Fallout and what makes it enjoyable

[Eyeball]

Fallout is good due to the atmosphere, music, setting, the simple but hilariously grisly combat and the fact that it was the precursor for FO2, a much, much better game.

 

[Destroid]

Fallout is a shitty LOTR ripoff. SauronThe Master is breeding an army of orcssupermutants with which he plans to take over the world. The only difference is that instead of taking the one ring to mordor you're arbitrarily forced to find a water chip for your vault even if you're an evil psycho bastard in true biowarean "C&C". All it's missing is the gay supermutant sex, but I hear that was fixed in the sequel.

You aren't forced to do shit, you can get dipped if you want (or perhaps not). The only difference is that you don't get to see what happens to all the towns, if I recall correctly.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Fallout is a shitty LOTR ripoff. SauronThe Master is breeding an army of orcssupermutants with which he plans to take over the world.

Yes, because that one lonely questionable "similarity" makes it a LOTR ripoff.

Fallout is good due to the atmosphere, music, setting, the simple but hilariously grisly combat

This, although I have to admit the combat takes precedence over all other features. It's just fun. Even though I think Fallout 2 lacked in every other department, the stupid amount of new guns was cool. I was thirteen and made it my mission to store every single "best gun" in that stupid fucking car. Good times.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Why do people keep falling for Mastermind's shitty trolling?

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Why do people keep falling for Mastermind's shitty trolling?

Falling for it and calling it out is not the same thing.

Also I'm gullible.

 

[Exmit]

Mastermind trying too hard.

 

[Mastermind]

You aren't forced to do shit, you can get dipped if you want (or perhaps not). The only difference is that you don't get to see what happens to all the towns, if I recall correctly.

And in DA you can side with the archdemon by letting the darkspawn eat you.

If getting dipped resulted in you continuing play as a supermutant in the master's service with possible new quests and help him fulfil his goal you could argue that it was an alternate path. As it stands it's just an elaborate game over screen. Like renowned pinnacle of c&c, The Lost Vikings.

 

[Ringhausen]

Maybe you've missed the "combat speed" toggle in the options then?
Never got opening/reopening doors at each turn in my playthroughs.

Combat speed only made the animations less slow. Look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d8z_X5UQa0&t=2m0s

Every time he ends the turn you get the phhhšššš-hhhšššhhht thing. Irritated the hell out of me.

Fallout combat was push a button and see something awesome happen... in slow motion.

This thread is full of retards and/or trolls.

OK, Fallout combat is sophisticated and cutting edge because it makes you cum your pants. And it's not Diablo in slow motion because
All-righty then!

 

[Comrade Goby]

Fallout was unplayable to me and my 2011 sensibilities.

As was PS:T. Hopefully someone can remake them with good engines. Maybe Bioware

 

[shihonage]

For me, what Fallout does better than any other RPG is to provide a universal ruleset for interacting with the world in creative ways in order to solve quests. It's not a game that's just about shooting dudes: combat, diplomacy, stealth and subterfuge, technical aptitude etc. are all more or less equally valuable, at least in the eyes of the main story (obviously you won't be doing any "kill all the raiders" side-quests as a bookworm). Even if you stick to combat, though, you still have a pretty good number of options that all play fairly differently.

Things like using a disguise to sneak around the Cathedral, using speech options to get better rewards, quest outcomes or even to finish off the Master, repairing water pumps and generators, using your science skill to gain more information on the world and plot, which has a real effect on actual gameplay and quest options... it was a game that showed that RPGs can be about more than just crawling through dungeons and shooting/killing enemies. Obviously earlier RPGs did this sort of thing as well, but Fallout, probably because of its setting, managed to do it in a way where combat felt like just another skill to use along with all the others, and wasn't the bulk of the game if you didn't want it to be.

There's a few random things I really appreciate as well, in no particular order.

Music. Mark Morgan did some amazing game soundtracks during his brief time in the industry, but Fallout's is by far my favourite. Okay, yes, in some places he took ideas from other composers (Vats of Goo being a standout as basically a ripoff of Brian Eno), but Fallout's soundtrack is haunting, melancholy, bleak, and alien, and yet vaguely familiar all at once. By far, it's the biggest contributor to the game's atmosphere.

