Fallout 1 Retrospective | A History of Isometric CRPGs (Episode 1)
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- This is the first episode in a new video series on the history of isometric CRPGs. For more information on the series as a whole, check out this video - • UPDATE: New CRPG video...
Patreon: / cdavis_games
PayPal tips: paypal.me/cdavisgames
Twitch - / cdavis_games
Twitter - @cdavis_games
Website - cdavisgames.com/
Development History - 1:51
Fallout History - 9:12
Story: Part One - 12:14
Story: Part Two - 29:57
Should You Play Fallout 1? - 45:35
Eurogamer interview by Chris Bratt (highly recommended) - • The making of Fallout ...
Tim Cain's GDC 2012 Presentation - • Fallout Classic Revisited
Know what a fun way to play Fallout 1 is? Set your Luck to 1, and take the Jinxed trait. Combat becomes surreal. You do things like try to punch someone, and end up crippling your own eyes.
This is the true way.
I always play with Luck at 1 in F1, 2 and NV because I always consider that those points in Luck are wasted. And i never had any gruesome accident during combat... now if we are alking about the "Jinxed" trait.. hell... that shit was made by Satan himself. D:
@@PointReflex Can't speak definitively on 1 or 2, but in NV Luck is broken, 10 Luck makes the game substantially different than 1 Luck. The useless stat in NV is Charisma, it does next to nothing compared to the original games.
I remember my first go at Fallout. Up to this point I always played a thief in all fantasy rpgs, so naturally I tried one in F1. In the first town I got to, there was a locked door so I tried to lockpick it. After few failed attempts I broke the lock then I punched the door out of frustration. I got knocked back some 5 meters, lost consciousness and 2/3 of my health. Wat
i can confirm, i use high charisma in F1&2 and sometimes my companions kick ass, just max charisma and gather as many followers as you can then you got a army, i always had to reload whenever one them friendly fired someone though
The Overseer kicking you out makes more sense if you talk to him and the other vault dwellers before beating the game. He doesn't think he can remain Overseer if you come back to live there, both because you're a hero and because the other dwellers may want to leave the vault if they learn about the outside. He basically just kicks you out so he can remain in power.
I think it actually is more poignant if the Overseer was not doing it because of experiment reasons but for the reasons he says. Life in the vaults is better than anywhere else, the outside world is terrible and the community is condemned to die or at least lose something special and safe, so you have to leave and that does get at him because of all you've done for your home.
Thats why it's so awesome to have bloody mess
Then he got axed by the other dwellers when they found out.
The overseer is a bastard, he clearly has an evil agenda.
You don't beating games what are designed to be win. You complete them or playing them through.
"Forget the piece of rope you need to get into Vault 15"
Every. Damn. Time.
"Don't forget the rope, don't forget the rope."
Gets to Vault 15
"AHHHH! Dammit!"
@@josephvickrey5396 fuck, I forgot it again, 5th playthrough and I still forget
Do you need more than 1? I found another elevator shaft in there but I quit because I couldn't be fucked going to buy another.
@@fosty. You can actually find the 2nd rope you need in vault 15 itself, after roping down the first shaft. I believe its on a corpse. Thatll let you get to the 3rd floor and learn more about the water chip quest.
@@clickertankz9394 Ah cool. I got sick if getting pulled into combat with all the rats and stuff so I gave up. Thanks though.
An easy way to tell Ian apart from a crowd is to check for two things:
1.) Did he just mistakenly blow my arm off with an SMG?
2.) Is he currently running away like an ashamed puppy?
If either (or both) is true, it's Ian.
"punishment should fit the crime" - meanwhile in 2011 Skyrim, you kick a chicken and the entire hold wants you dead :D
Haha true. But actually developers purposefully put the chicken thing in, this is to show new players that you can't go around killing everyone (although I did lol) without consequence.
Simply solution: sheath weapon. “You have committed a crime”. “Here’s ten bucks.” “Ok.” Go about your day. The stupid part is that the entire village or city shouldn’t come after just the guards or the people your attacking. Also people should run away from dragons not towards them.
Skyrim is hilarious though. I LOVE when kids and dragons send hired thugs to you and when you're getting robbed or sold Skooma to...as a Werewolf.
You don't get it. Chickens in Skyrim are the pillars of society. They pretty much hold civilization together, and if you kill them, everything descends into chaos.
Well it is a chicken.
Chris Davis: I hope they bring back skills in Fallout 5.
Me: 😳😭😭
I actually really enjoyed the perk tree in fallout 4. I generally enjoyed most of the game mechanics of fallout 4, I just think that they don’t have a grip on the fallout atmosphere and the story of fallout 4 was just really really weak.
@@kemojoaquin there wasn’t even a story to begin with 😭😭
Fallout 1 will forever hold a very special place in my heart, the worldbuilding is absolutely sublime
I was born in Merced, in the middle of the Central Valley in California so my whole life was within a 2 hour radius of the entire map.
"Should you play it?"
"🎶mayyyybeeee🎶"
@@eyoshinthemaximumit's literally not tho
@@jin-yoshida?
@@Jrdotan lol I don't know why I said that
I recently replayed Fallout 1 & 2 and despite some late 90's jank, they still hold up alright.
I've been playing the shit out of both of them and still can't get into Fo4. They definitely still hold up well.
@@HughMansonMD i cant consider any game a true fallout game where i cant give an aimed shot at point blank range into a childrens eyes. so you are not alone, my friend (: i wish i could make these little lamplights bastards suffer, but i cant )=
@@Pintkonan Lol the way you worded that makes you sound like an absolute nutter, but i agree, it's fucking ridiculous that there's an entire settlement of people that you aren't allowed to kill
@@HughMansonMD I think Fallout 4 was a great game for what it was. In the end I give no shits about IP and Fallout hybrid shooters will continue to be very popular if Bethesda makes them, as far as the Hybrid Shooter RPG genre they are very good and the olly ones that sell to the masses outside the Bioshock games whereas others become cult classics like Deus Ex, System Shock and whatnot. I hope the ex head of Interplay and CEO of In-exile Urquhart does not fuck up Wasteland 3 as were in a way are in the renaissance of isometric and other forms of it such as oblique cavalier perspective games. WIth a few in the last decade that garnered decent profits. There will be other games like the old Fallout but perhaps with a twist on the lore. You just gotta let IPs go to notice.
