Fallout 2
I was really surprised by the way the game started out. I found it hard to believe that the Vault Dweller, coming from a technological society, would found a “tribal” village, but I gather that’s what happens when technology proves to be less than life improving. I really found it kind of corny at the beginning, especially when the elder talks about a “metal water gourd” from the “Holy 13”.
In the Fallout canon, the Vault Dweller and Chosen One are male, although there are options for a female character, which I played. I was a little annoyed to read that female characters could sleep their way out of some situations, but because I put more points into strength, my Chosen One was too ugly to get these options ;-) I think she really redeemed herself by becoming a prizefighter. That was one of my favourite parts of the game actually - I chose the moniker “New Reno Nancy” after winning the title. I didn’t really like New Reno - I found it confusing to navigate. I joined with the Wright Family, which is the best option for a “good” character. We accidentally killed the proprietor of the weapons shop as well. Sneaking into his place at night was an unfortunate move. Although I didn’t attack, Sulik did. I had also unfortunately saved me game just prior to the “get outta my store” dialog, so there was no going back because my previous saves were too old.
The low charisma would come back to haunt me as I didn’t realize it affected how many party members one could have. I was stuck with Sulik and Vic until I was able to use one of the stat modules later in the game, as well as when “gain charisma” became an option upon leveling up. A third hand would have come in really handy during the battle with the raiders! I did have Myron for a little bit, what a drip! The characterization on him was great. Upon encountering an enemy for the first time, he took a hit of the fictional, in-game drug called Jet and ran away!
When it was time to disembark for the Enclave’s secret oil rig, I ended up leaving Sulik and Vic at the dock. I made a couple of unsuccessful attempts to take them along, but I didn’t realize it was pretty unnecessary as I chose the “sneaky” way in as opposed to the “guns blazing” way. I was at level 21 when I did this - I suppose I could have leveled up farther ( theredrage was right - putting points into melee combat was a huge waste - should have put it into other things). I did take K-9, the robot dog, but sadly had to leave him behind - after shutting down the Enclave’s reactor, you have to take a back stairway to the upper level. The gun turret at the top of the stairs started firing away whenever I had him, so I just left him below. I was surprised how easy it was to get through this part of the game without arousing suspicions. For some reason I totally dug the wood paneling in the presidential offices.
The end battle with the big bad boss Frank Horrigan was great, and greatly frustrating. I kept failing the speech check and couldn’t get Sgt. Granite’s team to join me. Fortunately I had the presidential key and could activate the counter insurgency plan. This turns all the gun turrets in the room on Frank Horrigan. Unfortunately, Sgt. Granite’s team also barges in and starts destroying the turrets. I think it took over 10 tries to win this battle. Twice the game crashed, and once Frank melted my poor Chosen One. Sigh! I loved the randomness of each attempt though - sometimes the turrets did huge damage and one time Frank ran out of ammo and initiated hand to hand combat. My victory attempt was pretty spectacular though! Frank was cut down by one of Sgt. Granite’s team members and a gun turret. Both fired at the same time. His front half crawled along the floor for a bit, and then his head was struck off by a different gun turret. Whew! I made for the exit pretty fast.
One of the unique things about Fallout is that the consequences of your actions are revealed at the end, although I think mine was a little goofed up. I killed Metzger, the slaver, but the game didn’t recognize this and said that he eventually takes over The Den. No mention was made of the mutants at Gecko. I thought I had thoroughly completed the Vault City quest to ensure they had a new power source, but they were doomed to future failure.
I liked all the useless items in the game, such as the fuzzy Elvis painting. I repaired the car and that was fun for a while, but I eventually left it behind in NCR. The condoms surprised me. I was especially surprised to find condoms on a mutant in Gecko! This struck me as hilarious, but even mutants need loving, I suppose. At the beginning of the game you start out so poor that a good steal skill is necessary. I really enjoyed this...it became a real test of skil, especially as you start out so poor in the game. Some people were harder to pickpocket in Klamath than others. For some reason, my character wasn’t worthy of learning how to skin geckos from the old trapper there, so that was a big loss of income. I loved pickpocketing all the baddies in Vault 15 - it made my job a lot easier when they ran out of ammo!
I looked at various walkthroughs, but I found they really varied depending on the choices you made. For example, one didn’t mention that joining the Hubologists in New San Francisco kind of dooms the game for a good character. In most RPGs, one is able to play both sides against the other, which is what I thought was the case here. Fortunately there wasn’t too much to replay from my previous save.
There were quite a few quests I missed out on...the Mordino family doesn’t allow women into their crime family, I couldn’t get into the ranch and I never met the King Rat’s brother. I did get the whale special encounter, as well as the Tin Man. I was disappointed that I somehow caused the death of the deathclaws occupying Vault 13. There’s a character there that can join up with you there, and once I had boosted my charisma, I went to fetch him. Unfortunately there were pools of blood everywhere. I’m not sure if telling President Tandi that I found Vault 13 was the right choice as such, but one can always try again.
I don’t know if I’ll play Fallout 3 or not. The consensus of diehard fans is that it’s just “Oblivion with guns”. While I did like Morrowind a fair bit, I don’t think Bethesda is known for its storytelling. Black Isle games just always have so much that surprise and delight - they’re a tough act to follow, even after all these years!