Visual style. A lot of people harp on Fallout for being brown (and later green), but I think what people miss is that the first Fallout game especially used its colour scheme for the sake of narrative and with a real sense of artistry. The near-complete lack of colour in the main game world does a fantastic job of symbolising the death and decay all around; when we come across a place like the Brotherhood, Vault 13 etc., those locations feel like genuinely unique spots in the wasteland, places where it almost feels like life could thrive. Add to that the subtle 50s aesthetic in the Old World tech and architecture left over, and you have a game world that really feels like it's been built on top of an existing one, with only a few small places left untouched.

The Glow. I don't know about anyone else, but this is where Fallout really left a lasting impression... the brilliantly tense and creepy atmosphere, the sense that one was living on borrowed time but couldn't actually know when that time was up, the whole process of bringing the facility back to life only to have to fight its defenses, uncovering the mysteries of the past through persistence, exploration and piecing together bits of the puzzle, speaking to ZAX as a high-intelligence character to learn even more details, plundering the depths of the facility for some of the most high-powered items in the game (and having to make a trade-off of what to carry back with you). It's a real microcosm of what makes Fallout great.

Sense of a living world. A lot of games try for this, and some succeed, but Fallout did an excellent job within its limitations of creating a setting that felt plausible and realistic. Trading caravans are extremely dangerous ventures, and necessary for survival. Water merchants are the wealthiest of people in the Wasteland. Information travels slowly, on the road, by way of rumour. Everyone has heard bits and pieces, but getting the full picture of the world requires you to travel it yourself. Vast, uninhabitable zones punctuated with small oases where life thrives against all odds. Communities are run and managed as small collectives overseen by those who own the power balance either through force or economics (and the only place which has not resorted to this is the Hub, precisely due to its free-for-all capitalist nature). All of these are pretty minor things on their own, but in the grand scheme help to solidify Fallout's world as one just waking up from the apocalypse.

 

[Jocund]

Maybe you've missed the "combat speed" toggle in the options then?
Never got opening/reopening doors at each turn in my playthroughs.

Combat speed only made the animations less slow. Look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d8z_X5UQa0&t=2m0s

Every time he ends the turn you get the phhhšššš-hhhšššhhht thing. Irritated the hell out of me.

You realize he's exploiting a bug that lets you avoid combat by ending and manually starting combat over and over again, right? That's not the animation/sound it normally makes at the end of your turn.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

You realize he's exploiting a bug that lets you avoid combat by ending and manually starting combat over and over again, right? That's not the animation/sound it normally makes at the end of your turn.

Waiting for your AC to tick up then back down if you have any spare action points can be pretty annoying though. I always end up shuffling back and forth to waste my AP so I don't have to wait. I'm prepared to accept that this might be my fault for being way too impatient though.

 

[Surf Solar]

Has anyone ever really used the "Ask" feature in Fallout 1? I've been replaying it yesterday and often used that, interesting stuff surfaced. I wonder if it's worth the hassle to re-implement that in newer installations.

 

[CappenVarra]

I don't remember using it much, since I got the impression that most of the time you get the "I don't know what you're talking about" response; maybe I should've experimented more...

I can see how it could be a way to convey some bonus information to interested players, perhaps add a dash of Ultima flavor to the game, and possibly short-circuit lengthy conversation trees to get only the important bits.

But considering that important info (such as things required to progress in the main quest) in Fallout must be a part of the dialogue tree (since that's the primary conversation interface) and that everything conveyed through the "Ask" feature can theoretically also be available as a dialogue tree choice - where do you draw the line between the two conversation mechanisms? Which content is available through each? Or do you duplicate everything? Or (depending on the implementation), is the "Ask" feature just a search-like filter operating on the dialogue tree (pruned for skill checks)?

In other words, I'm not quite sure that the benefits of the feature justify the work required to make it work "properly", but that would depend on the implementation. As always


Also, ITT: [Rat diplomacy check failed] It is impossible to totally avoid "Click here to show/hide the hidden post" in a topic about FO1.

 

[laclongquan]

Fallout 1 is yawn inducing. Mod and unofficial restotation pack included. An active encouragement to abandon.

Fallout 2 on the other hand, is the shit. You can do replays plenty of times with plenty of game style until you get sick of it, which is around the 7th run (dumb, evil genius, evil diplo, good diplo, good genius, melee specialist, gunslingers, grenadier).

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Has anyone ever really used the "Ask" feature in Fallout 1? I've been replaying it yesterday and often used that, interesting stuff surfaced. I wonder if it's worth the hassle to re-implement that in newer installations.

It was a nice touch. A part of the old school atmosphere. Also, Fallout Bible has a list of interesting keywords.

 

[Surf Solar]

Fallout 1 is yawn inducing.