I think that Fallout 1 and 2 are the definitive Fallout experiences. I don’t count Fallout 3, 4, and 76 as canon
"ACE LIPS" is a hilarious acronym
Space Li
WHEEZE
"...And this is my third wife, Ace Lips Migillicutty"
Yeah when I was designing An rpg I wanted something like the fallout special system by the end my acronym was sepias
I want to call it that from now on
I completed Fallout 1 and 2 without having played them when they were in their heydays. I played Fallout 3 and Fallout NV beforehand, and I still thought Fallout and Fallout 2 were 100% worth playing despite some 90's clunkiness. FWIW
Good to hear man!
True, but I don't know why, I enjoy Fallout 1 more than Fallout 2...
@@ripper9489 Maybe because it is shorter, there is simply too much crazyness in fallout 2. Some may like that but i like the simple barren tone of the first one more.
1 and 2 are the best games in the series.
@@ryanc5572 New Vegas
I watched this once, let it sink in, and came back to watch it fully a second time two days later before coming back to comment. As an old school Fallout fan, who spent way too many college hours playing F1 and 2, I feel you did justice to the series with the beginning of the video. The history of F1 and lore sections were things I had already known, the sections were well presented, and paced well, I did not feel like I was waiting for you to move on.
I agree with your opinions for the most part on the "Junktown switch" for the endings. I would like to see more of those "good" endings have possibly worse consequences as long as we gamers have those clues that things aren't always what they seem. I feel it would add a bit more grit to some games (but I would probably hate it when I had to make the choice!).
I felt like you handled my rose colored glasses with care and consideration, you pointed out flaws in a game that I remembered not having as many with due diligence. You didn't seem to pull any punches either. Well done. I preferred F2 in any case, that I specifically remember as being flawed, which might have eased that burden.
Your speech was clear and concise, no wasted time or words, your meanings were clear, without ambiguity, and your voice was smooth and mellifluous. This is a classy retrospective for a classy old game, that I am so glad I experienced in it's heyday.
@@sanctumsomega Damn bruh, praise for a well done video gets to you? You might need to eat a Snickers or something.
I saved Dogmeat. It was the most grueling thing I've ever done in my life... well, ok, maybe not, but I saved him, my sweet prince.
One time I had that bad luck dog with me. I couldn't get rid of him so I thought I could shoot him and kill him. It took so long. I would shoot him and it would say he was crippled but he wouldn't die. I shot him too many times to count. He either died or eventually left. I felt so bad for along time. Your comment made me think of that.
@@kummakummakummakummakummac8606 you fucking monster
500 rounds of ammo later
and he finally has an apt name
Kummakummakummakummakummachameleon human trash.
I love how in my first play through dogmeat died due to the force fields in the mariposa base, which was the Canon death of dog meat.
I don’t understand how the GURPS guy designed a system with combat yet rejected its use in a game for its violence
Did he want non-violent combat? I’m baffled
> Did he want non-violent combat? I’m baffled
Care Bear Stare MF!
Maybe he was a Canadian nationalist and balked at the cutscene of the Canadians being publicly executed at the hands of their superior American overlords.
@@MidlifeCrisisJoe Americans deserve to do things like execute Canadians
@@MidlifeCrisisJoehahahahaha
@@visassess8607lol
**Gives Ian a sub Machine Gun**
Ian: **shoots** Sorry Boss
Ian: **shoots** Sorry Boss
Ian: **shoots** Sorry Boss
Ian *burst* ...
"Not even the carrion eaters are interested in your irradiated corpse"
Someone get that man some glasses!
I hired Ian then went into Vault 15, first thing be did was shoot me in the back trying to shoot a rat, I think he's really just trying to steal his caps back
Oops! You were hit instead of Raider...
Wait I gave Ian a minigun
This game is _at least_ like.... I don't know... 76 times better than the latest game in the franchise.
I GET IT! :D
@@FlackBackTV Congratz, captain america :P
0 x 76 = 0
@@cjv8522 Bruh! How'd you do that tricky ass math without a calculator?!?
76 times the detail
The Master's speech at the end is so fucking good, what an amazingly satisfying reward
it's much better than YOU AGAIN? ... OK I'LL LEAVE
"The only item of note is a decent smg, which you absolutely should not, under any circumstances, give to Ian." LMAO, it's true!
A good example of Subversion of your Dialogue Choices is in Dragon Age: Origins, where you can help a human priest to set up a chapel in the dwarven city. That guy really wants to preach there and needs your help to accomplish his goals, but dwarfs in DA are all hard fundamentalists, so in the ending slide you learn that the priest got killed after stirring up trouble over his "false" believes. This is great because it demonstrates to the player that they can't just mess with everything and expect it to work out fine.
The most difficult part of this game is getting to the end with all your companions still alive, which I somehow managed on my first playthrough, took alot of loading and standing in doorways so that they couldn't charge to their deaths.
I love this game so goddamn much. The world, story, lore and characters are all so fucking great.
The Glow is a pain, but it is, also, one of the coolest areas of the entire game. There is a lot of great storytelling there, and it has some of the best atmosphere on the entire game. Unique enemies. IT is so creepy and awesome
@Josiah Sepulveda
?
I know I'm years late with this reply, but I completely agree. Both Fallout 1 and 2 are some of my favourite games of all time. I think he was a bit harsh judging the game by modern standards. Of course it's the product of its time, and anybody who doesn't set their expectations right won't last long playing it.
By 1997 standards it was revolutionary, and saying that it didn't have as many choices or consequences as he remembers is unfair, since back in 97 he didn't have 20 years of experience playing modern RPGs. At the time it was rare to see this kind of freedom of choice, and this game significantly contributed to the evolution of RPGs throughout the years, without which we wouldn't have some of the best games we have today.
It is so unique you can miss beating sleepy robots in their face.
@@BL00DYME55 yeah really tho. I myself didnt play fallout 1 and 2 until last year, and its almost undescribeable how great that experience was
I love Fallout 1 and 2. Great to see someone talk about isometric CRPGs.
