Fallout 1
Your stats, traits, and perks can make or break your game before you even begin. Lowering your intellect will cause you to simply grunt at every conversation. Lowering your luck can cause your weapons to explode. Obtaining Bloody Mess will incur a revenge scenario at the end. This makes the game more difficult and yet, more engaging. You have to decide very carefully for each and every option.
Things aren't fully explained. This is before the days of World of Warcraft where quest trackers show you exactly where you need to go. You have to talk to every moving person to see if they have something special to say. You have to choose the right dialogue choices. Some quests might seem more beneficial than their counterparts until you better understand the situation. The depth of the game is massive. I had to look up online to realize that there were stairs that led down to another section. As one person pointed out, you can use targeted shots to focus fire at the enemy's parts. You have to venture down the massive Fallout Manual to learn about it because it isn't incorporated into the interface that well. I did not know about this at all.
The game gives you tons of options. For example: One of the earliest decisions in the game informs you of an older man's daughter was taken by raiders. I must have counted 6 options: (1) Ignore the request (2) Buy her back for around 600 bottle caps (3) Pick the Lock and Escape (4) Challenge the Leader in Hand-to-Hand combat (5) Kill Everyone Cowboy Style (6) Intimidate the Leader. Looking up online, there was also the additional difficult option of (7) Disguise as the Leader's Father. The "right" way is to clear the camp and save the girls but since I did not have a rope to get the equipment in Vault 12, I took the gamble through means of intimidation.
The game is open-ended. The game doesn't force you to visit one place before another. I so happened to visit Necropolis right after the Shady Sands incident before any other place. This pushed the storyline so far ahead that I found myself asking about the water chip even though I had one in my inventory. It's also possible to visit West Tek Research Facility, quickly grab the fallen Paladin's data, and jump out without even knowing what he was trying to find at the base. There are no dialogue checks. And in my research, I found the entire game had alterations and quests cut before release. It is entirely possible to receive a quest that is impossible to complete. How the story progresses is entirely up to you (just don't blame me if you are ill-prepared for the consequences).
Voice Actors. Wait, is that Shere Khan from Jungle Book? Is that Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond? Is that Tony Shalhoub from Monk? Take a peak at all those voices. Ironically, some dialogue choices only come up when you are in the worst conditions. But you have to give the old game props to having some of the best voices available.
Unknown Variables. The game is very evil in hiding the fact that every encounter is random. Whether or not a person believes your bluff might be determined upon your Speech skill. Whether a person adores you depends on your charisma. Some dialogue choices won't even come up unless you meet their previous requirements or encounters. This causes the game to fold upon itself when it doesn't take into consideration all of your previous choices. It is entirely possible for your friend to shoot you instead if your luck is low enough. Or perhaps the enemy hits you for 50 damage anyways despite having 7 points in agility. That's why the game implores you to save often.
Trial-And-Error. Did you ever try to go into the Military Base by just opening the door? That creates a welcoming party of 3 mutants to appear by the entrance. Ever try going to The Glow without any radiation protection? Reminiscent of many old 80's adventure games, you have to discover what to do and what not to do as you progress in the game. Did you stumble into being a hitman's hired gunman? Well, you shouldn't have talked to him. The game is filled with death scenarios that are both humorous and agonizing.
Resources. For a game where everyone is struggling to survive, you sure can find yourself overflowing in pocket change. Merchants bottle caps seem to replenish after every visit. Some areas are willing to provide you with infinite weapons and ammunition. I guess it is entirely possible to steal off of people too even though I never bothered with it. This sort of creates the stigma that nothing you really do matters. I think I reached 30,000 bottle caps because I was trying to sell everything I ever saw. Reminds me of the time I ran through a Dwemer Mine in Skyrim 5 times carrying all the artifacts back home before realizing I had enough supplies after one trip.
Companions. I like the idea of having companions follow you around. Yet, Fallout 1 had a very rudimentary system. Figuring out who would follow you is bad enough. You had to barter (or reverse-steal) to give them equipment (I never figured out how to get them to wear better armor) and then tell them to switch out their weapons only if they deemed them better. DogMeat didn't obey you whatsoever. I never recruited Katja and I spoiled myself in finding out about Tycho. It was only after the game was released that the developers realized how awesome it was having partners you can equip RPG-stylelike and improved the system.
Now I actually began writing out my choices in Notepad until I got so engrossed in the story that I stopped about halfway. That's ok because Fallout 2 Manual actually has the "canon" version of Fallout 1 in the first few pages. I'll let you know how the second game goes when I'm through with it.
5-5-2018