Fallout 2

About 1 year after the first Fallout game released, the second one in the series came out in 1988. Honestly, there was barely any difference between the two games. The majority of the artwork seemed recycled and the mechanics remained true to the original. However, there was an extreme overhaul to all the problems of the first game.

The Wiki touches on a lot of the changes between the two games but the ones I noticed were: (1) Every statistic, skill, perk was beneficial in some form or fashion. Example: Charisma adds more party members and Awareness lets you see the enemy's hit points. (2) The first 10 hours force you to learn all of the mechanics. This tests the durability of your preset character build as well as teach you how to manipulate combat conditions. (3) Your amount is shown in barter windows, speech is cleaned up when conversing with your companions or the public, you can choose the combat options for your companions (4) You can push people out of the way.

I also noticed that Fallout 2 touches on a lot more mature settings. In fact, Fallout 2 Page 80 has an entire notice up that is summed up as "It says Mature. We mean it." If I had to give the game a theme, I'd say What does it mean to be a slave? If you were struggling to survive, would you give up everything to serve another being who had more than you? Would you isolate yourself from the world or give into various drugs and chemicals. How far does it take before your humanity gets taken away. The game also plays heavily on media references... maybe a too much. Still, I found enough content there to find it interesting.

Nothing changed in the department of technical problems. Content was cut. Conversations don't take into consideration of all of your previous choices. Bugs can crash or worse, corrupt your saves. I'm happy that only happened about three times.

Sadly like the first game, I only played about 80% of the game. There were various spots in the game where the difficulty spikes beyond measure. Each town had an area locked off until you returned with the proper equipment. Toxic Wastes requires an electronic lootpick and Broken Hills requires power armor just to name a couple. I was completely lost when it came to the final zone on the Oil Rig. It seemed you needed various skill checks, equipment, and knowledge to certain combat techniques before you could defeat the final boss. I didn't have the patience for it.

All-in-all I thought it was a decent game.

 

 6-11-2018