I survived with Dogmeat. All you have to do at Mariposa is, at every new floor, manually open the elevator door. You then wait for (and stimpack if necessary) Dogmeat to wander into the elevator, at which point you enter combat, then use AP to manually close the door on him. I call this the Kennel strategy, and Per Jorner added it to his Fallout 1 guide. The forcefields will require some stimpacks, unless you kennel him before you run out (he shows up on the outside automatically).
Per Jorner! I used to enjoy reading his reviews of Fighting Fantasy books.
ACE LIPS being thought before SPECIAL is the highlight of this documentary. Goddamnit we were this close to having ACE LIPS HAHAHAHAHA
I really hope for a Fallout 2 Retrospective.
The game is really overlooked in the review circles. Most people just put it for 1 minute in their full Fallout retrospective and say "it improves on stuff from Fallout 1" and that's about it.
The game needs a serious, long review.
Tasdingo Moonquish hey dude, 5 months late but here! czcams.com/video/qrqiZXuvez8/video.html
The video is okay, but I want one from this dude.
RetrospectiveGaming is too much of fanboy to see some of the flaws.
Fallout 2 was amazing with zones like New Reno, but something like San Francisco was just horrible in every way.
czcams.com/video/3-o6DuLjs3Q/video.html here you go my dude
Tasdingo Moonquish I liked F2 but I felt it wasn’t as innovative as the first. There’s only one ending & the game is filled with glitches.
@@sirmount2636 one ending? Do you mean the ending cutscene?
Because theres Lots of different slides to fallout 2 (a lot more than 1)
I remember getting Fallout because my best friend at the time was a massive crpg nerd and bought it as soon as it came out. He had me over at his house one day and showed me the game. Within five minutes I was hooked.
I've been a fan of the series since the beginning, and I still play the original isometric games to this day.
Can you imagine how mad he'd be at himself if he'd released it with "Ace Lips" and THEN realized how much better "Special" would've been?
I've watched "A History of Isometric CRPGs" so many damn times. This s basically my "background music" for work. Thanks Chris!
Good coverage; defently refreshing to hear a modern take on some of the mechanics (such as the stray bullets). One criticism would be at the beginning where visually you cut away from character creation while still talking about it (not sure how else you would do that and show the opening but it was an odd disconnect). Keep up the good work.
Having first played this a few months ago, and with my first Fallout being 3, I can say that I loved this game and is personally my favorite RPG ever. Only 2, New Vegas and Deus Ex come close.
Heh same with me, apart from deus ex which i havent played yet
"They need to add that in Fallout 5"
Bethesda: see, I pulled a sneaky on ya
I loved this video I wish more people talked specifically about this era of RPGs. I'm so hungry for more isometric RPGs
Wow, I played this game wrong.
I didn't play fixed.
I made charisma my core stat.
I didn't put a single point into gambling.
And I somhow killed the master before destroying the vats.
making charsima your core stat is the only right way to play the game
There is no reason to put points into gambling, except breaking the economy in tedious ways.
Coolboy Supermega it's useless you can be great at speech with low charisma.
you just can't understand fallout, then, mr.@@trashpanda5869
Coolboy Supermega I guess I'm just not on the intellectual level required to understand the mastery behind Black Isle's design. I need to watch more Rick and Morty to even stand a chance at understanding 1% of the games deeper systems.
In regards to combat, it is telling that you go on to describe it as being a chore and unpredictable, when you ran with fast shot using the worst class of weapons in the game for that trait.
Small guns excel at aimed shots, which you do not have access to with fast shot.
By the time you arrive at necropolis your small arms skill is ideally at a point where you can reliably shoot people in the eyes, which deals extra damage and has a significantly higher chance of dealing critical hits for ludicrous amounts of damage.
The strongest small gun in the game is the .223 pistol, aka "That Gun" for any new generation of players, notorious for being broken and overpowered when used for its intended purpose, ie shooting people in the eyes.
Small arms, even shotguns, generally do little damage when aimed at an enemy's torso, as shots to the torso deal normal, or even reduced damage, and have a lower chance of dealing critical hits than shots to the head, eyes and groin do.
Energy weapons have the potential to be equally devastating when used this way, as there is little to no protection against plasma damage especially, however, these are also relatively usable with fast shot as well, due to their high damage and low protection from their damage types.
For fast shot, enter big guns.
Big guns cannot be aimed by default, as their only attack is burst.
Big guns excel when used in combination with fast shot, and later on, you'll be able to devastate virtually anyone with your trusted minigun, a type of weapon that is extremely strong, but kinda gimmicky in that its very heavy, burns through ammo fast, and requires some assistance through perks and decent big guns skill to be truly viable, you also get these late in the game, meaning you'd be intentionally gimping yourself until that point.
I agree that the combat system in itself wasn't amazing by any standard, it was functional and simple at best, with companions being nothing more than mules that would often get in the way. It doesn't seem entirely fair to criticize it in your context though when you, I suppose, accidentally, took away half the combat mechanic through the use of an optional trait.
If you had chosen the finesse trait, or no traits, you would have had a dramatically easier time in combat, and perhaps this is what younger you did, as the difficulty settings barely do anything at all.
Fallout: Tactics improved on the system by adding stances, meaning you could take cover, crouch, etc, making it play more akin to the older XCOM games than Fallout 1/2, but this was too little and too late.
Thank you I know I am late to the party buy this is exactly what I was thinking while listening to his opinion about combat mechanics.
This is a correct assessment. By going with fast shot, you simplify the combat system and leave out a large part of the game with the aimed shots.
I very much enjoyed becoming a gunslinging Deathclaw hunter with my trusty .223 Pistol. It was cathartic as hell after being so brutally killed by them up to that point.
Chris - thanks for making this series, man. Because of this series I've played Fallout 1 & 2, Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Planescape Torment, and Icewind Dale 2, and I'm continuing with these style of games. Without this series, I never would have never bothered with these "old" games, and I would have missed out on all the magic. Thank you so much.
FINALLY! Someone is tackling the mammoth topic of isometric CRPGs. Thank you for doing this!
