Comment on Best sidequests in the Fallout games?
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 8 months ago
Fallout 2 is basically a mediocre main story existing as an excuse for you to wander the desert and stumble onto all the phenomenal side quests. The murder investigation for the Wright crime family might be my favourite, but all the intrigue in New Reno is so good. And that’s not even getting into the crazy Scientologists and their space ship, a shotgun wedding, uncovering the origins of Jet, becoming a pornstar…
MacedWindow@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Damn that sounds very up my alley. Would you recommend that one over the first?
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 8 months ago
Fallout 2 is one of my favourite games of all time, but it is OLD. By that I don’t mean its graphics are ugly but rather the design philosophy is old school (some might say outdated). The stats and skills and perks are not balanced (some really suck and it’s very possible to gimp yourself). There are some unintuitive puzzles and interactions you might need a guide for. Most of all though it’s HARD and unforgiving. Save constantly and be ready to reload. The start sucks. Be prepared to hate the first hour(s), when you have to walk through the desert with just a stick and fight off brutal random encounters.
It eventually opens up, especially when you get access to a certain Highwayman, and becomes fantastic. As for Fallout 1 or 2, it’s mostly a matter of preference. 1 is much shorter, smaller in scope, but also has a slightly more serious tone. It leans a little more into the whole harshness of the wasteland thing. 2 is much bigger, with so much more you can do in it, but it’s also goofier. It leans more into the Fallout humour, pop culture references and sometimes just absurdity.
Also, look for some mods. I always recommend Restoration Project, Updated at a minimum, it’s a combination unofficial patch and cut content restoration that is very unintrusive. I have a couple other suggestions if you’re not against a sprinkle of mods. Most are on Fallout 2 Nexus I think. Mainly convenience stuff. There is a FANTASTIC Talking Heads mod that perfectly captures the original artstyle, but it’s obviously not vanilla. Same for the fan made voice acting mod.
Lastly, you can’t talk your way out of the final fight in Fallout 2. I just want to save you from frustration, since you can talk your way out of most other situations. Don’t brick your save by investing nothing into combat stats.
Phew, sorry for the rant. I’m really passionate about this game.
MacedWindow@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I appreciate the rant and the advice! I’ve tried 1 before unmodded so I know a bit of what I’d be getting into. I probably wont wrap back around to 2 until I beat the 3D games but Ill re-review this all then. I play a lot of retro games so Im not unused to following guides and tip lists.
Any combat skill that is a good go to OP one? Im usually most interested in speech skills, maxing them before anything else.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 8 months ago
Great! Did you finish 1? The two games are narratively independent, but there are references to events and things from 1 in the sequel.
Stay away from Throwing unless you install a combat rebalance mod. All other combat skills are viable, through some peak at different times. Melee is great early but falls off a little bit. Still viable all game though. Unarmed can be great, there are some awesome Unarmed-only perks, but you can raise it to like 100% for free if you want to min/max. Big Guns and Energy Weapons are great late and very fun, but it might take a while to find one. Small Guns is the easiest way. You’ll find plenty of them early, and the late game options scale well.
I recommend starting with high INT, tagging Small Guns, Lockpicking and Speech and going from there. If you want more build advice just ask. Also the Nearly Ultimate Fallout 2 Guide is basically the Bible when it comes to looking up solutions to frustrating problems. It contains basically anything you could possibly want to know about the game. Tons of spoilers though, of course. So beware.
steeznson@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Fallout 1 is probably a more complete piece of art but the 2nd one dials up the zany sense of humour and the quirky side quests.