Hello, I am going to play Fallout 1 during Christmas as part of a challange for myself as I want to delve into unknown territories (since I'm more of an FPS person), and I need some tips and tricks to have a good start on this game.

Can't help you personally, but you might want to check out the series forum here, as I'm sure there's tons of good info there.

Thank you for telling me, thought other might know something better but this one's good as well.

Enjoy - it's a fantastic game.

My only piece of advice would be to not get stressed out by the countdown clock. It's there to create a sense of urgency, but honestly, it's almost impossible to run out of time. Don't let watching the clock prevent you from taking your time to explore.

Games are made to challenge our minds and entertain us and that's the best part.The worst part is someone else showing secrets.

there is a bit of a learning curve as far as interface and mechanics (and just managing all of the inventory!), it'll feel funny, clunky, frustrating, at first - stick with it, once your brain learns the things, it'll be cake and you'll be glad you did

this may or may not be an issue for you at all, but I find it more often is than is not

AND ENJOY!!!

oh and pro tip #1:

turn combat animations to as fast as you can

The game can be finished with quite a different types of characters (some fighting their way through, some negotiating their way through...), but unless you intend to replay the game through several times with different types of characters, I suggest you read up on some character creation FAQ, how to make a good all-around character that gets the most out of the game (ie. being good in combat, but not missing some good or important dialogue options for being too dumb).

If, on the other hand, you intend to play the game through several times, knock yourself out then, create a big dumb boxer who will reply to everything with "Huh? Wha?" or whatever, or a slick negotiator who can't fight his/her way out of a paper bag, but instead can negotiate others to remove the paper bag.

https://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/197289-fallout/faqs

I mainly recall a few things that I would always do (I try to keep this spoiler-free):

- Give your character high enough luck. There is a special encounter in the game where you can obtain The Best Weapon in the game, and IIRC you can't find that special encounter if you have low luck.

Unfortunately I can't remember for sure how high luck you need in order to find it, but somehow the number "7" pops into my mind. Not sure if that was before or after you have increased your luck in the game (there is a place where you can get a +1 to your Luck). So I suggest you give your character Luck 7 or 8 right at the beginning. I'm pretty sure one of the FAQs mentioned this...

Of course you don't necessarily need that one weapon and there are other good weapons too in the game, but it is apparently the best weapon in the game. Its only downside is that it has a rather low range so you have to get closer to enemies, but when you do... oh boy...

- When you find a scientific report (holodisc) about reproduction problems of mutants or something like that, keep that holodisc with you till the end of the game. Having it opens up one more optional way to beat the end game. There are several ways to finish the game so you won't get stuck without it or anything, but in case in the last encounter you want to try out different ways to beat it...

Unfortunately I had dropped that holodics to some place as I thought it is not needed anymore, and I couldn't find it anymore. But as said, it is just one of the many ways to finish the game.

- There is a way to make your companions equip and wear certain weapons and armor, but it is rather cumbersome in the game (I have no idea why the game doesn't let you directly control what your companions wear and equip, you have to go through hoops to do it IIRC). If you can't figure it out yourself, not sure if the manual mentions it but at least some FAQ should help.

Sorry if I remember some details wrong, I hope those are right. I played and finished the first Fallout like two years ago, even though I have owned the game for close to two decades or so.

"Showing the secrets" and telling what pitfalls to avoid so that you don't get an urge (or even a must) to restart the whole game from the scratch midway are still two different things.

I've seen this problem mainly with (some) RPGs where you may be kicking yourself in the head for making the wrong selections in the beginning. I've restarted some RPGs, some even many times, due to this, and never felt it is a good thing. Last one was Dungeon Siege and its expansion; I recall I also restarted Gothic for a similar reason (not sure if I remember wrong). Oh and Fallout Tactics, mainly because I didn't realize the importance of one certain perk, to get it early on, and what kind of characters can get it anyway.

I think many games, especially RPGs, need a FAQ called "Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Started The Game". I've seen such for some games. (Come to think of it, this is mostly related to RPGs. I can't recall any action FPS or RTS games where I felt a need to restart a game due to wrong selections or anything... and I guess some old adventure games with dead-ends, like Space Quest 1 if you fail to take one item with you from the start location...).

Naturally, if you are fine with the idea of replaying those games through several times, then this doesn't matter. Also, it matters if you are a "power gamer" or fine with the idea that you are e.g. not playing an optimal character, like playing a magician with low intelligence/wisdom, or a fighter with low strength.

Play as a stupid character... enjoy

Nice choice.Hope you enjoy it ;).Cheers

Fallout 1 is a game I found hard to get into at first. For me things really turned around when I tried role-playing a bit building the backstory of the main character (growing up literally sheltered from the post-apocalyptical world, some prejudice against mutants and such but good natured, toughening up over time as he was exposed to such a cruel world, something like that). This is not Baldurs Gate, you can make "evil" choices without ruining your game...

Fallout 1 is a game where you don't have to beat yourself up over completing every quest you find. If you find it implausible that your charterer should take on a quest, or if you find it too hard or annoying, just pass on it. You can finish the game regardless and just trying to complete every area before moving on just breaks immersion for me.

I would also recommend accepting loss in the game. If you lose a companion just deal with it an integrate it into the role of your main character (unless you did something really stupid like accidentally placing a bomb or something like that). The game is build around having one character, not a permanent party.

You might want to check out what states do before playing. While they all can be interesting, some do allot for you (like agility or speech) and others hardly matter at all. While you don't have to utterly optimize your character, finding out how much agility matters after having played for 3-5 hours can be tremendously annoying.

The game is short, play it on easy to get a feel for it and don't worry about exploring too much to begin with. Getting that first mission out of the way will give you enough experience in and out of the game to get a good idea of what is to come. Enjoy.

Personally, the problem is that many RPGs (and games that borrow their growth systems from RPGs) force the player to make too many irreversible choices when it comes to character development. I would say that many RPGs would be better with some tweaks:

* Make skill points easily re-allocatable. Alternatively, decouple skill points from leveling; have skill points be separate from XP, and don't include a mechanic that would make them harder to get later on.

* At character creation, limit the number of choices that need to be made; maybe have the character's class be the only irreversible choice the player has to make.

* Allow the player to create new characters mid-game, and to swap out those characters with older characters. This way, if the player doesn't like their choice of class, they can replace that character with a new one of a different class. Ideally, the old character should be available in case the player changes their mind.

* Alternatively, get rid of choices in character development entirely. The Metroidvania-style Castlevanias, for example, don't include such irreversible choices (although SotN has random stat growth which I consider to be a poor mechanic, and CotM has extra post-game modes where your stat growth is different).

Out of curiosity, is a genocide run, in which you kill every single character except the main character, possible in this game? Is it feasible to do this, and is it still possible to beat the game afterwords?

Is it short enough to be beaten in a few hours just playing casually (not speedrunning; a speedrun can go under 5 minutes, but that's not going to happen unless somebody is already intimately familiar with the game)?

I recall this being case (e.g. in Fallout 1), but I couldn't get a confirmation with Google. I may remember wrong.

However, I found such discussion for Fallout 2, that pointed out you can beat the game killing everyone in the game, EXCEPT killing everyone in your home village where you start the game (Arroyo). If you do that, you will face "game over" once you leave the village, as your main quest was to save that village.

Of course you will then fail most subquests as well etc., but apparently they are not necessarily needed to be finished successfully (and I guess some are possible to finish by killing everyone).