27:00 - There is a character editor for Fallout called Falche that allows you to edit the stats of your character. If you wanted to, say, test what charisma does in specific situations, this would be the easiest way to do it.
didnt expect to see you here
This game is soo good that you can beat the game in 20 minutes without resorting to crazy glitches or game breaking bugs, but that being said why would you spoil yourself the fun of fallout ;)
I maxed my Science very high ran to necropolis got taken to the Lieutenant by Harry ran way from the lieutenant into the vats control room and blew up the military base
@@bespit6654 this isn't really the ending unless you didn't manage to escape and blew up yourself in the base but in that case the vault is going run out of water and the mutant leader is still there
Great, unbiased review. New Vegas is still my favourite but this is where it all began!
You forget one huge element. Atmosphere, the music and the environment are utterly terrifying. I find some horror games less overwhelming to play than Fallout.
It is a HUGE tonal shift to go from the modern games to the original. New Vegas is great in that it manages to mix the two pretty well.
I love that you go into details about the development. That is honestly why I intend to watch the whole story. I want to know what happened. The whole history of interplay breaking down. Chris Avelone's story. Relationships between early Bioware and Black Isle. How Obsidian got ultimately formed and so on and so forth. I also find it interesting how Black Isle/Obsidian seems to always be in the role of making greater sequels to already great games. Twice that I know of from games Bioware made.
Not being able to control your companions is what makes this game feel even more alive.
I absolutely agree when you mention that you should say your farewells to Dogmeat when you enter the mutant base.
One of my best/worst memories of this game is save spamming through the scenario to keep Dogmeat alive, my favorite companion, just to reach a point as I was climbing the last set of stairs to the surface, dodging bullets left and right, running from encounters to keep my boy alive. I sadly reached a point where no matter how much I reloaded, I could not keep him alive for those last steps to exit the area and finish the game. I had to watch my faithful companion be torn to shreds by a machine gun time after time after time until I could not save him from that fate, it tore my heart.
I know it's my head's canon but that ending where the overseer kicked my character from the vault was the finishing touch on his cursed journey, I lost Ian(my other favorite companion) and Dogmeat trying to save my community, and now my community doesn't even want me, left to wander the wasteland without any destination was a very touching ending to the vault dweller, I still think of it as one my favorite endings in gaming, maybe only comparable to The Witcher 3's bad ending, where Geralt low key commits suicide by going back to the witches' hut, having lost all his loved ones.
Theres so much coverage on yt of bethesda's fallout games and not much about the originals, this was fascinating I learned a lot. Thanks chris! Awesome content
47:20 Ha, you reminded me that back in the day the door opening animation is the sole reason I never used pistols, he just HAS to spin it around every time :D
Excellent. Fallout 1 is maybe my favorite game of all time. I remember obsessively reading reviews of it, and waiting to get it as I'm European and the game released earlier in the US was a pain, but it increased the hype exponentially. A couple of things, I loved the combat in Fallout 1, it was much deeper and felt more real than any game I played before. I didn't mind the randomness at all, infact I thought it reflected that life just ain't fair, or you can be lucky. I still remember encounters where someone fumbles at the exact right time or I get in a sick lucky shot melting my opponent. I never felt frustrated because it made encounters interesting, you never could predict exactly how things turn out. Btw, my favorite trait is Jinxed, I never play a Fallout game without it, except ofcourse the first person loot shooters that don't have it. I also liked the timer, it gave you a purpose, a goal, there's an actual point to try and progress the game as opposed to mindlessly roaming around. It's something I actually care about. I couldn't care less about the main narrative in say Fallout 4, because it doesn't matter at all where you go or what you do, you can't succeed or fail anything in that game. Anyways, loved your vid
You are so right. I am playing FO4 right now. No urgency at all. Nothing seems to matter...Roam, kill, loot, repeat. I only die if I forget to press "0" (stimpack) during fights. Unlike the old Fallout you can administrater yourself 10 stimpacks in a few seconds with no loss of action points, because there are no action points....I miss turnbased fights. There a a million FPS out there, so Fallout 4 is not much different that them.
The timer in FO1 made what I did matter....No time to fuck around. Until later.
Here is some love for your passionate project! Big thumbs up, Chris.
You know what I like about these videos? Unlike many youtubers he speaks quickly and yet even with more said none of it feels extraneous, it's just well constructed analysis. Bravo
Wildest thing I heard in this video was that game reviewers used to play the entire game
Great retrospective. I really like how in-depth you went with the Fallout 1 and 2 videos. Even the versions of F1 was interesting to learn, I had no idea there were mods/fixes for it. After watching this video, the first thing I did was download that mod. However, I am already 30+ hours invested into my Steam Version, so it will be great to replay it again at some point with all these quality of life improvements. Thanks!
Gamblings broken? Dude, you should trying using Steal to take everything from everyone's pocket and never have to buy anything (especially ammo). It will also make any fight easier for evil characters; so long as you do it before you're caught/trigger a fight, since you can take all of their Stimpacks and ammo, forcing some of them to use their fists and never have the supplies to heal. You also get 10xp for each stolen item (more for a combo). I think the only thing you can't do is take the weapon a person is holding. Which also means you can't empty it's ammo either. Luckily, they tend to carry spares - just for you!
Your sneak and steal doesn't even need to be above 30 to abuse it, either. However, it doesn't work as effectively as you might think against merchants. Albeit, Stealing can get a little boring at first, but it starts becoming a habit when you realize you have almost 2k of unused ammo stacks and over 300 unused Stimpacks.
Another bit of helpful advice if you ever play the game(s) again, is that any container is safe. You can happily store all your stuff in any locker or something like that. I personally like to kill Lorenzo in the FLC building of The Hub and then store all my stuff behind the Bank Door. It also feels like a comfy hideout for the Companions following me, since it is usually where I save my game. I like to think they are all chilling out in that "hideout" until I get back to the game (I do a similar thing with Bethesda games).
Also, the Alien Blaster and Nuka Cola Truck random events require the Explorer Perk. I got them as soon as I invested into that perk. Though, my Luck was also around 5-7 when I got them.
Really liked the history segment and I enjoyed hearing a modern take on Fallout that wasn't just mindless praise. I wish you would go into a little more detail about your opinions. Like what about the combat bored you (The turn times probably, the fact that you're not really making any risky plays, maybe).
The timer was awesome.
