Jeez, what a waste of time. Quite possibly the most inconsequential plotline I have ever witnessed in my life. The worst part is the story is THIS close to actually tackling something interesting and that's with whether or not to delete River from Johnny's memories. Our two protagonists delete people at multiple points within the game and discussions as to whether or not these simulated memories count as real people is brought up more than once. So realizing that the obstacle in their goal to create the simulation of going to the moon is River, the woman that Johnny married, is a genuinely interesting reveal. And what I found even more interesting is that the character I took to be more philosophical and empathetic, Eva, was actually far more willing to do such a thing as deleting River rather than the more cynical and uncaring character, Neil. I was disappointed to discover that not only did I have no choice in the matter of whether or not River is deleted, but that the story completely sidesteps this ethical question by just... letting River show up anyway! It's revealed that Eva knew what she was doing all along and simply had a plan to let Johnny have both River AND his dream to visit the moon! Okay... so why the FUCK didn't she JUST. SAY. THAT. Neil at one point tells Eva that she has a communication problem but that is not the same as just not telling someone important information. The reason she doesn't tell Neil this is so we, the player, can be left in suspense during this entire sequence. But it doesn't matter. It is a facade. In fact, the entire story is a facade. I'm sorry, but who cares that this old dude gets to experience going to the moon in his mind before he dies. It's not real! It didn't happen! Johnny's real story is far more interesting and meaningful than the story of giving him a fake life of fulfilling his "dream" that wasn't even really his dream in the first place! He never cared about going to the moon! The point of going to the moon was that River would be there! What really seals this games coffin for me though is that this story had no reason to be told through the video game format. The gameplay is SHIT. Every single section that gets gamey is SHIT. The animations being these goofy fucking RPG Maker things take me out of this very dramatic and grounded story without fail. It's SHIT. This game? Is shit! But I guess a nice old guy died so people at home cried a lot. Sorry, but I just don't get it. Suffice it to say, I think I'll pass on the rest of the trilogy. You have no idea how little I care about the weird mystery of Neil taking painkillers. It's probably just gonna be that he's fucking dying or some shit which is SUPER sad you see because, he's like, a dude we know and he's, like, dying. Truly peak storytelling.

Fallout 1, through the Master, suggests that as long as people have differences, we will continue to kill each other. Fallout 2 has a different idea. Fallout 2 thinks we kill each other because we want other people's shit. The differences are simply the justification. Why offer part of your pie for someone else's pie if you can just kill the guy and have both pies completely to yourself? And why risk that diplomacy if they might just be the one to kill you for both pies anyway? But... these are human beings, right? Just like me, they value life. But wait... what if they don't count as human? They're a tribal or a woman or an outsider or a ghoul or a super mutant or a talking deathclaw or an individual who has simply just... been irradiated at all. Now, if I make a premptive strike, it's okay. No moral qualms. They aren't human anyway. But it's a lie, obviously. It's delusion. The best part about Fallout 2 is that sometimes, you can show people that delusion. Other times though, they just won't listen. Nothing can change the slaver Metzer, or the bigoted Vault City leader, or the President of the United States minds because they WANT to think this way. It is convenient for them.