A genre-defining classic that's weathered with time.
It's undeniable that Fallout is a benchmark in CRPG's, it started a landmark franchise with unforgettable entries, and it's not difficult to see why. The original Fallout has so much going for it, a sprawling open world, fascinatingly intricate characters, an engaging story and some great combat moments, but it doesn't quite hold up by today's standards.
Everything that happens in Fallout is in the hands of the dice roll, for better or worse. Invisible numbers play behind almost every click you make, numbers you will never see the true results of, sometimes this will work in your favour (enemies shooting enemies, lucky repair win, good barter deal), sometimes it will work in the complete opposite of your favour (enemy does 400 points of damage to you in one hit bypassing all your armour).
You know how in a lot of TTRPG's, part of the DM's role is to read the rules and go "Hm, this is stupid, and kind of ruins everyone's fun, we'll tweak this a bit", Fallout doesn't have anyone at the steering wheel, just a random number generator deciding your fate, taking your stats into consideration only slightly.
Of course, for a game from 1997, it's a product of the time, and this system would become refined as time went on. And it's certainly not to say Fallout isn't a game worth playing, outside some of it's questionable design choices it's a simultaneously simplistic yet deeply intricately layered world, that'll reward you for taking the time to explore and talk to everyone. It sets the groundwork for the post-post apocalpyse that's explored further in Fallout 2 and New Vegas, and has some memorable talking heads with believable personalities.
Save scum your way through this game, maybe even tweak some of your stats using an external program, I won't be mad at you if it means you'll get to explore the wasteland in some capacity, it's certainly worth it.
It's undeniable that Fallout is a benchmark in CRPG's, it started a landmark franchise with unforgettable entries, and it's not difficult to see why. The original Fallout has so much going for it, a sprawling open world, fascinatingly intricate characters, an engaging story and some great combat moments, but it doesn't quite hold up by today's standards.
Everything that happens in Fallout is in the hands of the dice roll, for better or worse. Invisible numbers play behind almost every click you make, numbers you will never see the true results of, sometimes this will work in your favour (enemies shooting enemies, lucky repair win, good barter deal), sometimes it will work in the complete opposite of your favour (enemy does 400 points of damage to you in one hit bypassing all your armour).
You know how in a lot of TTRPG's, part of the DM's role is to read the rules and go "Hm, this is stupid, and kind of ruins everyone's fun, we'll tweak this a bit", Fallout doesn't have anyone at the steering wheel, just a random number generator deciding your fate, taking your stats into consideration only slightly.
Of course, for a game from 1997, it's a product of the time, and this system would become refined as time went on. And it's certainly not to say Fallout isn't a game worth playing, outside some of it's questionable design choices it's a simultaneously simplistic yet deeply intricately layered world, that'll reward you for taking the time to explore and talk to everyone. It sets the groundwork for the post-post apocalpyse that's explored further in Fallout 2 and New Vegas, and has some memorable talking heads with believable personalities.
Save scum your way through this game, maybe even tweak some of your stats using an external program, I won't be mad at you if it means you'll get to explore the wasteland in some capacity, it's certainly worth it.