Always happy to see a Chris Davis video in my feed
Purposeless Rabbitholes I’m surprised nobody noticed you here
Well the logic of not judging a game by today's standard is the same logic where you shouldn't judge the past with the wisdom of hindsight. Issues that existed back then might have been solved with another game that released 3 years later just because they saw the problem as a problem and focused on fixing it. Today we have had years of experience in making games and thinking about the mechanics, back then they did not. It is for sure okay to say "this thing is bad" even when it is in an old game, but it isn't okay to compare a 20 year old game with a modern game and apply the same rating scale to them as if their is no time difference where the unpolished gameplay of the older gets minus points for its unpolish.
I judge Fallout 1 by today's standards and it's an amazing game by ANY year's standards... Far superior to most more recent games anyway. I've played all kinds of RPGs and FO1 is still AT LEAST in the top 2 most consistent games in terms of choices and consequences out there (at the cost of lack of content, but it's not a bad compromise).
Not recommending it "today" and "for today's audience" is just absurd and that's why this vid gets a thumbs down for sure.
I really enjoyed this video. I've been a fan of fallout for a while and I really liked how you made sure to mention your reasoning behind your decisions to rate it from a modern perspective, while still mentioning its pros and cons in an objective way. Even 3 years after upload it was still very informative, not boring, and it kept my interest. Thank you for your time and effort in making this, I really enjoyed and appreciated it.
I would love to see fallout get back to their roots for a game. I think it would be dope to have another modern day version of this again.
That would be great, but I don't see the current IP holder (Bethesda) EVER doing that; they are kinda doing the OPPOSITE of that :(
If you want something in the spirit of the original fallouts (1+2) try "ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game" (yes that is the full title), or "Wasteland 2: Director's Cut". Both are AWESOME.
I have an in-progress Lets Play for ATOM RPG here if your interested: czcams.com/video/7wHhgA0ODuI/video.html
I've listened to this playlist while painting for a few hundred hours over. Make more of this series! You got me to pick up shadow run and a few of these games. I just finished Disco Elysium, Torment, BG2, Pillars 1+2, Tyranny, and a few others over the past few years. This is top tier content dude.
I really enjoy the full rundown of the history/story/gameplay on this vid. It paints a clear picture of the game. Keep up the awesome work!
I just finished this game. It really is something special. I think I restarted like 4 times before I found a nice created character like the one you made. Wish I had played Fixt though.
You didn't mention lots of things and are wrong in some, probably due to your own experience playing the game or just not wanting to spoil stuff.
Great video though. Explains lots of how I feel about the game near perfectly.
Thankyou for posting this vidio about Fallout. This gave me back so many good memories from a game that I did spend much time playing. Maybe not perfect but it is still a gem of a game. Thankyou once again for posting and I hope to see more from you.
20:29 ... Just fyi, there is rope in one of the containers within vault 15. You don't have to go back. Just look around and click. Go pixel hunting as Chris called it.
It sure seems to me that since the inception of modern video gaming, any game or franchise which makes an effort to _not_ treat the player as though they are stupid, such as these early Fallout games -- no hand holding; no boxes popping up with puzzle solutions; no white paint on the next ledge you can jump to; total freedom even including allowing one to kill NPCs whose deaths preclude one from ever finishing the main quest -- have usually been rewarded with great sales, great followings, and great legacies.
I don't know why, after all these years, this pattern _still_ seems so hard for developers to grasp.
I admire that you were able to display a large amount of information on the game's development cycle in the nearly first eight minutes of the video. It's must've been quite a daunting journey for Tim Cain and his buddies.
There's so much to unpack, here. It's nice hearing about someone's own experience with the game, and the highlight of the video to me is your take on the alternate endings of Junktown. While I'd wish those endings were never replaced, they'd come off as poor writing because, how Killian and Gizmo are written - you'd wouldn't expect a "gallows behind" Killian with " shadows of hanged men" if the PC sided with him, nor would you envision Gizmo's version of Junktown to mirror a "Reno-like" casino and haven for traders.
There are things that I enjoyed in this video, and things that I find iffy about it. For starters:
While I appreciated the lore expedition at around the 9-minute mark, I felt it was bit distracting hearing Harold talk in the background. It would've been more suitable to talk about lore when densely audible area in the game or just background music to accompany your explanation, instead.
14:08 Charisma isn't a dump stat, as it affects how people reacts towards and you'll have better prices and gain a greater ability to persuade with less compromise on spending skill points on Barter and Speech skills just to fulfill a prerequisite. It also affects how certain NPCs will greet upon the initial conversation, such as Aradash and Killian. Charisma is much more viable in FO2, but it's not too useless in this game that you have to set to 1. It also has nothing to do with characters running away, by the way.
22:07 That's not what was said if you went with Gizmo's plan to assassinate Killian. Gizmo's ending clearly states that Junktown becomes a "boomtown" - a town that grows prosperously, and that his casino becomes larger and he receives the most profit, allowing him to broaden his power. Even the way "under the careful, and profitable, guidance of Don Gizmo" is worded by the Narrator suggests that Junktown still grew as a town. Junktown doesn't prosper if you side with Killian; it just tells you that Killian "drove out the last of 'Gizmo's kind'". Junktown might be a safe town with a rooted justice system, but it doesn't grow as a result.
26:28 I wouldn't say the combat system is terrible, though I wouldn't hold it high regard, either. It's serviceable, and in spite of being turn-based, the probability of my attacks hitting, and its simplicity, I still feel I'm in control, especially whenever my attacks causes something to die in a graphic way. Fallout 1 had a piss-poor companion and A.I. system, which was immensely improve in the next game, however. Again, Charisma is just being able to buy things cheaper, persuading characters, and reactions. It has no place anywhere else in the game.
29:13 I never felt this was the case for me. That small bit of info was contextual, and was able to explain what I needed to do in (mostly) one sentence. It's hard to get loss in a game when five of the game's twelve locales are small and easy to get around. The NPCs repeat what they said or ask rather or not the task that they gave is completed or not. That should give recollection on what to do next.
35:41 This issue could easily by mitigated by using the binoculars icon to identify which character model is Ian. I'm guessing Black Isle were on a tight budget and could only design so many human models.
36:18 Holding a knife might be a "minor" offense, but you have to consider the fact that you're in a town that often gets attacked by Raiders. It's extreme, but it takes almost a minute for the entire town to become aggravated. There's no excuse why you shouldn't have put your knife away right after you exited the radscorpion caves.
