitting that the one single "good" person in Vault City is still an elitist dick at the end of the day. And it's great that you can tell Harold what you did and after gasping at what have you done he calls you a well-intentioned bonehead and to get the fuck off his property.

 

[winderson_silva]

at least the indiana jones and the monty python references are nice.

References are fine, it is just the way they are implemented.
Finding and being able to use the Holy Hand Grenade is cool, if, idk, you had to follow a long scripted scene where they just repeat the entire conversation from the film, that would be awful.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Fallout 1 is dead serious. Jokes are rather sparse and the vibe is, well, apocalyptic. Later zombie-apocalyptic once the Unity/Master plot starts.

Fallout 2 makes uncalled-for stupid jokes or popculture references all the time and the tone is all over the place. Also the fucking Oil Rig, whoever designed that should be forced to play throught it. Military Base in 1 had 130 HP super mutants wearing no armor - understandable, but the Rig has TONS of 200+ HP redshirts all wearing advanced power armor. To beat that place without going insane you have to pretty much build your PC from the start with the Sniper perk in mind.

The pop culture jokes(and the sex) were actually mandated by Interplay at the time, just like the inclusion of The Temple of Trials even the devs didn't want anything to do with. Chances are that if there is something dumb and unnecessary in Fallout 2, it was forced in by the higher ups, something that would continue all the way until 2004 with POS and no doubt would continue if Interplay didn't go bankrupt. Thankfully, Todd Howard continued the tradition of flanderizing the franchise and ruining it with stupid shit, so we haven't lost out on anything, it's just somehow even gayer than with Interplay's meddling. Goes to show you that the devs knew what they were doing if they still managed to salvage the project and create one of the best CRPGs even with the unreasonable demands.

I don't mind the Oil Rig, it's a decent challenge for Combat Boys and more pacifist builds can just infiltrate the facility. Mind you, even then it's no walk in the park, between the shock floor labyrinth, having to find a way to stealth kill Richardson, and blowing up the reactor(which is harder and less intuitive than it should be), there is still a challenge even for non-combat builds. With the much more powerful weapons and up to 5 companions available at any one time, this was the right call, keeping the power level at Fallout 1 levels would have made the Oil Rig a joke. If you have the right equipment, it isn't even that difficult, Gauss and Pulse Rifles slice thru the armor like it's nothing. Melee is also viable, almost every companion can hold their own with the right weapons even at the final boss fight if you give them the right power weapon. You can definitely get away with a non-sniper Combat Boy build if you know what you're doing as well, people underestimate just how flexible the original titles were with build variety, which was actually one of their selling points(considering you can finish the original game over a weekend, it's something of a necessity).