Die in a fire.

But considering that important info (such as things required to progress in the main quest) in Fallout must be a part of the dialogue tree (since that's the primary conversation interface) and that everything conveyed through the "Ask" feature can theoretically also be available as a dialogue tree choice - where do you draw the line between the two conversation mechanisms? Which content is available through each? Or do you duplicate everything? Or (depending on the implementation), is the "Ask" feature just a search-like filter operating on the dialogue tree (pruned for skill checks)?

Yeah, if there'd be such a mechanic, then only for the flavor, not to actually win crucial informations (this would be too harsh). Just some nice little touch to add a bit "oldschoolness". And no, as far as I can tell there are no skillchecks involved there, it would be too much asked for the player too IMO.

 

[314159]

Fallout combat was push a button and see something awesome happen... in slow motion.

Yes. And no. What made Fallouts combat great was critical hits. They were great because they were very useful (up to instakill iirc) and RANDOM. Gamblers should understand. Shooting monsters in the eyes was fun, because the chance of a cricical was about 0.5 (what was the formula? luck+0.4? or smthn)

 

[Roguey]

What made Fallouts combat great was critical hits. They were great because they were very useful (up to instakill iirc) and RANDOM. Gamblers should understand.

Huh, my opinion is the exact opposite, I thought the absurdly high damage criticals made it more of a mess than it should be, particularly the instant death kind when you get better criticals (it's no fun at all when you're on the other side and have absolutely no way of defending yourself against them aside from not getting hit period which can be impossible at times). The status effects (crippling limbs, knock outs, losing a turn, ignoring armor) are fine enough as it is and without the damage modifiers there'd be better reasons to not just aim for the eyes all the time.

 

[314159]

Huh, my opinion is the exact opposite

You're not the type that frequent casinos, are you?

I thought the absurdly high damage criticals made it more of a mess than it should be, particularly the instant death kind when you get better criticals (it's no fun at all when you're on the other side and have absolutely no way of defending yourself against them aside from not getting hit period which can be impossible at times). The status effects (crippling limbs, knock outs, losing a turn, ignoring armor) are fine enough as it is and without the damage modifiers there'd be better reasons to not just aim for the eyes all the time.

So you wanted Fallouts combat to be chess rather than roulette. That's understandable, but different people find enjoyment in different things.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Fallout combat was push a button and see something awesome happen... in slow motion.

Yes. And no. What made Fallouts combat great was critical hits. They were great because they were very useful (up to instakill iirc) and RANDOM. Gamblers should understand. Shooting monsters in the eyes was fun, because the chance of a cricical was about 0.5 (what was the formula? luck+0.4? or smthn)

I hated the excessive randomness they put into Fallout. I'd prefer if it would be like in GURPS where there are damage thresholds for critical effects and damage multipliers for hit locations.

 

[Ringhausen]

g that lets you avoid combat by ending and manually starting combat over and over again, right? That's not the animation/sound it normally makes at the end of your turn.

You're right, it only plays at the start and end of combat! But even so you're going to hear it A LOT, just by cleaning the first cave of rats. Storming the military base.. I don't even want to think about it, it was such an awful grind. Anyway the combat certainly is slow, another thing that builds up is the holstering animation that plays every time you switch from gun to medkit. A small thing for sure, but after seeing it a hundred times it got to me. I REALLY hated the combat in Fallout, couldn't enjoy the damn game because of it.

So you wanted Fallouts combat to be chess rather than roulette. That's understandable, but different people find enjoyment in different things.

You seriously enjoyed seeing your guy explode, then reloading, doing the exact same thing, and seeing a supermutant explode?

 

[jiujitsu]

What makes Fallout enjoyable to me... The world is believable in that everyone hates you. Not so much, but outside of Vault 13 or Arroyo people wouldn't think twice about shooting you in the face. I hate when games suck your dick.

It's funny. It's got gore which is also funny. The world is basically sandbox which is nice. The story is fun. The setting is unique and interesting. It's a good proving ground for weeding out "RPG fan" kiddies.

 

[314159]

You seriously enjoyed seeing your guy explode, then reloading, doing the exact same thing, and seeing a supermutant explode?

Yes, but I don't remember Fallout being too heavy on save reloading.

 

[bussinrounds]

Fallout was unplayable to me and my 2011 sensibilities.

As was PS:T. Hopefully someone can remake them with good engines. Maybe Bioware

I would of thought these comments on the Codex would of gotten him ripped.