43:27 The ending does make sense if you educate a deeper analysis of it. Sure, people in the Vault know you, but they don't know what you've been through, the decisions you had to make, the hardship and challenges you faced. Overseer Jacoren makes it clear that the individual he sent out of Vault is not the same person that grew up in. Having an "evil" PC (or one with Bloody Mess trait active - which you missed out on that detail) blast half his body off proves his point. It doesn't matter what you did for the settlements in the wasteland, because Vault 13 was still the safest place during that time. Jacoren feared the safety of the Vault would be compromised if more people wanted to leave. Talk to the inhabitants of Vault 13 and you'll noticed a rebellion amidst the situations from the outside. Even if the Vault Dweller was never banished, it wouldn't stop others from trying to leave. This is further elaborated on in the sequel and the canon Vault Dweller's memoirs. You could argue a lot of things are nonsensical in Fallout 1, though I'd like a few examples, because nothing sticks out as out-of-place to me.
44:32 Discussing the game from the perspective of the era in which it was birth is a reasonable critique to have. Basing that perspective through the lens of the current times isn't a completely fair way to judge a game, because you have to consider the limitations and the technology of 1997 at some point. One comment explained better than I can at the moment, and I'm sure others have as well. Fallout was made in standards of 1997, so criticizing the game from those standards isn't a pointless, impossible exercise; it's reasonably measurement of being able review the game.
46:44 "...entire towns that turn on for pulling a knife"? The only instance where that happens is Shady Sands and the entrance to Junktown. The other three towns, of course, implore you to sheathe your weapons, but none of them do. That's hyperbole. The dialogue tree might not be as extensive as people believe it is, but it was far cry from how games did dialogue before Fallout hit the stores.
47:07 The "Magic Hands" trick is admittedly a bit goofy. However, the death animations are satisfying to marvel at, and some of the idle animations aren't that bad, either, such putting away an SMG.
49:17 Retro games "not being as good as I remember them" or "not playing as good as you remember" is an entirely subjective sentiment, and it largely has to do with our taste in gaming changing over time, rather than the games themselves. What is and isn't acceptable in today's market also somewhat influences out own evolving opinions.
What a mouth-full. I'm not sure you'll even read this comment, because of how long it is, and hold old this video is. I just wanted to get some of this off my chest. I still did enjoy the video.
thats the main issue between this series and say mr gentlemen's history of jrpgs
chris is viewing the games from a modern perspective and thus tends to bash things that wernt an issue when the game came out. he also uses modern game design and politics in his opinions.
while mr gentlemen will view the game from the perspective of when the game out. he isnt gonna review say dragon quest 3 as if it's a new game.
I don’t normally post on videos, but I wanted to respond to yours. I absolutely love your video game critiques and analysis. Content like yours is immensely interesting to me and I could watch these types of videos endlessly. I appreciate the obvious hours of work that you put into the videos and I am so very excited for the rest of the series to come. Thank you so much!
One of the greatest non-multiplayer games i've ever played.
Incredible story, freedom, inovation, soundtrack, guns and setting. Genuinely wish I could play it again for the first time instead of the 25th again.
I just beat fallout 1 this past weekend, and I've been hooked on the second game for the past couple days. Really a lovely game. It all started with Fallout 3 for me which I considered at one point to be the best game ever made
"Fallout1 its not as good as you might remember but its got more soul than certain other games in the franchise" .... you mean Fallout 4 AND Fallout 3?
natty_the_great | That's interesting. The consensus, even among folks who don't like 3, is that it's still better than 4. Soo could you elaborate on that ? Why do you think 4 is much better than 3 ( aside from the improved gunplay of course ) ?
Jackson Smith certainly... The only reason people remember 3 so fondly is because of nostalgia for the atmosphere of the game, things like the locations, the dreary music, the color palette, you know the feel of the game. The main quest of the game is just as shallow as 4's. A lot of the side quests aren't much better. In fact its world building is so bad, bethesda even forgot to put in any farms or prey animals other than the brahmin in the wasteland and there are settlements close to supermutants with only kids in them to give you an example.
Fallout4 at least has some 'gameplay elements' which can be considered good. The settlement building, weapon modding, the gunplay etc is mostly a fun distraction at least for 40-50 hours but you already know that. The other thing that is better is the world building. You see food growing in places, there are even plants and other animals besides the brahmin. The companions in Fallout4 are also a vast improvement over the companions in Fallout3 (why wasn't Moira a companion you could recruit I dont know) Its quests are also not that bad at least when compared to fallout3 IMO. This is why I feel Fallout3 is the worst of the modern fallouts hands down.
Freemλn
I know that its a subjective thing but there's no question that new vegas is much much more liked and its with reason which is that its more fun to replay multiple times because of the branching quests and choices in dialogue) Something not enough people know or consider is how many people still play new vegas compared to fallout3. Just take a look at here steamcharts.com/app/22380 (new vegas) vs steamcharts.com/app/22370 (fallout 3) note that new vegas player base is divided between the ru version (its not only for russia tho you can activate it in many countries in europe and elsewhere) and the global version which adds 700 more people on average to the no's.
Ofc fallout4 is still the most played fallout but thats to be expected, its a recent game and has prettier graphics but when it comes to new vegas vs fallout3 there is no question about which game more players like!!
Personally, I love all the games. But of them all, NV is sooo empty. So many locations hold nothing of interest, except a random Sunset Sarsparilla cap. In Fallout 4, those locations would be unmarked and would still be more interesting. And there's 4 raider groups but 3 are basically ignored (scorpions, jackals, and vipers). There was more going on with the Children of Atom in 4 than the Khans in NV.
I say this, but I love New Vegas. I played it so much, on one playthrough I got bored and filled the Novac motel room's bathtub with toys and sporting equipment. To me, 4 is a huge improvement on NV, which is a huge improvement on 3. And it's nice to have a purpose for all the junk, instead of just selling it/using it to fill bathtubs.
JesusKong333 fo4 is so shallow in terms in writing which is the department new Vegas shines in...
I know 6 Years late but ... Fallout allways had transistors, that's just what Oxhorn believed and told around at first, not only did they apear ingame (pls don't ask where, it's all mixed around in my head) but also most of the stuff in the Fallout universe would be impossible without them, especially the robots and other electronics requirein logic gates.
