starting fallout 2 without playing the first

[izzay]

Am I going to be missing alot of storyline or be lost with what's happening?

 

[kingcomrade]

Well, yeah. A lot of the characters and factions and stuff are repeats from previous games, and the storyline is loosely connected.

Also, Fallout 1 is like 50x better than Fallout 2 (which might be paying F2 a compliment it doesn't deserve). Play the first one first.

 

[Temoid]

I played the second one first and always felt that the first one is a nice addition to the sequel. Screw the haters.

 

[Araanor]

Play the original first, it's the proper way to do it.

 

[Frau Bishop]

Jep, if your system can handle it, play the first one first.
Btw, maybe you need this one:
"How to install Fallout 1/2 under Win2000/NT/XP"
http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=1593

But the interface in #1 is less comfortable. If it annoys you, much, don't install Morrowind instead, just try Fallout2.

 

[Nicolai]

Well, while I suppose that you'd be able to play it just fine without having played Fallout first, you'd be missing out on some important parts of the story.

 

[LCJr.]

Play the original and use the CD for the second as a coaster.

 

[Rat Keeng]

Chances are you'll like the sequel better, but a lot of the locations and story elements will make much more sense, if you've played Fallout 1 first.

 

[WouldBeCreator]

My two cents: FO1 is better written, has a tighter design, and ultimately has a much stronger impact than FO2. My recollection, though is that FO2, however, significantly improved a few gameplay elements, such as party handling, travel, and high-end character gear (you maxed out on gear pretty early on in FO1). Also, IIRC, FO2 did away with the highly annoying "ask about a keyword" "feature" of FO1, which didn't fit well with the dialogue system at all and simply led to one quest being more annoying than it should have been (again, my recollection is somewhat fuzzy here). FO2 also draws heavily from the plot of FO1, although it mostly just screws up what FO1 did.

That makes playing FO2 first quite a bad idea, in my opinion. If you go back to play FO1, it will "play" much worse, the setting will feel weird (because FO2 gives you a very different sense of the world), and the gear will seem even more limited.

If you play FO1, the one hint I'll give you is not to get bogged down killing rats in the first cave. It just ain't worth it and starts the game off on a bad foot.

 

[Chefe]

Yea. Fallout 2 sucks. Burn that disc and buy the first. Unless you're a fucking pussy who doesn't know shit about RPGs, then play Fallout 2. But let me stress, that means you are a pussy.

 

[Atrokkus]

That makes playing FO2 first quite a bad idea, in my opinion. If you go back to play FO1, it will "play" much worse, the setting will feel weird (because FO2 gives you a very different sense of the world), and the gear will seem even more limited.

That's a very good point here, I agree somewhat. It's not a rule, and it might not be this way, but this certainly is what happened to many people I know, myself included. "Naturalization" process was pretty quick for me, though.

I agree that Fallout 1 definately had a more integral and whole setting/story, with little divergence, moderate easter-egginess. However, I do not think that Fallout 2 is much worse. Clearly, FO2's biggest plus is a huge living world, with lots of events, well-written characters... Had some cheesy joke-shit like kungfu and fucking yakuza (among other thigns), but damn some of the towns were indeed brilliant: Broken Hills, Vaultcity/Gecko... although most of other towns were mixed bags: had some great elements/characters, and at the same time spoiled with some real badly exaggerated references. However, I don't find pop culture references bad in general: they are certianly relevant, because this is an alternative history after all, but sometimes writers got really carried away.

 

[aweigh]

I've always been partial to Modoc. The haunting theme for the village and the initial bleakness of the town's future prospects really clicked with me. That town would've fit in beautifully in FO1.

P.S. Of course they ruined it with the shitty deathclaw chicken, Laddie, the retarded Slags and the stupid-as-fuck latrine explosion.

 

[The Exar]

First the first. You'll miss a lot. And IMHO FO1 has a better story and unique atmosphere (as stated before).
And the search for the water chip is quite interesting. Wasn't much of a challenge for me, but a friend of mine found it to be a little tricky...

 

[aweigh]

I just remember going into the town where the water chip is in and shotgunning every single fucking mutant off the map like they were injuns and I was Colombus.

 

[Atrokkus]

I've always been partial to Modoc. The haunting theme for the village and the initial bleakness of the town's future prospects really clicked with me. That town would've fit in beautifully in FO1.

Right, Modoc.. Forgot to mention it. Great town. Coupled with the amazingly beautiful soundtrack, this towns really feels so depressing... Great stuff.

 

[kingcomrade]

Was Modoc the town where you could blow up the outhouse? That town was fucking stupid.

 

[Lumpy]

Modoc was nice.
Storywise, I'd say it would be better if you played Fallout 2 first. Why? Well, in Fallout 2, you're a guy who knows little about what happened in Fallout 1, and it would be interesting to play it without the first game's events. There will be some spoilers, but only minor.