http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...af/Fallout.jpg
Fallout (1997)
So I wake up late for work only to realize that it's a federal holiday and there's really nothing I can do at the office except some filing. Considering my hangover and groggy state from the NyQuil induced coma I put myself in so I could get some sleep, I decided that I would just take the holiday off. What to do what to do, well I've been buying up some old games from GOG lately, but I've always felt a kind of defeated attitude towards the first
Fallout. It's one of those "best games evarrrrr" and constantly shows up on "Best RPG" and "Best PC Game" lists and given my recent interest in the new
X-Com:Enemy Unknown and upcoming
Wasteland 2 games, I figured it's about time I learn how to play these turn-based RPG's.
I started at around 9:30 and I went to go make some lunch and it was 6 PM. I honestly have no idea where the day went, one moment I'm booting it up, the next I am heating up my would-be lunch for supper, and then getting back into it. I finally had to tear myself away because I actually do have work tomorrow.
Considering I was more into
Duke Nukem and
Redneck Rampage around 1997 when this game came out, there was a lot of things I needed to re-learn in order to be an effective player, and these are all issues I'm expecting to be addressed on the new wave of turn-based isometric RPGS. First and foremost is a goddamn tutorial level. I know some people think they kill the flow of the first 20 minutes or so of every game, but they're there for a reason. It took me quite a while to figure out how to initiate an attack, rather than just responding to an enemy, which would have come in handy and saved me a lot of stim packs. The next modern gaming standard I expect to see in it is autosave, I will not apologize for having gotten use to autosave, especially when all my memories of the
Fallout series come from
Fallout 3 on wards where the game saves every time you exit a room or location. I was already on my way to Necropolis when I died and realized I hadn't saved at all, and had to start from the beginning when I'm dumped out of Vault 13. Lastly, some kind of outline on items you can pick up, a la any isometric action game to come out in the last decade, cause I don't want to be wandering back and forth trying to find a hunting rifle on the second level of Vault 15 for 20 minutes.
Those three main gripes aside, I am absolutely amazed at how absorbing this game is and that despite its age I find myself forgiving its archaic design and even kind of reveling in it in a way. I mean yeah I was kind of pissed off when I realized I was selling items for no money, but then it dawned on me that this was a game from a time where games expected and demanded that you think and pay attention, and that in a way I was accidentally role playing as a dumbass tourist, which is what my character is. This is certainly a genre I can find myself getting into and I can't wait to start playing the other big games from that time period, which will hopefully keep me occupied till
Wasteland 2 and
Shadowrun Returns come out.