I love listening to videos like this. I watch them multiple times over the course of the week as a sleep aid and to hear your opinion on the game. Long form reviews and retrospectives are brilliant. Keep it up!
Watching this old series, would love to see a video on Dragon Age Origins and Awakening. Either way, I hope you're happy currently. Your stuff is sick, and I love that you pumped out so much of it, always a great playlist to return to.
Honestly as someone who is just now playing and about to finish this game for the first time ever I'd say it's well worth playing even as a modern gamer. The combat system isn't bad at all in my opinion and clever use of the VATS can make otherwise super difficult fights easy. The graphics themselves are also far more timeless than many of the other classic RPGs I've been playing lately. Like for example Neverwinter nights enhanced edition looks pretty dreadful tbh, but fallout 1 and 2s sprite animation still holds up imo.
Arcanum is my favorite of the style.
I’m so glad the second secret timer was removed in later versions cuz those stress me out and while it is cool to see the super mutants grow in power and destroy certain places as the clock ticks down to the bad ending, it hate feeling rushed esp with how many side quests there are. It’s one reason why I haven’t played much of Majora’s Mask cuz my dumb ass somehow failed the first time trying to find a fairy instead of going up into the tower to fight Majora and get the rewind time spell 😅 like, I know the reason why the mechanic is there but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
My brother introduced me to the world of video games. my first 2 games were X-COM: Terror from the Deep and Fallout. I can't be more than grateful to him for introducing me to such wonderful games, but Fallout in particular always stole my heart. The essence of the game is wonderful, you really feel in a desolate world. Music used to give me nightmares and today it is still one of the most incredible ambient music in the history of video games, A few days ago I decided to buy the Steam version with the idea that possibly the idea I had of the game was so wonderful of my childhood will fall apart. but quite the opposite. I haven't been able to stop playing it since then, it feels much more immersive than before. With more years I was able to understand more the story and the characters, and I had not been so hooked on a game in years.
Really enjoyed this video and I intend to watch the rest of what you've made.
When you were talking about the Junktown quest and how the devs backpedalled on the moral ambiguity of the outcome, I had an idea. Wouldn't it be interesting to have an RPG where, instead of your actions leading to one of a number of pre-set conclusions, your actions merely increase the probability of a particular conclusion? So siding with Killian could mean there is an 80% chance that Junktown will flourish, and a 20% chance it will stagnate, and a similar system applies if you side with Gizmo. A closer emulation of real-world consequences, where we can push things in the right direction, but never know for sure how things will pan out. At the end of the game, players can expect their actions to have produced a trend, but not for every storyline to wrap up happily/miserably.
De Jure Claims While I get what you're saying, and a more dynamic story system would be a great way to spice up repeat playthroughs, I don't know that RNG based endings are the way to do that. Maybe if you were to have outcomes of certain quests altered based on an (easily cheesed) RNG systems, but it'd have to be earlier than the ending slide show, preferably done within games systems (i.e. lower in-game economy causing higher chances of town having a bad outcome) and also hopefully have gameplay implications. I like the idea though, maybe it would work well in some sort of RPG-roguelike?
As a compromise, maybe random quest outcomes aren't as varied as 'Junktown flourishes' or 'Junktown stagnates'. Instead, the player receives a pre-set outcome in line with their expectations, but with randomly selected details on the side. Maybe Killian goes mad with power and becomes a menace, eventually meeting his end at the hands of Junktown's citizens. Little asides like that. Or the 'main' ending can be set in stone, whilst only side quests are probabilistic. Either way, the player can feel they have a good amount of agency in the final outcome, but still enjoy the curveballs the story throws their way.
De Jure Claims That could definitely work, especially if its like a selling point of the game. I'm always just wary of taking things out of the players control, but I agree that a degree of randomness and unpredictability in storytelling is a potential strength of video games that has so far gone untapped.
I think most players would be infuriated with random chance story resolutions, regardless of how minor the detail may be. A better solution imo, would be to have all the side quests in an area be linked up in some way. So let me explain it with a simple example.
Say you sided with Killian and brought Gizmo to justice. Let's say this adds a secret modifier to your character, like the character traits in CKII, only these are secret. "Junktown Quest 1 - Result A" which modifies your ending in a certain way. And at some point during your adventure in Junktown, you come across the cannibal doctor. Say you have the option to extort him, kill him, or rat him out to Killian. You decide to kill him, and turns out Killian is related to the doctor and before you could even explain yourself Killian's right hand man approaches you and basically forces you out of the town, saying that if Killian gets his hands on you, you're a dead man. Killian in his rage sends his men after you, and learning of the treachery of his right hand man, he imprisons him. This would be say "Junktown Q2-RC". At some point you save a guy from a slaver let's say, and this guy knows Killian's right hand man. He sneaks him out of the prison, "Junktown Q5-RF." You can probably add a bunch more quests, seemingly unrelated to this quest chain, but all converge in the main plot of this town. But for now, the modifiers your character gathered would be added up, and it would change your ending outcome as JT Q1-RA + JT Q2-RC + JT Q5-RF = Killian's right hand man gets out of jail, investigates the death of the cannibal, finding out the truth. He decides to confront Killian, and he kills him. He becomes the new sheriff, the town prospers, but it's still not the best outcome. And let's say whether Killian is redeemed, or killed by his right hand man depends on an entirely unrelated quest that needs you to gather say a cooking recipe from a computer. Coincidentally, you find a holodisk about Killian and his right hand man, you talk to the right hand man at some point, he brings it up to Killian at the confrontation and Killian apologizes for going mad like that, etc.
All of this would be 100% more satisfying, and 100% less frustrating than dealing with random chance. But of course, it would be just as hard to write for and design I guess. But it would certainly make a better game imo
Fallout, Total Annihilation and a few others came bundled with the first family computer we got after moving to New Zealand in 1999. I loved Fallout so much that I ended up getting Fallout 2 for Christmas that year.
Watched this video twice now, and only just noticed the Peep Show reference in your character's name, never thought I'd see Big Suze wield a plasma cannon but here we are
Well, I finally had a little extra money, a Steam Summer Sale, and I watched this. Thanks for giving me the little push to finally get Fallout 1!
