So, the fact that it took me this long to play this is kind of a cardinal sin for someone who has New Vegas in their top 5. I can't even use the excuse of "well, I don't like the older games", because I love Fallout 1! For a lot of reasons, some that were still retained in this playthrough, I just never could finish this. I tried maybe 5 or 6 times, and I'd always get to The Den and just peter out. This time through, I put my foot down and made myself beat it, and... I certainly went through an arc.
As previously mentioned, I really do love Fallout 1, even with its flaws. I know the combat is a bit boring, and there are some glaring QOL issues, but I always considered it to be a marvelously tight experience that mastered the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic America. There's no real major factions, there's essentially just tribes with differing ideas that still find a way to war with each other. It felt desolate, bleak, hopeless, but those all complimented the game's tone perfectly. Now, the reason I bring all this up is because I don't think Fallout 2 succeeds in that capacity at all, really.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I think it makes sense to see the wasteland grow and evolve, but I feel it leads to an extreme tonal dissonance at times. The political aspects, such as anything Enclave related or the three-way battle for power between the NCR, Vault City, and New Reno, are all done really well, and show that the writing can still be top-notch when it needs to be. I also really loved the expanded-upon themes from Fallout 1; whereas that game focused on the cyclical nature of humanity by looking at small groups still warring over ideology, here the focus is shifted more to the downfalls of the layman, like illicit drug trading, gambling, brothels, and government corruption. It makes it feel like a real sequel, developing the concepts that would grow to be a through line for the rest of the series. The comedic moments, while definitely hilarious at times, tended to stick out to me, and made the game feel a bit less serious, despite trying to be with the aforementioned themes and conflicts. It felt like it was constantly flip-flopping between both sides, and I can't say I loved the feeling. The pop culture references, even if some did get a chuckle out of me, were way too on the nose and often just resulted in me rolling my eyes, I can't stress how much better New Vegas handled them than this. I definitely think that the feel of the game improves drastically as you continue, because the first few areas feel completely flat to me, neither politically nor comedically intriguing, just fodder for you to milk information from. Fallout 1 did this, too, but I find that the early areas in that are much, much more interesting and diverse.
As for the gameplay, little has changed, outside of a few QOL features and having companions that aren't mostly useless cardboard cutouts, which is nice. The flow of weaponry is mostly the same; early game pistol, middle game SMG or shotgun, late game energy weapon, but they definitely give you enough wiggle room to use what you're comfortable with, including a much higher focus to melee and unarmed. This somewhat backfires in the beginning, as having to use melee leads to some very drawn-out and unfun combat moments, but as soon as you get your first real gun, things start going a lot smoother. I do want to mention one aspect of "gameplay" that is definitely a step down from 1; there's barely any talking heads! Seriously, this game has maybe triple the amount of characters to talk to, and yet half the number of talking heads. Sure, it made the NPCs that do have them really stick out (Frank Horrigan...), but it led to a lot of quests feeling kind of dull when you're not really seeing the person you're talking to.
Regardless of my complaints, this is still a Black Isle Fallout game, and they really are the masters of RPG progression. Sure, at the end of the day, it's still point-and-click and turn-based combat, but they know how to make you feel like what you're doing is important, and that's what really matters. I've heard a lot of people say that this is just "Fallout 1 but more", and I think it's an apt way to put it, but it has to be noted that that includes both the pros and cons of Fallout 1. As a result, you'll have a lot of fun with the quests, character creation, and different factions, at the cost of it feeling like a looser (meandering, at worst) experience. But hey, it's set around Reno and San Fran, you can't expect things to be too uptight, yeah?
As previously mentioned, I really do love Fallout 1, even with its flaws. I know the combat is a bit boring, and there are some glaring QOL issues, but I always considered it to be a marvelously tight experience that mastered the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic America. There's no real major factions, there's essentially just tribes with differing ideas that still find a way to war with each other. It felt desolate, bleak, hopeless, but those all complimented the game's tone perfectly. Now, the reason I bring all this up is because I don't think Fallout 2 succeeds in that capacity at all, really.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I think it makes sense to see the wasteland grow and evolve, but I feel it leads to an extreme tonal dissonance at times. The political aspects, such as anything Enclave related or the three-way battle for power between the NCR, Vault City, and New Reno, are all done really well, and show that the writing can still be top-notch when it needs to be. I also really loved the expanded-upon themes from Fallout 1; whereas that game focused on the cyclical nature of humanity by looking at small groups still warring over ideology, here the focus is shifted more to the downfalls of the layman, like illicit drug trading, gambling, brothels, and government corruption. It makes it feel like a real sequel, developing the concepts that would grow to be a through line for the rest of the series. The comedic moments, while definitely hilarious at times, tended to stick out to me, and made the game feel a bit less serious, despite trying to be with the aforementioned themes and conflicts. It felt like it was constantly flip-flopping between both sides, and I can't say I loved the feeling. The pop culture references, even if some did get a chuckle out of me, were way too on the nose and often just resulted in me rolling my eyes, I can't stress how much better New Vegas handled them than this. I definitely think that the feel of the game improves drastically as you continue, because the first few areas feel completely flat to me, neither politically nor comedically intriguing, just fodder for you to milk information from. Fallout 1 did this, too, but I find that the early areas in that are much, much more interesting and diverse.
As for the gameplay, little has changed, outside of a few QOL features and having companions that aren't mostly useless cardboard cutouts, which is nice. The flow of weaponry is mostly the same; early game pistol, middle game SMG or shotgun, late game energy weapon, but they definitely give you enough wiggle room to use what you're comfortable with, including a much higher focus to melee and unarmed. This somewhat backfires in the beginning, as having to use melee leads to some very drawn-out and unfun combat moments, but as soon as you get your first real gun, things start going a lot smoother. I do want to mention one aspect of "gameplay" that is definitely a step down from 1; there's barely any talking heads! Seriously, this game has maybe triple the amount of characters to talk to, and yet half the number of talking heads. Sure, it made the NPCs that do have them really stick out (Frank Horrigan...), but it led to a lot of quests feeling kind of dull when you're not really seeing the person you're talking to.
Regardless of my complaints, this is still a Black Isle Fallout game, and they really are the masters of RPG progression. Sure, at the end of the day, it's still point-and-click and turn-based combat, but they know how to make you feel like what you're doing is important, and that's what really matters. I've heard a lot of people say that this is just "Fallout 1 but more", and I think it's an apt way to put it, but it has to be noted that that includes both the pros and cons of Fallout 1. As a result, you'll have a lot of fun with the quests, character creation, and different factions, at the cost of it feeling like a looser (meandering, at worst) experience. But hey, it's set around Reno and San Fran, you can't expect things to be too uptight, yeah?