Gaming Masterpieces: Fallout

A glorious year for gaming ended ... and another promising one started. Despite all the good titles available so far i decided to give replay a classical : Fallout, Fallout 2 to be precise, but this time with the Fallout 2 Restoration Project mod/patch. Surprisingly this patch managed to complete the post nuclear experience and also adding new encounters/locations and a lot more. More details about the patch can be found here, also you can download the patch from here.
But what is Fallout ? Fallout is seriously one of the BEST RPGs ever. A quick history lesson : Fallout was developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay. Though way ahead of it`s time Fallout managed to redefine the idea of an excellent RPG, mostly because no one in that time expected an RPG about the future, a few years after a nuclear war which destroyed most of the world as we know it ... to be precise. While the average RPG expects his character to be a random adventurer sent into random dungeons and so on for various artifacts and shit like that Fallout 1`s character is a randomly picked Vault dweller ( as the storyline goes in order to survive the nuclear holocaust humans had to live in large Vaults ) who is sent into the cruel wasteland to find a Water-Chip. Instead of killing endless mobs in endless dungeons like in most of the "other RPGs" Fallout`s character explores the remains of the human civilization finding numerous "locations" which can be from tribes-villages-cities-military bases, also, while traveling from place to place the Fallout character may experience numerous "encounters", some of them fill up the story line, others simply show of what the wasteland has to offer, and others are just for FUN... yeah ... your read right ... FUN. When it comes to fun Fallout (as an RPG ) is the unchallenged King of Fun, I for one always had a smile on my face while playing this game and from time to time I would laughed my lungs out. Since I`ve gone on and on about the character... here is a little something about it`s creation.
Starting the game you can either select a pre-made character or build your own. Fallout presents the classical stats, each and everyone one of them counts at one or more points in the game: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck.... (SPECIAL- lol). For example when i maxed out the luck stat, at a point I encountered a crashed UFO with a picture of Elvis in it and a nice laser gun. Next to the stats there are of course the skills : Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, Throwing, First Aid, Doctor, Sneak, Lockpick, Steal, Traps, Science, Repair, Speech, Barter, Gambling, Outdoorsman, one for every taste :). But it`s not over here ... The Fallout character also has traits ( 2 selectable ) , perks ( one every 3 or 4 levels ) and ... the best of all : KARMA, ooo yes ... you`ll be regretting the click on that kid`s head when you gain the child killer perk, or gain bonuses, discounts and so on for the good deeds you did. The great number of possibilities when it comes to character creation and the fact that most of the choices have their own effect makes the game replayable.
Despite the fact that Black Isle managed to create the perfect postnuclear experience, the game is poor when it comes to graphics and a few troublesome bugs. Though the game is 2d and the player can barely distinguish an item on the floor from the floor itself it compensates with the nice feeling you have while playing it, the sounds are good , the combat system is easy and enjoyable making the game .. simply great!
On the other hand the bugs or lack of features can be really troublesome. A party member will cause a lot of trouble mostly because you can`t trade with him ( if you want to give him/her a better weapon/armor), also .. he will often block the exit if you enter a small room/house/tent/etc. But the most annoying part was for me at least was the fact that, during combat, if a party member got zerged by the enemy or crowded i couldn`t distinguish him from the enemy.
After saving the your vault and probably human kind you`ll enjoy a quite original ending, but hey ... life goes on.
A few years later gamers all over the world enjoyed a new Fallout, the sequel to Fallout 1, Fallout 2 to be more precise :)
Not surprisingly the story goes on, but this time your character is a "tribal", one of the members from a village the Vault Dweller had created. This time the game was perfected, less bugs, more weapons/armors/perks/traits/locations/encounters/etc. Following the storyline you have to find a technological artifact ... the G.E.C.K. also knows as the Garden of Eden Creation Kit. You don`t get guns and ammo from the start and also, you can enjoy a somewhat boring test ( Temple of Trials ). I did say that the game has been perfected but, it`s still the same game, same graphics, same music, but still, perfected.
As you explore the wasteland you can find some of the old locations and even an old NPC, the little Shady Sands turned into New California Republic and even Vault 15 turned out to be populated ^^
But here is where the Restoration Patch came in handy, changing the game, completing it.
Simple words can`t describe perfection, so ... if you didn`t play this game it, shame on YOU !