Fallout

Wish I wrote this review when I played this game like a decade ago. God what a fantastic experience. This game proves you don't need fancy graphics to tell an amazing story and immerse you completely into it's world. I still have fond memories of Junktown, the small village you see soon after leaving the vault. Google mods for first time playing. There's a few that add a lot of benefits for the first time experience. Since Fallout I've played all of Mass Effect, DA: Origins, all of the Witchers and other RPGs, all fantastic games in their own right. Fallout from before the millenium still is the best I've ever played.

Very good overall. World and quests feels unique and provide nice postapocalyptic atmosphere. Gameplay was also much better that I've expected from such an old game. On the other hand, storytelling feels clumsy at times. I often had situations where dialogue expected me to know some information that I did not at the time because of my playstyle/order I visit locations. Also crushes that started to appear in the last ~3 hours of the game ruined my experience a little. I will definitely give a try Fallout 2, but not sure if I will replay this game, even tho I had such intention during my playthrough.

As someone who adores the franchise, I had to try out the original foray for the series. In my 15 hours or so I absolutely loved every blood soaked, atmospherically draining minute of this classic CRPG. This was, however, until I encountered the Cathedral. Housing the final boss of the game, I came across a game breaking bug wherein it would crash and freeze everytime I tried to enter the place, thus meaning I couldn't finish an otherwise fantastic journey. Heartbreaking really, although I played enough and explored everywhere ensuring that I can, to some extent, say I beat the original Fallout

Fallout 1 is a game that is divisive for Fallout fans, it's not the most mechanically polished, sometimes can be clunky, but what it does well is world-building. Unlike Fallout 2 and subsequent Fallout games, Fallout is much more bleak and uncomfortable, the world is still rebuilding slowly but is still desolate, what cities exist are bits of scrap tied together, you've been exiled from your home in search for a water-chip, and even once you return the water-chip, you'll find a much larger, hulking threat stands in your way. Regarding gameplay, Fallout takes the c out of crpg very seriously, you'll start by either selecting a class or building your own with skills such as small guns, doctor, big guns, speech, etc... alongside your SPECIAL skills, with your Agility dictating how many action points you can use to move around on the isometric grid, use items, access inventory, and use your weapons. Whilst this can be a little frustrating if you've come from Fallout 3 and onwards, it slowly becomes natural and you'll find the most important thing is focusing on your weapon skill of choice. Compared to Fallout 2 is where issues start to pop-up, there's not really a great inventory management system in Fallout 1, you can't loot all off enemies or containers, and things just feel clunkier and less refined. Should you play Fallout 1 today? My answer is a hard maybe, the gameplay flaws make Fallout 2 the mechanically better game to play but Fallout 1's bleak environment, iconic story, and place as the first in the Fallout series. *Note, you should definitely use the Community Edition patch if you get the chance, it'll make the game run better on modern hardware and includes some minor tweaks.

This is my first time playing any Fallout game. Even as a veteran of old CRPGs who grew up loving Baldur's Gate, I found the controls and UI janky as hell. It's very unintuitive and a newbie without perseverance might give up. Don't! It's worth it. Great setting and atmosphere with a solid enough story. It's fun walking out of the vault with nothing but a meager pistol before transforming into a power-armor-wearing, body-disintegrating badass. I'm also a sucker for conclusions that wrap up various storylines and show how your actions affected the world. There are some bugs, and many people are complaining about this being the censored version. I probably should have used the patch, but it's still quite playable and easily beatable. Without prior knowledge or nostalgia, I didn't feel I was experiencing anything game-breaking. It would mostly benefit from QoL updates, which I read the sequel implemented. There also aren't a ton of true RP opportunities as most people don't care that you came from a vault, your character's ignorance of an outside world isn't written strongly into the story, and companions are forgettable. But also...it's a really old game and that can all be forgiven. Onto Fallout 2.