I grew up like many of you with the original Fallout games being some of my first PC gaming experiences. Obviously i enjoyed them back then. But having tried to replay them many years later, i realised something: They are not that great. I mean, given the time period, they were very good for those standards, but a close examination can reveal not only many flaws, but it can also reveal that Fallout design was nothing special (no pun intended) and the main reasons for their success and fandom lies elsewhere. I realised that Fallout is the Mortal Kombat of RPGs.
What does that mean? Mortal Kombat was generally a bad fighting game. Street Fighter II and other games like the Neo Geo fighters were much, much superior to Mortal Kombat in terms of gameplay quality. The only thing going for it was the "real life graphics" based on real actors, and the violence and blood. And yet, those very things made it top the sales charts. People prefered Mortal Kombat because it featured real actor ninjas, hot chicks in swimsuits, and tons of blood and fatalities and gore. The TV outrage about "protect our children" helped a lot with popularity too. Mortal Kombat was cheesy, but in a good way. Though other fighters were simply put better video games, the masses floked to Mortal Kombat because the gory combat was more fun. Kids and teenagers especially loved it more, because it was more "mature" in setting than the "kiddie" street fighter ii.... Thus Mortal Kombat was solidified as the most famous fighting game series, even though it wasn't that good.
I think the same effect happened with the original Fallouts. What really drew me in was the violence in Fallout, the gore, the ability to target specific parts (which was basically the only strategy involved, aside from who target to shoot first and with what gun/mode). The mature post apocalyptic setting that was different from all those kiddie fantasy games. It also helped that Fallout in general was pretty easy and straightforward. A very simple character system, with a very simple combat system. Just point and shoot. There is no depth and nothing to learn. You just create any character, ensure it has decent small guns stat, and that's about it. All else is a decent armor and the game goes from there. Very simple and straightforward to play. You just enjoyed the carnage and mayhem in a post apocalyptic setting. That was the novelty.
I think that is what most people don't want to admit. The original Fallouts are being held up to a pedestal they don't deserve, simply because of nostalgia. They weren't tactical games, they weren't hard games, they didn't have much choice, they were short, they were buggy, their character systems were extremely flawed (most skills were barely useful), and the production values weren't that great. People loved them though for the setting, the maturity, and gore. People were drawn to a post apocalyptic america. It was cheesy fun. That is what made us love those games.
Bethesda Fallouts brought these elements to our age, by using a modern engine with more freedom involved. Fallout 4 is a much better game than the original Fallouts. I know you don't want to accept this truth, but it is still the truth. Everything good about Fallouts 1 and 2 is in Fallout 4, but the engine is modern and the gameplay much more advanced. It is time to leave the past to the past and stop trying to hold RPGs back in the mid 90s just because you are too old to appreciate and immerse yourself to the modern games.
