I played FO3 as a teenager and remember the fall-off being obvious from the first two minutes while I was being made to read a picture book for literal infants. Getting shot in the head at the beginning of New Vegas felt so damn refreshing afterwards.
Every game should start with you being shot in the head. Does all the lifting of how every videogame protagonist starts at level 1 no matter who or what they are. Elder Scrolls? Shot in the head. Mount and Blade? Shot in the head. Metroid? Shot in the head and blown out the airlock. There, now you can make me collect high jump again.
I played Fallout when it came out. I vividly remember one quest in the Hub where a crime lord offers an absurd number of caps to massacre a church with no witnesses.
The first time I did it, I focused on the guards and the little boy at the door ran away, and I didn't get paid because there was a witness.
I loaded the game and then started with the little boy, and was awarded the reputation "Child Killer" which I didn't want, so I loaded the game and turned the crime lord into the sheriff.
That was masterful game design, it was a real consequence for your actions. The game didn't stop you from doing it, but did make you live with it.
I also played Fallout 3 when it came out, and bounced off of it HARD.
One of the things I loved about the first two fallout games is the 2d design suggested a much larger world then what you saw. So for example, the Hub had a few areas, but the edges of the areas suggested there were more parts of the Hub, they just weren't relevant for you. It made the world seem much larger. Another example, is in Fallout 2, almost the entirety of the New California Republic is off the edge of the game map. You are playing a sliver of a much larger world.
By comparison, Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4, render the entire community. It makes the world seem so small. In Fallout 4, the largest community is in Fenway, and there are maybe 50 people in it. Higher fidelity makes the world seem so small.
Junktown lives rent free in my head nearly 30 years later.
It really is amazing how much density and personality the early games conveyed with 2D sprite graphics. The 3D games sacrificed a lot of that by technical necessity. Even New Vegas, which is probably my favorite of the whole bunch, ultimately comes across like a patchwork of tiny communities even in the titular megacity that's meant to be the jewel of the wastes.
Thanks for sharing your memories. I don't suppose we'll ever forget Junktown.
I ended up playing Fallout 2 at release, but before I'd played the first Fallout, and I was having such a rough time of the beginning that I happily got SLAVER tattooed on my forehead so I could earn a few bucks clapping chains on fellow tribals, and then forgot all about it occasionally until some disposition check would remind me, oh, yeah, I have the word SLAVER tattooed on my forehead. Saved the world, still got SLAVER tattooed on my fuckin forehead. Definitely changed how I saw people with ill advised tattoos in real life since.
My most memorable Fallout character was a woman named Daisy who had an intelligence rating of 1, but maximum strength. Daisy wasn't able to do much other than point and grunt in dialogue, until I got to the Hub and secured a supply of Mentats, which boosted my int enough to converse. Obviously, I became addicted, which I pretty much just lived with (it isn't a problem if you keep taking Mentats!), and later had to increase my int through experimental surgery.
Meanwhile, Daisy became a walking engine of destruction, pulping enemies with a super sledge and a rocket launcher (whereas my previous characters tended to be weedier and struggled with combat). It was an experience.
Thanks very much! Everyone should try a low-INT build in the classic Fallouts at least once. One of many unfortunate casualties of the transition to fully voice-acted 3D games.
I'm officially diving into the Fallout games for the first time (after a failed attempt when Fallout 4 first released and I bounced off of it). I just started my first ever playthrough of New Vegas and the classics are next on my list. This has me excited to dive in and craft a story from my own imagination in the world!
Delighted to hear it. I never got into FO4 either, but New Vegas is probably still my favorite of the whole bunch. Of all the 3D Fallouts, it comes the closest to replicating the classic games' potential for player expression. Best of luck with the new playthrough!
As bad as the Fall from Morrowind to Oblivion was, it was nowhere near as shameful as the utter collapse from Fallout 2 to 3.
I played FO3 as a teenager and remember the fall-off being obvious from the first two minutes while I was being made to read a picture book for literal infants. Getting shot in the head at the beginning of New Vegas felt so damn refreshing afterwards.
Every game should start with you being shot in the head. Does all the lifting of how every videogame protagonist starts at level 1 no matter who or what they are. Elder Scrolls? Shot in the head. Mount and Blade? Shot in the head. Metroid? Shot in the head and blown out the airlock. There, now you can make me collect high jump again.
Several thoughts:
I played Fallout when it came out. I vividly remember one quest in the Hub where a crime lord offers an absurd number of caps to massacre a church with no witnesses.
The first time I did it, I focused on the guards and the little boy at the door ran away, and I didn't get paid because there was a witness.
I loaded the game and then started with the little boy, and was awarded the reputation "Child Killer" which I didn't want, so I loaded the game and turned the crime lord into the sheriff.
That was masterful game design, it was a real consequence for your actions. The game didn't stop you from doing it, but did make you live with it.
I also played Fallout 3 when it came out, and bounced off of it HARD.
One of the things I loved about the first two fallout games is the 2d design suggested a much larger world then what you saw. So for example, the Hub had a few areas, but the edges of the areas suggested there were more parts of the Hub, they just weren't relevant for you. It made the world seem much larger. Another example, is in Fallout 2, almost the entirety of the New California Republic is off the edge of the game map. You are playing a sliver of a much larger world.
By comparison, Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4, render the entire community. It makes the world seem so small. In Fallout 4, the largest community is in Fenway, and there are maybe 50 people in it. Higher fidelity makes the world seem so small.
Junktown lives rent free in my head nearly 30 years later.
It really is amazing how much density and personality the early games conveyed with 2D sprite graphics. The 3D games sacrificed a lot of that by technical necessity. Even New Vegas, which is probably my favorite of the whole bunch, ultimately comes across like a patchwork of tiny communities even in the titular megacity that's meant to be the jewel of the wastes.
Thanks for sharing your memories. I don't suppose we'll ever forget Junktown.
I ended up playing Fallout 2 at release, but before I'd played the first Fallout, and I was having such a rough time of the beginning that I happily got SLAVER tattooed on my forehead so I could earn a few bucks clapping chains on fellow tribals, and then forgot all about it occasionally until some disposition check would remind me, oh, yeah, I have the word SLAVER tattooed on my forehead. Saved the world, still got SLAVER tattooed on my fuckin forehead. Definitely changed how I saw people with ill advised tattoos in real life since.
A masterful breakdown of this iconic RPG!
My most memorable Fallout character was a woman named Daisy who had an intelligence rating of 1, but maximum strength. Daisy wasn't able to do much other than point and grunt in dialogue, until I got to the Hub and secured a supply of Mentats, which boosted my int enough to converse. Obviously, I became addicted, which I pretty much just lived with (it isn't a problem if you keep taking Mentats!), and later had to increase my int through experimental surgery.
Meanwhile, Daisy became a walking engine of destruction, pulping enemies with a super sledge and a rocket launcher (whereas my previous characters tended to be weedier and struggled with combat). It was an experience.
Thanks very much! Everyone should try a low-INT build in the classic Fallouts at least once. One of many unfortunate casualties of the transition to fully voice-acted 3D games.
I'm officially diving into the Fallout games for the first time (after a failed attempt when Fallout 4 first released and I bounced off of it). I just started my first ever playthrough of New Vegas and the classics are next on my list. This has me excited to dive in and craft a story from my own imagination in the world!
Delighted to hear it. I never got into FO4 either, but New Vegas is probably still my favorite of the whole bunch. Of all the 3D Fallouts, it comes the closest to replicating the classic games' potential for player expression. Best of luck with the new playthrough!