Actually looks pretty fun, I am considering do play it.
When the dead bodies thank you for helping them- thats the most passive aggressive a person can be. 😂😂 (Great vid btw!)
I just want to say that your videos are so great to watch and listen to, and I really appreciate the fact that your videos are captioned despite their formidable lengths. This is not a comment meant to shame those who do not have CC on their videos, but rather, an acknowledgement and appreciation of the work done to do it. I thank you, as do others.
Having the Bloody Mess trait also makes it so your character kills the Overseer regardless of karma.
You can also mash A right after the dialogue with him ends, to initiate combat and manually shoot the overseer to achieve his death animation.
As far as i remember, there was hints about good outcome of siding with Gizmo. And those sheriff wasn't so likeable person, as it seems at the first impression.
That's a really comprehensive review and fair assessment of the game, and I am saying it as a huge fan, who considers Fallout 1 one of the best RPGs ever made. Thanks for this video.
The combat in 1 works a lot better if you don'tt take quick shot. Aiming for eyes with high weapon skill gives massive one shot criticals.
I hope this series continues! The editing is great and the voice quality is good! Your knowledge and fun facts about the making of this game were awesome and it was a unique touch we need more of. Godspeed on the fallout 2 retrospective!
As janky as this game is, it's still my favorite Fallout game. The story is just so fucking iconic to me and the tone is perfect for what Fallout is. Fallout 2 might be the better game, but I would replay Fallout 1 in an instant whereas I would have to think about replaying 2. God I love this game
I'm a massive fan of your videos and I can't begin to describe how excited I am by this series. I've waited years to see a retrospective history of CRGs done like this and I'm thrilled that it's you who will be doing it.
If I could make any suggestions, I would love to see a "historical impact" section amended to the end of each subsequent game's entry. Many of the games you'll be covering are regularly lauded as among the most influential ever made; I would be thrilled to see you contextualize each game you cover in the broader scope of then-evolving western RPG tropes as a whole. This could clearly illustrate and cement each game's place in the narrative you'll be telling, as well as define the significance they would have on the genre, if not all of gaming, in general.
Regardless of whether you opt to go this route or not, thank you so much for making these videos and keep up the phenomenal work!
I like the timer. Made it feel more important. I wandered around and did side quests before finding it and felt I had plenty of time. I even got the cut scene ...
>first time playing fallout in 2017 after getting it free on steam
>first time id heard of fallout
>get the random encounter to find a TRUCKLOAD of caps RIGHT as i left the vault
>consider them useless
>start a new game and save over that one
the pain
Loved how they wrote the issue with Dogmeat suiciding on forcefields into the lore. Brilliant.
I really enjoy the development history and lore aspects of these videos. Would love more of that in the fallout 2 video.
Is it weird I like Fallout 1 more than Fallout 2?
Nah, some people prefer the tighter story. I'm more a fan of F2 myself.
fallout 1 is truly cynical and dark (the master in cathedral, damn moments). It's awesome. f2 is awesome too anyway, different.
fnv and the others are cute, but for fans it's a pain in the ass to play it, that vats system is a joke. this empty story is a joke. this billion of empty pnj is a joke. this lack of humor is a joke.
we had writters, psychologs, artists and philosoph on f1&2 we have buisnessmen and sharks on the the following games
I really liked Fallout 1 myself. Just now getting to Fallout 2, but I'm still too early in the game to make an opinion of it.
While I like Fallout 2 better in terms of gameplay, I like Fallout 1's story better. It's the only Fallout game that could actually work as a movie, IMO.
I like Fallout 1 better myself.
One obvious influence on this game, unless it's a complete coincidence, is the now largely forgotten wild west tabletop duel-RPG, Gunslinger. Maybe there were others, but that was the game that immediately came to my mind as far as the combat system went when I played Fallout. It had the same action points you could increase if you were lucky on your initial stat rolls and short, imaginary gunfights that always ended with me dead and my fat, older friend mocking me. I don't think I had seen that system before any other place than Gunslinger. And I did game a lot in the 80s and 90s, so would probably know.
Anyways: when you came to it from that perspective like I did, the combat seemed instantly recognizable. To me, Fallout was always primarily a wild west game just because of this. Still quirky, but easy to get into on a conceptual level at least. It's not a complex RPG combat system with amazing variety of skills etc, the way it became later in the Baldur's Gate games. It's a series of duels. What matters in a duel is upgrading your weapon to suit your skills, not running out of ammo first and moving quickly, so that is what Fallout focused on. Slow character/ bad weapon (or stupid ten year old) = dead, fast character/good weapon (or fat, older person) = win, just like in Gunslinger.
You should never project newer gaming trends and development back on old games if you can help it. It is much better for the gaming experience to understand why it was as it was when it came out. Having enjoyed being mercilessly gunned down over and over in Gunslinger certainly helped me enjoy the combat in Fallout, warts and all.
@endiness endiness But he was fat. He had to have stomach-reducing surgery at 26.
I tried playing this game after playing the rest of the series thousands of hours before this one. I must say this games art direction is my favorite. (Right next to fO3 witch is obviously heavily inspired by this one) i loved the creepiness of this game and its protrayal of propaganda from the American point of view. Very interesting stuff. Obviously overlooked by most people because most people don't play these type of games. Amazing video by the way. Thanks
You know that no ones going to take you serious with that profile pic?
Love this video series Chris, looking forward to digging into all the classic CRPGs I've missed over the '90s by growing up with consoles.
Hey this is really awesome, can't wait for Fallout 2!
Game's great!
Just played through it (2018) and it was addictive and fun all the way through! Even though I restarted once (because I am a completionist and a little sloppy with save files) and even though i knew the story to some extent.
Oh sorry... There is one extremely frustrating moment involving a radio and a computer............
I suppose the Overseer could either be ignorant or lying to the Vault Dweller about the Wasteland. The fact the people are even thriving in the Wasteland is itself a testament to the human resilience at the cost sadly in some cases a moral compass.
Just the fact that settlements are even set up at all is impressive. Perhaps Vault 13 offers a degree of comfort and luxury that the Wasteland doesn't offer and the Overseer doesn't want to give that up. He even admits he has administrative skills and little else.